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Back in 1891 a single press run of George Meredith’s Modern Love appeared from a totally unknown American press and publisher in Portland, Maine—Thomas Bird Mosher. To be sure, there were huge publishing houses in America turning out hundreds of books, but nobody in America was designing and printing the kind of aesthetically-styled books that began issuing from the Mosher Press in Portland, Maine. By 1900 94 titles would make their appearance and by the end of Mosher’s publi

The bookplate Mosher used in books from his personal library was designed in 1897 by Frank R. Rathbun of Auburn, New York, with the designer’s monogram of an “F” with two “R’s” mirror imaged on either side. The bookplate was part of an exhibit (entry 1371) of bookplates from the Club of Odd Volumes held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1898. Mosher’s bookplate is described as “emblematical pictorial” in the Burnham collection. The original plate was photo-mechanically

Thanks for granting this interview Philip, on top of the considerable time you spent on the Mosher fine bindings article that also appears in this issue. Tell us a little about your life BB (before bookselling). There was little in the way of books in my childhood unless you count Reader’s Digest condensed books and a couple cheap encyclopedias and some bibles. Assigned books from the library and a few paperbacks of my own choosing, especially those written by Taylor Caldwell

Table of Contents Foreword What Should Amazon Do with AbeBooks? Problems with Amazon as an Antiquarian Seller Site What Is Wrong With Today’s Amazon? A Bookseller’s Tasha Tudor Remembrance Robert Fisher of Echo Letterpress An Open Letter To The Select Committee On Security And Consitutional Affairs, Parliament Of The Republic Of South Africa Embracing the Unexpected Books About Bookselling: The Bookseller’s Apprentice Adventures with a Binder Author Profile: Matthew Eck June

Dated 2/19/1952, probably International News Photo.

In the online bookselling Dreamtime about a decade ago, there was Interloc (the larval stage of Alibris), Bibliofind (very clean of limb), and ABE (like fresh Canadian spring water). The Bibliofind list was a great place to talk privately about our profession, and we used to speculate on trends. We envisioned corporations buying these book-loving companies up, and we hoped that one or more of the search services would survive as strong independents and good partners. Ironical

What is wrong with Amazon? This is a question that is not possible to answer with any degree of objectivity for either buyer or seller since Amazon is a megamarket for an enormous variety of goods and services. So this, for what it’s worth, is the view of a bookseller. Or, to be more precise, an internet-only bookseller of vintage and antiquarian books. It should be stated right at the top that Amazon is one of the best known online markets in the world. If it has not already

Most importantly, Amazon should take its time and look at AbeBooks carefully, recognize its unique strengths (and its many easily-cured weaknesses), and come to the wise decision that AbeBooks should remain a stand-alone website. Some of the main strengths of AbeBooks include the breadth and depth of book and ephemera listings, the superior advanced search functions, the unique wants matching function, the cross-listing of books on websites in five languages, and what remains