Terry On Books Blog

I think it was sometime in 1999 when
antiquarian bookseller Michael John
Thompson and I were having a conversation
about the Internet. Michael made the comment:
“Now, anyone with a computer and two
books can call himself a bookdealer.”

The same sort of statement could be made
about all the self-proclaimed bookscouts
out there now. Once they’ve found a
half-dozen paperbacks at a garage sale
for fifty cents each and sold them to a local
bookstore for a dollar each, they consider
themselves professional bookscouts. In
addition, they will probably make the erroneous
assumption that the bookscouting game is
easy.

Let me just say this: nothing about the used
booktrade is easy. And, certainly, no one
becomes an expert overnight. Furthermore,
Internet or no Internet, a lot of knowledge
must be obtained (and retained) before
people should consider themselves bookdealers.

As for bookscouting, the bookscout doesn’t
have to know the values of thousands of
books or even what makes them valuable.
But, he or she does have to know what
sells in specific stores and buy books
accordingly. A good bookscout will know
that Store A will gladly give him a dollar to
a dollar-fifty each for all the titles he can
find by authors such as Peter Robinson,
Ian Rankin, Lee Child, James Lee Burke,
Mark Billingham, Terry Goodkind and
Terry Pratchett, plus a dozen others that
sell extremely well in that store. He’ll
know that he can sell lots of nicely-
illustrated children’s books to Store B, and
all kinds of quality paperback and hardcover
books on aviation, naval and military
subjects to Store C.

He’ll also know what type of books not
to take to these stores.

The best advice I can give to beginning
bookscouts (and beginning booksellers)
is to do your research first. The person
who simply blitzes garage sales and thrift
stores, buying everything that’s in decent
condition that’s priced under a dollar are
doomed for disappointment, plus a closet
full of unsaleable books. Firstly, determine
what sells, then go find it.

And remember, outside of the half dozen
extremely rare and valuable books you
might find in your lifetime at garage sales,
only buy books in very good or better
condition. If it wouldn’t look good on
your own bookshelf, it won’t look good
on anyone else’s bookshelf either.

Book Review:

For all you Peter Robinson and Ian Rankin fans
who have read all of their books and need a new
fix, I have a recommendation: Mark Billingham.
For the creation of Inspector Tom Thorne,
Billingham was awarded the 2003 Sherlock
Award for Best Detective by a British writer.
His debut novel, “Sleepyhead” was an instant
bestseller.
Similar to Robinson’s Inspector Banks and
Rankin’s Inspector Rebus, Tom Thorne
tends to go his own way and colour outside
the lines in order to get to where he knows
he wants to go. Like Banks and Rebus,
Thorne is dedicated to achieving justice
for the victims, at whatever cost.
In “Sleepyhead”, Thorne pursues a different
kind of serial killer, a madman who kills by
mistake. The killer’s goal is not to kill at all,
but to place his victim into the “locked-in
syndrome” by a skilful manipulation of
pressure points on the head and neck,
producing a stroke and leaving the victim
with only the brain working. The ones who
die are his failures.
In “Scaredy Cat”, Thorne is faced with
finding another serial killer of women, but
this time there’s an added twist: each time
a woman is killed, a second woman is found
on the other side of the city, killed at about
the same time and by the same methods.
Two boyhood friends, one completely under
the influence of the other, are responsible
for terrorizing London and leading the
Metropolitan Police Department down one
dead end after another. Another dark
thriller from Mark Billingham and another
challenging case for DI Tom Thorne, a
solitary man dealing with his own demons.

Please take time to visit my website:

www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll

regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.

I decided the other day to re-read “The
Haunted Bookshop” by Christopher Morley.
What a delightful book! It really should be
required reading for anyone contemplating
opening or buying a used bookstore.

Morley’s opinions on books, booksellers,
and book-buyers could still be considered
as valid today, nearly ninety years after he
first expressed them.

But then, the profession of bookselling, like
prostitution, law and politics really hasn’t
changed that much in the last five hundred
years, apart from the introduction of a few
procedural changes.

The story begins when a young man, Aubrey
Gilbert, enters a bookstore in Brooklyn, N.Y.,
called “Parnassus at Home”, with the intention
of convincing the owner, Roger Mifflin, to permit
him to set up an advertising campaign for his
store.

Mifflin’s answer is:
“By the bones of Tauchnitz! Look here, you
wouldn’t go to a doctor, a medical specialist,
and tell him he ought to advertise in papers and
magazines? A doctor is advertised by the bodies
he cures. My business is advertised by the minds
I stimulate. And let me tell you that the book
business is different from other trades. People
don’t know they want books. I can see just by
looking at you that your mind is ill for lack of
books but you are blissfully unaware of it!
People don’t go to a bookseller until some
serious mental accident or disease makes them
aware of their danger. Then they come here.
For me to advertise would be about as useful
as telling people who feel perfectly well that
they ought to go to the doctor.”

My thanks to Mr. Morley and his customers
for this and the following quotes.

“My dear chap, I understand the value of
advertising. But in my own case it would be
futile. I am not a dealer in merchandise but a
specialist in adjusting the book to the human
need. Between ourselves, there is no such
thing, abstractly, as a ‘good’ book. A book is
‘good’ only when it meets some human hunger
or refutes some human error. A book that is
good for me would very likely be punk for you.
My pleasure is to prescribe books for such
patients as drop in here and are willing to tell
me their symptoms.”

Asked if he is open in the evenings, Mr.
Mifflin replies: “Until ten o’clock. A great
many of my best customers are those who are
at work all day and can only visit bookshops
at night. The real book-lovers, you know, are
generally among the humbler classes. A man
who is impassioned with books has little time or
patience to grow rich by concocting schemes
for cozening his fellows.”

Upon telling young Gilbert about the meetings
of a booksellers’ club, “The Corn Cob Club”,
he states: “We have all sorts and conditions
of booksellers: one is a fanatic on the subject
of libraries. He thinks that every public library
should be dynamited. Another thinks that
moving pictures will destroy the book trade.
What rot! Surely everything that arouses
people’s minds, that makes them alert and
questioning, increases their appetite for books.”

The same may be said today in reference to
the influence of the Internet and video games
on the state and future of bookstores.

At the very next meeting of The Corn Cob Club,
Mifflin addresses a fellow bookseller:
“Your ailment, Jerry, is that you conceive yourself
as merely a tradesman. What I’m telling you
is that the bookseller is a public servant. He ought
to be pensioned by the state. The honour of his
profession should compel him to do all he can
to spread the distribution of good stuff.”

Another bookseller adds: “Still, Jerry has a
certain grain of truth to his credit. I get ten times
more satisfaction in selling a copy of Newton’s
“The Amenities of Book-Collecting” than I do
in selling a copy of–well, “Tarzan”; but it’s
poor business to impose your own private tastes
on your customers. All you can do is to hint
them along tactfully, when you get a chance,
toward the stuff that counts.”

Which begs the question: should the bookseller
recommend books, thereby shaping the
book-buyers reading habits?

A fourth bookseller comments: “When I see
the helpless pathos of most of them (customers),
who drift into a bookstore without the
slightest idea of what they want or what is
worth reading, I would disdain to take
advantage of their frailty. They are absolutely
at the mercy of the salesman. They will buy
whatever he tells them to. Now, the honourable
man, the high-minded man (by which I mean
myself) is too proud to ram some shimmering
stuff at them just because he thinks they
ought to read it. Let the boobs blunder around
and grab what they can. Let natural selection
operate. I think it is fascinating to watch them,
to see their helpless groping, and to study the
weird ways in which they make their choice.
Usually they will buy a book either because
they think the jacket is attractive, or because
it costs a dollar and a quarter instead of a
dollar and a half, or because they say they
saw a review of it. The “review” usually turns
out to be an ad. I don’t think one book-buyer
in a thousand knows the difference.”

“A gathering of booksellers is a pleasant
sanhedrim (actually a less-used spelling of
sanhedrin, the supreme council and highest
religious and legal authority of the ancient
Jewish nation) to attend. The members of
this ancient craft bear mannerisms and
earmarks just as definitely recognizable as
those of the cloak and suit business or any
other trade. They are likely to be a little–
shall we say–worn at the bindings, as
becomes men who have forsaken worldly
profit to pursue a noble calling ill rewarded
in cash. They are possibly a trifle
embittered, which is an excellent
demeanour for mankind in the face of
inscrutable heaven.”

The book continues with the introduction
of Miss Titania Chapman to the home
and bookstore of Mr. and Mrs. Mifflin.
Titania’s father, a customer of the
bookstore wants Mr. Mifflin to tutor
his daughter in the operation of a bookstore,
an education which he believes will counter
and improve on what she has learned at
a fancy finishing school.

Chapter VI is a charming account of Miss
Titania’s first day on the job, learning a
bit about the book business from Mr.
Mifflin. Then, as Mr. Morley acknowledges
in his original Preface to the book and for
which he even offers an apology to booksellers,
Miss Titania and Mr. Gilbert fell in love
and the two of them rather ran away
with the tale. A romantic mystery ensues.
Still, as my example quotes indicate,
this book will tickle the fancy of any
bibliophile.

Christopher Morley (1890-1957) was a
great man of letters, being, at times, a
humourist, novelist, playwright, poet,
essayist and editor. When Morley died
on March 28, 1957, the New York Times
and the New York Herald published this
personal message to his friends:
“Read, every day, something no one else
is reading. Think, every day, something no
one else is thinking. Do, every day,
something no one else would be silly
enough to do. It is bad for the mind to
continually be part of unanimity.”
Christopher Morley.

Footnote: a first printing of the 1919

edition of “The Haunted Bookshop”

is very difficult to find. A Very Good

copy in dust-jacket with all the

first-state points may sell for $500

or more. However, the book was

reprinted many times, even by Book-

of-the-Month Club, so a copy

shouldn’t be difficult to find for $10

to $20. Check your local bookstore.

Please take time to visit my website:

www.stillmanbooks.com

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll

regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.

The cat in the photo has been named “Eco” after

Umberto Eco, and he has recently accepted the position of

Bookstore Cat–or Cat-in-Residence–at the Jolly Olde Bookstore

in Port Moody, British Columbia.

Eco turned up at the backdoor of the bookstore about three weeks

ago, looking for something to eat and a place to crash. Brian, the

owner, and his fiancee , Tracy, took to the cat right away, and

Eco (as they named him) settled right in.

Eco had a tattoo in his ear so they thought someone was

probably missing him. Brian and Tracy found Eco’s vet who had

a phone number for his owners. Unfortunately, the number was

out-of-service so the owners had probably moved.

In a way, this was good news because Eco had decided that the

bookstore was a good gig.

Today, a flyer was pushed through the mailslot with the picture

of a lost cat on it–a cat named “Bo”, who looked a lot like Eco.

Part way through the day, Bo’s owner showed up to claim him.

Sure enough, the family had moved, but not too far. Someone

had seen one of the flyers they had posted and phoned

to tell the owners they thought their cat was at the bookstore.

Tonight, Brian and Tracy are saying good-bye to Eco and they’ll

be handing him over to his owners who have had Eco (Bo)

for about five years. Tears on both sides.

So, Eco’s position as Bookstore Cat was short-lived. Too

bad, he seemed a Natural.

What do you think about Bookstore Cats?

Good idea or bad idea? Do you like shopping in

a bookstore that has a cat? If you own a bookstore,

does a cat live there? Or do you prefer to have your

cat live at home?

Please post your comment.

I’d appreciate it if you’d take the time to visit my

website where close to three thousand books await:

www.stillmanbooks.com

Good and Bad Customers

I want to share a little story today. About 2-1/2 weeks ago, I received

and order for six books from my website, all illustrated by Anne and

Janet Grahame Johnstone, who collaborated on many lovely children’s

books in the 1960’s and 1970’s, published by Dean & Sons, London.

The lady said the books totalled $107.50, asked if they were available

and asked for the cost with shipping, plus would I consider an

“alternate price” if she bought them all.

I replied that the books were available and that I would pay for the

shipping. I explained how she could pay for the books (personal

cheque, Visa or Master Card). She didn’t answer.

Two days later, I received an order through Biblio for one of the

books, “Dean’s Gold Star Book of Fairy Tales”, $17.50. I wrote back

to this lady and explained that the book was on hold for someone

else but I would try to confirm if, indeed, the first customer was

going to buy the books. I sent off another email to the first lady,

saying that I didn’t usually try to rush someone’s decision about

purchasing, but I had received an order for one of the books she

had expressed interest in; and, I asked her to confirm that she

intended to buy the six books. Two days later, no answer.

I replied again to the second customer, saying that I was going

to process her order on Biblio for the book she wanted since my

first customer was not communicating with me. I also

directed her to my website (www.stillmanbooks.com) to look

at the other Grahame Johnstone books plus my

additional thousand children’s books.

I then sent another email to the first (potential) customer, saying

that I had sold “Dean’s Gold Star Book of Fairy Tales”, but she was

still welcome to purchase the other five books. No answer.

A few days later, I sent her my last email stating that her order

was cancelled due to lack of response.

The second lady–my real customer–sent me a thank-you note

for selling her the book since it was one of several from her

childhood that she was trying to recover. She also gushed about my

website and said that she had referred several of her friends who

were looking for children’s books to my site.

For sellers, don’t let the ignorant Internet users get you down. For

every one of them, there will be five or ten who are friendly and

appreciative.

For buyers, please try not to be like the first lady.

Return at least one email stating your intention.

Detail and Search Engines

On a related matter, here’s a tale about another appreciative

customer. In March of this year, I received an email

from a lady in England. She was hoping that I had a book

that she had been seeking for over fifty years.

It was a book of children’s rhymes containing a

particular poem “The Baby Over the Way”. She

said she had posted her want on her blog and

a friend had tracked the title of the poem to a book

on my website.

The book “Nursery Rhymes” was a 1985 facsimile of the original 1934

edition by H.G.C. Marsh Lambert. When I described the book (you will

notice on my site that my descriptions are rather detailed), I listed

most of the poems that were in the book. Whatever search engine

this customer’s friend used directed her right to that book on my

website. Another happy customer.

Moral of the story: for sellers, don’t be afraid to list particulars in

an anthology; for buyers, don’t despair if you know only the name

of a poem or short shory, or even just the illustrator of a book…

try it in the search engines like Google and Yahoo. They work! (more…)

AN INTRODUCTION:

Hi! I’m pleased to meet you; thanks for coming. My name is Terry Stillman
and I love books. I’ve been buying and selling books since the Spring of 1971
when I was living in Toronto. I bought an existing used bookstore in Vancouver,
B.C. in December, 1981. In 1985, I moved it west along Kingsway closer to
Downtown but still in the Vancouver hinterland. As one customer told me when
he first discovered my store: “No damn wonder I didn’t know about you. I don’t
usually venture east of Main Street.”

It wasn’t the ideal location for a bookstore but it had two things going for it:
it was a warm and cosy space with lots of wood and an English store/pub atmosphere;
plus I had a great, forgiving landlord who liked to help struggling small businessmen
like myself with a very fair rent package. My store was definitely a “destination
bookstore”. This worked because I specialized in Children’s Books, Aviation/Military/
Naval books and–for a good number of years–Detective Fiction. So, with cheap rent,
a handful of loyal customers and visiting American bookdealers, I was able to stick it
out at that location until June, 2002. Then I had a sale of books and
shelving, closed the store at the end of the month and moved my business home
to Maple Ridge to sell on the Internet. I’d been selling on the web and I had
my own domain website since 1997, having had my arm twisted by good friend (then
and now), Charlie McKee, fellow bookseller and an advocate of online selling;
as well as an enthusiastic supporter of Abebooks, before it went corporate.

At the point of closure, my sales were about fifty/fifty store and Internet.
The Internet gave me much more exposure for my specialized inventory, but,
ironically, the Internet also killed one of my main sources of income: visiting
dealers from the United States. One such bookseller told me that there was no sense
coming up to Canada to buy books anymore, because all the Canadian dealers were
now pricing their books by using the Internet sources and there were no longer
any bargains here. This was of course a broad generalization and a view that I
think hurt the Canadian and American booksellers alike. This theory and others as
to why the American dealers stopped coming to Canada to shop were expanded on to me by
Lance McCaughran of Criterion Books in Vancouver, in an article I wrote about
Lance and his store. I quote part of the interview here and I may print it in
its entirety at a later date:

“Internet”, Lance says. “Used to be, American dealers would put out catalogues,
and they’d come up here and buy the same books from us all the time to put in their
catalogues. Even if they only made ten dollars on a book, they’d always have it in
their catalogue, available to their customers. These are specialist dealers I’m
talking about mostly.”
“Then what happened?”
“The Internet came along and three things happened: one, some dealers didn’t
think they could find a bargain in Canada anymore, partly because the American
dollar was devalued, but mostly because they thought we Canadian dealers were
all hooked up to the Internet now and our prices would have gone up on many
books; two, part-timers started offering many general and low-end books on the
Internet for a dollar or two–the bottom fell right out of a certain segment of the
market; three, the dealers who still published catalogues began to suspect that
their customers were just using them for reference now…customer would find a couple
of books in the catalogue that looked interesting, then look them up on the Internet,
find a cheaper copy and order it instead. Most dealers don’t publish catalogues
anymore; they’d be lucky to get their costs back.”

And so today, myself and others try to keep sales bolstered on the Internet by catering
to specific niche markets and avoiding the common $10.00 book, which used to be the
common $20.00 book…too many people on the Internet trying to flog them for a dollar.
And certain booksellers, like Lance McCaughran keep right on trying to maintain an
old-fashioned, bricks-and-mortar bookstore without resorting to Internet sales at all.
More on that topic later too.

Excerpt from “Blogs” by Sarah Boxer, appearing in the New York Review of Books,
Vol. 55, No. 2, Feb. 14, 2008:

“At the beginning of 1999 there were a few dozen blogs, Blood reports. By the end of
the year there were thousands, and it was impossible for anyone to keep up. At the
end of 2003 there were two million blogs and the number was doubling every five
months. In early 2006 Technorati, a search engine that tracks blogs, counted 27
million. In late 2007, the count passed 100 million. (The largest number of blog
posts, some 37 percent, are now in Japanese, according to a recent Washington Post
article by Blaine Harden, and most of these are polite and self-effacing—”karaoke
for shy people.” Thirty-six percent of posts are in English, and most of them are
the opposite of polite and self-effacing.)”

Okay, I’m late to blogging; but I’ll try to keep it interesting and on topic
so at least a few dozen people will visit regularly, find something of note,
and even leave a comment occasionally. Though not totally self-effacing, I’ll at
least try to be polite.

Book Review:

I just recently finished an interesting novel, “Oblivion” by Peter Abrahams.
A private detective, while investigating the disappearance of a teenage girl,
suffers a burst blood vessel in his brain, caused by the increasing pressure
of a cancerous tumour. After an operation and a short stay in hospital, the
detective wants to complete his investigation. The problem is the complete
weekend of his investigation is a blank, plus he has trouble filling in a
few other gaps in his memory as well. There’s nothing to it but to start
his investigation all over again, slowly retracing his steps, to the surprise
and consternation of several of the people that he re-interviews.

After a harder-than-usual pursuit of justice, the detective’s original
goal is accomplished, not of course without considerable bloodshed.
I don’t know how close to reality the loss of memory is as Abrahams portrayed
it in his story, but it struck me as believable and I enjoyed the book.

Now, I’m back to enjoying one of my perennial favourite authors, James
Lee Burke, and the trying times of Louisiana policeman and recovering
alcoholic, Dave Robicheaux, a tragic but likeable guy, in “Pegasus Descending”.

Please visit my website for a terrific selection of out-of-print books,

featuring many collectible children’s and illustrated books. Drop by often:

“http://www.stillmanbooks.com”

Remember, the only book purchase you’ll regret is the one you didn’t make.

Talk soon.