Der zweite Buchmarkt
Mark Lehmstedt
What happened to the millions of books that have been published since the invention of printing?
Some fell victim to fire or water, others were used as packing paper or toilet paper. But booksellers discovered early on that they could do business a second time with used books that had been sitting in private libraries or gathering dust in attics.
The "second book market" supplied princes and peasants, scholars and merchants, students and maids alike with reading material that was also usually significantly cheaper than new releases. Access to the knowledge stored in the books of past centuries was made easier in a way that had previously been unimaginable.
Alongside the antiquarian book trade, auctions formed the second pillar of the used book market.
Based on a systematic evaluation of advertisements in Leipzig newspapers and numerous archival sources, the bibliography offers a comprehensive overview of book auctions in Leipzig between 1670, the beginning of auctions in the city, and 1800. It includes all book auctions as well as all other auctions where, in addition to goods of all kinds, books, paintings, engravings, drawings, musical scores, maps, and coin and natural history collections were also sold.