I'm wondering if librarians are feeling beseiged as I am by the spate of non-books (i.e. "Print on Demand offerings) when searching a title on ABE. From a specialist bookseller's perspective, it's totally frustating to have to sort out this type of material from actual books and original vintage publications, though such unprinted material, inferior in quality, is often much higher priced then the original, and even though the buyer must wait sometimes weeks for its arrival as compared to prompt mailings by legitimate booksellers of real books in their inventory.
I'd like to share a letter I've written to ABE about the situation. I doubt that much will be done, but I think if buyers, especially art and rare book librarians who recognize the value of of an original over a "Print-on-demand" edition, protest to ABE, perhaps something can be done.
Raymond Smith / R.W. Smith Bookseller, New Haven
R.W. Smith letter to ABE:
Regarding your recent proposal to flag "Print on Demand copies", I find that my original edition of The Nicolas Roerich exhibition is flagged as "Print on Demand" (see below) though I specifically state that it is not to be confused with inferior print on demand copies. I have deleted this statement in my description though I have not yet submitted my updates, so that is why mine is so tagged. However, as you can see below, there are at least thirteen copies for this title offered by Print on Demand outfits (Nabu Press, Pranava Books, General Books, and Biblio Bazaar) which are Print on Demand books, but which are not so flagged.
I originally wrote my statement to distinguish my actual rare book inventory from these cheesy speculators, who are ruining ABE with their flood of Print on Demand Books, some in a ratio of 50 demand books to one real one.
Even with the flagging, the searcher is bombarded with Print-on-Demand editions and so called "reprints" which though not stated are also printed on demand, and the flagging does nothing to guard the searcher against this harassment by non-booksellers and speculators in unpublished material.
How to did ABE get to this state, where these outfits have essentially highjacked ABE's original purpose to provide books to the reading public? In ABE's effort to derive income from these outfits, it has lost its way and sold out. It's most discouraging what has happened to ABE - this policy of "flagging" does not work and has attracted the scorn of most legitimate booksellers and severely compromised ABE's reputation. It's time to eliminate these offerings entirely instead of mixing them up with real books, or at least putting them in a separate category where the searcher is not barraged by these non-books and can find an actual original.
Sincerely,
Raymond Smith
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