For Park Sloper Richard Chalfin, it was
only a matter of time before he joined in the family tradition
and became a dealer – a rare book dealer.
What else would become of a boy who slept on the shelves of his
father’s bookstore, only to be awakened by the occasional hardcover
that landed on his head?
In this Internet-ruled age, when books and other forms of print
publications, some would argue, are on the verge of becoming
an endangered species, Chalfin’s 30-year-old rare book dealership
is anything but in danger of extinction. Instead of letting advancements
in technology put an end to a 150-year family tradition (his
great-grandfather first began selling books from town to town
in the Ukraine out of a backpack), Chalfin embraced the online
world and made his an Internet-based service.
What started out as – and still partly is – a home business,
operated by Chalfin, 54, from his Park Slope apartment, has evolved
into a 10,000-book operation with headquarters and storage space
on Riverside Drive at 103rd Street in Manhattan.
Chalfin works in partnership with Albert Lucientes, 43, who joined
the Better Book Getter business in 1997.
"He talks the talk of a [book] collector," Chalfin
said of his business partner. "To me, it’s just trade."
Chalfin and Lucientes say that although they are an Internet
business, what makes them unique is that they offer personal
service.
"We have direct contact with the public," said Chalfin,
whose customers have been known to walk straight into his office.
And many of their clients, Chalfin said, have become regulars,
such as an older man who orders large-print books, or a customer
from Kenya, who, Chalfin said, comes into the office, buys books
he wants and goes back to Kenya.
Although that’s not necessary because Better Book Getter, Chalfin
says, ships internationally as well.
Although individual clients form part of their customer base,
Chalfin and Lucientes said that some of their main customers
are fashion and magazine houses in New York, major publishing
houses and academic institutions. Chalfin has acquired many a
great work of 20th-century literature to be republished by the
Heritage Press as limited editions for their subscribers.
"We do the legwork for them," Chalfin said. "And
we charge a very reasonable price. If we get it at a good price,
we try to sell it at a good price."
Chalfin counts the movie stars Johnny Depp and Dustin Hoffman
and the occasional world leader, such as Mikhail Gorbachev –
when he was in still leader of Russia – among his famous clients,
whether directly or through major publishers. Representatives
of Depp and Hoffman have contacted Chalfin when the actors needed
certain books to prepare for movie roles. Chalfin has even had
to get his hands on copies of Hitler’s "Mein Kampf"
for Broadway’s production of "Cabaret."
He has been contacted for more serious matters, such as finding
books on crime to serve as evidence in murder trials.
And while the rare book dealing business is in full bloom today,
Chalfin said that things are not quite the same as they were
during the peak of the search business in the ’80s, when collectors
were set on getting the rare edition they wanted, no matter the
cost.
"There were no limits on what people were paying,"
said Chalfin, especially for first editions of Stephen King’s
books.
While a set of Oscar Wilde’s blue leather-bound volumes sold
for $15,000 in the ’80s, Chalfin said, "you don’t get that
kind of ’get me that book no matter what it costs’ attitude today."
And although the Internet makes the search process easier and
enables book dealers to market themselves on a larger scale,
it also creates more competition.
"Now you have thousands of people who think they are book
sellers," said Chalfin.
His books are available through www.abebooks.com/home/bettgett
and www.antiqbook.com/betterbook.
In the 1930s, Chalfin’s grandfather, George Chalfin, took over
the book business that his father, Herman Chalfin, started in
Odessa, Ukraine. George set up a shop on Broadway in Williamsburg.
But George, whose heart was in the theater, had a gambling habit,
which, Chalfin said, got in the way of the book business and
got him in trouble with his sons.
After World War II, Chalfin’s father opened a bookstore on Grand
Street in Williamsburg, which he relocated to New Jersey during
the ’50s and ’60s. In 1966, his mother opened My Friend’s Books
in Flatbush. During that period, Chalfin said, Marvel Comics
took off and was a big seller.
Unfortunately, a business next door caught on fire and destroyed
much of his father’s bookstore. In the course of his book dealing
career, his father, Chalfin said, suffered three fires.
"The thing about bookstores," Chalfin said, "for
little money, you could start it." Or start anew.
Chalfin, who is currently writing a sitcom about a "book
guy," said that initially, book dealing was supposed to
be a sideline to his performing career. Having started out as
a modern dancer in the early ’80s, Chalfin hurt his knee and,
at the behest of his father, began placing ads as a bookseller.
He would then search for books in Manhattan’s Book Row on Fourth
Avenue and in his uncle’s 200,000-book warehouse in Williamsburg.
"I would drive a moped with all these books through bad
Brooklyn neighborhoods, chased by dogs," said Chalfin, recalling
his early days as a bookseller.
But those days seem to be long gone.
In addition to acting as an Internet-based search service, Chalfin
said that he and Lucientes are trying to expand their 10,000-book
collection and open up a shop somewhere in Brooklyn, ideally
Park Slope.
Currently, their in-house collection includes volumes from the
mid-1700s to more recent editions. Two leather-bound volumes
of Francisco Clavigero’s "History of Mexico," printed
in 1787, sold for $1,500 within a day of being posted online.
"We put that on and within one day it sold," said Chalfin.
"But we have $5 books that are here for 20 years."
Chalfin’s most prized possession is a 1960 edition of Harper
Lee’s "To Kill a Mockingbird," signed by the author
when she came into the office in 1998. Chalfin, whose son is
named Harper, wrote an article published in the New York Observer
about his encounter with Lee, whose only book now sells for $25,000
(if it’s a well-preserved copy of the first American edition
with its jacket).
What Chalfin calls "the good rare books that always sell,"
typically have a leather binding or are early editions of legendary
authors like Alexandre Dumas, William Faulkner, Herman Melville
and Jules Verne.
A book’s popularity and demand is determined by what’s in the
news or what’s going on in the world at the moment, Lucientes
said.
"During the week of Sept. 11, Nostradamus sold well,"
Chalfin said.
"Siegfried and Roy: Mastering the Impossible," written
by the Las Vegas magician duo Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn
was in high demand shortly after Horn was attacked by the white
tiger named Montecore in 2003, Lucientes said.
But, he added, despite the recent Michael Jackson controversy
and trial, the singer’s autobiography, "Moonwalk,"
which is priced at $5 at the Better Book Getter, hasn’t been
selling.
Better Book Getter (310 Riverside Drive
at 103rd Street in Manhattan) is open Monday-Friday, from 11
am to 6 pm, and Saturdays, from noon to 6 pm. Richard Chalfin
and Albert Lucientes can be reached by phone at (212) 316-5634
or (800) 804-3956 or via the Web sites: www.abebooks.com/home/bettgett
and www.antiqbook.com/betterbook.
