Rare Book Monthly
Buying on eBay -- It's all in how you look
This is a relief map, an exceptional survival
This is how you learn the difference between finite and infinite. In traditional auctions you expect to see selected and generally valuable material, the Kentucky Derby hopeful sitting in the 4th position. On eBay you see the wild ponies of Cape Hatteras and Chincoteague. Is there a derby winner among them? You decide. In traditional auctions the great material is concentrated in single sales. On eBay you use intellectual discipline to sweep away the trash leaving a continuing flow of self-selected material to consider that will include interesting items often at astonishingly low prices. By the searches you run you organize all books, manuscripts and ephemera into a uniquely personal ongoing auction, each set of search results a composite of items from many sellers. No one else will look at the auction flow with your perspective [and search terms] and that is one of the reasons you will find great material at very good prices.
Your search terms will be the whip that tames the lion. Start by thinking about the line that Judge Smails says in Caddyshack, "You'll get nothing, and LIKE it." [1980] Well, it won't be that bad. Looking for Shakespeare? Try searching for Shakespear. That's an earlier spelling. Then develop a list of his printers and combine their last name with both versions of the Bard's name in separate searches. Once you begin to see matches read the better ones for new terms to use. In a month or so you'll have a glossary of search terms you will continue to amend and add to for years to come. No, you probably aren't going to find a first folio on eBay but you'll nevertheless find interesting material.
For American printing in particular eBay is a goldmine of obscure material. Only about forty percent of older printed material has been authoritively catalogued and much of what is catalogued is barely more than reports of a sighting. In acquiring such material for $10 or $20 and rarely more than $50 you can reconstruct controversies, a life, life in a time and place, the history of bicycles, or anything else -- all limited only by your imagination. Of course it helps if the place you are looking for has an unusual name such as Poughkeepsie. Kingston is more difficult because it shows up in so many connections. Every objective will have unique challenges and they can all be overcome with diligence and experience.
Following the material of Charles Evans Hughes could be interesting. Perhaps you want to start with some campaign buttons from his unsuccessful run for President in 1916. In time you may become more deeply committed and start to post letters using his 1962 4 cent commemorative stamp. You can buy them by the sheet on eBay. This may lead you into campaign memorabilia or to build one of those dark-side-of-the-moon collections of nominated candidates for Vice President who lost. This will at minimum permit you at dinner parties to sound like a genius as you casually list they who, from heaven or elsewhere, will appreciate you carrying their flickering torches deep into the 21st century. Such potential collections hide in plain site on eBay and on the listing sites. On eBay such material is cheap in part because it is divided up among a thousand sellers. For the most part, sellers simply sell pieces. You, the collector, aggregate the material and create value as you do it. What the piece means to you will rarely occur to them.
