Tales of a luxury bookseller (my recently published feature)

Picture this — Google Books, the Internet library has since 2004, collected 15 million of the estimated 130 million titles published since the 15th-century invention of the printing press; according to a 2010 Harvard University study by Jean-Baptiste Michel. And while we still scramble for our favourite titles online, there are some, who are willing to pay astronomical prices to beget what can be described as rare literary gems.

Meet Angus Rob, a senior executive from Asprey, the luxury gift shop on New Bond Street London — who explains how old celebrated books are still preferred collectibles and make amazing gifts. From the Prince of Wales, to Bill Gates, or the nouveau riche investment bankers — the value of a good book, and one who’s print is to be seldom found these days, are considered big-ticked items — often more valuable than that diamond ring, or rare China ware or expensive leather accessories. It’s a very niche market that Rob is dealing with — a meager $500 million-a-year global market that’s controlled by some 10 book brokers whose wares won’t be found on Amazon.com Inc.’s website. Yet it’s a business where a first edition of a Casino Royale fetches 21,000 pounds ($33,900), or the rare Cosmographia by Ptolemy, only two volumes of which are known to exist, will not sell for anything less than 4 million maybe.

And while Asprey introduced books as way to fight the recession hit period during the World Wars, books sold even then, as they are now, as luxury goods. A value of a book, is after all invaluable; and the customers who are willing to pay a hefty price are as cherished. These are people who negotiate with Rob, over the phone or through intermediaries — they’re either seeking something special for themselves or a rare printed treat to offer a client.

In Rob’s art-house library you’ll find anything from Jane Austen, Charles Darwin, Beatrix Potter, Dickens, William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill; and all original volumes! There are rare comic capers such as a sketchbook of 135 drawings titled ‘Caricatures of Lloyds of London’; and social commentaries like Huckleberry Finn that gave us a glimpse of black life, culture and politics. Or maybe a precious collection on Russian ballet dancing — books that through their prints and pictures give us a wealth of information of the times, the cultures, traditions and the people. It’s not for nothing therefore that the book which launched Clark Kent’s career, and published in June 1938 for 10 U.S. cents, sold for $317,000 in 2009; Bill Gates shelled out $30.8 million in 1994 for Leonardo da Vinci’s 'Codex Leicester'; and U.K. art dealer Michael Tollemache last year paid $11.5 million at a Sotheby’s London auction for an original four-volume edition of John James Audubon’s 'Birds of America'!

It’s a very robust market out there, and one that has been marginally hit by the recent recession — yet for Rob who is willing to go the extra mile, literally so, to collect the rare gems in his library of books, these are treasures meant to be cherished forever!