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Value of a 1889 Webster's English Dictionary?

Value of a 1889 Webster's English Dictionary  - cover pageWhat would the value be of this dictionary? The pages look good, without spots. (So they are not like the first page as pictured.)

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Value of a 1889 Webster's English Dictionary
 

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Gold Post Medal for All Time! 677 Posts
August 24, 20190 found this helpful

It could be worth up to $150. Take it into a dealer for a free verbal appraisal.

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Bronze Feedback Medal for All Time! 196 Feedbacks
August 25, 20190 found this helpful

I love these old dictionaries. Every book in the world is contained in a dictionary--its all about the words!

Valuing it is challenging because with books there are conditions that are different from what a lay person calls them and not being able to see, touch, or smell yours, I hesitate to say if yours would be considered excellent, good, fair or poor, each of which changes the value significantly.

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To some book sellers, even a few spots can change something from good to poor. One whiff or showing of mold/mildew can make a book go from having value to being un-sellable (yes, I have had this happen on a what should have been a several hundred dollar old book that had gotten wet many years ago and had mold. I was told by numerous reputable book buyers and my local library destroy it and I did. Black mold is very dangerous and that book was beyond repair. It was very sad.)

I can tell you that people ask all kinds of crazy prices for this style of dictionary because it is so old, but I have not seen one, in any condition, sell for a very long time. They are a tough sell because there are a lot of them out there. It's all about supply and demand.

Your best bet would be to shop it to some a vintage booksellers, preferably in person, but you may have to try online and get them to purchase it from you.

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My hope would be you could fetch between $15 and $30 for it if selling it to a reseller.

The other thing you could do if you don't have the patience to shop it around is let the market dictate the value (since value truly is only what someone will pay for an item).

You could start it is a good until cancelled eBay auction at a crazy high price and then let eBay lower the price monthly until it sells. Be sure to set the shipping (if you are in the US) to Media Mail and box and weigh it BEFORE listing so you don't lose out on shipping costs.

This is super heavy and a wrong postage calculation can totally wipe out your profits.

Be sure to take very good photos of every flaw, covers front and back, and spine, and as many inside pages as you can. Do not try to give them book a condition (other than used) as a collector will be very unhappy if you call something excellent and they get it and in their world it is poor. Tell the potential buyers to look at your photos and ask questions BEFORE bidding.

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Post back with an update! Thanks for sharing!

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Bronze Post Medal for All Time! 105 Posts
August 25, 20190 found this helpful

You book is quite old and looks in good condition. Before deciding to sell the book it is wise to take it to a bookseller to have them look at it and determine the value of the book. Auction houses are a good place to start. You can look online and I did to check out what other people are asking for the book. They are not the exact same book as yours but people ask $150 to $200 for these books.

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