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Collecting
Where to Buy
Used Book Stores
Very few used book stores have Three Investigators books anymore. If they do, the books are usually the 1978 - 1987
paperback editions. These will vary in condition and price, but decent
copies can typically be found without spending a fortune. Copies of the first
28 Trade Hardcover titles are very difficult to find in used book stores
and GLB titles of numbers 29 - 43 are almost impossible to find this way.
Book Sales
Many libraries will hold annual sales
of books that they have taken out of circulation. Check with your
local libraries to see when and if they will be having such an event because
it is an excellent way to get GLB (or even Trade) Three Investigators titles
at a reasonable price. One word of caution: many older library books
are in poor condition or have been rebound (see the What to Look For page).
In addition to libraries, various
non-profit organizations around the country will also hold book sales as
fundraisers for charity. These are usually listed in the local newspapers
and will last for a few days to several weeks. Books at these sales
usually come from private donations and some great treasures can be found.
An excellent website that lists book sales taking place all over the U.S.
is the Book
Sale Finder.
Online Auctions
In my opinion, online auctions are
by far the best way to find Three Investigators books. They offer
access to the entire world and give opportunities for finding the rarest
books. There are several high-traffic online auctions, but the
best for finding Three Investigators books is eBay. At any given time, there are at least
200 Three Investigators titles posted on eBay, including the harder-to-find
GLB and many international editions (usually British). Very good or better Trade Hardcover Edition copies of numbers
1 - 20 can usually be had for less than twenty dollars and many times entire
collections are available. There are several drawbacks, however,
including very competitive bidding (that can create incredibly high prices) and the risk of fraud due to not actually being able to
thoroughly inspect the book(s) until after the sale.
Therefore, some advice: 1) never bid on any book unless there are clear
pictures of it posted or the seller sends you pictures via email
2) always email the seller with any questions you may have 3) don't bid from a seller with large
amounts of negative feedback; they have potential for trouble. In
addition, the most important piece of advice I can give is to not get carried
away by the excitement of the auction. Only bid as
much for a book as you think its worth, because chances are another book
just like it will be posted in a very short time.
Online Used Book Dealer Networks
A collecting resource that has sprung
up in the past few years is the concept of an online network of used book
dealers. These networks are centralized sites that allow you to search
the inventories of thousands of dealers from all over the U.S. and the
world. The amount of books available is staggering and you can often
find some great prices. Two of the most popular sites are the Advanced
Book Exchange and Bibliofind.
I have had a lot of success with both. Unfortunately, like online
auctions, you can't actually inspect the books before you buy, but the
risk of fraud or misrepresentation seems to be less as the dealers are usually "real" book stores.
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This page last updated on 27-Feb-06
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