Some of the "summits" near Abe's home in Vancouver
By Michael Stillman
Abebooks held their much ballyhooed dealer summit early last month. It's not clear what their purpose was in holding the summit, but if it was to relieve the tensions that have developed over the past year between the site and some of its dealers, it was probably not a huge success. Abe started with an announcement that they would be taking over the processing of all credit card orders made through the site. Previously, dealers had the option to use Abe's services or their own. Processing through Abe is now mandatory. What upset dealers even more was the fee: 5 1/2%. Few booksellers are paying anything like 5 1/2% to process their credit cards. While Abe's cost is not publicly known, large users generally pay 1%-1 1/2% for card processing. It is hard not to see this as a 3% or 4% price increase.
Not surprisingly, this development overshadowed anything else that might arise from the summit. There were other issues, such as multiple listings by large sellers, books on demand reprints listed so as to appear in searches for original material, and visibility of dealer contacts. However, money trumps everything, and a transfer of a few percentage points from the booksellers' pockets to Abe's did not set well with the former. Nevertheless, this is more than a simple rate increase. Underlying it all are the changes taking place in the relationship between Abe and its dealers, particularly its older ones. For them, it is a painful transition.
The evolution of Abe has been difficult for many of its earliest sellers. They saw Abe as something of a family, a bookselling site run by book people. Everyone on both sides of the aisle knew and appreciated books and the trade. Everyone was part of a bookselling fraternity that had developed literally over centuries. Abe was the successor to AB Bookman, a technological step forward but still part of a long bookselling tradition.
Ultimately, this was not to be. Perhaps it couldn't. The traditional world of bookselling, based upon personal relationships, was no more immune to changes in the marketplace than any other Main Street business. We, as a people, talk about relationships and service, but we buy based on price and cookie-cutter familiarity. We hate Wal-Mart, even fight to keep it out of our communities, but when it opens, we shop there. Here's another example. Do you remember the tasty hamburgers they used to sell at the lunch counters in your local drug store (this one is for the oldtimers)? So why do we buy the atrocities they sell at McDonald's instead? Price and familiarity. When we travel, we eat at the same restaurants and sleep in the same motels we find in our hometowns. You'd think we never left. The trade for new books long ago succumbed to the large, impersonal look-alike chains. The old book trade is not immune.
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.")
