Book research resources

[Flaxbee]

I need info on a good website (hopefully) to get info on out of print books, first editions, etc. I have just gotten several boxes full of older books and I suspect some are first printings -- where can I get a good history of a book's life like when it was first printed and by whom, special circumstances, if any...or is there such a thing?

Thank you!

[RevolutionaryActs]

1. Maybe try:

http://www.abebooks.com/ :)

[Maddy McCall]

2. www.alibris.com

www.alibris.com

Also great to use to purchase rare books.

Also, does the Library of Congress have any of this info on its website?

[reprehensor]

3. This one's a good site...

www.bookfinder.com

How 'old' is old?

[Flaxbee]

4. Somewhere I have a few from the 1880s

but those aren't in the boxes I just got... I think I might have a first edition of Wallace Stegner's "Angle of Repose" from 1971; I also have a few other books from the 1910-1930 era. They're in the car at the moment and I haven't brought them in to go over them yet.