The Australian book auction records

Abstract

This paper describes the Australian Book Auction Records (ABAR), a resource of information collected from auctions of old, fine and rare books. All the books in the records are connected in some way with Australasia. The authors outline the history of ABAR, consider the usefulness of the resource for librarians and other potential users of the data, explain the inclusion criteria of the records, and present a statistical profile of the data. The authors discuss their recommendations for supplementing the records, focusing on their contention that the results of on-line book sales should be included in future if the resource is to remain relevant for users.