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#1
10-15-2007, 04:26 PM
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Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
After leaving my English PhD halfway through I tried to get into the rare book trade, particularly modern first editions and manuscripts.
I went to book fairs, read catalogues, talked to people in the industry, and put an advert in the 'job seekers' section of the trade bulletin. I had a couple of interviews. One was for a £15k/year job doing admin at a store which did maps and 18th-19th century travel books. The other was to be a sales assistant at a new store a leading 20th century dealer from the provinces was planning, but which never opened. I came to a dead halt. I also saw that the only people who make any money are those who buy and sell the books, not the people who work for them who are in effect well-educated shop assistants. Do any of you have experience of this industry? Would you recommend it? Should I try to get any job with any kind of antiquarian store, no matter how badly paid or menial or far from my interests, knowing I can then move into a more suitable role a year late? Or am I better off continuing with my current dull but comparatively well paid legal secretarial work - which I've been doing the last year - and using to money to go to book fairs in my spare time and start up an eBay business? 
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#4
10-15-2007, 05:26 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
In your attempts at breaking into the industry, how much did you learn, cause I have some questions. Specifically, how much value do you lose off of a first edition if the dust jacket is slightly damaged (e.g., small part of the front cover torn away)? I have a copy of the first boxed set of the Lord of the Rings trilogy ever released, including the box, and all three dust jackets, with the above damage on two of the three dust jackets. Profit?
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#5
10-15-2007, 05:30 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
Not rare, I also have this set...
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#7
10-15-2007, 05:36 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
You can always break into the trade by getting a few friends together and start robbing those book nerds. It's full proof!
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#8
10-15-2007, 05:47 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
[ QUOTE ]
Not rare, I also have this set... [/ QUOTE ] Eh, if we really do have the same set, then we have different definitions of the word "rare" (or at least its value). When I received it almost ten years ago it came with a quote from a dealer offering $450. $450 is rare enough in my book.
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#9
10-15-2007, 06:09 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
[ QUOTE ]
You can always break into the trade by getting a few friends together and start robbing those book nerds. It's full proof! [/ QUOTE ] Those guys are tougher than they look!
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#10
10-15-2007, 06:14 PM
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Re: Anyone here work in the rare book trade?
This company looks pretty cool, maybe I will move to Beverly Hills and work for them:
http://biblioctopus.com/catalog34/catalog34.htm http://www.biblioctopus.com/pages/html/about.html Now who's gonna stake me $65,000 for a first edition Ayn Rand?
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