Looking for cheap or free books!

Submitted by MinisterofSandwiches t3_125r8cf in books

I have a bookshelf to stock and I don't have a huge budget to stock it. I'm looking for recommendations of places to find free or cheap books. I'm already looking through craigslist/fb marketplace and have had some good success, but I wonder if people had some ideas of places to kind of browse in person, particularly in the greater Baltimore area?

I'm particularly interested in history (all kinds, but particularly Slavic, Scandinavian, North African, and Latin & North American pre-colonial), art, and reference books. I also read a lot of sword & sorcery fantasy. I like sets of books if I can get them but that's kind of a bonus.

I do work at a University and have started to collect faculty work as well. And while this is partly for aesthetics, I do love to read and plan on reading the things I put on my shelf!

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doc_willis t1_je5em59 wrote

thrift stores. I often find some unusual and very old books there.

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1ToeIn t1_je5h6rt wrote

Where I live so many people have Little Free Libraries set up. Check the LittleFreeLibrary.org site to see if there’s any near you. If you find a book in one that you don’t think you’ll read again, make sure to “throw it back” for someone else. Also, you might check out bookcrossing.com. Some members of that are willing to share books and I believe the site also has a listing of where people have set up bookcrossing release spots.

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chaoticidealism t1_je5ibvl wrote

Public library book sales. They often have like-new books that people have donated, but that didn't fit on their shelves; or books retired from the shelves. Prices are generally reasonable because the primary goal is to get the books moved and raise donations for the library.

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Lizk4 t1_je5iiov wrote

Check if your local library has book sales. Ours has them monthly. The last day of the sale is a bag day where you can get as many books as you can fit in a bag for $10. The kids love it.

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wixkedwitxh t1_je5wfdj wrote

Libraries will often have their own sales. Also def check estate sales! I got all of Tolkien’s books, Wheel of Time series, and 14 of 17 Dresden Files books from an estate sale once in great condition for ~$30. I also use PangoBooks where people sell their used books online.

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spookyyscary t1_je66nkm wrote

You can always ask libraries if they have any books they want to throw out or get rid of. Every so often, one might have a sell day just sell them for a few dollars just so they can make space.

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[deleted] t1_je6rtsy wrote

If you're in the UK world of books has free delivery and good prices for second hand books

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Shadow_Lass38 t1_je76kur wrote

Several libraries here have a perpetual book sale in one corner of the library. One library has no books over $1.50, the other library has books up to $5 for hardbacks. Not a lot of what you're looking for, but you never know what will come up.

The following link is for book sales in different states:

https://www.booksalefinder.com/

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Practical-Low-4154 t1_je7m4z6 wrote

I use abebooks.com sometimes find better deals than thriftbooks, haven’t had a bad experience since I started using in 2013

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Account3857 t1_je7pkz2 wrote

Replying to MinisterofSandwiches (#2,454,210)

Word of advice with thriftbooks, betterworldbooks, and other used online book stores, they generally put stickers that can be hard to take off without messing up the spine. Thriftbooks's stickers are easier compared to BBB in my experience.

When trying to remove them, try to use rubbing alcohol to weaken the adhesive, so you can pull them off cleaner.

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stef_bee t1_je7vyao wrote

With warmer weather approaching, try yard sales. By the end of the day, some people are willing to give stuff away for free, rather than haul it to the dump or back into the house. Or go bright & early when the yard sale starts, to get the picks you want.

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CptNonsense t1_je7y1ci wrote

Replying to wixkedwitxh (#2,453,759)

Estate sales are definitely a good place for books because people are just tossing the whole library and books aren't particularly valuable used, so they are moving about as cheap as they can.

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Ineffable7980x t1_je9ke5l wrote

Look for local library sales. Very often on the last day of the sale they will have a special where you can fill a bag for $5.

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CommerciallyFunny t1_jea3ssd wrote

Local libraries or used book stores. At my local library they do a bag of books for $2 occasionally, and then at my local used book store it’s $1-3 a book.

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AsteroidShuffle t1_jeae61t wrote

Just a sidenote. I've been in offices where its really obvious that they went out and bought a bunch of used books and threw them on a shelf. No shade, but please remove stickers from the spines, so it doesn't look like you're selling books on the side.

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[deleted] t1_jecb0c8 wrote

Also check yard sales and flea markets.

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