The Booksellers

Locations
Call Number: DVD 002.075 Bo, Adult DVD / Nonfiction / General / Booksellers
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Pittsfield Branch, Traverwood Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Downtown 1st Floor 1-week checkout	DVD 002.075 Bo	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Malletts Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Adult DVD / Nonfiction / General / Booksellers	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Pittsfield Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Adult DVD / Nonfiction / General / Booksellers	1-week checkout	On Shelf
Traverwood Adult A/V 1-week checkout	Adult DVD / Nonfiction / General / Booksellers	1-week checkout	On Shelf

Wide screen.
Special features: A body of language ; The caretaker:
Commentators: Fran Lebowitz, Susan Orlean, Gay Talese.
A behind-the-scenes look at the New York rare book world and the fascinating people who inhabit it.
DVD, wide screen.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

A Good Entry Point, But It's Incomplete submitted by Meginator on June 12, 2021, 9:26am It’s very strange to watch a documentary so closely connected to your job, so my take on this film is possibly a bit harsh. The film is loosely structured as a series of brief profiles of booksellers at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, interspersed with interviews providing additional context about the world of rare book collecting. The filmmakers’ greatest sin is in not proactively identifying everyone who appears on screen, which oddly infuriated me: without understanding the context of each person’s relationship to the book world, the viewer can’t fully appreciate their contributions to the story. Moreover, as someone who works in the library end of the trade, I found the film largely uncritical of bookselling and booksellers insofar as their work relates to private versus public collections; the film does feature one archivist and touches lightly on the topic as it relates to booksellers’ posthumous plans for dispersing their collections, but the ethics of pricing, acquisitions, and sales largely remain buried.

I did appreciate the frequent gleeful juxtaposition of opposing viewpoints, especially when the film follows up a bunch of old white men despairing about the future of rare book collecting and the future of the book itself (yawn) with younger women pointing out that change is both inevitable and often a good thing (reader, I cheered at my screen). The film had me pretty angry at certain points, but I think that the filmmakers ultimately do a good job of presenting multiple viewpoints, even if their narrow confinement to New York City is itself also an issue they fail to address. I can’t really speak to the film’s appeal and efficacy for viewers who aren’t deeply embedded in this strange world, but though I wish my own little corner of this world (manuscripts and archives) was better represented here, I do think the film offers an interesting entry point into the idea of rare book collecting and the variety of people who inhabit this strange subculture. Just do me a favor and don’t believe the old white men who say the trade is basically over just because collectors’ priorities are shifting and the internet happened.