Searching The Old Book Sites:<br>Just Who Is The Best?
- by Michael Stillman
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Next up is Barnes and Noble, the stepchild, the Avis, the Boston Red Sox of online bookselling. They have the greatest stores, but online, they are never more than number two. They give me only one logical choice to search in, "Bookstores." It turns out that is for new books, but not finding any new copies of this 1852 report, it asks if I would like to check their "Used and Out of Print Store." Certainly. I click the link and up pop 12 copies, most fairly recent printings, and it even finds one where "expedition" is spelled "expidition." Do I like this search better than Amazon's? Of course not. It doesn't reveal any secrets about my wife. It just finds the book I want. However, with a little more digging, you will find that in order to sell books with Barnes and Noble, you must do so through Abebooks or Alibris. Unlike Amazon, they aren't giving you anything new, just some of the listings from those other sites. They do claim 30 million titles, nothing to sneeze at, but Alibris offers 40 million and Abe 50 million. They really haven't added much to the equation.
If you have been in the old book business for awhile, you undoubtedly know Abe and Alibris well, so I won't bother you with the details. Each offers good advanced search screens. I prefer the way Abe gives you all of the listings together, rather than the subsets of variations presented by Alibris. Abebooks was the standard for me at the start of this exercise, and remained so at the end.
The ABAA (American Antiquarian Booksellers' Association) and ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers) sites are remarkably similar. It doesn't take long to recognize these two are related. The search screens are practically identical. However, the ILAB site has the advantage of searching not only the items held by ABAA members from America, but international dealers as well. Even if you're looking for American books, it's surprising how many are held by foreign merchants. It’s hard to see why you would choose the ABAA site over the ILAB one. In fact, ILAB gives you the choice of searching inventory from just one country (like the U.S.) or all. And here's another neat feature on the ILAB site I've never seen before. They give you a keyboard of letters with those funny squiggles under them that denote they are in some language English-speakers don't recognize. If you want to find an "è" or a "ç" you can actually enter them that way without knowing the obscure code that lets your keyboard type such symbols.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 156: Cornelis de Jode, Americae pars Borealis, double-page engraved map of North America, Antwerp, 1593.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 206: John and Alexander Walker, Map of the United States, London and Liverpool, 1827.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 223: Abraham Ortelius, Typus Orbis Terrarum, hand-colored double-page engraved world map, Antwerp, 1575.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 233: Aaron Arrowsmith, Chart of the World, oversize engraved map on 8 sheets, London, 1790 (circa 1800).
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 239: Fielding Lucas, A General Atlas, 81 engraved maps and diagrams, Baltimore, 1823.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 240: Anthony Finley, A New American Atlas, 15 maps engraved by james hamilton young on 14 double-page sheets, Philadelphia, 1826.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 263: John Bachmann, Panorama of the Seat of War, portfolio of 4 double-page chromolithographed panoramic maps, New York, 1861.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 265: Sebastian Münster, Cosmographei, Basel: Sebastian Henricpetri, 1558.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 271: Abraham Ortelius, Epitome Theatri Orteliani, Antwerp: Johann Baptist Vrients, 1601.
Swann Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books December 9, 2025
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 283: Joris van Spilbergen, Speculum Orientalis Occidentalisque Indiae, Leiden: Nicolaus van Geelkercken for Jodocus Hondius, 1619.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 285: Levinus Hulsius, Achtzehender Theil der Newen Welt, 14 engraved folding maps, Frankfurt: Johann Frederick Weiss, 1623.
Swann, Dec. 9: Lot 341: John James Audubon, Carolina Parrot, Plate 26, London, 1827.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue, inscribed by the author pre-publication. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 11: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Autograph sketchleaf including a probable draft for the E flat Piano Quartet, K.493, 1786. £150,000 to £200,000.
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.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/00d5fd41-2542-4a80-b119-4886d4b9925f.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 11:</b> Darwin and Wallace. On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties..., [in:] <i>Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society,</i> Vol. III, No. 9., 1858, Darwin announces the theory of natural selection. £100,000 to £150,000.")
