Introductory Book Fair Etiquette for Institutional Rare Book Buyers

[This post records a thread I posted on social media on 6 March 2024.]

Recently I’ve had a handful of conversations with rare book people at institutions that have made me realize that the culture and etiquette of the rare book trade isn’t always well communicated to others. Here are two introductory tidbits to know for book fairs.

1. Holds. I’ve learned that many institutional rare book people don’t know how these operate for a dealer.

A hold is when you ask for material to be reserved for you until you’ve had a chance to inspect it in person or go through approvals/processing for acquisition. A hold request should ideally be accompanied by a clear statement of expected time frame for resolution (either way).

In the context of a rare book fair, dealers are literally not allowed to have material out for show that is on hold. This has a few important implications.

All holds for material taken to a rare book fair should, if following professional conventions, not be made lightly and should be resolved as quickly as possible. If you ask for something to be held before the fair to see on opening night and you don’t actually come to the booth to see it then, that’s really painful for a dealer.

Why? Because dealers are paying a lot of money (e.g. booth fees) to get as many eyes on that book as possible in the tiny time frame of the book fair. If you put something on hold, we can’t have it on display. And we won’t (most of us) show it to other potential buyers. (While you can do this with the caveat it’s on hold, in my experience this only leads to frustration for everyone.)

Now, dealers are happy to accommodate holds because most holds lead to sales. Sales are why we are at a book fair. But we are potentially losing sales that we paid to have the opportunity to achieve if a hold is prolonged in a book fair environment. It’s a cost-benefit analysis and stated timeframe is important to that calculation.

Ideally, pre-fair hold requests should be resolved by end of opening night. Holds on opening night should be resolved by end of next day. Holds on a full day should be resolved by end of day. Holds on particularly hot material may only last for an hour or two. If you need more time (sometimes you do!), please let us know; that way a dealer can plan accordingly.

Further, in a book fair environment for the reasons stated above, holds are taken much more seriously by dealers, and therefore should also be taken more seriously by potential buyers. There is no such thing as a casual hold at a book fair.

Similarly, if you have put something on hold in advance, please say so when you’re visiting a dealer’s booth. Once someone I didn’t know came in and asked about a particular category of material. The only thing we had in that category was on hold, so of course I didn’t mention it. It’s reserved; it is not available.

Then this person’s colleague came in, whom I did know, and it turns out they had been corresponding with my partner to put this very book on hold. The first person looked at me like I was an idiot! But they had not identified themselves as the person who placed the hold; by not showing it to an unidentified visitor, I was attempting to respect the very hold they had requested.

Again, I want to emphasize: dealers are happy to have holds. Many institutions can’t just confirm a purchase in the moment, and we understand that. But it helps everyone to follow professional conventions of buying from the trade: clear communication of hold timeline, and no soft holds.

(Note too that this is in the context of a book fair. Outside of that crunched time frame, you typically don’t have to worry about holds for time periods as short as a few hours or days. But communication is still key. E.g., let dealers know you may need a four-week hold so they can determine if that’s something they can realistically accommodate.)

2. “Prospecting.” This one always shocks institutional rare book people, but it’s a deep-set rule. At a book fair, a dealer is not allowed to “prospect” a potential customer in another dealer’s booth. Makes sense — but in practice, it can easily lead to misunderstandings!

For instance, say I’m walking down the aisle and you’re in another dealer’s booth. You see me and say hi! I smile and wave quickly — and determinedly keep walking. This isn’t because I don’t want to talk to you. It’s because you’re in another booth and I can get in trouble for “prospecting.”

Note we can’t even say, “hey! I’m at booth 23, come find me!” as this is can be interpreted by another dealer as us attempting to pull you out of their booth, thus losing a potential customer. As a result, you’ll often find dealers act like a cordial brick wall unless you’re in their own booth.

(FWIW aisles are neutral territory, so if you’re already in the aisle we can have a conversation there. But not in front of another dealer’s booth — we might be blocking others from being able to view material in their front case.)

“Prospecting” is especially delicate when you share a booth with another dealer. Someone might think I’m rude if I don’t say hello when they are in our shared booth. But you have to come to my side of the booth and say hello to me first. Otherwise it’s prospecting.

Most dealers will maintain an air of polite apathy while you catch up with their booth mate. This is because it is considered a huge faux pas to join a conversation uninvited in a potential prospecting environment. This is a gesture of respect to fellow dealers, not snobbery to you.

I think this leads to misapprehensions on the part of visitors because a book fair can be intimidating and you sort of expect the hosts — the dealers — to welcome you. If you’re in my booth, I absolutely will. But if it could look like prospecting, I can’t.

A dealer who is accused of prospecting can be brought up on ethics charges in the ABAA. If their actions are deemed a violation by the ethics committee, they can face real economic consequences, such as not being allowed to show at that book fair again.

So dealers take this very seriously! It’s not that we aren’t taking you seriously. Let me tell you, these rules absolutely get enforced.

Finally, some dealers are just rude. If you’ve experienced this, from me or anyone else in the trade, I believe you and I’m sorry. I hope it’s clear I’m speaking here to a very specific kind of situation.

The trade can feel like a black box, so please let me know at my rare book company, Type Punch Matrix, if you have other questions about culture/conventions: info (at) typepunchmatrix.com.