A note about condition and provenance. Perhaps the single greatest variables in pricing old and rare books are condition and provenance. We will develop some suggestions in the months ahead to help collectors evaluate copies according to these variables.

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A Note About AE Database Search Methodologies

Search methodologies on the AE will be defined and refined over time. There are in fact perhaps a million different combinations of the AE search fields so, while there will inevitably be duplication between collectors, there will be ample opportunities for collectors to develop their own unique approaches to collecting. The Americana field is in fact, hardly touched because without a fast, consistent, clear and complete methodology, the number of people collecting has been limited. I believe this is only because collectors have lacked a means of charting their own courses separately and distinctly from what dealers offer and other collectors collect. With the AE database comes the opportunity for collectors to define their collecting approaches individually and, using the various listing sites, to collect cost effectively. This is not to say that dealers will be damaged by this approach. Quite to the contrary, a larger collecting community will cause prices to rise generally and it is dealers that own a significant portion of the available books. But with the rising of prices will also come a more efficient market that will permit collectors to sell efficiently because it will no longer be only dealers and very sophisticated collectors who will know the relative value and importance of material. The AE database will also allow the less experienced individual to find alternate methodologies to understand value as well as alternatives for selling. Only when collectors know they or their designees can sell and move on will they be comfortable to commit anything more than marginal resources to the building of their collections.

We at AE are committed to the building of that efficient market. On the AE we will encourage and support the auction market. We will make it easy for anyone with any real interest to be able to follow this aspect of book sales, something that has been, up until now, problematic. We are committed to building of an extensive database and to its elaboration over time. We are committed to the development, already underway, of what may be the beginning of universal standards for lot description. This is a wonderful, interesting and challenging field but it is a field that has been hobbled by obscurity. This must change. At AE we commit ourselves to this effort.