Recently, while going through some boxes of books, I came across a couple of books that ordinarily would have warranted barely a second glance, but both of which are now sitting on my shelves. Both of these books had a bookplate on the front pastedown and it was these and the names of the previous owners displayed on them that led to my keeping these books. Looking closer at these two books and their owners is a good way to get a better understanding of what is meant by the term ‘Association Copy’ and how different that is from simple provenance.

The first book is “
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Recently I’ve been thinking quite a bit about just what independence means to a bookseller such as myself. Sure I have the sort of independence that anyone running their own business has. I can set my own hours, I can set my own level of pay, decide just where I will and won’t apply myself,  but that’s not really what I’m talking about. Like many other sellers I rely for most of my sales on two or three large online sales venues. If they doubled their commissions tomorrow my independence might not extend much beyond sucking it up or getting out of the business.

This line of thought was prompted in large part by my involvement with the Independent Online Booksellers...