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

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New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas Elizabeth Svendsen, owner of Walkabout Books in Xenia, Ohio. The old school antiquarian book trade is alive and well and living in Xenia, Ohio. Meet Elizabeth Svendsen, 43, who entered the trade less than ten years ago as an online seller in 2004. She did well on the internet and in 2006 added Blue Jacket Books, a bricks and mortar used book store, which became a popular local hang out. Aiming a little higher she sold the store to a customer in 2011 and upgraded to a traditional antiquarian dealership, Walkabout Books, complete with a second story showroom and a brand new ABAA membership. Talk about old school, her specialty, the oldest of the old school niches – Exploration and Travels – and her first catalog devoted to Africa, is available by request. (books@walkaboutbooks.net) While dealers in the past often came to the trade by working in or scouting for the dusty shops of a bygone era this is the generation came of age on line. Svendsen recalled her first forays into bookselling came by listing her books from graduate school. As for the shop, as her on line business grew she needed a place to store her inventory and “in Xenia the difference in what it costs to rent a store and what it costs to rent storage was not substantial.” She estimated it took her about five years “to actually earn a living” from her book selling efforts, and now with her transition into to the upper echelon of the field, she thinks “it might take that long again to get established.”
New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas Walkabout is a walk-up, a second story storefront. To prepare for the transition she attended courses at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar, the Rare Book School affiliated with the University of Virginia and the California Rare Book School (Links to 2013 offerings at the end) She found the experience worthwhile and pointed out that all of them offer scholarships. She credits these experiences with helping to shape her specialty and meet future colleagues and associates. As for the ABAA membership, though for some the organization seems a bit formidable, Svendsen claims it is friendlier than you may have heard on the grapevine and the vetting process for membership not so daunting and it might at first appear. When she changed from a local used book store to an antiquarian specialist, she noted her stock went from about 6,000 books to only a few hundred. Now she’s spending to build an inventory and is up to about 1,600 titles. She’s also been exhibiting widely. In 2012 she participated in shows in Florida, the NYC “shadow” show, Akron, Buffalo and the Twin Cities. “I drove to all of them,” she said. Seattle, however, was her first time to fly both herself and her books to an event, which turned out to be among her favorites, with the right blend of congenial colleagues and interested and interesting customers.
New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas A selection of vintage travel ephemera. Svendsen will attend her first ABAA book fair as an exhibitor from Feb. 15 to 17 in San Francisco. She’ll be based in booth 420 and sharing space with James Graham, another new ABAA member, who specializes in modern first editions. As for the popular perception that books are over, Svendsen observed that “not everything is digitized” and that many people still collect. They still “have the yen to hold the actual book in their hand.” Her own interests and stock tends toward the 19^th and early 20^th century. One reason is because she doesn’t have the bankroll (yet) to afford the pricier material from the earlier centuries. She likes Africa, Alaska, the Poles (as in North and South) and mountaineering. Even though her book school mentors convinced her that there’s not enough of a market to make mountaineering a primary focus, you can hear the excitement in her voice when she talks about finds in this field. She also likes vintage travel and tourism especially related to the national parks.
New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas A sketch from a 1913 travel diary showing a lady golfer in Manchester, Vt. Svendsen will be bringing a selection of interesting inventory with her to San Francisco including a hundred year old travel sketchbook illustrated with 21 original pencil drawings by a talented amateur. Though she resists forecasting future trends, she did mention in her own area of specialty “It is moving more toward unique items and ephemera.” Her first catalog on AFRICA has items that date from 1750 to 1950. The subtitle Through the Eyes of Explorers, Missionaries, Ethnologists, Soldiers, Traders, Tourists, and other Adventurers gives a sense of the diversity the period contains. Many of the offerings cluster in the 19th century. It is mostly books, many of them with plates and maps.
New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books - By Susan Halas View of the River Shary from ... Africa 1822-24 ... published London 1826. An image showing a view of the River Shary is a good example of how far away places looked to the English speaking world of the period. It comes from item #35, a first edition Denham and Clapperton’s two volumes in one Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, London: John Murray, 1826 with an asking price of $1,000. Other prices in the Africa catalog range from about $40 to about $3,500 (for a Kilimanjaro mountaineering title naturally). If you’re a dealer or collector from an earlier age wondering what will become of the antiquarian trade as the world of print turns digital and the market for actual books shrinks chances are you’ll find Svendsen’s outlook reassuring. Even more upbeat is her assertion that she is not alone. There is a next generation and she contends that there are many motivated younger people who see the antiquarian trade as a vocation with a future. She suggested AE readers take the time to browse her own offerings and those of some of her peers. Elizabeth Svendsen, Walkabout Books – ABAA Xenia, Ohio Exploration & Travel www.walkaboutbooks.net And a few of her colleagues in the next generation for recommended browsing: Gabe Konrad Bay Leaf Books - ABAA Sand Lake, MI Used and Rare Generalist www.bayleafbooks.com Adam Davis and Kate Schafer Division Leap - ABAA Portland, OR Hip, ‘Zines, Ephemera, Mimeo Revolution www.divisionleap.com/cgi-bin/akd/index.html Jonathan Smalter Yesterday’s Muse - IOBA Webster, NY Utopian-Dystopian www.yesterdaysmuse.com Kara McLoughlin, Little Sages Books - IOBA Antiquarian –hard to find books & ephemera Cooper City, Florida www.littlesages.com Zhenya Dzhavgova ZH Books– IOBA Freemont, California Eastern Euro-Slavic Languages, zh-books.com Links to the Book Schools Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar August 4-9, 2013 www.bookseminars.com Rare Books School, Charlottesville, VA 2013 summer and fall courses in Charlottesville, New Haven, Philadelphia & Washington, DC www.rarebookschool.org/schedule California Rare Books School August through November 2013 in various California locations www.calrbs.org/dates ----------- ABAA San Francisco Book Fair, Feb 15-17, 2013 www.sfbookfair.com ------------ Reach Susan Halas at wailukusue@gmail.com

New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books

- By Susan Halas

Elizabeth Svendsen, owner of Walkabout Books in Xenia, Ohio.

The old school antiquarian book trade is alive and well and living in Xenia, Ohio. Meet Elizabeth Svendsen, 43, who entered the trade less than ten years ago as an online seller in 2004. She did well on the internet and in 2006 added Blue Jacket Books, a bricks and mortar used book store, which became a popular local hang out.

Aiming a little higher she sold the store to a customer in 2011 and upgraded to a traditional antiquarian dealership, Walkabout Books, complete with a second story showroom and a brand new ABAA membership.

Talk about old school, her specialty, the oldest of the old school niches – Exploration and Travels – and her first catalog devoted to Africa, is available by request. (books@walkaboutbooks.net)

While dealers in the past often came to the trade by working in or scouting for the dusty shops of a bygone era this is the generation came of age on line. Svendsen recalled her first forays into bookselling came by listing her books from graduate school.

As for the shop, as her on line business grew she needed a place to store her inventory and “in Xenia the difference in what it costs to rent a store and what it costs to rent storage was not substantial.”

She estimated it took her about five years “to actually earn a living” from her book selling efforts, and now with her transition into to the upper echelon of the field, she thinks “it might take that long again to get established.”

New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books

- By Susan Halas

Walkabout is a walk-up, a second story storefront.

To prepare for the transition she attended courses at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar, the Rare Book School affiliated with the University of Virginia and the California Rare Book School (Links to 2013 offerings at the end) She found the experience worthwhile and pointed out that all of them offer scholarships.

She credits these experiences with helping to shape her specialty and meet future colleagues and associates. As for the ABAA membership, though for some the organization seems a bit formidable, Svendsen claims it is friendlier than you may have heard on the grapevine and the vetting process for membership not so daunting and it might at first appear.

When she changed from a local used book store to an antiquarian specialist, she noted her stock went from about 6,000 books to only a few hundred. Now she’s spending to build an inventory and is up to about 1,600 titles. She’s also been exhibiting widely. In 2012 she participated in shows in Florida, the NYC “shadow” show, Akron, Buffalo and the Twin Cities. “I drove to all of them,” she said.

Seattle, however, was her first time to fly both herself and her books to an event, which turned out to be among her favorites, with the right blend of congenial colleagues and interested and interesting customers.

New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books

- By Susan Halas

A selection of vintage travel ephemera.

Svendsen will attend her first ABAA book fair as an exhibitor from Feb. 15 to 17 in San Francisco. She’ll be based in booth 420 and sharing space with James Graham, another new ABAA member, who specializes in modern first editions.

As for the popular perception that books are over, Svendsen observed that “not everything is digitized” and that many people still collect. They still “have the yen to hold the actual book in their hand.”

Her own interests and stock tends toward the 19^th and early 20^th century. One reason is because she doesn’t have the bankroll (yet) to afford the pricier material from the earlier centuries.

She likes Africa, Alaska, the Poles (as in North and South) and mountaineering. Even though her book school mentors convinced her that there’s not enough of a market to make mountaineering a primary focus, you can hear the excitement in her voice when she talks about finds in this field. She also likes vintage travel and tourism especially related to the national parks.

New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books

- By Susan Halas

A sketch from a 1913 travel diary showing a lady golfer in Manchester, Vt.

Svendsen will be bringing a selection of interesting inventory with her to San Francisco including a hundred year old travel sketchbook illustrated with 21 original pencil drawings by a talented amateur. Though she resists forecasting future trends, she did mention in her own area of specialty “It is moving more toward unique items and ephemera.”

Her first catalog on AFRICA has items that date from 1750 to 1950. The subtitle Through the Eyes of Explorers, Missionaries, Ethnologists, Soldiers, Traders, Tourists, and other Adventurers gives a sense of the diversity the period contains. Many of the offerings cluster in the 19th century. It is mostly books, many of them with plates and maps.

New Blood in an Old Trade: Elizabeth Svendsen – Walkabout Books

- By Susan Halas

View of the River Shary from ... Africa 1822-24 ... published London 1826.

An image showing a view of the River Shary is a good example of how far away places looked to the English speaking world of the period. It comes from item #35, a first edition Denham and Clapperton’s two volumes in one Narrative of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa in the Years 1822, 1823, and 1824, London: John Murray, 1826 with an asking price of $1,000. Other prices in the Africa catalog range from about $40 to about $3,500 (for a Kilimanjaro mountaineering title naturally).

If you’re a dealer or collector from an earlier age wondering what will become of the antiquarian trade as the world of print turns digital and the market for actual books shrinks chances are you’ll find Svendsen’s outlook reassuring.

Even more upbeat is her assertion that she is not alone. There is a next generation and she contends that there are many motivated younger people who see the antiquarian trade as a vocation with a future.

She suggested AE readers take the time to browse her own offerings and those of some of her peers.

Elizabeth Svendsen,

Walkabout Books – ABAA

Xenia, Ohio

Exploration & Travel

www.walkaboutbooks.net

And a few of her colleagues in the next generation for recommended browsing:

Gabe Konrad

Bay Leaf Books - ABAA

Sand Lake, MI

Used and Rare Generalist

www.bayleafbooks.com