 Caite Stevens, Proprietor |
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It all began with eBay in 1999. At the time, I was cutting my teeth on the eBay website by selling all the knick knacks in my apartment that I decided would be better converted to cash. I slowly learned to master the art of eBay by selling perfume, jewelry, LP's, comic books, Halloween costumes, and even a Pee Wee Herman kite (don't ask!) Not long after my apartment was stripped of product, my art dealer parents announced they were moving to Florida. Which meant I would inherit all the stuff they didn't want to move with them. Alongside the groceries, funny hats and kitchen gadgets transferred to my possession were boxes and boxes of books. Old school books, foreign books, literature, novels, and, of course, art auction catalogs and a few monographs penned by my mother. I quickly listed most of the books on Half.com, but didn't know what to do with the auction catalogs and monographs. So I gave them a shot on eBay, and discovered that there was a market for these obscure, heavily researched, one-printing publications. After enjoying a flurry of sales from my newly listed books, I jumped right into bookselling, adding to my art book inventory exponentially by scouring local book sales and internet auctions in search of any art-related book I could find. It wasn't long before the furniture was moved out of my loft and replaced with bookshelves. And it wasn't long after the bookshelves were moved in that stacks of books began to appear on the floor (because the shelves couldn't handle any more titles!) Vivarte Books officially came into existence in May 2003 - I took my eBay username "vivarte" and turned it into an official business in the state of Maryland. By this time, my inventory of books had grown to about 5,000 titles. Although I still sell odds and ends on eBay and a small selection of general non-fiction books on assorted bookselling sites, the crux of my business has become centered on art and art-related publications. Selling art publications isn't as easy as selling your run-of-the-mill Grisham novel. It's not always apparent why or if an art publication is important, or what the focus was of a given exhibition. But I enjoy the time-intensive task of researching each title and picking out the relevant information - and have found a worldwide audience.
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