The International Online Booksellers Association has announced that Chris Volk, a bookseller in Amador County, California has assumed the presidency of the fourteen-year-old bookseller group.
In speaking with Ms. Volk about her appointment she laid out an agenda and a schedule of goals.
“IOBA has slightly over 300 members in 41 states and 13 countries. We are online booksellers who in many cases also sell in the traditional ways.” Until a few years ago, IOBA published a quarterly newsletter, The Standard, with four to six articles per issue. Her first goal has been to restore it and the first issue of 2013 was released on February 28th.
“As to the value of membership I’m looking to broaden the services we provide. Annual membership is $60 and I look to increase its value to members.“
“We also want to broaden the services we provide to our members. Although our annual dues are a modest $60 - making membership a low barrier decision, we are always looking to increase its value to members. Scholarships we offer to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar and the Rare Book School have proven to be among our most valuable benefits, not just to those members who attend these programs, but to the Association as a whole.”
When I asked if the difference between IOBA and the ABAA could be described as Triple A ball to the ABAA’s majors she explained it this way. “A closer analogy would be to a regional book fair versus an ILAB fair. While regional fairs will often include representatives of national trade associations and ILAB, there will also be many exhibitors in these lesser fairs who are newer to the business, or who have decided that membership in national associations is not for them. Among the buyers, new and seasoned dealers and collectors are the norm.
“The membership of IOBA is international in scope, includes members of ILAB, some with 30 or more years experience in open stores and online, and a few who just barely meet the one year minimum experience requirement.”
The principle difference is that IOBA is restricted to members who have an online presence, although most members combine Internet selling with open stores, exhibiting at books fairs or issuing catalogues. It offers an optional member-only listing service on IOBA.org. We provide mentorship for new and developing dealers and work to create a community where the ever-unfolding complexities of the web based business model for the bookseller can be revealed, discussed” and if Ms. Volk has her way, “influenced.”
“We are not a large organization. I think of us as serious but still relatively small. After some rocky up and down years early in our history, we have had good solid growth in the last several years and one of my principle goals is to see that trend of increasing membership continue.”
She brings a clear mind and determination to a job where leadership is the crucial difference.
ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
Sotheby’s Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections Open for Bidding 2-17 April
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.
