Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2003 Issue
There’s a <i>Reason </i>It’s a Big River — A Guide to Swimming in the Amazon
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Amazon also has a permanent rating system that cannot be changed or erased, even when a customer has clearly made an error — for example, one praised me for quick shipping and then gave me the lowest possible score, confusing direction of the scale (Is 1 better than 10, or worse?). The rating system also serves as a kind of weird, de-facto program for institutionalized blackmail. I had one customer who purchased a book, kept it for a couple of months, and then wanted to return it (with us paying the shipping both ways, of course). We made the mistake of protesting, eventually took the book back anyway, and the customer still put a negative rating on our site as a kind of revenge for our unwillingness to act as her personal lending library.
While Amazon handles the entire financial transaction and very reliably deposits money into our account, on demand, or on a two-week schedule, nevertheless having a third party involved can sometimes be awkward, particularly if we are negotiating with the customer for the purchase of a different book. In such a case we quickly make a refund so that Amazon is out of the equation, and then work with the customer directly.
Sellers already listing on Alibris and ABE can automatically send their ISBN-listed inventory to Amazon through the optional bookseller programs on those sites. In that case, while you avoid paying the monthly Amazon fee, your listings are bunched together with other ABE or Alibris sellers. Customers have absolutely no idea from whom they are buying, so it is virtually impossible to use a sale to generate repeat business, and the prices are jacked up to allow ABE or Alibris an additional profit margin.
Personally, I don’t like those particular programs. I feel that if we are selling on Amazon, we should do it directly and deal with Amazon ourselves, not through a third (or fourth) party. We need direct access to our customers in order to give them better service. Moreover, with the ABE and Alibris relisting deals we cannot list both ISBN and pre-ISBN titles, which we can when working directly with Amazon — and this is crucial to our particular business mix.
The really good news out of Amazon is that they will soon have available databases of antiquarian titles that are pre-ISBN, so that high-level Marketplace pages will be available for rare books. From our perspective that is going to mean more sales and less confusion in the listings on what is already the best site on the Web for the selling of books. Marketplace is also expanding on Amazon’s sites outside the United States: the United Kingdom (amazon.co.uk), Canada (amazon.ca), France (amazon.fr), Germany (amazon.de) and Japan (amazon.jp).
Rare Book Monthly
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Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 11. Blaeu's Superb World Map on a Polar Projection (1695) Est. $5,500 - $7,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 702. Munster's Largest 16th Century Edition, with Over 220 Woodcut Maps (1598) Est. $18,000 - $20,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 101. Rare Jo Mora "Carte" Showing a NYC-to-Seattle Route through Panama Canal (1933) Est. $900 - $1,100Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 65. The Waldseemuller/Fries "Admiral's Map" (1541) Est. $8,000 - $9,500Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 46. Contains all 30 Plates from Atlas Coelestis in Full Original Color (1742) Est. $16,000 - $18,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 129. The First Map to Name New Scotland and Cape Cod (1625) Est. $8,000 - $9,500Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 663. The First Printed Map Devoted to the Pacific in Full Contemporary Color (1589) Est. $7,500 - $9,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 629. De Jode's Rare Map of Eastern Asia (1593) Est. $7,500 - $9,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 171. De Bry's Influential Map of Colonial North America (1591) Est. $11,000 - $13,000Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 691. Superb Hand-Colored Image of the Holy Trinity (1502) Est. $800 - $950Old World Auctions (Sept 16):
Lot 606. Important, Early Atlas of Japan with 75 Woodcut Maps in Printed Color (1837) Est. $2,000 - $2,300 -
Koller, Sep. 16: FRANZÖSISCHE REVOLUTION - ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE - Extrait des Procès-Verbaux de L'Assemblée Nationale, Des 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 Août & premier Octobre 1789.Koller, Sep. 16: MOURADJA D'OHSSON, IGNACE. Tableau général de l'Empire Othoman, divisé en deux parties dont l'une comprend la Législation Mahométane, l'autre l'histoire de l'Empire Othoman [... ]Koller, Sep. 16: BOTANIK - Blackwell, Elisabeth. A curious herbal, containig five hundred cuts, of the most useful plants, which are now used in the practice of physick.Koller, Sep. 16: SCHEUCHZER, JOHANN JAKOB. Physica Sacra. Iconibus Aeneis illustrata procurante & sumtus suppeditante.Koller, Sep. 16: HAIMONSKINDER – Eyn schön lustig Geschicht, wie Keyser Carle der groß, vier gebrüder, Hertzog Aymont von Dordons Süne [...]Koller, Sep. 16: KRÄUTERBÜCHER - HORTUS SANITATIS - [H]ortus Sanitatis. De herbis et plantis. De animalibus et reptilibus. De avibus et volatilibus. De piscibus et natalibus…Koller, Sep. 16: GAUGUIN, PAUL, MALER (1848-1903). Eigenhändiger Brief mit Unterschrift und Couvert. An den Künstler und Freund Daniel de Monfreid in Paris. -
Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
24th September 2026Forum, Sep. 24: A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster and Borough of Southwark, 1746 [bound with] A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, [c.1755]. £30,000 - £50,000Forum, Sep. 24: Gafurius (Franchinus). De Harmonia Musicorum Instrumentorum Opus, first edition, Milan, Gotarto da Ponte, 1518. £20,000 - £30,000Forum, Sep. 24: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, first impression, 1937. £10,000 - £15,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
24th September 2026Forum, Sep. 24: Stackelberg (Otto Magnus v). Costumes et Usages des Peuples de la Grece Moderne, first edition, Rome, 1825. £15,000 - £20,000Forum, Sep. 24: Piranesi (Giovanni Battista). Le Antichita Romane, 4 vol., Rome, Bouchard and Gravier, 1756. £10,000 - £15,000Forum, Sep. 24: Henry VIII's Primer.- Church of England.- The Primer, set foorth by the Kynges maiestie and his clergie…,, first edition, by Richard Grafton printer to the Princes grace, 1545; bound with 2 others, similar. £10,000 - £15,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
24th September 2026Forum, Sep. 24: Darwin (Charles). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, fifth edition, ink inscription in the author's hand laid down to half-title, 1869. £6,000 - £8,000Forum, Sep. 24: Siebold (P.F. von) J.G. Zuccarini and F.A.W. Miquel. Flora Japonica, 2 vol., first edition, Leiden, for the author, 1835-70. £6,000 - £8,000Forum, Sep. 24: Illuminated manuscript facsimile.- Constitution Of India (The), Dehra Dun, Survey of India Offices, [c. 1950]. £3,500 - £5,000Forum Auctions
Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
24th September 2026Forum, Sep. 24: Mao Tse-tung. Quotations of Chairman Mao, prototype edition, Shenyang, compiled and printed by the Political Department, Air Force Division of Shenyang Military Region, 1963. £3,000 - £4,000Forum, Sep. 24: Richardson (John). Fauna Boreali-Americana; or the Zoology of the Northern Parts of British America, 4 vol., first edition, Norwich, Josiah Fletcher, 1829-37. £4,000 - £6,000Forum, Sep. 24: Mite (The), the printer/publisher's own copy with the original type and printing blocks for all three of its editions (1891, 1893 & 1896), Grimsby, Ernest A. Robinson, 1891. £3,000 - £4,000. -
Leland Little, September 11: Kenneth Claiborne Royall (1894-1971), Large Archive with Letters from Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower.Leland Little, September 11: Harry S. Truman, Scarce Autograph Letter Signed as 33rd U.S. President.Leland Little, September 11: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) (1835-1910), Autograph Quotation Signed.Leland Little, September 11: The History of North America, the Extremely Scarce Deluxe "Edition of the Presidents."Leland Little, September 11: Scarce First Edition of Krafft's The American Distiller.Leland Little, September 11: Inscribed First Edition of James Baldwin's Giovanni's Room.Leland Little, September 11: A Signed Limited Edition of Love in the Time of Cholera.Leland Little, September 11: The Extremely Scarce Limited and Extra-Illustrated Edition of The Works of Charles Dickens.Leland Little, September 11: A Beautifully Bound Limited Edition of Émile Zola's The Rougon-Macquart.Leland Little, September 11: The Elaborately Bound and Extremely Scarce The Shakespeare Gallery.Leland Little, September 11: Hunting, Hawking, Shooting, A Signed Limited Edition Four Volume Set.Leland Little, September 11: Signed Limited Edition of Salmon-Salmon with a Chapter on Iceland. -
Sotheby’s
Original Film Posters
10 September 2026Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: The Invisible Man (1933). Extremely Rare US Leader Press One Sheet. £20,000 to £26,000.Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: You Only Live Twice (1967). Italian Advance Quattro Fogli. £10,000 to £15,000.Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: A Dog's Life (1918). Extremely Rare US One Sheet. £50,000 to £70,000.Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: La Belle et la Bête/Beauty and the Beast (1946). French Style A Grande. £12,000 to £18,000.Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004). US Lenticular Prototype One Sheet. £10,000 to £15,000.Sotheby’s, Sep. 10: Théâtre d’Ombres (1897). Exceptionally Rare French Poster. £8,000 to £12,000.