Table of Contents Email the editor

I'll Get Straight To The Point

Michael Watson, Editor

Not yet, though.

Bookselling may feel more like a ride on a Tilt-A-Whirl than the cultured, slow-paced trade we used to dream of. We didn't dream that thousands of new sellers would make good stock more difficult to find and that those thousands would flood the market with common books of ever-sinking prices. Our dream didn't include so many booksellers wondering how bills would get paid and so many bookselling businesses turning out the lights for the last time.

My point? The Independent Online Booksellers Association offers you some stability in this trade. Every quarter the Standard presents useful information and solutions that you might translate into profit or otherwise employ to make your business a bit less tenuous. The IOBA itself brings like-minded online (and open shop) sellers together to solve common problems and promote the best parts of our chosen trade.

If you find this issue of the Standard useful, tell other booksellers: they might benefit. If you feel something is missing from this issue, suggest it for the next issue: an e-mail to editor@ioba.org will get things started. If you want to promote the stability of our trade through higher bookselling standards, then visit us at www.ioba.org or join us today at www.ioba.org/app.html

There may not be safety in numbers, but be one of our number and enjoy a bit of stability in difficult times.

Best regards. -Michael Watson, Editor, editor@ioba.org

Is a "Stand-Alone" Signature Better?

Barry R. Levin, A.B.A.A.

This (or a variant of it) is probably the most often asked question I hear. What I'm talking about is, of course, whether it is better to buy a book (or get it autographed by the author) with just a signature alone or whether it is better to have it with a personalized inscription.

With modern books by living authors, the popular wisdom states that it is better to have a "flat" (I hate that term) signed book - that is to say, a "stand-alone" signature, not a book with an inscription to an "unknown" person. For example, if I wrote a book, would you like me to sign it for you: "For (your first name here) - Hope you like it, Barry R. Levin," or just, "Barry R. Levin." Many dealers will tell you that it is easier to resell your modern signed books if they are just simply signed. "No one named 'Bill,'" they will say, "wants a book signed 'For Bob.'"

Is this bit of popular wisdom true, are simply-signed books better? Well, yes and no.

The very best autograph dealers and authorities will tell you quite candidly that, in many cases, "a stand-alone" (or "flat" - if you must) signature in a modern book can be all but impossible to authenticate. Yes, he or she can rule out most fakes, but still can only tell you most of the time that a modern stand-alone signature "looks good," not that it is 100% authentic if the piece has no provenance. A signature is almost (and, in some languages, in reality) a pictograph or symbol that represents a person's name, a stylized form of script often unlike the person's normal handwriting. It is possible, with practice, to copy that symbol. Yes, it helps if you know something about the mechanics of handwriting - also of pens, inks, papers, etc., but a fair number of people can do a passable job of copying a given person's signature. It is extremely difficult, however, to copy a person's script, or handwriting in general. (I am not going to give you a primer here on the whys and wherefores of this for obvious reasons). Take my word for it, that is one of the reasons why the names of the handful of great forgers that have been caught are so well remembered - it is a true (if despicable) art form.

For instance, I talked to an important collector of Stephen King the other day. He told me a very interesting story. He bought a copy of a proof for a new Stephen King novel, over the Internet. The copy was described as being "flat signed" by the author. When the proof came, it was not signed. He e-mailed the seller and the seller told him to send it back and he would send him a signed copy. Suspicious, the collector took a soft lead pencil and put a very small mark on a given page and sent the proof back. A week went by, and a signed copy of the proof was delivered to him. He looked at the signature (one that he is very familiar with) and it "looked good." He opened the proof to the page on which he had placed his mark on the copy that he had sent back, and lo and behold there was his mark. Now the collector knew that King was on vacation that week, and knew it was not possible for the seller to have gotten this particular copy signed in the time allotted - so even if the signature "looked good" it had to be a forgery.

Another collector sent me a scan of a very popular British author's stand-alone autograph. Once again, the "signed" book had been purchased on the internet. She wanted to know if the signature was authentic. Now, it is almost impossible to truly authenticate an autograph from a scan and with no provenance, and it is not a free service I normally have time to render. Saying that, I did have time that day to look at the scan, so I did. This author's signature is one that is a little hard to get in this country, mostly because of the overwhelming demand at the moment. It is also, unfortunately, a particularly easy autograph to forge. I sent the collector an emailed note to that effect, along with an example I had of a signature known to be authentic. My advice was, and is, to only buy autograph material from an expert, one with proper credentials, especially stand-alone examples of signatures.

In the last few years, I have seen a rise in the number of forged autographs of science fiction, fantasy, and horror authors - including Howard Phillips Lovecraft, Stephen King, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and even those of Ray Bradbury, whose signature is the most common authentic autograph in the field.

My point in telling you all of this is simply to point out that the more words on your autographed items, the better! The number of people who can fool an autograph expert drops in direct proportion to the number of words on the page. If you are buying a stand-alone signed book the provenance for the piece can be as important as the honesty and knowledge of the seller.

It is also important to note that it is always a good idea, when having a book signed for you by an author, to have the author date the signature, especially if the book is being signed in the year, or, better yet, the month and year of publication. Books so signed are very desirable to collectors. Also, because the handwriting of authors often change over time, sometimes dramatically, the dating of the signature becomes doubly important. Ray Bradbury and Clark Ashton Smith are two notable examples of striking signature changes that come to mind.

None of us will live forever; no one is immortal. Collectors are one of the greatest conservators of our cultural heritage. The signed books we buy, or have autographed for us today, will one day bear the signature of a deceased author. How will people in the future know for sure that a particular signature is authentic? Some collectors put a note in their signed books (hopefully on acid-free paper) saying that they got the book signed at such and such a time and place. This is harmless and can be used as provenance to a point, but in the future it will be only as good as the reputation of the individual collector who wrote it. If he is not of note, it may prove to be almost as good in the future as a letter of authentication from a dishonest dealer or forger. No, the best measure of an item's authenticity is that which is integral and internal. Few if any collectors today care if Jules Verne or H. G. Wells inscribed a book to an unknown person. Just the opposite, a long inscription is preferred. Why is that true? Because, of course, these authors are now no longer signing anything and it is easier to authenticate an inscribed and signed copy, so the more words from the master's hand, the better. Who knows, maybe in a hundred years, Ray Bradbury's signature may be worth something and a book with a long inscription and maybe one of his drawings-priceless?

At this point, it would be wise to point out that even those collectors who do not like personalized inscriptions in their modern books will eagerly buy the following types of inscribed books:

• association copy - An inscribed or signed book that once belonged to someone the author knew or to someone very well-known (i.e., another author, a movie star, a former president, etc.).
• dedication copy (sometimes called, "THE copy") - The copy inscribed by the author to the person or persons to whom the book is dedicated.
• presentation copy - A copy of a book given by the author as a gift to the recipient. It is usually inscribed and often dated very near the time of publication. Note: not a copy signed by the author at the request of the autograph's recipient.
• inscribed sentiment - A copy of a book that is inscribed without being personalized. An example would be a copy of my imaginary book, inscribed, "This is my favorite of all of my books. Barry R. Levin," or, "With my warmest regards, Barry R Levin." My favorite inscription of this type was on a book I once owned, signed by the author with the note, "This is the first copy of this book I ever signed." The "inscribed sentiment" may be the best of all worlds, for the collector of modern signed first editions by living authors.

So now you know why I have answered the question of "Is a 'Stand-Alone' Signature Better?" with the answer, "yes and no." For the purpose of resale in the lifetime of the author: "yes", if there is no question of authenticity, And, "no", because an inscription makes it far easier to authenticate the handwriting of the author, and ipso facto, the signature. Thus, the dictum applies, "the more words from the master's hand, the better."

So, how would you like me to sign my next imaginary book for you?

The author is principal of Barry R. Levin Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature, A. B. A. A.; Santa Monica CA, U.S.A. and specializes in rare and first editions of science fiction, fantasy, and horror with a strong emphasis on autographs, manuscripts, literary correspondence, and original art. More information is available at http://www.raresf.com

Selling Books Is Like Fly-fishing

Stuart Manley

Selling books on the web seems easy.

You get hold of some books (that really is the easy part!) and start listing them like crazy onto a database.

Sure, there are a few technical details to overcome - joining up with various listing sites and mastering the assorted uploading techniques, but nothing that would stall the average 12 year old for more than a few minutes.

Nevertheless, setting up your own virtual bookshop is neither unduly difficult nor particularly expensive in normal commercial terms (although the actual expenses mount up far more than the average tyro realizes).

That is why so many are doing it!

And therein lies the rub - there seems to be an endlessly expanding crowd of newcomers joining the existing hordes, all believing that this the way to say goodbye to the day job and become their own boss.

For most, it is a bad career move.

The harsh fact is that the expansion of 'bookdealers' is far outstripping the expansion of the demand for the books, leading to a dilution of orders for everyone.

Some respond by endlessly reducing prices - another bad career move - but I have already covered that in my 'Penny Selling' series, so I won't revisit it here. Suffice to say that if you do not understand the role of gross and net profit margins within business and keep on eroding those margins to create sales, you would be doing yourself a favor to pack in now.

If you reject the above as the 'way to go', then this is where fly-fishing comes into it. I hope to guide you towards techniques that will help you sell good books at proper prices and, importantly, at a profit that is good enough to pay all your business expenses and still leave you a reasonable living.

Check your tackle …

Before moving on to the flies and techniques, you need to check your tackle: Your web site, policies, and facilities.

You can get by with a 'standard' home page provided by one of the listing sites, but you are putting yourself at a disadvantage.

In an ideal world you would have a unique website properly built by a competent designer, with all the bells and whistles, and plenty of special features that reflects your particular trading position. It's not a bookselling site, but my current favourite site that combines humor with professionalism is http://www.burtschips.com/ . (Make sure you have the sound switched on!)

But that can be expensive, so the next best option would be to use a specialist book site builder - the most recommended that I have heard of is Chrislands http://www.chrislands.com who construct competent sites for the smaller bookdealer, but if you can afford a totally tailor-made site, so much the better.

The Chrisland built sites are a little bit 'samey' but there is still plenty of scope to introduce some of your own individuality and they do include the key features of your own domain name, booksearch, order processing, and encryption.

Work out your store policies carefully - payment, returns policy, shipping, etc., and make sure that they comply with the policies of the major listing and are presented clearly and professionally. A quick trip to the Ethics Code of IOBA or a quality site such as http://abaa.org will soon put you right.

… now check the fly …

The 'fly' is your actual listing for each book.

It seems obvious to say so, but the first requirement is that it must be accurate.

We are all guilty of 'typos' from time to time, but make a typo in either the title or the author and you have already gone down a peg or two in the eyes of a potential purchaser. I find it amazing that there are currently 256 'bookdealers' on ABE offering various titles by 'J.R.R. Tolkein' (and 15 offering 'The Hobbitt'!) - they do not deserve to ever sell a book. Quite apart from the poor impression it gives the potential buyer ("If this seller is sloppy with the book, what else is he/she sloppy about?), in these days of the diminishing wild card asterisk, the only people who are ever going to find their books are the equally typographically challenged.

Make sure that the condition report is clear and concise. It is sad that sites such as Amazon are eroding a long-established consistency with meaningless terms such as 'acceptable' ('acceptable' to whom? - what's wrong with the perfectly clear description of 'worn'?), but that is no reason for you to join in! Follow the guidelines on http://www.ioba.org/terms.html or any of the other good listing sites and you won't go far wrong. Condition reports should be a short as possible, but still give a clear and honest impression of the true condition of the book.

Then there is the description of the book itself. This is truly the 'fly' - the part of the listing where you can show your skill. You can demonstrate careful collation and research (if the book is of enough value to merit it). Writing out the entire plot of 'The Hobbit', or even the dustwrapper blurb, earns you no brownie points whatsoever. A good description should be succinct and relevant. Lengthy descriptions may gain a dubious web visibility, but they tend to put off the average book buyer. Indeed, it is not a bad idea to purposely leave a little unstated, so that the prospective buyer can have a question to ask to 'break the ice'.

The one absolute 'no-no' in the description is plagiarism. Under no circumstances copy/paste another bookdealers' description into yours. By all means read them and learn from them, but then go away and write your own synopsis. To do anything other than that is (a) lazy, (b) unprofessional, and (c), most importantly, a violation of the Code of Conduct on most reputable sites.

One dealer has recently been taken 'off the air' for systematic theft of other peoples descriptions and will remain so until he has cleaned up his catalog - a massive task given that there were over a thousand examples of plagiarism within his database. Don't let that happen to you.

… and now you are ready to start fly-fishing!

With all the tackle checked and the flies in place, let the fishing begin - the e-mail inquiries.

Some will be straightforward orders. Great - your 'fly' has done its work and you have hooked a beauty. All that remains is for you to process the order speedily and efficiently, pack it well, and let the customer know it is on its way with a well worked out 'template' e-mail.

But many will be inquiries rather than orders - and of varying quality. Your job is to convert as many of these as possible into sales and this is where the skill of the fly-fisher comes in.

The first job is to assess the quality of the inquiry - if you have hooked an old boot, there is no point in treating it like a 5 lb. trout.

However, you may not immediately know that you have hooked an old boot, so it is important to assume, until you find out otherwise, that there is a fish on the end of the line.

So, unless it is obvious that the inquirer is a waste of time, they should be given the benefit of the doubt and treated with a 'straight bat' reply - your very best polite and friendly 'standard reply template' tailored to the specific questions asked, but not spending too much time on scans and research until you have found out whether it be boot or fish. You will not have long to wait before the true nature of the inquirer is revealed!

Bear in mind that many inquirers are more interested in finding out what kind of bookdealer you are, rather than the actual question(s) asked. 'Can I trust this bookseller with my CC details?'; 'Can I be confident that they know what they are doing?'; 'Will the descriptions be honest and accurate?' are often the unstated questions and are more important than whether or not there is foxing on plate 36. Make sure that your reply gives them confidence in your professionalism and probity.

Think before you reply. Put yourself in the shoes of the prospective purchaser and try and work out what sort of extra information might tip the balance in your favor (a scan of an attractive cover or a particularly interesting plate, for instance). If the 'tweak on the line' tells you that yes, it's a fish not a boot, but it is a really tricky one, draft your reply, but then do something else for half an hour. Then come back to the draft and see what you can do to improve it. (And that includes removing typos!).

But remember that this is fly-fishing, not 'throwing a stick of dynamite into the lake' - the hard sell rarely works. There are many techniques and nuances needed to 'land' each sale - every inquiry will be a little bit different and need subtle changes - but therein lies the challenge and the fun.

Handling discount inquiries is a skill all by itself. You will land more sales by refusing a discount than by just giving in whenever someone asks for it. But how well you explain this is all part of fly-fishing - see 'What's your Best Price?' for my previous thoughts on this.

If you have spent some time polishing what you believe is a particularly good reply, save it as a draft - you will soon build up a good library of quality replies that can be tailored for similar inquiries in the future.

As in fishing, you even build up stories about 'the one that got away' - learn from them and keep on improving your techniques.

Nothing beats the thrill of landing a particularly difficult 'catch', so tremendous enjoyment is to be had from applying your hard-learned skills - and it's rather good for business too.

Tight Lines!

Stuart Manley is co-owner of Barter Books, Alnwick, Northumberland, England, also online at www.barterbooks.co.uk

Copyright © 2004 Stuart Manley

A Little History of The History of Woman Suffrage

Martha Kelly

The American Women's Suffrage movement is surely one of the best documented of all social revolutions thanks to the remarkable six-volume, 6,000 page, History of Woman Suffrage. Leaders of revolutions often write their memoirs (if they live long enough) but rarely do they preserve and record the detailed records of people and events as did suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Stanton and Anthony, leaders of the more radical of the two contingents of the suffrage movement, were determined that the history of the woman's movement not be forgotten as most women's history up to that time had been forgotten. Their intention was to write a history of the movement much of it based on Anthony's diaries, scrapbooks, and innumerable records. When work on the History of Woman Suffrage actually began in the late 1870's it represented the realization of a long-time ambition on the part of both women.

In 1876 Anthony started the process when she sent boxes and trunks of material, saved for more than twenty-five years, to Stanton's home in Tenafly, NJ. The plan was to write a single volume covering the suffrage movement from its beginnings up to 1876. Stanton wrote several chapters between 1876 and 1880, but it was 1880 before they were able to get together in Tenafly and seriously undertake the project. The plan to cover the period in a single volume turned out to be optimistic; the 878 page Volume I went only as far as 1860.

Both the history of the writing of the books and the publishing history are somewhat complicated; this article is an attempt to briefly summarize both and to correct a few common misunderstandings about the books.

The History includes “impassioned feminist commentary' (as described by the Encyclopedia Britannica) as well as the documentary history of the suffrage movement: primary documents, biographies of suffrage leaders, letters, and records of state suffrage movements.

The copyright holders of the first three volumes are Stanton, Anthony, and Matilda Joslin Gage, a Fayetteville New York suffragist, author, and editor of The National Citizen and Ballot Box. Stanton was the primary author with some contributions from Gage. Anthony who disliked writing (in fact, it was not her strong point) was the historian, source of information, and business manager.

After Volume III was complete, Stanton bowed out leaving a determined Anthony to complete Volume IV with the help of professional journalist Ida Husted Harper, author of the three-volume Life and Works of Susan B. Anthony. Harper was the sole author of the last two volumes, published after the deaths of Anthony and Stanton.

The six volumes comprise the primary source of information about the women's suffrage movement and the women who participated in it. While far from perfect, the History is Remarkably complete.

A little history of the suffrage movements helps clarify one of the criticisms of the books. In the years immediately following the Civil War, the abolitionist and suffrage movements were divided over the issue of whether or not to insist upon including women in the constitutional amendment giving African-American men the right to vote. The split ultimately resulted in the formation of two women's suffrage associations. Anthony and Stanton led the National Woman's Suffrage Association (NWSA), the more radical of the two. Although the History covers NWSA most completely, both Anthony and Stanton made efforts to include the history of the more conservative American Woman's Suffrage Association (AWSA), an effort thwarted by the refusal of AWSA's most prominent leader, Lucy Stone. Stone argued that they could not write the history of the movement - that should be left for future historians and that Anthony and Stanton, as leaders of the more radical “ultras” could not write a history of the whole movement. Nevertheless some history of the conservative, or 'Boston,' contingent of the movement was included. Stone sent some brief biographical facts and Stanton's daughter, Harriot Stanton Blatch, wrote a 60,000 word history of the AWSA after chiding her mother for leaving AWSA out of the History.

The last two volumes, written by Ida Husted Harper after the deaths of both Anthony and Stanton, are primarily a record of the conservative NAWSA, the organization formed by merging NWSA and AWSA in 1890 and their work for the passage of state amendments and, eventually, passage of a federal amendment to the Constitution in 1919. Harper, who was quite conservative, scarcely mentions the work of the radical suffragists led by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns.

Volume I was completed and published in 1881. Anthony, who was, as usual, in charge of the business end of the venture, had difficulty finding a publisher. She apparently approached publishers with the Preface, Introduction and early chapters. In 1876 after taking them to Appletons she wrote in her diary, “It now seems probably - almost sure-that The Appleton's will publish our History - I took them over Preface - Introduction - and first 6 or 8 chapters - and they think it will make a very interesting book. (Ann Gordon, Editor. The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony. Volume III. Page 273) Anthony thought, at this time, that the book would be a single volume but as the History became longer and more expensive, Appletons pled hard times and refused to publish the book.

In 1878 a few early chapters were published in Gage's newspaper The National Citizen and Ballot Box.

The first editions of volumes I and II were published by Fowler and Wells, a slightly off-beat publishing house best known for their publications on phrenology. Volume I is dated 1881 and Volume II is dated 1882. True first editions of the History from Fowler and Wells are quite uncommon. Anthony later bought the plates and republished the first two volumes along with Volume III. Volumes I and II with Anthony as publisher are frequently mistaken for first editions.

Anthony did publish the first editions of volumes III and IV. Volume III appeared in 1886 and Volume IV in 1902.

In fact, Anthony wound up underwriting the first four volumes. Gage and Stanton who originally held the rights to the books along with Anthony sold their rights to Anthony when volume III was published. The first two volumes had proved to be extremely expensive and prospects of a profit were dim. Anthony spent $20,000 to reprint Volumes I and II plus Volume III. They were published in leather at $19.50 a set and in cloth at $15 a set. These prices, according to Anthony, made a large sale impossible. Fortunately a bequest of $25,000 enabled her to pay off the debt incurred.

The original bindings I've seen on the books published by Anthony are brown cloth with blind stamped rules and a decorative device on the front cover, or tan calf with two spine labels, one black and one red. The title and authors are on the spine only. The imprint is Susan B. Anthony/Rochester, N. Y.: Charles Mann/London: 25 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden./Paris: G. Fischbacher, 33 Rue De Seine/1887.

Anthony personally distributed 1,000 copies to libraries in Europe and the United States and gave sets to Congressmen and other “prominent” persons. Many of the latter volumes are inscribed by Anthony. In the four years following the publication of Volume IV, the Anthony household in Rochester, which included her sister Mary and, often, a housekeeper and/or a typist spent much of their time packing and mailing the first four volumes.

Volumes V and VI, written and published after Anthony's death in 1922 by Harper, cover the last phase of the suffrage movement, the period from 1901 through 1919, as well as the formation of The League of Women Voters, the period following passage of the 19th Amendment, and the international women's movement. Harper covers the conservative NAWSA's role with much emphasis on its leader Carrie Chapman Catt but scarcely mentions the efforts of younger and more militant women who campaigned with parades and public displays in Washington and were jailed, force fed, and otherwise humiliated and maltreated. The National American Woman Suffrage Association is listed as publisher of both volumes.

Anthony left the plates for Volumes I through IV as well as the remaining books to the NAWSA which continued to sell them.

Facsimile copies of The History are usually available from the Ayer Company. To assemble a full set of true first editions is daunting. I've still working on it. Since Anthony inscribed many of the copies she gave away, inscribed editions, though pricey, almost seem easier come by than are first editions of the Fowler and Wells editions. Because of the books' size, first and early editions are often in poor condition and many of those that do turn up are library copies. Even these are desirable, however, for their content.

Stanton and Anthony deserve an enormous amount of credit for their monumental undertaking. The books have omissions and occasional errors, and their length and exhaustive coverage of the movement make them exhausting reads, but, as reference works on one of the most important social movements of the last 150 years, they are invaluable.

References

Barry, Kathleen. Susan B. Anthony A Biography. NY: New York University Press, (1988)

Gordon, Ann B., Editor. The Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. Volume III. National Protection for National Citizens 1873 to 1880. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, (2003).

Griffith, Elizabeth. In Her Own Right The Life of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. NY: Oxford University Press, (1984).

Harper, Ida Husted. History of Woman Suffrage Volumes V, VI. Salem, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, 1985. Facsimile edition.

Harper, Ida Husted. The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony Volume II. Salem, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, 1998. Facsimile edition.

Huth, Mary. Susan B. Anthony as Author and Publisher. An unpublished talk at the Susan B. Anthony House.

Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Anthony, Susan B.; Gage, Matilda Joslin. History of Woman Suffrage. Volumes I, II, III. Salem, New Hampshire: Ayer Publishing, 1985. Facsimile edition.

Martha Kelly is principal of Gutenberg Books, an open shop in Rochester NY, and specializes in women's suffrage topics. More information is available at http://www.gutenbergbooks.com.

Are Used Book Sales Hurting New Book Sales ?

Susan Siegel, Book Hunter Press

Are rising used book sales hurting new book sales - and if so - by how much?

Lots of people would like the answer to that question, from publishers and authors to paper manufacturers and new and used booksellers.

It's fairly easy to answer the first part of the question: anecdotally, and intuitively, there's probably no question that rising used book sales are eating into new books sales. If you have any doubt, look up the Da Vinci Code online. A recent search brought up 140 used copies on Amazon, 729 copies on Abebooks and 377 on eBay.

It's when you try to answer the "by how much?" part of the question that the picture get muddier.

For starters, there are a host of very basic data collection issues unique to the used book market that affect any statistical analysis of total used book sales and the number of used books sold.

1. What used books are being included in the sales figure? Remainders? Antiquarian (a.k.a. old, rare, or collectible) books? Textbooks?
2. Sales from what selling venues are being counted? Online? Store sales? Catalogs? Library sales?
3. Sales to what customers are being counted? Consumers only? Dealer to dealer sales? Sales to libraries?
   
4. What is the source of the sales data? Consumer buying patterns or dealer sales? If dealer sales, what dealers?
   

Then there's the overriding question that gets to the heart of the issue: Of all the used books sold in a given year, what percentage were in-print versus out-of-print titles? Clearly, the "new" book market is not concerned with sales of out-of-print titles.

It's this last question that is the most difficult to answer - if, indeed, it can be answered.

Theoretically, a computer program could be developed that could easily match up ISBNs (International Standard Book Number) in seller sales records with the Bowker database that shows whether a title is in-print or out-of-print. Obviously, any book without an ISBN is out-of-print, although a later edition with an ISBN could be in-print.

The one caveat to this methodology, though, would be the assumption that most publishers, large and small, have, over the years, been diligent in notifying Bowker when their titles go out-of-print. Alas, there's no quick and easy way to test this assumption for millions of titles.

Notwithstanding the above caveat, the ISBN match methodology does has one serious drawback: As only a portion of used book sales are computerized, any matching that could be done would, from the start, be incomplete. How incomplete? That's hard to know.

According to the recent Book Hunter Press study of the U.S. used book market (highlights of the report, A Portrait of the U.S. Used Book Market, are available online at www.bookhunterpress.com), in 2003, 54% of used book sales were made online. For these sales, ISBNs, if they existed, would most likely be available and the in versus out-of-print match could be made.

But what about the remaining 46% of used book sales that were made offline?

Many of these sales were most likely recorded on individual sales slips, only some of which were then entered into a computerized accounting or inventory program which may or may not have included an ISBN in a separate searchable data field.

This means that an in versus out-of-print match using dealer sales records may only be possible for just over half of all used book sales.

Where does that leave us? Are online and offline inventories similar enough so that the online ISBN match statistics for 54% of the sales match can reliably be extrapolated to the 46% of sales that were made offline?

As an aside, the Book Hunter Press study also found that only 49% of total dealer inventory was listed online and that only 18% of dealers had 100% of their inventories online compared with 46% who had less than one third online. These numbers raise the interesting question of what portion of the remaining 51% of dealer inventory is computerized, the first step in any possible ISBN match program.

What about using sales figures from Amazon or Abebooks? Assuming that the companies wanted to cooperate with such a study (some would consider this highly unlikely), would an ISBN comparison be easier or more fruitful if these larger databases were used? Yes and no.

While Abebooks could generate statistics on the number of books with and without ISBNs, when it comes to sales statistics Abebooks only knows about sales made through its own shopping cart. The company has no way of knowing how many sales of what books were made directly by the dealer.

Would Amazon sales data be more helpful? Again, the answer is yes and no.

Yes, because, unlike Abebooks, all used book sales originating from the site must go through Amazon's shopping cart. But, no, because not all books sold as used on Amazon are, in reality, used. Look at some of the Condition descriptions for books being sold in the Used and Collectible categories: brand new, direct from distributor or publisher, still shrink wrapped, etc. Are these used books? If they're remainders, then that gets back to one of the earlier question of whether remainders are or should be considered used books when tallying up used book sales. And, if the books are "brand new," then where are they coming from if not from the publisher?

eBay isn't much help either as its listings do not include ISBNs in a searchable field.

The bottom line: The next time you read a report or see a press release that says used book sales have caused a ##% decline in new book sales, stop for a minute and ask yourself where the numbers are coming from and what they represent.

As discussed in greater detail in our study report, the used book market does not lend itself to easy statistical analysis.

Book Hunter Press publishes the Used Book Lover's Guides, a series of seven regional guides to used book dealers throughout the United States and Canada. The company has been tracking the used book market since 1992. In 1999, the company published it's first comprehensive report on the U.S. used book market, The Quiet Revolution: The Expansion of the Used Book Market. In 2003, the company published A Portrait of the U.S. Used Book Market. The report, based on a survey of 827 used book dealers, looks at the used book market in terms of dealer size and inventory as well as changes in selling venues and sales between 2001-2003. The report also ranks the major online selling sites in terms of dealer usage and sales generation. More information is available at www.bookhunterpress.com

Ephemeral Assays - Jane Jackets

Shawn Purcell

Mary C. Jane, children's author. I certainly never heard of her before. Ms. Jane is a little difficult to Google up because the name is so common, but eventually we find the trail in a Maine Writers Index. “Mary Childs Jane (18 September 1909 - 26 July 1991). Children's mystery writer Mary Childs Jane was born in Needham, Massachusetts, and graduated from Bridgewater State Teachers College (Mass.) in 1931. Before her marriage to William Jane in 1937, w[ith] whom she had two sons, she taught in Pippapon, Kentucky (1931-1932), Chester, Massachusetts (1932-1935), and Needham, Massachusetts (1935-1937). She was a long-time resident of Newcastle, Maine. Jane's specialty was writing mysteries for middle school age children. She knew, from her teaching experience, that many reluctant readers can be lead to reading with mysteries.”

And then there's this from the rear panel of a Jane jacket. “To teach, to write, and to have a family of her own-these are cherished dreams come true for Mary C. Jane. This is why we believe she is particularly well qualified to write children's books, and we are proud to publish her mystery stories. A graduate of Bridgewater State Teachers' College in Massachusetts, Mrs. Jane began her teaching career at the Caney Creek Community Center in Kentucky. After several years in Massachusetts schools she married and moved to Newcastle, Maine, where she is the fifth generation of her family to live in the same neighborhood. Here she became an enthusiastic member of creative writing groups and for several years was president of the Poetry Fellowship of Maine. Her feature stories and poetry have appeared in many journals and newspapers, among them the Lewiston Journal, the Portland Sunday Telegram and the Christian Science Monitor. Reading aloud to her two sons sparked an interest in children's literature that was fanned later by her experiences working with fifth and sixth graders when she returned to teaching.”

The online bibliography reveals that Jane authored juvenile mystery novels at the rate of exactly one per year from 1955 through 1970. They were all published by J. B. Lippincott, they all take place in Maine, and they were all illustrated by Raymond Abel. There is something remarkably uniform about this. Her run spans the height of wholesome post-war enthusiasm and American dominance on the double nickel right through to the end of the turbulent '60s and the Summer of Love. Did she tire of this genre at age sixty, or did Lippincott give her the axe?

Two years ago I came upon a pile of these at a country auction. Various full tables of books around the hall were going for one money each, and this particular lot was way over near the office and out of view. Snagging it required careful previewing and absolute attention to the auctioneer, as evidenced by the general confusion of the audience by the time the hammer fell. That haul included fifteen out of sixteen available Janes, lacking only her premier effort Mystery in Old Quebec. They are all first editions, in dustjackets, in very good condition, and signed and inscribed by the author to her brother-in-law Donald! I found some other Donald Jane stuff that day, such as a photo of him lying languidly on top of a baby grand piano looking a bit like Cole Porter, and lots of theatrical materials, so we can perhaps assume that the books came from his unclaimed estate.

I knew this was a great find, and after some research priced them at an average of $325.00, which is actually a bit low in today's market all things considered. Although Mary C. Jane works are quite rare in this state, I don't believe the author is all that collectible, and I was hoping they would all go to one appreciative buyer. There was a damaged copy of her penultimate, The Rocking-Chair Ghost from 1969, that I sent up as a trial balloon on eBay, but it was quickly deflated there, so I resolved to market the rest in a more traditional manner, where they sat for two years with only one nibble. I am moved to document the collection now, however, because a savvy buyer has come forward to claim the prize. She grew up in Maine and was given many of the early volumes by her grandmother, who claimed Mary Jane as a distant relative. She came back from college to find them all gone. After some pleasant negotiations we arrived at a discount price of nearly 25% off for the entire lot.

So here's what's ephemeral about these books. Wandering around online in the midst of The Glut, where instant booksellers stumble into each other like zombies on moonless nights, there are tons of shabby ex-library copies, a good number of softcover reprints, and that's it. Many awful examples are priced not far below what I was asking, and only one poor soiled but “in tact” specimen was signed. There are approximately 450 copies of these fourteen titles available on one of the largest search services as of this writing, and only three or four are bona fide non-ex-library first printings in good dustjackets. The paper Jane jackets are rendered ephemeral by their very scarcity. And what jackets these are! Raymond Abel's breezy, colorful covers and frequent black and white text illustrations must have really set the tone for many a young reader. The other unique aspect of this set are the personalized inscriptions and some of the materials found inside. These intact Mary C. Jane first printings should be recorded for posterity.

-The Ghost Rock Mystery (1956). A small blurb over the front inside flap title and description reads, “Weird hoofbeats and sinister visitors disturb a Maine vacation.” The inscription reads, “For Brother Don, with love from Mary.” Lippincott letterhead stationary pencil dated 9/19/1956 is laid in. “The exciting pattern set by Mary C. Jane in her first book is carried on in this new action-packed thriller for young readers.” Two paragraphs of plot line follow. “Mrs. Jane has further justified the interest she aroused with her excellent first story, 'Mystery in Old Quebec.' THE GHOST ROCK MYSTERY is available at your local bookstores, and the price is $2.25.” The rear inside flap promotes Mystery in Old Quebec. “A mongrel pup helps two children unmask a clever deception.” The dedication reads, “To my favorite Vermonters Dorothy Canfield Fisher and Jessie Wheeler Freeman.”

-Mystery at Pemaquid Point (1957). “Who was the thief and arsonist plaguing the Maine Village?” “With love to Don from Mary. September 1957.” A newspaper burn on this page probably attests to a contemporary review which slipped away like a wayward remora some time ago. Another Lippincott letter laid in. The dedication reads, “To the memory of my mother and father Grace Dyer Childs and Henry Thomas Childs.”

-Mystery at Shadow Pond (1958). “Once more the air is alive with suspense in MYSTERY AT SHADOW POND.” That blurbette doesn't tell us anything, so we'll continue down the front inside flap. “When Neale and Margie Lawson heard that their father would have to sell his shore land and their beloved horse, Firefly, they were miserable. They could find no way to help him until a strange red car, a lost cat, and the odd behavior of an eccentric old man drew them into a mystery involving the lost letters of a famous New England artist. The Lawsons and their friend Rupert Reed, son of the Ranger at the camp across the lake, were plunged into a bewildering tangle of strange doings. Neale thought that his robot-burglar alarm might help to solve the mystery, and Margie was sure that her grandfather's books held the key to the problem. Both children were right, but it took two discoveries-one in a cave on the mountain and one in the middle of Shadow Pond-to set things straight.” “With love to Don from Mary.” The price has crept up a quarter to $2.50. This one still has its clipping, from the “For Young People” column of the 6/28/1958 Saturday Review, but it's more of a blurb rehash announcement than a review, though it does offer one concluding opinion. “The insatiable young readers of mystery stories will welcome this title.” The dedication reads, “To my sisters and brothers Nell, Margaret, Charlie, and Ken.”

-Mystery on Echo Ridge (1959). “Was the strange old house haunted?” “With love to Brother Don from Mary. Christmas 1959.” Another Lippincott letter laid in, this one with the envelope, showing Donald to be residing at 243 Ryerson St. in Brooklyn. By now we know the general Jane plot line. Two or more kids, usually a brother and sister but sometimes close friends, discern and crack mysteries in about 125 pages. The dedication reads, “To my Aunt Nella and my Uncle George who always encouraged my scribbling.”

-Mystery Back of the Mountain (1960). “Two young detectives track down the mystery of their summer house.” “With love to Don from Mary.” The first four include a rather dowdy head shot photo of the author on the rear panel over her brief bio. They all used “Introducing Mary C. Jane” in large letters. This one drops “Introducing.” Looks like she has finally arrived. The dedication reads, “To my dear friend, Florence Sturges.”

-Mystery at Dead End Farm (1961). “An ancient feud, an Indian plot and a lost silver mine figure in the MYSTERY AT DEAD END FARM.” Same inscription as last year. These all smell great by the way, at least to me. Slightly musty like they're thawing out a bit in a northeast cabin once the fire gets going. Just didn't feel like doing a dedication this time around, Mary? You'll wish you had later when you have to jam a whole bunch in.

-Mystery Behind Dark Windows (1962). “A deserted mill in New England conceals a MYSTERY BEHIND DARK WINDOWS.” Same inscription. This is the only second printing of the bunch, with an ugly silver “longlife binding” sticker defacing the jacket. It is also the only fully price-clipped copy. The bio retreats to the inside rear flap where the promo for the previous title used to appear, the rear panel lists all the titles, and the photo is dropped altogether. Small, simple, signed, white, gold and silver illustrated Christmas card laid in with an aerial view of two houses with snowy fields for back yards. The dedication reads, “To David Walker, next author in the family.”

-Mystery by Moonlight (1963). “An old deserted house conceals a MYSTERY BY MOONLIGHT.” “With love to Don from Mary. Christmas 1963.” $2.75 now, and a better photo of MCJ sitting on a dock with pad in lap and a raised hand partially obscuring her face. Abel at his scariest with this cover. The dedication reads, “To those delightful people, the boys and girls who read my books, and to the understanding teachers and librarians who introduced us to each other.” Perfect.

-Mystery in Longfellow Square (1964). “A boy and dog take a dangerous chance to solve the MYSTERY IN LONGFELLOW SQUARE.” Same inscription, updated. $2.95 already. Set in Portland, Maine. The boards vary throughout the series. One color with stamped letters early on, colored paper over a cloth binding with stamped decoration, etc. This one sports a stormy visage repeat of the jacket theme on red-orange boards with black spine lettering.

-Indian Island Mystery (1965). They dropped the little blurbette at the top of the inside cover altogether! Has to do with Tim Neptune, star Maine Native American athlete and class valedictorian, who disappears at the same time a valuable bear's-tooth necklace vanishes from an antiques shop. The author's photo has gone missing again too. “With love to Don from Mary.” The first name basis signed inscriptions are always on the first free endpaper or half-title page, but this one includes an additional full signature on the title page. The dedication reads, “To the boys and girls of Indian Island, especially my first friend, Howard Mitchell, and to their teacher, Sister Mary Laura, with warm regard.”

-The Dark Tower Mystery (1966). Old Mrs. Parmenter had planned on making her mountaintop, High Blue, into a wildlife refuge in memory of her late husband. Outsiders would put a commercial park there instead. The old tower bell rings out mysteriously, and then there's the ghost of beautiful Irene who died on this spot long ago. The kids unearth a strange secret that leads to the solution of a fascinating puzzle. “With love to Don from Mary. Too bad you're not the age you were when I first knew you, as you could really enjoy this. The dark tower is the one on Mt. Bathe, in Camden-there's a road up there now.” A new and slightly unflattering photo appears over the rear inside flap bio. “Horrible picture” next to this in her handwriting.

-Mystery on Nine-Mile Marsh (1967). Moody's Island is set like a jewel in this marsh, and rumors fly when a suspicious stranger “who, after all, was not even a local Maine resident,” inherits the property to the dismay of the last living Moody. “To Donald with love from Mary. 1967. These marshes might remind you of those on the far side of Santorini. You should see them.” All the other covers are glossy, but this one suffers from flatness and attendant minor soiling. Dropping that last photo was probably her first order of business this time around.

-Mystery of the Red Carnations (1968). Prue Tenney was bummed out on Sunday night. All of her friends had either caused or found an exciting adventure to write about for class over the weekend. Then she remembered that an unknown young man had been mysteriously shot eight years back, and somebody placed red carnations at the grave site on every anniversary of the unsolved murder. I would almost read this just to hear her explain why the police didn't think to stake out this cemetery. The final line of the inside front flap blurb is a little odd. “While her characters are confronted with a hidden gun, a strange woman prowling around an empty house, and a suspicious neighbor, these details fit plausibly into the everyday world of a small New England town.” And we learn from the inside rear flap under the usual boilerplate bio that, “for the first time, she has put herself in the story-as the teacher.” Was Mary C. Jane losing her footing? Was Lippincott getting cold feet? “With love to Donald from Mary. Christmas 1968. This one you'll like-I think.” The dedication reads, “To the J. B. Lippincott Company on its 175th anniversary, to all my friends, past and present, in their children's book department, to artist Ray Abel, and especially to the memory of Ollie Talbot, Lippincott's New England sales representative, who kindly gave me the true story of XYZ on which this mystery is based.”

-Mystery in Hidden Hollow (1970). This time the kids get to spend the winter in a big old house with Uncle Ken, escaping their father's trailer and its “shiftless tribe.” Their friends live out that way, and they can all solve a haunted house mystery together. In the process, they “learn how to hold up their heads and keep their self-respect in spite of what neighbors might think of their family.” “With love to Don from Mary. Christmas 1970.” Did Abel drop acid before illustrating this cover? There's a nice new photo of the author sitting in front of a bookcase with a faraway look in her eyes. The dedication reads, “To my dear first grandson, Jesse Jane, with love.”

That's it, as far as I can tell, for the Lippincott Janes. My guess is that the early years were the happiest. Imagine her thrill at seeing these dustjackets for the first time as they came from the publisher, of passing the new books out to friends and family, and of seeing them all stacked up in stores. It probably became a chore toward the end, and it was getting harder to reconcile innocent juvenile mysteries with the shock value of late 1960s culture. Mary C. Jane did live another 21 years, into her eighties, passing away in 1991. She must have had many happy memories of her writing days. The last passage in her final mystery reads as follows. “I guess you can get to feel on top of the world in lots of different places,” Amy said. “But it sure would be hard to beat this!”

Shawn Purcell is the principle of Balopticon Books & Ephemera in Delmar NY, online at http://www.balopticon.com, and may be e-mailed at mail@balopticon.com
Copyright © 2004 Shawn Purcell

I knew I would be writing this article, so I decided to take a quick walk around the perimeter first, just to get a feel for how the booths were set up. I had already gone through the exhibitor list and circled the names of booksellers who specialized in my particular interests, namely, children's books, illustrated books, beat generation, and poetry. I had a goal - this article - and a plan. I arrived at 12:00, which gave me an hour to browse before attending the first of three seminars being offered that day. Two hours later, I emerged from only the fourth booth, dazed and bedazzled. Needless to say, I missed the seminar.

The book fair was held in conjunction with the 6th Annual New England Print Fair, which featured nine exhibitors adjacent to the book fair and printmaking demonstrations throughout the weekend. I can't say much about the Print Fair, because despite my best intentions, I only had a chance to pass quickly through on my way to the second seminar of the day.

The scheduled events that day were as follows:

• 1:00 pm: The Art of Bookbinding presented by North Bennett Street School.
• 2:00-4:00 pm: Nicholas Basbanes Book Signing for his new book, A Splendor of Letters.
• 2:30 pm: How to Shop a Book Fair: An Insider's View presented by John Schulman of Pittsburgh's Caliban Books, Ann and David Bromer of Boston's Bromer Booksellers, and Jeffrey Marks of Jeffrey H. Marks Rare Books in Rochester, NY.
• 4:00 pm: The World's Most Beautiful Papers presented by Sidney Berger, Professor at Simmons College.

The How to Shop a Book Fair seminar was presented as a panel discussion, then opened up for a question and answer period.

The first speaker was John Schulman from Caliban Book Shop. He opened with an opinion that book fairs seem to be dying out for a couple of reasons:

• Middle-class collectors, who generally purchase books priced under $500, are spending their book budget online; and
• Collectors aren't attending like they used to because they assume all of the vendors' books are listed online anyway.

The panel agreed that not everything is online, nor is every bookseller. Some don't use computers at all.

Other good reasons to attend a book fair:

• The approach is different from shopping online. Online buyers are typically searching for something specific and are not as likely to discover the unexpected books you find browsing at book fairs.
• The ability to begin establishing relationships with dealers who can help you find what you are looking for or call you when something you might like comes in.

He also suggested some points of book fair etiquette, which may seem like common sense to a seasoned book fair attendee, but I found useful as a newcomer.

Don't:

• Stand in the middle of a dealer's booth and have a conversation. (I actually saw this happening, and there were probably items I didn't see simply because I couldn't get in to have a look.)
• Ask for a discount. Most dealers price at what they expect to sell the item for, and you don't want to get off on the wrong foot.
• Put an item on hold unless you plan to buy it.
• Leave the item on the shelf if you do plan to buy it. It may not be there when you return!
• finally, he addressed the question: “How do you know if an item is priced reasonably?” He suggested Collected Books by Allen Ahearn and Patricia Ahearn, other price guides, and the Internet: Bookfinder and Addall were suggested sites. Additionally, ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America) sponsored fairs feature dealers committed to their strict ethics code.

  Next, Ann and David Bromer of Boston's Bromer Booksellers, seated at opposite ends of the table, demonstrated one of their tips for shopping a book fair: walkie-talkies. David's approach is to walk up and down each aisle so he can see everything, while Ann takes a quick walk around the entire fair to see which booksellers are there and get “into the rhythm and revved up”. She tends to check out items in the glass cases first. Then, if she sees something she likes, she calls David on the walkie-talkie.

  While I intended to use Ann's approach when I arrived, I ended up using David's approach which is my natural inclination and, like gravity, cannot be defied.

  The Bromers contributed their thoughts on why one should attend book fairs:

  1. There are unique and unusual books that you just won't find online.
  2. There is nothing like the hands-on experience - the true beauty of many books just can't be reproduced online.
  3. With 100 or more dealers, you have the ability to compare multiple copies of the same book and get a feel for how different dealers price.
  4. Not all Internet sites have photographs of the books, and descriptions are not always detailed. At a book fair, you can pick up the book and examine it yourself.

  A couple of the questions posed during the Q&A portion:

  Q: How do dealers decide what to bring?
  A: Some dealers bring their most recent acquisitions or what they think will sell based on their experience, but it can be hard to forecast. Ann Bromer suggested that dealers bring items that have the title on the spine.

  Q: Do dealers price differently at book fairs vs. online? Would a dealer have two prices for the same book - a book fair price and an online price?
  A: The panel agreed that this was unlikely. The books they bring to the fair are some of their best items and may not be listed online. If there was a difference, the price would probably be lower at the book fair, for example if an item is not selling the price may be reduced as the dealer contemplates boxing everything up and carting it home or back to the shop.

  Jeffrey Marks of Jeffrey H. Marks Rare Books provided another key piece of advice: for the best chance of finding what you are looking for at a book fair, contact dealers in advance (their e-mail and mailing addresses and telephone numbers are usually listed on the exhibitors list) and let them know if you collect a specific type of book. He also provided the following anecdote:

  "Many years ago, at a New Hampshire book fair, I was in my booth when a man walked up and began a long and impassioned lament about a book from his childhood that he had been trying to replace for what sounded like most of his adult life. One was meant to get the impression that this book would be the making, if not the saving, of that life. I happened to have the book there, and took it off the shelf. When I handed it to him, he, after glancing at it for no more than a second, and without opening it to learn the price, returned it to me, saying, I guess I'm still at the stage where I'm just looking for it."

  Next, it was on to the Nicholas Basbanes book signing. It was my pleasure to meet Mr. Basbanes. While he was signing my copy of A Splendor of Letters, I mentioned that I was writing this article and asked his permission to take a few photographs. He was very gracious and asked that I e-mail him a link to the article when it came out.

  This is where I noticed something unexpected. I don't know if this is the case at other book fairs, but when a book was purchased it was placed in a bag and the bag was then sealed closed with a neon-colored sticker that said “SOLD”. Then the name of the bookseller, booth number, and number of items was written on the label. This label was then checked each time one entered or exited the exhibit hall. I didn't wear a coat, but I did notice that there was a free, but mandatory, coat check.

  After the book signing I allowed myself to wander and explore. There seemed to be a good mix of titles and price ranges. There were maps, broadsides, prints, and autographs as well. As a collector, I found some interesting items. One bookseller had a copy of an 1894 octavo edition Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam translated by Edward Fitzgerald with drawings by Elihu Vedder (Houghton Mifflin), which I happen to have a copy of that I picked up for $4.50 at a library sale years ago simply because it was beautiful. I believe it was priced around $350. After that, I started noticing many beautifully illustrated editions of this title. I realized that I, myself, have more than one edition and could make a collection of this one title alone. Another tempting item was a broadside hand-colored by poet Kenneth Patchen, who I absolutely love. I must admit, that I didn't know what a broadside was until now. I would have called it a “print”. So, I learned something!

  On day two, I revisited one of the four booths I had been immersed in the first day. At McIntyre and Moore Booksellers I stood outside a moment trying to remember why I wanted to revisit the booth. I had written the reason on the back of their business card as a reminder, but I didn't bring it with me. When the seller asked if he could help me, I explained that there was a reason I returned to the booth but couldn't remember what it was. He said, “To buy a book, I hope!” I entered the booth and then remembered: they had some interesting math and physics books. I recently acquired a collection of these and was interested to see how they were priced. As I browsed the booth I came across the most unlikely title - one I had been searching for since I read it in the 5th grade! I remembered the anecdote about the collector who was “still at the stage where I'm just looking for it.” Not me! I purchased a first edition of Joan G. Robinson's When Marnie Was There for $30. This is a prime example of a good reason to attend a book fair. I didn't find this book online. It was waiting for me among math, physics, and occult books in Boston.
  As the book fair was nearing the end, I was determined to actually speak to some booksellers. I am not normally at a loss for words - I have spoken at IT conferences and was VP of membership in my Toastmaster's club - but I felt tongue-tied for some reason.

  I finally approached Adrian Harrington of Adrian Harrington Rare Books. I asked if his sales were worth the trip from the U.K. He specialized in Sets, Fine & Rare; Fore-edge Painting; Literature; Modern Firsts; Travel, Voyage, and Exploration and had a beautiful booth. He said that the trip was worth it. Of course, I waited until about 2 minutes to the show's end to work up my courage, and didn't get to speak with him at length.

  On the plus side, I accidentally discovered my digital camera's movie mode when attempting to photograph Mr. Harrington's booth. (No wonder the flash wouldn't go off!) I have a lovely 30-second film of books sitting on a shelf, which I did manage to convert to images.

  I would like to thank John Schulman of Caliban books for responding to my e-mail request for the name of Jeffrey Marks since he wasn't listed as a panelist for the “How to Shop a Book Fair” seminar, and also Jeffrey Marks for e-mailing me the story he told during the seminar.

  I thoroughly enjoyed the Boston Book Fair, although I think I could have spent a week there. I learned a lot, met a wonderful author, friendly booksellers, and found a favorite childhood book. What more could I ask for?

  Lynn Naylor operates Magical Readers Books at http://www.magicalreadersbooks.com and specializes in children's books.

  ---

  The Bookstores of Madison Wisconsin

  Lynn DeWeese-Parkinson

  Here is my long-promised review of book buying in and around Madison, Wisconsin. A few non-book - or nearly non-book observations: it is cold and it is flat. There are lakes and ponds everywhere. Lakes and ponds are not oceans and slight rises are not mountains. There really is a lot of cheese including chocolate cheese. As much as I like chocolate, chocolate cheese is an abomination.

  The best restaurant we found is The Blue Plate Café whose chicken and dumplings is just like mother wished she could make. One order and you don't have to eat again for days. All Wisconsin restaurants serve portions for farmhands - young farmhands - young teenage male farmhands - young teenage male German farmhands. It is a very dangerous place for folks like myself who were taught as children that it is a moral imperative to clean your plate. I have hit 200 pounds for the first time in my life. My fighting weight is 165.

  The best side trip we made was to Taliesin. It is almost worth being so far from salt water to see it. The tour is great and there are lots of books, architectural toys and decorative originals and reproductions in the gift shop. If you would like to buy me a $3000 screen...

  On to book scouting, the first rule is to get a map. Streets in Madison change names in mid-block, change directions, and dead end with alarming frequency. I found two guides: a guide to used and rare book dealers and a guide to independent bookstores. The latter included used and new dealers but some of the new shops were so independent and so specialized that it was worth a visit. I found a discounted copy of a history of women in bullfighting at A Room of One's Own, a feminist shop just off State Street, for example. The other new shops of interest were the three Frugal Muses (located all over the place), a local chain of discount stores, and Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, the mandatory college town lefty shop also just off State Street.

  If you have limited time or mobility, State Street is where the action is. It has no car traffic (but watch out for buses) and runs about 6 blocks between the University and the Capitol. It seems to be the mid-West cultural equivalent of Berkeley's Telegraph Avenue. I think there are 8 book stores in those 6 blocks. There may be a few more or less and they seem to keep opening and closing. I found two that suited my purposes at opposite ends of the street.

  Near the university is Paul's Book Store whose clerk was helpful, knew the stock, and had a pretty good section of Mexican history and social sciences which was better than I expected in Wisconsin. He didn't give me a trade discount but at least did not try to charge me sales tax. The shop was clean, well lit, and probably too well-organized for my tastes. The chances of finding the jewel hidden in the dusty corner seemed remote.

  Near the capitol at Shakespeare's Books ("Madison's oldest and largest") I did get a discount. It was many things Paul's was not (including neither so clean nor so well organized) and did give me a discount. The clerk was an older woman who really knew her books. I bought more at Paul's but bought more interesting things (bullfight books I had never seen before) at Shakespeare's. I had the feeling that if I only spent another hour I would find the diamond in the coal pile.

  My favorite place was Stony Hill Books and Antiques at 2140 Regent Street. They are moving away from books to antiques and having a half price sale, but even without that I would have (and did) buy more there than everywhere else added together. The proprietor is another Guatemalophile, which probably says it all, but there is lots of stuff in most areas available in his shop now - for how long? Who knows? It was all we could do to get out without buying a painting from Santiago Atitlan and a silk screen from Cuba.

  I wanted to visit Scholar's Haven on the west side on University Avenue, but the hours were erratic and I could not get the timing right. I was told the stock was interesting and from what I could see with my cold little nose pressed against the window pane, I'd agree. (I've browsed and bought there and can confirm that the stock is as interesting as you imagined. -ed.) I also was unable to hook up with J. Tuttle Maritime Books (mail order/by appointment).

  There are other shops in the area but for me the ones mentioned are the ones I would return to. In general I was surprised at how little of the stock in most shops had been put on line. Of course, for the buyer, that is a good thing.

  I should also mention that, as I was told, the St. Vincent store has a very good book section, seemingly with a lot of turnover, and I was able to pick up a much needed pair of Green Bay Packer mittens there for $4.00. If you can't find the St. Vincent store on your own, your nose will never lead you to a good book there anyhow.

  All in all I think Madison may beat out Tucson as the best small book town I've shopped in. (But it still is not worth a trip in the late fall or winter without a daughter to visit there. It is really cold!) Now if I can only drop these 20 pounds - chocolate cheese & dumplings, indeed!

  Lynn DeWeese-Parkinson specializes in books on Latin America and the Caribbean and peddles such wares at
  www.bibliophilegroup.com/lynnsbookstore
  

  Beautifying the Tattered Book Jacket Cover

  Bern Marcowitz, Bookseller

  Your valuable just-purchased book has a tattered dust jacket with tears, chips, rips, and parts missing. You're tempted to throw it away, but after reading this article I hope you'll do what I do and not discard any dust jacket, in any shape, if the book has a market.

  What you'll need is simple: a plastic book jacket cover, a bone folder or similar tool, and a good adhesive and/or tape. (See last month's Making Money from Book Care article for advice in this area.)

  Assemble all the pieces of the dust jacket on a flat surface and put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. If part is folded over, uncrease it and rub the bone folder over it to smooth it. You can do this on any flat, hard surface. If part is torn then adhere it with tape or glue, obviously from the back of the dust jacket.

  Now the dust jacket is probably dirty; not with dust, but with years of adhered grime. I usually use a cotton swab stick, or a soft white cloth, dipped in a non-water liquid of choice, to gently clean the fragments. The paper is usually fragile and I prefer liquids to solid cleaning agents like an art gum eraser, clean cover gel, or Absorene book cleaner.

  Water is never to be used. I use Brodex, a multipurpose cleaner that I get from Brodart. It is inexpensive, but if I am feeling especially frugal I might risk using rubbing alcohol. The alcohol cleans and quickly evaporates and that is usually safe for dust jackets. I have noticed that it has a tendency to run colors, especially reds, and especially from books from the 1940s.

  Some dealers use Windex or a similar glass cleaner, and it may well work, but I do not suggest experimenting on expensive books. It is true, however, that paper and inks vary from country to country and decade to decade, so it is impossible to generalize about the results.

  Anyway, when I've gotten the dust jacket laid out and cleaned, I position it on an Open-Edge Adjustable Book Jacket Cover, since that is my personal favorite. I always use the Lo-Luster type because it cuts down on glare and hides minor imperfections. My partner compares it to make-up on an older person. These covers come in two weights, 1.5 or 2-mil, and I prefer the1.5-mil. 2-mil is best for books that will be heavily used.
  So for about fifteen cents in supplies, and 2-5 minutes time, you have potentially increased the value of your book from, let me guess, 20%-50%.

  The dust jacket is more than a decoration; it protects the book from wear and is necessary. As far as I can find out it came into vogue, in the form we know it now, in the early 20th century. With a polyester cover added the book is additionally protected against dirt, water, moisture, spillage, and the fading effects of ultra-violet light. The logical conclusion is that all old books should have polyester protection, or at least the books you want to get a good price for.

  Lastly, there is a definite feeling of satisfaction on gazing on a book whose appearance you have improved and this is, or should be, one of the rewards of being a bookseller.

  Bern Marcowitz is co-owner of Dog Lovers Bookshop at at http://www.dogbooks.com/, is the co-author of Care and Feeding of Books Old and New: A Simple Repair Manual for Book Lovers, and is a consultant to the Supplies division of The Brodart Company. For supplies mentioned in this article Brodart has one large catalog that Bern calls "a Victoria's Secret for book lovers', and that catalog has spin-offs. For booksellers it is the 2005 Reseller Catalog: a 50 page catalog that has special reseller pricing. New in this issue: 3/4 page Book Care Tips and a full page on Protecting Your Inventory that examines the best covers for all kinds of books. For free copies call 1-888-820-4377 or visit http://www.shopbrodart.com/op.

  Updated Edition of Children's & Illustrated Books Price Guide & Bibliographic Check List from 1880-1970

  Shirley Bryant

  Lee Baumgarten has updated the 1996 edition of his book and in the process has almost doubled its size from 10,405 to 18,150 entries. The date range has been extended to 1970 and there are 3,446 titles in the period of 1961-1970. Book value ranges have been updated to reflect market changes since the previous edition.

  This invaluable price guide and bibliographic check list includes practically all trade editions of the most-collectible authors and illustrators of the time period, and the information is presented in three convenient indexes - by Author, Illustrator and Title.

  Also included are the original dust jacket prices for practically all post-1934 American-published books. Moreover, books that are "stated" in first edition are clearly designated as such, which is invaluable to collectors and dealers alike.

  The guide also includes a comprehensive listing of books published by popular publishers such as Volland, Holiday House and W.R. Scott picture books, as well as almost every award-winning children's book in the time range (i.e., Caldecott, Newbery, Carnegie, Greenaway, New York Times Best Illustrated, Jane Addams).

  Of particular importance is that most information in the guide cannot easily be found on the Internet, so if you buy or sell any children's and illustrated books from the 1880-1970 time period you'll find that this guide divulges a lot of information that is normally closely-guarded by specialists as a 'trade secret'.

  Available now in softcover, ISBN 0-9647285-7-5, and hardcover, ISBN 0-9647285-6-7. Multiple pricing discounts are available. Contact Lee Baumgarten at elbaum@adelphia.net, or go to http://www.baumgartenguide.com for further information or to order this book online.

  Shirley Bryant operates Authors & Artists and specializes in fine books and antiques.
  
  

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  Discarded Books: The Facelift for Ex-Library Books

  Joan White

  If you love books, collect books, or sell books Discarded Books: The Facelift for Ex-Library Books is a very handy reference book. Written and illustrated by j. godsey, the book contains simple, clearly-explained methods for prolonging the life of a book. Ms. godsey makes it clear that these repairs should not be attempted on rare or valuable books - but you can certainly use these handy tips on enhancing your own collection or books you are trying to sell. The tips are not just for ex-library books.

  The book and its intent are best described by the book's own Read Me section. ' This guide is intended to help extend the life and usefulness of books that have already lived a rich and full life as part of a library's circulating collection. Regardless of what you may have learned from the Internet, fifty percent of library discards are utter trash, another forty percent are little more than reading copies and cleaned up can serve as very nice shelf copies. The other ten percent are books that are scarce in any condition and with a little bit of careful attention can be greatly improved upon. However there are a minute number of books that should not be 'fixed' by the amateur. One can easily turn a good book into scrap paper. It is more work for the conservator to correct a bad repair than to just restore the book.'

  This book offers several options for each repair job so you can choose according to the solution you are most comfortable in attempting.

  I have used many of these helpful tricks with some of my books. They can certainly take a 'Good' book to 'Very Good' or higher, easily. The testimonies on her web-site show many others are also using these helpful solutions.

  Ms. godsey has an fresh approach to writing; both easy to read and down to earth in directions and instructions. The 28 page booklet is chock-full of good advice from the 'Stuff You May Need' to the detailed, illustrated directions for repairing shaken hinges, loose signatures, missing free endpapers, etc.

  Ms. godsey maintains www.bookdeodorizer.com where Discarded books may be purchased. The site also contains information on the Book Deodorizer product and (sic) the book humor magazine.

  Joan White is co-owner of White Unicorn Books at www.whiteunicornbooks.com. White Unicorn Books specializes in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Arkham in addition to their general stock.