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speculators in unpublished material.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