Thanks for stopping by! Being a book hound is something I got into all the way back in 2004. This started as a lovely accident mixing up Sinclair Lewis and Upton Sinclair. Embarrassing for an English major and history enthusiasts, but it was a mistake that led to me fully discovering Sinclair Lewis – and then right into antique books.
I discovered that being a book hound was a thing. Bought two first editions of “Free Air” for $13 on eBay total including shipping, and ended up selling each one for $20 profit each.
Bought a couple more, started snooping around flea markets, garage sales, and used book stores, and before long I picked up a bunch of books on the value of collectible books.
This opened up the world to me of how much there was and combined my huge passion of books, writing, and tossed in a touch of history and antiques to boot. Add in the thrill of the hunt, and yeah, this was something that I absolutely LOVED.
Then after making a few hundred a month over multiple months while going to college and taking an off year I made a discovery: sometimes the amount listed in those books wasn’t the same as real life demand…in a good way.
I acquired a copy of Sinclair Lewis’s The Innocents that was listed in the book I had as a $150 value but there were virtually no listings of it anywhere online to compare to. Then I found one for $500…and my copy that I paid $55 for looked way, WAY better.
I put on a $775 price tag, figured I could wait on it, went about my business wondering if I should just keep it (I had become a huge Sinclair Lewis fan at that point), and then it sold for the requested price tag.
A $55 purchase returned $775. Even after insurance and shipping – over $700 profit in 2005. I was hooked.
Then life happened and I went to grad school, started a career, started a business, had life happen again, but the side hustle of buying and upselling antique first edition books is still a love I’ve kept up to this day.
Seems a website like this is a natural next step.
So take a look around as I make this website grow and thank you!