Chapter 177 Fine Books at Tea Time

I spent several hours cataloguing books and scanning images today. I’ve got about 15 more books to go before I can really start to lay out the Dante catalogue and get it ready for the printer. Once again, I spent a couple of hours researching just one item for the catalogue. I don’t intend to put so much into research for what is usually a short book description. I just get caught up in what I am doing and I don’t realize how much time is passing until I’ve run out of time. Part of me wants to be more efficient with my time, and the other part of me, the part that enjoys research, wants to research everything until my questions are answered, whether or not that research is germane to the description I’m writing. I suppose I’ll learn to be more disciplined with more experience.

I received the most recent issue of Fine Books and Collections magazine in the mail over a week ago. In an effort to establish the aforementioned self-discipline, I put the magazine aside in order to focus solely on the Dante catalogue. Today, I could resist it no longer. I took an afternoon break, and read the magazine cover to cover with a couple of cups of tea from my spring tea cup.

That break was worth every minute. I was transported from my dining room to a universe inhabited by people who spend as much time as I do fascinated by red rot (p.21), thrilled about the auctioning of a 19th century comic opera “on the theme of mosquito eradication” (p.23), contemplating a thought-provoking essay on collectible art vs. collectible books (p.34), and in awe of fore-edge paintings (p.42). I was in heaven, even if I wasn’t cataloguing that Longfellow translation of Dante’s Paradiso.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 168 Progress . . . One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

I catalogued three books today. That sounds like very few, but I only had a couple of free hours today. And one of the items I catalogued was a set of 54 postcards depicting scenes from The Divine Comedy, so that one took a while. I consider it progress.

For those of you tired of reading about the trials of writing a print catalogue: in other book news, Chrislands, the company who designed and host my website, was recently bought by ABE. Though several booksellers have voiced valid apprehension over this transaction, ABE’s purchase of Chrislands is not necessarily a bad thing, and one of the first things the founders of Chrislands did was to reassure its booksellers that those of us with Chrislands websites would get added benefits because of the new ABE ownership.

Today was the announcement of the first of those “benefits” brought about by the new ownership. For a monthly fee plus a commission, Chrislands website owners can allow their books to be searched on Bookfinder. Bookfinder is also owned by ABE. It’s an aggregate search site, meaning you can type in title or author of a book you seek and Bookfinder will list sites where that book is selling and for how much. I don’t currently list my books on ABE for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into in this post, but I think Bookfinder offers a good service.

It’s the right of a business to charge a fee for its services, but I don’t necessarily see its ability to do so as a “benefit” to me, since I set up my own website in order to try to minimize selling through sites that charge commissions on sales, and sometimes even on shipping fees. However, paying internet fees is sometimes warranted. It’s the price of doing business, much as rent is if you own a brick and mortar shop.

So. Progress. If I opt in to the Bookfinder listings, new benefit — exposure to a wider market. New fees. More sales? Perhaps. Not necessarily. Many people are using Google Shopping to search for books and a few more use ViaLibri to search specifically for antiquarian books, the type of books I sell. Bookfinder provides a good and viable service, but does not necessarily own the market on searching the internet for books listed for sale. I’ll need to think about whether it’s going to be cost-effective for me to opt in to their search service.

What will all these changes mean? I don’t know. If you’re going to sell books on the internet, you had better be able to adapt to change or you won’t last long. However, I am convinced I haven’t completely understood the internet business model. I have more to learn. I think part of the lesson is selling in several diverse venues simultaneously, such as a website, book fairs, and print catalogues. You should even open a brick and mortar shop, if finances allow. (They don’t in my case.)

I also think that there are parts of the internet booksellers under-utilize; specifically, blogs, podcasts and YouTube. I think that the younger generation, the so-called future of book collecting, spends more time on sites like these than they do on ABE, Bookfinder, or Chrislands websites. Figuring out how to use these free venues to generate word-of-mouth and sales is the challenge. I will continue to think about how best to meet this challenge as my business progresses.

If you’re interested in delving into this topic further, you can read my previous post about ABE’s purchase of Chrislands here.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 167 It’s All in the Details

Admittedly, it’s taken far too long to complete this Dante catalogue.

You might suppose it’s because I have to do laundry for four people. Hey, you’d be surprised how much laundry four people generate, especially when two of them spend much of their time playing in mud, dirt, and water!

You might suppose it’s because I have to shop for groceries and cook for myself, a hungry husband, and two rapidly growing boys.

You might think it’s because I have to supervise homework by said boys in the afternoon and then accompany them to Little League baseball practice.

These things are all impediments to my book work at times. But I have a significant chunk of time to devote to books most days of the week when Thoughtful Husband is at work and Tom and Huck are at school, so I don’t really see these duties as impediments. In fact, they help me to maintain my priorities and to avoid spending excessive amounts of time thinking about books.

I spent four hours Tuesday cataloguing five items. I’m always surprised by those things which take the most time. It took me two hours to research the five items and determine a price for each. That seems a reasonable amount of time to me.

It took me another hour to find the answer to a question I had about book terminology, specifically, about the words “embossed”, “upper board”, and “lower board.” Who would have thought that such simple terms could cause such a dilemma? Not me.

After checking Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors and Glaister’s Encyclopedia of the Book with no luck in finding an answer to my particular question, I asked an email list of faculty and students from the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. I am thankful I attended the seminar last year, because a couple of experienced faculty rescued me and helped me pick the term that was the best fit for the book in question. That seminar pays benefits far beyond the week spent in Colorado. (What are you waiting for? Apply now!)

It took me one more hour to write the actual descriptions for the five books.

I then spent a good deal of time while cooking dinner doing something highly unproductive: second-guessing my book-selecting skills, my descriptive writing ability, and my pricing methodology. I feel the same way I have felt before the two book fairs at which I’ve exhibited: What if no one buys my books?

As I said, it is a totally unproductive waste of time to bother with such thoughts. I have all the books I need for the catalogue. If I am to sell them, I must devote my energies to cataloguing them.

I spent four hours Tuesday working on cataloguing. I only catalogued five items. I know there is a learning curve when one takes on a print catalogue. It’s one reason I wanted to write a print catalogue — so I could learn how to do one. I’ve let myself get bogged down in small details at times, but I always research the answers to questions that arise while cataloguing, even when it takes time. I expect to get faster each time I do a catalogue. I trust that the details of cataloguing — the scanning of images, researching of books, determining prices, and physical layout become easier with practice.

Usually, the beauty of a piece of work well-done is in the details. I’ve decided to be content with the amount of time it has taken to sort out those details.

A small detail from a larger painted cover of one of the books from the catalogue.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 166 It’s Raining Dante

I wrote yesterday about some helpful responses I got from posting to the Ex-Libris email list about Dante. Today I went to check my mail box (my actual mail box, not my email) and discovered a nice fat envelope from Blythe Spirit Books in Batavia, Illinois.

I met Barbara, the owner of Blythe Spirit at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar last August. We sat next to each other all week as we tried to absorb the years of expertise offered by the excellent faculty in a few short days. (By the way, if you are thinking of applying to this year’s seminar, now is the time. Click here for information.)

In the envelope from Barbara were a nice note and several pamphlets from Chicago’s Caxton Club. One of these goodies included a lengthy scholarly article about Dante. Thanks, Barbara!

My Dante books seem to have languished on the shelves for the past several months as I bought more books, attended seminars, and went to book fairs. Then I started a blog and began to write articles for BookThink. This month I have finally been able to make completing the catalogue a high priority. No. Scratch that. The catalogue is the priority until it is complete. The emails from the Ex-Libris list and the arrival of the Caxton Club article today have helped me focus on the task at hand (and reminded me to stay on task!).

Would you like to receive a copy of the catalogue when it is finished? Email me your mailing address at: chris @ bookhuntersholiday.com

Chapter 165 Be Helpful When You Can

Last Friday, I responded to a question another bookseller posted about Dante on a bookseller/librarian/collector email list. My response to his question led to additional requests for the catalogue from other people on the list reading my response. Furthermore, the bookseller who asked the initial question has much more experience than I do. I emailed him off-list with some questions about bookselling and about compiling a print catalogue and he very graciously responded with some helpful answers and suggestions.

Lesson learned: Be helpful when you can. You never know when it might lead to getting to know others who are interested in the same subjects as you and who may be able to help you.

Also, it was fun to discover I could provide an answer to the original question in the post. I usually post questions on email lists, and I rarely feel experienced enough to be helpful to other booksellers (other than sharing what I’ve learned from my own mistakes), so actually having some useful knowledge in this case made me feel good.

I’m excited to get back to work on the catalogue this week!

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 152 Books for an April Fool

First, thanks to those who left comments and emailed me regarding possible ways to organize the Dante catalogue. Your ideas and feedback are much appreciated, and, in some cases, have stopped me from making mistakes. Thank you.

It’s April 1, and that means spring and a bit of foolishness are in the air here. (But, really, when is there not a bit of foolishness in the air around here?) When I went to my local historical society on a recent book hunting expedition, I found a few of the things I sought — peace and quiet, the feeling of being in a roomful of treasure while people bustle by outside oblivious to the plunder within, and a couple of good books.

Since today is April Fools Day, I have to list two of the titles I saw for sale there. I didn’t buy these, but perhaps I should have. Each probably has some kind of cult following. Instead I was distracted by a bibliography of children’s book illustrators and a 1955 book on the pathogenesis of polio inscribed by its author. I bought those instead. Still, I jotted down the titles of the two books that seemed as if they had been specifically created for just such a day as April 1. I am not making these titles up as an April Fools joke. They are 100% real. Here are the titles:

Organic Farming Under Glass

and

The Care and Feeding of Stuffed Animals

You should have seen the pictures in the second title.

Happy April Fools Day!

Chapter 151 Alphabetizing a One-Author Catalogue

I know you’ll probably faint from shock when you read this, but I am actually working on the Dante catalogue Tuesday. (I’m posting this Monday night, but when most of you read this it will be Tuesday.)

It is the first time I have written a print catalogue.

It is also the first time I have scanned images for print and for pdf.

It is also the first time I have had to use a computer to do layout.

Since I learn my tech skills as I go, you can probably understand why compiling this catalogue takes time. Just when I think it will be simple, new questions arise every day.

Here’s today’s catalogue challenge: When one compiles a catalogue of 50 or so works by the same author — Dante Alighieri — how does one alphabetize the items?

By author?
Well, with the exceptions of one or two items, they are all by Dante Alighieri, so that doesn’t help give any organization.

By title?
This is a possibility, but then some items that should be near each other — maybe they have the same illustrator or the same translator — won’t be near each other.

By illustrator?
This seems a good way to go, as my catalogue features illustrated and unusual editions of the works of Dante Alighieri. However, there are a few items which are not illustrated. How would I place those?

By translator?
This could work, for the editions I own in translation. However, I don’t think a potential customer will be searching for a particular translator, so I think it’s not an efficient way to organize the books.

By the Book Fair approach?
You are probably familiar with my thoughts on arranging shelves for book fairs. If not, you’ll know that I organize the books on the shelves at a book fair for their visual impact. I sort the books into general subjects — decorative bindings, western Americana, pioneer women, etc. but don’t alphabetize them at all. I shelve the books with pretty covers face out. Other books go spine out to fill in spaces between the face-out books. For the Dante catalogue, I plan to have images of most, if not all, of the books. Perhaps I should arrange for visual impact alone? That does make it somewhat difficult, though, for a person looking for a specific item.

By date published?
This is an interesting way to catalogue the books, because it will visually show the way that illustrators chose to portray Dante’s works over the centuries. Still, what would I then do with the non-illustrated copies?

By some other form of organization that hasn’t occurred to me?

Have any of you booksellers compiled a catalogue of items by one author before? Have any of you book collectors received a catalogue of items by a single author? What would make it easy or difficult to use? If you can offer any ideas, I’d love to hear how you think I should arrange the catalogue items. If you are so inclined, you can leave a comment below. Thanks in advance.

Chapter 80 Divine Bookplate

I received another Dante book for the catalogue in the mail today. I purchased it from someone who had purchased it at a sale put on by the library of a Catholic college. It’s in a lovely, hand-painted vellum binding. Inside is a bookplate which declares:

“Providence of God.” Very apropos to Dante, don’t you think?

Sorry for not posting yesterday. My teeth feel much better now.

Chapter 77 Of Disbelief and Books about Books

I felt mortified enough to have admitted in yesterday’s post that I have been working on the Dante catalogue for a ridiculously long six months. Imagine my disbelief today when a non-bookselling friend who reads my blog said, “Didn’t you do a post about meeting an English bookseller at the ABAA Fair last February and telling him about the Dante catalogue? Isn’t that ten months ago?” Indeed I did and yes it is, and you can read about it here.

I can’t believe ten months have passed since the San Francisco ABAA Fair. (It seems like six to me, but I can’t quibble with the calendar.) In all fairness, the actual catalogue was a glimmer in my eye, an idea only, last February. I had many of the books, but little else and no idea whatsoever of how to go about writing a catalogue. I actually started studying other bookseller catalogues and writing descriptions of the books in July. Then I took the draft to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar in August to have it critiqued. Then I decided to add another two dozen books and spent the past few months acquiring them. Now I have to write descriptions for those. And so it goes. Eventually, I expect to complete it, and I hope sooner rather than later. Expect a future post on steps to take when writing your first catalogue when the catalogue is finally finished.

In the meantime, here are links to completed catalogues from two of my favorite booksellers. First, Oak Knoll has a great list of biblio-mysteries (a genre I like because sometimes I learn something while I’m being entertained). Secondly, The Colophon Book Shop has put together a great list of Books about Books.

Chapter 76 Elated

Does it count as work toward my Dante catalogue if I spent my book time today (read: the hours when the kids are at school and I am not folding laundry, grocery shopping, or driving carpools) making an important acquisition for it? I should have been writing descriptions, imaging the covers of books, compiling a mailing list, and checking out printing costs. Instead, I was shopping.

I had thought I was about done acquiring works for the catalogue, which focuses on illustrated and unusual editions of the works of Dante Alighieri. There were a few other works I wanted to add which just plain eluded me. I’ve talked about this catalogue for so long (about six months) that I just want to complete it to prove that it really does exist. After searching for these few elusive items high and low with no luck, I decided that my acquisitions for this catalogue were done.

However, ten days ago, I found it. The. Perfect. Item. — the one which will really be the high point of my catalogue and bring focus to the collection as a whole. It was offered in an auction, and I bid for it today and won it. I’ve been looking for said item, whose existence I’d heard of but never seen, for close to a year. Finding it was purely serendipity, a word one hears a lot when it comes to book hunting, but which one rarely gets to experience.

The feeling I get when I find a book which I think I will never find is pure elation! Remember that phrase “a hymn to joy” that veteran booksellers Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern referred to in their definition of fingerspitzengefuhl? That’s exactly the feeling I had today. I was ready to break into Symphony No. 9 from Beethoven (Ode to Joy) and tap dance. It doesn’t happen often that I have such a find, but it happens often enough that I want to keep hunting for more. I don’t want to be a tease, and I realize I am being one because I am not revealing what is the item in question. I want very much to tell all of you, but then I won’t have any reason to put together a catalogue. So, please, please, please keep being patient. All will be revealed in good time. The catalogue is coming — as soon as I finish with all of the holiday hoopla, I’ll be right back to work on it.

I apologize for bragging about my find without naming it. It’s just that I’ve shared so many of my past mistakes, I want to let you know when there are some things that go right as well. As soon as I print the catalogue, I’ll post here which item I was referring to.

Thanks for understanding.

While I have your attention, have any of you who are experienced antiquarian booksellers spent six months or longer putting together a catalogue or is it just me that takes so long to complete my catalogue? I realize there is a learning curve the first time one writes a catalogue, and I admit to being a bit on the perfectionist side when it comes to books, but really, is it at all normal for me to take so long to do this? I am a part-time bookseller, but I still feel like I should have this catalogue done. Any and all comments would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Happy Hunting!