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You said we can thank the literature for everything we are and have been.
If the books disappear, history disappears, and so does man.
You are probably right. The books do not just contain our dreams and memories.
They give us insight into our own consciousness.
Some see reading as a kind of escape from reality-
-to the fictional world of the book.
Books are more than that. They make us more human.
Henry Wessells of James Cummins. We're at the New York Book Fair.
Here you switch between pure boredom and fantastic discoveries.
I have a Ph.D. in Spanish lyric poetry from the 15th century.
After 15 years at university, I became an antiquarian bookseller.
So I have had some amazing books in my hands.
We also had JP Morgan's copy, which he bought in 1897.
He also bought a first edition of the very first book that was printed:
Gutenberg's Bible. For 2,750 pounds. SECRET
Printed on velvet. It is now worth $ 40 million.
Just before the fair, we received a Hemingway archive
-which contained a Castro doll, which was a bit surprising.
It's been pretty good. A little less to take home.
I trade in big books, so it's great to sell some of them.
I put it on the shelf again.
One third of what I sell is "esoterica", ie cult material.
Demon teaching, witchcraft, fetishism, subculture and counterculture.
The more embarrassingly something touches others, the more it appeals to me.
New York is the world's best book fair, mostly because of its location.
Right in the middle of the Upper East Side in a beautiful historic building.
A building that is a bit "overripe".
The building has been here since the Civil War-
-but in the early 1900s, this hall was full of tennis courts.
I played tennis here as a youngster.
I brought along this year. When they ask if I want to take a closer look at something-
- I say no. "I can not afford a book for $ 85,000."
Someone showed me a book anyway. She asked if I wanted to see it.
So she showed it to me.
I barely dared touch it. I will not end up in an O. Henry short story.
"Now I have to pay you back for the rest of my life."
People's nonchalant attitude surprised me.
A guy put a drink on a book. At my house he had been dead!
There are collectors and then there are people who wonder what they are doing.
A collector is a sick, obsessed and manic person-
-who would sell his grandmother to buy something one likes.
It's a pure fantasy experience, and unlike going to the library-
- everything is for sale!
The task of antique bookstores is to inculcate novice
-how amazing the book is as a collector's item.
Good bookstores can maintain their customer relationship for up to 30 years.
In other words, those who trade in rare books have
-the ability to appreciate these books.
I was with a friend who is a wonderful Spanish writer.
He almost cried when I showed him a fourth edition of "Don Quixote" -
-printed in Brussels in 1611, while Cervantes was still alive.
But that was not where he cried. He cried when he saw the price: 120,000.
He cried when he saw a first edition of Ian Fleming's "Casino Royale" -
-for $ 130,000. It can make anyone cry.
The clock in the exhibition hall has stopped at an impossible time.
That time does not exist. Just like in a casino
- people should not think about what time it is.
It can feel like being on your way to populate a distant galaxy.
With a slightly strange genetic selection.
"People have put fortunes under control, traveled half the Earth around-
- lied, cheated and stolen, all for a book. "ASW Rosenbach
Collecting books was a refined thing. It was the hobby of the English nobility.
The typical book collector was an elderly man in a tweed jacket.
-And a pipe. -Yes. And a glass of sherry.
And they apparently always went in tweed.
When people think of antique bookstores, they assume
-film, television and pop literature.
-I was just ... -The arcade is opposite.
Here we only sell small, square objects called books.
-Are you here? That went fast. - They have a fortune in there.
- You're a vulture! -It's all in our industry.
- Sorry for the mess. -Are you an author?
-Bookseller. -Javel.
Do you have a "Ben-Hur" from 1863 with a double sentence on page 116?
It's for Miss Hanff.
It would be fun to ask people-
-how they imagine an antiquarian bookstore.
They will not imagine a model. Rather an older person.
Everyone has their own opinion, but it is usually romanticized.
And at an antique book fair, you see people who fit into that template.
The most important bookstore of the 20th century-
-was undoubtedly ASW Rosenbach.
He reigned supreme until the 1950s.
It is from the classic Rosenbach biography
-by Edwin Wolf II and John Fleming.
"Abraham Simon Wolf Rosenbach had plump, pink cheeks.
a twinkle in his eye and he walked like a penguin would walk-
-if a penguin could walk like Rosy. "
"He was constantly puffing on a pipe, drinking a bottle of whiskey a day-
and was the world's leading antiquarian bookstore. "
"He even admitted it himself."
"'The doctor', as he was called by friends and staff-
-bought for decades the most important books-
-which was auctioned off in England and the United States. "
Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern started in the industry 1945-
-and they had an incredibly long career of over 60 years.
It was unusual with women in the industry.
Most antiquarian booksellers were men.
They became known for selling fantastic books to libraries.
-and for their travels to Europe, where they found books-
-which no one thought existed.
They discovered that Louisa May Alcott also wrote colored literature.
Often books filled with sex and violence.
They found the pseudonyms and the books-
-and managed to gather the pieces about the author's life.
Nothing yet. Ross Tuckman and Mike Welosky said no.
-Jimmy Robinson could not. -Fine.
- Have you heard anything from Dan? -No. I think a little.
I have a film crew here.
At your home? Why?
A friend makes a documentary about bookstores, and I'm.
I know lots of better bookstores. They also look better.
How did you end up in the book business?
I guess I'm not good at anything else.
I was considering my future and there was a bookstore in Queens-
-where I often came. I bought these books there.
Four volumes of Lewis and Clark's diaries, the Coues edition.
It cost $ 75. More than I had ever spent on a book.
I saved together and bought them. He needed a part-time
-and suddenly I was in the book business.
It's a 1907 photo album, "The Search for Mammoth".
An expedition found a frozen mammoth, which they dug up.
But what makes the album so special-
-that they inserted some samples of real mammoth hair at the back of the book.
It's real mammoth hair, which may be 15,000 years old.
-I'm here almost every day. -How many teams do you play on?
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ... Seven.
And then I'm replacing on an eighth, but only occasionally.
- Do you love softball? -Yes.
-How long have you lived here? -18-19 years. 1998.
19 years. Hold on then ... scary.
It took three months to move.
I got up, went in here and built bookshelves all day.
I went home, packed books until midnight, slept a little, and got up again-
-cycled here and built several bookshelves. And so on...
When I buy a new book, I have to relocate. There is no more space.
This book about the catacombs of Rome is so heavy-
-that it's been there since I put it there 15 years ago.
I took it to a fair. Never again. So it says-
-until someone comes and asks for a book about the catacombs of Rome.
This is a monograph on fish fossils from the 18th century.
It is a large book with amazing plates of fish fossils.
Life-size. So the big fish
-has very large plates. Like this.
They can get even bigger.
Playboy, go home.
Strand was founded by my grandfather in 1927-
-in a famous area of ​​New York, Book Row.
There were 48 booksellers. Today, only Strand is left.
My dad got a job there when he was 13.
He would rather be on the floor. His desk was in the middle of the store.
I met some wonderful, eccentric and charming people-
-at the bookstores on Fourth Avenue.
I remember it was a bunch of slightly dusty Jewish men-
-who got annoyed if one wanted to buy a book.
They were not businessmen.
They just wanted to read all day. In hot weather they sat outside.
They were covered in dust and their fingers were yellow with nicotine.
They wore glasses because they had been reading in the dark since childhood.
If they were politely asked what a book cost, they did not look up.
I thought I would end up like that.
One could find anything. They did not know what they had.
If you were lucky, you got a prize. About 40 cents, so that was good.
That was not the case in Strand.
I often found books there and asked someone about them-
and he said, "Where did you find it?" "Behind that door."
"You must not be there! They are not price marked yet."
So a big part of the experience for me is sniffing around the store.
I still do, even if you are not allowed to.
I'm sorry I did not photograph the street.
It has really changed.
There was traffic in both directions on 59th Street, also by tram.
It was founded by our father in 1925.
One of Fourth Avenue's bookstores.
When he opened, he did not have enough books-
-so he put them sideways.
We were there on Saturday, sharpening pencils and looking at the children's books.
I wanted to work there one summer when I went to college.
But I could not type, so I had to find another job.
It was the same the summer after. "Can you type now?"
So he was not trying to get us to work there.
People ask how he got all his daughters to work there.
"I am lucky."
But he never told us that was his goal.
We thought it was our own decision.
My mom started working in the industry when I was ten.
She was amazing. She created the gallery upstairs.
She said my father should not force us to work there.
She was smart.
On the top floor is the autograph department.
I started it to have my own. I have many sisters.
I love baseball. Here we have a baseball signed by Bill Clinton.
Zack has collected 11,012 baseballs from various Major League matches.
He's also your world champion in "Arkanoid".
It can be autographs of money from the colonial era-
and autographs in different languages ​​that are impossible to interpret.
It's a constant hunt.
-Why has your store survived? -We own the property.
Our father bought the building and we have received many offers.
The brokers call five to ten times a week, but we do not sell.
It is not excluded, but not for the money they offer.
Then we had to close and we enjoy being here.
So we pay for the joy of working here.
If I had an hour between different commitments-
-I found a bookstore. And back then, all booksellers were self-employed.
The employees were real booksellers.
They decided for themselves what they wanted to sell.
Not like at Barnes & Noble. Today's youth say to me:
"My Barnes & Noble is closed." But they forced everyone else to close!
It was an old-fashioned store. Books everywhere and a cat, Linda.
It was Skyline Books on West 18th Street 13.
My specialties were beatnik culture, photography, art.
We were probably known as a shop for collectors.
I was behind with the rent so I had to close.
The business was going badly. People bought books online.
It was a hard time. We held many sales in the end.
75% discount. Even 90% off at some point.
It was fun as long as it lasted.
In the 1950s, there were 368 bookstores in New York City.
Today there are 79.
The decline in bookstores has had a major effect.
It was a path into the industry.
I grew up in the 70s and learned everything from antique bookstores.
There you got a sense of the material.
I lived almost in bookstores and antique shops.
I went from New England to New Jersey-
and stopped at all antiquarian bookstores along the way.
Car trips were an important way of obtaining materials.
We filled a station wagon with books and sent loads of books home.
This is how it was done before.
People do not have the patience to botanize.
Most people want a specific book. It requires some interest
-for that one should want to find a book that one was not looking for.
One has to see a large selection to be able to price books.
An experienced bookseller can see if it is an ordinary book-
-which should have a regular price, or whether it requires a little imagination.
I have a pretty good imagination.
My first job in the industry was at Strand as a teenager-
-and to see Fred Bass review thousands of incoming books.
He sorted them so quickly. "It's good," I said. "No".
He was so fast.
I thought I understood books-
-but he saw something in them that I did not perceive.
In the last year, we have seen an explosive increase
-in the number of physical antique shops-
-which sells material from the post-war period.
But they can not replace the antique shops that existed before.
This will be our business. Right now it's a shoe store.
We got the keys yesterday and open for March.
We are part of a boom in local, independent bookstores-
-which really works locally and takes care of-
the interests and needs of the residents, which the chains did not.
A moment. The Adam Weinberger Antique Store.
There is a bad connection. Plays from the 19th century?
My stores are getting full and it's expensive to rent in Manhattan.
-so I chose to gather everything in one apartment instead.
Kansas.
The Adam Weinberger Antique Store. What books are these?
The sides are of parchment, so think about how many cows have been used for it.
It's hard to know if anyone will sell.
I once went to someone's house with a couple of empty filing cabinets.
-which are good to have books in, but the lady who opened the door-
- looked at the boxes and said, "You will not need them today."
I understand her. Here I come and want to ravage-
-a decades old collection.
- Did he buy them all at Gotham? -Yes.
I also love cats. That's why I like Gore so much.
Unsigned beatnik material, books missing covers ...
There are ten copies of all that on the web. Especially by Kerouac.
Here lived my uncle Jack Allentuck and his wife Marsha Allentuck.
They were academics. I take care of everything I inherited from them.
The remains of theirs, so to speak.
That sounded interesting. The woman teaches art history.
She was an expert on Blake and the Romantic
-and I immediately felt that there was potential.
I usually look a little ... Here may be some grains of gold.
It's just exciting every time. You are a place-
-where anyone has put their soul in the collection. Not just physically
-but intellectually, and one can see what caught their interest.
More has changed in the last 15 years than in the previous 150 years.
For several generations, there were so-called book scouts
-which existed on the fringes of the world of books-
and merged books and bookstores.
They visited church bazaars, estates, library outlets and so on.
And it was a symbiotic relationship.
Today, book scouts are an endangered species.
Martin Stone was a legend.
A charismatic musician who almost became a member of the Rolling Stones.
He traveled with his band, and in his spare time he visited bookstores.
Fantastic book scout. Exquisite taste. Understood the connection between books.
He was like a living encyclopedia.
I just found a book that appeals to me tremendously.
He always carried around a lot of plastic bags.
He was already done when the rest of us started.
He showed us his purchases and told about them. I learned a lot.
Martin did not just know everything. He could also impart his knowledge.
His understanding of book-
-stretched from the offer box all the way up to the expensive, locked cupboards.
The industry changed dramatically when computers came along.
Books that had cost $ 50, $ 75, $ 100, $ 100 and $ 125
- suddenly cost $ 20-30 and there were plenty of them.
It's almost harder to find a cheap book than an expensive one.
-because you had to find it yourself.
In the last ten years, all the garbage that has accumulated dust somewhere has
-appeared on the Internet. The supply has increased enormously.
This applies to books, toys. Anything.
The internet ruined everything. It's good for collectors-
-who can find books they've been looking for for decades.
But surviving as an antique shop is almost impossible.
Being a collector is about the hunt, not the object.
You look for a book for 20 years, find it, have an orgasm
-and puts it away.
The Internet has ruined the hunt. Give me your credit card and 45 minutes-
-then I can get an almost complete Edith Wharton collection.
But why should I?
The Internet will always be a double-edged sword.
Today one must have the best, the cheapest or the only edition.
The Internet changed the concept of "rare".
Those who deal with very special things
- received confirmation from the internet. "I have things you can't get your hands on."
But working with modern first editions was devastating.
They had to adapt or die.
The industry today has become colder. An era is over.
The Internet, of course, democratizes supply and demand.
But it has also killed a lot of the dark, gloomy and funny.
One problem is that the printed word disappears.
If you say "Kindle", there are probably many in the industry who shake.
Many wonder where we end up. If you do not need to print books
-but get them on his electronic device, then what are we going to sell?
That is a legitimate concern.
An incredible example of this we got at the Oscars in 2006-
-when Larry McMurtry won an Oscar for best screenplay after a book-
-for "Brokeback Mountain".
Finally, I want to thank all the bookstores in the world.
"Brokeback Mountain" was a book first.
From the small bookstores to the world's largest bookstore
-have you all contributed to the book's survival.
A wonderful form of culture that we must not lose.
People always want what is unique.
Interest in modern first editions is falling in favor of collectors' items.
and quirky, printed materials which previously had no collector value-
-but that is interesting.
Technology has made archives more interesting to institutions.
We sold a few files to a foundation in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Woodie Guthries and Bob Dylan's Archive.
e can take all the audiovisual material
-and turn it into a gold mine-
-for fans and academics. You could not do that ten years ago.
I cleaned up my office and had all the material from my books-
-all the articles from The New Yorker and all my notes-
-and I started thinking that I might not have to throw it away.
I've known Glenn for a long time, and I knew he had sold
-other archives.
He looked at my material and we talked about where it should go.
-and found that it fit best in an academic library.
It was a strange feeling to become someone's homework.
The positive is that everything is now really well organized.
The irony of being at Columbia University-
-and I'm going there this summer and to use the archive for a book project.
But when so much of the work today is done on a computer
-I'm thinking about how we can learn something about the author's process.
The computer leaves no trace of editing.
The difference between an archive and a collection is
-that the archive contains everything. Also the more unexpected parts.
We have collections from Malcolm X, Lorraine Hansberry-
and James Baldwin.
Baldwin grew up in Harlem and learned to read at the Schomburg Center.
-so he really belongs here.
His archive contains both notes, completed novels-
-and a lot of different drafts.
There are notes he has made at bars and at various hotels.
One can follow Baldwin's development as a writer.
Everything from early poems to the works we know and love today.
The curator, a position I held for many years, is an important
-which both provide material to the institution-
-and make sure to forward it.
One should also try to look at the collection as a whole.
What does it mean? How to find the connection in the material?
It comes from a love of the material.
I had it, both as a writer and as a book collector.
So I had bought books before and I knew sellers-
-which has helped build the collections.
Another interesting thing is how collectors shape the collections-
-which ends up in the various archives.
We've told about the lives of black people -
-creativity and cultural significance for almost a century.
But I do not know if we have fully understood the significance of all that.
MY SOUL HAS BECOME AS DEEP AS THE RIVERS
I did not think I should be a bookseller. I had no idea.
After high school, I got a job with JN Bartfield on 57th Street.
I was a specialist in finely bound sets.
I worked there for 13 years before I decided to quit.
I started going to the estate at five-six in the morning.
In the beginning, I lived in my parents' basement in the Bronx.
I went to an estate in Connecticut and I was at the front of the queue.
I entered the room and on the bookshelf I saw-
-a fantastic set of Balzac's works, about 40 volumes.
The whole set cost $ 200.
I ran there and shouted, "They are mine!"
"Do not touch them! They are mine!" What a find!
I will never forget that. That's how it all started.
We trade in luxury goods. Books are still underrated.
People do not understand how much work lies in the binding.
Leather bindings must be maintained. People can not find out.
If they are in good condition, it is enough to give them oil every 5 to 10 years.
The first thing people ask is, "What makes a book rare?"
This means they are hard to find and are coveted.
There are three kinds of people who buy books.
Private collectors, dealers filling their warehouses
and institutions.
The problem today is that there are fewer and fewer private collectors.
We talked about the smell of old books-
-and about the magic that the beautiful editions radiate.
It was interesting how they set the prices.
We have specific interests, so if we find something, we buy it.
If it is not too expensive.
I forgot the money at home, and it's good the same-
-because I was tempted.
My parents were interested in antiques-
-and I got five cents every time I behaved nicely in a store.
Eventually, I had enough money to buy a book.
I really did not want to collect rare books-
-but I liked Frank Baum's stories.
When I was 12 years old-
-Columbia University had an exhibition on Frank Baum's works.
They were looking for some things they had not been able to get.
My parents saw the article and I became the youngest lender
-to Columbia University ever.
At that time, children's books were not considered
-as something special. There were books like "Alice in Wonderland" -
-but the one who sold his first edition of "The Wizard of Oz" to me-
-did not know it was a first edition.
It cost five dollars.
I love working with books. It never felt like work.
In 1967, Maurice Sendak searched for early books on mechanics.
-by Lothar Meggendorfer.
I had some pieces and we eventually became friends.
By the end of 1969, I had just started a company
-and wanted Maurice Sendak to illustrate the catalog cover.
And he agreed. And Maurice's genius
-when he made caricatures,
-that he drew both me and my companion as teddy bears.
I was the bear dressed in the vest.
And that was the beginning of a much closer friendship.
This is our gallery on Broadway. Today it is used for storage.
Here are originals by Maurice Sendak and our other collectibles.
Namely, Chinese propaganda with President Mao.
Maurice once came by and he called it
-a Mao and Mo exhibition. Mao on the one hand, Sendak on the other.
Mo is his nickname.
"A book is so much more than just reading it." Maurice Sendak.
I bought the most expensive American book ever for a customer in 1989.
Poe's first book, "Tamerlane".
It is called the black tulip in American literature.
There are only a handful of it.
Someone had bought it at a thrift store for $ 15.
I gave $ 200,000 for it.
It is a good table saver. Someone had put a glass on the
-and left a circle on the cover.
I'll probably get a wider selection in than most in the industry.
For example, I have handled books bound with human skin.
I have had two such books. Both were English editions
-of Hans Holbein's "Dance of Death".
One was bound by George Sutcliffe, the great English bookbinder.
-and on the cover there was a skull made of bones and teeth.
It was a powerful philosophical object, and some human-
-would not get near it while others would touch it.
These gemstone bindings are the most beautiful in world history.
The book was taken to Sangorski & Sutcliffe-
-which encapsulated it in 24 carat gold and adorned it with precious stones.
The book was opened between the gold.
Not many people know that there are waves of fashion in our industry as well.
But there was a time when a perfect cover was very in.
In the 80s and early 90s.
In the beginning, they were just to protect the book from dust.
It was thrown away when one bought the book.
Let's take "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
A first edition in fine condition costs $ 5,000.
A first edition with a worn cover costs $ 15,000.
A first edition with a cover in good condition costs $ 150,000.
And that's probably due to
-that the cover is considered art.
Thank God for collectors who kept the covers-
and made us aware of their information value.
The first book says something completely different from the tenth book.
-and certain biographical information is sometimes found only there.
We're trying to bind a book in Mylar.
We use the 5 mm variant.
And with a little luck ... it fits the book perfectly.
I have heard people say that if a book is signed to a particular
-and that person is known, the value of the book increases.
If it is signed to an unknown person, the book is worth less.
But I do not understand that at all.
Books signed by the author-
-to an important person suddenly became extremely important.
In the past, people were looking for first editions with nice covers.
-but now it became more important with important signatures.
I like all interesting books-
-but I became interested in books with a special story.
The best books seem to have been run over by a bus.
But it has to be the right bus.
That some books are rare is not because everyone wants those books.
Those who appreciate rare book-
-are as rare as the books themselves.
We start bidding on the 45,000 Enigma machine.
50.000. 55.000.
Rare books fall into the category of
objects of antiquarian interest. They do not fit into the art category-
-or in the furniture category and they are not the same customers-
-which buys collectibles.
Things that were once considered volatile
-are now central to the industry, and to the collections-
-because they tell a different story.
Everything falls under the heading "evidence".
I was interested in early
-the broad definition of historical evidence.
At that time, many traditional historians claimed
-that the visual material did not constitute evidence.
A good bookseller is a different kind of discoverer and storyteller.
They see the raw material and make important contextual contributions.
Therefore, they save their descriptions-
-to not lose all the history they have researched.
PeG@SuS Urang Sunda Asli
I am suspicious of people who deal with the sale of rare books-
-as we were a kind of guardians of a holy flame.
It's too light, too superficial. But it is important.
I want to strike a blow for the printed material in a digital world.
Physical objects often contain evidence that is a solid component.
Such as ownership, listing
-how the book is processed, type of binding, paper quality.
You can find things in the physical edition of the book-
-which tells their own story.
One of my oldest friends and clients is Michael Zinman.
He has one of the best collections of early printed material from the United States.
I asked myself what was left of early printed editions.
I could only find out by buying, looking and asking.
I never hesitated to buy a second or third copy of the same book.
Or a fourth copy. I just kept buying. And along the way
-I started comparing the editions. And then you learn something.
Many variations can be found and conclusions can be drawn
-which you would never have been able to if you had only one perfect copy.
That was our "critical mass" theory. By collecting our material
-and see what patterns we could find-
-could we build better theses-
-even if we started with an idea of ​​what we would find and prove it.
We're in Hackettstown, New Jersey, where they make M & M's.
But unfortunately you are not allowed to visit the factory.
We have our warehouses here.
Approximately 300,000 books in three different buildings.
Everything from valuable books to books for $ 20.
Each shelf can tell a story.
I know where every single book comes from and the story behind it.
We have some space left up there.
-Then he buys another warehouse. -No.
- Does anyone have more books? -Empty Congalton is shown close by.
-But this is enough. -It happens that books disappear.
Each department has ten shelves, and here are eight or nine departments.
There's a lot of poetry. Nine departments a thousand times or even more.
Poetry books are thin. So we have 10,000 poetry books here.
He thinks poetry is on the way back. I'm not sure.
All this is Whistler.
Bookbinding. Here we have an unusual title.
"Amish Love". Så...
But no pictures. Yes, there are some pictures.
What a picture!
He collects everything. A Masonic throne.
Tribal masks from the gods know where.
The seagulls are also interesting.
It's a pure treasure hunt. Especially right here. You never know what you will find.
Some say that one should not assemble oneself and compete with the customers.
I try to avoid it, but I love to collect.
And I have no problem selling the books. There we have the aircraft collection.
Amelia Earhart.
-A piece of the Hindenburg airship. -Where is it?
At the end of this time.
I have a large collection of wallets.
Up there. And hats. Oh my gosh!
"When he creeps in, I call Sotheby's."
Heard at the New York Book Fair.
I have 550. 600, here in the room.
Rare books have been traded for centuries.
The first auctions in modern times were book auctions in the 17th century.
Now it's completely different.
First came the phone bids and then the internet bids.
I visit a lot of auctions and sometimes there are only three people.
I'm one of them, and the auctioneer is another.
The rest are staff.
19.000. 20.000.
To the Frank Siebert auction in 1999-
was the strategy that when one could look beyond space-
-and see the one who bid against one-
-another than if the other party bid over the phone.
I have 300,000 on the right.
If you are there, you get a better sense of the rhythm.
You have the attention of the auctioneer and you can speed it up.
-or slow down. One can psyche the opponents.
Last chance. I have 360,000 on the right.
360,000, number 833. Thank you very much.
I am fascinated by the history of the auctions-
-and of what drives the participants.
If you are reading a beginner's guide to auctioning
-where are the basic rules-
-It will always say that you must have an amount limit and stick to it.
It sounds reasonable until one is there.
I have experienced it myself. If I really want something-
-so my limit is my bank balance.
How much am I willing to starve because I'm flat?
Ownership, possession and competition make people do unexpected things
- which is great to see from the podium.
Can you tell us how you ended up in the industry?
The answer consists of one word: nepotism.
I'm a third generation antique bookstore.
My grandfather came to London in 1888 and got a job at Pickering & Chatto.
His brothers had booksellers in Cork and Dublin.
Joyce mentions one of them in "Dubliners".
"Almost every day when he finished teaching
-he went along the quay to the antique shop. "
"Hickey's on Bachelor's Walk, Webb's or Massey's on Anston's Quay-
-or to O'Clohissey's in the alley. "
To give an idea of ​​what was available in the 1920s-
-can you take the original script for "Alice in Wonderland".
Alice Liddell, later Mrs. Hargreaves, the book's main character
-sold the manuscript at Sotheby's in 1928 and my grandfather was there.
Rosenbach bought it for £ 15,400.
I 1958-
- my father started the actual book department at Christie's.
And in 1964, I became the department's third employee.
In 1978, I sold my first Gutenberg Bible for $ 2.2 million. dollars.
It was considered a huge amount. And in 1980-
was then sold to Vincis "Codex Leicester" to Armand Hammer-
-for what now amounts to five million dollars.
It was something of a disappointment. It was called a collection of drawings-
and not a scientific manuscript.
When it was sold again in 1994, interest in science had increased.
"Codex Hammer" af Leonardo da Vinci.
We start at $ 5,500 ... We start at $ 5.5 million. Good start.
I messed it up and people laughed.
We have 14 million. 15 million over the phone.
The reservation price was 15 million. Then there was the second row-
- against the phone. Only two bidders.
We have 23.5 million in this room. 24 million over the phone.
25 million.
Bill Gates did not come and look at the script. He bought it unseen.
$ 28 million over the phone. Last chance. 28 million. Thanks.
It is still today the highest auction price
-for a book or a manuscript.
There is a big difference between book auctions and art auctions.
One clear difference is that books are not unique.
A painting is completely unique. There are then very rare books-
-but with the exception of illuminated manuscripts and medieval editions-
-which were unique, there are always more copies.
And that affects the price.
Antique shops have such deep roots in history-
-that it is unparalleled. It has a completely different weight.
Books are not trophies like other artefacts can be.
One more bid. 400 million!
Collecting art is about being able to say, "It's not yours."
"By owning this image, I deny you the right to own it."
"I'm better than you because you can not have it. It's mine."
People who collect rare books have deeply personal ties-
-to the material they collect.
The books are in a library, so you almost have to be invited-
-into the collector's mind.
The reason why there are more art collectors than book collectors
-is that one can showcase his wealth.
It's boring and I've never met an arrogant book speculator.
A person who owns houses all over the world-
-because he bought James Bond novels at just the right time.
When I came to New York, it was called the art world.
Now it is called the art market.
I started in the newspaper business.
I worked at AB Bookman's Weekly.
The magazine that everyone in the industry read.
I was the editor-in-chief and writer, and I was fired first.
-when the magazine was closed.
The owner had misjudged the importance of the internet.
He rejected a partnership with a new player in the market.
Jeff Bezos and Amazon.
This summer I finished my book.
It's called "A Conversation That Is Bigger Than the Universe".
It's about an exhibition at The Grolier Club.
It's based on the books I've been reading and thinking about for the last 25 years.
To me, Mary Shelley is the starting point of science fiction.
One of the metaphors I play with during my "conversations" -
-is a walk in the woods. That's what I love most.
I have no goal when I go, but I always lead-
-after edible mushrooms.
Science fiction can seem like a forest for the uninitiated.
-but there are paths and one can learn to recognize the trees.
It also makes me think of science fiction-
-as a constantly innovative literary genre.
Denne bog hedder "The Smell of Telescopes."
It stands here almost solely because of the title.
When the artist thought of the future in 1986 ...
Of course there are phone boxes! And robot eyes-
and portable synthesizers.
Science fiction does not predict the future. It interprets the present.
"Doesn't it bother you that you can not afford to buy the books you want?"
Edith Wharton, "House of Mirth"
If you have the collector gene, you collect things. My dad and I have it again.
The English do not have a word for such a space.
In German it is called "Wunderkammer".
A closet of wonder.
My library is unique in several ways.
It is the only library in the world-
-which is dedicated to human imagination.
It is also unique in that the space is built to fit the subject.
The subject is imagination, and the space is a tribute to the Escher-
-if imagination was good.
And it's one of the world's largest private libraries.
And the books are sorted by book height.
You can create your own connections in the library.
I'm not saying, "Here are books on naval wars."
The library's steps into the virtual world will probably be quite painless.
As soon as the 3D scan is good enough, we scan books and objects.
-so anyone can recreate them with a 3D printer.
Provided I live that long.
I do not know why I gather. I am shown an extreme example.
I have tens of thousands of books. I bought a lot of defective books.
Books that were deficient, but that is a fluid definition.
What was lacking then is not today, and I earned well-
-on that realization.
Books are heavy. And 30,000 books are quite a lot.
Carter Burden had as many books as I did.
-and he spent 1.5 million. to strengthen its apartment
-to be able to have his books there.
The individual's relationship to the book is like a love affair.
It is difficult to explain to others, but satisfying for oneself.
My wife said, "I know I'm not the most important thing in your life."
"What place do I have?" I thought a little and counted.
"Sixth place". That was not the right answer-
-but you lie as you have ridden.
I described myself as a hunter-gatherer because I wanted-
-that people should say, "Look at all those books!"
All these women were important and their stories were important-
-but they were ignored.
I always read, but when I went to the University of Pennsylvania-
- I got a job at the Library Company in Philadelphia.
And at the same time, the women's movement started.
I was too lazy to do anything political-
-but I noticed that the women were missing in the book collection.
It was as if the women were just sitting next to her and knitting.
It was a huge abyss. I thought it was a small gap-
-but it was an abyss I jumped into.
I had to tell salespeople and librarians what I was looking for.
Most of the sellers were men. "Show me your women," I said.
"We have none," they said, so I came with a pile. "Now we know."
And they were not that expensive. Except the "capture of the Indians" stories.
My other husband was also a collector and we traveled around and found books.
She was one of the "first to realize the importance of gathering on women.
Not men writing about women, even if they let a man in.
But mostly women writing about women.
There are almost 25,000 items. But it also includes art
photographs and a lot of tinsel.
If you want to exhibit a collection
-then it gets boring if you only have a lot of books.
Things like Annie Oakley's gloves are necessary.
Caroline has an eye for the bizarre but historically important.
And she has a network of people who can help her-
-to realize his life's work-
-which is the largest collection of female American writers-
and historical figures.
I feel a responsibility to create the collection.
It's really fun, but now I feel it's important too-
-and I want others to discover that too.
I dont have children-
-so I can spend my money on whatever I want. Hooray!
In 2017, we introduced a $ 1,000 premium
-for the best book collection created by a young woman.
We wanted to encourage young people to come together, and we wanted women
-who collected books, should begin to see themselves as collectors.
Many people think that one should have a lot of expensive first editions.
But the best collections are built by people who see something others do not see.
Not by people who buy the most famous books.
Most people most often end up as book collectors by chance.
In my case, it was a job application in Las Vegas.
I was to study further and become an academic-
-but then I applied for this interesting job. And after a few weeks there-
-I felt like I would do it for the rest of my life.
Book valuation is an art form.
-How are you? -Nice. And you?
So I called Rebecca.
Being in "Pawn Stars" brought both good and bad things.
But it was an exercise in building bridges.
Every night, up to seven million viewers
-the basics of collecting rare books.
If all goes well, it could bring in 14,000.
-Now you made it more complicated. - That's my job.
It's a little funny that a Las Vegas pawnbroker
-used to get people to start collecting rare books.
But it is as it is.
May I hold it up?
But the best thing is when parents write to me-
-about their daughter has seen me and wants to be a bookseller.
When I started working full time in the industry in 2004-
85% of the booksellers were men. Everyone said it would change.
Lots of women were on their way in. Everything would change.
But 15 years later, there are still 85% men.
Yes, there are famous women who own their businesses-
-but if you consider them exceptions-
-then one overlooks that women have actually been in the industry all along.
They have been working behind the scenes.
And they were respected for their knowledge. Mabel Zahn and Kit Currie-
-were significant personalities, but are often forgotten in the annals-
-because their name was not on the letterhead.
People came in and asked the only man in the store.
-The porter. -Or a customer.
I was the last resort.
It does not happen that often now.
The Grolier Club has long been known as a men's club.
Women were first admitted in the second half of the 20th century.
We are members now, but for a long time women were not welcome there.
When Grolier allowed female members
-Rostenberg and Stern were already well established. Everyone knew them.
They politely asked what they should do to become members.
The secretary replied, "You must prove that you are dedicated."
Hello! It's Rostenberg and Stern!
And they thought, "Well, is it still like that?
So they refused. Today, their archives are in the Grolier Club
-so they eventually accepted-
-that they had long ago proved their passion for books.
It had long been a service industry
-who was a supplier to rich white men's collections.
We can not use the mother ethics standard with retroactive
-and consider them a bunch of misogynists.
But the industry does not remain relevant unless it grows and develops itself.
-and takes into account other perspectives.
Otherwise, it does not reflect today's readers, thinkers and collectors.
I'm often the only black person, but that's changing.
But we need to think about the diversity of the material-
-because that's what attracts people to the industry.
I started collecting because I was writing about what I was collecting.
I still remember the first important books.
Many of the old guard are not interested in change.
They do not stir in the pan. Just like in the country as a whole.
People say one thing and do something else.
Older bookstores are so fatalistic. "After all, they are the ones who buy the books."
How is diversity created? That is the question we are struggling with now.
It's hard to get these people to agree on anything.
One has to try one at a time again and again and push the boundaries.
If we hit a dead end, we try something else.
Because we know that change is needed if the industry is to survive.
I am interested in how culture develops and changes.
I am interested in omissions-
-and in the history of the present.
I think there are some hidden connections-
-which was not part of our childhood news broadcasts.
I am interested in conflict material-
-not just from Afghanistan.
I am fascinated by the fleeting traces of paper from these conflicts.
Paper stores mental energy. I know right away when I find something.
"This immediately changes my perception."
That's the kind I'm looking for. Book collectors do not buy objects
-but stories.
What are my generation and future generations interested in?
They are interested in political
-in issues of capitalism and socialism, in gender issues.
They are interested in the avant-garde and history-
-which connects surrealism with punk and hip hop.
They are interested in drug culture, sexuality and the concept of identity.
A few years ago, I collaborated with Michael Holman.
He coined the term hip hop in an article in the East Village Eye in 1982.
When hip hop came in the late 70s and early 80s-
-it was about a dozen artists.
In 1984, Def Jam released records that sold millions of copies.
MTV joined in, and the early 90s were the golden age of hip hop.
They had the eyes of the world on
-but it was first and foremost a creative culture-
-where people participated enthusiastically.
They did not think about what would happen. They did it for themselves.
It wanted the culture. And that's what people are collecting today.
These dreams in paper form, from before the Internet.
People did not think that hip hop would last or that we would preserve it.
Exactly. "What does it mean?"
At first I did not see it as collecting. But it was a rabbit hole.
I could not stop again.
For many who are in their late 20s, it is very nostalgic.
I remember falling in love with hip hop.
I was waiting for my uncle and my cousin at my grandmother's house.
I heard when they came because I heard my uncle's Lexus SC400.
A cream car from 1995.
"Jeeps, Lex Coups, Bimaz & Benz" by Lost Boyz was played very loud.
My cousin was wearing a DKNY suit that Lil 'Kim sang about.
"DKNY, oh my, I'm jiggy." And my uncle had-
-a Versace shirt and sunglasses on, just like Biggie Smalls.
They came in and I thought, "I do not know what it is, but I am with."
I wrote for an online magazine about hip-hop history-
-and they asked me to be the editor-in-chief. I said yes.
But maybe I should have known someone who wrote about hip hop.
The only one I knew was Dream Hampton.
I started google but I could not find anything online.
Magazines such as XXL, Vibe and The Source were published in the 90s-
-and none of it was digitized. So I started collecting them.
I wanted to read Kevin Powell's Tupac article-
-og Greg Tate i The Village Voice.
So I had to buy the leaves.
I will always do it to preserve things.
What can we create so that the generation
-who was born when Biggie Smalls died-
-can understand why he was so important? Why he was king of NY.
This is Phase 2.
He made layout and graphic design in the last issues of IGT.
"Books are our cultural DNA that reveal who we are and what we know."
Susan Orlean, "The Library Book"
Several read enough before the TV came on. There was no other entertainment.
It had higher status. People pretended to read.
When I was young, writers were more important.
A book is the closest you get to a human being, so authors are gods.
The heyday of books lasted 550 years.
But interest in books has declined.
In the last ten years, we have seen the beginning to the end for
-as a central cultural object.
This is mostly due to the mobile phones and poor concentration ability.
But reading as an activity has diminished.
I've talked to people in the industry and people no longer read books.
This will dramatically mean a decline in book sales.
One does not buy a first edition of "Moby Dick" to read Melville.
You buy the object. And that worries me about the future.
The books as an object will not be as appealing.
The natural consequence then becomes ... If books are no longer printed-
-and only exist electronically and we live in a science fiction world-
-som i "Blade Runner"-
-I think more people will be interested in books again-
-because they have become cultural objects. If books ceased to exist-
-a new bunch of people would start collecting on them.
Today, as the book transforms from a container of knowledge-
-for a cultural object, one considers it with new eyes.
In the 21st century it is considered differently than in the 20th century.
I am not convinced that the book has lost its magic.
We still sell books. The book's death is greatly exaggerated.
I often ride the subway and those who read books are in their 20s.
It is the best one will see in the subway.
And my editor said-
-that most Kindle users are in their 40s.
I do not know why we are to blame for the death of the booksellers.
We read and buy books.
There is talk that the book is dying out, which is not appropriate.
Try reading a seven-year-old computer file. Good luck with that.
But one can still open a 500 year old book and read it.
The books survive. They do not burn very well.
Not even uneducated people throw books out. There is something magical about them.
I've never been able to throw a book out.
I’ve seen books in trash cans, and it’s like seeing a human head.
There is something fascinating about choosing to burn books.
It works well and has been used since the beginning of the written word-
-as a way to make people feel fear and dread.
But it is also very symbolic.
One can obliterate the cultural memory of an entire people.
The Nazis were clearly the most ardent book burners.
Mao Zedong, a former librarian, was a book burner.
It hits us so hard because we project on the books-
-a kind of subconscious hope about-
-that they will carry on our narrative.
Our knowledge, our dreams and our visions.
The products of our thoughts.
Books survive for various reasons.
Some were buried in deserts or bogs and were protected that way.
They were not exposed to pollution.
They were protected from pests.
They have an incredibly long life. They are survivors.
The biggest problem is that bookstores are getting old.
Almost everyone in the stalls at the fairs has white hair.
It deeply regrets the situation
-and I think these are the last generations of booksellers.
It will be a narrow niche for a few.
When I talk to older booksellers, they are always pessimistic.
-while I'm optimistic. “What do you want to do?” They say.
"I'm full of ideas!"
American antique shops often last only a generation.
Some survive the second generation. In England we are more conservative.
My company has been around since the 1850s.
Bernerd Quaritch in London as well.
Most in the industry did not look ahead. What happened happened.
We continue as usual and are not worried about the future.
But we have a new generation here-
-and Ben does what is necessary. Whether he continues or not.
One reason I started in the industry was his enthusiasm.
If he were financially independent, he would have been a great collector.
He is not exactly made to be happy.
He's pretty crappy. But he loves his old books.
It makes him happy, and when a new collection comes in, it's Christmas Eve.
So he's probably happy that the company can continue.
My father says, "My daughter works here. My books are not for sale."
It's everyone's nightmare. You have a lot of books, and then you die.
So what happens to them?
My children will not take over the company, so the books will probably be sold-
-or my colleagues also buy them.
Hopefully my little nuggets of gold end up in a good place.
Imagine if the books could tell what they have heard.
They are welcome to sell my books. When I'm dead, it does not matter.
A handful of my belongings belong to different institutions.
But most of the things should be privately owned, so they should be sold-
-so others can take care of them like I did.
The intention is that the University of Pennsylvania gets everything.
They already have the fiction. I want to keep the collection together.
There is no point in spreading it for all to win.
That would be counterintuitive and stupid.
I'm not particularly interested in money.
I can sell a book at a loss if it goes to someone who ...
I will not say "deserves it", but someone who really wants it.
Giving the book the right home can be compared to the doctor's work
-to cure his patient. It is his duty.
I do not regret anything I have owned or sold.
I only regret the books I did not buy.
The third fair in five weeks. I've been home for ten days-
-and on Wednesday it's time again.
The problem is parking the van.
It's all this, and so this. We can start with the wooden boxes.
That blizzard destroyed everything!
This is my 45th trade fair. The first time, they were still at the Plaza Hotel.
We were maybe 85 exhibitors at the time.
It was a little more like the Wild West back then.
-I've been going for 40 years. -And he's not even 40.
We'll have to toast in champagne later. I hope you come.
But set the cameras and use both hands. Do not waste.
Wishy, ​​my catering mentor, always said-
-that the opening of the champagne bottle should sound like a woman's sigh.
"The library survives. It's the universe."
Jorge Luis Borges, "Biblioteket i Babel"
Some of us think about it all the time and I know what some of you think
-but if you could start over ... We are bookstores.
We deal with culture and we are passionate about it.
It can be frustrating. Are you grateful to have ended up here?
-What else should you do? -I love it.
In 1999, I was released from AB Bookman's Weekly.
It was like going from writing about sports to even playing baseball.
I would do it again.
I would not have become a bookseller.
What Adam likes is the hunt.
I love finding them, but the business side ...
Supply is limited and demand is limited.
You almost have to be a psychologist to be able to sell the books.
- It's not like selling ... - You're like a gold digger.
You have to find the gold nuggets. It's so hard.
And besides, it wears on the body.
Physically. If you look at the bookstores at the book fair ...
They are not ... The parts are like misplaced.
A bookstore gets on average 18 cm shorter when they are 40 years old.
-I never had those inches. -You were 1.87 when you were 20, Dave.
In the silence between author and reader, memories are created.
Through others, we learn about substance and value.
Fabric, meat, ink, skin, paper, dust
-are just materials in which ideas live.
On a crowded shelf between desert sun and Arctic night
-wakes up distant mind, mixes and then calms down.
The minds meet where the reading hand grasps the void-
-and soft strokes along empty margins.
Lost, forgotten, thumb cracked.
Scarred by patient decades and centuries of dreams.
I do not know who to hold me now-
-but the book also reads its readers.
To my Aunt Vail.
Danish texts: BTI Studios
I do not lend books. People never return them.
I lent a book to David Bowie.
"Buy it instead," I said. And he never returned it.
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