We Buy Mountaineering Books!

What we buy and do not buy in Mountaineering Books!

We buy collections or individual books like the ones on this website. That means books on Mountaineering, Rock Climbing or Exploration, Tibet, the Himalaya, The Arctic and Antarctic, and true adventure.

We prefer hardcovers, the older the better, with Dust Jackets if they had one, in nice condition. We like Signed books, old climbing guidebooks, and generally books that we sell for more than $50. We do not usually buy paperbacks, very recent books, books in poor condition, magazines, and books that we would price under $50. We really like to buy older books, books in nice condition, and uncommon books.

Since 1950 more nice climbing books have been published than at anytime in history. But the internet has now made most of them easy to find, which means they now fetch low prices even if they were expensive 25 years ago. So if your books were new when you bought them, as opposed to used books and decades old, most have very low value right now. Paperbacks were created so books can be sold at a low price. The resale market is not there (as opposed to Science Fiction, which was originally published in paperbacks and magazines, so that is what sci-fi collectors want.)

Whether you have 5 or 500 books to sell, please call us before you make a list. Call us at 720 560-4963 any day, all day, or e-mail us at info@chesslerbooks.com. We need to talk on the phone as it is much better than e-mails. If you have already made a list of your books, please e-mail it to us. But don't start making a list until we talk. 90% of what is written on a list is unnecessary for us. A photo of the whole shelf answers most of our questions. See our example below.

If your collection is very large, we can even fly or drive to your home to pick it up. We have done this dozens of times over 35 years. We pay generously for fine collections, and we can do all the work. Since the Pandemic began in January 2020 we have driven to Phoenix AZ, Durango CO, Silicon Valley CA, Seattle, Oregon twice and towed numerous U-Haul trailer loads of books to our bookshop. In 2021 I even flew to Juneau AK to buy books and in 2023 I drove to Toronto and pulled a trailer of books back!

How much do we pay for books?

Almost no used book sellers buy at a percent of their selling price. Nobody buys a box of books or a room full of books by any formula. And we will not look at a list of books with the prices taken from our website and come up with a price we will pay based on our selling prices.

Why not? For the same reason food, clothes, houses and cars sell for different prices and mark-ups. Each item is unique. Used book prices are usually based on the demand for the specific book, in the condition of each book, and the current supply both on-line and through our other ways of buying books.

Right now, in the 2020's, it is much easier to find, and harder to sell, many of the books that were scarcer 20 years ago.

A Hint on Taking Photos of Your Books

If you do not have a list, an easy way to let us know what you have is to take photos and email them to us. Here is an example of some books that a fellow had on his shelves. Just get them well lit (daylight is best), take some images, and send them to our email: orders@chesslerbooks.com. Make the longest dimension at least 800 pixels, oir 5 inches.

Some hints on packing books for shipping:

If you ship your books to us, we have some ideas on the best way to do it.

Pack books tightly in a sturdy well taped box with crushed newspaper between the books and the box, and between the stacks of books, so they wont move and get damaged. Best way to stack books is flat, and never vertically with the spine up. Vertical is okay for cheap books to fill space. If the books have dust jackets wrap each book so the jackets don't get damaged. Ship them by the Post Office's Media Rate, the PO will try to upsell you to a faster service which is a waste of money.

I never use insurance. If you like, insure for the minimum only, as the Post Office never loses insured packages, and they also never pay for high value losses! Keep the boxes light, between 20 and 30 lbs. I am almost 80 years old and can't lift heavy boxes!

UPS and FedEx ground services are premium services, and in our experience they are not much faster or careful than the Post Office. The Post Office's Media Rate is a bargain, it costs only a fraction of UPS's cheapest rate. However, UPS will pick up boxes at your house if you are unable to carry boxes to the Post Office or a UPS store.

In 2023 we have noticed that Post Office delivery has speeded up!

If you need to buy boxes to mail your books, we recommend buying a bundle of 25 boxes from http://www.uline.com, a great supplier of business supplies. Our favorite size is 16''x12''x8'' or smaller. That will hold 25 lbs of books, and works for even the largest picture books, as well as stacks of normal 9'' books.

U-Line boxes are cheap, $1 to $2 each, and even with shipping charges to you, they cost half of what U-Haul charges. The U-Haul book box is 16x12x12, similar to our recommendations, but is 25% larger and gets too heavy to lift when full of books. Also, they use lightweight cardboard that can blow open. You spent a lot to buy your books, and took care of them for decades. Don't let them get damaged at this point.

How to tape a box of books:

Most boxes we see do not use enough tape. Use better quality tape, not the cheap stuff. For 10-20 boxes you only need a few rolls of tape, and we can supply you with tape, as we buy the best quality available.

Tape all the places where there is an edge of cardboard. Boxes burst open where the are made to open, where the flaps lift. So tape the long seam on the top, and bottom. Then tape the edges where the top flaps meet the sides. Do not wrap the box with tape. Well, okay, do whatever you want. But tape it this way is the correct way. We often use a second layer of tape, then press it down with our hand. On the photo below, notice the raw edge on the left. Yes, put tape on that weak spot as well. It is the only place the box is glued, so reinforce it.

Above: The box in the photo is about 16x16x12, too large by my standards. I used boxes this large when I was 30 years old. I used to ship boxes up to their legal limit, 70 lbs. Now I am too frail to lift that much, and the books are thanking me for using smaller boxes.

Where to tape a box:

Below: Please look at two things. One, he has double taped each place he used tape. You are taping the box so it will not open accidentally. Even the best tape can break open or lift off. So use a double layer and rub it with your hand to be sure the tape is adhering properly. Note that also that he has taped every place where a box normally open. The folded edges almost never break. However, the vertical edges are where boxes will break. In the next photo we will show you how to protect against that.

Nobody ever told me how to tape a box. So we looked at boxes that came to us and had broken open, or almost did. The photo below is a real order we are shipping. Notice that eight edges are taped, actually double taped. That is the strongest way to tape a box.

Also note that we are not using plastic tape, rather reinforced paper tape. It is much stronger and adheres better than plastic tape. It took Amazon ten years before they finally saw the light, and they are now using reinforced paper tape. They went away from plastic tape after replacing nobody knows how many lost and damaged orders. Plastic tape works fine if you use the best quality tape, and make sure it is stuck on really well. Of course when using a plastic envelope like the Post Office Flat Rate Priority Padded Envelope, only plastic tape will work.

Also notice the use of reinforced filament tape around the box. But where? Not around the top and bottom in the middle like a suitcase, but protecting the edges and corners which are the vulnerable places where a box can fail. If we are buying your books and putting them in our truck or trailer, this much taping is overkill. We tape this well when the box is heavy and going through the post office, UPS or FedEx. If we buy your books and ship them to us, this is the way we like to see the boxes taped. We can supply you with tape as sometimes it is only available in quantity.