The web has an ever-proliferating number of book stores and data bases on which you can search through millions of used books offered for sale by thousands book dealers large and small, worldwide. Amazon, B&N, and other big stores have their own in-house services for finding used books, but often their chartges outweigh the convenience. Fortunately, there is also Bookfinder.com which will search most of the stores and databases for you in a single search. Bookfinder is free, and once you find a book the transaction takes place privately, between you and the book dealer.

If you don't find what you are looking for (or a copy you can afford) on the first try, several of the individual databases allow you to sign up as a member, then maintain a want-list. My favorite is Abebooks.com, a huge nonprofit database that will not sell your name or otherwise abuse you. Want-lists are matched automatically to newly-posted book listings, so you receive an e-mail when one of your quarries is sighted. On some services the computer will automatically delete your wanted book once it has found a match. Abebooks, however, will keep your posting for as long as you wish, which allows you to keep looking for a copy you want or can afford.

Patience pays! I have found rare books after months, even years of waiting, and found expensive books at a tenth of their maximum value. I also look here for critical books, whose prices (designed for libraries) are otherwise prohibitive.