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A used book or secondhand book is a
A number of small towns have become centres for used book sellers, most notably
A used book or secondhand book is a book
A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
which has been owned before by an owner other than the publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
or retailer
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesal ...
, usually by an individual or library
A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...
.
Sales
Used books typically become available on the market when they are sold or given to asecond-hand shop
__NOTOC__
A second-hand shop is a shop which sells used goods. Secondhand shops are often part of the different parts of the reuse or Circular economy. Different formats of second-hand shop exist, selling in different formats and type of content: ...
, church used book sale or used bookstore
Used bookstores (usually called "second-hand bookshops" in Great Britain) buy and sell used books and out-of-print books. A range of titles is available in used bookstores, including in print and out-of-print books. Book collectors tend to freque ...
; they are usually sold for about half or three-quarters the price of what they would cost new, though rare books and others still in demand or hard to obtain might sell for more than this.
Book sales in general decreased with the advent of online shopping
Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of th ...
. However, there are dedicated online retailers for used books that allow individuals to sell directly to them. Some retailers also allow used books to be sold through a third-party marketplace.
Some new book shops also carry used books, and some used book shops also sell new books. Though the original author
In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...
s or publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
s will not benefit financially from the sale of a used book, it helps to keep old books in circulation. Sometimes very old, rare, first edition, antique, or simply out of print books can be found as used books in used book shops.
College textbooks
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions, but also of learners ( ...
are often bought secondhand. Students will buy secondhand or resell books they bought at full-price to save costs. These copies will be sold through secondhand markets or the school itself.
Condition
A reading copy of a book may be well-used, may include highlighting,marginalia
Marginalia (or apostils) are marks made in the margin (typography), margins of a book or other document. They may be scribbles, comments, gloss (annotation), glosses (annotations), critiques, doodles, drolleries, or illuminated manuscript, ...
, dedications, and is suitable for reading, but is not collectible. This is a term used in the used book business, to indicate the lack of collectible value, while claiming that the book is in sufficiently good condition for a purchaser whose interest is primarily in actually reading the book. A reading copy is typically less expensive than a collectible copy.
Booktowns
A number of small towns have become centres for used book sellers, most notably Hay-on-Wye
Hay-on-Wye, or simply Hay (; or simply ), is a market town and community (Wales), community in Powys, Wales. With over twenty bookshops, it is often described as a book town, "town of books"; it is both the National Book Town of Wales and the s ...
in South Wales
South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...
. They act as a magnet for buyers, and are located in country areas of great scenic beauty.
See also
* Bibliophilia * Bibliomania * Book swapping *Bookselling
Bookselling is the commercial trading of books, which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process.
People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, book people, bookmen, or bookwomen.
History
The foundi ...
* Book store shoplifting
* First-sale doctrine
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Used Book Bookstores Bookselling Books by type Book collecting Reuse Books