Books inspire passion in people from all walks of life. Why not turn that passion into a little extra pocket money by learning the art of being a book scout?
Book scouts are individuals who haunt estate and library sales and other interesting venues looking for elusive collectible books to sell to antiquarian book dealers. With the growth of book collecting as a hobby, demand for rare or interesting volumes has skyrocketed, leading towards an overall growth in the popularity of the book scout task. But book scouts are notoriously secretive about giving advice on how to do what they do. Knowledge, after all, is the key to a book scout’s success. Knowing where to look for books and what is valuable is ninety percent of the book scout’s trade, and such secrets should not be given away lightly!
A day in the life of a book scout typically starts out very early in the morning. Book scouts are the first people to arrive at estate sales; often, they show up prior to the opening of the sale to sign up on an entry list or get a good spot in line. Many times they will visit several sales that are close together and visit them all shortly after opening. “The early bird catches the worm” might as well be the motto of the book scout’s profession. The afternoon or evening is often spent either shopping the day’s finds around to various book dealers, or listing the books online if the book scout happens to be a bookseller too.
To be a book scout is to spend a lot of time alone, digging through piles of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books and old copies of Good Housekeeping; it takes patience, knowledge, and a willingness to persist. It’s also possible to go months and months without coming across a real treasure, so the book scout profession is not for the faint of heart. Many people find being a book scout a better hobby than a career, given the very unpredictable nature of finding and selling rare books.
What does a book scout look for? There are two types of books that are valuable: books which are valuable because of what they are, such as collectible first editions or signed limited press runs; and books which are valuable because of the information they contain.
Depending on whether or not the book scout sells books themselves or if they primarily sell books to other dealers, they might be searching for rare collectible volumes or difficult-to-locate technical manuals. First editions, signed limited editions, banned books, and artistically-bound volumes all have value. For collectible books like these, the book scout primarily seeks out books in excellent or fine condition. Collectible books depend on condition to be valuable – after all, nobody wants to present a first edition of Old Yeller to Aunt Sally and have it fall apart in her hands, covered in crayon and smelling of cigarettes.
Reference manuals on hard-to-find subjects can also be extremely valuable, if their information is current. Book scouts who sell books themselves often go through the non-fiction section of book sales very closely, looking for rare treatise on chemical processes or genetics. Many books on technical subjects are printed by universities and have relatively few copies in circulation. It’s the information within them that makes the book valuable, so condition is less important as long as the book itself is sturdy and the text is still legible.
The skills of a book scout primarily lie in the ability to process information quickly, glancing across a row of books on a shelf and picking out the books that are interesting with speed and accuracy. At some estate or library sales, several book scouts compete with one another to find the real treasures, so speed is of the essence. Another requisite trait of book scouts is the deep and honest love of books. Reading and knowing books is essential for a book scout to put up with the uncertainty of markets. Many book scouts are collectors as well, selling the books that they find to support their own book-buying habit. Finally, knowledge and awareness of book markets is essential. Being able to identify valuable books while in the field is what marks a book scout from your average everyday book shopper.
Being a book scout isn’t for everyone; it’s a tough occupation that rarely pays the bills. Collecting books has never been a more popular hobby; however, the ease of the Internet has made finding books to be much easier than in decades past, opening the door to amateurs and making the profession of book scouting far more crowded than ever. At the same time it holds the thrill of the treasure hunt and for those with a genuine passion for books, the sheer enjoyment of book scouting outweighs the uncertainty of actually making any money.
