Old/secondhand books

[betterhiroto]

Back when i was living in another city, i often used to go to this book shop that used to sell old and secondhand books. They were cheap and me being a student got used at buying them, and hey, theres a ton of books that are out of print and you can only find them in secondhan bookstores.

My question for you is, do you have any old or secondhand books, and what do you think of them. I have a book from 1895, it's Moliere's Miser and Tartuffe, and i got it quite cheap, maybe for like 5 dollars?

 

[Raidou Kuzunoha]

I very rarely buy new these days, and often just wait it out until it pops up in the library. Secondhand is my go to, but I don't think I have anything particularly cool, especially to those who don't know my native language. But out of the few English stuff I have, I do have a copy of John Grisham's The Street Lawyer which has a big "NOT FOR RESALE" on the back; I (ironically) bought it at my country's annual book fair.

 

[Cheela]

I have a lot xD i used to study both law and linguistics. Both very heavy in reading. But especially because our library just receive a lot of books that they need to throw away repited copies and outdated ones. I even grab a big Linux manual from the Caldera Desktop days in my Philosophy library for some reason xD

I love books a lot soo is was always nice to stock up in random stuff.

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

5 rooms in my house are libraries, wouldn't be like that if i didn't get them for reasonable prices... I also hold onto stuff from the public archives to keep them safe, since i have contacts there and there is a lot of backroom things that happen, so some records need to be protected.

 

[DanCalibur]

Long ago, I used to ride the bus to the big city just for the used book store there, but never got a single book from it. My money never survived beyond the mangas section, at 1BRL each I would always return home with my backpack full of YuYu Hakusho, Gunn, Sakura Card Captor, Rorouni Kenshin, X, Reyarth and Love Hina. Good Times

 

[ObscureJigglypuff]

I got some Cesare Pavese second hand books and many others.
I love this Santo Stefano Belbo guy, so yeah, my mustache is aroused.

Now that i have a cult, people are giving me money to buy dildos and new books.

 

[Grumpy_Old_Man]

In spanish they are called Librería de viejo(literally old man bookstore) you often find, some real gems, like first editions or authors "lost in time"(unedited for a while)
I really like old books, that yellowed paper and odor is somewhat addicting.

 

[Waffles's iconWaffles]

All my books are secondhand, and I prefer it that way. I like to feel the connection with previous owners and look for signs of whoever they may have been based on the the things they wrote on the corners or on a bookmark left in there, forgotten about as time moved on and they let go of the amazing stories within to go start their own.

 

[PKT]

It may be quite strange but the only books I tend to read anymore are text books or math-adjacent in some way. The prices on those books are ridiculous if they are even still in print so I skulk some local book stores and some Half Price Books for stuff on the cheap. Other than that I receive the occasional book as a gift

Spoiler

I also pirate a shit ton of books. I prefer physical books but if I really want to read something and can't find it I'm fine with pdfs

 

[betterhiroto]

In spanish they are called Librería de viejo(literally old man bookstore) you often find, some real gems, like first editions or authors "lost in time"(unedited for a while)
I really like old books, that yellowed paper and odor is somewhat addicting.

Yeah, here too only the old men seem to sell used books.
I agree that the smell is good. But if they were in a wet basement? Not so much haha...

All my books are secondhand, and I prefer it that way. I like to feel the connection with previous owners and look for signs of whoever they may have been based on the the things they wrote on the corners or on a bookmark left in there, forgotten about as time moved on and they let go of the amazing stories within to go start their own.

Oh i agree, having a book with so much memory, it makes me wonder what journey this book took before making its way to me, kinda corny but whatever :p And i wonder what happened to the people that owned the book before me. Some of the secondhand books i have still have the name of the previous owner of it.

I very rarely buy new these days, and often just wait it out until it pops up in the library. Secondhand is my go to, but I don't think I have anything particularly cool, especially to those who don't know my native language. But out of the few English stuff I have, I do have a copy of John Grisham's The Street Lawyer which has a big "NOT FOR RESALE" on the back; I (ironically) bought it at my country's annual book fair.

For me, i buy them new (when i have the money) but since i dont have that much money, i buy old books. Alot of them in my native language as well.
My country also has an annual book fair, i love going to it every year and looking at the old books the secondhand sellers are showing.

 

[bjork]

I know it barely counts as a book, but I recently picked up a second hand copy of the Official Nintendo Player's Guide from 1987 or 88, and I've only flipped through it briefly so far, but I saw a few old notes from a previous owner. I'm assuming zelda map routes or something. Always kinda cool to see that kind of thing.

 

[NobodyHere]

Tons (mostly due to my dad tbh), probably most books in my house are second hand or super old since my family doesn’t tend to get rid of any.

 

[Yankee]

I think the only new books I've ever bought are for TRPGs, like Dungeons & Dragons.
Some manga volumes I bought firsthand when they were just being published but the majority of them are secondhand from my local game store when they had a small section of them.
Specifically every one of my cookbooks is used. I get old ones on purpose because sometimes some old lady writes her own recipes in there, or makes notes on the recipes that are in there and I cook a lot.