An excellent article on the fraudulent claims of some online "booksellers" from the Mutterings of a Mad Bookseller blogsite
Stupid Database Tricks -a DUH! Moment
Someone was going on to me recently about how wonderful it must be to be a bookseller- a world of Paradise and roses, or so I am given to understand. Well, sure it is, but there are a few thorns in the garden as well. I was just reminded of another one this morning while strolling through the databases-
There's a certain "bookseller" (term used really, really loosely) on one of the major databases who has gotten hold of a whole bunch of 100-year old Century Magazines and other periodicals and offers xeroxed articles from them. That in itself is a fine service, and quite valuable for anyone who needs a specific article. Nothing wrong with it at all.
The problem begins with their pricing structure-.....
Read more here.
25 September, 2006
13 September, 2006
Book People Say the Most Wonderful Things
The inscriptions people write in the books they give are truly marvelous. Some of the best ones we've encountered in our inventory include:
In A Pharmacopoeia for Chiropodists by J. N. Le Rossignol and C. B. Holliday, a prior owner (or perhaps the giver of the book) noted whistfully in 1944, "One likes to imagine that T S Eliot may have had a part in the decision to
publish this work!"
When the husband gave his wife a copy of History of the Life of Albrecht Durer of Nurnberg With a Translation of His Letters and Journal, and Some Account of His Works by Mrs Charles Heaton, he wrote very romantically, "To my dearest wife from her loving Husband, Jan 1, 1870 in remembrance of our visit to Nurenberg, Aug 31, 1869"
More than a hundred years later, Rodney gave his friend, Ian de Hamel Capt Norman MacMillan's, Into the Blue. He wrote in his gift inscription, "There must be some - at a distance - memories of your father among these pages... I could never confidently cope with being in the clouds, & without any shells of course!" De Hamel had served during WWII as an RAF Flight Lt flying Sunderland with Coastal Command during 1944-45, likewise, his father was an RAF officer in The First World War.
The brilliant comedian, Ronnie Barker, who died last year, was a noted collector of "saucy" seaside postcards. As such he published the book, Ronnie Barker's Book of Boudoir Beauties in 1975. When Lesley gave a copy of the book to a presumably buxom lady friend, he (Lesley) wrote, "Just to remind you that cuddly girls were once very popular! Love from Lesley xxx"
The giver of a copy of Robert Burns' The Poetical Works of Robert Burns with Numerous Illustrations rejoiced, "For Christmas 1938... (the first 'white' Christmas within memory)".
Speaking of Romance (which we did above), when an anonymous husband gave his equally anonymous wife a Valentine's gift of The House of the Wolf: a Romance
by Stanley J. Weyman, he wrote, to "her husband's best love".
If you have a special inscription in one of your books you'd like to share, just let us know.
In A Pharmacopoeia for Chiropodists by J. N. Le Rossignol and C. B. Holliday, a prior owner (or perhaps the giver of the book) noted whistfully in 1944, "One likes to imagine that T S Eliot may have had a part in the decision to
publish this work!"
When the husband gave his wife a copy of History of the Life of Albrecht Durer of Nurnberg With a Translation of His Letters and Journal, and Some Account of His Works by Mrs Charles Heaton, he wrote very romantically, "To my dearest wife from her loving Husband, Jan 1, 1870 in remembrance of our visit to Nurenberg, Aug 31, 1869"
More than a hundred years later, Rodney gave his friend, Ian de Hamel Capt Norman MacMillan's, Into the Blue. He wrote in his gift inscription, "There must be some - at a distance - memories of your father among these pages... I could never confidently cope with being in the clouds, & without any shells of course!" De Hamel had served during WWII as an RAF Flight Lt flying Sunderland with Coastal Command during 1944-45, likewise, his father was an RAF officer in The First World War.
The brilliant comedian, Ronnie Barker, who died last year, was a noted collector of "saucy" seaside postcards. As such he published the book, Ronnie Barker's Book of Boudoir Beauties in 1975. When Lesley gave a copy of the book to a presumably buxom lady friend, he (Lesley) wrote, "Just to remind you that cuddly girls were once very popular! Love from Lesley xxx"
The giver of a copy of Robert Burns' The Poetical Works of Robert Burns with Numerous Illustrations rejoiced, "For Christmas 1938... (the first 'white' Christmas within memory)".
Speaking of Romance (which we did above), when an anonymous husband gave his equally anonymous wife a Valentine's gift of The House of the Wolf: a Romance
by Stanley J. Weyman, he wrote, to "her husband's best love".
If you have a special inscription in one of your books you'd like to share, just let us know.
10 September, 2006
Good Ol' ABE is at it again
As happens at least once or twice a year, it seems that ABE's listings are down by some 80% (figure just a guesstimate based on the numbers of messages from sellers who list on ABE). Even though they have the listings uploaded by their sellers, their search engines are just not finding them and therefore, you won't be finding them.
As always ABE's management will prevaricate, spin and lie about how long the outage will last and what its causes are. Basically, the problem is down to the technology genius who holds the title of Director of Technology (or some such) Jayson Minard, who's been with the company three years. That's the same time as Hannes Blum was promoted to President of Abebooks and about two weeks after I started listing there.
Considering he came to ABE after five years at Borland Software, which makes some pretty good software, you'd think he'd be able to sort the problems. Instead, according to old timers the problems have increased since his arrival on the scene.
Suggested remedy for those of you buying books, or wanting to. The easiest way to find the books you want and compare the prices of those books from the various sellers carrying it is to go to AddAll used book search. Its a highly configurable site and very user friendly. I wouldn't, and don't, bother with Bookfinder as it's slow, cumbersome, adds phoney shipping charges to the prices the sellers list except in the case of listings from ABE. Probably because ABE now owns it.
And another remedy would be to start shopping at listing services other than ABE, Amazon and Alibris. Many (most?) sellers add a percentage of additional cost to the cost of their books listed on those services due to various financial penalties the services charge the sellers that the smaller listing services don't.
As always ABE's management will prevaricate, spin and lie about how long the outage will last and what its causes are. Basically, the problem is down to the technology genius who holds the title of Director of Technology (or some such) Jayson Minard, who's been with the company three years. That's the same time as Hannes Blum was promoted to President of Abebooks and about two weeks after I started listing there.
Considering he came to ABE after five years at Borland Software, which makes some pretty good software, you'd think he'd be able to sort the problems. Instead, according to old timers the problems have increased since his arrival on the scene.
Suggested remedy for those of you buying books, or wanting to. The easiest way to find the books you want and compare the prices of those books from the various sellers carrying it is to go to AddAll used book search. Its a highly configurable site and very user friendly. I wouldn't, and don't, bother with Bookfinder as it's slow, cumbersome, adds phoney shipping charges to the prices the sellers list except in the case of listings from ABE. Probably because ABE now owns it.
And another remedy would be to start shopping at listing services other than ABE, Amazon and Alibris. Many (most?) sellers add a percentage of additional cost to the cost of their books listed on those services due to various financial penalties the services charge the sellers that the smaller listing services don't.
05 September, 2006
In Memoriam Josh/Kevin 1979-2000
My ex-wife and I have finally heard the bad news about the child, Josh, we had in 1979, but who, for very personal reasons, we had to give up for adoption, a few months later. Born very jaundiced and with the chord wrapped around his neck, he had an APGAR score of only about 2 or 3 at birth.
Doctors told us the prognosis wasn't very good, that "He'll probably be a vegetable" and that "he'll probably not live more than a few months".
Well, Kevin (his adoptive parents' name for him) proved them all wrong. I guess we should have known they were wrong, they'd got almost everything else wrong about the pregnancy and birth. They got it so wrong that he was actually able to enlist in the army.
His father contacted my ex-wife two days ago introducing himself and asking if she was still interested in information about Kevin.
She, of course, said she was. The next morning came the bad news.
Kevin died in 2000.
Apparently he'd tried to make contact when he was 18 (so he couldn't have been much of a vegetable) but was thwarted in those efforts by the state authorities.
As my his mother said when she told me, "I've dreamed of meeting up with him someday and now that is dashed...I can't stop crying...mourning his loss twice...but at least it's over...I can have closure now. It is thrilling that he lived as long as he did...and when he was 18 he tried to trace his roots but was thwarted by the State. and then he died before he could do it."
RIP
Doctors told us the prognosis wasn't very good, that "He'll probably be a vegetable" and that "he'll probably not live more than a few months".
Well, Kevin (his adoptive parents' name for him) proved them all wrong. I guess we should have known they were wrong, they'd got almost everything else wrong about the pregnancy and birth. They got it so wrong that he was actually able to enlist in the army.
His father contacted my ex-wife two days ago introducing himself and asking if she was still interested in information about Kevin.
She, of course, said she was. The next morning came the bad news.
Kevin died in 2000.
Apparently he'd tried to make contact when he was 18 (so he couldn't have been much of a vegetable) but was thwarted in those efforts by the state authorities.
As my his mother said when she told me, "I've dreamed of meeting up with him someday and now that is dashed...I can't stop crying...mourning his loss twice...but at least it's over...I can have closure now. It is thrilling that he lived as long as he did...and when he was 18 he tried to trace his roots but was thwarted by the State. and then he died before he could do it."
RIP
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