The Dutch book auction revolutionized book collecting almost as much as printing itself

Evidence

This transformation owed a great deal to a remarkable innovation in the book market, almost as significant for the development of libraries as printing itself: the book auction. … Booksellers assessed collections, compiled the catalogues and sold them in their shops, taking 5–15 per cent commission on sales. They even, less creditably, infiltrated some of their own slow-moving stock into the sale, where it could be passed off as part of the distinguished library going under the hammer. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 287

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in how distribution and financial mechanisms drove library growth, parallel to digital distribution models today. — connects to: Auction catalogues preserved professional libraries, a critical collecting moment — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 317; The antiquarian book market formed within a century. — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 501
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 287

Broader Connections

• The antiquarian book market formed within a century. #corroborates (0.55) — Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile History, 501