Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2005 Issue

Up for Bid: eBay, Auctions & Book Sites

Controversy

Progress is not always pretty or predictable.


By Bruce McKinney

The internet is logic in constant pursuit of speed and scale and it continues to revolutionize the book business. eBay has been encouraging traditional auction houses to list upcoming lots on a pre-sale basis and many have been doing it. It's a great strategy for eBay though less clear traditional auction houses will feel good about their participation long term. They are lending their hard earned credibility to eBay and eBay is converting this into increasing credibility for themselves among traditional auction buyers. It may also be helping traditional auction houses but it seems certain to help eBay more.

Old and rare books may only be a small piece of eBay's business but they are already the dominant force at the low end of the auction market. The total of all documented book lots selling at traditional auctions this year will approach 125,000 lots and 500,000 printed items. eBay's old & rare book numbers, by themselves, will be comparable although the average lot price much lower. A year ago I roughly calculated that eBay prices were 20% of bookseller retail. That put them on the chart but at the low end of what dealers pay to replenish stock. This year eBay's realized prices seem to be inching up while dealer prices seem to be inching down. There are three potential explanations for this. Familiarity with the internet generally and eBay specifically is increasing thus broadening their market. The total of books for sale on listing sites is increasing and is exerting downward pressure on prices. And hopeful sellers, ever wanting to convert their inventory into money [and at the margin growing weary of waiting for the motivated buyer] are increasingly attracted to the eBay auction process that lets them control every aspect of the sale and to conduct sales at a low cost. Because these sellers often are experienced listing site sellers they provide a more solid and professional feeling to eBay listings. In brief, eBay is attracting more knowledgeable sellers.

The electronic market is of course a three cornered stool. eBay and perhaps its competitors are one, the listing and individual seller's sites another. The third leg is traditional book auctions. They create marriages of convenience for more important and valuable material by conducting consistent, predictable, well-described sales of material that buyers at a distance rely upon to bid substantial sums without actually seeing the material in person. In effect they authenticate material and make a market. Prices achieved at auction are also public and provide a history of valuation. This is why, on AE, we document all items posted for sale and record the outcomes whether they sell or not. [Often an unsold lot tells as much about the price as one that changes hands.]

The eBay model is of course quite different. Sellers write their own descriptions. With a stake in the outcome some sellers are tempted to over describe virtues while under describing problems. There is a term for this: lying. Others simply don't know the difference between poor, good and fine and only learn about it in expletive laced emails. Some sellers have told me their book looks fine but it's certain "fine" doesn't mean the same thing to them as it does to me. The book business employs terms of art and to paraphrase Justice Potter Stewart on pornography, "I know it when I see it." Both the material and the terms are highly subjective and subject to abuse by all who play the game. Many a documented lot has included a variation of the line "But for the loss of the title page, dog-earring to pages 9 to 74 and the innocent crayoning of a long-ago child-like hand, a perfect copy." Thus a search for "perfect copy" will find this gem.

Rare Book Monthly

  • <center><b>Potter & Potter Auctions<br>Nobu Shirase and the Japanese Antarctic Expedition: the Collection of Chet Ross<br>October 12, 2023</b>
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [BYRD]. VEER, Willard Van der and Joseph T. RUCKER, cinematographers. The 35mm motion picture Akeley camera that filmed the Academy Award-winning documentary “With Byrd at the South Pole”. $30,000 to $50,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [SHIRASE, Nobu, his copy]. RYUKEI, Yano. <i>Young Politicians of Thebes: Illustrious Tales of Statesmanship.</i> Tokyo(?), 1881-84. $15,000 to $20,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> SHACKLETON, Ernest H. <i>The Antarctic Book.</i> Winter Quarters 1907-1909 [dummy copy of the supplement to: <i>The Heart of the Antarctic</i>]. London, 1909. $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> [USS BEAR]. The original auxiliary deck wheel from the famed USS Bear, 1874-1933. “PROBABLY THE MOST FAMOUS SHIP IN THE HISTORY OF THE COAST GUARD” (USCG). $10,000 to $15,000.
    <b>Potter & Potter, Oct. 12:</b> HENSON, Matthew. <i>A Negro Explorer at the North Pole.</i> With a forward by Robert Peary. Introduction by Booker T. Washington. New York, [1912]. $3,000 to $4,000.
  • <center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b>
    <b>Swann:</b> Charles Monroe Schulz, <i>The Peanuts gang,</i> complete set of 13 drawings, ink, 1971. Sold June 15 — $50,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Family Archive of Photographs & Letters. Sold June 1 — $60,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> Victor H. Green, <i>The Negro Motorist Green Book,</i> New York, 1949. Sold March 30 — $50,000.
    <b>Swann:</b> William Shakespeare, <i>King Lear; Othello;</i> [and] <i>Anthony & Cleopatra;</i> Extracted from the First Folio, London, 1623. Sold May 4— $185,000.
    <center><b>Swann Auction Galleries View Our Record Breaking Results</b>
    <b>Swann:</b> William Samuel Schwartz, <i>A Bridge in Baraboo, Wisconsin,</i> oil on canvas, circa 1938. Sold February 16 — $32,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Lena Scott Harris, <i>Group of approximately 65 hand-colored botanical studies, all apparently California native plants,</i> hand-colored silver prints, circa 1930s. Sold February 23 — $37,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Suzanne Jackson, <i>Always Something To Look For,</i> acrylic & pencil on linen canvas, circa 1974. Sold April 6 — $87,500.
    <b>Swann:</b> Gustav Klimt, <i>Das Werk von Gustav Klimt,</i> complete with 50 printed collotype plates, Vienna & Leipzig, 1918. Sold June 15 — $68,750.
  • <b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>Magnificent Books and Bindings<br>11 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachie, Paris, 1546, Parisian calf by Wotton Binder C for Marcus Fugger. $300,000 to $400,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Leonardo da Vinci, Trattato della pittura, manuscript on paper, [Rome, ca. 1638–1641], a very fine pre-publication manuscript. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Paradis, Ung petit traicte de Alkimie, [Paris, before 1540], contemporary morocco by the Pecking Crow binder for Anne de Montmorency. $300,000 to $350,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Capocaccia, Giovanni Battista, A wax relief portrait of Pius V, in a red morocco book-form box by the Vatican bindery, Rome, 1566–1568. $250,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Serlio, Il terzo libro; Regole generali, Venice, 1540, both printed on blue paper and bound together by the Cupid's Bow Binder. $400,000 to $500,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 11:</b> Tiraboschi, Carmina, manuscript on vellum, [Padua, c. 1471], the earliest surviving plaquette binding. $280,000 to $350,000.
    <b><center>Sotheby’s<br>Bibliotheca Brookeriana: A Renaissance Library<br>The Aldine Collection A–C<br>12 October 2023</b>
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Anthologia graeca, Venice, Aldus, 1503, printed on vellum, Masterman Sykes-Syston Park copy. $150,000 to $200,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1528, contemporary Italian morocco gilt, Accolti-Landau copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Castiglione, Il libro del cortegiano, Venice, Aldus, 1545, contemporary morocco for Thomas Mahieu, Chatsworth copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Cicero, Epistolae familiares, Venice, Aldus, 1502, printed on vellum, illuminated, Renouard-Vernon-Uzielli copy. $200,000 to $300,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Venice, Aldus, 1499, Gomar Estienne binding for Jean Grolier, Spencer copy. $400,000 to $600,000.
    <b>Sotheby’s, Oct. 12:</b> Crinito, Libri de poetis Latinis, Florence, Giunta, 1505, Cupid's Bow Binder for Grolier, Paris d'Illins-Wodhull copy. $250,000 to $300,000.

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions