As publishing expands into the new millennium, we are pleased to offer something to suit everyones needs. While, like many of you, we do love books, the service of providing information now encompasses a broad spectrum of delivery systems. We are proud to announce the grand opening of our Datastore, which offers the Internet-based subscriptions youve been asking us for. Our core databases, numbering some 1,360,000 records, are now available on-line. Currently, the vast Gordons Print Prices, Lawrences Dealer Print Prices and Gordons Photography Price International databases are accessible via the Internet. With features similar to our custom-designed CD-ROMs, the data is easily sorted and refreshingly complete. We have made a major commitment to our image library and expect that soon, tens of thousands of images will be attached to individual sales records in the Web database. Please feel welcome to explore our website at www.gordonsart.com, and try out the free demo of the Datastore.
Before long, Davenports Art Reference & Price Guide will be on-line as well. Ray Davenport published this title for 17 years, and recently passed the torch to Gordons. Now in its eleventh edition, the recently released Davenports 2001/2002 book has an extremely loyal following in art and antiques circles, and enables us to report pricing data on fine art as well as fine prints, posters, and photographs.
While our art price reference guides remain at the core of our business, Gordons is pleased to offer these complementary products:
Appraisal Pro 2001
We are proud to introduce the only professional appraisal CD-ROM. Established and novice appraisers alike have been searching for this tool. Easy-to-use templates and wizards allow the professional appraiser to generate standardized reports that include all the elements required for the many different kinds of appraisals (IRS, Insurance, Equitable Distribution, etc.). Staying abreast of changes in industry standards and finding supporting data such as suggested bibliographical sources are now quick and easy!
International Auction House Directory 2001 Edition
This book remains the only worldwide resource guide devoted exclusively to the exciting and vibrant industry of fine art, antique and collectible auctions. With over 1,400 pages of timely data and helpful information, the newly updated and expanded second edition includes geographical and alphabetical indices as well as email and Internet addresses, areas of specialization, and a wealth of other information. In fact, a day never goes by when we dont reach for this book! Now more than ever, buyers, sellers and auction houses feel the need for the Directory.
We are also now distributing a small and select group of in-print titles relating to fine art, prints, and photographs. The list will be kept deliberately slim and will contain only those titles that we feel are essential to art reference libraries. Please see our catalogue and the bookstore area of our Website for some of the initial volumes.
Another natural arena for us is dealing in antiquarian, rare, used, and out-of-print books in the above fields. As we are constantly buying and selling books for our own library (in order to properly edit our titles), we are in touch with major booksellers and auction houses around the world. In addition, private collectors know of us and offer us material as well. Again, please see our catalogue or the Website.
In the late 1970s, Gordons was known for its reprinting of a number of classic works on fine prints. We are now moving back into that arena. Our first endeavor along these lines is our reprinting of the standard catalogue raisonné of the works of Currier & Ives, published by Gale Research in 1984 and long out of print. More titles will follow.
As for the present core of our business, the price guides, we see our mission as one of constantly improving what Marty Gordon built. To that end you will see subtle but recognizable changes in the 2001 Gordons Print Price Annual. Next year you will see even more. The 2001 Gordons contains a record number of entries - over 52,000! And we have other pleasant surprises in store for you.
Gordon's Print Prices 2001-1988 CD-ROM features newly updated programming for even faster and more flexible service. The disc also includes everything found in the book: the entire "front matter" and bibliography, in addition to a trilingual print lexicon and a worldwide directory of the print community.
Gordon's is a market-driven firm and is committed to bringing the print-art-auction-dealer-library-museum-appraiser community what it tells us it wants. The last several years you told us to bring back Lawrence's Dealer Print Prices International, and so we did. Lawrence's is the only book devoted solely to prices of fine prints for sale by print/art dealers through their catalogues, galleries, and from their inventory. It provides a very valuable window into that "other" print market - the dealer market - not as high profile but certainly as large and important as the auction market. The 2001 Lawrence's will be released later this spring.
The first and only CD-ROM devoted solely to dealer fine print prices is in fact the Lawrences Dealer Print Prices CD-ROM. Lawrence's on CD includes over 225,000 print prices and is the perfect complement to Gordon's. The database includes prices from the published 1992, 1993, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001 Lawrence's, as well as the "unpublished" 1995 and 1996 books. It contains all of the refinements of the Gordon's CD-ROM, including images seldom found except in dealers catalogues.
Gordon's Photography Price Annual International 2001, in its seventh year, has established itself as the leading guide to photography prices at auction. This year the annual includes nearly 13,000 new unduplicated entries from calendar year 2000 sales. We will continue to expand and upgrade the Photography Annual as rapidly as possible. Look for many enhancements in the 2001 book, due out in March of 2001.
The late summer of 1998 saw the publication of the first and only CD-ROM devoted exclusively to photography prices. We had resisted bringing this title to market until we were sure that we had sufficient data to adequately picture (!) the photography market over a period of years. We were able to accumulate auction and dealer catalogues that give a complete account of prices from calendar year 2000 back to 1970, in depth. In addition, we report on some scattered sales dating back to the 1930s. All in all, the disc holds almost 130,000 entries. Dont forget to check out the images on the disc--over 7,000 photographic works appear on the CD! What a resource! The Gordons Photography Prices 2001-1970 CD-ROM is available from April 2001 onward.
After we catch our breath for a while, we have other ideas for new titles in the print, photography, art, and rare book fields. We welcome any ideas you may have along these lines.
We enjoy our rapid growth into a far more diverse firm. But while we are bringing back old titles and adding new ones, as well as expanding into related fields, we are determined to grow in a reasoned fashion and to remain always true to Marty Gordon's ideals of integrity, ethical standards, and scholarship.