Welcome

Welcome!

Despite the August date on our first blog, the actual commentary was not published until a few days ago. For those of you familiar with Bibliomania, we have been selling antiquarian books, autographs, and ephemera from a shop in Schenectady, NY, since 1981. We also do apprasials for insurance and donation purposes. We issued mail-order catalogs right from the beginning of the business, and moved to the internet more than a decade ago. In that time we have sold many fine items all over the world, and have many fine customers with whom we have done business for more than a quarter century without ever meeting face-to-face.

In June of this year, we finally closed our shop to concentrate on mail-order and online sales. The book world has changed since I first entered it in 1974. I won't comment on whether it is better or worse, for the important point is that it is different. Bookhunting used to be an adventure, and every weekend collectors would travel to several shops (sometimes traveling a hundred miles or more) to browse the shelves for new acquisitions. Rising gas prices have affected travel, but the rise of the Internet over the last few years has allowed collectors to stay at home and browse on their computer screens. As I worked late at night adding items to my website, I discovered customers making purchases at 2 or 3 am. It wasn't just the time differences in different parts of the world, but as we all know, the Internet has allowed us to search and shop 24/7 - if the books are on the site. It takes time to add books to a web site, far more time than it takes to price it and put it on a shelf in a store, so I have decided to make the time to do that work. I will miss some of the conversations, but I am always available by e-mail, and while I am sometimes hard to reach by telephone, I will find ways to be more accessible.

Check our website to view our offerings in every field. We add at least a few items every day. In future blogs I will discuss some of our areas of specialty, and address topics of interest to collectors. I have a few topics in mind already, but many future blogs will be customer-driven, so let me know of your topics of interest. Thanks. Please visit our site.

Bill Healy