One of Tim Miller’s claims in his now infamous shady marketing masterpiece, FlatSigned.com Celebrates Ten Year Anniversary, was that he “even went so far as to attend” the ABAA‘s California Antiquarian Book Fair, or “Convention” as he calls it, in San Francisco to try to resolve his differences with certain members of the organization with “but was escorted out of the convention by those known in inner-circles as ‘The Cartel.'”
Well, here’s how ABAA member Peter Stern saw it:
The cartel? That was mostly me. I had done very little business with Mr. Miller. As a matter of fact, I believe we had done nothing. However, he bought a book from Nigel Williams in London, part of a collection owned by myself, Jeff Marks and Rob Rulon-Miller. He didn’t pay and we had to hire an attorney. Miller’s payment was somewhat short (as I recall perhaps due to exchange rates, plus our legal fees). Some time later he tried to order a book from me and I refused to sell it to him, citing the aforementioned problem. He swore it would be taken care of and uttered profuse and obsequious apologetic noises. I expected nothing to come of it and was not disappointed.
Months or even a year later, late in the day at the SF fair, someone told me that Mr. Flatstigned was on the floor. They pointed him out to me and when he was in the aisle (not in a booth) I introduced myself. Also present were Rob, Nigel and a friend of ours, a collector from Chicago. I pointed out to Tim how happy I was to meet him in person and, by the way, what about that money he said he would pay? He denied he ever said he owed it or would pay it and began to look very uncomfortable, slowly moving southwards towards the exit. I walked next to him, my friends and partners traipsing behind like chaperones. I kept jabbering away and never suggested that he ought to leave. No threats, no loud tones or accusations, but (perhaps I imagined it or like to think this) he was sweating as he slithered away into the street.
Previous Book Patrol post:
FlatSigned Celebrates Itself