Rare Book Monthly

Articles - May - 2003 Issue

Analysis: Is the Internet Making the Book Fair Obsolete?

New York Book Fair

New York Book Fair


For Medium to Small Bookdealers, the average # for the Weather was 3; for the War, 6.2; for the Economy, 7.2; and for the Transition of Bookbuying and Selling to the Internet, 6.2.

So what does this mean? Several aspects seem apparent:

The Internet:
Perhaps most striking is the difference in the way the Medium to Small Bookdealers rated the impact of the internet, versus the Large Bookdealers (6.2 vs. 2.6). Smaller dealers seemed to see the net as a positive factor while larger dealers seemed to view it negatively. Said another way, smaller dealers seemed to see it as a way to get business while bigger dealers seemed to view it as a threat to their existing business.

It is interesting that several of the very same large book dealers who gave the internet a low rating discussed, with me off-the-record, the “negative” impact that the internet has had on their business and/or on the book business in general: one such dealer cited to me the example of a potential customer browsing abe.com or a related site and finding an $8500 copy of a book that the book dealer was asking $10,000 for. “Now which copy do you think that customer is going to go with, assuming all condition points are similar?” this dealer asked. Other comments on the internet were similarly phrased, and many, using a kind of converse logic, cited the influence of internet book buying sites as a deterrent to their using the internet as a sales mechanism. Interestingly, I could get no large book dealer to go on-the-record with a quote about the internet, though many had much to say off-the-record. Certainly some of the large dealers discussed the potential of the internet as a means for customers to explore similar copies of books in a range of prices. From this perspective, the internet takes the power of pricing directly from the hands of the dealers and places it in the hands of the market, an aspect of the internet that is not greeted with open arms by dealers, especially large book dealers who have enjoyed pricing power for years. Clearly medium to small book dealers are generally more welcoming of, familiar with, and positive about the internet than are the large book dealers. It is their ticket to market parity and they know it. There is also a residual of regret that the net is changing book selling so much. For some the book business is turning out to be more than they bargained for.

The Economy:
There seems to be general agreement that the state of the economy is a worry to all book dealers, large, medium, and small alike. Medium to Small Bookdealers rated the impact of the economy at an average of 7.2; Large Book dealers rated the economy’s impact at an average of 6. This may suggest that the net is more market sensitive. Sample off-the-record quotes went as follows: “The economy is in the dumps.” “Considering the economy right now, I think we made out alright.” “I heard that everyone had a mixed fair, and even smaller ticket items were not moving.” “Due to the economy, dealers are not going out and buying hundreds and hundreds of books for stock, but they are buying good books in fewer numbers that will sell in the near future.” Even larger book dealers who did well had disclaimers: Seth Kaller of Kaller’s America Gallery, Inc. said: “This fair had a decent enough opening, the opening night was pretty good. The rest of the fair was disappointing even though we made some sales that we were happy with. On the other hand, we didn’t see some customers we were expecting to see. There were also more expressions of interest in important documents than actual documents that sold.” William Reese of William Reese Company said: “I think that this fair was very mixed from the people I talked to. Some people or firms seemed to do very well; others poorly. There seemed to be no middle ground.”

Rare Book Monthly

  • 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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  • 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

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