(By Emilia Racciatti). The bookstores and used book stalls in downtown Buenos Aires work with a local reading community that usually goes looking for rarities or cheaper titles, but recently there have been more sales to tourists than to those loyal buyers who came in search of material. Reading; In addition, the sale of works from the library itself in these places and on social networks is growing slightly but steadily.
Considered the city in the world with the largest number of bookstores, Buenos Aires also has historical and emblematic places to find gems such as the first edition of Rayuela, by Julio Cortázar, or that of a book of poems by Jorge Luis Borges as happens in Librería de Ávila, located on Bolívar and Alsina, a few meters from Plaza de Mayo, which is a classic for searching for used books.
Their booksellers say that the way to find these titles is through the purchase of libraries, they contact them by email or phone, send photos and then they decide if they are going to look for copies. Regarding how the price is decided at the time of sale to the public, in this bookstore there is a coincidence with what happens in others in downtown Buenos Aires: many times it is 60% of the value of the new book but if it is a discontinued book they talk about other values.
On Avenida de Mayo at 700 is The Tunnel, another classic of used copies where you can find classics of Argentine literature, and they share with Ávila the idea that in recent months there are more foreigners with purchasing inquiries than curious or local buyers . The most consulted authors are Cortazar and Borges.
In the Tribunales area, on Plaza Lavalle, those who attend the used stalls agree that the price on the cover of the book can be negotiated, since there you can find titles from the Anagrama publishing house between 3,000 and 8,500 pesos, like “Women” by Charles Bukowski but the priority is sales so sales are a possibility.
Do the prices of new books reaching 10,000, 15,000 or exceeding 30,000 pesos attract another movement in these bookstores or generate more offers of titles from the libraries themselves?
In Ávila and El tunnel the purchases are not one by one but are dedicated to buying libraries or library copies but in Sudeste, located on Corrientes Avenue, some works arrive with readers who come with their chosen ones to sell.
“While it is true that in these contexts some people take the opportunity to sell books that they will never read again, it is not usually a significant number.
What does happen is that people are forced to cut a lot of their consumption, and the first thing they cut is things that give them joy like going to the theater, going out to eat or buying books, because they can’t make ends meet. and you have to pay and pay for the services. The situation is worrying. “Many of Aristipo’s clients are cultural and state workers, many of them were just arriving at the end of the month,” says Patricio Rago, promoter of Aristipo, a used bookstore located at 600 Scalabrini Ortiz.
In relation to prices, Rago explains that for used books “they tend to be delayed because their sales time is much slower than that of new ones.” At this point it coincides with the explanation of one of the booksellers of Sudeste who maintains that this parameter that the title can be sold at 50 or 60% of the value of the new one is relative because the values can reach 10,000 pesos and it is not usually There are many visitors willing to pay those values.
“If a book was recently published, its price is directly linked to the sale price of the new book, but for all other books, other factors impact: the number of books circulating in the used world, the number of editions , the state it is in, the underlining, the interest with which it is searched, the importance of the text, the translation, etc. The idea is always that they are accessible, that the books sell and that people can read them , that is the spirit,” says Rago, author of the book “Unique Exemplars” in which he delves into the anecdotes and moments that go through the buying and selling of used works.
The current movement at Libros del mundo, located at Libertad at 800, is at its peak due to tourists but also regular customers who stop to search the shelves located in the business but also on the sidewalk where there are tables with titles for 800 pesos. Carlos answers the queries, which range from novels to botany books, and highlights to Télam that many of the books that are obtained for that price on the sidewalk arrive because there are people convinced that what he brings is a gem, it does not contradict them and It offers them at that value that attracts many curious people who pass by and stop to review.
One of the bookstores at the stalls located in Plaza Lavalle in front of the Courts agrees that many times those who part with books, giving them a high price that they then fail to sell, in fact many times come to their stall to offer them after a long time offered in social networks or platforms.
He prefers not to say his name but he says that he has been selling books for 50 years and what he has noticed most in recent months is that there are many who sell their libraries because they are downsizing, moving or leaving the country. In that central area, he recognizes that after the pandemic they were not populated in the same way again, many work from their homes and many of those who come to consult and buy books are tourists.
A few steps away, César, from other stalls, reports that tourists are looking for titles by Borges or Cortázar but also copies of “The Reason for My Life”, by Eva Perón, or books that have Diego Maradona on the cover.
Juan Pablo Correa, promoter of the Mastronardi used book purchase project, warns that on social networks he sees more people parting with part of their library, however, when indicating a characteristic of this time is the proliferation of used book fairs such as the FLU (Used Book Festival) which had two editions: a first in 2022 and another in 2023 that attracted more than 42,000 people.
Darío Avendaño, bookseller at Rascolnikoff, a space for used and new books located at Alsina 760 in the Buenos Aires town of Burzaco, says that the prevailing interest is that of school manuals or books requested at school that are usually exchanged. Although they also work with new products, what has proliferated in recent times are used ones.
Regarding prices, Avendaño highlights that there is no precise criterion: sometimes the used one is sold at 50 or 60% of the new one, but it depends on whether it is a novelty or a book already out of circulation.
Without fixed parameters in relation to prices, used books take center stage in a context of increases and rising inflation and are an alternative to get new readings beyond the imprint of novelty. (Telam)
2024-01-20 17:29:13
#book #circuit #reactivated #midst #crisis #generates #instance #reading
