The AE Book Collector Survey Conducted at the Recent ABAA Show in San Francisco
- by Bruce E. McKinney
The 36th ABAA International Book Fair
As to from whom/where they buy it is not surprising that most respondents said they buy from dealers. At this dealer show, no other option was available. Here is how they answered:
From dealers
91%
At auction
33%
Opportunistically
29%
(such as garage sales)
On Line
47%
Online Sources
% of all respondents
% of those who buy online
ABE
31%
67%
eBay
27%
57%
Bibliofind*
16%
33%
ABAA
11%
24%
ILAB
4%
10%
WBD
4%
10%
Bookfinder
11%
24%
We were surprised that eBay showed so strongly. This may be a California bias, may reflect eBay’s promotion at the show, or may simply be a stealth trend. After all, eBay advertises that it has 65 million signed-up users. That doesn’t leave a lot of people to not be signed-up. We failed to include Alibris among the alternatives, our error. Several people we spoke with mentioned them and certainly many more would have had that option been available. Our apologies to Alibris. They are on the map and we suspect are becoming a factor among online sources in the rare books field.
As to the question “Are book fairs more important, less important or about the same?” the results were very random. Forty-two percent didn’t answer the question at all. Thirty-three percent said fairs are more important, 16% said less important and 9% said their importance remains unchanged.
As to the categories respondents collect:
