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Value of Britannica Great Books Set?

volumes on a shelf
The publishers of the Encyclopedia Britannica compiled a collection of writings and books known as the Great Books of the Western World. The set typically numbers 54 volumes. Read Tacitus, Ptolemy, Marx, Goethe, Tolstoy, Darwin, and more. The value of these sets varies depending on condition, number of volumes, and demand.
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4 Questions

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August 13, 2021

How much would these sell for? I was thinking maybe $80. They were printed in 1952. They are in very good condition set 44-54. Thank you in advance!

A collection of Britannica Great Works.
 

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Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
August 14, 20210 found this helpful
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Sellers can price their items as high or low as they wish but they can only raise the price if there are no bids so I always suggest starting with a higher price and best offers considered to see how the market goes. If no bids after a few weeks then lower the price.

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If your books are in really good condition, I would start the price at $100 w/offers considered - ship media mail.
Check your books condition against some of the sold books so you can see if your books are really in better shape than others.
Check for loose binding, wrinkled pages, writing, water marks, dirty pages, dirty ends, binds faded, etc as any of this should to be mentioned in your description.
Several good pictures will be needed if you expect to sell for more money.
You have volume #54 which seems to be the most popular volume.

You can check out eBay's sold listings to see what people are paying for some of these books. The majority of these books are sold 'piecemeal' as individual volumes as sold listings show but I did find one 'lot' of 11 mixed volumes that sold for $21.50. These look to be in good condition (but faded). This seller did not provide enough pictures nor a good description so check that out.

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www.ebay.com/.../353506998568?hash=item524ea8b928...

I also noticed a lot of 52 volumes that only sold for $109.54 plus shipping. This seller did a decent job with pictures but this price is low compared to other 'lots' this size.
www.ebay.com/.../324744076625?hash=item4b9c415d51...

www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_from=R40&_nkw=Britannica...

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July 19, 2017

I have a complete unopened set (still in plastic), is there any value in these or should I donate them to a library/school?


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Gold Feedback Medal for All Time! 949 Feedbacks
July 22, 20170 found this helpful
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This set is not like a regular encyclopedia set and is worth money. Lots of books are sold on eBay but it does take a little work to get them listed.

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Some people are selling them as a set while others are selling them as individual books. You do not say how many is in your set but you can take a look at some listings on eBay and see if yours is a match. Books are very slow sellers but if you list them you might get $150 dollars or more but it may not be for a long time as sellers of books usually leave books listed for months and even years. these are very difficult to pack and ship. You could try listing on Craigslist and take less but maybe sell sooner.
Here are links to sets listed on eBay and the second link are sets that actually sold and how much was paid.

www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_odkw=1986+Britannica+Great...

www.ebay.com/.../i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=1986...

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March 27, 2019

I am interested in finding the value of a 1960s era set of the 'The Great Books', Classics, e.g., Aristotle, Shakespeare, Plato, humour, etc. 75 +/- books.


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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
March 27, 20191 found this helpful
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This one is asking $210 and an additional $58 shipping. www.ebay.com/.../183710213517?chn=ps&ul_ref=https...

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February 10, 2015

volumes on a shelfI have the complete set of Britannica Great Books from the 60s. They are in excellent condition. They are the gray color not the brown. What would the value be?

By Connie

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