Page 57 - Nov 2020 JOA

The Present State of Collecting
Hi Mr. Dawson,
I know you’re not buying—I tried calling and heard your message—so I
resorted to email. My sister has unfortunately passed away and I am now trying
to figure out the best and most profitable way to sell her extremely large book
collection. I know this is asking a big favor, but she has over 4,000 books and
I’m a bit out of my depth – this is a lot of books. She has lots of first editions
and plenty of first-class books so I know there is some value here. I know this is
a big task and many of her friends kept saying I should speak to you since you
have so much knowledge. I was just hoping that you would be willing to speak
with me about this.
I’m hoping to still hear from you again.
Kind regards,
Kirstine

Hi Kirstine,
Sorry, but I can’t think of much good to tell you.
Even before I temporarily closed for Covid-19 in mid-March I was
getting calls several times a week (if not several times a day) about people
wanting to sell books, and sometimes large collections of books. I already
had books stacked on the floor and was running out of room, so even when
I was still buying books I had to be very picky as it seemed like
everyone was selling for various reasons: downsizing, moving, running out
of room, etc. And it’s not just books, but many, many collectibles.

Signed photo of magician Harry Houdini in his library of over 5,000 books
And the younger generations don’t want anything, and have no interest
in, collectibles, sometimes telling their parents to get rid of that stuff now
so they don’t have to deal with it!
And that was before Covid-19 hit; before things got even worse. So not
only am I running out of room, there’s no way I’m going to someone’s
house to look at books. I don’t want people bringing potentially infected
books here either.
So, due to no fault of yours, this is just not a good time to be selling
books what with shops closing or going out of business, auctions canceled,
libraries closed, antiquarian book fairs canceled, library and church sales
which often sell donated books canceled, etc., etc.
Yes, people are selling lots of books online, but that is time-consuming
and so many people are trying to do it that the supply is exceeding the
demand. Unless you have something rare or unique, prices are dropping
and more titles are not selling.
A bookseller friend told me some months ago that someone he knew
who bought collections of books from private houses paid almost nothing
for them, and was considering actually charging money to come and take
away books.
I’ve been in the secondhand book business for 45 years and I never
thought I’d see anything like this. It used to be that you could collect
something and have the pleasure of ownership, then sell it years later and,
as the prices had risen in the meantime, actually break even or maybe even
make some money. Sort of like having your cake and eating it, too. But
now that so many prices are dropping, if not plummeting as collectibles
glut the market, that is all changed.
Also part of the problem is an oversupply of manufactured instant
“collectible” books included which were not truly limited to a set number,
but “limited” to as many copies as they could sell. Good luck with
grandma’s beanie baby collection which you probably can’t give away now.
This all will change, and, of course, there are always exceptions, but as
I suspect, Covid-19 will continue to get worse until people start paying
George Lucas library of 27,000+ books

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