Time to mark your calendar with the dates for the next viaLibri Virtual Showcase:
Wednesday, 15th July May (3pm BST) – Monday, 20th July (10pm BST)
This online rare fair brings together a collection of leading international booksellers, each presenting a carefully curated selection rare books, prints, maps, photos, and ephemera, across a wide range of subjects.
It is an excellent opportunity to browse through a fantastic array of works on paper – with some ‘exclusive’ items not available for sale anywhere else.
We would be delighted to welcome you at what promises to be another vibrant viaLibri Showcase.
If you’d like to make sure you hear all our news as soon as possible then we recommend joining our mailing list.
We are pleased to announce that we have now added eBay Spain to the list of sites that are searched by viaLibri.
Fixed-price listings and auctions from eBay Spain will be included when you search via our website or use our saved search service, Libribot. If you add the details of an item to your Libribot wants list, then we will check several times a day to see if any matching eBay items have been added. We’ll then email you details of the new listing.
Ready to get started? Simply search as usual. eBay Spain results will now appear seamlessly alongside our other listings from more than 210 sites worldwide.
Mark your calendars: Wednesday, May 20th (3pm BST) – Monday, May 25th (10pm BST)
Expect international dealers presenting extraordinary works on paper across every imaginable subject – from caricature illustrations and posters, to historical photographs, and from signed first editions, to important treatises and manuscripts.
As with past showcases, May’s edition will feature all kinds of viaLibri ‘Showcase exclusive’ items too.
If you’d like to make sure you hear all our news as soon as possible then we recommend joining our mailing list..
One of the parts of viaLibri I’m proudest of is our Harvest service, which allows any dealer in rare and antiquarian books to add their own website to viaLibri’s search database. It’s the part of viaLibri where what we believe in and what we’re good at come together: we think independent booksellers deserve to be found by collectors worldwide, and we’ve built the technology to make that happen.
By signing up to Harvest you can get your books in front of the thousands of serious collectors who search viaLibri every day. If they see something of interest, these collectors will come directly to your website. No middleman. No commission to pay. Just more eyes on your inventory.
Today we’re formally announcing that Harvest works with any bookselling website, regardless of how it was built.
Some of the 155 sites already using out Harvest service.
How does it work?
When you sign up for Harvest, we connect to your website and automatically import your listings into viaLibri’s search results. Your books appear alongside those from the world’s major bookselling platforms (AbeBooks, Biblio, eBay, and many more) but with one important difference: every listing carries a “Direct from Seller” link that brings buyers straight to your door.
Inventory changes are picked up automatically every four hours. Add a book to your site in the morning; by the afternoon it’s searchable by collectors worldwide. Remove a sold item and it disappears from our results just as quickly.
Your listings are matched daily against almost 200,000 active wants saved by over 7,000 viaLibri users through Libribot, our automated search agent. Harvest subscribers get preferential treatment here: matches are sent immediately to all users, regardless of their subscription level.
It doesn’t matter how your website is built
We have direct integrations for popular platforms such as Shopify, Bibliopolis, ChrisLands, WordPress and WooCommerce. For sites that don’t fit those categories, our system can scrape and extract listing data directly from your pages. It doesn’t matter whether you use Wix or Squarespace, or you’ve got a hand-coded site from the early 2000s. If your books are listed on your website, we can harvest them, whatever platform you’ve chosen. All that we require is that each different item for sale is shown on a separate page.
Harvest is designed for individual booksellers with their own websites. If you run a multi-dealer site or auction house, get in touch. We’d love to talk about other ways to list your items on viaLibri.
What if my books are already on a marketplace like AbeBooks or Biblio?
If your books are already on a marketplace like AbeBooks or Biblio then they’ll already be included in viaLibri’s results. But when the customer buys through the marketplace, it’s the marketplace that owns that customer relationship, not you.
With Harvest the customer comes directly to your site to see what you have to offer. Maybe they’ll browse and see what else you have. Maybe they’ll sign up to your mailing list. Maybe they’ll become a reliable customer for years to come. They’re not just buying a book; they’re starting a direct relationship with you as a seller. That’s the relationship Harvest is designed to foster.
There’s also the cost: you’ll pay a commission to the marketplace for every sale you make. With Harvest, there’s no commission to pay, just a predictable monthly fee.
What does it cost?
A Harvest subscription is $25 per month for up to 10,000 items, with an additional $5 per month for each extra 10,000 items. Pay annually and you get two months free ($250/year). You can cancel at any time with a refund for the unused portion.
Every Harvest subscription also includes free exhibitor registration for our Virtual Showcase book fairs (normally $75 per event) and the Standard tier of viaLibri Premium Services, including 100 daily Libribot searches.
How do I start?
All you need is a working bookselling website. Sign up for a Harvest subscription and we’ll guide you through connecting your site. For most platforms the setup is straightforward, and our team is here to help if anything needs a closer look.
Your website is your shop front. Let us bring more people through the door.
We hope you had a good end to 2025 – and now it’s time to get back to business!
Time to mark your calendar with the dates for the next viaLibri Virtual Showcase:
Wednesday 11th March (3pm GMT) – Monday 16th March (10pm GMT).
With a selection of international booksellers offering hand picked stock on all kinds of subjects, we hope you will join us for the next Virtual Showcase, and look forward to the fair opening on March 11th.
If you’d like to make sure you hear all our news as soon as possible then we recommend joining our mailing list.
The Virtual Showcase has the largest selection yet of international sellers taking part!
Exhibitors include:
Librairie Walden, Orléans, France: who offer rare and precious books and documents. Specializing in 19th, 20th, and 21st century literature.
One highlight being: Théogonie. Georges Braque’s greatest book. With a spectacular binding by Renée Haas.
Kunstbroker, Goldach, Switzerland: who offer rare books, ephemera and photos. Specializing in photobooks, artists books, photographs, and catalogue raisonnés.
G. F. Wilkinson Books, Grass Valley, USA: Specializing in Western Americana, printing and fine press, small press poetry, and general antiquarian – including Yolla Bolly Press.
Librairie Casaubon, Paris, France: who offer everything from Japanese woodblock prints, to travel and exploration books, pamphlets, and esoteric and alchemical books. Specializing in old and rare books, first editions and manuscripts.
One highlight being: La vie des abeilles. The work of a passionate beekeeper, in a Jansenist binding by Charles Meunier.
Haec City / Also Books, Pittsburgh, USA: who offer manuscripts and folk art, games, children’s books, Americana, and giftworthy miscellany. Specializing in decorative arts, design, education, ephemera, original art and manuscripts.
We’re pleased to announce the dates for the next viaLibri Virtual Showcase will be:
Wednesday 3rd December (3pm GMT) – Monday 8th December (10pm GMT)
Following the success of our October showcase, which drew record visitor numbers from around the globe, we’re excited to open our virtual doors once again. This December also marks one year since our inaugural Virtual Showcase.
The registration fee is just $75 and allows you to list up to 60 items. viaLibri Harvest subscribers can register for free and easily copy items directly from their website into their showcase booth.
A commission applies when items sell through the showcase. You can find details of how this works here.
We look forward to welcoming even more visitors in December. Register today to secure your booth.
After more than 18 years as head of viaLibri, the time has come for me to retire and step back from the day-to-day grind of being CEO. Someone younger, smarter, and more energetic needs to move forward and take my place. Fortunately, my long tenure has also given me the great good fortune of knowing exactly who that person should be: our long-standing CTO, Alasdair North.
Booksellers who have worked with Alasdair already know that the viaLibri-dependent parts of their business will continue in excellent hands. His deep technical understanding and commitment to our mission make him the ideal person to lead viaLibri into its next chapter.
As for me, fear not. I have no plans to disappear completely. While Alasdair will be taking over my former role as CEO, I’ll be moving into a more congenial position as retired founder and Chairman of the Board. I’m entirely at ease knowing that the operation of the company I founded is being left in such capable hands.
A special thank you is due to the many booksellers, collectors, and librarians who have taken an interest in viaLibri over the years and helped to make it what it is today.
The viaLibri Blog will continue as before, and I hope to make an occasional appearance there when I have something new to say. I also hope to see new voices join the conversation, making it livelier and, I trust, more frequent.
