Richard Davies who worked at Abebooks for 18 years, recently retired to pursue new adventures. Most recently our interactions with him were Abe’s reports of their most expensive books sold but he was much involved than that and he has provided his perspective about his tenure.
“I joined AbeBooks in January 2005 and it’s been a privilege to have been involved in the rare book business all this time. As everyone knows, there has been near-constant change in both technology and the rare book business since 2005. This ensured my work at AbeBooks was never mundane.
I’d prefer to dwell on the people I’ve got to know over the past 18 years, particularly the booksellers. They helped to educate me about rare books and have always been generous with their time. They helped me to help them… if that makes sense.
I noticed several changes in rare bookselling. As it’s possible to see exactly how many copies of a book are for sale online, ephemera has become more important as sellers want to offer unique items. Diaries, photo-albums, scrapbooks, and historical documents are all more important now. Sellers are also more creative in how they package certain listings – they often include letters and documents with books to make them stand out from the crowd.
Sellers are also much more adept in their use of high-quality and creative photography to merchandise their books. Sellers who invested in high-quality photos made my job much easier over the years.
I hope book collecting and bookselling becomes more diverse in the future. It’s good to see this starting to happen over the last couple of years.
Thank you to everyone who helped with my work at AbeBooks.
Regards
Richard”
If he turns his experiences into a book I’ll be ordering it.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: The First Issue of Robert Frost's A Boy's Will, In Extremely Scarce Binding.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Knight's An Account of the Remains of the Worship of Priapus.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Locke's Important Treatise Some Thoughts Concerning Education.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: The Richly Illustrated First French Edition of Voyages de Corneille Le Brun par la Moscovie, en Perse, et aux Indes Orientales.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Scarce First Issue of An Account of the Province of Carolina in America, Finely Bound and With Celebrated John Speed Map.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Humphrey's An Historical Account, Complete with Scarce Folding Maps.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: First Edition of Chamberlain's Scarce Civil War Memoir The Passing of the Armies.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: A Rare Photograph of David Bruce Brown and #48 Fiat.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: George Cruikshank (England, 1792-1878), Archive of Sketches, Notes, and Letters.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Andy Warhol's The Thirteen Most Wanted Men Exhibition Catalogue.
Leland Little, Jan. 22: Edward Ruscha (American, b. 1937), Every Building on the Sunset Strip.
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
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Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing
Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing
Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
RareBookBuyer.com Specialized in Purchasing
Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
RareBookBuyer.com We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare. The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens. A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
Sotheby’s: William Golding. Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
Sotheby's Fine Books, Manuscripts & More Available for Immediate Purchase
Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll. Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien. The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
Sotheby’s: John Milton. Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD
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High Bids Win Vintage Leather Tool Auction January 16, 2025
