Re-post from April 2022 (How Thorough Are You With Your Assets?):
One day, around seven years ago, an elderly man came into my store. He was very eloquent, kind and talked about specific books which signaled me that he knew his subject. He said he was only temporarily in town that day, maybe tomorrow, too, and would like to look around if I don’t mind.
Sure enough, I let him browse through my shelves while I went back to my desk to continue my work of cataloguing books, sorting papers, and answering phone calls.
When he appeared back after a while, he politely said “Thank you, that’s it for today – I’ll browse the other half tomorrow” and left the store.
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The next day he came about the same time in the early afternoon and dove right back into the heart of my store, disappearing between shelves and books. Since it was a sunny day during spring time, he happened to be the only visitor in my store – not an uncommon phenomenon when the weather gets warmer in the beginning of the year. About an hour later he came back to my desk with a small pile of books in his hand. We chatted a bit again while he told me he might be interested in buying these but has to think about and check if he doesn’t already have them (I can only relate to this concern). And if it would be possible if I could put these on hold until early next week. Sure I could.
Quick jump back of three days: When I opened the package my colleague sent me, I was beyond excitement. The book was indeed, as promised, in perfect condition. I paid €600 for it and even though it was already at the higher end of the current market price, in my mind it was worth every penny. I just wanted to have it for years – even if I sell it one day for €650 and made no money after taxes. But it was a rare press print with a very fine binding (smooth calfskin) and, if ever offered at the market, always in bad condition.
I felt extremely lucky and after checking if everything was complete inside as well, I gently placed the book in the shelf between other fine bindings. From that point, every time I stepped into the sight of the shelf (which was basically every time I stood up from my desk to enter the main room), I could see it’s small, and for the untrained eye invisible, thin brown back with no further décor.
Back to the present day of my story: I took the small pile of books the elderly man gave me and unchecked the “available” status in my system. The books were fine selected but not very expensive overall. Some books about travel. I still hoped he would purchase as much as possible because free space is the second most valuable asset to have in a bookstore.
After updating my database, I was planning to close the store and join the outside world as well. I went around the corner to see if the Gentleman left accidently any personal possessions or other piles of books somewhere where they don’t belong. But while only briefly glancing over the shelves, I immediately recognized a gap. A gap which wasn’t supposed to be there: My brand new €600 favorite and desired book was missing!
To be continued…