Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2005 Issue
ILAB Launches New Website
Old ILAB home page was more cluttered.
A search for an older book on ILAB will, for the most part, bring up better printings. They will not all be first editions or anything like that, but the 15-year-old "reading copy" reprint of some classic work priced at a dollar is not going to get in the way for those seeking more interesting copies. This does not mean you won't find any lesser copies when searching the ILAB database. Members do get to put up what they wish. However, there will be far less of the detritus of book collections to interfere with your search for collectible copies.
The major drawback the ILAB site faces is that most of the material posted is also offered on the larger sites. While member booksellers may prefer to make their sales through ILAB, they recognize that the large audiences are to be found on sites like Abebooks and Alibris. They feel it necessary to post their books on these sites as well. However, not having many unique listings on ILAB militates the need for using their site. While an ILAB search can help the serious collector avoid facing a sea of irrelevant listings, the reality is that they are likely to find most everything that is available on ILAB on a site like "Abe" plus more. While most of that "more" is likely to be irrelevant to the collector, some of it may be good material offered by a bookseller not a member of an ILAB organization. So long as ILAB does not have a great deal of unique material, it will have trouble enticing large numbers of buyers to its site, as the convenience offered by its search will be diminished by a collector's need to search the large sites anyway to find all relevant copies. Our estimation is that unless ILAB is able to increase its number of unique listings, listings which require collectors to go to the ILAB site to find, it will be hard for it to rise above the niche level. This is not to say there are no such unique listings at this time, but they do appear to be a very small percentage.
That said, one advantage of buying through the ILAB is that members are required to hold to a code of ethics. Not that non-ILAB members don't hold to comparable standards; most undoubtedly do. However, the larger sites have far less control over their members, and have limited familiarity with individual sellers. The ILAB also provides an online complaint form and mediation service for buyers who are dissatisfied with a purchase and unable to reach an acceptable resolution of the problem with their seller.
