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Guest Column:
Rare Book Buying
by Robert Williams, MS
Assistant Vice President, Library
Strange as it may seem, buyers greatly increase their purchases of rare books in a recession-dominated market. In plush economic times there is often a shortage of quality material for purchase, mainly because sellers hold things back in hopes of higher prices. During the past decades, I often heard of "rare and beautiful" books waiting to come on the market, but they didn’t. At a certain point, I gave up waiting, knowing that good quality, but second tier, books were also getting too expensive. The rare books market seemed to be feeding on promises and the promises were getting more and more expensive.
Times change and change quickly. In the last year I have seen, if not the promised land, at least the promised book — really good books by the hundreds with prices lower than they were five or in some cases many more years ago.
Whereas I once had a list of titles to acquire and no hope of acquiring them, now I have choices to make, always a good thing. Titles I once would have acquired immediately, I now have second thoughts about. There is that little feeling that I shouldn’t jump too soon because something better is coming along. Then that better thing comes along and I am now greedy because I know that I can do even better so I don’t buy anything.
Here I am in a rare book collector’s heaven finding more and more delights but still not buying—just waiting. It seems as if the rare books market is where it was in financial plush times—then we were just waiting for a better price now we are waiting for a better edition.
Perhaps the rare book market is a good reflection of the current economic times—too many of us are just waiting and by waiting too long we can’t find anything or be able to afford them.
Just as an afterthought, this past weekend I was at an auction and I made the move — I made a bid at sixty percent below the listed price and won. I took my treasure home with the greatest pleasure — I have found a good deal for me, one that I could well afford and still have done something for the economy — I bought something. Maybe it’s a trend.
The opinions expressed here are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the Financial Services division of Kennesaw State University.
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