Reading Copy Book Blog

Powell’s Books - Oregon’s finest - has introduced solar panels at their Portland warehouse. Is it that sunny in Oregon? It sure rains a lot in our part of the Pacific Northwest.

A bookseller in Newport, Shropshire, is raffling his house, which contains a bookshop. Tickets cost £15 each and the house is worth £300,000. I know Newport. I used to live around 15 miles away and I’d go to cricket practice at the nearby National Sports Centre. I can think of worse places to live.

Demand for a piece of Barack Obama history is still generating huge interest in signed copies of his books. Since his triumph at the polls, AbeBooks.com has sold 20 books autographed by the President-elect priced at $500 or higher with one buyer shelling out $5,500 for a signed copy of Dreams From My Father.

Before the election, the most expensive Obama book sold by AbeBooks.com was a signed copy of Dreams From My Father for $1,798. Twelve of the 20 signed copies sold since Obama’s victory have been priced more than $1,000.

The most collectible Obama books are the signed 1995 first editions of Dreams From My Father. Originally published when he was still working as a run-of-the-mill lawyer and lecturer, the book went out-of-print in a hurry and had a small print run. Asking prices for these scarce editions stretch well past $10,000.

Even though Obama has yet to move his family (and puppy) into the White House, prices for his signed books are already comparable to previous presidents. In recent years, AbeBooks has sold a signed copy of Bill Clinton’s My Life for $3,450 and a signed copy of Ronald Reagan’s An American Life for $6,325.

One other interesting fact about this surge in demand for signed Obama books - the buyers are not what we would classify as our traditional rare book-buyers. For many of the customers spending four figures, these prices are the highest they have ever spent with us.

It’s interesting. On one hand, he hasn’t actually done anything yet. He’s spent four years working towards getting into the White House so he can start make changes. On the other hand, getting to the White House is a miracle in itself.

AbeBooks.com is experiencing a lot of interest in signed Barack Obama books. Today (Wednesday), we sold a signed first edition of The Audacity of Hope for $2,495. Our previous most expensive Barack Obama sale was $1,798 for a signed copy of Dreams From My Father.

We have also sold seven other Barack Obama books priced $1,000 or over. I’m sure more signed books will sell overnight. To be honest, I didn’t expect to be selling so many high priced Barack Obama books today because his signed books have been very expensive for a very long time. Buyers are simply not being put off by four-figure price-tags. They are clearly thinking that this is a very unique moment in American political history and that these are special books.

A cyclist in Cambridge rampaged though a charity bookshop and tried to hit one of the booksellers after being asked to move his bike which he had lent against the shop’s window.

The man, aged in his 20s, pulled over three bookcases which were bolted to a wall, narrowly missing a customer.

When a staff member pursued him out of the shop he tried to hit her. Cambridgeshire Police have appealed for help in tracing him.

One of the women working inside the shop, which raises money for human rights organisation Amnesty International, said she feared for her safety.

The woman, who asked not be named, said: “He was raging. He put his hand behind the book cases which were bolted to the wall and they all came down together. Then he just turned and went out of the shop. The woman at the counter took off after him and he turned around and swung at her.”

Can you imagine what he might have done if they didn’t have the book he wanted?

From the BBC

I’m thrilled to reveal author and all-round ‘Book Guy’ Nicholas Basbanes is coming to Victoria - AbeBooks.com’s hometown - on October 31 to deliver two free lectures. Nicholas is a huge supporter of AbeBooks and appears each week on NPR’s The Book Guys show where he discusses his passion - books.

Nicholas is famous for writing books abut books - A Gentle Madness, published in 1995, won the author a huge following among bibliophiles. He’s continued to write extensively about all aspects of being a bibliophile since then. AbeBooks.com is a sponsor of The Books Guys show so Nicholas’ work has always been close to our hearts. In 2006, we interviewed Nicholas and his answers reveal what makes him tick.

His trip to this corner of Canada has been arranged by the Alcuin Society – a wonderful bibliophilic organization that supports and promotes fine books – and AbeBooks.com is supporting the Victoria leg of his mini-tour.

Free public lecture 1 – University of Victoria – October 31 at 12 noon until 1pm in the McPherson Library, Room 210 (2nd floor) in the Mearns Centre for Learning, University of Victoria (Pay parking is available on campus).

Nicholas will speak about his experiences as a writer of books about books in a presentation entitled ‘Thirty Years on the Book Beat.’ He will be happy to sign copies of his books after the presentation. This event is staged in association with the Friends of the University of Victoria Libraries.

Free public lecture 2 - Victoria Conservatory of Music - October 31 at 7:30pm until 8:30pm - Alix Goolden Performance Hall, 907 Pandora Avenue, Victoria (Downtown Victoria offers ample pay parking)

At this event, Nicholas will speak about the lasting value and importance of the printed book in a presentation entitled ‘Stirring the World: The Enduring Power of the Printed Word.’ Again, he will sign copies. This event is presented in association with AbeBooks.com.

Both events are free - what much better can it get? More details here.

Our friends at Bookride - a most excellent blog - have some interesting tales from the secondhand booktrade.

I love this comment…..

Do you want to buy the narrowest bookshop in the UK? Only tall, thin people can put in offers? (This shop is six-feet wide.)

We happen to live very close to one, Sidney, BC, however it doesn’t appear to be listed here. The International Organization of Book Towns can help plan your next vacation!

Guest Blogger - Rick Ring
Winner of the AbeBooks Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar Scolarship

The last hurrah-we are all very ready to move on, but also sentimental for the friends we’ve made.

The sessions were less structured today, with more room for discussion and questions. Mike Ginsberg discussed (and reminisced about) book scouting in depth, emphasizing the need (when you enter a bookstore) to look on every shelf, to get down on your knees and look on the bottom shelves, to dig for that item you know is there, that thin pamphlet which has been passed over by other collectors and dealers, or the piece of ephemera at the bottom of a pile of paper. Every dealer has a story about finding a $10,000 item for less than $100, and it was great good fun to hear some of his.

Tom Congalton was next, and gave an exceedingly practical presentation on book fairs, including how much to tip the porters, how to set up your booth, what exhibiting and other fees to expect, what stock to choose, and several points of book fair etiquette: like always give the guy with the hand-truck full of boxes the right of way; make sure all books are priced, and that you give a consistent discount to dealers (offer what you expect to receive); and never, NEVER approach a customer in another dealer’s booth.

After the break, Kevin Johnson discussed the benefits and pitfalls of accepting books on consignment, outlining the different types of deal structure and terms that have worked for him in the past, and what to avoid. Chris Volk spent a very necessary hour on “accounting 101,” which is always daunting (but as necessary as having good stock) to booksellers.

The afternoon roundtable was a great final roundup, and we covered topics like ethics and professionalism, which is (according to the faculty), the bedrock of the trade. If there is one point we were all brought to time and time again, it was that relationships with your colleagues and a high moral conduct in doing business are the warp and weft of the tapestry that is the antiquarian book trade. Ignore one or both of these, and the whole system begins to unravel. The tapestry is a beautiful one, and its perpetuation has served civilized society by ensuring that the physical record of its existence will be valued and preserved, to inspire and educate future generations.

Definitely a week well spent for this humble librarian.

This week in Colorado Springs, 56 booksellers are going to school and learning more of the finer points about the art of bookselling. This is the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar.

One of the booksellers attending is the winner of AbeBooks Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar Scholarship, Rick Ring and over the next few days he will be feeding us some of the inside scoop from the Seminar.

Sunday August 3rd.
By Guest Blogger Rick Ring

And here we are-56 students from 26 U.S. states (and two from Canada), nestled in a bowl surrounded by mountains under the dome of the western sky. Some are veterans who’ve sold books for decades, and some are thinking of starting. But all are dedicated students of the book, one way or another.

The finest moment of the opening reception was when Rob Rulon-Miller, the seminar director, announced that a scholarship to the seminar had been created (in perpetuity) in honor of Edwin Glaser, who has been a faculty member since the seminar began in 1978. We all gave Mr. Glaser a standing ovation, and I saw many surreptitious eye-dabs in the crowd. Such service is the bedrock of the trade’s future.

The faculty had their share of logistical problems, but they bore it up well: the keynote speaker was running late due to travel delays; the air conditioning in the room wasn’t working; and no water was available for us poor low-elevation folks (like me, who went from sea level to 6,000 feet) who were dehydrated under the western sun; then the projector failed five minutes into Hannes Blum’s presentation, which rather put him off stride and opened the door to a question-and-answer discussion that almost became a feeding frenzy, (fuelled by the announcement on Saturday that Amazon was acquiring ABE).

Fortunately, Mr. Blum held his ground with polite professionalism, and commendable poise; Daniel deSimone went above and beyond the call and led a rescue mission to get several flats of water bottles to us, the wilting bibliophiles; several other staffers worked the AV problem and rustled up a new projector, which came back on line eventually and allowed Mr. Blum to finish. In spite of the running problems, very good and interesting questions were asked, and important points raised. It bodes well for the rest of the seminar (which of course will be in a more controlled environment), though it will be interesting to see how many travel-fatigued people will be bright-eyed and ready for action at 8:30am tomorrow.

It’s been a big day here in the Pacific Northwest. Amazon, subject to closing conditions, has reached an agreement to acquire AbeBooks. The deal has to go through regulatory approval and is expected to close before the end of 2008.

So what does that mean for AbeBooks.com? Well, firstly we’re going to continue as a stand-alone business based in Victoria, British Columbia. Our name isn’t changing, our websites remain the same, our staff remains the same, our business model remains the same, we’re not moving from our offices here or in Dusseldorf, Germany. It’s business as usual for us.

We’re exceptionally excited about working with Amazon - AbeBooks has been very successful over the years but we know Amazon is the world leader in ecommerce and they can help us in many ways. They are going to help our booksellers sell more books and they are going to help improve the experience of buying books for our customers.

Amazon has a successful track record of acquiring companies and letting them operate as independent businesses - a good example is Shopbop.com, which was bought in 2006.

A group of people from Amazon visited our office on Thursday and addressed our staff, with the public announcement coming today. We’re thrilled about what the future holds for us, AbeBooks, our sellers and our buyers. Exciting times.

I read Larry McMurtry’s new book, Books: A Memoir, last week and a review is now on the AbeBooks.com homepage. If you are a bookseller, a book collector or just a bibliophile then I’ll think you will enjoy it. The memoir barely touches on McMurtry’s writing (Lonesome Dove, Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment etc) and simply concerns his life as a used bookseller. He’s been a book scout, a used bookstore employee, and a used bookstore owner. He’s got to know almost everyone in the used book business, crossed the Atlantic looking for books, and is still handling the incoming books at his Archer City bookstore in Texas. It’s an excellent read.

USA Today posted an interview with Pulitzer Prize winning author, and AbeBooks bookseller Larry McMurtry, in which he talks about his new book Books: A Memoir where he describes how he turned is home town of Archer City into a book town.

Q: Why doesn’t Booked Up sell your own books?
A: There’s another shop in town, Three Dogs Books, that does. But for me, it’s too much of an aggravation. Everyone wants me to sign them, and then I don’t get anything else done.

Funny enough, we were just asking ourselves this question about McMurtry yesterday! Check out his bookstore here.

While at the LA Times Festival of Books in April I was sorting through a box of used books. I picked up one and an airline boarding pass fell out. It was for a flight from Liberia to Texas. That’s interesting, I thought, who’d be flying from a war-ravaged west African country to the States - perhaps someone fleeing the turmoil for a new life? Who knows?

That boarding pass got me thinking about the objects found inside books. So we asked our booksellers what they had found inside books and received some amazing answers. Used booksellers spend hours going through books in order to catalogue their inventory in terms of pricing and creating an accurate description for their online listings.

Shopping lists, bus tickets, business cards and theatre tickets are just the boring stuff. The interesting things would be a diamond ring, a Mickey Mantle 1952 rookie baseball card, a baby’s tooth, a Christmas card signed by Frank Baum, some original handwritten poetry, and $40,000. Imagine opening a run-of-the-mill microwave cookbook and finding $40,000?

Enjoy the article.