Seven years ago AE walked out onto the open sun lit field that is books. The day was 3 September 2002. I was a book collector beginning what I expected to be my obituary project. Not that I thought it would kill me, rather that it would be a contribution that might matter in some then yet to be defined way to book collectors into the future. I was 56. I did not know what I was getting into.
The field, that to this layman looked disorganized, was in fact a group of ever-adjusting parts that had no interest to be included in anyone's concept of the future other than their own. There was no embrace of the inevitable. To those connected to the past the net would be an incremental extension, to pure net enterprises, a new world. Think of James Cagney on his way to the electric chair and you can sense the initial enthusiasm of many dealers. They, their associates and associations were preeminent in the era then just ending and they had no interest in a world they did not continue to dominate.
Contempt, distain and disregard however did not kill the upstarts. eBay, Google, Amazon, Abe and Alibris each established themselves as factors. Others failed or were combined. Those that succeeded ran the IPDA gauntlet: first ignored, then pilloried, decried and finally provisionally accepted. I say provisionally accepted because many in the field continue to hope the main players will fail even if they themselves can not succeed. It has turned out that better, quicker and broader methodology soundly trumps tradition. What was first a nuisance became a fistfight and is now an evolving electronic reality.
When AE came on the scene the stage was already set. I expected databases to reorganize not only books but in time all collectibles and to be thanked for playing a small part in effectuating it. I did not anticipate apathy or resistance and quickly encountered both. I expected dealers to both want and need quick access to information. About this I was both right and wrong. Many dealers, from the outset, embraced the AED (Americana Exchange Database) although its footprint was tiny. Others excoriated it. On day one it was hardly more than all of Sabin, Howes and a few other sources: 151,000 records altogether. Seven years later we add twice that many records every year - roughly a thousand new records every day. The total today is 2,156,297. Today about 20% of the dealers active in the rare book business subscribe to AE services.
As their numbers have increased so too has their use of the AED.
In the first few years the test for likelihood of renewal was the number of times a member logged into their account during the year. Below 7 log-ins a year the chances of renewal were small. Between 7 and 22 logs many renewed. For those who logged in 23 or more times renewal was certain. Today a typical member logs on 200 to 300 times and many more than 500. Institutional accounts access the AED, in some cases, 3,000 to 4,000 times.
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.
Heritage Auctions Rare Books Signature Auction December 15, 2025
Heritage, Dec. 15: John Donne. Poems, By J. D. With Elegies on the Author's Death. London: M[iles]. F[lesher]. for John Marriot, 1633.
Heritage, Dec. 15: Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
Heritage, Dec. 15: F. Scott Fitzgerald. Tender is the Night. A Romance.
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…
![<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.")
![<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.")
