Searching The Old Book Sites:<br>Just Who Is The Best?
- by Michael Stillman
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Next up is Barnes and Noble, the stepchild, the Avis, the Boston Red Sox of online bookselling. They have the greatest stores, but online, they are never more than number two. They give me only one logical choice to search in, "Bookstores." It turns out that is for new books, but not finding any new copies of this 1852 report, it asks if I would like to check their "Used and Out of Print Store." Certainly. I click the link and up pop 12 copies, most fairly recent printings, and it even finds one where "expedition" is spelled "expidition." Do I like this search better than Amazon's? Of course not. It doesn't reveal any secrets about my wife. It just finds the book I want. However, with a little more digging, you will find that in order to sell books with Barnes and Noble, you must do so through Abebooks or Alibris. Unlike Amazon, they aren't giving you anything new, just some of the listings from those other sites. They do claim 30 million titles, nothing to sneeze at, but Alibris offers 40 million and Abe 50 million. They really haven't added much to the equation.
If you have been in the old book business for awhile, you undoubtedly know Abe and Alibris well, so I won't bother you with the details. Each offers good advanced search screens. I prefer the way Abe gives you all of the listings together, rather than the subsets of variations presented by Alibris. Abebooks was the standard for me at the start of this exercise, and remained so at the end.
The ABAA (American Antiquarian Booksellers' Association) and ILAB (International League of Antiquarian Booksellers) sites are remarkably similar. It doesn't take long to recognize these two are related. The search screens are practically identical. However, the ILAB site has the advantage of searching not only the items held by ABAA members from America, but international dealers as well. Even if you're looking for American books, it's surprising how many are held by foreign merchants. It’s hard to see why you would choose the ABAA site over the ILAB one. In fact, ILAB gives you the choice of searching inventory from just one country (like the U.S.) or all. And here's another neat feature on the ILAB site I've never seen before. They give you a keyboard of letters with those funny squiggles under them that denote they are in some language English-speakers don't recognize. If you want to find an "è" or a "ç" you can actually enter them that way without knowing the obscure code that lets your keyboard type such symbols.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Jerry Thomas. How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon-Vivant's Companion, Containing Clear and Reliable Directions for Mixing All the Beverages Used in the United States…
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Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("Martinus Luther") to His Friend the Theologian Gerhard Wiskamp ("Gerardo Xantho Lampadario"). $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: An Exceptionally Fine Copy of Austenís Emma: A Novel in Three Volumes. $40,000 - $60,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Presentation Copy of Ernest Hemmingwayís A Farewell to Arms for Edward Titus of the Black Mankin Press. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript Signed Integrally for "The Songs of Pooh," by Alan Alexander. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Manuscript of "Three Fragments from Gˆtterd‰mmerung" by Richard Wagner. $30,000 - $50,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Preliminary Artwork, for the First Edition of Snow Crash. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("T.R. Malthus") to Economist Nassau Senior on Wealth, Labor and Adam Smith. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides Finely Bound by Michael Wilcox. $20,000 - $30,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: First Edition of Lewis and Clark: Travels to the Source of the Missouri River and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Original Artwork for the First Edition of Neal Stephenson's Groundbreaking Novel Snow Crash. $100,000 - $150,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: A Complete Set Signed Deluxe Editions of King's The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King. $8,000 - $12,000.
Bonhams, Dec. 8-18: Autograph Letter Signed ("John Adams") to James Le Ray de Chaumont During the Crucial Years of the Revolutionary War. $8,000 - $12,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Francesco Colonna. Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. €200,000 to €300,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Nausea. De principiis dialectices Gorgias, and other works, Venice, 1523, morocco gilt for Cardinal Campeggio. €3,000 to €4,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 17: Billon. Le fort inexpugnable de l'honneur, Paris, 1555, Parisian calf gilt for Peter Ernst, Graf von Mansfeld. €120,000 to €180,000.
Sotheby’s Book Week December 9-17, 2025
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Salinger, J.D. The Graham Family archive, including autographed letters, an inscribed Catcher, a rare studio photograph of the author, and more. $120,000 to $180,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of Sense and Sensibility, the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.
Sotheby’s, Dec. 16: Massachusetts General Court. A powerful precursor to the Declaration of Independence: "every Act of Government … without the Consent of the People, is … Tyranny." $40,000 to $60,000.
![<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/8caddaea-4c1f-47a7-9455-62f53af36e3f.jpg "<b>Heritage, Dec. 15:</b> John Donne. <i>Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death.</i> London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.")
![<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9a74d9ff-42dd-46a1-8bb2-b636c4cec796.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Dec. 16:</b> [Austen, Jane]. A handsome first edition of <i>Sense and Sensibility,</i> the author's first novel. $60,000 to $80,000.")
