Rare Book Monthly

Articles - April - 2013 Issue

Barnes & Noble: Yesterday's Goliath Struggles to Survive

If the typical, private bookseller is finding these to be complicated times for retail, then perhaps they can sympathize with their dreaded competitor from the 1990s, Barnes & Noble. Barnes & Noble swept through the new book business twenty years ago, leaving a string of failed private bookshops in their wake. Few could compete once the mega-store came to town, with its large selection, comfortable chairs for reading, coffee and pastries. For many, it was the booksellers' version of Wal-Mart vs. Main Street. We all know how that turned out.

Now, twenty years have passed, and it's Barnes & Noble that is fighting for its life. Amazon has stolen much of its sales by selling online. They do not carry the overhead of local stores, enabling them to sell for lower prices. Add to that Amazon's strategy of accepting low margins so as to dominate a business and it is hard for anyone to compete on price. With high volumes shipping from central locations, Amazon is also in the best position to stock the largest inventory and widest selection of titles. The tables have turned on B&N and now the world watches to see if they can find a way out of their predicament, or do they go the way of their once greatest rival, Borders.

As if this wasn't enough, a few years ago, Amazon began heavily promoting electronic books. They developed their Kindle e-reader and began selling e-books at prices even lower than their discounted print editions. A bad situation for B&N quickly became worse. A minority, but still significant percentage of book sales moved to this new, paper-free format.

So, Barnes & Noble reacted. They decided to go head to head with Amazon in this new form. That would not be easy – competing in a format even more suitable to internet retailing than was paper books, which had to be shipped. B&N's one advantage – instant gratification – would not be an advantage with e-books. Nonetheless, B&N felt they had one advantage – that of being able to display their e-readers and show customers how to use them. And then there was one more positive for B&N. Though this was not their field, they came out with a very good e-reader, one many consumers preferred to the Kindle. And, B&N quickly made their Nook even more – an electronic reader with features of a tablet computer, such as email and internet access. They had a product that could compete with Apple for the tablet market as well as Amazon for the e-reader market.

Barnes & Noble did a great job with this new medium, but still they suffered from one major disadvantage. B&N is small. They have nowhere near the financial clout of an Amazon or Apple. Their Nook was like Research in Motion's Blackberry competing against Apple's iPhone for the smart phone market. Or, like Main Street competing against Wal-Mart for retail goods. Size matters. It is hard to compete against the behemoths, and besides which, not many people thought of Barnes & Noble as a technology company. Sales early on were very good for the Nook, but as time has gone by, sales have declined, even if it is a very nice product. Sales of Nook e-readers and e-books dropped by 25% during the most recent holiday season. B&N simply does not have comparable marketing prowess to the giants.

Sales have slipped despite a sizable cash investment last year by Microsoft. B&N separated its Nook division from the rest of its business, drawing in $300 million from Microsoft, which is belatedly trying to catch Apple in the latest technology. If you had owned Barnes & Noble's stock before the Microsoft investment, you could have doubled your money when that news was announced. However, it has not been enough to stem the tide, and most of those gains in the company's stock disappeared as the year wore on. Meanwhile, Microsoft has developed its own tablet, though it is hardly setting the world on fire.

What is next for Barnes & Noble? There are lots of rumors. Reports are that B&N's founder and Chairman, Leonard Riggio, is contemplating making a bid for just the stores. The stores, though struggling, are still profitable and their all-important cash flow is positive. The Nook division, however, is losing money and burning cash, though it is a participant in tomorrow's technology, rather than yesterday's retailing. However, the losses have not stopped B&N from entering new deals with several Hollywood studios to obtain rights to videos for display on their Nooks. It's full speed ahead, even while losses mount. Some have speculated that Microsoft might make a bid for for the rest of the Nook division (it owns 16.8% already). Of course, by the time Microsoft gets around to investing in new technology, it's old technology. Can a PC-focused company save the Nook when it is unclear PCs can save themselves? Curiouser and curiouser!” cried Alice.

Rare Book Monthly

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    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
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    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • Fonsie Mealy’sRare Books & Collectors’ SaleApril 30th & May 1st Fonsie Mealy’sRare Books & Collectors’ SaleApril 30th & May 1st
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    April 30th & May 1st
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    April 30th & May 1st
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Taylor (Geo.) & Skinner (A.) Maps of the Roads of Ireland, Surveyed 1777. Lond. & Dublin 1778. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Messingham (Thos.) Florilegium Insulae Sanctorum seu Vitae et Acta Sanctorum Hibernia, Paris 1624. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus). The Haw Lantern, L. (Faber & Faber) 1987, First Edn., Signed and dated. €225 to €350.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Valencey (Lt. Col. Chas.) Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, Vols. I-IV, 4 vols. Dublin 1786. €400 to €600.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Powerscourt (Viscount). A Description and History of Powerscourt, Lond. 1903. €350 to €500.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Moryson (Fynes). An Itinerary ... Containing His Ten Yeeres Travel Through the Twelve Dominions of Germany, Bohermerland, Sweitzerland…, Lond. (John Beale) 1617. €700 to €1,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: After Buffon, Birds of Europe, c. 1820. Approx. 120 fine hd. cold. plts., mor. backed boards. €125 to €250.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Dunlevy (Andrew). An Teagasg Criosduidhe De Reir Ceasda agus Freagartha... The Catechism or Christian Doctrine by Way of Question and Answer, Paris (James Guerin) 1742. €400 to €700.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: The Georgian Society Records of Eighteen-Century Domestic Architecture in Dublin, 5 vols. Complete, Dublin 1909-1913. €500 to €750.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Scale (Bernard). An Hibernian Atlas or General Description of the Kingdom of Ireland, L. (Robert Sayer & John Bennet) 1776. €625 to €850.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: [Johnson (Rev. Samuel)]. Julian the Apostate Being a Short Account of his Life, together with a Comparison of Popery and Paganism,L. (Langley Curtis) 1682. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Nichlson (Wm.) Illustrator. An Almanac of Twelve Sports, Lond. 1898. €300 to €400.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) trans. The Light of the Leaves, 2 vols., Mexico (Imprenta de los Tropicos/Bunholt) 1999. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Fleming (Ian). Moonraker, L. (Jonathan Cape) 1955. €1,500 to €2,000.
    Fonsie Mealy’s, Apr 30-May 1: Heaney (Seamus) & Egan (Felim) artist. Squarings, Twelve Poems, D. (Hieroglyph Editions Ltd.) 1991. €1,750 to €2,250.
  • Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN'S EXTREMELY RARE FIRST APPEARANCE IN PRINT. "Scene af: Røverne i Vissenberg i Fyen." in Harpen, 1822.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST THREE FAIRY TALE PAMPHLETS, WITH ALL INDICES AND TITLE PAGES. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: THE FIRST FAIRY TALES WITH A SIGNED CARTE DE VISITE OF ANDERSEN AS FRONTIS. Eventyr, fortalte for Børn. 1835-1837.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: KARL LAGERFELD. Original pastel and ink drawing in gold, red and black for Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes (1992), "La cassette de l'Empereur."
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY OF THE SIXTH PAMPHLET FOR PETER KOCH. Eventyr, Fortalte For Børn, Second Series, Third Pamphlet. 1841. Publisher's wrappers, complete with all pre- and post-matter.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN RARE AUTOGRAPH QUOTATION SIGNED IN ENGLISH from "The Ugly Duckling," c.1860s.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: HEINRICH LEFLER, ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR FOR ANDERSEN'S SNOW QUEEN, "Die Schneekönigin," 1910.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: FIRST EDITION OF ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES IN ENGLISH. Wonderful Stories for Children. London, 1846.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: ANDERSEN ON MEETING CHARLES DICKENS. Autograph Letter Signed ("H.C. Andersen") in English to William Jerdan, July 20, 1847.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR EDGAR COLLIN. Nye Eventyr og Historier. Anden Raekke. 1861.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: DOLL HOUSE FURNITURE BY HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, DECORATED WITH FANTASTICAL CUT-OUTS, for the children of Jonna Stampe (née Drewsen), his godchildren.
    Bonhams, Apr. 21-29: PRESENTATION COPY FOR GEORG BRANDES. Dryaden. Et Eventyr fra Udstillingstiden i Paris 1867. 1868.

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