We Love Your Old Books (and Vinyl)

Here are our guidelines for donating them.

First, a big thank you!

We are a mission-driven business seeking to find new homes for old books and make them accessible to our customers at affordable prices. We are very grateful to our community for helping us accomplish this goal by donating thousands of books since our store opened!

Most of the pre-loved books and records in our store are donated. We are NOT a nonprofit, so we can’t give you a tax receipt, but we will give you store credit for pre-loved books and vinyl records as a thank you for your donation.

If you have books to donate, please email us at janet@hvbooksforhumanity.com and follow the guidelines below.

Donation Guidelines:

 In-Store Donations

  • Quantity: We are currently accepting 20 books or less per donation (exceptions made on quantity limits for books we really need). No quantity limit on vinyl.

  • Photos: Please email some sample photos of your book stacks so we can see if they are books we need. Send to janet@hvbooksforhumanity.com, and we’ll respond promptly.

  • Books we do and don’t take: See guidelines below for condition requirements as well as books we do and don’t take.

  • Store Credit: We can’t always take every book offered, but we will give store credit for all that we do take! We are NOT a nonprofit, so we can’t give a tax receipt.

  • Book Drop off: You can drop approved books off at the store any day of the week during our open hours. Please do NOT leave books outside our door when we are closed.

Home Visits

  • Large Book Collections: For larger collections (more than 200 books) or moving/estate donations, we sometimes make home visits.

  • Photos: Please email some sample photos of your home collection so we can see if they are books we need (bookshelf or book stack photos are fine; individual book photos not required). Send to janet@hvbooksforhumanity.com, and we’ll respond promptly.

  • Quantity and Store Credit: We are typically able to take only a percentage of large home book collections. But we do give store credit for ALL books we take and provide recommendations for ways to donate the remainder of the books.

Book Condition Requested: Excellent

We stock books that are in excellent condition. We can't accept books with any of the following issues because we are unable to sell them:

  • no moisture damage, mold, or mildew

  • no excessive dirt or dust

  • no stained, yellowed, or torn pages or covers

  • no broken bindings or missing book jackets

  • no highlighting or underlining, or heavy wear of any kind

Book Categories we Do and Don’t Accept:

We DO ACCEPT and welcome the following categories (most needed categories in bold): Children’s Books, Biographies and Memoirs, Business Books, Cookbooks, Fiction (our bestselling category, especially recent fiction), Foreign Language Books (especially Books in Spanish), Graphic Novels and Manga, History (U.S. and World), Home and Garden, Hudson Valley History and Culture, Large Print Books, *Legal Books (published within the last five years), Music and Dance, Mysteries and True Crime, Nature and Environment, Parenting and Education, Philosophy and Ethics, Photography and Art, Poetry and Essays, Politics and Culture, Psychology and Sociology, Race and Gender, *Reference Books (Dictionaries and Thesauruses), Religion and Spirituality, Self-Help and Personal Growth, Science and Math, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Travel, Theater and Film, Vintage Paperbacks, and Rare and Collectible Books.

We are currently overstocked and are NOT ACCEPTING these categories: Health/Diet Books, Sports Books, Thrillers, Young Adult Books.

We DON'T ACCEPT the following categories (because they are hard to sell):

  • Textbooks, Library Books and Encyclopedias

  • Outdated Reference Books, Professional Books and Technology Manuals

  • Reader’s Digest Books and Time-Life Books

  • Books in poor condition (see "condition requested" guidelines above)

Other Donations we DO ACCEPT:

  • Vinyl Records (Good+ condition, no water or mold damage, currently no classical)

  • Puzzles (Good+ condition, all pieces intact)

An Invitation to Come and Shop

We are SO grateful to all our book donors, and we welcome you to come back to the store and become book shoppers (don't forget to bring the store credit book coupons you’ll receive for donating!). The more books we sell, the more room we'll have for future donations!