Rare Book Monthly
The ABAA: What Works - Data, Knowledge, Charm & New Blood
ABAA President Stuart Bennett.
By Susan Netzorg Halas
All other things being equal, it takes data, knowledge, and charm, not necessarily in that order, to make it in the ABAA. It also doesn't hurt to have deep pockets.
The Data Model
A good example of the data model is Joachim Koch of Books Tell You Why based in South Carolina. Koch is a German trained engineer who had an extensive corporate tech career before joining the ranks of book dealers. While Koch stresses that his is a family business, a team effort, he also stresses that there is no substitute for numbers.
Even a brief conversation makes it clear that his style of bookselling is organized, systemized and the company makes decisions based on an impressive array of factual information. Want to talk click-through ratios and pay-for-placement? Interested in what's hot and what's not? Want all the data all the time? This is your guy.
Koch knows his customers: He knows who bought, what they bought. He knows how they found him, what they spent, if they buy frequently or occasionally. Having a plentiful amount of information is only the first step. He's willing to pay for the tools and techniques he thinks will drive traffic to his site and he wants those numbers to be BIG.
Books Tell You Why Had a good year in 2009 and they're expecting a better 2010. Though not for publication it's all sliced, diced, analyzed and driven by data; books are only the top layer. www.bookstellyouwhy.com
The Knowledge Guy
Another way to get ahead in high-end bookselling is to know more, a lot more, than other people and have a sterling reputation. It is helpful to have an opinion that collectors and libraries can take to the bank or feds as needed and to have the credentials to back up the reputation.
Vic Zoschak of Tavistock Books in Alameda www.tavbooks.com fits that profile. This is a go-to guy when you want to get serious and take it to the next level.
Zoschak has an MBA in Finance from NYU. After a career in the Coast Guard he segued from a highly respected Dickens collector to an equally respected ABAA book dealer. It is his knowledge and willingness to share his knowledge that sets him apart from his contemporaries.
He is always helpful, well informed. Though all the ABAA dealers who spoke with AE knew their stuff, Zoschak seemed to truly understand that God is in the details. He is qualified for and frequently does appraisals for IRS purposes. He asks and gets hefty fees for these services. For a more modest sum you send the book to him and get back his thoughts on its value.
Zoschak is a supporter of the University of Virginia Book School where students, some of whom are would-be ABAA members, can learn the bibliographic niceties and are introduced to the work of special collections.
He's serious about the importance of bringing along the next generation of dealers and he also stresses the importance encouraging college students to take a serious interest in collecting.
Zoschak is widely appreciated as a person who is willing to mentor younger dealers who want to join the ABAA. Several who spoke with AE credit him with at least part of their success in the trade.
Rare Book Monthly
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Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles
1500-1800
22nd July 2026Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 83 – Westall & Owen. Picturesque Tour of the River Thames, 1st edition, 1828. £2,000-3,000.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 88 – Blume. Rumphia, Botanicae de plantis Indiae Orientalis, 1835-1848. £2,000-3,000.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 101 – Michaux. Histoire des arbres forestiers de l'Amérique septentrionale, 1810-1812. £700-1,000.Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles
1500-1800
22nd July 2026Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 102 – Miller & Shaw. Cimelia Physica, 1796 [but c. 1816]. £3,000-5,000.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 104 – Parkinson. Theatrum Botanicum: The Theater of Plants, London: Thomas Cotes, 1640. £800-1,200.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 159 – Plancius. Orbis Terrarum..., double hemisphere map, 1594-99. £5,000-8,000.Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles
1500-1800
22nd July 2026Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 217 – Illuminated Medieval Manuscript. From a Breviary, 14th/15th c. £3,000-4,000.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 224 – The newe Testament … By Wylliam Tyndall…, 1549. £3,000-5,000.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 238 – Douay-Rheims Bible. 3 volumes, 1582/1609/1610. £7,000-10,000.Dominic Winter Auctioneers
Printed Books, Maps & Wisdens, English Bibles
1500-1800
22nd July 2026Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 336 – Ashendene Press. A Treatyse of Fysshynge with an Angle, 1903. £1,000-1,500.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 393 – Sassoon. Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, signed limited edition, 1931. £800-1,200.Dominic Winter, July 22: Lot 402 – Dylan Thomas. Twenty-Five Poems, 1st edition in d.j., 1936. £400-600. -
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Case Auctions
2026 Summer Auction
August 1st and 2ndCase Antiques, Aug. 1: Timberlake, Henry: A DRAUGHT OF THE CHEROKEE COUNTRY on the West Side of the Twenty Four Mountains, Commonly Called "Over the Hills". $18,000 to $22,000.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Manuscript orderly book detailing day to day activities of multiple Virginia regiments in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary,1776-1777. $7,000 to $8,000.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Cormac McCarthy, The Orchard Keeper, Random House, New York, 1965. Signed 1st Edition. $3,800 to $4,200.Case Auctions
2026 Summer Auction
August 1st and 2ndCase Antiques, Aug. 1: Battle of Kings Mountain Pamphlet by Isaac Shelby, April 1823, Signed. $1,800 to $2,200.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Large Tintype CSA Lt. Col. Thomas Coke Johnson, 19th GA, w/ Southern Cross, Book. $1,400 to $1,800.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare Civil War Ambrotype, 19th GA Infantry with Johnson Family of GA. $800 to $1,200.Case Auctions
2026 Summer Auction
August 1st and 2ndCase Antiques, Aug. 1: A signed note written by Thomas Alva Edison to an unknown recipient, in which he shares his thoughts on Guglielmo Marconi, regarded as the inventor of the radio. $800 to $1,200.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: Rare 1931 TN Grasslands Steeplechase Book, Gallatin. $800 to $1,000.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: War of 1812 related Broadside, Petersburg Volunteers. $700 to $800.Case Antiques, Aug. 1: 2 World War I Posters, “Our Colored Fighters” and “No Slacker”. $800 to $1,000.