But if the collector can understand this transformation they can also find exciting possibilities. While dealers bring just a few items it's always appropriate to ask for an overview of their holdings, in particular, what percentage is on line. When it's not, dealers may be open to visits and it can be very worthwhile to make such trips. Of course dealers come from all over so you may both want to visit and find it next to impossible. At the recent ABAA fair I ran into Rodolphe Chamonal. His shop is in Paris. This said, if the destination is exotic, it may be easier to interest a spouse or partner in making the trip.
The trick is to think of shows as windows on much larger inventories: a place to browse and buy today and a roadmap to future day trips and weekends combing shelves, sifting boxes of ephemera and files of documents.
Dealers these days are learning that the internet does not provide a panacea for the aging of the collecting community or the cutthroat competition that weak sales generally and multiple copies specifically inflict on a field that not so long ago thought the challenge was primarily to find great material. Today the challenge is selling. Developing the national, should I say international, habit of visiting dealers where their inventories are, whether at home, at a storage unit or garage, to the extent dealers are open to visits, is a strategy, that if encouraged, will promote sales, relationships and interest.
For collectors, librarians and dealers here is a link to shows scheduled over the first six months of 2010. Think of each show and each exhibitor as an opportunity to understand the buyer-bookseller equation anew. The market is tough but no one has lost, to quote the Righteous Brothers, "that loving feeling."
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Ellis Smith Prints unsigned. 20” by 16”.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: United typothetae of America presidents. Pictures of 37 UTA presidents 46th annual convention United typothetae of America Cincinnati 1932.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec signed Paper Impressionism Art Prints. MayMilton 9 1/2” by 13” Reine de Joie 9 1/2” by 13”.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Aberle’ Ballet editions. 108th triumph, American season spring and summer 1944.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Puss ‘n Boots. 1994 Charles Perrult All four are signed by Andreas Deja
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Specimen book of type faces. Job composition department, Philadelphia gazette publishing company .
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: An exhibit of printed books, Bridwell library.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur Court By Mark Twain 1889.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 1963 Philadelphia Eagles official program.
High Bids Win Rare Books, Catalogs, Magazines and Machine Manuals December 24 to January 9
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: 8 - Esquire the magazine for men 1954.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: The American printer, July 1910.
High Bids Win, Dec. 24 – Jan. 9: Leaves of grass 1855 by Walt Whitman.
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
