Are you interested in pursuing antiquarian books as a profession? There is, regrettably, no actual college major in antiquarian bookselling, at least not one of which I am aware. The closest thing might be a major in Library Science, but much of that curriculum now focuses for better or worse on the use of technology in research, so it isn’t entirely applicable to antiquarian bookselling. There should be a course of study for booksellers, because, at its best, this trade helps to preserve, pass down, and disseminate artifacts of culture. I’ve said before that had I known about antiquarian bookselling in college, I’d have pursued it immediately rather than becoming a beginner in my 30’s.
Once I discovered book collecting and antiquarian bookselling, I decided that, since there is no academic certificatiton for the career, I wanted to know how one goes about becoming an antiquarian bookseller. I’ve been told by other booksellers that there are as many ways to sell books as there are books, so I can’t claim any thing special about the path I’ve taken. Still, I would have liked to have found something like this blog on the internet — that is, a bookseller who was willing to share step-by-step how he or she started in the business. I’ll be discussing how I got started in the next few days, trying to focus on one of the following aspects at a time:
1) Required reading for beginning antiquarian booksellers and beginning book collectors
2) Finding stock
3) Meeting other booksellers
4) Finding a mentor
5) Academic courses for antiquarian booksellers
6) Nuts and Bolts of Business — licenses, resale numbers, business cards, websites
7) Why book fairs are necessary
Simple tools every bookseller should have
One of my favorite books about books, Patience and Fortitude, by Nicholas Basbanes, inscribed to me at the San Francisco ABAA Fair last February. The first two qualities any bookseller should have are patience and fortitude.
