Brad Johnson of The Book Shop in Covina, CA has circulated this little test within the gates of Facebook. It was created in the late 1960’s and is attributed to Charles B. Anderson of Anderson’s Book Shop in Larchmont, New York. The test is both humbling and encouraging and reminds me that one of the reasons I love bookselling is that the learning curve is always vertical.
How Good a Bookman Are You?
This is a test designed to determine your bookman’s I.Q. A score of 20 right should entitle you to consideration as the editor of the next edition of “The Bookman’s Glossary”; 18 or 19 right makes you a super-bookman. If you get 16 or 17 right, you are a top-flight bookman; 14 or 15 right, a competent bookman; 12 or 13 is fair; 10 or 11, a conditional-pass. No matter what your score, you can add to your bookman’s vocabulary and background by owning and referring frequently to the latest edition of “The Bookman’s Glossary.” (Bowker).
(1.) incunabula
a. pirated editions
b. early medieval manuscripts
c. writings of the Incas
d. books printed before 1501 A.D.
(2.) half-tone
a. a line-cut
b. a photo-engraving
c. an en-space in type measurement
d. a semi-quaver
(3.) Bodoni
a. an Italian antiquarian
b. a typeface
c. an Italian bookseller known as “Bold-face Bodoni”
d. a Swiss printer of chap-books
(4.) bibelot
a. a decorative book
b. a small Bible
c. paraph
d. vellum
(5.) bowdlerized
a. pied (as type)
b. expurgated
c. illegible
d. laminated
(6.) perfect binding
a. glued binding
b. extremely durable binding
c. hand-tooled leather binding
d. side-stitching
(7.) colporteur
a. a traveling book agent
b. an American song writer
c. a French pamphleteer
d. a medieval songbook
(8.) palimpsest
a. hieroglyphic or cuneiform writing
b. folio editions of the 16th and 17th centuries
c. papyrus made from Nile River reeds
d. parchment written upon two or three times
(9.) fore-edge painting
a. the illustration on the front of a book jacket
b. pictures painted on the outer edges of a book
c. the actual illumination of a manuscript
d. a color process in printing known also as fourflushing
(10.) font
a. a hairline rule
b. a base for pamphlet binding
c. the manufacture of foolscap paper
d. an assortment of type
(11.) bibliophile
a. a bookseller
b. a Slavic bible
c. a collection of rare bibles
d. a lover of books
(12.) intaglio
a. one of six basic principles of printing
b. an Italian flat-bed press
c. a seraglio
d. an object pressed into the cover of a book
(13.) hornbook
a. an encyclopedia
b. a book about musical instruments
c. a primer
d. a dictionary
(14.) Jean Grolier
a. an early French bibliophile
b. a French encyclopedist
c. a 19th century French-Canadian publisher
d. the founder of Librairie Hachette
(15.) Grub Street
a. “Publishers’ Row” in London
b. Rotten Row in London
c. literary hacks
d. book-worms
(16.) holograph
a. sans-serif
b. a manuscript wholly in the handwriting of its author
c. a manuscript for which the author receives no royalties
d. silk-screen printing
(17.) recto
a. an expression used by printers meaning “O.K. to print”
b. the correction of a printer’s error
c. the right-hand page of a book
d. the last page of a book
(18.) Mathew Carey
a. a type designer
b. an early American bookseller and publisher
c. a partner in the early American publishing firm of Carey-Thomas
d. a Scottish publisher
(19.) Pica
a. a serif
b. twelve-point (type size)
c. a stencil
d. a tight-fisted bookmaker
(20.) variorum edition
a. any book of varied contents
b. a book of the hours
c. any anthology
d. a book with notes by various editors
Answers: 1, d; 2, b; 3, b; 4, a; 5, b; 6, a; 7, a; 8, d; 9, b; 10, d; 11, d; 12, a; 13, c; 14, a; 15, c; 16, b; 17, c; 18, b; 19, b; 20, d.
Now that we have an idea of our bookselling IQ let’s have a look at the recent results of a survey of what’s going on in the non-new book market. The survey was undertaken by Christine Volk, Vice-President of the Independent Online Booksellers Association (IOBA) and proprietor of Bookfever.com
Used Bookselling in the Recession
48 booksellers participated in the survey, representing 20 states, Canada and the UK – 11 sellers were from California, 5 from New York. Not all sellers answered all questions, although most did.
Approximately 2/3rds of the sellers responding were members of IOBA.
The sellers who answered were overwhelmingly small businesses: only 11% had 3 or more employees (including the owner as an employee). They also had a significant amount of experience – 91% had been working 5 or more years as booksellers, 73% for 10 or more years. 91% were full-time booksellers.
23% had open stores; the rest were primarily online sellers, although some also did book fairs, mailed out catalogues or were open by appointment. For those who did have open stores, the amount of business generated by the store vs online ranged from 10% to 95% for the store.
61% of the sellers had an average sales price in the $10-40 range
27% of the sellers had an average sales price of $40-100,
8% of the sellers had an average sales price of over $100 and only 4% had an average of $10 and under.
MEDIAN
The median response was a loss of 10% in 2009 over 2008, and a loss of 5% in 2009 over 2007. In other words, the median decrease between Jan-Feb 2007 and 2009 (a period of 14 months) was 15%.
for those sellers with an average sales price in the $10-40 range, the median decline from 2008 to 2009 was 4%; for those sellers with an average sales price in the $40-100 range, the median decline from 2008 to 2009 was 20%.
the median number of years in the business was 11.
AVERAGES
change in $ sales between 2009 and 2008 -10.6%
change in $ sales between 2009 and 2007 +.4%
(the majority of sellers had an increase between 2007 and 2008)
for those selling books with an average sales price of $10-40, the 2009 vs 2008 decrease was 7.1% , for those selling books with an average sales price of $40-100, the decrease was 18.7% and for those selling the most expensive books, it was 18.5%.
number of years as a bookseller : 13. Those selling books in the $40-100 range – that is, the group which appears to have experienced the largest year-over-year decline – are the most experienced with an average of 15 years.
number of employees (counting self as 1) – 1.5
RANGE
change in $$ sales between 2009 and 2008 ranged from a decrease of 66% to an increase of 100%
change in $$ sales between 2009 and 2007 ranged from a decrease of 75% to an increase of 135%
years of experience ranged from 1.5 to 32 years
number of employees ranged from .5 for a part-time bookseller to 26, but 58% only had one employee, 23% had 1.5 to 2 employees
54% of booksellers responding reported a decrease in 2009 from 2008, 9% no change and 37% an increase
51% of booksellers responding reported a decrease in 2009 from 2007, 3% no change and 46% an increase
Volk also shared some of the comments she received noting that even in these dark days she “found the level of confidence expressed quite amazing – even those sellers whose sales were down and who expected the downturn to continue” were still hopeful and happy to be doing what they’re doing.