• Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Alken (Henry). Sporting Notions, first edition, T.McLean, 1832-33. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Bardi (Lorenzo). Nuova Raccolta delle piu interessanti Vedute della Citta di Firenze…, Florence, Lorenzo Bardi, [c.1840]. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Crawfurd (John). Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Court of Ava..., first edition, 1829. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Dawe (George, engraver). The Life of a Nobleman, first edition, Geo. Henderson, [c.1825]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: [Doyle (John)], "H.B.". Political Sketches &c., 10 vol. including The Descriptive Key to H.B., Thomas McLean, [1829-51]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Eben (Adolphus Christian Frederick, Baron von) and Nicolaus Heideloff. Modèles de l'Uniforme Militaire Adopté dans l'Armée Royale de Suède, Rudolph Ackerman, 1808. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Geissler (J.G.G.) and Friedrich Hempel. Mahlerische Darstellungen der Sitten, Gebrauche und Lustbarkeiten bey den Russischen, Tartarischen…, 4 parts in 1, Leipzig and Paris, [1804]. £1,000 to £1,500.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Hunt (Charles). Portraits of Winning Horses...of the Derby, Oaks, & St. Leger, from the Year 1842 to 1849…, Rock Brothers & Payne, 1849. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Kunike (Adolf Friedrich). Zwey hundert und sechzig Donau-Ansichten nach dem Laufe des Donaustromes…, Vienna, Leopold Grund, 1826. £3,000 to £5,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Colour Plate Books from the Library of Norman Bobins
    Part 2
    27th March 2024
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Lasinio (Carlo). [Matrimony], Florence, 1790. £1,500 to £2,000.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Reinhardt (Joseph). A Collection of Swiss Costumes, in Miniature, second English edition, James Goodwin, [1828]. £800 to £1,200.
    Forum Auctions, Mar. 27: Wengen (Gottfried Durst von). Die Öffentliche Maskerade Bamberg am Fastnachts-Montage 1833…, Bamberg, [1833]. £2,000 to £3,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Winston Churchill. The Second World War. Set of First-Edition Volumes. 6,000 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: A.A. Milne, Ernest H. Shepard. A Collection of The Pooh Books. Set of First-Editions. 18,600 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Salvador Dalí, Lewis Carroll. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Finely Bound and Signed Limited Edition. 15,000 USD
    Sotheby’s
    Modern First Editions
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    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ian Fleming. Live and Let Die. First Edition. 9,500 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter Series. Finely Bound First Printing Set of Complete Series. 5,650 USD
    Sotheby’s, Available Now: Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell to Arms. First Edition, First Printing. 4,200 USD
  • Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [RUTH, George Herman “Babe” (1895-1948)]. Signed photograph. Circa 1930s. 191 x 248 mm. $1,500 to $2,500.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HARRISON, Benjamin. Document signed (“Benj Harrison”) as governor of Virginia, certifying the service of Daniel Cumbo, a Black Revolutionary soldier. $6,000 to $9,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: ONE OF THE FIRST PRINTED ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
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    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
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    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: FIRST PRINTING OF LINCOLN’S IMMORTAL GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. $4,000 to $6,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: HIGHLY IMPORTANT MORMON ARCHIVE. ALLEY, George. Archive of 23 Autograph Letters Signed by Mormon Convert George Alley to His Brother Joseph Alley. $10,000 to $20,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [AVIATION]. [ARMSTRONG, Neil A.] Aviation Hall of Fame Gold Medal MS64 NGC, Awarded to Neil Armstrong in 1979. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: NEWLY DISCOVERED FIRST PRINTING OF "WITH MALICE TOWARDS NONE... " FROM THE ONLY NEWSPAPER ACTUALLY ALLOWED TO PARTICIPATE IN LINCOLN’S SECOND INAUGURAL PROCESSION. $4,000 to $8,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: THE MOST IMPORTANT GEORGE WASHINGTON DOCUMENT IN PRIVATE HANDS; GEORGE WASHINGTON’S COMMISSION AS COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1775, ONE OF ONLY TWO ORIGINALS. $150,000 to $250,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: A VERY RARE ACCOUNT OF BLACKBEARD’S DEATH AND ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT PIRATE ITEMS EXTANT. $3,000 to $5,000.
    Potter & Potter Auctions
    How History Unfolds on Paper:
    Choice Selections from the Eric C. Caren Collection
    Part IX
    April 18, 2024
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: EDISON, Thomas. Patent for Edison’s Improvements on the Electric-Light, No. 219,628. [Washington, D.C.: U.S. Patent Office], 16 September 1879. $2,000 to $3,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: [VIETNAM WAR]. The original pen used by Secretary of State William P. Rogers to sign the Vietnam Peace Agreement, Paris, 27 January 1973. $10,000 to $15,000.
    Potter & Potter, Apr. 18: SONS OF LIBERTY FOUNDER COLONEL BARRÉ ANNOTATED TITLE-PAGE, “WHICH OUGHT TO ROUSE UP BRITISH ATTENTION”. $4,000 to $6,000.
  • Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG BEADED JUDICIAL COLLAR. $80,000 - $120,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: ONLY KNOWN COPY OF THE ONLY BOOK BY THE REMARKABLE EVE ADAMS. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A COMPLETE RUN OF VISIONAIRE MAGAZINE THROUGH 2010. $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: LAW REVIEW OFFPRINT SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY RUTH BADER GINSBURG. $3,000 - $5,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: META REBNER'S WORKING SCRIPT OF THE LOVED ONE. $1,500 - $2,000
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A KATHY GROVE PORTRAIT OF CYNDI LAUPER FOR THE FEBRUARY 1989 DETAILS COVER. $800 - $1,200
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A PLASTIC COAT BY MILLIE DAVID FEATURED IN SOHO NEWS STYLE SECTION, FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANNIE FLANDERS. $500 - $700
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A RUTH BADER GINSBURG JEWELRY BOX. $600 - $900
    Bonhams, Mar. 22 – Apr. 2: A SET OF JONI MITCHELL LYRICS FOR "IF I HAD A HEART." $2,000 - $3,000

Rare Book Monthly

Articles - November - 2011 Issue

Barnes & Noble Takes Over Borders' Remains... After Some Last-Minute Wrangling

B&N's second email was terse and to the point.

There was a time when a sale of Borders to Barnes & Noble would have stirred great controversy, perhaps even an examination by the Attorney General for antitrust violations. By the time it happened, it caused hardly a stir. In late September, Barnes & Noble bought the name, website, and customer list and data of the now bankrupt Borders chain. Well, it caused a stir to hardly anyone except the bankruptcy court appointed Consumer Privacy Ombudsman. He felt B&N was not being entirely forthright with Borders' old customers.

While Barnes & Noble didn't have much interest in Borders' stores, perhaps having more than enough of their own, they did want Borders' intangibles. They purchased them from the bankruptcy court for $13.9 million. However, Borders had promised its customers that they would never give their names and data to anyone else. The court therefore required that Barnes & Noble inform Borders' customers that they had purchased their information, but that those customers had the right to stop that data from being transferred to B&N. If they so chose, their customer data would be deleted.

In keeping with this requirement, Barnes & Noble sent out an email to Borders' customers. It was a friendly email from B&N CEO William Lynch. Lynch informed the Borders' customers that, “Our intent in buying the Borders customer list is simply to try and earn your business.” However, he also informed the customers that they had “the absolute right to opt-out of having your customer data transferred to Barnes & Noble.” Customers were told they had until October 15, 2011, to opt out of the transfer of information to B&N. Lynch then concluded his message with, “We hope you'll give us a chance to be your bookstore.”

Consumer Privacy Ombudsman Michael Baxter immediately cried “foul.” Baxter had been appointed by the Court to watch out for the privacy interests of Borders' customers. When the deal was originally put together to sell the Borders' data, Baxter had wanted the message to be an opt-in, not opt-out. In other words, he wanted B&N to obtain affirmative approval from Borders' customers before their data could be transferred, rather than having it transferred automatically if those customers did not say no. To B&N, that may have been a deal killer, as a large number of customers, probably most, were not likely to respond to an email either way. They would not likely opt in if required, nor opt out if they had to either. Most of the 40+ million people in Borders' files could be expected to simply ignore the email.

Baxter backed down on this issue, agreeing to B&N's opt-out rather than fighting for an opt-in. The one concession he was able to obtain was the wording of the e-mail header, which stated simply “Important Information Regarding Your Borders Account.”

However, there were still two other things Baxter did not like about B&N's email, and having conceded on the important issue of opt out, he was evidently not in a mood to back down on a couple of smaller ones. B&N was unwilling to be more accommodating than it had already. The result was a couple of emails flying back and forth between Baxter and B&N before the customer email was sent. It concluded with B&N's attorney saying they had accommodated what they described as Baxter's “only significant comment,” that regarding the wording of the header. Baxter fired back that he would raise his objections with the court if a couple of other changes were not made. B&N ignored his further demands and sent the email as worded. For his part, Baxter did as he promised, filing an objection with the court.

In his objection, Baxter found two faults with the B&N email. First, he found the lack of notification that the email had been ordered by the court to be misleading. Lynch's folksy, friendly email might imply, Baxter believed, that B&N was sending this message as a favor to Borders' customers, rather than because they had been ordered to do so by the court. That, he believed, might make Borders' customers less inclined to opt out. Secondly, Baxter objected to the vague language of a “customer list” being transferred to B&N. Customers might believe all that B&N was obtaining was their names and email addresses, when in fact, B&N was obtaining their entire purchase history. It is easy to imagine a customer who years ago bought a book that might embarrass him today not wanting that information passed on to another company.

So, who won this little skirmish? Well, it appears that Baxter won on one out of two of his objections. However, we doubt that the same is true for B&N, though you would think that would follow from their opponent being one for two. On October 15, Barnes & Noble sent out a follow up email. This one was not so long and folksy. It was a one-paragraph, unsigned, business-like message. Introduced as a “reminder” to the earlier email, it stated with specificity, “The transferred personally identifiable information in the customer list includes customer email address and purchase history.” It added that credit card information was not transferred, and those that wished could opt out by November 2. It did not mention Baxter's other point, that the notice had been ordered by the court, so B&N must have won on that issue.

Nonetheless, we see this as a loss for B&N, not a tie. A couple of bad things happened to them. First, Borders' customers, whose last chance to opt out of the transfer of their data would have ended that day (October 15), got 18 more days to do so. People who might have chosen to opt out, but forgot the earlier email, or maybe never even read it, got a reminder. The greater clarity of this email may drive some people away, but we suspect the simple fact that a second opt-out email was sent will lead to thousands more Borders' customers opting out. B&N could have repeated the exact same email as the first and many additional people would have deselected themselves. It's just the nature of the beast. Each time you give a group of people an opportunity to opt out, some more will do so. Barnes & Noble would have been smarter if, instead of challenging the Ombudsman, they had accommodated his needs in one email. A second email could only lead to more opt-outs, and a smaller customer list for B&N's money.


Posted On: 2011-11-01 00:00
User Name: stephenb

I never got the opt-out email. Although I have a more than 400 emails from Borders (mostly borders rewards), there was nothing like this. I wo


Rare Book Monthly

  • Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: [Langland (William)]. The vision of Pierce Plowman, nowe the seconde time imprinted..., Roberte Crowley, 1550. £8,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: [Shakespeare (William)]. [Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies], second folio edition, [by Tho.Cotes, for Robert Allot], [1632]. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Bible, Czech Biblia Bohemica, first complete Bible printed in the Czech vernacular, Prague, August 1488. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Shabthai Tzvi.- Collection of four printed and illustrated broadsides detailing the appearance, rise and fall of the false messiah, Shabthai Tzvi, Augsburg, 1666-67. £40,000 to £60,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Leaf from the Beauvais Missal, in Latin, illuminated manuscript on parchment, [Northern France (perhaps Beauvais or Amiens)], [fourteenth century (c.1310)]. £4,000 to £6,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Aubrey (John). [Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme], manuscript in English, Latin and Greek, [c. 1693]. £30,000 to £50,000.
    Forum Auctions
    Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper
    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: Byron (George Gordon Noel, Lord). Poems on Various Occasions, first edition, Harriet Maltby's copy, Newark, Printed by S. & J. Ridge, 1807. £30,000 to £40,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Tolkien (J.R.R.) The Hobbit, first edition, second impression with dust-jacket, 1937 [but 1938]. £7,000 to £10,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Blake (William).- Thornton (Robert John). The Pastorals of Virgil, 2 vol., engraved plates by William Blake, 1821. £8,000 to £12,000.
    Forum Auctions
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    28th March 2024
    Forum Mar. 28: America.- Mount (William J.) & Thomas Page. The English Pilot…, [bound with] The Fourth Book, describing The West Indies Navigation from Hudson's-Bay to the River Amazones, 1721. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Oldfield (Henry Ambrose), Rajman Singh Chitrakar & others. An album of 160 photographs and 13 original artworks, (1833-1919), [c. 1850s-1880s]. £20,000 to £30,000.
    Forum Mar. 28: Audubon (John James) [and William MacGillivray]. Ornithological Biography…, 5 vol., first edition, presentation copy inscribed by Audubon, Edinburgh, 1831-49 [i.e. 1831-39]. £10,000 to £15,000.
  • 19th Century Shop
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