We Buy & Sell: Rare Books & Manuscripts

We Buy Printed, Manuscript & Visual Americana, viz. American History: 18th, 19th, early 20th century culture, exploration, travel, politics, and society

Sell to Us
We buy single items, entire collections, and entire libraries. Use our contact form to tell us what you are interested in selling. We'll get back to you promptly. (And please read on to get a sense of the material we seek for our customers.)

Sell to our firm with confidence
As a member of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America and International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, we abide by their binding code of ethics. We are also members of The Manuscript Society and, likewise, abide by their code of ethics. Est. 1995, a brief background history of our business is here.

We buy rare books, manuscripts, autographs, ephemera or photographs; any of these items focused upon American history that are printed, handwritten, or created in the 18th, 19th or early 20th century. We buy entire collections, libraries as well as single items.

We buy for inventory:

• Significant and defect-free copies of antiquarian rare books published in the 18th century and 19th century. Old leather books, books in original publisher’s cloth or boards; typically, printed or published in the 18th century or 19th century. Also antiquarian or rare pamphlets, booklets, bound volumes of pamphlets, and  trade catalogs.

• For historical manuscripts, we buy significant autograph letters signed or those with unusual content. Also, antique diaries, handwritten diaries and handwritten journals, handwritten personal journals, commonplace books, written correspondence, autograph letters. Manuscripts, literary or non-fiction. Handmade stories, illustrated manuscripts, homemade publications. Daybooks, ledgers, journals, waste books, cash books from the 18th century or 19th century. Typically, all handwritten or created in the 18th century or 19th century.

• We also buy en bloc historical business and company archives from all time periods, especially pre-1950. Family and business archives—of all subjects and sizes—letters, invoices, correspondence, company literature, promotional material.

• Historical ephemera, posters, broadsides, handbills, and unusual collections on almost any topic of American history. Posters, circulars, trade cards, flyers, handbills, scrapbooks.

• Original artwork, watercolors, pencil drawings. Early photography, photo albums, cased images, etc.

A pair of content-rich letters between two sisters during the American Revolution. As the British navy sails their way down to Philadelphia, these two Quaker women wrote to one another about this event and similar specific to the great conflict.

A stunning broadside, a single sheet, announcing the death of President Abraham Lincoln from the Secretary of War, Edward M. Stanton. The ghost-like letters seen in reverse are from ink transfer, possibly from the broadside being folded while the ink was still saturating through the surface of the paper’s fibers.

Single rare books and entire libraries of rare books are purchased

Illustrated front wrapper from the 1848 Newburyport, Massachusetts edition of A Pickle for the Knowing Ones by the exceedingly eccentric Lord Timothy Dexter, a self-educated and self-made man.

A very pretty and complete set in contemporary calf and marbled boards of the “American Monthly Review,” published in Boston and Cambridge between 1832 and 1833. Sabin 1158.

I Have Rare Books or Manuscripts To Sell
We want to know what you have to sell. We will respond to your query within 24-48 hours if we can buy your rare books and manuscripts.

Then What Happens?
We need to physically examine and evaluate your rare books and manuscripts. Then, we give you our purchase offer. If you agree, we will immediately send you payment by business check (often sent overnight), bank wire, or PayPal. We will contact you by phone or email with further details.

Can I Send My List of Rare Books or Manuscripts?
Yes. If you have more than 15 books make a list of your 10 most significant rare books. We will go over your list and contact you if we identify any rare books or manuscripts our customers want.

Do You Appraise Rare Books or Manuscripts?
We no longer offer paid appraisals or estimates of valuations for tax or insurance purposes.

Do You Buy Rare Book Libraries?
Yes. We travel, widely, to examine large collections or libraries of rare books offered for sale by collectors, estate executors, historical societies or libraries. Contact us now.

We offer strong prices for desirable items and pay promptly