Around the Books Sites: Alibris Offers Listing Tools, Biblio Opens U.K. Site, Abe's Latest Top Ten
- by Michael Stillman
News from around the listing sites.
By Michael Stillman
Alibris has announced the availability of a set of tools to help their sellers manage and improve their listings and set prices. The tools are available free to Alibris sellers, though they can help manage listings on other sites as well. The purpose, as described by Alibris CEO Brian Elliott, is to provide independent sellers with "the tools they need to list better and sell more."
Dubbed "My Inventory Manager" (MIM), the new service includes the following tools. The ability to create listings using a database of 11 million ISBN numbers plus 2 million music and movie UPCs (unlike the other major book sites, Alibris also lists music and movies). Sellers will also be able to upload their images to the listings. These listings can then be downloaded for use offline or for placement on other sites. MIM will also provide sellers with access to sales data and current market prices for books with ISBN numbers or music and movies with UPCs. Sellers will be able to use the tool to automatically reprice items on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Explains CEO Elliott, "'My Inventory Manager' aggregates the tools we've developed and improved over a decade of online book, music, and movie sales into a single, one-stop suite for our sellers."
Alibris has also initiated a college textbook buyback program. Alibris has already been selling new and used textbooks, so this service allows students to get some money back on these texts when the course is finished. The buyback, however, is not limited to texts purchased from Alibris. They will buy such books purchased anywhere, and believe their offers will regularly be higher than those offered by campus bookstores. Anyone with textbooks to sell can go to Alibris' buyback page to find out how much Alibris will offer. Offers include a prepaid shipping label so the student incurs no shipping expense. To find out what Alibris is willing to pay, just go to the following page: http://buyback.alibris.com.
Biblio announced the opening of a UK site to serve customers in England and Europe. The site, www.Biblio.co.uk, will feature primarily books from sellers in the U.K. and Europe. Biblio CEO Brendan Sherar explains the reason for this separate location as, "We believe most UK customers prefer to shop for secondhand books from within their own country and Europe, and tend to purchase abroad only when the title is not available locally." The new site will also post books from other regions if the subject matter is of European interest. However, Biblio says that most listings will originate from the U.K. and Europe, and "general trade titles shipping from outside of Europe will generally be discouraged."
AbeBooks has released their list of the top ten highest prices paid on their site during the month of April. Here they are.
10. An Early Arabic Manuscript of Sharh Alfadh Al Tanbih by Abu Zakariyya Muhiyiddin Yahya Bin Mirri Al Hizami Al Haurani Al Nawawi. That man must have dreaded giving out autographs. This is a 13th century manuscript (naturally) copy of an Islamic law scholar's writing. $4,000.
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
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
![Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/2214ca86-0dc9-47be-8bc5-99d9f1c2aa1f.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000")
![Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/b8b6a630-a01a-4220-ae77-38540d6c898d.jpg "<b>Koller, Mar. 26:</b> Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.")
