Welcome to the LEAVES bookshop.
We are most glad to sell you books. However, we also buy books, occasionally. Before we can tell you whether we'd like to buy your books, though, we need some information from you.

If you want to sell us books, please send us a list of the books you have to sell. Include, for each book, the author, title, publisher, and year of publication. Also let us know whether it's a hardcover or paperbound book, and whether it has a dustjacket (if hardcover).

If you're a professional bookseller and/or conversant with terms used in book grading and description then by all means please include a description of each book in the list. (In any case please note as best you can if there's any obvious damage to a book.)

We'll contact you to let you know which if any of the books interest us. (Don't take an occasional "no" too hard, it doesn't mean we don't like the books, it may just mean we have enough of them or no room for more at the moment.) At this point we'll need to confirm the condition of the books in order to make a final buying decision and a bid.

If you live nearby (we're in central Massachusetts, USA) we might offer to come and inspect the books visually. (This can save you some work.) We'll contact you to make arrangements.

Otherwise, though, we'd prefer to see pictures.

At the very least we'd need a picture of the front cover of the book. For common, not-likely-too-valuable books, this is enough. It can easily be made on a flatbed scanner.

If you think a book might be more valuable, we'll need more pictures to corroborate that. Ideally, two or three pictures per book, one facing the top front corner, another facing the bottom rear corner, so that we can see all six sides of the book. These pictures should be with the dustjacket removed, if possible, if the book is a hardcover. (We'd then need a separate picture of the printed side of the dustjacket.) But do not remove the jacket if it's fastened or does not just easily slip off; in that case it's OK to take all pictures with the dust jacket on the book.

These pictures should be taken with a camera capable of sharp close focus so that the book reasonably well fills the frame of the picture. Fixed focus cameras probably will not take a sharp picture; autofocus cameras might, though depending on your camera, you may need to play with the macro setting. Any recent autofocus digital camera would probably be up to the task. It's not necessary to have a fancy background; just set the book on a clean surface like a tablecloth or sofa. If it's daylight that's probably enough light; otherwise flash is OK.

Unless you are local, we'd also need to know the total shipping weight of the lot.

We recognize several widely used abbreviations in book descriptions, which you can use if you wish:

- PB = paperbound or softcover book;
- HB = hardbound or hardcover book;
- DJ = dust jacket (most often associated with modern hardcover books).

Here are some sample listings in the format that ideally we'd like to see:

* George Bain, "Celtic Art: the methods of construction" (Dover Publications, 1973) PB [covers lightly scuffed]

* Eliot Porter, "The Grand Canyon" (Prestel / ARTNews, 1992) HB w/DJ [like new]

* Leo Bronstein, "Five Variations on the Theme of Japanese Painting" (Bond Wheelwright Co., 1969) HB, no DJ [boards mildly scuffed; slight shelfwear to bottom edge of boards & spine]

* Kakuzo Okakura, "The Book of Tea" (Dover Publications, 1964) paperbound [covers very mildly scuffed; front cover slightly creased]

* George Nelson Preston, "African Art Masterpieces" (Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1991) hardbound with dust jacket, [inscription in pencil on half title page; previous owner's stamp on front DJ flap; DJ very mildly scuffed]

If you've already browsed our inventory you may have a sense of the sorts of books we like. In the broadest terms we're looking for books about the arts, sciences and natural history, especially if they are nicely illustrated or in unusual bindings. In general, scarcer books with a scholarly rather than popular orientation are favored.

Some types of books we are are NOT looking to buy!

- magazines (unless scholarly and/or bound);
- mass-market paperback ("pulp") fiction, romances, etc.;
- international editions (or any other inferior quality reprint);
- textbooks (there are exceptions, but this is not in general something we're hot to buy);
- general encyclopedias, almanacs and yearbooks (specialized ones may be considered);
- stolen goods: you must be the rightful owner!

Also, we are not interested in books with certain types of flaws:

- books in less than Very Good (VG) condition, unless they are quite old or scarce;
- books with food, mold or mildew on the pages or covers (mild foxing is OK);
- books with a musty, smoky or otherwise unpleasant odor;
- books with fire or water damage, missing pages or plates, badly torn bindings, etc.

Unless we make specific exceptions in advance, books shipped to us with any of these flaws may be returned to you unpaid and with shipping costs deducted from your remaining payment. Therefore, save us both some trouble by weeding them out before you offer them to us.

We pay for books we buy either with cash, or with merchandise credits.

The term "cash" is used loosely, as it may actually be cash, or by check, or by credit card, or PayPal, or whatever method of transaction we mutually agree upon. But whatever, we will trade currency for your books in this case. If fast cash is what you need, the benefits of this method are obvious.

The other option is payment by merchandise credit. In this method, we extend you credit on a certain amount of purchases from our shop, inclusive of shipping and, if applicable, sales tax. There is no time limit on such credits. They are good until you use them up. It is somewhat like a book swap except you don't need to pick out your swapped books right away. Because we can afford to be, we are more generous with this method. If, for example, we quoted you $100 cash for your books, we'd alternatively extend you a $200 merchandise credit. However, unused book credits are not redeemable for cash. Increased overall purchasing power is the benefit of this method.

Usually we would offer both choices, though occasionally we might offer only one or the other. Please choose just one method, if offered both. While it might be possible to mix them up, it would be just too complicated.

Please either e-mail or snailmail your initial list, if possible with photographs. We need a written list! Evaluating books is complicated enough, and we're distracted enough, that this simply cannot be done verbally over the phone, never mind the telephone tag issues. Likewise, since we do not run an open shop, the buyer often may not be here, so unannounced drop-ins are a poor idea that will likely just waste your time. Also do not ship us your books unless we ask you to; we accept no responsibility for unsolicited books and they will not be returned.

We will try to give a timely acknowledgement that we have received your list, and will then get down to the task of researching and evaluating the books. This can take awhile, especially if you've sent us a large list, so please be patient. If you have a deadline by which you need a decision, mention that, and we'll try to meet it. If we can't then tough for us, another missed opportunity.

Once we have established which books we are interested in and what we are willing to pay for them, we will make you an offer. You may accept or refuse it, and we may haggle a bit in search of a deal.

If we reach a deal then it's time to close it. If you're local, we may simply meet. You hand over the books, we hand over the payment or merchandise credit certificate. If you're not local, but you accept credit cards, we may be willing to pay by credit card in advance of shipment. We will not pay by cash, check or merchandise credits before receiving the books. We may loosen these strictures after we've dealt with you awhile and know you, but not initially.

If you choose to accept payment in merchandise credits, you will be given a statement showing the initial amount of the credit, and the date. You can redeem these credits at any time, in full or in part. If you would like to make a purchase larger than the amount of credits you have, you can pay the difference with some form of cash. After each purchase you will be given a statement showing the remaining merchandise credit in your account. Purchases made using merchandise credits must be made directly with us; the bookselling portals like Abebooks, Alibris, Biblio and Amazon have no way of accepting such payments.

This webpage is a solicitation for offers in good faith, for sale of books and related ephemera, for resale in the used, rare and antiquarian book market. All serious, legitimate offers will be considered as time and needs allow. We are under no obligation to make any counteroffer to buy. No information sent to us as a result of this solicitation will be shared with other parties.

This solicitation specifically excludes offers for any other type of merchandise or service. Spammers who send use such offers will be treated as what they are, spammers. We have a strict anti-spam policy. We do not spam others and we have zero tolerance for spam ourselves. Anyone who sends us spam or "phishing" e-mails will either:
- be ignored;
- be reported to their ISP for violations of their terms of service;
- be reported to spam registries and domain blacklisting services;
- be reported to law enforcement agencies, if appropriate;
- or some combination of the above.

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