Jefferson-Madison Regional Library: Gordon Ave. Branch

Lack of professional integrity at JMRL Friends sale, March 2017: I post this note so that patrons might know what to expect from the staff of this event:

From: M
Date: Mon, Apr 3, 2017 at 10:49 AM
Subject: Re: Items from your List of Valuable and Attractive Books
To: info@jmrlfriends.org

Dear Friends of the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library,


I left a voice mail message at 434-977-8467 and sent the email attached below last Thursday afternoon. As no one responded either to my telephone call or my email, I called again Friday. I spoke to a representative of JMRL Friends who informed me I could not make purchase over the phone or by mail (fair enough, there), but that I may drive down and pick the book up if no one else got to it before me during the sale days, as posted. He also informed me that after receiving my query he had gone online and researched the item I was interested in on dealer sites and mentioned he may “raise the price of the book” - that that particular book, of all the books priced on the publicly posted list I might have inquired about, was under-priced. He added that he wasn’t sure he would or should do that – and advised me to come down if I wanted it, and maybe, if it was still available, he’d sell it at the price posted.

I am certain it is the case that had I not assumed the professionalism, honesty and integrity of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library staff to be a given (I have patronized JMRL sales yearly since 1992), I would never have so “naively” inquired about the book I wanted. I’d simply have showed up, paid for the item, and left happily with it. As it happened, I sent a friend with $200 in cash to make the purchase during sale hours. The JMRL Book Sale Manager informed my friend that the item I expressed interest in was no longer for sale. Not for the posted price of $150, nor even for $200.

The JMRL Book Sale Manager used my interest as a goad to see if he could get more for the book. Even from a professional bookseller, this behavior would be disheartening, lazy, and dishonest. The JMRL Book Sale Manager should have performed whatever research was required prior to publishing a priced sale list. He pulled this particular item from sale only because my expressed interest in buying it brought it to his attention. It is a fact he did not recalculate the prices posted for the other books on the list (at least prior to reception of this note). If I am correct in assuming that the unconscionably unprofessional and indeed mercenary behavior of the Book Sale Manager represents the values of JMRL Friends, then I know how my patronage ranks with regard to them them. If I treated my customers in a similar manner, I’d lose my business. Based upon the treatment I have received I will no longer attend JMRL sales.

You will find the screen shots of your list attached below.

Sincerely,

M




From: M
Sent: Thursday, March 30, 2017 4:24 PM
To: 'info@jmrlfriends.org'
Subject: Items from your List of Valuable and Attractive Books

Is it possible to purchase them currently/remotely? In particular:

RHYMERS’ CLUB BOOK TWO VOLUMES by Ernest Dowson, Edwin J. Ellis, G. A. Greene, Lionel Johnson, Richard Le Galliene, Victor Plarr, W. B. Yeats; The Book of The Rhymers' Club. London: Elkin Mathews, 1892. First edition . VG/--. One of 450 copies printed. One of the noted anthologies of Nineties writing. Includes contributions by Yeats, Le Gallienne, Ernest Dowson, The brown cloth is mostly unmarked except for a minor indentation on front cover.
Rhymers' Club Second Book of The Rhymers' Club. London and New York:1894. G/--(small loss of cloth at spine ends and corners). One of 650 copies. Some inserts including dealer descriptions and a 2 pp letter dated Dec 6 1949 from Ben Abramson of Argus Books to Mrs. Malcolm Bell describing the 2 books she has ordered including this one.
$150.00

Best regards,

M