Rare Book Monthly

Articles - September - 2007 Issue

Reaching AE and the AED by Cell Phone

The mobile site home page, also known as Search Home.

The mobile site home page, also known as Search Home.


By Bruce and Tom McKinney

A great database is no greater than its accessibility. For more than ten years databases of books have been evolving online and for the past five the AED, the largest source of past book, manuscript and ephemera auction records, has been building. Today, in the AED, there are more than 1.6 million full text records and the volume always increasing. Access has been via computer and internet connection. This month we are adding cell phone access as a standard feature for all research and premium memberships.

Books have always had a subtle sedentary bias. Where there are books there are almost always chairs and desks because contemplation and research are a natural part of the consideration of collectible material. And it's easy to think of the limited range of motion of information about books as a given but its not and cell phone access proves that you can travel a thousand miles and still access information to inform your decisions about appropriate valuation, rarity and relative availability while strolling distant aisles, perusing shelves and examining specific copies of interest. Every book person on the planet has wondered about items and made a note to look them up later. Using this service while browsing a shop, a show, an auction or even while discussing a particular book over lunch, the American Exchange Database is now fully accessible to those with appropriate cell phones. It's as simple as dialing up.

Cell phones are quickly evolving. The newest technology employs 2G and 3G interfaces that allow phones that are internet enabled to get online. From there it depends on how specific sites are configured. Most can be viewed but only a few are configured to be easily searched by employing separate simplified cell phone access pages. We provide this and expect cell phone access to become a useful tool for AE members. If you are an AE research or premium member and have an internet enabled cell phone you'll want to try it out.

Web-enabled phones are not going to replace computers as the preferred way to view online sites but there are going to be times when such access is worth its weight in gold. Say for the moment that you see something in the auction rooms or in a shop that's appealing but you aren't absolutely certain of its value. With this service you look it up on the spot to confirm value and rarity.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
  • 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
    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
    RareBookBuyer.com
    Specialized in Purchasing
    Institutional Collections & Deacccessioned Books
    RareBookBuyer.com
    We Buy Librairies & Rare Books Nationwide

Article Search

Archived Articles

Ask Questions