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BEA. To go, or not to go, that was the question. With my new baby, Perfect Pines Books and Gifts still in its infancy, I had to ask myself first if I could afford to go. That question had an easy answer, but only if I wanted to be completely honest with myself. “No.” So, I admitted that I couldn’t really afford the expense of attending Book Expo America in New York and ended the internal dialog. And then THEY started talking. You know them. Most people refer to them as the an

This is the second in a series of articles taking a brief look at the pros and cons of the various multi-dealer book listing databases. The first in the series looked at AbeBooks.com and can be found in the previous issue. This article examines Alibris.com, which was the first “on-line” site developed under the name of Interloc (in pre-internet days), and the site which has undergone the most dramatic and significant changes over the years. Interloc, which was founded in 1994

We are Craig Horle and Laurie Wolfe of Classic Books and Ephemera, which we run out of our home in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania. When we began the business in 2001 we did not anticipate the store-in-the-home phenomenon common to so many booksellers. Our cozy house is now so crammed with our stock and shipping supplies that living there has become almost secondary. However we do have room for the obligatory “bookstore cat,” Greystoke. Having eclectic interests ourselves, we have no

“I sell books about antiques.” “You sell antique books? I have an old school book that was my grandmother’s.” “No, I sell books ABOUT antiques, not necessarily antique books.” And so a typical conversation with a stranger ends—the same conversation for thirty-one years! Fortunately, the collector, the antique dealer and the book lover recognize what I sell, and their enthusiasm for my specialty has been my profession since 1977. My father, Walt Johnson, started promoting his

My first bookstore job was at Iowa City’s Prairie Lights. I was attending the University of Iowa Writers Workshop and working in a bookshop helped support my “plans” of becoming a writer. While there, and though I didn’t realize it at the time (or at least wouldn’t have used the term), I began collecting books: haunting the bargain tables for good buys (once even finding a third printing of Olympia Press’ two-volume Lolita for five dollars), and stalking authors who read at t

Ye Olde Booksellers Adventures in American Bookshops, Antique Stores and Auction Rooms by Guido Bruno (Detroit: The Douglas Book Shop, 1922) is a swell little thing, the one in hand numbered 898 of 1,000 printed, with bumped corners and cracked hinges, at 125 pp. plus the index. It mostly covers New York City, excerpted in this issue; with brief stops in Chicago, Boston, and other cities that will have to wait until next time. The first passage is from his preface, and then w

Happy Hits Excerpts from recent online book descriptions. -Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Acceptable. Heavy edge and cover wear, some faux stains, inside great!! -Corners bumped, Spine worn at top and bottom with teat at center. -Book Condition: Good. No Jacket. 4to – over 9 3/4″ – 12″ Tall. 407 pp. For years 1907, 1908, 1909. All the main color plates have been cut out of book; also, a few pages are loose from binding. Spine cocked, some soil to covers; edge & corner wear

Table of Contents from the Editor From the President Interview with Paul Mills of AuctionExplorerBooks Book-Buying in Middle America, or, A New York Dealer’s Visits to Three Middle American Cities Ephemeral Assays: Jumpin’ Jehovah Book review: Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and Books & Co Anyone for the Forsythe Saga? Cathy Graham and Serena Wyckoff of Copperfish Books, LLC Pros and Cons of AbeBooks.com for Buyers and Sellers Paul Mills of Clarke’s Africana