ALL ARTICLES

Table of Contents Trade Discounts: Good for One and All The IOBA Standard 2.0 Rostenberg & Stern: An Appreciation Three Continents, Eight Countries: A Travel Journal Turnover: An Introduction for Booksellers ABAA Holds First Official Webinar for Antiquarian Booksellers Pazzo Books of West Roxbury, MA John Howell for Books, Los Angeles, CA How to Get a Trade Discount, in Six Easy Lessons Other People’s Books: Association Copies and the Stories They Tell The 2011 Baltimore Summ

Welcome to the first all-new issue of The Standard in nearly three years. As I mentioned in our previous issue, The Standard, for a variety of reasons, was on an unfortunate and extended hiatus. But no more. For this Fall issue we present articles we hope will be useful and interesting to the membership, as well as to other booksellers and bibliophiles. From dealer discounts to African bookstores, book reviews to member profiles, business concept to business titans, our hope

Hey, booksellers….c’mere. Yeah, you….and you….and especially you. Sit down here for a minute. I want to have a word with you all, about trade (dealer-to-dealer) discounts: why you should all be giving them, and why doing so should make you nothin’ but hap-hap-happy. There are three simple reasons for this: (1) It’s good for your business. (2) It’s good for our business. (3) It’s good for the soul. I come before you today, brethren, to testify to these, my articles of faith. S

Rostenberg & Stern Rare Books, specialized in finding previously undiscovered treasures. In 1942, following a great deal of literary sleuthing, Leona Rostenberg uncovered the information detailing that Louisa May Alcott (1832-88), the American author of the sweet, placid novel Little Women, had also published some risqué (by 19th century standards) thrillers anonymously and pseudonymously as A.M. Barnard. Stern edited and oversaw the publication of these works in 1975 and 197

Part one: Guatemala, the U.K. (London) and Kenya Bookstores and travel are two of the great passions of my life. There are several reasons why I visit bookstores in other countries. In English speaking countries, I like to look for true first editions of English language books. I would much rather buy/sell the first Canadian edition of an Alice Munro, or a first British edition of Martin Amis. I am not a patriotic enough to adhere to the ‘follow the flag’ principle, rather, I

When I began my bookselling career, I worked not in used bookshops but in new (ie. independent bookstores selling new books only). And in that context managers, section buyers (of which I was one), and owners were always watching the store’s “turn” or turn-rate. It is an eminently useful business concept I brought with me when I started my own used and rare book business. But despite its utility, in my experience far too few book dealers understand the idea or importance of t