What Are the Best Questions to Ask a Seller Before You Buy a Vintage Book Online?

Nine questions that tell you whether you are looking at the right copy, and what the answers really mean.

By Pam Fournier, Owner of Reading Vintage

Most people never ask.

I can tell you that from my own shop. Almost everyone who finds Reading Vintage found it by typing something into Google. They read the listing, they look at the photos, and they decide. Only about three people a month send me a message with a question before they buy.

I understand why. Asking feels like bothering somebody. It feels like you should already know.

Here is the honest answer to the question in the title. The best questions to ask a vintage book seller are the plain, specific ones: what the copyright page says, what is written inside, whether the spine is sound, whether the jacket belongs to this copy, what is loose or missing, and how it will be packed. Nine of them are listed below, in the words you can copy into a message.

But the questions are only half of it. What you are really testing is whether the seller knows the book in her hands. A good seller answers in a sentence. A seller who does not know will give you a paragraph that says nothing. That tells you more than the answer would have.

Key Takeaways

1. Ask about the copyright page first, because the year and the printing decide whether this is the copy you remember.
2. A seller who answers fast and plainly knows the book. A vague answer is itself an answer.
3. Asking for one more photo is the strongest question you can ask, because a photo cannot talk around a flaw.
4. Writing inside a book is sometimes damage and sometimes the best thing about it. Ask what it says before you decide.
5. Availability is not the same as the right copy. The questions are how you tell the two apart.

Why Does Buying a Vintage Book Online Feel Like a Gamble?

Because you cannot pick it up.

In a shop you would open the cover, hold the book by its spine, and feel whether the pages are going to stay put. You would see the year on the copyright page in about four seconds. Online, all of that has to come to you through somebody else's photos and somebody else's words.

Most buyers I hear from have been burned at least once. They ordered a book that looked fine in the pictures and arrived soft and wobbly. They ordered a 1940s cookbook and got a 1970s reprint of it. They ordered a book for their mother and found a stranger's name inked across the front endpaper.

None of that is rare. It happens because a lot of listings are written to sell a book, not to describe one. "Good vintage condition" is not a description. It is a shrug.

And there is a second thing going on, which is the one that stings more. When you are hunting a specific book, the one from your grandmother's kitchen or the one you read at twelve, you are not shopping. You are trying to get something back. A copy that is technically the same title but the wrong year, the wrong size, the wrong cover, does not do the job. It sits on the shelf and reminds you that it is not the one.

That is the part a seller cannot guess at. You have to say it out loud.

What Does a Good Listing Already Tell You?

Before you type a single question, read what is there. A careful seller has usually answered most of this already, and the questions you ask should be the ones she left out.

Three things to look for.

One. Named flaws. A listing that names specific problems is a listing you can trust. Foxing on the first ten pages. A two inch tear at the top of the jacket. A previous owner's name on the front endpaper. When a seller tells you the bad news without being asked, the good news in the same listing is probably true too. A listing with no flaws named is not a flawless book. It is missing information.

Two. Real photos of the real copy. Not a stock image. Not a photo of a different printing. The reason my buyers keep writing "exactly as described and photographed" is that the photographs are of the book that goes in the box. If the photos look like they came off a search engine, you do not know what you are buying.

Three. The copyright page. The single most useful photo in any vintage book listing, and the one most often left out. If it is there, you can date the book yourself. If it is not, that is question number one.

Once you know what is missing, you know what to ask. My post on reading a listing's photos to spot the cookbook you actually remember walks through what the pictures can tell you on their own.

The Questions Are About the Seller, Not Just the Book

Here is how I think about it after fifteen years out hunting sales.

You are not quizzing somebody. You are finding out whether this person has the book in her hands and has actually looked at it.

A seller who has looked will answer in one or two short sentences, with a number or a specific detail in it. "1947, second printing, says so on the copyright page." "Yes, a name in pencil inside the front cover, Ruth Ellis, and the date 1952." That is somebody holding a book.

A seller who has not looked will answer around the edges. "It is in lovely vintage condition for its age." "All of our books are carefully inspected." Those are sentences about a process, not about your book.

You do not need to decide whether that seller is honest. You only need to decide whether she can tell you what you asked. If she cannot, the copy stays a gamble no matter how good the price is, and there will be another copy.

The Nine Questions Worth Asking

Copy these. Change the wording to sound like you. You do not need to send all nine. Pick the three that matter for the book you are chasing.

1. What does the copyright page say, and can you send a photo of it?

This is the big one. Title pages lie by omission, copyright pages do not. The year, the publisher, and the printing line all live there. If you are trying to match the copy your mother cooked from, the decade matters more than the title does. A book club edition from 1965 and a first trade printing from 1947 are the same recipes in a different object.

2. Is there any writing, a name, or an inscription inside?

Ask what it says and where it is. Then decide for yourself. A stranger's name on the endpaper bothers some people and not others. Notes in the margins of a cookbook are often the best part of the book, because they tell you which recipes the last owner actually trusted. But you should get to make that call before the book arrives, not after.

3. Does it open flat, or does it want to close on you?

If you plan to read it or cook from it, this matters more than how the cover looks. A tight spine that fights you is a real problem in a kitchen. Sellers do not usually mention it because it is not damage. It is behavior.

4. Is the dust jacket original to this copy?

Jackets get swapped. A jacket can also be price clipped, trimmed, or from a later printing, which changes what the book is. If the jacket matters to you, ask plainly whether it came on this book.

5. Is anything loose, torn, or missing?

Pages, plates, maps, recipe inserts, the back endpaper. Ask as one question and let the seller tell you. Then follow up on whatever she names.

6. How do the hinges look where the cover meets the pages?

This is where old books fail first. The cover is still attached, but you can see the threads or the paper cracking at the gutter. It is the difference between a book that will survive twenty more years and one that will come apart in your hands.

7. Can you send one more photo of [the thing you care about]?

The strongest question on this list. Photos cannot talk around a problem. Name the exact thing: the spine head, the page with the recipe, the signature, the bottom edge. Any seller who has the book can take that picture in a minute. A seller who stalls on a photo request has told you something.

8. Do you have more than one copy of this?

Worth asking when you are matching an edition for a family member or finishing a set. Most vintage sellers, me included, have one. If somebody has twelve, you are probably looking at a reprint, which may be fine, but you should know.

9. How will it be packed?

For a fragile book, a loose paperback, or anything with a jacket, ask. You are not being fussy. The answer tells you whether the seller has thought about the hundred miles between her table and your table.

If you want to see what being able to ask looks like from the buyer's side, one of my Etsy buyers put it plainly this fall: "She was able to answer my questions so I could use this item for a school project for my youngest. It came quickly and in pristine condition." She asked first. Then she bought.

How Do You Read the Answer You Get Back?

The questions are easy. Reading the reply is where the judgment is. Here is what I would do, in order.

Step one. Send two or three questions, not nine. A short message gets a fast answer. A list of nine gets put off until later, or gets a summary instead of specifics. Lead with the copyright page.

Step two. Watch the clock, a little. You are not timing anybody. But a seller who answers the next day with a photo attached is a seller who is in her inventory. A week of silence on a one of a kind book means you should keep looking.

Step three. Look for a number or a name in the reply. A year. A printing. A measurement. A previous owner's name. Specifics are the proof that somebody opened the book. Adjectives are not.

Step four. Notice whether she tells you anything bad. A seller who volunteers a flaw you did not ask about has just earned a lot of trust in one sentence. That is the moment I relax as a buyer.

Step five. Take the no gracefully, if it comes. Sometimes the honest answer is "this is not the edition you want." That is a good answer. It saves you the shipping and the disappointment, and it tells you to come back to that seller next time.

Step six. Then decide fast. This is the one uncomfortable truth about vintage. Once you know it is the right copy, it is still a single copy. Vintage does not restock neatly. Shopping vintage online works like walking an antique mall. You can leave it on the shelf, come back in ten minutes, and find it gone.

Step seven. Keep your own notes. If you are hunting a specific edition, write down the year, the publisher, and the printing you are after. Three lines in your phone. The next time a copy surfaces, you will know in ten seconds whether to ask or to pass.

If you would rather do your looking in person, I wrote about how buying online stacks up against an estate sale and where each one actually wins. And if you want to practice reading listings, the vintage books in my shop all carry the condition notes and copyright details I am describing here, so you can see what a full answer looks like before you ever need to ask for one.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Is it rude to ask a vintage book seller a lot of questions?

No. A seller who sells one of a kind items expects questions, because every item is different. Keep it to two or three specific questions in one message and you will almost always get a quick, useful answer. A seller who is bothered by a fair question is telling you something worth knowing.

Q. What is the single most important question to ask?

Ask what the copyright page says, and ask for a photo of it. That one page carries the year, the publisher, and usually the printing. It is the fastest way to tell whether this is the edition you remember or a later reprint of the same title.

Q. How can I tell if a vintage book will fall apart when it arrives?

Ask about the hinges, where the cover meets the pages, and ask whether the book opens flat. Those two answers predict more about a book's future than the cover photo does. Also ask for a photo of the top of the spine, which is where wear shows first.

Q. Does writing inside a vintage book lower its value?

Sometimes, and sometimes it is the reason to buy it. A stranger's name in a novel is usually just wear. Handwritten notes and tucked in recipes in a cookbook are history, and many buyers want them. Ask what the writing says, then decide what it is worth to you.

Q. What should I do if a seller will not answer my question?

Treat the non answer as the answer and keep looking. A seller who cannot tell you the year on the copyright page, or will not send one more photo, probably does not have the book in front of her. There will be another copy, and the next seller will answer.

The Copy You Can Ask About

Going back to where this started. Most people never ask, and most of the time it works out fine.

But you are not most people, or you would not have read this far. You are after a particular book. Maybe you know the title and maybe you only know the color of the cover and the kitchen it sat in. Either way, a listing can only tell you so much, and the rest is sitting in somebody's hands two states away.

So ask. Three plain questions in a short message. What does the copyright page say. What is written inside. Can you send me one more photo of this one thing.

Over 500 people have left reviews across my Shopify shop and my Etsy shop in the last ten years, and the ones that still mean the most are not about the books. They are from people who wrote first, got a straight answer, and then bought with their eyes open.

The right copy is worth a question. Ask it.

Keep Learning

• How Can I Tell From Listing Photos if This Is the Cookbook I Remember Baking From at Christmas? A walk through what a listing's photographs can tell you on their own, before you message anybody.
• Buying a Vintage Cookbook Online or at an Estate Sale: Which Is the Safer Bet? An honest comparison of what you can check in person and what you give up for the wider selection online.

About the Author

Pam Fournier is a vintage bookseller in Midland, Michigan, and the only person working at Reading Vintage. She has been out hunting sales for fifteen years, including five as co-owner of an estate sale company, and she photographs, describes, and packs every book she sells herself. When you send a question to the shop, she is the one who answers it.