The Business of the Humanities.
The “Trade”— what it is and how Bancroft uses it

The Trade is out there — an international network of antiquarian dealers and auction houses that largely controls the movement of rare books and manuscripts.

Most of the major dealers belong to national and international trade organizations that set standards for conduct, ethics, and business practices. For the U.S., it is the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (about 440 members). The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers includes 2,000 dealers in 21 countries.

But there are other dealers and other sources, ranging from dumpsters, flea markets, Goodwill, and garage sales to neighborhood used book stores that are not big or “important” enough to belong to the trade organizations.

Bancroft uses antiquarian dealers for scouting, sleuthing, sifting, locating, and cataloguing material. The trade sorts through tons of old books and papers to identify important items that move into the international market. Things get missed, of course, but they will be rerouted through other channels of the trade on their way to an eventual customer. What one dealer scorns may be picked off his shelves at a bargain price by a more knowledgeable dealer. It is a process of continuous winnowing.

As an end-of-the-line consumer, Bancroft benefits from the expertise of numerous specialists who have culled mountains of material. We come to know our dealers: who is knowledgeable in what area, who is reliable and who is not, who sets prices high, who will haggle and who will not. It pays to develop a personal relationship with dealers who specialize in areas of particular importance to our collections.

We recently received first refusal on a Rousseau manuscript from a New York dealer because she considered us especially loyal clients (we didn't buy this particular manuscript, but that's another story). Suffice it to say that I expressed Bancroft’s appreciation for this special consideration.

Dealers have expectations of librarians and private customers as well. They want us to be knowledgeable about our collections and interests, articulate about our wants (generically or specifically), decisive in accepting or declining offers, curious about material being offered, and prompt in paying bills. Most booksellers have small margins and for Bancroft, getting the University bureaucracy to pay bills in a timely manner is one of the best ways to stay on good terms with suppliers.

Since the book business is run by rugged individuals instead of nameless corporations, one quickly develops personal likes and dislikes (this includes auction houses too). We try to patronize our local dealers because a healthy local book business is good for everyone and may have benefits down the line. Bay Area dealers know what sort of material Bancroft is looking for and help the library in a variety of ways. They become Friends of the Library both literally and figuratively.

Tony Bliss sifts through offerings from book dealers. To quote him: “Trade books are collectible. The Gutenberg was a trade book.” ”Nothing becomes so rare as the commonplace.” “There is no direct correlation between price and research value.” “Serious private collectors know more about their subjects than any librarian.” “Every book was a first edition once. What’s really rare is a collection of tenth editions.” “No one can define ‘rare book’.” “A good collection is worth much more than the sum of its parts.”

Bancroft acquires material on the international market, but there can be complications. France, Spain, Italy, and Mexico have strict national patrimony laws, particularly for manuscript material. We are very careful to respect international laws and agreements, but sometimes it’s difficult to determine when they apply. The impact on the international book trade of the 1991 Maastricht Treaty and the formation of the European Union is not yet clear, but the interim regulations are confusing. One major Italian dealer has moved from Milan across the Swiss border to Lugano because he simply could not do business from Italy.

European manuscripts can be found in the U.S. trade, too. Some years ago Joe Duggan, professor of medieval French literature, asked me to see if I could determine what had become of 14th-century manuscript of the French romance of chivalry, Garin le Loherin. He filled me in on what was known, who the former owners had been (the last recorded was Sir Thomas Phillipps, 1792-1872), and when it had last been known to scholars.

Since I knew that the remainder of the Phillipps collection was held by a famous dealer in New York, that was where I turned. Luck always plays a part, of course. I not only found but acquired the lost Garin manuscript for Bancroft in less than three weeks.

Buying at auction is another way to acquire significant material for Bancroft. The big international auction houses — Sotheby’s and Christies — usually handle the big-ticket items, while smaller local houses (California Book Auction Galleries and Pacific Book Auction in San Francisco) handle more modest items.

When buying at a major auction, we always use an antiquarian bookseller as our agent. Without a dealer’s intimate knowledge of the mechanics of the auction room, the feeding frenzy of the auction may carry you away. We pay 10% of the sale or “hammer price” to our agent for expertise, market savvy, and credit (sometimes agents will carry our debt interest-free for many weeks).

Having the right agent can pay real dividends. Normally, it is best to have dealer in the auction city do the bidding for you. He or she can personally inspect the material and advise on price and likely competition.

For New York sales, I favor a firm with the reputation of being a pit bull in the auction room. This works in our favor because other bidders drop out and we may get bargains.

I violated my own principles by having a foreign dealer bid for us at a sale of Spanish books in New York. This dealer is known for handling Spanish material and was likely to be our greatest competitor. By placing bids with him we eliminated a competitor and acquired a number of fine items at very reasonable prices.

Auction houses announce their sales offerings through catalogs. Dealers use catalogs, phone calls, faxes, letters, visits, fairs, and now, the Net. I receive about 50 catalogs a week from around the world. But the most fun is to visit a dealer’s shop and see the offerings in person.

Professor of Art History David Wright saw a three-volume Works of Virgil dating from 1765 at a London book dealer’s and told Bliss about it. Bliss faxed the dealer and got it. Volume I is now on display in the “Gifts to the Library” exhibit. “It fits into our collection of Virgil iconography,” says Bliss.

The most exhausting book hunting comes at book fairs. The ABAA sponsors the largest in the world — the annual California International Antiquarian Book Fair. Alternating between San Francisco and Los Angeles, it will be held in San Francisco Feb. 12-14 this year. About 250 dealers from around the world bring their wares.

There is a great deal of schmoozing, gossiping, bragging, some lying, and a lot of buying and selling. It’s a great place to make contacts, find out what the market is doing, who has what, and who the competition is. It is open to the public for a small entrance fee. (For more information, please call me at 510-642-1839.)

The collector’s saddest words are, “I could have bought that for $ [whatever] back in 19[whenever].”

The simple moral of the tale is:“There’s no time like the present.”

Long-time collector and Cal library benefactor Kenneth Hill, in the latest issue of The Book Collector (Autumn,1998, pp. 342-51), calculates that rare books have appreciated at approximately 10% per year since 1961. This is less than the return on stocks and bonds over the same period when dividends and inflation are factored in. So it is not advisable to consider books as investments. The best reason to buy a book is because you want to own it.

None of us works in a vacuum. In the world of book collecting, there is a well-established trivium: Trade—Collector—Library.

The relationship is circular: dealers supply collectors and institutions; collectors patronize dealers and may become patrons of libraries; libraries provide a steady market for dealers and help collectors with research.

Traditionally, scholars have worked closely and profitably with private collectors, and many dealers are themselves scholars, collectors, and donors.

Libraries are often perceived as black holes: what goes in never comes out. In general, this is true, but duplicates frequently are recirculated into the trade from institutions and (rarely) whole collections are “deaccessioned.” Each party in the trivium supports the others. Eventually, the final beneficiaries are the scholarly community and the public.

Anthony Bliss is Curator of Rare Books
and Literary Manuscripts.

Volume 114
Spring 1999

Table of Contents

Bancroft Launches Bioscience Program with Stellar Symposium March 12–13

From the Director: Just what is it that you do, exactly?

The Business of the Humanities The “Trade”— what it is and how Bancroft uses it

The Thrill of the Chase Or, How the Biography of Poet Jack Spicer Came To Be

“The Times, They Are a’ Changin’” Bancroft Launches Free Speech Movement Archive

The Many Uses of Bancroft Collections

Joseph Esherick’s Oral History Illuminates an Architectural Icon

Where Do You “Find” Mark Twain’s Letters?

1999’s Keepsake: San Francisco in the Early 1850s

Bancroft Fellows Research Women and Space, Tobacco and Chocolate

Desiderata