The Means of Book Trading That Dares Not Speak Its Name: eBay
DO THEY USE IT PRIMARILY AS A BUYER OR A SELLER?
Librarian X: “I use eBay as both a buyer and a seller. I buy for the special collection for which I work – mostly ephemera and other odd material on our regional collection. As a part time independent bookseller, I sell products on eBay that I can’t unload elsewhere. I also buy low on eBay for my business and then sell higher on abe or one of the other more prestigious rare book sites.”
Zubal: “I use eBay to sell books and other materials, mostly. In terms of buying, I use it to find the kind of books called for by my customers that I can’t otherwise get my hands on. So once in a while I check eBay for a customer’s particular needs. However this can be problematic as there is no order to its listings, so if you don’t know what you’re doing you end up literally going through item by item. For instance if I wanted a book on the history of Brazil for a customer I would do a keyword search with “Brazil” and “history”; otherwise it’s just insane to plow through, though I’m sure for those with enough patience there are occasional nuggets of gold amongst the drek.”
Barlow: “I don’t sell, I only buy on eBay.”
Dealer Y: “Although eBay is good for buying and selling I use it only for buying. The prices you can realize on eBay as a seller are just consistently lower than high-end retail and thus don’t justify its use for us as a store as a selling tool. The amounts realized simply would not justify the sales. But for a buyer that same formula works out wonderfully. In summary I’d say that eBay is a great buying tool but paradoxically not a great selling tool for the same reason, at least for a sophisticated dealer in high quality goods in an urban environment: as such we can command higher prices with traditional retail interactions than we can with eBay, on which the majority of items sell for less than wholesale retail dealer prices.”
THE FOCUS OF THEIR BUYING/SELLING/COLLECTING INTERESTS GENERALLY
Librarian X: “For my independent book business I collect Hogarth Press imprints and other literary highpoints. For the local history unit for which I work as a special collections librarian I collect a whole range of material, ephemera as well as books, about this local community.”
Zubal: “I specialize in older scholarly books, older antiquarian books, pre 1950.”
Barlow: “My main book collections are John Baskerville, the best 18th century English private printer; antiquarian bibliographies from the 15th century to the present; private library and book auction catalogues (of which I have literally tens of thousands); and early fine printing. Most of these – besides obviously Baskerville and texts printed before the discovery of the New World– would fall under the rubric of Americana. And as I’ve mentioned I also collect a lot of ephemera, such as restaurant menus from Duncan Hines restaurants, stamps, matchbooks, and the like.”
Dealer Y: “There is an overlap between my personal collections and those for the shop. Personally, I collect rare modern art and photography books, primarily. For the shop, I buy a broader circle of rare or uncommon modern art, design, and photography material along with occasional objects d’art. The collections that are on display in the shop are a reflection of my own collecting and buying interests.”
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.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
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…
![<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.")
![<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.")
