Ian Kahn of Lux Mentis participates in all the ABAA shows.
Though bookselling with an open shop where buyers browse and money changes hands at retail is a dying occupation, it is still one of America’s most popular fantasies.
Scratch any serious reader and just below the skin is a would-be book seller. Most of them have their some day shops clearly in mind.
Owning a Bookstore – An Old Fantasy
About those fantasy book stores: In the mind’s eye they all have coffee bars, long dust dappled moats of light streaming in through the high windows and comfortable chairs. There’s always a cat/or a dog/or a parrot in residence and an ever changing cast of characters, usually drawn from a pre-Seinfeld America.
But those of us who are still in the book business and its 21st century offshoots know it’s not really like that anymore. Being a bookseller is still a good life, but the model of what’s good about it has changed.
Being a Book Seller in the 21st Century
I was fortunate my folks were in the book business. When I was growing up I didn’t have a choice. This was our business. I was in it.
I moved to Maui in the 1970s and put out my first Hawaii-Pacific catalog in 1979. By the 1990s the trade (and me with it) had migrated to the internet, and Maui was no longer a sleepy little island backwater, it was an upscale resort destination.
There is a lot to like about the bookseller life style in the 50th state. As I write this the papayas are ripe on the tree, the gardenias are in bloom. The dog is waiting for the morning ride to the beach. Though the climate is murder on paper, I’ve never regretted choosing Maui as a home base.
Still, when I look around, there are still others in the same trade whose lifestyles fill me with envy:
No one documents the good life like Ian J. Kahn.
In my own fantasy of book selling - Ian J. Kahn is at the top of the list. He is a former attorney, and a person who dabbled in books for many years before joining the trade. He is the owner of Lux Mentis (ABAA) in Maine.
In that capacity he does all the ABAA shows, travels and exhibits widely and also attends book fairs and related events around the world. When it comes to social media no one documents the high points of the good life better than Ian.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Hooke, Robert. Micrographia: or some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies made by Magnifying Glasses. London: James Allestry for the Royal Society, 1667. $12,000 to $15,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Chappuzeau, Samuel. The history of jewels, first edition in English. London: T.N. for Hobart Kemp, 1671. $12,000 to $18,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 12: Sowerby, James. Exotic Mineralogy, containing his most realistic mineral depictions, London: Benjamin Meredith, 1811, Arding and Merrett, 1817. $5,000 to $7,000.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
