New or Used?

aceuggy · Post by **aceuggy** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 5:13 pm

Apologies if this question has been asked before, but do you buy new or used books? I ask because just having had my eyes opened to the wealth of books available to me I am in the process of compiling a "To read" list. I think I prefer to buy new as I like the idea of a fresh unread copy, but would probably save a bit of money buying used. It's a dilemma!

SonjaMarie · Post by **SonjaMarie** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 5:49 pm

Both, it depends on the price, and I always read what the description of the condition of the book is. You can get some used books that look like new or just have a few creases on the spine or cover.

SM

Vanessa · Post by **Vanessa** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 6:44 pm

I'll buy a used one if it's in very good/excellent condition. I don't mind so much if it's a swap. I have to say, however, that I do prefer a brand new book - they just smell so nice!!

Plus a lot of the bookshops do offers like 3 for 2 and sometimes even buy one, get one free!

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 7:15 pm

I like new books but can't afford them unless they are tax deductible, which fiction usually isn't. But I do get to read new books by reserving new releases or putting in purchase requests through the library. That way I can have the pleasure of reading a new book without having to pay for it or store it. I get new books from my subscription library too, and while there is a monthly fee, it's a fraction of what I would pay for new copies, especially as the books I take out are often very expensive academic or art books.

Right now I have out from various libraries two brand new novels and two brand new non-fiction books. The total cost to me had I bought them new would have been £138.40.

I will only buy used if there is no other way I can get to read the book. If it's an older book I prefer a solid 1940s or 50s hardback to a 60s or 70s paperback, but there's not always a choice. I have got some hardback copies of OOP books in excellent condition for under £10 including shipping, some with original dustjackets.

Edited to add: when I say brand new, I mean I am the first person to read it. I haven't counted books which look new but have been borrowed once or twice before.

Madeleine · Post by **Madeleine** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 7:24 pm

[quote=""Miss Moppet""]Right now I have out from various libraries two brand new novels and two brand new non-fiction books. The total cost to me had I bought them new would have been £138.40.
[/quote]

That's expensive for 4 books, Moppet

, are they special editions?

I like new books but I have started buying used, as long as the seller says they are in good condition; and most of the time they are, in fact some of them look as if they've barely been read (maybe they haven't which is why they were selling them cheaply!). But I keep my own books in good condition, so if I'm buying used I expect it to be in pretty good condition too, although I don't mind a bit of yellowing page and slightly creased spine,which is inevitable with paperbacks after a short while anyway. I tend to buy used books if I can't get a new copy fairly cheaply, ie around £5.00, and find most used booksites pretty reliable, and I have saved quite a bit of money!

boswellbaxter · Post by **boswellbaxter** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 7:36 pm

I buy both. I buy a lot of out-of-print books, both fiction and nonfiction, used as well as nonfiction books that would be cost-prohibitive if I tried to buy them new. I've run into a lot of used books that appear to have been unread--in the last few months, I've bought two older used books that never had the pages cut!

Miss Moppet · Post by **Miss Moppet** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 7:40 pm

[quote=""Madeleine""]That's expensive for 4 books, Moppet

, are they special editions?[/quote]

The novels are:
The People's Queen by Vanora Bennett - £12.99
Juliet by Anne Fortier - £7.99

The non-fiction:
Magna Carta and the England of King John, ed. Janet S. Loengard - £55.00
Rococo: The Continuing Curve, ed. Sarah D. Coffin - £62.42

I could have saved some money on the novels through Amazon or the supermarkets, but not on the non-fiction.

Telynor · Post by **Telynor** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 7:44 pm

I try to get new, if I can. But sometimes I will settle for used if the copy is in very good condition from a non-smoking home. (I am allergic to tobacco) Managed to score a copy of Medieval Domesticity at about a third of the asking price, which was a very good deal.

LoobyG · Post by **LoobyG** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 10:30 pm

I buy mostly used and out of print books, unless there's a new release I'm very interested in and then I normally buy it from Amazon or one of the supermarkets. I do love the smell of new books, but I couldn't afford to buy as many books as I do if I bought them all new

I buy them from a variety of sources: Abebooks, Ebay, Charity shops and car boots being the main ones, I do love a forage in a secondhand bookshop too. If I'm buying a book as a reader then I don't mind the condition too much, but as a keeper I'm quite fussy - I've got a collection of original Jean Plaidy's and my ambition is to have a first edition with an original cover of each one she published under that name! I love the feel of old library books though, the well read feeling - I don't know why, they just feel nice and loved.

Misfit · Post by **Misfit** » Mon October 11th, 2010, 11:22 pm

I'm not buying much these days, my library is just too darned perfect and they get all the new HF

Most everything else I try for ILL (interlibrary loan), except for the old OOP paperbacks that I can pick up off of swap sites. If I can't ILL a book or get via swap it has to be something I really really want and then I'll buy it - that is if its not too expensive.