Am I being unreasonable where books are concerned?

Children’s books are expensive! Why not do a car boot stall and sell them? I’m sure there will be plenty of takers.

I am no authority but I once made a marketplace account on Amazon with my son and sold books that way.
Also another son lives in Glasgow where they have a Fb book swap group.
Gumtree ppl may also swap books locally.

I have no answers but I am in exactly the same situation.My books date from the fifties and have been read by my daughter and elder granddaughter but they are really so dated that I can’t see anyone wanting them. I have investigated a few outlets but nothing came of them.I am keeping back a few of the ‘classics’ like Heidi and the Katy books for the younger grandchildren but don’t know what to do with the rest.
Also we have two lovely old family bibles but because they are not in pristine condition they are of no value and future generations of our family would not appreciate them. I don’t know whether I could bring emyself to burn them but they are taking up a lot of space.

You could try a site like this www.webuybooks.co.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwKLMl-X4-QIVXoBQBh2DkAiVEAAYAiAAEgJ8rfD_BwE or www.musicmagpie.co.uk/sell-books/

others are available.

All Oxfam shops accept second hand books www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/donate-to-our-shops/donating-books/

You could ring some of the book dealers in Hau-on-Wye and ask if any are interested, although with that few books, you’d probably have to take them there if there were.

There may be a local second hand dealer who would be interested?

You could put therm out in a box in front of your house with a note saying ‘free, help yourself’.

My local GP surgery sells books to raise funds for carers and young mums groups.

It’s taken forever to type this - too many interruptions - so apologies if I’m cross-posting info.

I'd haul a suitcase at a time out onto your front wall, with a sign saying "free, help yourself" and hope that they bought someone else pleasure, as they did you.

My local charity shops regularly put out appeals for books as they don’t get enough donated, so I wouldn’t take your DILs word for it without checking your local shops.

Some childrens books can be sold on eBay, check them to see if they are worth any money in Completed Listings, you can then see how much they sold for.
TBH most childrens books don’t sell and unless they are in very good condition or the drawings are by well known artists the Charity shops can’t sell them either, but some shops can sell them to traders in large bags, but they don’t get much nowadays.
I think the ‘free books’ by the gate is the best idea.

these are not just books, they are memories of past happy times.
keep them if you wish to, the choice is yours.
I have just taken books and dvds to a charity shop and they did accept them, but they were in good condition with white pages, many do go an off putting brown colour, and they may not accept those?

I've sold books through Ziffit and We Buy Books. To use their websites you need books that have barcodes, which older books won't have. They also want them in quite good condition.

You could make a list and email them with the details and they will let you know if they are interested in any and what they will pay for them (don't expect much unless you have something uncommon). Their websites explain all the details.

The Red Cross book shops take old books. If they won't take them, advertise them on Freecycle. Or go to an auction room with them and see if they will sell them for you.

Books do date and especially for children, the books need to be up to date. Even new editions of Enid Blyton books have been modernised.

All the charity shops near me take books.
You could also try freecycle or offer for free on Facebook Marketplace. I have got rid of a lot of stuff on FB Marketplace - I don't charge as find you either have no interest or people argue about the price or want you to take the item to them.

It used to be a real cheap treat for my daughter and I if we could find a few secondhand books to read, when she was little.
It gave us something to look forward to, cost pence, and meant we were at least doing something.

We'd plan our weekend around the book reading, eat something nice and cheap! and lose ourselves.
We didntworry about the condition of the books, as long as it was legible.

One of our local NT properties has a second hand book shop, and are always grateful for donations, I’m not sure if that’s a National thing.

Some National Trust properties have a second hand book shop. I divided my late husband's huge theology library between NT and Oxfam.

If you put them back then when you are gone they are going to be thrown away.

If suitable I would put them outside of your house with a sign saying help yourself.

I was going to say that. You value the books so you keep them. DiL can do what she likes with them when you're gone. Meanwhile, enjoy reading them and remembering.

Why is it that children always talk to one about downsizing? Being childfree it's not a problem for me but I don't understand why they need to interfere. I suspect, judging by what some of my friends say, it's because they don't want a house full of stuff to have to deal with when you are no longer with us.

If you are going to get rid of some of your books, do check for first editions. My DH visited an English couple here (who apparently worked for MI5) and he saw first editions of the James Bond novels which can be worth a lot if the end papers and covers are intact.

Thanks for these ideas. I will certainly follow some of them up.

The charity shops round my way were picky about books eg some only took paperbacks, others wouldn’t take non-fiction but all my books were ‘rehomed’ eventually.

Another place that took them was a local rotary club that holds regular book sales.

I wouldn’t want anyone presuming to ‘declutter’ for me! There’s a point where trying to be helpful can easily overlap into bossy interference.

We have quite a few of dds’ children’s books, which I’m keeping for Gdcs when their reading’s up to it - the eldest is more or less there now. Those for younger children have been kept for reading to them when they’re staying.

I take newish paperbacks that aren’t ‘keepers’ to charity shops - recent titles are still popular AFAIK. I wouldn’t take anything very old or tatty - those will go in the bin.

As regards the eventual house-clearing after we’ve both popped our clogs, I’ve made a list for Dds of anything of more than minor value that’d be worth selling (or keeping if they wanted to) - for everything else, I’ve told them just to get a house clearance firm in.
Having had to do it myself, I don’t want them having all that effort, not to mention the emotional stress of having to get rid of very sentimental but cash-worthless items that nobody has room for.

I help to run a small library and it is difficult to convince people that we can't take their old, foxed and dirty books for the library. Often people are moving and have several boxes of books like this to 'donate' I understand that people don't want to throw books away but sometimes recycling is the only way to go.

Our local supermarkets accept books,Tesco and Sainsburys.
Also you could offer them to the local schools/librarys even childrens hospitals.
Good luck with the clearout.

I got rid of a load of books including some childrens ones to local care homes. Might be worth giving a few a call and asking. Otherwise put them on freegle ad a job lot.

A huge thanks to everyone who took the time to help me. I really appreciate your help and advice. I even felt better by getting it off my chest.

I am now looking at several options. If all else fails I will take them to the Oxfam book bank. If they don't get sold they are used in sustainable ways.

Thanks again