The Means of Book Trading That Dares Not Speak Its Name: eBay
By Abby Tallmer
eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY; http://ebay.com) is the world’s online marketplace.
Founded in September 1995, eBay is the leading online marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and businesses. Today, the eBay community includes 49.7 million registered users, and is the most popular shopping site on the Internet when measured by total user minutes according to Media Metrix.
OUR MISSION
eBay's mission is to help practically anyone trade practically anything on earth.
---From eBay’s Company Overview, found at: pages.ebay.com/community/aboutebay/overiew
Introduction:
The initial idea for this article was for a rare books specialist but relative eBay novice like this author to do a piece on the pros and cons of using eBay to buy or sell rare books and Americana. Of course I had heard of eBay before, and had even spent several questionable hours at previous jobs lurking on the site, looking for bargains. But truth be told I was practically an eBay virgin: I had never bought anything on eBay and didn’t even have a grasp of the essential eBay speak. In fact, I didn’t even know how to get on to eBay, except abstractly. [See the Easy Steps to Getting on eBay and Understanding It When You’re There and the eBay Glossary at the rear of this article for more on this.]
Once I started working on this article – which had the simple original premise of informing AE Monthly’s less informed readers about eBay’s role in the rare books world today – I quickly realized that my premise wasn’t so simple. The more time I spent on the site, the more I got it: this eBay thing was complicated. It was also practically a separate community, or a community within a community. They had their own language, their own rules, their own ongoing arguments: hell, it was almost like a cult that nobody talked about that existed right in the middle of the up-front rare books world. One element that made it especially cult-like was people’s reticence to talk openly about the subject. I had to have gone through about thirty or more of my book collecting and dealing acquaintances before I found anyone who would admit to using eBay and talk to me – even anonymously – about it. What I ran into was a fifteen foot thick brick wall of stigma. Sure, everybody knew someone else who was doing it, but they weren’t doing it themselves.
Once I sensed the bizarre level of secrecy and stigma involved with using eBay in the rare books world, I became more determined than ever to do the story. I also became more determined than ever to have people speak to me about eBay directly rather than just taking the eBay immersion Berlitz course myself and telling AE Monthly’s readers what I found out. (As it was I did end up doing a lot of background research, reading in part or full five different books and taking an online course on eBay as well as just spending a lot of time on the site.)
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.
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>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.")
![<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.")
