Part 2: Where to buy your books

Introduction

In part 2 of this series we look at the main sources of buying books to build up your collection and some of the advantages and disadvantages of each. Whilst the fundamentals of buying books remain more or less constant, the rise of the Internet over the last 10 to 15 years has introduced a number of changes which have increased the ease of purchasing and price comparison.

Where to look

Booksellers

Fifteen to 20 years ago the principal means of buying modern first editions was through a dealer operating out of a shop, many of whom would advertise their books by means of a catalogue sent out through the post. Whilst dealers are still an important channel for book buyers, these are tough times for second hand and independent bookshops generally. Although concentrations of rare book dealers still exist – such as Cecil Court just off Charing Cross Road in London - a combination of rising commercial rents, the economic downturn and competition from charity shops has seen the closure of a large number of shops or forced the proprietors to migrate their business onto the internet.

Bookshops on Cecil Court

The leading trade body for rare book dealers is the Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) and this currently has 245 members. Although a number of these still issue catalogues in hard copy, they are generally also accessible online, with the format of a typical entry (listing author, title, edition details, condition, features of interest and selling price) looking as follows:

THOMAS, Dylan

UNDER MILK WOOD

Dent,1954
First edition. Original brown cloth in turquoise printed dustwrapper. A near fine copy, with some spotting to the page edges, in a very near fine dustwrapper, which is crisp and complete, with just a little foxing to the verso.

£395

Many dealers will tend to specialise in particular fields such as children’s or illustrated books and their stock selection will reflect these interests. You can access a list of ABA members, together with a series of maps showing their location within the UK, through its website at www.aba.org.uk.

There are, of course, a large number of good second hand bookshops whose proprietors are not ABA members and many of these provide an excellent service. However, as ABA members are required to adhere to a Code of Good Practice to maintain professional and ethical standards you can have some reason to be confident in the accuracy of the stock descriptions. That said, if you are unable to call in person it’s well worth ringing up to discuss any concerns you may have before making a purchase and, in the case of higher value items, some dealers are happy to provide images enabling you to check that the condition matches your expectations.

Book fairs

Both the ABA and Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association (PBFA) run a number of fairs throughout the UK where a number of leading dealers will display their stock. The ABE organises the London International Antiquarian Book Fair, which is the largest event of its type, attracting over 3,500 visitors, and has been running annually since 1958. The PBFA holds its flagship events, the International London Book Fairs, in May and June. It also manages over 100 provincial fairs a year and a full calendar of these is available at www.pbfa.org.

Charity shops, jumble and car boot sales

Whilst charity shops were once something of a happy hunting ground for the book collector, many charities – particularly Oxfam – have now woken up to the potential value of the donations that they receive and are either employing professionals to value their stock or, more controversially, selling on the more interesting items to the trade before they reach the shelves. Whilst this system is by no means foolproof, the likelihood of finding a rare or valuable item at a bargain price is now much reduced and you are probably better off looking in shops run by smaller local charities. Even then, be prepared to spend time sifting through a large quantity of Reader’s Digest condensed books, book club editions, Jackie Collins novels, dog-eared Chris Ryan paperbacks and the like before unearthing anything of interest. Having said that, nothing quite beats the thrill of finding a valuable title at a bargain price and it will certainly hone your skills in sorting the wheat from the chaff.

Much the same applies to jumble and car boot sales, which tend to be very much pot luck. However, given the popularity of many of these events its best to arrive early – preferably quarter of an hour or so before the advertised start time – in order to stand any chance. These sales have the advantage that, if you do find something of interest, the seller is more likely to be open to negotiation on price.

The Internet

One of the main changes in recent years has been the increased importance of the Internet as a means of buying and selling books. One of the most useful websites for book collectors is AbeBooks.com (with “Abe” standing for Advanced Book Exchange) which provides an online marketplace bringing together thousands of independent booksellers (including most of the leading dealers). A key feature of the site is a search function which enables you to search through listings of over 140 million books quickly and simply. This is a great means of both finding that elusive title and comparing the prices being asked. Alibris.co.uk, which has been running since 1998, provides a similar service listing over 100 million books.

The great advantages of these sites are that, with so many titles listed, you are very much more likely to find what you are looking for and the ease of comparing prices has been greatly simplified. One effect of this is that, with easier access to the market, the number of sellers has increased and the value of many relatively common titles has dropped.  

The disadvantage is that you cannot always be certain who you are dealing with. Whilst I’ve rarely had a bad experience when using these sites it’s best to ask questions (particularly regarding condition) before parting with your money and bear in mind the old adage that, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

eBay

Although not specifically dedicated to books, eBay is another important means of buying and selling which has increased in importance since it was launched in the UK in 1999. eBay is essentially an online auction site with the duration of the auction being fixed in advance by the seller and lasting between 1 to 10 days. Thus, unlike a traditional auction which ends when all but the highest bidder have dropped out, with eBay it is the bidder with the highest bid at the expiry of the time limit who wins. Searching for items that you are interested in bidding on is very straightforward and you simply need to type in the title and author of the book you are looking for and then select the category “Books, Comics & Magazines”. The site will then instantly return a list of results which you can refine by selecting “Antiquarian & Collectable” as an additional search criterion.

Again, eBay is a great source for price comparisons – particularly as, by filtering to see “completed listings” only you can see what purchasers have actually paid for certain titles, rather than simply the price that sellers hope to get. Obviously you will need to check the condition of the books that have sold as this will be a major influence in determining the selling price.

A key factor to bear in mind when using eBay is the feedback system, which helps to maintain the integrity of the auctions and give users some confidence as to who they are dealing with. At the conclusion of each transaction, both buyer and seller are able to rate their experience as positive, negative or neutral and these gradings can be supplemented with written comments. In this way, users can build up a feedback points score, which is the total number of positive marks they have received. This score is displayed as numerical figure next to their user name. Another important statistic that eBay records is the percentage of a user’s feedback that is positive. This can be especially important where a heavy user can build up a reassuringly large feedback score that may mask a number of negative marks. If a user has a rating of less than 98% positive, I would advise caution in dealing with them.

Buying and selling at auction

Auction houses can also be good sources of books and whilst the less experienced may find this intimidating at first, it really needn’t be with most of them being more than happy to respond to queries from first time customers.

Whilst the larger and longer established auction houses (such as Bonhams, Christie’s and Sotheby’s) all have book departments these tend to concentrate on the upper end of the market and sell only the recognised high spots. Most people are more likely to be able to find something to suit their budget at one of the smaller auctioneers (such as Bloomsbury Auctions and Dominic Winter) which specialise in selling books.

Reading an auction catalogue

Auction houses will list the lots they have for sale in a similar format to a dealer’s catalogue, with the main differences being that the listing will be preceded by a lot number (which you should use when bidding) and the price will be quoted as a range which is a guide to the sum that the auctioneer expects the lot to achieve, as follows:

198. Burgess (Anthony) A Clockwork Orange, first edition, cut signature of author loosely inserted, brown mark affecting 2 ff., original black boards, dust-jacket, light crease running along top-edge, otherwise a very good example, 8vo, 1962.

£600 – £800

As with any purchase it’s highly recommended that you see the item for yourself before making a bid and there will generally be an opportunity to view the lots ahead of the sale. For example, Bloomsbury usually hold their auctions on Thursday afternoons with viewings scheduled from the preceding Tuesday. Even if you are only interested in one or two of the lots, you are free to browse the saleroom and these viewings can be a good opportunity to improve your knowledge of rare and collectable books generally.

Lots will sometimes consist of a quantity of books that are being sold together although the catalogue entry will only list details of a selection of the more interesting items. As bulk lots are usually stored in boxes rather than displayed on the open shelves it can be worthwhile sorting through these in the hope of finding something of interest that the valuer has overlooked. However, if you do find something worth bidding on bear in mind that, if successful, you will be liable to collect the lot or have it delivered to your home so you need to factor in the additional inconvenience or cost.

Bidding

Whilst bidding in person can be exciting, there are other options if you don’t have enough free time or are otherwise unable to attend. Usually you can make a proxy bid by instructing the auction house of the maximum amount that you are prepared to bid. They will then bid on your behalf up to this pre-agreed limit. Some auction houses, such as Bloomsbury, also offer online bidding facilities through www.the-saleroom.com or www.liveauctioneers.com enabling you to bid from the comfort of your home or office.

A key factor to consider when bidding is the need to factor in the auction house’s commission on top of the sale or “hammer” price. Bloomsbury currently charge a buyer’s premium of 22% which means if you win an auction by bidding £50, you will end up paying £61, whilst Dominic Winter charge 17.5%. As a seller, the auction house will also charge a commission of around 15%, meaning that their margin on lots that sell is upwards of 30%.

You should also bear in mind that whilst the guide price indicates the estimated value, this isn’t the same as the reserve price (which is the minimum price that the seller has indicated that they will accept). If no-one else is bidding on the item that you have your eye on it’s possible to pick up a bargain by putting a bid below the lower limit of the guide price.

Part 3: Modern first editions from 1890 to 1920