The Means of Book Trading That Dares Not Speak Its Name: eBay
Finally, after endless chains of phone calls, I found four brave souls who were willing to talk to me – two for attribution, and two on the terms that they remain anonymous. They consisted of both collectors and dealers, sometimes even incorporated within the same person. I talked with each of the four individually, and to my knowledge none of them know each other. But I have formatted this article as if it were a roundtable organized around themes even though there was no group conversation.
Having said all this, it becomes time for me to introduce the participants in this eBay dialogue. The two who spoke for attribution are John T. Zubal, a Cleveland, Ohio bookdealer (www.zubal.com) , and William P. Barlow Jr., a partner in the Oakland, CA, accounting firm of Barlow & Hughan. Barlow is an accountant by day but an Americana and ephemera collector by night and a co-teacher (with Terry Belanger) at the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School (www.virginia.edu/oldbooks/). Logically enough, I will refer to these individuals by their real last names. And then there are our anonymous participants, one a British-born special collections librarian at an urban library’s local history collection and part-time independent bookseller whom I’ll call Librarian X and one a store manager for a rare books dealer specializing in 20th century firsts in the areas of modernism in design, photography and art based in one of New York’s most affluent resort communities whom I’ll refer to as Dealer Y.
Let us begin with one defacto disclaimer: these four individuals by no means make up a representative or random sample: they are just the people I could get to talk on this surprisingly controversial and closeted topic. Not all agreed on every issue, and there will be contradictory statements reflected in this article. Some took the same basis of facts and reached remarkably differing conclusions. And again, at no time did they speak together; their quotes are just arranged under subject headings for organization’s sake.
“Round Table”
LENGTH OF TIME USING EBAY
Librarian X: “I have been using eBay for 3 ½ -4 years. I plan to continue using eBay for the foreseeable future.”
Zubal: “I started to sell on it 5 years ago. Mostly I post popular culture stuff, things with lots of graphics, Hardy Boys or Mark Twain in jacket. Nothing too serious: I can sell that through other venues. I always include pictures with my materials for sale. Currently on eBay I have for sale 4 years of the Illustrated London News, 1887-1888, essentially a chronicle of civilization with illustrations.”
Barlow: “I’ve been on eBay for something like 6 or 7 years.”
Dealer Y: “I’ve been using eBay for about 5 years. I started using it for what was then my own bookselling business. Then I was hired by my present employer, a high end rare books dealer, to manage one of his bookshops and I started using eBay for my employer as well as for my own collecting interests.”
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…
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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.
![<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.")
