It was almost 5 weeks ago that we announced the dates for our first viaLibri Virtual Showcase. Antiquarian Booksellers from around the world were invited to display on our virtual shelves a selection from their best and most desirable recent acquisitions.
Once that call went out the suspense began – at least for me. Our platform was ready, but who would show up to present themselves on it? What would they bring to show? Would there be items to interest everyone? Would most of the sellers and buyers be familiar faces or new contacts? Would the best things be early or modern? Expensive or cheap? Or both?
The eager buyers would just have to wait to fia nd out. But as I thought about it I realised that there was already calculation I could generate that might satisfy some of my curiosity as well as the interest of collectors waiting for the Showcase to open. For example, a query of our early numerical data tells me that the median year for the books uploaded so far is 1882. A scan of the items that have been loaded so far tends to confirm that figure and reassure me that the things I find in the showcase will be mostly antiquarian in nature.
Statistics on prices can also be generated. For those we have 2 different figures of possible interest. The items that have been entered so far have a median price of $1203. That is probably the most useful figure for us since it reduces the distortion from books with extreme prices. A “mean” or “average” price of $3534 can also be calculated. That number will seem impressive, but is largely a reflection of the inclusion of a handful of very expensive items.
I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that these simplistic calculations are useful for anything other than the kind of idle speculation that easily entertains the likes of me. A knowledgeable bookman knows that the most valuable information to gather before the opening of a book fair – live or virtual – is a list of who is exhibiting. Use it to identify and locate the booksellers you know and buy from, then check out their offerings as soon as you can. Equally important, after that, is to identify the dealers you don’t know but whose specialties suggest that they may have the type of things you are looking for.
To help you with this we have just added a list of exhibitors that you will be able to consult while waiting for the showcase to begin. You will find it in a long column on the right side of our showcase home page. If you go there I promise you will find many booksellers you know well along with many whose books you have never seen before. I hope you will visit them all and find many wonderful things.
If you are a bookseller and think you might like to join them you still have 10 days to register and prepare your display. Over a thousand items have already been chosen to appear in the virtual showcase. If you want to add yours to them please let us know
https://www.vialibri.net/showcases/december-2024/