The only places where the dealer who reaches the old minimum cut off point loses is at the very bottom (marginally), or where his listings exceed 130,000 books. The dealer who used to list under 500 books but made $133 or more in sales pays a meaningless additional nickel. However, at over 130,000 books listed, even Plan B is more expensive because the old structure had no further cut off points above 100,000 listings. The cut off point at 100,001 or 1,000,000 was the same: $900. The new structure adds an additional $5 for each 10,000 books listed above 40,000. So, under the old formula, a dealer with 100,001-110,000 books listed (the cut off was $900 in sales) paid 15% of $900, or $135. Now, he will pay $60 in flat fees and 7.5% or $67.50 in commissions for a total of $127.50, a savings of $7.50. He will only pay more after he crosses the threshold of 130,000 listings, when an additional $10 in flat fees will turn his $7.50 gain to a $2.50 loss. From that point on, every additional 10,000 books listed will cost him another $5 per month.
What we see is that under Plan B, any bookseller who lists between 501 and 130,000 books and meets the old cut off point in dollar sales, will save money under the new formula. Only the mega-listers pay more. Those whose sales were too small to reach the old cut off points can simply stay with Plan A and their costs will not change. Can anyone who lists under 130,001 books lose under the new formula? Yes, it can happen, though the explanation is a bit more subtle.
The bookseller who will pay more is the one with inconsistent sales, that is, one who some months sells over the old cut off, and others under. Plan A works for those who sell below the old cut offs, Plan B for those who sell over, but those who bounce back and forth can pay more, since they must select one plan or the other, and choose in advance. Here is an extreme example. In the first month, a bookseller with 50,000 listed titles, sells $600 worth of books (the old cut off was $433). Under the old schedule, he would have paid 15% of $433, or $64.95, plus 7.5% of the remaining $167 or $12.52. Total was $77.47. Under Plan A, he pays $90, or $12.53 more. Under plan B, he pays a fixed $30 plus $45 in commissions, or $75, for a savings of $2.47.
In the second month, the dealer is shut out. Sales are zero. Under Plan A, he pays nothing, same as before. It's a wash. So after two months, he is still $12.53 behind. Under Plan B, he pays only the monthly listing fee in the second month, $30, or $30 more than he would have under the old formula. Combined with the $2.47 he saved in month one, under Plan B, he ends the second month $27.53 behind. So this is the dealer who ends up paying more under the new pricing. The dealer who consistently sells only a little stays the same, the one who consistently sells a lot saves money, while the one whose sales jump up and down pays more. Slow or fast, but steady, wins this race.
Biblio also added a $0.50 minimum charge per book. That means the commissions on a book priced under $3.33 will go up. Frankly, I don't know how anyone could expect Biblio to make a sale for less than fifty cents in commissions anyway. You may have to sell those dollar books at a yard sale. The maximum commission per book remains at $40, same as before. Biblio also plans to make more frequent payments than the old once per month to its booksellers under the new plan.
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
Gonnelli Auction 59 Antique prints, paintings and maps May 20th 2025
Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Th. McKenney & J. Hall, History of the Indian tribes of North America, 1836-1844. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26:Biblia latina vulgata, manuscript on thin parchment, around 1250. Est: €70,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. Beckmann, Fanferlieschen Schönefüßchen, 1924. Est: €10,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: A. Ortelius, Theatrum orbis terrarum, 1574. Est: €50,000
Ketterer, May 26: M. S. Merian, Eurcarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, 1717-18. Est: €6,000
Ketterer, May 26:PAN, 9 volumes, 1895-1900. Est: €12,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Breviarium Romanum, Latin manuscript, 1474. Est: €15,000
Ketterer, May 26: Quran manuscript from the Saadian period, Maghreb, 16th century. Est: €10,000
Ketterer, May 26: E. Hemingway, The old man and the sea, 1952. First edition in first issue jacket. Presentation copy. Est: €3,000
Ketterer Rare Books Auction May 26th
Ketterer, May 26: Flavius Vegetius Renatus, De re militari libri quatuor, 1553. Est: €3,000
Ketterer, May 26: K. Marx, Das Kapital, 1867. Est: €30,000
Ketterer, May 26: Brassaï, Transmutations, 1967. Est: €6,000
Leland Little, May 21: Signed Artist Proof of the Monumental G.O.A.T.: A Tribute to Muhammad Ali.
Leland Little, May 21: Assorted Rare Publications Related to H.P. Lovecraft, Including The Recluse Signed by Vincent Starrett.
Leland Little, May 21: Two Issues of The Vagrant, Including the First Appearance of H.P. Lovecraft's "Dagon" in Number Eleven.
Leland Little, May 21: Rare First Printing of Anne of Green Gables, With ALS from the Author.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, In First Issue Jacket.
Leland Little, May 21: The Limited Paumanok Edition of The Complete Writings of Walt Whitman.
Leland Little, May 21: Beautifully Bound Limited Flaubert Edition of The Works of Guy de Maupassant.
Leland Little, May 21: First Edition of Bonaparte's Celebrated American Ornithology, With Spectacular Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: A Rare Complete Set of Jardine's The Naturalist's Library, With Hand-Colored Plates.
Leland Little, May 21: Invitation to the Lincoln-Johnson National Inaugural Ball, March 4th, 1865.
Leland Little, May 21: A Scarce Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Nobody Knows My Name.
Leland Little, May 21: Picasso's Le Goût du Bonheur, Limited Edition.
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
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