Although this doesn't specifically address Kathy Edwards's original
query, I concur with the excellent points presented in
Raymond Smith's follow-up posting, and would likewise encourage
librarians always to check with reliable vendors and never assume
that the only available copies of a particular title are those
advertised on ABE or similar sites. As Mr. Smith notes, once a seller
has listed a title on ABE at an inflated price, other
less-than-knowledgeable booksellers may follow suit, and a widely
available title suddenly appears to be a rare commodity.
From our own experience, we know of one seller (I assume this is the
same outfit to which Mr. Smith refers) who has copied thousands of
Worldwide's bibliographic records from our Web site, and then posted
the records on ABE and on other book sites as their own. Our
carefully prepared page and illustration counts, title citations and
translations, and on occasion even our own descriptive commentaries
have been copied verbatim without our permission. Only two things are
changed: the prices (which are routinely 10 to 20 times our own), and
the addition of such notes as "flawless copy, brand new, pristine,
never opened" to each entry. Before we became aware of this
interesting business model of a bookseller advertising "rare" books
they don't actually have in stock, we received a number of rush
orders from this vendor, presumably to be resold at a grotesque
profit to the unsuspecting purchasers who had responded to "their"
listings -- all without the hassle and expense of purchasing and
maintaining inventory, preparing entries, and otherwise functioning
as a reputable bookseller.
Although Worldwide Books is not an antiquarian dealer per se, our
complete inventory of more than 20,000 in-stock titles published
since the 1960s is searchable through our own Web site, and we are
readily able to supply many titles that have been declared out of
print by their publishers. However, we remind clients that few of our
titles are listed on ABE or on other such sites (at least not by us).
Kelly M. Fiske
Worldwide Books
1001 West Seneca Street
Ithaca, NY 14850 USA
Phone (607) 272-9200, ext. 16
Fax (607) 272-0239
US & Canadian orders 1-800-473-8146
www.worldwide-artbooks.com
At 12:59 PM 2/23/2009, you wrote:
>
> I very much sympathize with Kathy's situation.
>Some of our member booksellers (such as myself, a member since
>1980), deal in rare and out-of-print art reference material.
> Before committing to purchasing an expensive item on line from
> an unknown source, why not post your request on the ARLIS chat line?
> For example, I have about 17,000 titles catalogued on line, but
> over 35,000 others which are not. Some of the prices of ABE
> vendors are appallingly high, notably one outfit which invariably
> has rather common art books and catalogues priced ten to twenty
> times what anyone else has it for. A catalogue which I just listed
> for $10 is available from them for $177, for example; a second
> vendor, following his lead has it at $99. But it's not worth much
> more than $10 or $20. Some of the other vendors who no nothing
> about art undercut his price by half, but it's still five time what
> the price should be.
> I'm sure that those of us who are bookseller members welcome
> desiderata lists from institutional members and are more than
> willing to offer material if available. We also have the expertise
> to recognize what is rare and valuable and what is not. By posting
> your wants on the chat line, it would be an inexpensive and perhaps
> fruitful way of reciprocating bookseller members for their support
> of the organization through their exhibiting at conferences and
> sponsorship of special travel awards and prizes. By appealing to
> bookseller ARLIS members, it may save you or your students some of
> the huge expense in replacing out-of-print books when you buy from
> untrustworthy and inexperienced sources.
> Raymond Smith
> R.W. Smith Bookseller
> New Haven
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>Kathy Edwards
>To: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>[log in to unmask]
>Sent: Monday, February 23, 2009 10:52 AM
>Subject: [ARLIS-L] Policy when it comes to expensive/hard-to-replace books?
>Does your library have a policy regarding the circulation of
>unusually expensive resources? If yes, how do you balance access and control?
>
>Last semester one of our in-demand books went missing from a design
>studio. Although we acquired it for about $65 several years ago, in
>the intervening years the now out-of-print book has become scarce.
>The graduate student who checked it out and shared it with
>studiomates during the semester is now facing a replacement bill of
>$300+ --and that's for a used copy.
>
>This is on my mind because I'm about to order a similarly expensive
>resource that will likely see a lot of use, and my fiscally prudish
>impulse is to restrict it to the reference shelf!
>
>Kathy Edwards
>Arts & Architecture Reference
>Gunnin Architecture Library
>112 Lee Hall, Clemson University
>Clemson SC 29634
>(864) 656-4289
>[log in to unmask]
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