An essential factor that all rare booksellers have in common is controlling costs. A significant portion of those costs are in shipping out books on a daily basis. We have long used the services of Endicia (www.endicia.com) to process and track our postage, both domestic and international. Anyone with a computer, printer, and the Internet can access it. After comparing the features of all the online postal services available (USPS, Stamps.com, Shipstream), we chose Endicia as our standard method for processing postage for shipping via US Postal Service or UPS. We ship in protective bubble mailer envelopes or boxes. We found Endicia to be more affordable and offers more features than the other services.
A free 30 day trial is offered, with three levels of plans available, priced from $9.95 for the standard service to $34.95 for the premium service per month, and designed to fit the various shipping needs of PC and Macintosh users. A creative new service called PictureItPostage now offers the ability to order custom stamps with your own image or graphic. The software that is used for ordering, printing, and tracking postage is DAZzle. DAZzle, a downloadable software, allows you to track your postage costs, verify addresses, customize labels, print shipping labels in bulk, offers free delivery confirmation of orders, and the ability to import shipping addresses from various formats. The process involves entering a mailing address, validation of the address, and printing of postage.
The USPS requires that an address be verified prior to the postage being printed, which is a built-in feature of DAZzle. You pay the face value for the amount of postage to be used in increments, and packages have to be shipped on the date that the postage is printed. For any errors in printing (for example, if your printer runs out of toner when printing), you can receive a refund within a 30 day period.
The software can import data from various sources, including Microsoft Outlook, Office, ACT!, Goldminer, Maximizer, CSV, and tab delimited text files. A demo of DAZzle is available for viewing at www.endicia.com/endicia-usa/Site/demo.cfm. An appropriate scale is needed to accurately weigh packages and determine the amount of postage needed to be purchased, which is calculated by the software. Depending on the capabilities of your printer, you can either print postage on mailing labels or directly onto an envelope. There are several sizes to choose from within the software, and you can also setup a custom label size. A laser printer has worked well for our purposes.
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
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
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’s Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale April 30th & May 1st
Fonsie Mealy’s Rare Books & Collectors’ Sale 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.