Rare Book Monthly

Articles - October - 2004 Issue

Building Trust online:<br>The Antiquariaat Forum

Books line the shelves, while buttons at the bottom allow you to direct your tour.


Some booksellers are reassuring buyers through the quality of their websites. We have seen this strategy employed particularly well by European dealers, but it is by no means limited to them. For our example, we will look at the Antiquariaat Forum from just outside of Utrecht, The Netherlands. The Antiquariaat Forum has a website that exudes class and knowledge, the kind that reassures you that this is a solid, reliable company with which to do business. Listings are provided with descriptions worthy of their prices. Some include images. It is hard not to believe that this is a very reputable bookseller.

However, Antiquariaat Forum has gone one step further. You still can't be sure this is not a beautiful site maintained by someone with a few shelves of books in the attic. So, they show you their store. It is magnificent. We're not just talking about a couple of photographs here. No, they have a virtual tour. You can virtually walk into their store (it really looks more like a library), and look around, up, down, all over. You can sit back and let their eyes circle you around the room, or move your "eyes" in whichever direction you choose. You can even zoom in and out to check the books on a particular shelf. Tours are provided for four separate areas of their location to make sure you don't miss a thing. If you had any doubts as to the substance of the Antiquariaat Forum coming in, you will not have any doubts when you leave.

This type of site may not be for everyone. If your typical sale is a 15-year-old used book for $10, this type of presentation would look ridiculous. However, if you are looking to sell reasonably expensive books to total strangers, it is worth looking at your internet presence to see if it inspires sufficient confidence to send off a significant sum of money to someone you don't know. To whatever extent it is possible to do this, Antiquariaat Forum has done about as well as you can.

As a final note, building a website can be expensive. It can also be not so expensive (it's a lot like buying old books!). A professional web-designing firm will probably ask a lot. Someone has to pay for that beautiful office they have, and their expensive dinners after work. If you use them, you want to see if you can get fill-in time. Alternatively, you might want to look for a college student, or the computer design department of a college. These people tend to work cheaply. If you have a 15 to 20-year-old son, you are particularly lucky. He can do this, even though he can't mow the lawn. When you go to one of the book sites, you may find the identical book offered for $10 and $100. You want to buy the $10 copy. The same logic applies to buying web services.

Now, to visit the Antiquariaat Forum and virtually tour their library, here's the link: www.forumrarebooks.com. Just click on the "Virtual Tour" on the home page. A note of caution: the tour may not work with older versions of software. For Windows users, it will probably require Windows 2000 or better. For Apple users, you may need the latest version, OS10.3.

Addendum

Nat Des Marais of the Heritage Book Shop in Los Angeles has brought to our attention that they have been using a virtual tour on their site for 2 1/2 years. Indeed they have. To check out their tour, go to www.heritagebookshop.com and look for their virtual tour under "About Us."

Rare Book Monthly

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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
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    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
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    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
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