We buy vintage and collectible genre fiction.

Located in Tucson, Arizona but servicing the greater Southwest area, we save your books from the landfill and preserve them with readers who will care for and appreciate them.

What We Buy

We buy single rare titles or entire collections! We primarily deal with early editions (both hardcover and paperback) from the mass market era (1930s to 1990s) but will also consider older works by notable authors, fine press, pulp fiction magazines, and modern reprints of classic titles.

We specialize in genre fiction (which includes Romance, Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, etc.) but will also consider collections with classic works and other rarities from this period.

Condition is imperative to the collector and enthusiast and, as such, we will only consider collections in good, resaleable condition unless it includes real rarities that demand attention in any condition. Read more about condition.

To inquire about selling your collection, please reach out through our contact form. We will respond to let you know if we are interested and, if we are, schedule a time to review the collection. If we are not able to make an offer we can provide you with list of donation centers that will accept your books.

Stack of seven paperback books with colorful covers, featuring titles such as "To Love A Dark Lord," "The Delicate Dependency," "Scissors Cut Paper Wrap Stone," "Bliss," "Green Eyes," "Sorte di Chase," and "I Sing the Body Electric!" by Ray Bradbury.

Examples of genres and authors we are looking for

Clinch cover for Tender is the Storm by Johanna Lindsey, where a naked man clutches the arms of a woman with her breasts pushed into his stomach.

  • Clinch covers and stepbacks

  • Historical Romance (Medieval, Scottish, Regency, Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian)

  • Gothic Romances (covers with “women running away from houses”)

  • Publishers: Jove, Pinnacle, Playboy Press

Romance

  • Johanna Lindsey

  • Beverly Jenkins

  • Lisa Kleypas

  • Georgette Heyer

  • Jude Deveraux

  • Laura Kinsale

  • Vincent Virga

Notable authors

  • Teresa Denys

  • Francine Rivers

  • Betina Lindsey

  • Judy Cuevas

  • Barbara Samuel

  • Loretta Chase

  • Kathleen E. Woodiwiss

Close-up of a paperback novel titled 'Bethany's Sin' by Robert R. McCammon, featuring artwork of a woman and a horse's face.

  • Weird Fiction (1920s and ‘30s)

  • Paperbacks from Hell (horror from late 1970s to early ‘90s with lurid cover art)

Horror

  • Stephen King (early printings and esp. Richard Bachman editions)

  • H.P. Lovecraft

  • Clive Barker

  • Clark Ashton Smith

  • Shirley Jackson

  • Dan Simmons

  • Michael McDowell

  • Robert McCammon

Notable authors

  • Robert Aickman

  • Stefan Grabiński

  • Poppy Z. Brite

  • Caitlín R. Kiernan

  • Tananarive Due

  • John Halkin

  • Algernon Blackwood

  • Jack Ketchum

  • Richard Laymon

Vintage science fiction book cover titled 'The Day of the Triffids' by John Wyndham, featuring an illustration of a woman with elaborate hair and a man, with a dark and eerie background.

  • Golden Age Pulps (1930s—50s)

  • New Wave SF (late 1960s—early 1970s)

  • Cyberpunk (1980s—mid 1990s)

Science Fiction

  • Arthur C. Clarke

  • Robert A. Heinlein

  • Frank Herbert

  • Joanna Russ

  • James Tiptree, Jr.

  • J.G. Ballard

  • Isaac Asimov

Notable authors

  • Ursula K. LeGuin

  • Philip K. Dick

  • Ray Bradbury

  • Octavia E. Butler

  • William Gibson

  • Samuel Delany

  • Harlan Ellison

  • Gene Wolfe

A vintage paperback book titled "I, The Jury" by Mickey Spillane, with a yellow top border reading "Passion, Crime and Suspense" and a black bottom band with the publisher logo "Signet Books" and the text "Complete and Unabridged." The cover features an illustration of a woman with blonde hair and a man with dark hair, set against a green background.

  • Classic

  • Noir

  • Hardboiled

  • Sleaze

Mystery & Thriller

  • Agatha Christie
  • GK Chesterton

  • Dorothy Sayers

  • Jim Thompson

  • Dashiell Hammett

  • Raymond Chandler

Notable authors

  • Mickey Spillane
  • James Caine

  • George Simenon

  • Sax Rohmer

  • Ellery Queen

A book titled "Red as Blood or Tales from the Sisters Grimmer" by Tanith Lee being held up, with a fantasy style cover illustration of a woman in a white dress sitting beside a devil-like figure with horns and long hair, with a stone archway and foliage in the background.

  • Ballantine Adult Fantasy

  • Vintage J.R.R. Tolkien

  • DAW Books

Fantasy

  • E.R. Eddison
  • Gene Wolfe

  • Patricia A. McKillip

  • Terry Pratchett

  • Jack Vance

  • L Sprague de Camp

  • Fritz Leiber

  • Peter S. Beagle

  • John Crowley

  • Michael Moorcock

  • Ursula K. LeGuin

  • Robert E. Howard

  • Anne McCaffrey

  • Karl Edward Wagner

  • George R.R. Martin

  • Lord Dunsany

  • Tanith Lee

Notable authors

A woman holding a vintage-style paperback book with the title 'Diary of a WITCH' and an illustration of a colorful snake on a white background, with decorative black borders.

  • Occult studies, including but not limited to: astrology, witchcraft, tarot, divination, alchemy, Hermeticism, ceremonial magic, and any titles by Manly P. Hall and Aleister Crowley

  • Golden Age of Illustration artists: Howard Pyle, Maxfield Parrish, Jessie Wilcox Smith, Arthur Rackham, J.C. Leyendecker, Beatrix Potter, Edward Gorey.

  • Counter culture

  • Experimental nonfiction

  • Feminist and cultural critics, memoirists, and essayists like Nora Ephron, Hunter S. Thompson, bell hooks, Joan Didion, Eve Babitz, Audre Lorde, Lester Bangs, etc.

  • Perfume and general fragrance

Also of interest

About Condition

  • Condition is imperative to the collector and enthusiast and, as such, we will only consider collections in good and resaleable condition unless it includes real rarities that demand attention in any condition. Good condition books have:

  • A middle-aged man with dark skin, short gray hair, and a gray beard, dressed in a brown polo shirt and beige pants, is sitting on a bed with a neutral expression against a plain light-colored wall.

    No water damage (or signs of mold)

  • A young man with dark skin and short curly hair sitting on a wooden bench against a plain beige wall, wearing a gray polo shirt and cream-colored pants, with a contemplative expression and shadows cast on the wall.

    Little to no tearing of pages, covers, and/or dust jacket

  • A man with grayish slicked-back hair sitting on a beige bench against a plain, beige wall. He is wearing a blue sweater and beige pants.

    No broken spines, minimal spine creasing, with hinges intact. Solid and tight.

  • Woman in comfortable clothing standing barefoot in a minimalist room, holding a towel, with a massage table and yoga mat in the background.

    Minimal “sunning” damage (no discoloration or brittle pages)

  • Interior of a minimalistic room with a wooden L-shaped bench, a small wooden table with an open book, a black pitcher, and two ceramic cups with spoons. In the background, there are a few vases and folded towels on the window ledge, with soft natural light illuminating the space.

    Minimal shelfwear and bumping (ie, rubbing to edges or boards)

Contact Us

To inquire about selling your collection, please fill out this form. We will respond to let you know if we are interested and, if we are, schedule a time to review the collection. If we are not able to make an offer we can provide you with list of donation centers that will accept your books.

For all other inquiries, please email us at info @ bibliooscura dot com.

Who We Are

We are lifelong readers and book collectors, with a special affinity for genre fiction, and a combined 40+ years of practical experience in resale, books, media, and collectibles. One of us loves The Fellowship of the Ring and the other describes it as “hobbits walking.” Both of us agree that Faramir was done dirty in the movies, though.

They say that the mass market paperback is dead...

But we are trying to keep these titles alive.

Mass market paperback books produced in the 20th century were not designed for longevity and are becoming increasingly scarce with age. Many of these titles are not available digitally and much of the art on these covers can only be enjoyed on these vintage editions. These books have been loved but now new generations are rediscovering these classics and want access to this limited supply. We seek to save these vintage books from the dustbin of forgotten literature and re-home them with collectors who will care for them and cherish them for another generation.