Second hand English book sale

[chocccie]

 My books appear to have been breeding behind my back and a cull is becoming essential ..... I way thinking I'd have a book sale on my property ..... what would you expect to pay for good condition second hand books?  Both hardback and paperback.

Thanks folks

[Anton Redman]

Assuming near immaculate condition, once read per person with clean hands and stored in dry conditions 60% of new cover price if the buyer collects. There would need to be a good list of authors I liked and say half a dozen titles I wanted to make the journey worth while.

Mail order for recent books might go a bit higher.

 

[Catalpa]

Many books are available from the amazons and play.coms of this world at 30% - 50% discount from the cover price. Play.com delivers post free to France. So if I were buying second-hand books, I'd expect them to be at least half the cover price of the book, maybe a bit more - 60% off, for eg.

[Chrissie]

Our local English bookshop (yes, folks, come to the Tarn!) sells normal-sized secondhand paperbacks for 6 euros - 8 euros, depending on date, topic, condition.  Larger ones can be 12 euros.

(Anyone else remember when you bought a book for a train journey for 2s/6d?[blink])

Chrissie (81)

[TreizeVents]

Our local travelling English bookstall seels used paperbacks in good condition for 5 euros or sometimes more.  We have a monthly book sale where punters turn up with their read once or twice books and sell them for one euro each.  Although at that event prices might start climbing as greedy people try to make money, which was not the point of the event.  You could  enjoy yourself and start a wee club where everyone comes once a month and seels their books by renting a table, and you use the money to pay the bar or cafe for the space.  What a good deed.  By the way, should you wish the advice of another person, I would never pay 50% of the cover price for a used book.  You can get really good deals on the web, for nearly new books.  Used books are not worth much.  More an excellent social occasion.  You could rent a stall in the local market for a couple of weeks and have a realy good time selling them.

[Paysages de France]

Book shops, unlike record/cd stores, (which have virtually disappeared) survive in France because of a law passed by Jack Lang in 1983 which forbids supermarkets selling  them for under their cover price.

 Every French town has its own fully stocked, 'serious' bookshop and a lot of newsagents stock  a  fairly wide variety of titles.

  If you are interested in  French literature: purchasing  books   from a registered outlet as oppposed to 'on internet'  will ensure  the continued existence of your local bookstore.

 Incidentally, another result of positive French legislation is to be seen in the amazing variety of newspapers and periodicals stocked in French newsagents which are obliged, by law, to stock all the titles published and distributed - a very far cry from the cheap and tatty, typical  British newsagents outlet.

[Catalpa]

I see far more "grubby" (in several senses of the word [+o(]) newsagents in France than I ever do in England. I'd also take issue with  "Every French town has its own fully stocked, 'serious' bookshop..." Our reasonably large local town certainly does have several bookshops. Stock is frequently old, scuffed, sometimes bleached by being in the shop window and not particularly extensive. The assistants aren't  well-informed either judging by the number of shrugs I received when I was trying to source good (even if expensive) books on flora and fauna found in France. I eventually found what I wanted on Amazon.fr.

I subscribe to several French magazines and newspapers because it's cheaper but also because I could never be sure that the local newsagent would consistently stock them.

Of course, I'm generalising based on my experience... but then, so were you.

[Paysages de France]

In Montauban and Toulouse and all the surrounding towns the newsagents are very clean and well stocked and most of them sell books and BD's too. Unlike their British counterparts, they have only a very small selection of sweets on sale - some of them have none at all. The staff are generally very well informed, pleasant and helpful.

            The South West of France is a region where people take their time and relations are more convivial, which explains the above no doubt.

[Catalpa]

Fascinating. The rosy tint in the spectacles obviously intensifies as one moves south.

[Hoddy]

Around here we pay nothing for second-hand books. The laverie in Cenac runs a free book swap. There's a limited stock, of course, but I've had some good reads from there.

Hoddy

[TreizeVents]

[quote user="catalpa"]Fascinating. The rosy tint in the spectacles obviously intensifies as one moves south.

[/quote]

Whatever could that mean, if people are just describing their local shops?  My own shades are more green anyway.

In my small town in the sticks, very much in the south, there are two new bookshops (less than two years old).  One sells used and old books, it is a bit musty and, well, old looking.  The other one sells new books and is quite bright, and run by a very committed woman. For example, she will turn up with a stall to almost any event, especially if she can order a book or two that might sell more than one copy.  She can order most books one wants, but its true that once or twice her supplier has not had a book I wanted.  The Maison de la Presse is quite full of everything, but still neat and tidy.  They sell maps, mags, popular books and various other things.  They do not sell Decroissance, but have most magazines that are mainstream.  I am quite surprised there are these two new bookshops and we shall see how long they last.

But it might well be true that if buying at the cheapest price is your main goal in life, you might well be better off on the internet.  I tend to buy on both, depending on language, and whether the retail shop can order it.

Having seen the decay of local bookshops in Britain before I left, and not having browsed much on my very few trips to the UK, I cannot comment on how things are in the UK.

[Paysages de France]

[quote user="catalpa"]Fascinating. The rosy tint in the spectacles obviously intensifies as one moves south.

[/quote]

  ...so say the cyniques......

[Cerise]

PdF - I, like you,  live in the Tarn & Garonne and I work part-time in the local library.   Hardly any French homes I visit have any books and the reason everyone cites is that they are too expensive.  Vive Tescos, the internet and cheap books is all I can say!   My friends look at my bookshelves with envy and I can see them thinking I must be rich - not so, but  I have always had access to cheap books.  Very nice for the booksellers to have 'protected' status, but not so good for the readers who, often only earning the SMIC, cannot afford to buy them.  I've recently noticed that LeClerc etc have started selling 'English style' paperbacks which are a lot more attrctive than traditional livres de poche, the look of which put you off the very idea of reading, and  they are not so expensive.  I do not think that reading should only be a luxury for the wealthy.  In one of my library stints I allowed some 'hippyish' young people to become members - very nice they are too - and I was told off by the worthy ladies of the library and advised they were 'Not the type of people who need to read' .  Oh really!!  If cheap books off the internet allows more people access to books then jolly good.

[Clair]

I have to agree with Cerise. I too find the artificially high prices very off putting and I buy my books on the net.

When in England, I used to buy at the very least one book a week and I have severe withdrawal symptoms induced by book prices in France.

[Paysages de France]

[quote user="Cerise"]PdF - I, like you,  live in the Tarn & Garonne and I work part-time in the local library.   Hardly any French homes I visit have any books and the reason everyone cites is that they are too expensive.  Vive Tescos, the internet and cheap books is all I can say!   My friends look at my bookshelves with envy and I can see them thinking I must be rich - not so, but  I have always had access to cheap books.  Very nice for the booksellers to have 'protected' status, but not so good for the readers who, often only earning the SMIC, cannot afford to buy them.  I've recently noticed that LeClerc etc have started selling 'English style' paperbacks which are a lot more attrctive than traditional livres de poche, the look of which put you off the very idea of reading, and  they are not so expensive.  I do not think that reading should only be a luxury for the wealthy.  In one of my library stints I allowed some 'hippyish' young people to become members - very nice they are too - and I was told off by the worthy ladies of the library and advised they were 'Not the type of people who need to read' .  Oh really!!  If cheap books off the internet allows more people access to books then jolly good.[/quote]

   

         Hmmmmmm...do your friends and acquaintances also not own

TV's, cars, dishwashers, mobiles, computers...or is it just books that they find 'too expensive'?

         Houses I visit in Tarn  et  Garonne have books all over the place but only a very few of the above items .......perhaps we don't know the same people.

[Cerise]

No, sadly a lot of people here in these very rural parts don't own those things either.  Great excitment this week as we are getting some computers at the library and that will mean a first for many of the kids round here as they will be able to go on the internet.  When I moved here almost no-one had a computer, not many had mobiles (but you can't get much of a signal in most of the village).  Most do have cars but they are a necessity not a luxury. 

[Catalpa]

Similar for us, Cerise. French people (very) locally tend to be retired farm workers and don't have big disposible incomes. Cars aren't a luxury - they're a necessity. Nearest shops are 3 km away and there are no buses. We do have a couple of visiting mobile shops but the range of goods is limited. French people locally mostly don't have mobile phones or dishwashers and some don't even have washing machines. If they have relatives nearby who do, then they do their washing there. The local newspapers are required reading; books aren't.

[Chancer]

Lidl (or at least my one) will have English books with accompanying audio CD's on sale on the 14th for I think 5.99 euros each to encourage people to learn English, - so they say!