Where do you find ULTBs?

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Where do you find ULTBs?

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1misericordia
Ott 15, 2015, 10:46 am

Used Book Stores? Garage Sales? Independent Book Stores? Estate Sales?

2Meredy
Ott 15, 2015, 2:22 pm

In my case, the bookshelves of my late parents, both of whom had acquired considerable collections of books older than they were. My mother had some childhood books of her mother, which put them back into the late 19th century.

3kuuderes_shadow
Ott 15, 2015, 3:08 pm

The vast majority of my ultbs aren't rare at all - just that there aren't all that many people with significant numbers of Japanese books on here.

4MarthaJeanne
Modificato: Ott 15, 2015, 3:22 pm

Or German for that matter.

I entered a brand new book a week or so ago, bought within a week of it becoming available. It was a ULTB for a few days. Last night I saw another LT member, and he said how surprised he was to find that someone had already entered it before him.

Older theological books are often singletons as well.

5elenchus
Ott 15, 2015, 3:34 pm

I'd say all those answers support this answer: it's not where so much as what, which perhaps is obvious is definitely is not answering your question! Still, if the motivation for asking was to know how better to own some ULTB's, I'd suggest focusing on subgenres and specialty books, rather than on specific types of stores.

Most of my ULTB's are either inherited from parents or grandparents, or are from small presses / art projects.

62wonderY
Modificato: Ott 15, 2015, 3:42 pm

All of the above. I delight in turn of the century pulp fiction and non-fiction in several categories - family life, health, child development, natural history, letter writing, temperance. The older the better. Even bad writers of those times sometimes perform better than many of today's authors in use of language and turn of phrase.

An obscure hobby also calls for obscure books - antique button collecting.

And then, when my MIL died, no one else was interested in saving the family library. So I did, for the future enlightenment of my children and grands.

7Lyndatrue
Ott 15, 2015, 5:22 pm

I've found all of my "ULTB" books by just entering them here, on LT. I'm not so sure that I'd consider that finding them, so much as verifying that my books are old, and often obscure, and that only I appear to have an interest in owning them. Then again, I've purchased old books to keep them from the hands of people who specialize in using a razor blade to remove the pictures, so as to sell them (a practice that is short sighted, and evil, and very common).

Out of all my ULTB entries, my favorite is Good Table Manners, for the most trivial of reasons. When I look at the list of the charming "Vous et nul autre" it tells me that "Only Lyndatrue has Good Table Manners." :-}

8TLCrawford
Ott 16, 2015, 8:57 am

I have a very narrow and obscure subject I research and that is the source of a lot of my unique books.

9johnandlisa
Ott 20, 2015, 4:14 pm

I'd say most were from used or antiquarian book stores. Like Meredy and 2WonderY, I also inherited quite a few from various relatives (for some reason, no one else on LibraryThing has either of the two books my great great aunt wrote). And more than a handful were professional review copies, where my generally positive reviews in history journals were not enough to induce someone on LibraryThing to purchase a copy. In general, new book stores aren't such great places to pick up ULTB, since their whole business model depends on stocking books that more than 1 out of every million people would want to buy.

10jburlinson
Modificato: Ott 20, 2015, 5:45 pm

I don't really like buying books; but I love reading books. Fortunately, I live in a place with an outstanding research library and decent public library. So most of what I want, I can find right here in town for free -- (well for the cost of a borrower's card). What I can't find locally, will more than likely be a ULTB -- in which case ABEbooks is a godsend.

11Africansky1
Dic 3, 2015, 4:37 pm

I don't start with a title that I know to be ultb . it is only after I have entered a book on LT that I find its ULTB at least for a while . Bit of a game really as , it may be an old book or something obscure , or not rare at all but too few people on LT are interested in the title or own the book .

12Keeline
Dic 4, 2015, 1:27 am

Probably like most of us, I get books that look interesting to me. They are ones that will fit into a growing collection. That they are ULTB is incidental and perhaps an indication that my tastes are not shared by others. Sometimes I get examples of obscure juvenile series books that I know about from my research but seldom see.

James

13rocketjk
Dic 17, 2015, 3:28 pm

I like old, obscure mysteries and histories. I find them just about everyplace mentioned in the original post. Like James, though, I buy them for their interest value and take it as an added bonus if the ULTBers.

14staffordcastle
Dic 30, 2015, 10:00 pm

Many of my ULTBs are things like auction catalogs; so it's not so much that they are rare, but that other people don't catalog them often. Similarly, many of mine are the kind of publication you buy at a tourist site, such as a museum or stately home. Same issue.