Selling to Museum

Anyone sold any books to a Museum or Institution looking any advice on how it works any pointers greatly appreciated.

 

Has any such institution expressed interest in something you have? Other than lending & reference libraries that have to stay current and have a budget for buying new work, most acquisitions are made through donations. If you read the signage in any museum, you well see that very few things are bought.

 

Yes, Bronwen is right. If you are talking about books that might be in a research library, they usually have vendors they would buy from, if they have funds for that. If it's a small institution they probably wouldn't have much of a budget, if any. Still, you could inquire if you'd like. Donations could perhaps be tax write offs, so you might consider that. Be aware that their interest in titles might vary. They will have certain needs and a policy stating what they do and don't collect.

If you are talking about books that could be considered objects or artifacts (handwritten ledgers of local interest, etc.) there might be a different kind of process.

 

Hi thank you for replies I thought institutions or Museums would have something like a budget for purchases not everyone donates.Its a one off rare early linen book only found in Trinity College Dublin I doubt theres many copies this early 1749 around in very good condition.But they offered me £50 and said they got that price from similar items in their possession.But stated what I was looking and said they would get back to me.

 

100% of the time I've heard "we'd love to accept your donation" even when they have a budget of millions

 

I know they have a budget for this and am going to see what happens as I probably have something which might be better , arer than what they have so fingers crossed in January will update .

 

Old books, even "rare" ones from the 18th century, aren't necessarily valuable. If you would like to sell your volume and believe the institution is not offering you a fair price, you might be better off consigning it to a specialist book sale. That said... from a quick internet search you should be able to find out lots of information about your book, including whether it truly is rare, whether there is collector interest in the category in general and the book in specific, and what its approximate worth might be.

Debora

 

Its very rare Ive only seen one copy in the Library in Dublin dated to 1749 to encourage Linen Manufacture here in Ireland.

 

I hunt out rare books and paperbacks while Im out hunting for a faberge egg .I did a lot of study and buying and selling but those days are gone here in N Ireland .Dont see as many real books now even at the boot sales so its not my main thing now which is interesting items old and modern.

 

I once sold a pair of books to The Natural History Museum in London. Sold via eBay for between £300-£400 a couple of years ago. Despite trying i didnt get any other communication from them.

 

Have u tried antiquarian book dealers yet? If there’s any market for your title, some of them may make offers. I think you might be wasting your time offering it to museums, unless the book’s subject connects somehow with a particular museum’s theme.

 

If it is a "one off", how can there be another copy in Trinity College?
Without knowing more about the book, we cannot provide opinions as to how rare it is or whether the museum's offer was fair. It is also difficult to generalize about museums' buying practices. There are too many variables.
Doing a search on abebooks.com with keywords such as Irish linen manufacture, there were numerous reprints of pamphlets, regulations, essays etc. on the topic, so the information may not be scarce. The value would depend on how important it is to a museum or archives to possess an original.

 

If it is something they really, really want, & if they have the budget or a benefactor to buy it, museums/libraries themselves will buy/bid.

 

If something has value, (almost) always better to offer it in a competitive environment.

Debora

 

Hi thanks for all the input it's an early linen book hopefully the local Linen Museum might want it .Wriien by thomas Prior 1749 apart from the library in Dublin I haven't found another library with a copy.Will wait and see what the Museum say in the new year have a Happy Christmas everyone and thank you for all your replies friendliest site I visit .

 

Linen museums listed-u probably know about these. I never knew there was anything like a linin museum before your post

https://www.linenme.com/news/flax-linen-museums/

Well we do have our Potato Museum.