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<b>Bonhams:</b> MANDELSHTAM, OSIP. 1891-1938. Autograph Manuscript, 2 pp, [Petersburg,] January 1913, entitled

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A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare - By Michael Stillman A Flavius Josephus sold for 78,000 at Sotheby's By Michael Stillman A story recently came out of England that brings an ethical issue no one in the book trade enjoys facing to the forefront. It is a story that may not have bad guys, but it certainly has no good guys either. The issue is the age-old one of what, if anything, can we/should we do when an ignorant owner sells off valuable antiquarian books for a tiny fraction of their worth? One suspects this goes on more than we care to acknowledge, but rarely does it show up quite so starkly. In this case, the seller was a theological library, the buyer a bookseller. The story begins in 2002 when trustees of the library of the Diocese of Truro conclude that they must make more room on their shelves for new books. This is a working library, not an antiquarian one, and they notice that many of the older tracts rarely if ever are consulted. The centerpiece of these older books is the library of Bishop Henry Phillpotts, donated to the diocese over a century earlier. These may have once been read with awe and reverence, but records indicate no one has looked at any of them in the past ten years. They are taking up space. The logical choice, for a working library, is to clear them away to make room for the new. So far all is well. Next, the library begins the process of finding a buyer. Here is where it all goes wrong. Evidently, neither the trustees nor librarian have any idea as to what they might be worth. Essentially, they look like too many shelves of old religious books, and in general, such titles are not among the more valuable. The library apparently asks around, and places a small notice in the publication of the ABA (England's Antiquarian Booksellers Association). However, this note mentions only that they are seeking an appraisal for insurance purposes. Reportedly, three ABA booksellers responded, but the library never followed through. Some time later, three other booksellers offer bids. It is not clear how these particular sellers became aware of the library, but few, if any others ever knew of the planned sale. The highest bid comes from London dealer John Thornton, a specialist in theological books. He bids £35,000 in 2004 (Americans – double the number of English pounds for an approximate U.S. equivalent). Runner up is said to be £20,000. Again, the library does little follow up. In 2006, Thornton comes back and ups his bid, ever so slightly, to £36,000. At this point, the library is getting tired of housing all of these old books and apparently wants very much to be rid of them. It also appears that they think that this bid must be fair since neither of the other dealers offered nearly so much. The bid is accepted. You can see where this is going. That fall, Thornton carts away the books, three van loads. Next, some of these books start showing up at auction, first Dominic Winter, later Sotheby's. It becomes clear that Thornton has done quite well for himself.
A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare - By Michael Stillman A typical, non-grangerized version of a Macklin One piece stands out as perhaps being the most illustrative of the issue. This was a Macklin Bible, from 1800. These usually run six or seven volumes and might be expected to bring £1,000-£2,000. However, this was a very special set. It had been painstakingly built up over many years by the Rev. Franke Parker. When he donated it to the library in the 1880s, it had grown to some 63 folio volumes, taking up 20 feet of shelf space. This was a grangerized Bible, that is to say, one in which Rev. Parker and his predecessors had taken some 9,000-plus illustrations from other books and resources and added them to his Bible. The Bible was rebound to accommodate all of this extra material, as if it were a natural part. It is easy to see why a space-starved working library would want to be rid of a single unused book taking up 20 feet of shelf space. However, a book filled with over 9,000 prints and drawings, all of which must be well over a century old, and some of which were several centuries old, is likely to have some very interesting pieces. When it was taken to Dominic Winter a short time later, it reportedly brought in several serious potential bidders for a viewing, one all the way from Italy. When the hammer went down, the bids had flown way past the estimate of £7,000-£10,000. The final bid was for £47,000, or 30% more than Thornton had paid for the entire library (£55,225 including the auctioneer's commission). We have not been able to confirm this, but it has been reported that the anonymous British phone bidder who won removed perhaps a couple hundred items from the binding and resold the remainder to an American bidder. As it turned out, this was not the only gem in the Phillpotts library. Several other books also sold for more than Thornton had paid for the whole, including a 1470 Flavius Josephus for £78,000 (more than double the entire library's cost). All told, the auctions have taken in around £500,000 ($1,000,000). That is just what has been auctioned. It is not known whether or how many items from the library Thornton sold privately. So who has done wrong here? Clearly the library, at the very least, was negligent. They obviously had no idea what the material was worth, but considering its age, and the offer for £36,000, you would think someone would have concluded a bit more investigation was required. The ABA booksellers were ignored. No one contacted an auction house, a most logical step, as they would have no reason to lowball an estimate. Of course, an appraisal by anyone independent, that is, someone not also interested in buying the books, was called for with so many very old books that were obviously worth more than pocket change. There sure seems to be a gross abandonment of fiduciary responsibility here by people more concerned with eliminating a space problem than in being certain to do the best possible for their institution. Foolish and lazy invites disaster, and now, public humiliation. It is hard to say this is undeserved. What about Thornton? Has he done anything wrong? First, it is not known whether he had an inkling as to what the real value of this library was. Only he knows for sure. He is reported to have said it was dark in the library so examining the books carefully was difficult. Maybe. Still, it took him two years to come back and raise his offer from £35,000 to £36,000, not exactly what you would expect of someone who saw a chance to make a killing. And what if he did know? What are his obligations, if any? That's the age-old ethical question no one who has ever found a bargain in a garage sale, on eBay, or a library sale particularly likes to consider.
A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare - By Michael Stillman none The ABA, through its president, Alan Shelley, responded in a letter to the London Times. After relieving themselves of any responsibility for the mess by pointing out that Thornton is not an ABA member, and that their three responding members were ignored by the library, he writes, "If one of our members purchased a book from a private individual, estate, or library, and subsequently discovered it to be of significantly higher value than thought, we would certainly expect that member to make adequate restitution to the original owner." Of course that is the honorable thing to do, though perhaps easier said than done. One wonders how many of their members, confronted with a similar "unfortunate" situation, would give up their ABA membership instead of the million dollars. As for Thornton, he is said to be retiring to the country. At 74 years of age, retirement makes perfect sense, and now he should be able to do so in comfort. Meanwhile, the library is reported to have consulted counsel to see what their options are. I don't know how British law deals with such situations, but perhaps the trustees should start by suing themselves.

A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare

- By Michael Stillman

A Flavius Josephus sold for 78,000 at Sotheby's

By Michael Stillman

A story recently came out of England that brings an ethical issue no one in the book trade enjoys facing to the forefront. It is a story that may not have bad guys, but it certainly has no good guys either. The issue is the age-old one of what, if anything, can we/should we do when an ignorant owner sells off valuable antiquarian books for a tiny fraction of their worth? One suspects this goes on more than we care to acknowledge, but rarely does it show up quite so starkly. In this case, the seller was a theological library, the buyer a bookseller.

The story begins in 2002 when trustees of the library of the Diocese of Truro conclude that they must make more room on their shelves for new books. This is a working library, not an antiquarian one, and they notice that many of the older tracts rarely if ever are consulted. The centerpiece of these older books is the library of Bishop Henry Phillpotts, donated to the diocese over a century earlier. These may have once been read with awe and reverence, but records indicate no one has looked at any of them in the past ten years. They are taking up space. The logical choice, for a working library, is to clear them away to make room for the new. So far all is well.

Next, the library begins the process of finding a buyer. Here is where it all goes wrong. Evidently, neither the trustees nor librarian have any idea as to what they might be worth. Essentially, they look like too many shelves of old religious books, and in general, such titles are not among the more valuable. The library apparently asks around, and places a small notice in the publication of the ABA (England's Antiquarian Booksellers Association). However, this note mentions only that they are seeking an appraisal for insurance purposes. Reportedly, three ABA booksellers responded, but the library never followed through.

Some time later, three other booksellers offer bids. It is not clear how these particular sellers became aware of the library, but few, if any others ever knew of the planned sale. The highest bid comes from London dealer John Thornton, a specialist in theological books. He bids £35,000 in 2004 (Americans – double the number of English pounds for an approximate U.S. equivalent). Runner up is said to be £20,000. Again, the library does little follow up. In 2006, Thornton comes back and ups his bid, ever so slightly, to £36,000. At this point, the library is getting tired of housing all of these old books and apparently wants very much to be rid of them. It also appears that they think that this bid must be fair since neither of the other dealers offered nearly so much. The bid is accepted.

You can see where this is going. That fall, Thornton carts away the books, three van loads. Next, some of these books start showing up at auction, first Dominic Winter, later Sotheby's. It becomes clear that Thornton has done quite well for himself.

A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare

- By Michael Stillman

A typical, non-grangerized version of a Macklin

One piece stands out as perhaps being the most illustrative of the issue. This was a Macklin Bible, from 1800. These usually run six or seven volumes and might be expected to bring £1,000-£2,000. However, this was a very special set. It had been painstakingly built up over many years by the Rev. Franke Parker. When he donated it to the library in the 1880s, it had grown to some 63 folio volumes, taking up 20 feet of shelf space. This was a grangerized Bible, that is to say, one in which Rev. Parker and his predecessors had taken some 9,000-plus illustrations from other books and resources and added them to his Bible. The Bible was rebound to accommodate all of this extra material, as if it were a natural part. It is easy to see why a space-starved working library would want to be rid of a single unused book taking up 20 feet of shelf space. However, a book filled with over 9,000 prints and drawings, all of which must be well over a century old, and some of which were several centuries old, is likely to have some very interesting pieces. When it was taken to Dominic Winter a short time later, it reportedly brought in several serious potential bidders for a viewing, one all the way from Italy. When the hammer went down, the bids had flown way past the estimate of £7,000-£10,000. The final bid was for £47,000, or 30% more than Thornton had paid for the entire library (£55,225 including the auctioneer's commission). We have not been able to confirm this, but it has been reported that the anonymous British phone bidder who won removed perhaps a couple hundred items from the binding and resold the remainder to an American bidder.

As it turned out, this was not the only gem in the Phillpotts library. Several other books also sold for more than Thornton had paid for the whole, including a 1470 Flavius Josephus for £78,000 (more than double the entire library's cost). All told, the auctions have taken in around £500,000 ($1,000,000). That is just what has been auctioned. It is not known whether or how many items from the library Thornton sold privately.

So who has done wrong here? Clearly the library, at the very least, was negligent. They obviously had no idea what the material was worth, but considering its age, and the offer for £36,000, you would think someone would have concluded a bit more investigation was required. The ABA booksellers were ignored. No one contacted an auction house, a most logical step, as they would have no reason to lowball an estimate. Of course, an appraisal by anyone independent, that is, someone not also interested in buying the books, was called for with so many very old books that were obviously worth more than pocket change. There sure seems to be a gross abandonment of fiduciary responsibility here by people more concerned with eliminating a space problem than in being certain to do the best possible for their institution. Foolish and lazy invites disaster, and now, public humiliation. It is hard to say this is undeserved.

What about Thornton? Has he done anything wrong? First, it is not known whether he had an inkling as to what the real value of this library was. Only he knows for sure. He is reported to have said it was dark in the library so examining the books carefully was difficult. Maybe. Still, it took him two years to come back and raise his offer from £35,000 to £36,000, not exactly what you would expect of someone who saw a chance to make a killing. And what if he did know? What are his obligations, if any? That's the age-old ethical question no one who has ever found a bargain in a garage sale, on eBay, or a library sale particularly likes to consider.

A Bookseller's Dream, A Book Seller's Nightmare

- By Michael Stillman

none

The ABA, through its president, Alan Shelley, responded in a letter to the London Times. After relieving themselves of any responsibility for the mess by pointing out that Thornton is not an ABA member, and that their three responding members were ignored by the library, he writes, "If one of our members purchased a book from a private individual, estate, or library, and subsequently discovered it to be of significantly higher value than thought, we would certainly expect that member to make adequate restitution to the original owner." Of course that is the honorable thing to do, though perhaps easier said than done. One wonders how many of their members, confronted with a similar "unfortunate" situation, would give up their ABA membership instead of the million dollars.

As for Thornton, he is said to be retiring to the country. At 74 years of age, retirement makes perfect sense, and now he should be able to do so in comfort. Meanwhile, the library is reported to have consulted counsel to see what their options are. I don't know how British law deals with such situations, but perhaps the trustees should start by suing themselves.