I personally would hang onto them at present as they will not realise their full value if sold/auctioned probably due to the economic climate at present! As well as that, they are a delightful series of books on the natural history of our country. I definately vote for keeping hold of them at present. Also, if they are 1st editions with decent condition dustjackets then they will be worth considerably more than later editions/reprints or if they have not got nice original dustjackets.

Hope this helps as I'm just a collector and not a dealer.

Cheers,

Lee (Cornwall).

Things to look for are fresh clean buckram and gilt lettering, clean internals with minimal inscriptions, clean bright dustjackets with minimal edge tears and wear, little fading of the colours on the spine. For books over 50 years old these are exacting standards.

In the first 10 the exception is no 9: A Country Parish where a nice copy could fetch between £50 and £100.

Best place to get a feel for current prices is e-Bay: do a search on "New Naturalist" restricted to the Books and magazines category and limit the search to Auction only (otherwise you end up with over a thousand hits). If you also select completed auctions you will see what has sold recently and at what price. This is a more realistic measure of current worth than the ABE site where prices are inflated because the bookseller has to make a profit and because some of the prices quoted have been unchanged for several years and the boom in collectables has gone.

As Lee says the books are nice and look good on the shelf especially if wrapped in clear dustjacket protector: I have a hundred staring at me as I write and reminding me that I really should read some of them!