Bookseller Digest UK

AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in April 2012

1. Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka - £18,488
First edition, published 1915 by Kurt Wolff, this famous novella contains 73 pages plus five additional pages of advertisements at the rear.

2. The Americans by Robert Frank - £7,237
First American edition, 1959, signed by Frank to a fellow photographer on the half-title page.

3. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote - £4,621
First edition, price clipped but in near fine condition and signed by Capote.

4. The Works of Shakespeare by William Shakespeare - £3,829
Sir Thomas Hanmer (1677 - 1746), Speaker of the House of Commons, produced this edition of Shakespeare in his retirement in 1744.  This edition contains six volumes in total, with 36 full-page engraved plates (one for each play) plus an engraved portrait of Shakespeare as frontispiece.

5. De West-Indische Gids by H.D. Benjamins - £3,244
33 volumes of the West Indian Guide series (lacks volumes 35, 36, 38 and 39) written by Surinamese mathematician and physicist Herman Daniël Benjamins.

6. The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament by Thomas Clarkson - £3,122
First edition, in two volumes, published in 1808 complete with plates, two folding, including the famous illustration of the layout of human cargo on a slave ship.

7. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard - £3,050
The story of the 1910-1913 Antarctic expedition – a first edition in two volumes, including 73 panoramas, maps and illustrations, including the 10 original folding plates issued only in the first edition, by Dr. Edward A. Wilson and other members of the expedition.

8. Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq. R.A. composed chiefly of his letters by C.R. Leslie, et al - £3,011
First edition of the first book printed on the English romantic painter, one of 186 copies. The work set a new standard for an artist biography written in English, demonstrating Constable's neglected genius to a previously uninterested public through his own words.

9. View of the Hebrews by Ethan Smith - £2,587
This first edition, published in 1823, argues that native Americans were descended from the Hebrews. Numerous commentators on Mormon doctrine, from LDS Church general authority B. H. Roberts to biographer Fawn M. Brodie, have discussed the possibility that View of the Hebrews may have provided source material for the Book of Mormon, although it should be noted that Ethan is of no relation to Joseph Smith.

10. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell - £2,449
A signed first edition, first printing of this dystopian classic, with a maroon dust wrapper, published by Secker and Warburgh in 1949, and twice signed by Sir John Hurt (the actor who starred in the film adaptation with Richard Burton) on the title page as himself, as well as his character ‘Winston Smith’.

Upcoming Marketing Features - May

Below you'll find some of the planned marketing features for May. Be sure to upload any books and images you have that fit with these themes and the books featured in order to snap up some potential sales. Click on the links below to view the features online:

• Tove Jansson - The Real Moominmamma: Author of the well-known Moomin books, featuring some of literatures most intriguing characters.
• George MacDonald - The Father of Fantasy: Known for his famous fantasy novels including The Princess and the Goblin, Lilith, and The Golden Key.
• Custom Bindings - A selection of some of the most beautiful and interesting books featuring custom bindings created specifically for clients, exhibitions or strictly for fun.
• Modern Minimalist Book Covers - Featuring titles with the simplest of cover designs with minimal use of colour, images or text, popular in today's design world.
• Tintinology - The Ongoing Adventures of Tintin: A selection of books from this cult favourite children's series following Tintin's adventures around the world.
• Guile and Mischief - Tricksters in Literature: A collection of books featuring some of the most famous tricksters and mischief makers in literature.
• 39 Books for a John Buchan Collection: Featuring some of this author's most famous publications, including novels, biographies, essays and various publications, beginning with The Thirty-Nine Steps.
• Authors Who Went to War: A collection of books from famous author's many whose experiences at war contributed to some of history's most prolific books, including Catch-22 and Slaughterhouse Five.
• Bad To The Bone - The Worst Children in Literature: Featuring books where the child characters are not always inherently good and innocent. 
• Astrology, Weather, Medical Cures and More - Collectible Almanacs
• Guggenheim to the Tate - Collectible Exhibition Catalogues: A selection of exhibition catalogues showcasing publications from some of the world's leading galleries.
• Come Again - Literary Sequels: Featuring some of the most famous and best-loved literary sequels over the years - whether they were approved by the original author or not.

London International Antiquarian Book Fair 2012

This year's London International Antiquarian Book Fair will take place on 24 to 26 May in the National Hall at the Olympia Exhibition Centre. In its 55th year, the fair will be the biggest yet with even more exhibitors presenting their collections in a larger hall.

Organized by the ABA, the London International Antiquarian Book Fair attracts some of the top rare and antiquarian dealers in books, manuscripts, maps, prints and ephemera from the United Kingdom and all around the world. Collectors and enthusiasts will be sure to find a host of treasures at this years fair.

Tickets to the fair are free if you register in advance. Otherwise, tickets can be purchased at the door for £10 or £15 for two. More practical information about the fair as well as opening hours can be found on their website here.

I also plan to attend the fair this year to meet with booksellers and check out some of the items on display. Should you be exhibiting or attending the fair and wish to meet with me there, simply send a meeting request to our customer service team.

Send Buyers a Direct Link to your Books

If you are speaking with a buyer about a specific one of your listings, it is often helpful to be able to send them a direct link to that listing. This is particularly helpful should an order be cancelled due to problems with a credit card or delays with processing extra shipping.

In order to help the buyer place their order for a specific book, or to re-place an order which was previously cancelled, you can send them a direct link to that listing.

Here's how it works:

1. Log in to your bookseller account on AbeBooks.com
2. Click on 'Search and Browse My Books'
3. Enter the book title and, if necessary, the author, and any other specific details about the listing and click 'Find Book'
4. Once the book is located simply copy and paste the link from your address bar:

Note: The link will automatically go to that listing on AbeBooks.com. If your buyer placed their order through another domain (i.e. AbeBooks.co.uk) you will just need to edit the domain at the beginning of the link.

Royal Mail Price Increases: Be Sure to Update your Shipping Matrix

Royal Mail has announced that they will be increases the price of stamps effective 30 April 2012. Please be sure to check and update your AbeBooks Shipping Matrix in order to reflect these changes.

According to the Royal Mail Website:

• 1st Class stamps for letters weighing up to 100g will increase from 46p to 60p
• 2nd Class stamps for letters weighing up to 100g will increase from 36p to 50p

For instructions on how to update your Shipping Matrix, visit our Help Pages here.

NOTE: Any changes to the Shipping Matrix will be updated on your account immediately, but may take longer to appear online in your inventory - make sure you allow a few days for the changes to go through.

New Feature: Exclude PODs from your Want Matches

One of AbeBooks' popular services is our Wants feature. This feature allows buyers who are searching for a particular book, which may not yet be on AbeBooks, to be alerted when that book becomes available from a bookseller. Each day we compare buyer Want requests with the new inventory provided by booksellers. Both the buyer and the seller are notified when there is a Want match.

This service has recently been improved further. From now on, buyers will have the option of excluding Print on Demand books from their Want matches. This option will be automatically selected as a default when creating a Want:

Not only will this help buyers of rare, collectible and hard-to-find books to further refine their results, but your own listings, when matched with a Want, will become more visible to prospective buyers.

For more information on our Wants feature, visit our help pages online.

AbeBooks' Most Expensive Sales in March 2012

1. Theatrum Fungorum by Franciscus van Sterbeeck - £8,804
A fine first edition copy of this 1675 study on mushrooms.  The book depicts 349 varieties and was written in the Dutch language.

2. Moby-Dick or, The Whale by Herman Melville - £7,967
First edition, published 1851 by Harper and Brothers; this copy contains no signatures, bookplates or markings of any kind.  This true first edition did not sell well upon initial printing and was made more scarce after a fire destroyed many f Harper and Brother’s unsold copies in 1853.

3. Poèmes saturniens by Paul Verlaine - £5,817
Published in 1866 this singed first edition is the first book Verlaine had published and was limited to 500 copies. 

4. Mundus Subterraneus by Athanasius Kircher - £5,817
A first edition of Kircher’s famous work that attempts to explain the mysteries lying beneath the surface of the earth, produced in two volumes 1665. 

5. Mountain Road Lottery of 1768 ticket #214 signed by George Washington - £5,694
This was an original ticket from the 1768 Mountain Road Lottery, a project conceived by Washington (among others) to help finance a road though the Alleghany Mountains in Virginia.  The ticket, with detached numbered stub, was signed by Washington.

6. The Double Helix: A Personal Account of the Discovery of the Structure of DNA by James D. Watson - £5,377
First edition copy, published 1968, of Watson’s autobiographical account of the discovery of the double helix structure. This copy was signed by Watson as well as Francis Crick (co-discoverer) on the title page.

7. Tabula Russiae by Hessel Gerritsz - £4,175
Rare and important 1614 map of Russia, after a proof copy of 1613, by the Dutch engraver and cartographer Hessel Gerritsz.  It was compiled from manuscripts brought back from Russia by Isaac Massa, a Dutch merchant and diplomat who traded in Moscow and was renowned for his knowledge of Russian geography.

8. La Princesse de Babylone by Francois Marie Arouet Voltaire - £4,112
A 1948 first edition of lithographs by Dutch painter Kees van Dongen which illustrate Voltair’s La Princesse de Babylone.  In total there are 49 original color lithographs and 22 lettrines by Kees Van Dongen. 

9. Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving - £4,112
Published in 1905 by William Heinemann this limited edition production of Irving’s classic was lavishly illustrated by Arthur Rackham.  The book contains frontispiece and fifty color plates tipped onto heavy brown paper, one of them spread over two pages, as well as black & white pictorial title and tailpiece.

10. La Révolte des Anges by Anatole France - £4,000
The text of France’s novel is accompanied by 58 colored lithographs done by Kees Van Dongen, this edition was limited to 210 numbered copies and published in 1951. 

Order Processing: Be Sure to Check the Comments Field

When placing an order, many buyers choose to add important comments within the 'Comments' field in the order. When reviewing your orders, we would like to remind you to check the orders closely for any buyer comments or special instructions.

For example, many buyers in other countries require invoices for tax purpose and include these requests in the comments field. Other comments might include instructions regarding packaging, delivery, gifts, contact information, etc.

The buyer comments can be found directly underneath the order:

Optimize your Listings in Search Results Part II: Add Book Condition

Last month we encouraged our booksellers to add Binding Types to their listings in order to improve their appearance in the search results.

This month we're expanding on our suggestion and recommend that sellers also add Book Condition to their listings. As with Binding Type, buyers can also refine their searches to search for only 'New'  or 'Used' books. For this reason, we strongly recommend that booksellers provide the book condition when uploading their listings so that the listings appear in all relative searches.

With the recent updates to AbeBooks Search Results pages (see above) it is now more important than ever that booksellers add as much data as possible to their listings.

There are a variety of ways to describe the condition of your books (Brand new, VG++, Goodplus, etc.). AbeBooks recognizes a large number of these condition terms, and a full list can be viewed on our help pages here. Depending on how the books condition is described, it will be recognized in our search results as either 'New' or 'Used'.

The book condition can easily be added to your listings in HomeBase or manually online in your listings.   If you are using a custom file conversion simply contact our customer service team to learn how to update your account details to include the book condition in future file uploads.

New Search Results Page

In an update to our post on 27th January we are happy to announce that the new design for the Search Results page is a success and will now be the standard design that buyers see when searching for books on AbeBooks.com and AbeBooks.co.uk.

After several weeks of closely monitoring the performance of the new Search Result Page layout, we have confirmed that the new design performs measurably better. Statistics have shown that users are more likely to use the search refinements available and are more likely to buy when presented with the new design. Additionally, many individual comments from users indicate that they find it easier and more intuitive to use.

Here's how the new Search Results page looks:

Due to the lower traffic volumes on our other European sites, testing will continue for a few more weeks to determine the success of the new design on those domains.

Thank you to those sellers who provided feedback and comments - we continue to welcome any additional feedback you have. We will continue to keep you informed on any future changes to the Search Experience on AbeBooks.