Free tool · Runs in your browser · Nothing uploaded
Bulk First-Edition Checker
Weeding a library, settling an estate, or clearing a lifetime of shelves? Paste your list or drop a spreadsheet. In one pass it flags the titles collectors track first editions of — so you know the handful to look at before the rest goes to a good home.
A spreadsheet with a Title column works best. We match by title, in your browser — your list never leaves this page.
Albuquerque metro? We take the whole library — free.
Keep the few you want to look at. Whatever is left — any condition, any quantity, no sorting — New Mexico Literacy Project picks up at no charge, or drop it any time at the 24/7 book bin. Nothing has to hit the landfill.
For-profit book donation and resale. Donations are not tax-deductible.
Who this is for
Three people open a shelf and feel the same dread: a librarian with a deaccession spreadsheet, an executor facing a parent’s study, and someone downsizing after decades. The fear is always the same — what if I throw away something that mattered? This tool answers exactly that question and nothing more. It reads your list against the New Mexico Literacy Project’s working index of 7,191 titles that collectors actually track first editions of, and it flags the ones worth a second look. The rest — the overwhelming majority of any real library — are common in circulation, which is a good thing: they are exactly what readers, classrooms, and Little Free Libraries want.
What a flag means (and doesn’t)
A flag is an identification cue, not a price. It means: this is a title where the edition matters, so before the box goes out, have a look at the copyright page and run it through the Checker to see whether your copy is a first printing. Plenty of flagged titles are common later printings a collector would pass on; the flag simply tells you the title is one where the edition is worth checking. We never put a dollar figure on a book — that is a conversation for a specialist with the book in hand, not a spreadsheet.
Private by construction
There is no upload and no account. The reference dataset loads once, your list is matched entirely in your browser’s memory, and the annotated CSV you download is written on your own machine. Close the tab and nothing remains. That matters when the list is a decedent’s library or a patron-donated collection under a records policy.
Questions
How does the bulk checker decide what to flag?
It matches each title in your list, by title, against the New Mexico Literacy Project’s index of 7,191 titles that collectors track first editions of. A flag means the title is one worth identifying before you discard it — not a statement of value. Everything is matched in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Is this a valuation or appraisal?
No. It is an identification aid. A flag tells you a title is one collectors seek first editions of, so a special-collections librarian or executor knows to look closer and verify the points of issue on the Checker. It never states a dollar value.
What should I do with the rest of the list?
The unflagged titles are common in circulation and are exactly what donation channels want. If you are in the Albuquerque metro, NMLP picks up the whole library for free, any condition, no sorting — keep the few you want to look at and we take the rest.
Do you keep my list?
No. The entire check runs in your browser using an open dataset. Your list is never sent to a server, and the annotated CSV you download is generated locally.
Built on the same open dataset as the First-Edition Checker and /data (CC BY 4.0). Matching is title-based, so include a title column for best results; a match is a starting point for a human, not a verdict on your specific copy.