I think Al Willis's reasoned response to this dilemma is right on target. My sympathies are both with the art librarians of smaller regional art museums as well as with Spanierman which has undoubtedly had to shell out a fortune in fees for color transparencies, rights of reproduction, and the high cost of color reproduction, and immense man-hours involved in gathering, checking and rechecking the catalogue entries. Where University Press publications are often subsidized, publishing a catalogue raisonne independently is both risky and costly.
It is indeed difficult for some librarians to obtain funds for such a publication, given their limited budget. They are often forced to solicit patrons to contribute to the purchase, and most librarians don't have the time, the knack, or the inclination for this sort of thing.
I think Spanierman ought to consider offering a special reduced price to institutions based on their budgets. As this is done quite regularly by major art index publishers, why not for such an important publication as the Homer? Given the high cost, I wonder how many complimentary copies Spanierman can afford to give, or whether it would be better for them to offer a reduced price to those institutions which have contributed transparencies. Perhaps some librarians can get together and write a letter to Spanierman suggesting a reduced price based on budgetary limitations as is customary with other art reference publications.
As a bookseller, I could not affiord to purchase these volumes for resale myself, unless I knew that I had specific buyers, and I'm not sure what the discount policy would be if any is available. I know that Spanierman extends a 40% discount on their other publications (5 or more copies), but perhaps the Homer is an exception. At any rate, their $100 per volume shipping fee (or is it $50?) would wipe out much of the possible profit for me, thus making it difficult to even offer a small reduction in the price to librarians, were that allowable.
I'm sure it could be sent by library rate for no more than $10 or $15, plus insurance, but perhaps Spanierman's $100 per volume shipping charge might even be considered a bargain compared to charges levied by the major New York Auction houses. One poor librarian in Minnesota was recently shocked to receive a $375 shipping charge for a small pamphlet that sold for less than the shipping cost.
Raymond Smith
R.W. Smith Bookseller
New Haven
----- Original Message -----
From: "Alfred Willis" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 6:09 PM
Subject: Re: [ARLIS-L] Griping about the price of "Record of works by Winslow Homer"
Interesting! And great food for thought.
Did anyone see on the Spanierman Gallery's website that it is described as "sponsoring the Lloyd Goodrich, Edith Havens Goodrich and Whitney Museum of American Art catalogue raisonné of the work of Winslow Homer"? So maybe questions about the pricing should be directed to the Whitney?
I also wonder whether this may be an example of what an art book published without a "subsidy" really must cost. (The current CAA newsletter now openly refers to subsidies as such.) Just think of how much the reproduction fees for all the illustrations in a catalogue raisonne must run, not to mention how many institutions probably expect a free copy of the publication as part of the price for "contributing" to the illustrations; and those copies can be "free" only because their cost is distributed across the prices of all the copies actually sold.
Working outside an art library has opened my eyes to the broader world of book prices. A five-volume set for about $4000 is not especially shocking when I consider what is being asked for reference works in fields like chemical engineering or nanotechnology -- works that will not have a shelflife nearly as long as a catalogue raisonne of Homer. Assuming the Homer work remains useful for 100 years, it would cost a library only some $40 a year (excluding "shelf-rent") to own it. Any number of print reference works in the sciences can cost a library well upwards of $100 a year to own (because they are only useful for a year or two). In this perspective, _Homer_ seems cheap at twice the price!
Of course the real comparison would be with other big catalogues raisonnes, not with science books. What's a similar case? The Poussin catalogue raisonne published in the 1990s? I don't recall the price, but believe it was pretty high. The Giunti facsimiles of Leondardo's notebooks (which amounted to catalogues raisonnes) were also very, very expensive: whether upwards of $800 a volume, though, I can't recall.
Is a comparison with the prices of rare art books valid? Three- and even four-figure prices for rare, important older volumes in the art literature are commonplace. Abebooks.com today has the 10-volume _L'Oeuvre de Corot_ (Paris: Leonce Laget, 1905-2000), bound in 6 volumes, offered at $11,306.81, or in sterling just over 1000 pounds per bound volume. What about the prices being asked by Taschen for certain of its super-luxe books like _Goat_ (with the Jeff Koons graphics) -- offered by Barnes & Noble (in the cheaper version!) at the special discounted (10%) "member price" of $2700 for one volume? Are such prices exorbitant, reasonable, or normal?
There is a sociological angle here, one illuminated somewhat by the elegant images on the Spanierman Gallery's website. See http://spanierman.com/ . Art in our society is (like it or not) the province of an elite, who buy and sell and enjoy it in rarefied atmospheres in places with ritzy addresses like Park Avenue or East Hampton. Art's literature similarly belongs primarily to that elite, and hence also do most art libraries, who draw their patronage primarily from social elites. High pricing of art books is one of the mechanisms by which society maintains the elite status of art and the art scholarship that (among other things) underpins the prices at which art-works are retailed. The prospect of inexpensive catalogues raisonnes, available to every academic or public library -- or even interested individuals, entails the prospect of a democratized art world. The art world as we know it could hardly be expected to greet such a prospect with enthusiasm. (The astonishingly vulgar "Antiques Roadshow" gives some clue as to the ensuing horror!) Four thousand dollars, in that perspective, seem a small price (a "participation aux frais," so to speak) to contribute to the maintenance of a status quo that is working quite well for all the art world's key players. (Shades of Bourdieu?) Veblen is also relevant. By paying such a price , a given library engages in the "conspicuous consumption" that only the elite can afford, and thereby confirms its place amongst elite establishments. Just as surely, a library that finds it cannot pay such a price, by (forcibly) foregoing the purchase of the Homer catalogue raisonne, for example, reinforces its own lower status. All libraries, after all, are not created equal. As if to prove it, they all behave unequally (e.g., spend more or less than their counterparts on acquisitions); and they all agree that such unequal behavior is both normal and expected.
No art library is, however, strictly speaking "poor." (Poor libraries simply do not collect art books.) If some feel poor, it is because "feeling poor" is a symptom of wealth. Complaining about high prices is itself a mark of elitism. Only those who can afford to (and do) pay high prices to acquire certain things, are in a position to complain about the prices paid; and their complaint is always in terms of a breach of thrift. The relationship of thrift to accumulation under capitalism was, I think, first articulated by Adam Smith. To have, we must get (by purchase); and to experience the pleasures of getting, we must suffer a sacrifice of the pleasures of having (the money that makes purchasing possible). It is that contradiction that gives rise to our guilt in spending, and the pangs of always wondering whether we have paid too much on Ebay! ;-) In his _Autobiography from A to B_, Andy Warhol wrote deliciously of the pleasurable sensation of poverty that comes with profligate spending. Being a modernist, Warhol saw clearly that having "emptied pockets" is a far cry from having "empty ones." Only the rich may empty their pockets; only in movies can the poor cast gems into the open sea.
If we are rich in collections, it is because we have emptied purses that were far from empty to begin with.
Al Willis
-----Original Message-----
From: ART LIBRARIES SOCIETY DISCUSSION LIST [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Amanda Bowen
Sent: Friday, July 29, 2005 1:32 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [ARLIS-L] Griping about the price of "Record of works by Winslow Homer"
Dear colleagues:
I was horrified to learn that this new publication is being offered at the price of $875 per volume for a five volume set, two of which have been published so far. This price puts it beyond the reach of many art institutions and a true shame for Homer scholars and fans everywhere!
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