Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2019 Issue

Vic Zoschak and Tavistock Books: A 30th Anniversary for the President of the ABAA

Vic Zoschak, 30 years in the trade and current President of the ABAA

Vic Zoschak, 30 years in the trade and current President of the ABAA

For Vic Zoschak of Tavistock Books this April marked his 30th year in the rare book trade.  His experience as a rare book collector and dealer has spanned the most tumultuous years in modern times for what was once a rather sedentary, cerebral trade.  But, in considering this career that continues today, at the ripe age of 66, and which he hopes to continue on into his 80s, he expresses gratitude for the books, friends, travel and adventure the trade has brought him.  “I would absolutely do it again” and today he encourages, mentors and sponsors young [to the trade] booksellers as they find their footing in what continues to be the complex interaction of skills, experience, and material.  People who become bookdealers do not play checkers.  For them it’s chess.

 

Not surprisingly dealers often prefer the written word and so I sent a list of subjects and questions to which he replied.  We then talked the talk and I then prepared this piece which I asked him to edit and review for accuracy.

 

So here goes, the man behind the counter.

 

How I became a bookseller.

 

I started Tavistock Books in 1989, while still active in my U. S. Coast Guard career, and as an active collector of Charles Dickens material, then using the fledgling business to dispose of duplicates one invariably accumulates as a collector, and to, ahem, avail myself of the traditional trade discount on my purchases.  I got serious about bookselling in the early-to-mid 1990s, knowing my day job as a Coast Guard officer was coming to an end.  I retired from the Coast Guard 1 July 1997.  Coincidentally, that same year the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California closed, which occasioned depressed rents in the Alameda west end, creating an affordable opportunity to open a shop on Webster Street.  My shop's opening day, 15 July 1997, then came, 2 weeks after my CG retirement, where the Alameda mayor cut the ceremonial ribbon, and I officially opened my door to the book-buying hordes.  Well, that was the initial idea anyway. Even though the hordes never really appeared, that day was a highpoint in the 30 year career recently celebrated. I had become a full-fledged bookseller, although I’ve never entirely separated myself from the collector I’d long been.  Hence, to this day, as a memento, I’ve kept the ribbon the mayor cut as the doors opened and the throngs... well, I’ve learned to survive by other means.

 

My business concept always centered on “first editions, rare & collectible” [I had it painted on my shop windows] but I soon realized that meant a focus on mail order: catalogues and direct quotes.  Webster Street was fine as a place to keep the books, if not to actually sell them.  What would, in time, make the difference for me, was the then fledgling Internet that was blossoming into life.  Without it, I was in a quiet neighborhood in Alameda.  With it, I was out in the world and able to both buy and sell nationally and internationally.  In addition, in 1995, sponsored by Peter Howard, the bookselling guru on University Avenue in nearby Berkeley, I was accepted for membership in the ABAA and this ABAA membership offered important opportunities for gaining colleagues, knowledge, friends, networking and book show opportunities, not to mention conferring a stamp of professionalism and legitimacy.

 

As to my perspective on my 30 years as a bookseller, the field has been in transition.  Early on I would send letters with offers, wait several weeks for a reply and, frequently enough make a sale.  Understanding both the buyer and the material was crucial.  With the coming of the Internet the world grew smaller and my sales shifted from offers to sell to requests arriving from clients finding my material on line.  As to patterns in the trade, I’ve found them difficult to predict with any certainty, but as I’ve gained experience and knowledge, I’ve been able to acquire material based on this instinct honed by 30 years in the trade.  If, when I was younger I hesitated, with advanced age, I’ve become decisive.

 

I’ve more than once been asked what precipitated this 3 decades of bookselling…  looking back, I always recall my first big 4-figure sale, which happened in the early 90s.  It was a sleeper found in a San Francisco shop, purchased for $40 [less trade discount] and sold for $1250.  That was cool!   If only it was that easy every day!  Long term success, I tell new booksellers, depends on two factors: what you know and who you know.  Invest in yourself, it will pay dividends.

 

And as I now contemplate my twilight years, I’m honored to have been elected, in February 2018, President of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America [ABAA], which is, to my mind, and in the minds of many, the leading booksellers' association in the world.  The ABAA has long stood for honesty and accuracy and it’s a matter of personal pride to have this responsibility.  In specific terms it means fostering communications and new membership and it’s a good fit for a person on the sunny side of 70 [yes, I’ve sponsored members who were in their seventies at the time of their application], who enjoys mentoring and sponsoring younger booksellers.  I’m proud to say that over the last 3 decades I’ve played a sponsorship role for some 30 ABAA members.

 

And as to the future, I think the antiquarian book trade will be fine.  We sell artifacts, and just like the antique furniture trade and classic car trade, I don’t see peoples’ desire to own, really possess, going away.  Buying and selling informs and conveys who we are.  And I’m a bookseller who delights in introducing and sharing with others my enthusiasm for the printed word.  And now at this 30th anniversary I can clearly say, given the chance, I would absolutely do it all over again. It’s a wonderful life.

 

Rare Book Monthly

  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    July 23, 2025
    DOYLE, July 23: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, July 23: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, July 23: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, July 23: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, July 23: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, July 23: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Freeman’s | Hindman
    Western Manuscripts and Miniatures
    July 8, 2025
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FRANCESCO PETRARCH (b. Arezzo, 20 July 1304; d. Arqua Petrarca, 19 July 1374). $20,000-30,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF THE VITAE IMPERATORUM (active Milan, 1431-1459). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF ATTAVANTE DEGLI ATTAVANTI (GABRIELLO DI VANTE) (active Florence, c. 1452-c. 1520/25). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. FOLLOWER OF HERMAN SCHEERE (active London, c. 1405-1425). $15,000-20,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. An exceptionally rare, illuminated music leaf from a Mozarabic Antiphonal with sister leaves mostly in museum collections. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Exceptional leaf from a prestigious Antiphonary by a leading illuminator of the late Duecento. $11,500-14,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. CIRCLE OF THE MASTER OF MS REID 33 and SELWERD ABBEY SCRIPTORIUM (AGNES MARTINI?) (active The Netherlands, Groningen, c. 1468-1510). $10,000-15,000.
    Freeman’s | Hindman, July 8. Previously unknown illumination from one of the most renowned Gothic Choir Book sets of the Middle Ages. $6,000-8,000.
  • Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Lucianus Samosatensis. Dialogoi, editio princeps, second issue, Florence, Laurentius Francisci de Alopa, 1496. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Boccaccio (Giovanni). Il Decamerone, Florence, Philippo di Giunta, 1516. £10,000 to £15,000.
    Forum, July 17: Henry VII (King) & Philip the Fair (Duke of Burgundy). [Intercursus Magnus], [Commercial and Political Treaty between Henry VII and Philip Duke of Burgundy], manuscript copy in Latin, original vellum, 1499. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bible, English. The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New, Robert Barker, 1613. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Bond (Michael). A Bear Called Paddington, first edition, signed presentation inscription from the author, 1958. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    17th July 2025
    Forum, July 17: Yeats (William Butler). The Secret Rose, first edition, with extensive autograph corrections, additions and amendments by the author for a new edition, 1897. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bound in dark green morocco elaborately tooled in gilt and with 3 watercolours to fore-edge, by Fazakerley of Liverpool, 1841. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum, July 17: Miró (Juan), Wassily Kandinsky, John Buckland-Wright, Stanley William Hayter and others.- Spender (Stephen). Fraternity, one of 101 copies, with signed engravings by 9 artists. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Sowerby (George Brettingham). Album comprising 22 leaves of original watercolour drawings of fossil remains of Cheltenham and Vicinity, [c.1840]. £6,000 to £8,000.
    Forum, July 17: Mathematics.- Blue paper copy.- Euclid. De gli Elementi, Urbino, Appresso Domenico Frisolino, 1575. £12,000 to £18,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Book of Hours by the Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht, Use of Sarum, in Latin, Southern Netherlands (Bruges), c.1450. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Albert Einstein. Autograph letter signed, to Attilio Palatino, on his research into General Relativity, 12 May 1929. £12,000 to £18,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: John Gould. The Birds of Europe, [1832-] 1837, 5 volumes, contemporary half morocco, subscriber’s copy. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts and Music from Medieval to Modern
    Now through July 10, 2025
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: Ian Fleming. A collection of James Bond first editions, 8 volumes in all. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, 1997, first edition, hardback issue. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Ending July 10: J.R.R. Tolkien. Autograph letter signed, to Amy Ronald, on Pauline Baynes's map of Middle Earth, 1970. £7,000 to £10,000.

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