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

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Those Buttons - the Other Services that Come with the AE Database - By Michael Stillman Six buttons and two links. Many of you are now subscribers to the AE Database (and we hope many more will join them soon). The AE Database is a compilation of bibliographic records, primarily taken from auctions, both recent and historic, along with some bibliographies and important catalogues. The great majority of the records have prices. It is by far the most comprehensive tool for determining market values of books and other bibliographic and historic points. At 3.15 million records and growing practically every day with the most up-to-date results, there is nothing else even close to being like it. What many subscribers and users of the AED don't realize is that there is a whole set of additional tools that come with the Database, which can make it that much more useful to you than it is already. If you conduct a search in the AED, you will see a group of buttons just above your results (or look at the image on this page). There are 6 buttons and 2 blue "records found" links. Here is what each of them does. Get Current Estimate - this button actually accesses two services, Get Current Estimate and Probability of Reappearance. What you do here is select those records that are of interest (or all) and then click the "Get Current Estimate" button. The database will then calculate an estimate of the current value of each one (as far back as 1914). It does this by factoring the overall appreciation (or depreciation) in the value of books for each year since the date it was sold, based on the millions of records in the AED. By calculating current value of older prices in "book dollars" it enables you to make sense of older records, and better estimate the likely current value of books that do not come up for sale often. In the case of sales made in euros and pounds over the past 15 years, it converts these to U.S. dollars. It also provides an average estimate for all of the records you select. Obviously, for this to make sense, you need to select only copies of the same book and edition. This will smooth out aberrations in price where a sufficient number of records is available. The other service provided under this button is Probability of Reappearance. This looks at records going back 50 years and estimates roughly how often the book you have selected can be expected to come up at auction. For this calculation, you need to select all similar items, that is same book, same edition. This knowledge can be very useful in knowing how aggressively to pursue a particular book. You might choose to pursue a book a bit harder that only comes up about once every 15 years than one that regularly shows up every year. Add to MatchMaker - MatchMaker is the AE service that allows you to select either fields of collecting (keywords) or specific titles or authors for automated daily searching for copies for sale. Once a day, MatchMaker will search AE's database of upcoming auction listings, as well as AE's Books For Sale, eBay, AbeBooks, and other sites. The next morning, it gives you a list of new matches (that is, only newly listed books, not a repeat of the listings you received the day before). Non-subscribers to the AED have access to MatchMaker for auction and Books For Sale listings, but not for eBay, Abe and others. Trying to conduct manual searches of the various sites daily for all of the keywords or titles you follow is practically impossible, meaning you may miss opportunities you have spent years searching for. Not with MatchMaker. Here is a more detailed description of this service: click here.
Those Buttons - the Other Services that Come with the AE Database - By Michael Stillman Thomas Edison's most commonly used keywords relate to autographs, not electricity. Add to Footnote: Footnotes is a great tool for those who sell books (booksellers, auctions, or private individuals), and librarians and others posting research or information about books. It enables you to select up to 50 records from the AE Database, put them on a page, and then create a link to that page you can post anywhere. So, if you are selling a book and want potential customers to understand why it is valuable, you can create a file of past sales. At the end of the "for sale" listing on your site, simply copy and paste the link to the Footnote file you created (a footnote). When a viewer clicks the link, they will see all of the listings you created. Even if you don't have your own website you can post this link as the Footnote file is hosted on AE's server. This service may similarly be used by librarians, historians, or anyone else looking to create a Footnote of records from the AED to support their research. Get AE Keyword - If you would like to know what words are most often used in listings for a particular item or subject, simply select all or some of those listings you find after an AED search and click "Get AE Keyword." You may want to do this for practical reasons - such as finding additional terms to search to find material of interest, or to be sure you are using terms others search for when creating descriptions of books you are selling. You may want to check keywords out of curiosity, or for what else they may tell you. For example, if you search for "Thomas Edison," you will find "light" and "electrical," but after "Edison" and "Thomas," the most common keywords are "signed," "letter," "typed" and "autograph." A bit further down comes "signature." A signed piece from Edison is a wonderful thing to have, but in assessing what to pay for such an item, don't assume things in Edison's hand are very rare. The frequency of these keywords in listings relating to Edison tells you they are not. Print - Finally, a button that needs no explanation. Track Record - Track Record is a service that is partly similar to MatchMaker and partly not. It enables you to keep a notation of a book you find in the AE Database for future reference… in other words, so you don't forget about it. Once you have marked a book for tracking, you just go to your "My Account" page to find it. However, like MatchMaker, you will also receive a notification if any of these books ever comes up at auction or is listed in AE's Books for Sale. Records Found - Now for those two blue links above the buttons that give a number of "records found." One says "Books for Sale," the other "Upcoming Auctions." Whenever you search the AE Database, there is a behind-the-scenes search going on of two other databases - upcoming auction listings and Books for Sale. This way, if you would like to see what's available in these databases, the results are right there. You don't have to go to these other databases and conduct separate searches. We call it a "triangulated search," which is a fancy way of saying we recognize that in today's world, it's all about information. People want reams of information, all in one place and all at once. Triangulated search provides the AED subscriber not only with over 3 million records of past results but data on books currently listed at auction and for sale as well.

Those Buttons - the Other Services that Come with the AE Database

- By Michael Stillman

Six buttons and two links.

Many of you are now subscribers to the AE Database (and we hope many more will join them soon). The AE Database is a compilation of bibliographic records, primarily taken from auctions, both recent and historic, along with some bibliographies and important catalogues. The great majority of the records have prices. It is by far the most comprehensive tool for determining market values of books and other bibliographic and historic points. At 3.15 million records and growing practically every day with the most up-to-date results, there is nothing else even close to being like it. What many subscribers and users of the AED don't realize is that there is a whole set of additional tools that come with the Database, which can make it that much more useful to you than it is already.

If you conduct a search in the AED, you will see a group of buttons just above your results (or look at the image on this page). There are 6 buttons and 2 blue "records found" links. Here is what each of them does.

Get Current Estimate - this button actually accesses two services, Get Current Estimate and Probability of Reappearance. What you do here is select those records that are of interest (or all) and then click the "Get Current Estimate" button. The database will then calculate an estimate of the current value of each one (as far back as 1914). It does this by factoring the overall appreciation (or depreciation) in the value of books for each year since the date it was sold, based on the millions of records in the AED. By calculating current value of older prices in "book dollars" it enables you to make sense of older records, and better estimate the likely current value of books that do not come up for sale often. In the case of sales made in euros and pounds over the past 15 years, it converts these to U.S. dollars.

It also provides an average estimate for all of the records you select. Obviously, for this to make sense, you need to select only copies of the same book and edition. This will smooth out aberrations in price where a sufficient number of records is available.

The other service provided under this button is Probability of Reappearance. This looks at records going back 50 years and estimates roughly how often the book you have selected can be expected to come up at auction. For this calculation, you need to select all similar items, that is same book, same edition. This knowledge can be very useful in knowing how aggressively to pursue a particular book. You might choose to pursue a book a bit harder that only comes up about once every 15 years than one that regularly shows up every year.

Add to MatchMaker - MatchMaker is the AE service that allows you to select either fields of collecting (keywords) or specific titles or authors for automated daily searching for copies for sale. Once a day, MatchMaker will search AE's database of upcoming auction listings, as well as AE's Books For Sale, eBay, AbeBooks, and other sites. The next morning, it gives you a list of new matches (that is, only newly listed books, not a repeat of the listings you received the day before). Non-subscribers to the AED have access to MatchMaker for auction and Books For Sale listings, but not for eBay, Abe and others. Trying to conduct manual searches of the various sites daily for all of the keywords or titles you follow is practically impossible, meaning you may miss opportunities you have spent years searching for. Not with MatchMaker. Here is a more detailed description of this service: click here.

Those Buttons - the Other Services that Come with the AE Database

- By Michael Stillman

Thomas Edison's most commonly used keywords relate to autographs, not electricity.

Add to Footnote: Footnotes is a great tool for those who sell books (booksellers, auctions, or private individuals), and librarians and others posting research or information about books. It enables you to select up to 50 records from the AE Database, put them on a page, and then create a link to that page you can post anywhere. So, if you are selling a book and want potential customers to understand why it is valuable, you can create a file of past sales. At the end of the "for sale" listing on your site, simply copy and paste the link to the Footnote file you created (a footnote). When a viewer clicks the link, they will see all of the listings you created. Even if you don't have your own website you can post this link as the Footnote file is hosted on AE's server.

This service may similarly be used by librarians, historians, or anyone else looking to create a Footnote of records from the AED to support their research.

Get AE Keyword - If you would like to know what words are most often used in listings for a particular item or subject, simply select all or some of those listings you find after an AED search and click "Get AE Keyword." You may want to do this for practical reasons - such as finding additional terms to search to find material of interest, or to be sure you are using terms others search for when creating descriptions of books you are selling. You may want to check keywords out of curiosity, or for what else they may tell you. For example, if you search for "Thomas Edison," you will find "light" and "electrical," but after "Edison" and "Thomas," the most common keywords are "signed," "letter," "typed" and "autograph." A bit further down comes "signature." A signed piece from Edison is a wonderful thing to have, but in assessing what to pay for such an item, don't assume things in Edison's hand are very rare. The frequency of these keywords in listings relating to Edison tells you they are not.

Print - Finally, a button that needs no explanation.

Track Record - Track Record is a service that is partly similar to MatchMaker and partly not. It enables you to keep a notation of a book you find in the AE Database for future reference… in other words, so you don't forget about it. Once you have marked a book for tracking, you just go to your "My Account" page to find it. However, like MatchMaker, you will also receive a notification if any of these books ever comes up at auction or is listed in AE's Books for Sale.

Records Found - Now for those two blue links above the buttons that give a number of "records found." One says "Books for Sale," the other "Upcoming Auctions." Whenever you search the AE Database, there is a behind-the-scenes search going on of two other databases - upcoming auction listings and Books for Sale. This way, if you would like to see what's available in these databases, the results are right there. You don't have to go to these other databases and conduct separate searches. We call it a "triangulated search," which is a fancy way of saying we recognize that in today's world, it's all about information. People want reams of information, all in one place and all at once. Triangulated search provides the AED subscriber not only with over 3 million records of past results but data on books currently listed at auction and for sale as well.