mutterings and ravings no. 5
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1999 08:36:51 -0800
Sender: Bibliofind News and Views <NEWS@BIBLIO.BIBLIOFIND.COM>
From: Harry Nudel <nudel-soho@MINDSPRING.COM>
Subject: muttering & ravings 101
The 'nostalgia de rien' that infects any discussion of
bookselling among collectors, dealers, and the cultural media is spreading
on this list. The olde book shoppe around the corner, never existed, never
will exist and will ever remain a Hanffian fantasy for those who should now
better. In downtown Manhattan, over the last twenty years, I've seen 6 or
7 such stores, each run by able and talented people fail, & this in the
supposed cultural capital of the world. Just remember Hanff could have
bought all those books she bought from England by going downtown for the 10
cents fare and got them cheaper. All these mumblings come out of the
recurrent theme on this list that somehow "internet' bookselling is not
real enough for some people. The book trade was and is and will be a
cut-throat, labor intensive, hard bizness. While these small stores faied,
the Strand managed to make a million + dollars for its one owner by using
the Co. K Mart model, large spaces, minimum wage labor, heavy advertisiing,
and knowing the same people who were so nostalgiac over that little book
shop would step over their mother to save 50 cents.
If we look at who "made" it at the upper levles of the trade, use yr
imagination, i'm not naming names, the good guy principle is the odd
example. Dr. R. was a notorious S.O.B., the gentlemanliness of the upper
echelons of the trade is just some cartelling with a good suit.
One of the newer internet models for o.p bookselling takes
the Strand principle to its logical conclusions. Get a large space, a
warehouse in the country, fill it randomly with cheap books and start
handing out those minimum wage jobs to packers, typists, shelvers, and
schnooks. The better way I think is what PAWPRINT BOOKS does, no i'm not
Perry;s cousin, who began with a strong base in Photography and kept buying
in his field and supplemented it with a large assortment of books that are
in demand. Not antiquarian books, not books not in Howes, not Wing 1,001
but books that a large segment of the general affluent population might
want, art & music instruction, mafia, pop music etc... Intelligence has its
rewards, tho you might know it from that guy who wants to know what his
broken set of Dickens is worth. By Dickens. Why don't you go Copperfield
yourself.. Oh well it;s getting late...I think i'll go and dream about all
thosen Esquire's Encyclopdia of Men's Fashions that I used to have and
didn/t try to sell for $1.500. like..Unbridled exuberance, like Amazon's
stock, is it;s own reward...DR.n.
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