Samuel T. Freeman’s Catalog: Pros/Cons of CD vs. Print Version

Written by: Stan Gorski Special Collections Librarian Paul J Gutman Library Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA

Edited By: Ken Fermoyle

While many reference books are still printed on paper, digital products are omnipresent in today’s reference libraries. Many serial/journal/magazine indexes are now available either as CDs or web-based databases. Most libraries choose web-based versions of indexes due to the currency of the information, convenience to patrons, and no need for physical control of back files of CDs.

However, many reference tools are produced in a stand-alone CD format. For example, the Sweets architectural catalog set, published by McGraw Hill, is available as a CD. Accessible Archives Inc. (Malvern, PA) publishes a number of historical newspaper indexes only in CD format. Increasingly, a large number of academic books are packaged with CDs. All of Plunkett’s business texts include CDs, which include all the table and graph statistics from the text. This allows for further manipulation by the reader.

A number of magazines also produce CDs for special issues or articles. For example, Communication Arts presents its “best of the year” media projects on a CD included with the magazine and Émigré has included music CDs with its magazine. In fact, some magazines are including articles or images on CDs with each issue. A good example is VilleGiardini, an Italian architectural magazine. Except for the web-based journal indexes, all these products have been meet with varying degrees of acceptance.

In this environment, I should not have been surprised when a local auction decided to make available the catalog for its rare book sale in a CD format. Samuel T. Freeman & Co. (1808 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103) is the major auction house in Philadelphia for antiques, paintings and various collectables. A descriptive book catalog is made available for each of the four rare book sales held a year. The lots in each of these auctions may range from $20 to $10,000 and occasionally higher. Freeman’s does charge a buyer’s commission of 17.5%.

So this past spring, subscribers to Freeman’s book auction catalog series received both a CD version and a printed copy of the catalog. The CD version included the same descriptions included in the printed catalog. The contents of the CD catalog were arranged exactly like the printed catalog. However, there was a controlled subject index that allowed the viewer to “jump” to specific subjects. Along with the CD, was a small pamphlet (about 30 pages), which included instructions, general auction information, and subscription order blank and sample entries with small color images. This pamphlet also included a more extensive index with appropriate lot numbers. Of course, the appropriateness of the various index terms is always a subjective decision.

Depending on one’s collecting interests, it is always possible to argue that the subject indexing could be more extensive or specific. In an ideal universe, you would be able to search for any word used in the title of an item, its description, and/or even subjects associated with the item. Of course, then there would be complaints on the number of false hits. Also this degree of subject indexing would probably be cost prohibitive.

The most obvious benefit of this format is the inclusion of more color images. Since it is less cumbersome and time consuming to transfer images directly from a digital camera to CD, the overall cost of production is much lower. And since color does not add to the cost, this allows for the inclusion of a greater number of color photos. The individual cost of the CD to the auction viewer was $15, which was cheaper than the cost of the printed catalog for the sale. While Freeman’s printed catalogs in the past may have included a few color images with about 20 black and white photographs, with the CD it was possible to present over 250 color images (585 lots in the sale). In fact, in sections devoted to autographs, maps, bindings, books with plates, it was possible to show an image of each lot described in that group. One minor problem was the small size of the images and that it was not possible to enlarge their size for closer inspection.

This format does raise the possibility of a cumulative file of auction catalogs and/or images of items sold. It would be possible to include all the catalogs for each year on a separate CD with a cumulative index. This product would be useful for pricing or identification. It would especially be helpful in showing the physical condition of the items sold. It would be more understandable to the book viewer why certain titles or items commanded their auction price with an image of the item available.

I had hoped that an updated CD with auction results would be made available after the sale. Understandably, considering postage and other costs, Freeman’s did not follow this path but made the auction results available through their website (www.freemansauction.com). I enjoyed viewing the CD and appreciated the large number of color images. However, in conversation with David Bloom (Freeman’s VP for books, prints & manuscripts), he stated that the response was mainly negative regarding the CD catalog and that the majority of collectors and dealers preferred a printed catalog to the CD. Their next book auction will be sold by using the traditional method of a printed catalog.

The Alibris Pricing Tool

IOBA: Alibris recently launched a new pricing service for online booksellers that has caused quite a stir. What is the service and why are you doing this?

Weatherford: The Alibris Pricing Service is the beginning of a revolution in used bookselling. For the past four centuries, booksellers set the price of their book based on their personal knowledge and on conditions in their local market. In some cases, we charged almost whatever we wanted.

The Internet is creating a real market for used books – and in real markets, the laws of supply and demand set prices. Our pricing service simply lets booksellers apply current market information to their prices. As a result, their sales go up – a lot. That is good for them, good for book buyers, and good for Alibris.

IOBA: Many booksellers are concerned that this will simply accelerate the “race to the bottom” with online prices.

Weatherford: At Alibris, we have had a running joke about the book Bridges of Madison County – the best-selling fiction book in1995. Alibris, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and ABE all have thousands of copies for sale. You can get them for a penny on Amazon – and you can get a new copy for nine cents! Obviously nobody makes any money selling this book, unless you charge sellers a listing fee, which Alibris doesn’t.

What should sellers do? Simple – STOP LISTING THIS BOOK! The Internet has a lifetime supply, thank you very much. When supply overwhelms demand, prices collapse – in books, just like in anything else.

Falling prices are a concern – a big concern – for all online booksellers. But prices are just information from the market – and if the market is telling you that it already has too many copies of a certain book, we think that booksellers need to know this, even if it is bad news. Any bookseller who pretends they can charge above-market prices or pretends that we are still living in the good old days when anybody could charge almost anything for any book is a bookseller with a hobby, not a business.

IOBA: But isn’t Alibris concerned that book prices are falling – and in some cases, collapsing?

Weatherford: You bet we are concerned. Heck, we are the only service left that doesn’t charge a listing fee, so if prices fall, our income falls with it. But the weatherman does not create the weather: We report current market conditions to our booksellers whether we like what we see or not.

IOBA: But doesn’t a pricing service like this amount to price fixing?

Weatherford: The previous question about falling prices presumed that we are causing prices to fall – and we aren’t doing that. This question suggests that we are somehow holding prices up artificially – and we aren’t doing that either.

Believe me, if there were a legal way for Alibris to fix prices, we would be more than happy to do it. But Alibris does not set prices – and neither does any one bookseller. Prices are the result of supply and demand. In the old days, customers did not have a lot of choices, so booksellers could charge more. Online, they have a lot of choices, so prices fall if there are more books than customers.

Our service simply helps booksellers keep up with all of this – which is impossible to do without technology. Some sellers compare it to the Kelly Blue Book, which tells you how much your used car is worth.

IOBA: How are booksellers going to survive if the market keeps shrinking like this?

Weatherford: The market isn’t shrinking – it’s exploding. Used books are by far the fastest growing and most profitable part of the book business. Sellers who are pricing books accurately are enjoying the results of this growth. Sellers who insist on doing it the old way will see their sales continue to fall. So far, the Alibris Pricing Service is the best way for a seller to keep up with market changes. Personally, I would hate to be a bookseller without this service competing with sellers who use it.

IOBA: We hear from sellers that your service doesn’t help re-price every book – usually only more common books. Why is that?

Weatherford: It’s true that the Alibris Pricing Service really is oriented mainly around common books – but that’s more than 80% of the demand out there, so it tackles the vast majority of the market.

Three things need to be true before we can provide you with a market-based price. First, your book needs to be in our catalog. Our catalog is enormous and global – but it doesn’t have pamphlets from the 1930s and other obscure items.

Second, we need to be able to recognize your book. This means we need to be able to match your record to the catalog. If you have entered the information carefully or if the book has an ISBN, there is a good chance we will recognize it. If your record has typos, then our systems may not recognize it. Our systems accurately recognize about 75% of the records we get, which is outstanding compared with any other bookseller.

Third, we need to have market information about the item. We may recognize it but not know about any sales or other items like it for sale, or the seller may have indicated that the item is collectible (signed, for example). In these cases, we do not make recommendations because the bookseller knows as much or more about the item as we do. Statistically, we are able to recommend a price most of the time – and our recommendation is based on recent selling prices and recent sales.

IOBA: The market prices in the pricing service do not seem to account for books that are collectible either as first editions or as signed copies. Why not?

Weatherford: Because we are not smart enough to do that. Pricing collectible books is still more art than science. The reputation of the seller matters a lot – established sellers can charge more for the same book in the same condition. I would be very cautious of anybody who claimed they could automate the pricing of collectible books.

IOBA: Also, your service does not vary the market price according to the condition of the book. Why not?

Weatherford: One of our next enhancements will help on this front – allowing sellers to create “filters” for condition, binding and other elements.

But more importantly, condition doesn’t matter to most customers if the book is in very good or better condition. As John Adams famously said, “facts are stubborn things”. We know who buys books online – and it is overwhelmingly readers, not collectors. We know which copy they pick – usually the lowest priced one that is not torn, broken, or marked up. If you have a book that is in mint condition and you want to charge more for it, go right ahead – but there is no factual basis for our service recommending a higher price.

By the way, at least one bookselling pioneer figured this out ten years before the rest of us. Michael Powell has a million books for sale and none of them have condition descriptions. As best we can tell, it hasn’t hurt his sales much.

IOBA: Are you saying that if I am an antiquarian or specialized bookseller your service won’t work for me?

Weatherford: It won’t help with your antiquarian or highly specialized books – your expertise will be more accurate than our market data. But most antiquarian or specialized booksellers acquire enormous amounts of out-of-field material or simply common used books. Smart sellers liquidate this material at prices that pay for the entire collection. Our service is excellent for this task, which is something many antiquarian sellers are grateful for.

IOBA: Dick, you used to own a well-respected store in Seattle. Would you have used a service like this?

Weatherford: I would have killed for this service. Pricing a book sometimes took longer than cataloging it. And we never had the time to re-price books – it simply took too long, so we never bothered with it. Think about it this way: I could easily go back and re-price books I have that were cataloged years ago and never sold – without having to check them one at a time.

By the way, this tool is designed for online pricing. If you run a store in a major metropolitan area, like I did, you can and should charge higher prices in the store. Customers do not pay shipping and they get the convenience, shopping pleasure, and expertise that only a good bookstore can offer. These things cost money, and a bookseller should price accordingly.

IOBA: Are many sellers using the service? If so, are they selling more books?

Weatherford: We are astonished at the response this service has received, and our early indication is that our sellers are very happy with the results. Most of them figured that old listings were dead stock. Using this service, they are repricing and selling these books. Many feel like it is found money – and some have told us that they paid for the service with sales increases the day after they used it.

IOBA: Speaking of which, how much do you charge for the service?

Weatherford: It’s a six month subscription based on a monthly fee that ranges from $9.95-$49.95 depending on how many books you have. We deduct it from our payments to you. Sellers who want to learn more or sign up can do so at http://sellers.alibris.com.

IOBA: Can you tell me how many of my books are over- and under-priced before I sign up for the service?

Weatherford: Yes – and this will also give you a sense of how many of your books we can help you to re-price. Just go to the seller hub at http://sellers.alibris.com and select “Pricing Analysis Report” from the Account Management menu.

IOBA: What kind of feedback have you received about the service from sellers and what changes are you planning to make as a result?

Weatherford: As noted earlier, we’re planning to add new features designed to enhance how sellers can search on their inventory. Also, a small number of our price recommendations turn out to be dumb. This is a minor problem, but occasionally it makes sellers think that we are silly. Turns out that if one or two people are charging $300 for a book that most folks charge $50 for, our system doesn’t yet adjust for this very well. It’s a small problem that affects relatively few books – and we can fix it, but it is the kind of thing you discover when hundreds of sellers use a tool that you don’t pick up when a couple dozen sellers are helping test it. Sellers should expect that we will regularly add new capabilities to the Pricing Service as we go forward – and look for continued integration into other Alibris services in 2004.

IOBA Q & A Column and an unanswered question

Q. Who knows where I can find a list of the countries that DO NOT accept global priority mail?

I’m getting quite a few international orders these days and it’s always a moment of truth at the counter when I find out the tab is not $7 or $9 but $20 and up. I know from bitter experience there is no global priority to Italy, but what are the other countries?

Susan Halas Prints Pacific

A. This chart names all the countries that accept GPM: http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub51/51cl.html

George Cross

Q. Can anyone recommend a book-safe pesticide for silverfish?

My main problem is that they are finding a nice, comfortable lifestyle inside of boxes of books. Periodic vacuuming is not a good option.

Doug McClure A. Here are a few suggestions. All of these are repellents, not true insecticides.

1. Menthol crystals — best to keep these in a small container such as a cotton-plugged tube. I have never observed any damage or color change in bindings or djs exposed to menthol crystals, but you never know…..

2. Eucalyptus leaves/branches. Just menthol in a natural form. Be sure the plant materials are thoroughly dry before placing near the books. Again, dried, crushed leaves in a cotton-plugged tube might be safest.

3. Depending on where you are located and whether you can obtain them, fruits of the Bois d’Arc tree (Osage orange, Maclura pomifera) also repel silverfish and many other insect pests. I do not know what the active ingredient is here, and obviously more care should be taken to avoid contact between the books and the plant materials.

C.O.Patterson

A. As an entomologist and IPM specialist for museums the past 25 years, I have found that boric acid is not very effective against silverfish. In fact, cellulosic insulation for buildings (ground up paper treated with borates for fire retardancy) does not deter silverfish at all. They feast on it.

Another dust, such as Drione (finely divided silica gel plus pyrethrum) would be a much better choice. Even straight silica gel pesticidal dust would work quite well. Both are basically desiccants with sharp particles that scrape the wax off the cuticle of the insects and dehydrate the pests. Such dusts should be applied to pipe chases, voids in walls where pipes emerge, and cracks and crevices where the pests hide during the daytime.

If conventional, residual sprays are to be used, an encapsulated or wettable powder formulation would work best. These should be applied as perimeter sprays to the baseboards under which silverfish hide. They can also be directed into cracks and crevices and pipe voids.

Actually glueboards (also known as sticky boards or capture traps) work well against silverfish. They are a non-toxic approach which stay in place for long periods of time intercepting silverfish while the nocturnal pests roam about the space.

Also, I noted a response from someone on the Internet about sensitivity and allergies to pyrethrum. When dusting for silverfish, you place a light amount of the dust as a coating in voids and pipe chases, never in the open. For instance, the 4″ void beneath cabinetry, shelving, or natural history ranges would be a logical place to put Drione dust. Pipe chases are often inhabited by silverfish and would be another logical place to blow in Drione dust with a bulb duster. If Drione is used in a sane manner, no one will ever come into contact with it. Besides, after application, the pyrethrum eventually breaks down and disappears, leaving the finely divided silica gel in place for intercepting crawling insects. Not bad for carpet beetle larvae either.

Thomas A. Parker, PhD Pest Control Services, Inc. 14 East Stratford Avenue Lansdowne, PA 19050 610-284-6249 610-284-4494 FAX www.termitesonly.com – website

Editor’s Note – Joyce Godsey’s Book Deodorizer, http://www.bookdeodorizer.com, may work as well. I understand she is testing it for silverfish, etc., as we speak.

Q. This is probably a silly question…but why on older books are some of the pages “uncut”? I purchased a set of nice Dickens off of PBA. I was hoping to read them, But no! Every other page is uncut and obviously unread. I find this annoying as I can also presume if one carefully cuts the pages, the so called collector value drops faster than the Dotcom bust.

I would appreciate some insight on this. Forgive me if it has been discussed before as I must have missed it.

John Scott Porterfield

A. Publishers deliberately issued books with pages uncut, in their original boards, so that owners could take them to a binder of their choice who would then have the maximum width of possible margin available, i..e., the binder would then trim the book (thus “opening” the pages) to whatever width was suitable for the binding style.

Michael Cole York

Also:

A. I’ve been told that a plastic card, like a credit card or membership card (which would be thinner than a credit card) works well.

Suzanne Boomer’s Books

And along the same lines:

A. A nice stiff playing card works well; I have noticed little difference in the efficacy of a face card as opposed to those of lower value.

David Holloway

More information:

A. This is probably a bit pedantic, but I believe the correct term is unopened, not uncut. According to The Book Collector’s Fact Book by Margaret Haller, “An unopened book is one which has not as yet had any closed leaves slit open with a sharp instrument such as a paper knife or letter opener, so that the pages might be read. An uncut book, on the other hand, is one which has not been trimmed at the bindery.”

Editor’s note: According to John Holden’s The Bookman’s Glossary:

“Uncut edges – Leaves untrimmed by machinery. Not to be confused with ‘unopened’.

Unopened – A book with folded edges that have not been sliced open by hand, as with a paper cutter. Not to be confused with ‘uncut edges’.”

Michael S. Greenbaum

Q. I am planning to ship a number of books from three different locations back to my home base. Each shipment will contain 300-600 or more books. The last time I did this, I carted them around in my Taurus station wagon and finished up with lots of car damage due to the weight. I have also pulled a U-Haul trailer, but with the amount of time I’ll be away it would be a costly solution. In the past I have sent small boxes of books (read about 30-40 books) via USPS using Media Mail. This was a fairly good way to ship. But slightly costly. UPS is apparently more expensive. Does anyone have any good suggestions about shipping methods for boxes of books. And, for that matter, any good ideas for packing such boxes so the books arrive in reading condition and not as saw dust. All suggestions greatly appreciated.

Michael Schneps

A. Many booksellers I know won’t buy large quantities of books because they don’t want to deal with moving them. Here are a few ideas we’ve used over the years, updated quickly with a few phone numbers and companies we’ve used. I’m not endorsing these companies – check for the best rates, and as always ask around locally to find recommendations and best fits for your situation.

1) Move them yourself. Rent a panel truck to minimize the wear on your own vehicles. You can rent by the week or month at more favorable rates. We’ve used Rent-A-Wreck in the past – cheap rates and working but unattractive (beatup) trucks and cars. Their website is at http://www.rentawreck.com, 1-800-944-7501. Although it’s been a while since we’ve used them, they were no-frills trucks, very little amenities, but lots of space. Many of the major car rental companies (Enterprise, Avis, Hertz, etc) also rent panel trucks that are inexpensive. You can ask if they have any beatup vans for rent at a discount. If you need working AC make sure you ask for it – many of these cheapies don’t have it.

2) Send packages via bus. Many bus lines will allow you to send packages economically via their existing bus routes – they’re going there anyway, why not make some money moving your books? Don’t expect pristine handling, but you can often ship terminal to terminal avoiding the industrial parks of most commercial shippers. For large quantities this isn’t the best choice. We’ve used Greyhound, website at: http://www.greyhound.com. Their service, Greyhound Package Express (GPX) is “an economical way to deliver packages, especially those within a 300-mile radius. Counter-to-counter services is available from most Greyhound terminals and door-to-door service is available in selected areas.” Call them at 800-739-5020 for more information.

3) Send packages via UPS. UPS has a standard rate for shipping packages which you can get at any drop-off center. Anyone with daily UPS pickup service can also get what is called their “hundredweight” service, which is a service designed for less than 1000 pounds at substantial discounts over their normal shipping rates. It is a bulk service. If you aren’t a daily pickup customer, find a local business who is and piggy-back on their service to get the reduced rates – many businesspeople will help out, and if not, throw in dinner for 2 at a local restaurant of their choice. Their site is at http://www.ups.com. This service is not well publicized, why I don’t know. Check the rates though against normal UPS rates – once they quoted a price higher with hundredweight than a normal shipping program. Current url is at: http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/resources/select/sending/options/hundredweight.html

4) Lastly, try a commercial freight company. The ABA (American Bookseller’s Association) has bulk purchasing arrangements with various companies to help with shipping large quantities of books. They used to use Freight Management Systems (we had good luck with them, 865-922-7491 for free estimates), but their website now notes a program with Fedex Ground and also PartnerShip (1-800-599-2902, ext. 2462). There are various membership requirements, credit forms, etc but it is worth it if you ship large quantities, even one time. Check ABA’s website programs: http://www.bookweb.org/join/affinity/ We’ve done this 3 times with large lots of books purchased cross country. You can also talk to moving companies, who often have “end of truck” rates where they will fill up a truck going somewhere with your books. Lastly, if you have friends in the local trucker’s community check with them – sometimes a trucker can’t find a load for a return trip and will take your load to lose less money on the return trip – this method is catch-as-catch-can and I’d make sure I was working with reputable folks.

When packing books for these services, the same rules apply as sending regular books through the mail – most of these bulk services just treat your boxes as heavy stuff, not precious books. Pack books flat (not spine up or you’ll break the bindings), spines toward each other, bubble wrap, and at LEAST an inch of packaging between the books and the edge of the box, or every bump to the box will translate to damaged books and lost revenue for you. Then, put glassine tape around the box in all three dimenisions so if the seams happen to burst at least the box stays together. More smaller boxes are better than fewer larger boxes, just because the shock of movement or dropping of the package translates first to the box and then to the books. Insist on this packaging style if you aren’t packaging the boxes – I once had 20 boxes sent with no padding at all, save a single sheet of bubble wrap on the top of the box – lots of broken bindings. Pay for it if you have to – you’ll end up with lots of usable bubblewrap later for reuse.

If you have the time and ability to do it, package the books, and then place them on a pallet and shrinkwrap it. You’ll need a loading dock to get them on and off the truck in that case. You can drop off books at the local freight office, and they can often shrinkwrap the books on a pallet for you. This saves you pickup charges, and saves work for the trucking company, which they appreciate. It also means the books won’t shift in shipment, and receive minimal handling. If you don’t have a loading dock on the receiving end, $20 and a smile to the trucker will usually get some understanding getting them off the pallet and into the garage. Make sure when asking for quotes on prices that you note if dropoff/pickup is in a residential area – these trucks are often quite large and it affects the pricing as well. When working with the freight companies, remember that they are used to working with well-equipped back docks at manufacturing companies – be sure to check before showing up with a bunch of boxes and expecting them to shrinkwrap for you. When all else fails, smile and look flustered. Most people are human and will help out the poor, confused, courteous bookseller. grin 🙂

Hope this helps somewhat. If anyone has more ideas I’d love to hear about them. Sincerely,

John Kuenzig, Bookseller

Thanks to all our contributors, especially John with his in-depth report.

And, as usual, special thanks to Lynn and the Bibliophile List. Please send your book questions to: Booksone@comcast.net and we will try to have them answered for you.

Jean S. McKenna – Books (Editor Q & A) Chairman Education Committee.

And, an unanswered question that perhaps one of you can help with!

Hi all,

I hope someone can help me with this strange case. I sold a large lot of beautiful Japanese quilting magazines on eBay. They went off to the purchaser in two boxes, both of which arrived on the same day. One box contained the Japanese magazines; the other contained a large lot of second world war magazines. I have never had any second world war magazines so this was not a case of my having mixed up mailing labels or some such. The only thing I can figure is that the box was opened at customs and the contents switched (inadvertently, I hope) with those of another box being opened nearby.

Needless to say, the purchaser is keen to have the magazines she paid for and I am keen not to have to refund her money. She has send me pics of the box and contents and it is definitely my box and wrappings but NOT my contents. I thought perhaps I might locate the buyer of the war magazines in the eBay finished auctions listings but have not yet found a comparable sale. Now, I’m asking for your help and your wisdom. Have you ever heard of such a thing and, if so, what do you suggest I do next? And, have any of you recently sold a batch of magazines including History of the Second World War (Marshall Cavendish) and The Battle Staff – Smart Book. I figure if I can find that sale, I will find the missing Japanese magazines.

With fingers crossed, I am Frances Curry Only the Best Books fxcurry@sympatico.ca  www.onlythebest.ca