18-09-2017, 04:03 PM
For Voynich and his colleagues / competitors, auctions were more the place to buy books than to sell.
He would have meetings with his competitors prior to these auctions, in order to 'split up' the booty, i.e. agree beforehand who would bid on what, such as not to bid against each other unnecessarily.
The description of such an event in Sowerby is quite interesting:
"In England we had always been taught that it was not good manners to interrupt others during a conversation, but that we should wait until the speaker had finished before venturing any remarks. The same standard evidently did not prevail on the Continent, for all the visiting dealers talked at once, each trying to shout the others down, yelling sometimes in their native languages and sometimes in broken English. Never was heard such pandemonium, and I know exactly how the tower of Babel must have sounded. It is only fair to Mr. Voynich to say that he could hold his own as far as shouting was concerned, and in any language."
He sold his books mostly to private collectors.
Hunt records that he also was using "stock sharing" arrangements, i.e. finding buyers for other people's books, and make deals with both the seller and the customer.
He would have meetings with his competitors prior to these auctions, in order to 'split up' the booty, i.e. agree beforehand who would bid on what, such as not to bid against each other unnecessarily.
The description of such an event in Sowerby is quite interesting:
"In England we had always been taught that it was not good manners to interrupt others during a conversation, but that we should wait until the speaker had finished before venturing any remarks. The same standard evidently did not prevail on the Continent, for all the visiting dealers talked at once, each trying to shout the others down, yelling sometimes in their native languages and sometimes in broken English. Never was heard such pandemonium, and I know exactly how the tower of Babel must have sounded. It is only fair to Mr. Voynich to say that he could hold his own as far as shouting was concerned, and in any language."
He sold his books mostly to private collectors.
Hunt records that he also was using "stock sharing" arrangements, i.e. finding buyers for other people's books, and make deals with both the seller and the customer.