Did you know.. AMAZON bought AbeBooks.com ?

So. we're not sure how we missed this story.. but today we found out that our favorite rare book website..got bought by www.AMAZON.com a few weeks ago.

We've used and loved the Victoria, British Columbia based www.abebooks.com for years.

By the way.. ABE stands for "Advanced Book Exchange", which was the initial name of the website.

So it will be interesting to see how the new  monster owner changes the little www.AbeBooks.com.

Here's the story from bloomberg.net

Amazon.com Buys AbeBooks to Offer More Rare Books (Update2)

2008-08-01 20:13:52.340 GMT

By Michael J. Moore

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc., the world's largest Internet retailer, agreed to purchase AbeBooks to expand its selection of rare books.

AbeBooks lists used, rare and out-of-print volumes for independent booksellers, Amazon.com said today in a statement without specifying the value of the transaction. The deal should be completed by the end of 2008, the Seattle-based company said.

Amazon.com, which got its start selling primarily books on the Internet, has been expanding into new areas. It bought online sewing-supplies retailer Fabric.com in June and purchased Audible Inc., which sells audio versions of books and newspapers, in March. Talk Market, a shopping channel, said Amazon.com made an equity investment in the company in May.

Amazon.com fell 59 cents to $75.75 at 4:10 p.m. in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading. The shares have fallen 18 percent this year.

For Related News:

Stories about Amazon: AMZN US CN

--Editors: Andrea Snyder, Pete Young

It's been  traggic sad in NYC to see all our favorite small private thoughtful bookshops close..and to see the spread of the huge bland mall-like Barnes and Noble/Starbucks take over.

 (photo by Thomas Allen, Knockout, 2006, 24 x 20, c-print)

Now it's happening on the Internet.

 

Comments

[Ruben Natal-San Miguel]

let's not forget that fabulous Thomas Allen print for sale at Aperture.
It is quite a steal!!!
www.aperture.org

[Art Brute]

At least the owners/shareholders in ABE books probably got paid a fortune. All of the mom and pop booksellers probably got left with very little. Growing lack of competition on line and on the street is sad though.

[ArtOldSpice]

Most dealers on ABE also had been selling on Amazon where they reach a larger audience and pay less fees. You can see that with the photography books dealers/scammers/manipulators such as Top Choice LLC and Modern Rare. I'm surprised Amazon bought them out; it seemed that Amazon was taking over that rare books market rather rapidly anyway. And ABE doesn't let you create Listmania lists, which have now gone nuts on Amazon (who the hell is Rudy Perpich?). I'm curious how much they paid - I bet it wasn't that much...relatively speaking.

[green]

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