Where once collecting parameters were immovable and dealers the judges and jury the emerging collector’s concept is self-adjusting, buffeted and buttressed by the many things they see and learn. The dealer’s challenge is to understand the process so to abet its success. Fighting it is fatal. Unfortunately, such personally derived focus is more the bucking bronco than thoroughbred stallion, the process more verb than noun. Said another way, the Internet changes both who collects and what they collect and encourages continuing change. The aging collector reading by candle in his library is a nice image but one that has gone the way of the buggy whip and stagecoach as a new generation now builds complex collections that weave many strands into personally defined unified concepts. For book sellers, who were once the principal architects and agents for such collections, the ability to understand subjects broadly and delve deeply are the new requirements. Absent that command the dealer will be a supplier but not a collector’s Svengali.
Dealers are responding in many ways, many of them counterintuitive. Many are adjusting inventory. Most are doing what they have done, perhaps today more efficiently. Bill Reese has been pruning for a decade, focusing on the very rare, exceptional and important. One way to avoid comparison is to have the incomparable. The Reese catalogues are a particular strength.
John Windle of San Francisco is a specialist dealer and his focus William Blake, the artist/engraver/poet. “I do business as I have done and the business continues. Availability and prices change and I adjust.” As many of Blake’s engravings suggest the world is a complicated place and Mr. Windle continues to find success by adjusting his costs while maintaining his focus.
David Brass’ experience has been more difficult and his adjustments more severe. “I’m not seeing new collectors and as far as I’m concerned the web has damaged the rare book business.” Not one to be passive he explains, “we carry our books to the logical buyers and sell them. We have to. People aren’t coming in. It’s a difficult time.”
