Antiquarian book categories

[CoelacanthBooks]

As non-fiction/fiction book categories are so generalized in terms of time period covered (and signed/rare pretty general too) I would like to suggest the following to encourage more rare book dealers to list:

Books>Antiquarian>pre-1850>Fiction
Books>Antiquarian>pre-1850>Non-fiction

Books>Antiquarian>1850-1900>Fiction
Books>Antiquarian>1850-1900>Non-fiction

This would be a great help for people who deal primarily with antiquarian books, versus the new and "used" books listed in the standard book categories.

Either that or another setup could be (as signed/rare alone is too big a bucket):

Books>Signed & Rare>pre-1850>Fiction/Non-Fiction
Books>Signed & Rare>1850-1900>Fiction/Non-Fiction
Books>Signed & Rare>post-1900>Fiction/Non-Fiction

It would even be better to replace "rare" with "antiquarian," as "rare" is pretty vague.

My suggestions are just to look at creating the kinds of categories that would attract buyers and sellers of rare, collectible, and antiquarian books. There are really two groups of books on any auction site: Books for readers (standard fiction/non-fiction, new or used, but generally recent) and books for collectors (who are looking at specific topics and time periods). As a buyer and seller of the latter, I woud love to be able to hone in on those books of interest, without having to wade through a large pool of reading copies.

Thanks, RebekB at Coelacanth Books

[kedo]

Agreed, but I'd be happy at the moment if just the word 'vintage' were to be changed to Antiquarian.

It would be a big help if the book categories were to be developed sooner rather than later. I've got thousands of books to list and I don't want to be wasting time later swapping things into newly created categories.

Do you think that perhaps everybody should co-operate in a combined book category request thread? It should be possible to produce a 'map' of everyones requirements for Gazza to follow.

[CoelacanthBooks]

That sounds like a good idea. I buy and sell primarily antiquarian books - I really don't want to wade through the tens of thousands of new/newer books to find 19th century material.

To make it easier for people to figure out where to put books/list, I would suggest at least breaking the main book category in two -- into contemporary and antiquarian. Perhaps with titles like: Modern Books (post 1900) and Antiquarian Books (pre 1900), with all the fiction/nonfiction categories/topics then under each of these. Then the categories could be tweaked more.

The other way of doing it - of puttiing a vintage and/or antiquarian section under each topic (like has been done with cookbooks), is also an option, but there needs to be a consistent system implemented for all book categories, so rare/collectible book people can find their material. Sooner would be better than later, as a lot of feebay people are seriously looking to move over here.

I would also not make signed/rare a separate category, as signed books can be in any topic and rare is extremely vague and subjective. The result will be that this category will soon become swamped with pretty much anything one person or another thinks might be the least bit hard to find. And "signed" is easy enough to find on keyword searches, as it is always in the title field, if important.

Thanks, Rebekb at CoelacanthBooks

[CoelacanthBooks]

Possible to get some feedback from site owners on creating an antiquarian/collectible book category, with subcategories?

[JudesNiceThings]

I agree - good idea!

I also don't like 'vintage' as a classification.

I try to help by filling in the 'stock' descriptions on my listings - it aggravates me that :

1) the 'date' drop-down only goes back to 1977 - why can't it just be a 'type-in'?

2) If the stock photo is NOT the one for the ISBN on my book, I can't change it, so have to say it's not the same in my description.

[kedo]

The simplest solution is to rename the 'Vintage' books category Antiquarian and add some subcategories. This is where most of the older books are listed at the moment I think. My suggestion would be:

Vintage becomes Antiquarian

Antiquarian/Fiction/Pre 1900
Antiquarian/Fiction/1901-1950

Antiquarian/Non Fiction/Pre 1900
Antiquarian/Non Fiction/1901-1950

as a basic, simple solution which fits current listing levels (i.e. doesn't produce lots of empty categories) but can be developed later. So, largely in agreement with OP.

[BLOXBOOKS]

I know from past categories being added it knocks a number of books that are listed at the time into a void and have to be edited on relist, not so bad when altering a listings postage and adding Google Checkout and alter the width if they all needed doing at the same, but those alterations can seem like a lifes work at times, if such trials should cause apathy,despondency, churlish retort after long endured keyboarding, then shaking off a feeling of ludditism I would not disagree with the theme of this thread, just hope changes are additions that dont cause me no extra hassle.

[kedo]

but those alterations can seem like a lifes work at times, if such trials should cause apathy,despondency, churlish retort after long endured keyboarding, then shaking off a feeling of ludditism I would not disagree with the theme of this thread, just hope changes are additions that dont cause me no extra hassle.

Don't panic Blox! I know how you feel but the suggestion would only affect 300 books at the moment.

[kedo]

bump!

[Aviation_Nostalgia]

I think we definitely need an Antiquarian category. Preferably with sub-categories, for example Natural History, as that is what 99% of my stock is. Also with non-fiction books, sub-categories would be beneficial. It's OK having Wildlife/Nature, but some buyers only collect bird books, or insect books, or botanical books, so don't want to have to search through loads of other stuff. I'm holding off listing books at the moment to see if the categories get changed.