Auction Update Review
The Earth Moves under my feet.
I feel the earth move under my feet
The winter doldrums are drawing to an end. The steady bang, bang, bang of gavels is beginning to resonate and with spring comes the new season. It is the book business the way it has been and at the same time it is the book business it is becoming.
The crisp distinctions between dealer and auction, institution and collector are beginning to break down. Dealers will increasingly conduct auctions and auction houses broker private treaty sales as the biggest houses already do. Libraries will mimic private collectors and private collectors mimic library special collections. Libraries will deaccession directly to collectors and collectors sell directly to all who are interested. The paths and channels will not disappear but rather wear away and in their place emerge a universe of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera based on information.
This is a field that thrives on connections and it is a field that will one day thrive on facts. It is a difficult transition but the next generation of institutions and collectors will demand it and the field adjust. Ultimately it those who pay who make the rules.
Bruce McKinney
AE
The winter doldrums are drawing to an end. The steady bang, bang, bang of gavels is beginning to resonate and with spring comes the new season. It is the book business the way it has been and at the same time it is the book business it is becoming.
The crisp distinctions between dealer and auction, institution and collector are beginning to break down. Dealers will increasingly conduct auctions and auction houses broker private treaty sales as the biggest houses already do. Libraries will mimic private collectors and private collectors mimic library special collections. Libraries will deaccession directly to collectors and collectors sell directly to all who are interested. The paths and channels will not disappear but rather wear away and in their place emerge a universe of books, manuscripts, maps and ephemera based on information.
This is a field that thrives on connections and it is a field that will one day thrive on facts. It is a difficult transition but the next generation of institutions and collectors will demand it and the field adjust. Ultimately it those who pay who make the rules.
Bruce McKinney
AE
