Caite Stevens of Vivarte Books

Not long after my apartment was stripped of sellable product, my art dealer parents announced they were moving to Florida. This meant I would inherit all the stuff they didn't want to move with them. Alongside the groceries, funny hats, and kitchen gadgets transferred to my possession were boxes and boxes of books. Old school books, foreign titles, literature, novels, and, of course, art auction catalogs, along with a few monographs penned by my mother. I quickly listed and sold most of the regular books on Half.com, but didn't know what to do with the auction catalogs and monographs. So I gave them a shot on eBay, and discovered that there was a market for these obscure, heavily researched, single-printing publications.

After enjoying a flurry of sales from my newly listed books, I jumped right into bookselling, adding to my inventory exponentially by scouring local book sales and internet auctions in search of any non-fiction book I could find. I spent nearly every weekend driving from book sale to book sale with my eBay friend Roselle, at times traveling two to three hours for a single sale. Sleeping in on the weekends was not an option in order to arrive an hour before a sale started (a requirement if you don't want to stand in line behind the forty people who got there before you), we routinely woke up before dawn on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Book sales were always tense. In the minutes before a sale was officially scheduled to begin at local schools, libraries, and churches, our anxiety level rose to an unbearable pitch, culminating in a mad dash against all the other dealers as we raced toward the best corner of the sale once the doors opened. Being the first one to grab the most interesting box of used books was a triumph only a fellow bookseller can appreciate.

After a heart-pounding and sweaty 30-45 minutes at each sale, I left with boxes and boxes of books, careful to never buy more than my car could hold. Sometimes that meant having a passenger in the front seat in the form of three boxes of books stacked on top of each othernot the safest way to drive, but certainly the most exciting. Bag Day was always my favorite. They would let you pile as many books as you could into a single bag or box for a small sum, say $5 or so. Id make Roselle drive her truck on Bag Day. At the time, I lived on the top floor of a three-story apartment complex with no elevator. Although Id reserve that entire afternoon and most of the rest of the weekend for listing books, it sometimes took a week or two before I was physically able to remove the last box from my car.

Sales were ripe. I was selling general non-fiction books on a daily basis on both Half.com and Amazon.com. Every few weeks Id list a handful of art books on eBay to bring in a big chunk of money. I had no monthly listing fees to cover, only commissions on books sold. Even selling a seventy-five cent book was profitable for me, since I tracked profits in terms of lots from each book sale. Once Id made my money back on a given lot, the rest was gravy. I was doing so well that I was able to partially finance my wedding with the money that was coming in.

Vivarte Books officially came into existence in May 2003. I took my eBay User ID vivarte and turned it into an official taxpaying business in the state of Maryland. By this time, my inventory of books had grown to about 5,000 titles.

It wasn't long before the non-essential furniture was moved out of our loft and replaced with towering bookshelves. And it wasn't long after the bookshelves arrived that stacks of books began to appear on the floor because the shelves couldn't handle any more titles! Although my husband enjoyed the extra money that was coming in, it drove him nuts to navigate the obstacle course of books that had become our loft just to check his email.

I quickly discovered that buying every used non-fiction book I found wasn't the best business plan I could have developed. More than half of the books I was lugging home were worthless for my business and were subsequently donated to my local library.

And then the bottom fell out. The announcement of Half.coms impending demise during the spring of 2004 marked a major turning point in my business. Coincidentally, sales had begun lagging in the months leading up to Halfs announcement. My sales on Half and Amazon dropped by 90% and they stayed put for months. The shelf space in my apartment was completely diminished. It seemed my only alternative was to list on sites that would charge me anywhere from $15-$50 each month just for the privilege of listing a single book, and this was in addition to commissions on each sale. To make matters worse, I had no inventory software to comply with these sites, as I had never needed any. The prospect of entering all the data from my 5,000 books into inventory software seemed a daunting and never-ending task. I knew it was time to make some changes.

I had to streamline my business if I was going to turn it around. So I spent about two months physically examining each title in my collection, donating every book that I felt wasn't worth my time. Then I surveyed what was left. Nearly every art book Id acquired remained on the shelves. I knew that my most profitable books were those that were art-related, even though they made up a small portion of my overall inventory. They were the most costly to obtain, the hardest to find, and the most labor-intensive to list, but they offered the best return on the dollar by far and were the most interesting to work with. So the decision was made. The focus of Vivarte Books would now be on art and art-related subjects.

Selling art publications isn't as easy as dealing with your run-of-the-mill Grisham novel. Most of the publications I sell have no ISBN. And when it comes to researching titles and artists, it's not unusual to find that the only current documented copy is in my hands, which makes pricing difficult, albeit exciting. Finding an obscure foreign artist makes for fascinating reading if the publication isn't in the artists native tongue. This has made language translation an important tool in my business. A lot of my customers don't know of the existence of the publications they're buying before making a purchase from me, which can make marketing each title a challenge. It's not always apparent why or if an art publication is important, or what the focus was of a given exhibition. But I enjoy doing the research and picking out the relevant information, and have found a worldwide audience.

It's taken me years of practice to figure out which art books to leave behind at a book sale. The majority of books in the Art section at book sales have no value. The information in them is either outdated, too basic, or too well-dispersed.

Although I still sell odds and ends on eBay and a small selection of general non-fiction books on assorted bookselling sites, the crux of my business has become centered on art, and I couldn't be happier about it. I sell on eBay, Half, Amazon, Alibris, Biblio, and IOBAbooks.com.

A native of the DC area, I now live in a house in Olney, Maryland, with my husband and newborn daughter, and still work full-time in finance. My inventory fits neatly into five tall bookshelves that line the walls of my office. There is a clear path to the computer, and my husband doesn't have to step over a single book to check his email.

My mother has long contended that the first word I ever spoke was book, and that I was reading out of Newsweek when I was four. As a kid, Id come home from the library with as many books as I could carry. I read Gone with the Wind when I was ten. During my teen years, we had a constantly changing array of paintings hanging on our walls. Mom would sell what was hanging over the piano and replace it with a new acquisition. There is no better industry or market niche for me to be in.

I love the business Ive created, and I intend to nurture it for as long as possible. Vivarte Books functions for me not merely a source of income, but as a source of education, pride, and absolute enjoyment. It combines my love of art and reading with my love of computers, the internet, and the entrepreneurial spirit.

Caite Stevens operates Vivarte Books and can be contacted at http://caitestevens.com/

The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar

The Colorado Book School, as it is informally known, offers a wonderful opportunity for those seeking to improve their knowledge of the profession. Attending this famous seminar involves a serious commitment of time and money, but all reports indicate that it is well worth the investment. Please note that IOBA’s own Chris Volk is their newest faculty member. Perhaps Chris can give us a nice report on this experience in a future issue. An official announcement follows

THE COLORADO ANTIQUARIAN BOOK SEMINAR August 6-11, 2006 Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO

Please visit http://www.bookseminars.com for this year’s program highlights and schedule.

We proudly announce this year’s program which includes our Keynote Speaker, Terry Belanger, a recent MacArthur Fellow and founder of the Rare Book School and Book Arts Press at the University of Virginia; specialty dealer John Crichton of the Brick Row Book Shop, San Francisco; and our newest faculty member, Chris Volk of Bookfever.com, an early member and past officer of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA), a member of the first advisory board for ABE books, and a current member of the advisory board for Biblio.com.

Other members of the faculty include Tom Congalton and Dan Gregory of Between the Covers; Dan De Simone from the Library of Congress; independent booksellers Mary Francis Ciletti, Mike Ginsberg, Ed Glaser, and Rob Rulon-Miller; and our conservator, Angela Scott.

Nearly 30 years ago, Jake Chernofsky (Editor of AB Bookman’s Weekly) and others established a week-long seminar in Denver aimed at providing education for persons interested in entering the used/OP/academic/rare book trade. Under various administrative configurations, the Seminar, long well-known and highly respected in the rare book community, has continued to fulfill this function to this day. Given the enormous changes in the antiquarian book world since 1978, the curriculum has changed accordingly, with increasing emphasis on the realities of bookselling in the electronic age. Over the years more than 2100 students have graduated from the Seminar, many of whom have gone on to become prominent members of the bookselling community.

This year both the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) and the Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (RMABA) will offer a total of five scholarships for the Seminar [and Alibris has just announced a scholarship as well]. Applications should be sent to each respective organization by July 1, 2006 [as a heads-up for next year]. Details will be available at the Seminar website shortly.

Please direct questions about any seminar information to:

Kathy Lindeman, Local Coordinator Colorado Springs: (719) 473-6634 or E-mail to: KathyL@bookseminars.com

Addendum

International Editions

Dear Editor,

I thank you for your service, and have found the information on your web site to be most useful. I am an engineer disabled with Lou Gehrigs disease, and as such I pass the time and maintain my intellect engaged in a variety of independent research projects. As I do not have ready access to a quality technical library I purchase a large number of books and other reference materials over the internet. The information on your organizations web site has saved me considerable heart and head ache over the years.

I would like to make a suggestion for an addition to your glossary of terms. In the last six months or so I have noticed the so-called International Edition of books offered for sale by a number of internet book vendors. They are being sold as new books at steeply discounted prices, which is a true statement as they are in fact new books at a very cheap cost. However, International Editions are known to have problems. They are often printed in black and white, when the regular edition (also known as the United States Edition) is printed in color. The quality of paper in an International Edition is often inferior as well. The graphics and type fonts of the International Edition are seldom the same as in regular editions, and this is particularly true for technical books. International Editions often suffer from poor quality control. Common problems include skewed pages, margins that vary from page to page, inverted print or mirrored print, smeared ink, non-sequential or missing pages, and blank pages. In fairness, all these problems do not occur in every International Edition, nor do they appear simultaneously.

Sellers will frequently claim the International Edition is the same as the United States Edition, or that the International Edition is simply a paperback version. It is not uncommon for the International Edition to have its own ISBN (International Standard Book Number), particularly if it is an authorized copy. However, some overseas publishers do not bother to obtain a new ISBN, or they do not bother to include it as an identifier. This is especially true of publishers in India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, and other Pacific Rim countries.

Do not confuse the International Edition with the European Edition. Frequently technical books have a European Edition and a United States Edition. The main difference here is simply in units of measurement, with the European Edition using the metric system and the United States Edition using the inch/pound system. Other differences may be in the choice of language, like centre in the European Edition instead of center in the United States Edition. The end of chapter problems in science, engineering or mathematics books are usually quite different between European and United States Editions.

In short, prospective purchasers should realize that there is probably a good reason that International Editions are so steeply discounted. It is not uncommon to see them selling for half the cost of a regular edition. You get what you pay for.

Eric Sawyer

Manchester, NH

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Happy Hits

-Just picked up two signed copies of My Memories: 1886-1977, by Ira Gray, the Adirondack Mountains guide. Only one copy listed at $95. Author/title searching on Gray/Memories, the only other hit was for a single copy of My Hair and Other Memories: The Adventures of a Boomer Facing 50, by Bill Gray. A brief excerpt from what is perhaps the more important work, under the heading, A Wilderness Picture. It was a nice warm evening along the last of June. I had been out and got me a mess of trout. Had just finished my supper and lay on the bunk in my cabin near Miners Marsh. I had the door open, as it was real warm. I hear a little noiseand there by the doorway was an old partridge and her brood of eleven little babies. No pictures on T.V. can be like this.

-From a Texas A&M University Libraries 2004-2005 printed report, With Al and Darlyne Lowman’s donation of Adrian Wilson’s Printing for the Theater (1957) to the Lowman Collection, the University Libraries now claims a quartet of books popularly considered to be the four most important in the history of 20th-century fine press printing. The other three volumes are D. B. Updike’s The Book of Common Prayer (1928), Edwin and Robert Grabhorn’s Leaves of Grass (1930), and the Grabhorns’ The Santa Fe Trail (1931). Further research shows that Printing for Theater was limited to 250 copies, with twenty tipped-in examples of Interplayers theater printing, in addition to extra rear pocket programs (17 in one case) which are different for each edition. When you author/title search Wilson/Printing for Theater on ABE there are no copies listed, but a full author search reveals two with the variant spelling Theatre, priced at $950 and $1,500. BookFinder reveals a third copy through ILAB, priced at $900. Theater is spelled correctly in the title but the other way in the description, which is fine, and they added a the to the title, which is not fine but would not be a search term fatal flaw. (The Texas A&M entry goes back and forth on the added the themselves.) One of the online offerings includes this nice description. Folio, original decorated cloth, illustrated endpapers, with the prospectus (and other material as described), in the original shipping carton, exceptionally fine. This copy was mailed at publication to one of the Wilson’s oldest friends, Alma Holmgren, long a figure in Bay Area publishing, and subsequently a teacher. Alma attended the publication party, or a party, at which Wilson sold copies in order to finance a trip for himself and his wife Joyce Lancaster, to Europe. So, it pays to attend publication parties like that, and if there is a bright side to a thousand dollar typo, it may even pay to be off a bit on the correct spelling of the author or title, as fine copies of such books will only appreciate in value.

Blurbettes

Is there a good book out there on the minor commercial art form of blurb writing? Or a dedicated website (Canada’s Alex Good bestowed awards called the Puffies on the worst examples not that long ago, but those lists don’t seem to be up any more). Maybe, but I didnt look too hard. Instead, I just dipped a minnow net into that flow of electrons called Google for a few minutes and pulled out a few wrigglers.

-What a fantastic book! from the dust jacket of Peter Bernstein’s Capital Ideas, and This is a great book!” from William Bernstein’s The Intelligent Asset Allocator, both by popular blurber John C. Bogle.

-Here are a few from A Distant Book Lifted, by Michael Stevens, which is a collection of blurbs, forewords, afterwards, introductions and prefaces written by William S. Burroughs.

• John Waters, Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters

• John Waters is the Pope of Trash and his taste in tacky is unexcelled.”

• Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

• One of the few books I have been able to read in recent years.”

• Irving Rosenthal, Sheeper 

Rosenthal has brought back to writing the almost forgotten element of style. On each sentence he imposes his seal. Each word is transmuted by the alchemy of arrangement. Brightly colored beetles move and shift in a glittering mosaic of Mandarin complexity. A brilliant specialized performance.”

[Note: This 2001 title with a Spicewood, TX imprint sounded interesting so I checked online and ordered the only one available for $45 (directly from the bookseller of course), one of 26 lettered copies signed by the compiler, in stapled wrappers, with a previously unpublished photo of Burroughs on the cover. If I could write a blurb for this one it would read, Engaging bon mots from the bow of Burroughs in a flattering vein, and a book that will surely double in value! Alas, though, it wont, as the familiar reply comes back, The book is no longer available. A Distant Book Lifted indeed!]

-A U.K. edition of Mitch Cullin’s Tideland carried a Terry Gilliam blurb which read, F*ucking wonderful!

Dust jackets are part and parcel of many of the books we handle. The blurbs they carry are often informative and interesting, often shameless and misleading, and often funny or unintentionally funny. Please consider sharing some good examples under this heading.

For example, what happens when a blurber simply runs out of things to say? I am holding a plain light brown and white dust jacket for Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru. It’s Volume 35, from the second series, covering the period 9/1/1956 to 11/30/1956. On the rear panel, under From Reviews of Earlier Volumes,” we have the following. This (Volume 34) is an important volume because it is a trailer to a yet more important one that would follow next.”

Book Blogs

We will feature a verbatim excerpt from a different book blog each issue. IOBA does not necessarily support or endorse these blogs and their contents, but they do contain some good stuff or they wouldnt be here.

Mutterings of a Mad Bookseller

http://madbookseller.blogspot.com

Posted 6/5/2006

How the Databases are Ruining the Book Business

A quick story will illustrate. Last year I was buying books from one of my usual private sources, an ex-antiques dealer selling off her library. The last book she brought she laid proudly in front of me and proclaimed- I’ll bet you don’t know what this is worth!”

I looked at the book, an uncommon and good silver title, and said As a matter of fact I do, because I just sold a copy. $750.”

No, No,” she said smiling. It’s worth $5000!”

Um, no,” I said, frowning, it’s not.”

Upon returning to the office I found the source of the problem- a copy listed on a major database for $5000. Now let’s get real- I have been selling books in the very specialized field of the decorative arts for 25 years. We deal with major collectors, dealers and institutions. I know and monitor the other specialists in my field. That book was worth $750.

Yet one ignorant idiot, with pretensions of grandeur almost spoiled my opportunity to buy a saleable book at a fair price (fortunately my seller had faith in me, and I got the book).

But the plague continues. Just today I got a want-match on an out of print 1990s furniture book which is, possibly, on a good day, with a tailwind, worth $1000, and the price was $4500. I’ve sold 17th century decorative arts books for that price.

That’s all fine and well- it’s a free country after all, except that other dealers use the databases to price. How much do you want to bet that a new copy comes up tomorrow for $3000, that dealer also being ignorant, and thinking to undercut the current price? I love dealers undercutting other dealers prices, except where the original price was hatched in a crack dream. And not long in the future I will have that price quoted to me by a collector looking to sell.

What can be done? Not a damn thing that I can see. There have always been dealers, like this one, who simply add an extra digit to the highest number they can think of. The problem is that, with the internet, everyone else takes their cue from those fantasy prices. The other ethical problem is what if someone actually pays that price? I know, I know, a fair price” is determined by a willing seller and informed buyer, but the key here is informed. Everyone in the book business knows that many buyers are not informed. A certain Ebay seller has made a fortune taking advantage of uniformed and deep-pocketed buyers. Does that make it right? The greedy preying on the ignorant?

I dunno.

But it’s a problem.

What’s Veronica Lake have to do with all this? Nothing, I’m just a fan, and they were talking about her on Biblio the other day.

Ye Olde Booksellers

The True and Genuin Elegy of Matthew Gun Bookseller, Who Departed, &c.

This is a one page sheet, probably printed in Dublin in 1724. The elegy itself rambles a bit, and starts off with puns about Guns last name. A couple of couplets are reproduced, along with his epitaph in its entirety. The early printers convention for the letter s is retained.

In his own Books he might his Fate forefee,

They felt the Teeth of Worms, and fo will He.

and

Fanatick Writers on his Shelves did rife,

But now alas! Theyll fall to Tarts and Pies.

EPITAPH

Reader my Name was Matthew Gun,

Ive loft my Stock and out Ive run;

I hope it cannot be denied

But that I livd, and that I died:

My choiceft Books were never Read;

Few Liftnd eer to what I faid;

And So their Fate the fame with mine is,

You Read their Title-Page and

FINIS

From my Death Bed, January 20th 1723-4. This is my true ELEGY and no other.

Matthew Gun.

Made in IOBA

Are you an IOBA member who has authored some work, or who has unique services or products to offer? Let us highlight them here.

Book Show Impressions

Book shows range from flea markets and car boot sales to extremely high-end affairs. Aspiring booksellers can learn much from them. Visit a few first, and then start with a cheap outside space at an antiques show or festival. If this agrees with you, try a couple of tables at one of the better inside book shows. Most of your show colleagues will be glad to offer advice along the way, shortly after they raid your under-priced offerings and comment on your unfamiliarity with mylar. Losing money and losing face are two things that get ones attention, so you learn at a far quicker pace than through other methods of education.

Some years ago I ventured into a very large community-wide yard sale in an old established development early one Saturday morning. These get panned out, there are more cars than ever, and you see lots of last year’s kiddie clothes and plastic junk. I went right to the very back first this time, where there is still a bit of woods. The driveway of the most remote home was a real hill. I walked up to the garage and there sat a large amount of rare titles on early firearms, shelved no less, and obviously someone’s lifetime collection. A woman was leaving with a couple cookbooks or something and I overheard the price as $1 each. I took pretty much every one before I noticed a round color sticker scheme. I inquired about this when checking out. I’m afraid I didn’t have a chance to tell you. Yellow is a dollar, but blue is $2 and red is $3. I suppose you’ll be putting most of those back?”

One week later I was all set up at the Albany, NY Antiquarian Book Fair. A few minutes before the doors opened the line outside was pretty long. I always positioned myself in the back of this old armory, as my ephemera buckets took up many tables and may have looked a bit unseemly up among the more established tweedy types. One guy showed up almost immediately, following the same rear-first strategy I applied at the community sale. He let out a small gasp and bought nearly every one of these gun books, which as luck would have it was his specialty as a dealer. He thought they were all priced right (about $75 each on average) except for one, which he bought anyway. He told me he got up in the middle of the night and drove straight down from New Hampshire, not expecting to find much. A bulls-eye for both of us. Please consider sharing your own significant book show impressions under this heading.

Book Store Lore

IOBA would seem to be all about online bookmanship, but actual book stores are the stalwart backbone of the trade. Much has been said about the demise of the bricks and mortars, but in some cases this is exaggerated, and in others the signs are more hopeful. From the paperback exchange to musty old landmarks to smartly run gems, we all have the dedicated book store owner to thank for maintaining traditions and igniting new generations of book lovers in a way that Amazon and company could never accomplish. Many of them have utilized the internet, but they are not subservient to it. Support local independent book stores whenever possible.

Book store owners, please consider sharing your own anecdotes under this heading.

Solicitations

The Standard can always use interesting, well-written articles on subjects of interest to the bookselling trade, in addition to smaller items for the regular columns above. Please query first, however, to editor@ioba.org. You will be supplied with submission guidelines, but to summarize, the material should be original, it is subject to editing, you retain copyright, and of course there is no payment other than most everyones satisfaction. You do not need to be a member of IOBA, except for the IOBA Bookseller Profiles section, though we would surely like you to join. We are very interested in the book trade outside the U.S. as well.

Currently seeking a three to five page article on mega-listers that would explain how they ply their craft, the damage that they do, the benefits they provide (if any), and why the search services put up with them (we know but the readership might be informed).

Booku

Gangling Victorian pressed spider,

perched above the first initial letter in a nice 1892 Athenaeum Emma all these years,

long legs beautifully arranged, head up proud.

Comic Books

Scientists have just announced the discovery of two newly-spotted moons (named Nix and Hydra) in orbit around the planet Pluto. Although twice as far away as the known moon Charon, and many times more faint, close-up satellite photos from the Hubble Space Telescope have revealed surface features rich in color and complexity. They are reproduced here for the first time.

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