Page 46 - 2019 August The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
P. 46
Scanners On Stun, Mr. Sulu!
A couple of weeks ago, I had a nice older couple in – book dealers from
the latest date was the date of the book, but I didn’t want to be smart-alecky about
western Maryland. Real book dealers, too. You can tell from the way they it, but as nicely as I could I explained that if there were several dates in a book, it
talk and act, not the fake ones who sell one book on eBay and then think would, of course, be the last date. I have never seen a book that had a printing or
that entitles them to dealer discounts for the rest of their lives. But actually, I don’t
even get the fake dealers anymore. I used to sell to lots of dealers, now most are publishing date in it that was several years in the future.
And I am exempting new magazines which are often dated a few days ahead or
dead and gone. This couple had a great name for the scanner people you see at March issues of magazines that go on sale the last of April. Or calendars for the
book sales – Isbnites, i.e. ISBN-ites. They didn’t know I was here and saw me by coming year. Or books with titles like 1984 by George Orwell that was published
accident while on their way to a wedding – which they will probably be late for in 1949! Gee whiz! And here I thought it wasn’t confusing.
because they stopped here first. As I said, true book dealers. But that said, while a book printed in 1961 might have 1956 and 1958 dates
Look, there is nothing necessarily wrong with scanners. All I’m saying is that in it, a book printed in 1956 would not have 1958 or 1961 printing dates in it!
they are not a substitute for real, everyday book knowledge.
My friend Ken Callahan of Callahan and Co. Booksellers and I had an
exchange about that: On another topic, sometimes I get lists of books for sale from private parties in
the mail. I look at them of course, but honestly I very seldom buy anything from
Dear Jim; them as I prefer to see the books “in person” and I usually have more than enough
Real booksellers are a rarity these days. I was asked to speak at an event in
books coming through the front door or available locally that I don’t need to buy
Philadelphia this coming September; a customer is donating his angling book collection books out of state from nice folks who often do not know how to describe books
to a school there. He suggested as a topic “How has or their condition. They mean well, but it takes a good bit of experience to know
collecting changed over the past 4 decades?” I can’t how to describe books.
deal with that, but the question suggested, “How Just yesterday I got a two page “for sale” list of someone’s World War II
has bookselling changed over the last 4 decades?” and collection. Two boxes full. The cover letter said that the
the answer to that is simple: “Completely.” For one owner wanted to sell them as a collection.
thing, there are no annoying young upstarts trying Well, since I am overstocked at the
to horn in on what we do, and the world is poorer moment with WWII books, I am not
for it. motivated to buy 43 books many of
By the way, Isbnites is a brilliant term. Jeff at which I either have already or do
Toadstool says that the number of scanner people not want.
has dropped off dramatically. They can make Also, to be helpful, the owner priced
more money selling vintage Beanie Babies. each book individually, but it is not stated
- Ken whether these prices are prices the owner
wants or suggested retail prices the owner
Ken, probably found online.
Yes, I think the ranks of the book- Whichever they were, the prices listed
scanners are thinning as they discover that totaled $2,100. Now the owner did note
they can’t “Make Big Money Selling Books that 15 of them were paperbacks, one was a
Online” anymore by under-pricing the cheapest copy book of the month club edition and another
online by 15 cents so they can have the lowest priced copy online until was an ex-library book, none of which usually
someone under-prices them half an hour later. It’s all just a race to the bottom, as have any particular value despite the fact that
I have noted. many were described as rare and extremely rare.
I’ve often joked that the scanner people who don’t know anything about books The highest priced book on the list was $395 for Konrad Heiden’s biography
would walk right by a Gutenberg bible for sale for $5 at a yard sale because they of Hitler Der Fuehrer of which the description was limited to “1944. No d.j.” No
couldn’t scan it because books printed in 1456 didn’t have bar codes. Nor does clue whether or not it was a first edition or what the condition the book as in other
any book before the 1960s. You know, which includes most of the valuable books! than it was missing its dust jacket. Now, just for curiosity, I went online to see if
Yes, book collecting and bookselling have changed dramatically. Kids
copies were available and there were numbers of copies for sale for under $25
nowadays don’t want to collect anything and are ordering their aging baby
including a comparable copy for $11 and a nice first edition with dust jacket
boomer parents who were collectors to get rid of all their stuff now, because they for $20.
don’t want to have to do it later on. Another book on the list, The Goebbels Diaries edited by Louis Lochner was
Jim listed as a first edition, although no mention of condition or if it had a dust jacket
or not. Now, I’ve had this book numbers of times (and also the Der Fuehrer book)
and was pretty sure it wasn’t worth anything like the $60 valuation on the list. So
On another topic, alphabetization can be tricky. You’d be surprised at the I looked it up and sure enough, while someone was asking $99 for a copy, lots
number of people who come into my shop who, when I tell them that fiction is more were available for under $25.
Another book list I got recently went to the other extreme. While they
alphabetized by author, ask me if it’s by first name or last name! They are
apparently people who have never been in a bookshop or a library before (which were paperbacks priced at only a few dollars, each was described as rare or even
is fine … who knows, they may buy a book from me). I have never seen books extremely rare. Not sure what was going on with that. But the word “rare” has
alphabetized by the first name of the author! Can you imagine what a mess that been so overused on the many online sites for just about every kind of collectible
would be? Also, I get asked if books are alphabetized by title or author and I’ve there is, it has become virtually meaningless.
never seen books alphabetized by the title. Can you imagine?! Books by authors
who wrote dozens of books like Mark Twain would be scattered everywhere. But
then I guess it would make it easy as the majority of books would either be under
“A” for Twain’s A Tramp Abroad or “The” for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975,
Old books usually have dates, too, which can be confusing for some. Recently, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get a
a caller was describing a book that she wanted to sell to me. She was confused “real” job; having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about
30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just about all subjects are represented.
because the book had three dates in it: 1956, 1958, and 1961, and she didn’t He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD. 21673, 410-476-3838;
know which one was the actual date of the book. Now it should be obvious that e-mail: unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; website: unicornbookshop.com.
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
44
A couple of weeks ago, I had a nice older couple in – book dealers from
the latest date was the date of the book, but I didn’t want to be smart-alecky about
western Maryland. Real book dealers, too. You can tell from the way they it, but as nicely as I could I explained that if there were several dates in a book, it
talk and act, not the fake ones who sell one book on eBay and then think would, of course, be the last date. I have never seen a book that had a printing or
that entitles them to dealer discounts for the rest of their lives. But actually, I don’t
even get the fake dealers anymore. I used to sell to lots of dealers, now most are publishing date in it that was several years in the future.
And I am exempting new magazines which are often dated a few days ahead or
dead and gone. This couple had a great name for the scanner people you see at March issues of magazines that go on sale the last of April. Or calendars for the
book sales – Isbnites, i.e. ISBN-ites. They didn’t know I was here and saw me by coming year. Or books with titles like 1984 by George Orwell that was published
accident while on their way to a wedding – which they will probably be late for in 1949! Gee whiz! And here I thought it wasn’t confusing.
because they stopped here first. As I said, true book dealers. But that said, while a book printed in 1961 might have 1956 and 1958 dates
Look, there is nothing necessarily wrong with scanners. All I’m saying is that in it, a book printed in 1956 would not have 1958 or 1961 printing dates in it!
they are not a substitute for real, everyday book knowledge.
My friend Ken Callahan of Callahan and Co. Booksellers and I had an
exchange about that: On another topic, sometimes I get lists of books for sale from private parties in
the mail. I look at them of course, but honestly I very seldom buy anything from
Dear Jim; them as I prefer to see the books “in person” and I usually have more than enough
Real booksellers are a rarity these days. I was asked to speak at an event in
books coming through the front door or available locally that I don’t need to buy
Philadelphia this coming September; a customer is donating his angling book collection books out of state from nice folks who often do not know how to describe books
to a school there. He suggested as a topic “How has or their condition. They mean well, but it takes a good bit of experience to know
collecting changed over the past 4 decades?” I can’t how to describe books.
deal with that, but the question suggested, “How Just yesterday I got a two page “for sale” list of someone’s World War II
has bookselling changed over the last 4 decades?” and collection. Two boxes full. The cover letter said that the
the answer to that is simple: “Completely.” For one owner wanted to sell them as a collection.
thing, there are no annoying young upstarts trying Well, since I am overstocked at the
to horn in on what we do, and the world is poorer moment with WWII books, I am not
for it. motivated to buy 43 books many of
By the way, Isbnites is a brilliant term. Jeff at which I either have already or do
Toadstool says that the number of scanner people not want.
has dropped off dramatically. They can make Also, to be helpful, the owner priced
more money selling vintage Beanie Babies. each book individually, but it is not stated
- Ken whether these prices are prices the owner
wants or suggested retail prices the owner
Ken, probably found online.
Yes, I think the ranks of the book- Whichever they were, the prices listed
scanners are thinning as they discover that totaled $2,100. Now the owner did note
they can’t “Make Big Money Selling Books that 15 of them were paperbacks, one was a
Online” anymore by under-pricing the cheapest copy book of the month club edition and another
online by 15 cents so they can have the lowest priced copy online until was an ex-library book, none of which usually
someone under-prices them half an hour later. It’s all just a race to the bottom, as have any particular value despite the fact that
I have noted. many were described as rare and extremely rare.
I’ve often joked that the scanner people who don’t know anything about books The highest priced book on the list was $395 for Konrad Heiden’s biography
would walk right by a Gutenberg bible for sale for $5 at a yard sale because they of Hitler Der Fuehrer of which the description was limited to “1944. No d.j.” No
couldn’t scan it because books printed in 1456 didn’t have bar codes. Nor does clue whether or not it was a first edition or what the condition the book as in other
any book before the 1960s. You know, which includes most of the valuable books! than it was missing its dust jacket. Now, just for curiosity, I went online to see if
Yes, book collecting and bookselling have changed dramatically. Kids
copies were available and there were numbers of copies for sale for under $25
nowadays don’t want to collect anything and are ordering their aging baby
including a comparable copy for $11 and a nice first edition with dust jacket
boomer parents who were collectors to get rid of all their stuff now, because they for $20.
don’t want to have to do it later on. Another book on the list, The Goebbels Diaries edited by Louis Lochner was
Jim listed as a first edition, although no mention of condition or if it had a dust jacket
or not. Now, I’ve had this book numbers of times (and also the Der Fuehrer book)
and was pretty sure it wasn’t worth anything like the $60 valuation on the list. So
On another topic, alphabetization can be tricky. You’d be surprised at the I looked it up and sure enough, while someone was asking $99 for a copy, lots
number of people who come into my shop who, when I tell them that fiction is more were available for under $25.
Another book list I got recently went to the other extreme. While they
alphabetized by author, ask me if it’s by first name or last name! They are
apparently people who have never been in a bookshop or a library before (which were paperbacks priced at only a few dollars, each was described as rare or even
is fine … who knows, they may buy a book from me). I have never seen books extremely rare. Not sure what was going on with that. But the word “rare” has
alphabetized by the first name of the author! Can you imagine what a mess that been so overused on the many online sites for just about every kind of collectible
would be? Also, I get asked if books are alphabetized by title or author and I’ve there is, it has become virtually meaningless.
never seen books alphabetized by the title. Can you imagine?! Books by authors
who wrote dozens of books like Mark Twain would be scattered everywhere. But
then I guess it would make it easy as the majority of books would either be under
“A” for Twain’s A Tramp Abroad or “The” for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop in Trappe, MD since 1975,
Old books usually have dates, too, which can be confusing for some. Recently, when he decided that it would be more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get a
a caller was describing a book that she wanted to sell to me. She was confused “real” job; having a shop just might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about
30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just about all subjects are represented.
because the book had three dates in it: 1956, 1958, and 1961, and she didn’t He can be contacted at P.O. Box 154; Trappe, MD. 21673, 410-476-3838;
know which one was the actual date of the book. Now it should be obvious that e-mail: unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; website: unicornbookshop.com.
Journal of Antiques and Collectibles
44
