On finding out-of-print books

[Leviticus]

I did a search on the book sub-forum and didn't see my favorite resource mentioned, so, thought I'd bring it up.

If you're trying to find a copy of an out-of-print title the best used book source on the 'net is http://abebooks.com


Five step tutorial~

1) Look up your title on Amazon. As an example I'll use "Phantom over Vietnam," which is a great read, BTW.
2) Scroll down the page and copy the ISBN. You can copy the -10 or -13; it doesn't matter.
3) Open ABE Books and paste the ISBN into the appropriate box and hit the "Find" button.
4) A list will appear of all the copies ABE has access to in price order, from a beat-up reader copy to pristine first editions. In my example there are eight copies of the book, from $1.00 to over $134.00
5) Order it and enjoy.

 

[tinerj]

I have about 300 aviation books, and the majority of them were ordered through ABE. It is a great site. About 5,000 used book stores list their inventory on the site. I select the books I want, and they can come from multiple bookstores, but only make one payment to ABE. The bookstores then fulfill the order.

It is a great site. If you have a specific book you want, then Leviticus' post above is the way to go.

In my case, I often use their advanced search and put in key words about a subject of interest -- cross country flights, or bush flying, etc -- and up pops a bunch to choose among. I can then add what I want it to be such as a first edition hardbound with dust cover and ask that the choices be listed from least expensive to most expensive.

A lot of the books that I've bought have been $1.00 with $3.50 or so shipping.

 

[flyingron]

Of course AMAZON also links used holdings at a number of booksellers as well.
Of course, you can skip the ISBN. ABE will take the title as well.

I've also had good experience with Powells.com and alibris.com as well

 

[Howard Wilson]

Bookfinder.com is another good one. h