BUYING BOOKS From time to time, we buy books. HOWEVER, WE BUY ONLY A SMALL PERCENT OF THE BOOKS OFFERED TO US. Because we have closed our storefront bookshop, we no longer buy popular fiction and other low-value books from the public. We now prefer to buy small collections in our specialist areas (see below). We are particularly interested in: Pets, Animals, Natural History. Celtic, particularly Ireland / Irish-related. Humour & Cartoons, particularly Jolliffe, Emile Mercier, Afferbeck Lauder (Strine, Fraffly suite). Australian children's picture stories, especially 1950s to 1980s. Examples: Barbara MacFarlane (Agapanthus series); Percy Trezise; Dick Roughsey; Nancy Curtis (Little Chimbu series). Australiana, especially Australian history & culture. Specific authors, eg: Paul Gallico; Elyne Mitchell (Silver Brumby), Ivy Wallace (Pookie), Carolyn Keene (Nancy Drew), Miss Read. Psychology, Health, Humanistic and Jungian psychology. Philosophy, Religion, Spirituality, Transpersonal, Parapsychology. Specialist lifestyle: eg, organic gardening., regional cooking (eg, southern Indian), restoring old houses. The price we pay depends on a number of factors, but especially condition, content, the estimated time taken to sell the book, and our periodic purchase limit. We prefer very good or better condition, except for obviously scarce books. Examples of specific current wants: Darwin. History of Ford in Australia. De Courcy. Zoo story (about Melbourne Zoo). Horne. Cancerproof your body. Maddock. History of Road Trains in the Northern Territory. Shepherd. The story of Petersham. Walker. Curtin's cowboys. Wood, W. Allan. Dawn in the valley. (Hunter Valley, local history).

WE NEVER BUY THESE BOOKS: Foreign-language books and dictionaries. Computer manuals. Poor condition books, eg, very yellowed, foxed (brown-spotted), annotated, dog-eared, badly creased, missing / torn pages, cocked spines, underlining / highlighting. Damaged ex-library books. Books covered in contact plastic. Popular fiction and other low-value books. Hardbacks without dustjackets (if issued with one). Single books (we prefer small collections). Old-edition student textbooks. Leftovers from a garage sale or sale to other bookshops. (The desirable books have already been sold !!) BOOK SEARCH Please email us if you would like us to search for a book for you. Please supply as much detail as possible, but especially the author, title, publisher, and date of publication (if known). Please also specify hardback or paperback, an upper price limit, and a date needed by (for example, a birthday present or education course). Book finding is not our main activity; thus we cannot promise a quick result. We give priority to customers from our local area (the inner western suburbs of Sydney), as well as customers who have purchased from us previously. We maintain a list of books wanted by customers. Please specify whether you require: 1. Passive search. We note down the book details, and contact you should a copy of the book arrive in our shop during our normal course of business. 2. Active search. We actively search for a copy of the book, for example, by examining computer databases and phoning or visiting bookshops. We do not charge a search fee.