It is a truism that what something is worth is simply a reflection of what it can be sold for in the marketplace – and that is no use at all in ascertaining what  price to ask for your books.

 

You will start with assessing condition,  whether a set of books is complete and so on.   Obviously a difficult to find book may have real value even in poor condition.

 

We stress the importance of sellers giving a fair review of condition in their advertisements.

 

Sometimes texts and sets are still available in reprint.   For example at the time of writing (2022) the reprint of the English Reports is available new for just over £38,000 – and I do not believe the print quality compares with an original.   Anyway this gives some basis to assess the value of a second hand set.

 

Looking on ebay or at bookfinder.com may produce some comparables  but a bookdealer may be trying to sell slow stock or seeking a hefty mark up.   The great advantage of this site is that many people using it will be doing so privately be it person to person or library to library and so are not needing to build in a mark up or to sell so cheaply that the intermediary can make a decent profit.

 

We hope with time to publish some guide to prices.   For instance a full set of Weekly Law Reports in good condition we would expect to sell for £1,000 to £1,500 with most being around the £1,200 mark.   Maybe that price will rise as the depreciation in value wrought on legal texts by going online starts to abate but that is where we believe it stands at the moment.

 

You must make clear if the price includes or excludes VAT or other sales taxes that might apply.