The BookHound control panel provides easy access to its various features.
By Michael Stillman
Biblio.com moved into the field of free inventory management software with the announcement last month that it would be offering the BookHound program, developed by Bibliopolis, at no charge. While undoubtedly Biblio is hopeful that those who take advantage of the free software will post their books on the Biblio site, there are no such requirements. Anyone may download and use the software, for internal recordkeeping or online posting on any sites, with no fees or obligations.
BookHound has been around for ten years and, according to Biblio, is currently used by hundreds of booksellers and stores around the world. However, the arrangement with Biblio now makes the software available without charge. Meanwhile, developer Bibliopolis continues to offer, for a fee, website development, maintenance, web hosting and e-commerce tools for booksellers.
This partnership between Biblio and Bibliopolis provides a similar offering, and perhaps competitive response, to AbeBooks' recent purchase. Abe has long provided free inventory management/bookselling software, HomeBase, slated for an upgrading in the near future. Recently, AbeBooks purchased Chrislands, which provides web hosting and e-commerce for bookselling websites for a fee. Now, Biblio/Bibliopolis offers the same combination of free inventory management, which can be used with any website, and a paid web hosting service.
In a press release, Biblio's President, Allen Singleton, stated they had chosen to make the BookHound software available because "Bookhound is the clear choice in terms of superior quality, flexibility and interoperability for our booksellers." CEO Brendan Sherar expanded on the benefits Biblio hopes to gain from this free offer: "We believe that delivering a high quality, mature product for inventory management will materially contribute to the growth of their [booksellers] businesses, and therefore, to ours as well." Similarly, Bibliopolis expressed the hope that free access to their BookHound software will increase demand for the other products they offer.
In a reverse of the order we normally expect, Biblio first made the program available for Apple customers, those who use Mac OS X. Perhaps the idea was to have it tested first by a limited number of people, or maybe they are among the small, but rabidly devoted and growing number of Mac users. However, the version for Windows XP and Vista is scheduled to be released on July 1.
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, 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.
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