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I got into bookselling by purchasing an existing inventory about four years ago. Nothing spectacular—3,500 general inventory titles. The descriptions had to be re-written, conditions checked and photos or scans taken of the more interesting titles. Very time-consuming, but I felt that if I were to represent these books properly, I had to grade them on my own. At the same time I was trying to come up with a specialty, because that’s all I heard—“specialize, specialize” from ot

I’m John Hardy of Hardy Books, Nevada City, California. We’re in our 10th year of business. Hardy Books specializes in “All Things Californian” (California history, fine Press, authors, poets, photographers, artists, food and drink, flora, fauna, movies, books to film, photoplay editions, law and order, San Francisco, Yosemite, Sierra Nevada, and on and on), Western Americana, and Books About Books. As to marketing, we are open by appointment, and on the internet at www.hardy

Post-Erattum In the previous issue, we used “Errata” for the column heading in this space. Errata, of course, is actually a list of writing or printing errors in a given work, usually provided on a small slip of paper and laid in loosely or inserted. I have been taken to task by a British editorial colleague (on the Fourth of July no less, though a bit of a tempest in a teapot as nobody else complained) over my apparently ignorant misuse of the term, as “Addenda” more clearly

Ye Olde Booksellers Here is a small volume with red pebbled boards entitled, Forty Years Among the Old Booksellers of Philadelphia, with Bibliographical Remarks, by W. Brotherhead (Philadelphia, PA: A. P. Brotherhead, 1891). This 122 page gem must be well known to those interested in the early history of our profession in this city. He tells his own story first. “In 1849 I commenced to sell old books at the northwest corner of Sixth and Market streets. My stock was worth abou

Table of Contents From the editor Father Richard Reed of St. Gabriels Bookstore A Guide to Improving Your Online Book Sales Seeing Shelley Plain: Memories of New Yorks Legendary Phoenix Book Shop The Team Behind Books Tell You Why Ephemeral Assays: Pulp Frisson Ethics & eBay – No, Really: Perspectives from a Modern Library Collector House Calls, Estate Sales and Auction tales Caite Stevens of Vivarte Books The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar Addendum

Welcome back to the IOBA Standard, which has been on a bit of a hiatus. I read somewhere once that hiatus often means goodbyatus, but we are back with a new team, a new look, and ambitious plans. If you ever come across premier issues of periodicals, take a look at the opening remarks. Back in the early days, they used to call this the plan of the magazine, where rosy intentions are announced. These messages are remarkably similar through the decades, though the language was

Hello, I am Father Rick Reed, the Pastor of Saint Gabriels Chapel and online bookstore. Our aim is to meet and greet each customer with the golden rule of treating others as we would wish to be treated. I opened our online bookstore as an extension of our ministry to all! As a bookseller and book reader, I love books of all kinds and wish to spread this love of reading and learning to everyone I come in contact with. I was not sure where to start when asked to do an autobiogr

There is little doubt that the internet has changed the nature of the book business, just as it has altered many other trades and industries. For many booksellers, this has resulted in a substantial additional revenue stream for their existing brick and mortar, and for others it has allowed them to become professional booksellers, selling exclusively online. However, for many booksellers, it can pose a challenge as they struggle to adapt to the changing expectations of custom