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Vamp & Tramp - Nomadic Booksellers by Pamela S. Wood

When you visit the website, www.vampandtramp.com and click into the top bar for a topic, “Fine Press and Artist books,“ for example, you will immediately get an alphabetical listing of today’s who’s who of book arts. Vamp and Tramp is the business name for Bill and Vicky Stewart. I was delighted by this wonderful couple and was happy to find out more about them. I conducted the interview using a question and answer format.
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Q PW: You bought Califia, the artists’ books dealer in California. Was this important? A VT: it was a milestone for Vamp & Tramp in that it was the jump start for VT focusing totally on artists’ books and fine press. When we began VT in 1995, we sold Modern Firsts; 20th-century literary and mystery fist editions. Three years later, through delicious serendipity, we discovered the world of fine press and artists’ books and began a gradual but sure switch of affections and resources. The acquisition of Califia in 2003 marked the complete changeover. Since then we’ve only dealt in contemporary fine press and artists’ books.

Q PW: What was the personal attraction? A VT: Being associated with Califia gave us a broader entree into the institutional community and artists’ community that would have taken several more years to develop on our own. It was like the jump off a cliff or into a pool, you can talk and dream but somehow you’ve got to take the plunge.

Q PW: Some times when you buy a business, clients leave. Did this happen? A VT: We don’t know that customers left, but they probably did. Our customer base grew because we were visiting institutional clients on site. It may be that we have “lost” private collectors that Califia had just because we have not produced the catalogues that Edwina did. Our concern was more in maintaining the ties with the artists who are the vital parts of this business. We know that some book artists chose not to be represented by Vamp & Tramp. This is understandable and to be expected. We were an unknown, without much of a track record.

Q PW: Looking back, were you glad you bought Califia?
A VT: Absolutely. Acquiring Califia gave us credibility that would have taken us years to develop. Edwina Leggett had done a wonderful job making contacts with librarians. After all she had been doing this for twenty years. Our first ARLIS convention was in New York. Edwina was on hand to make introductions. What better way to get started in this adventure.

Q PW: Would you do it differently today?
A VT: More then likely but not sure what it would be.

Q PW: There are some negative opinions about selling artists books, do you agree? Artists’ books are pricey, too little discount, hard to move, few collectors, not a large quantity? A VT: Artists’ books can be a hard sell. But it’s built into the nature of the genre. First, these are books in which the physical component – the materials and the structure are as important as information – the story, the illustrations, the text. Artists’ books are meant to be handled and manipulated. But how many places to you know where you can play with artists’ books? Handling will eventually destroy the book. So it’s not surprising that few places allow manipulation. There’s a built in preciousness – not to mention the cost of some – that encourages people who possess artists’ books to protect them. ?Second, most artists’ books are best appreciated by personal play. They are not meant to be hung on a wall or placed on a pedestal. Like a traditional book they are meant for personal contemplation and enjoyment. Each turn, each opening, each revelation is for private enjoyment. So they don’t work in a museum environment. Traditional galleries are reluctant to carry them because they are impossible to display. Many collectors don‘t want them for the same reason. They want something to show the world how sophisticated, rich, and accomplished they are. The will pay much more for a painting they can hang on their wall than an artists’ book that few will see.

Q PW: You deal in fine press, broadsides, and artists’ books. Do these balance each other? Is one more successful than the other?
A VT: There seems to be more interest in artists’ books than in the traditional fine press codex book. We find that librarians are using artists’ books to supplement existing traditional collections and to attract people to the library. Structural and non codex work seem to find homes that several years ago might not have been appealing to them.

Q PW: What is the biggest mover?
A VT: That’s more of commercial question for a business like Barnes & Noble. Our focus is really on matching an artist’s work to a collector or collection.

Q PW: What is a typical sale time, from start to finish?
A VT: Again we don’t think in these terms. We get a new work in and try to match it to a collection or collector. But it may be months before we are back to a particular collection or able to see a collector.

Q PW: Why or when do you think an artist’s book creator is ready for your services?
A VT: If an artist is not interested in promoting their work or unable to promote their work then we can do that for them. Sometimes artists don’t want to spend the time away from creative work to deal with the “business side.” We probably see more collections and more collectors in a year than most artists would be able to. We’ve found that librarians and collectors like to see a work – touch it, feel it.

Q PW: when might there not be a case for you to handle a certain book?
A VT: In general, we are attracted to work that we fee we can represent intelligently and honestly and that is well crafted. We have one major criteria which we call the “WOW” factor. One or the other of us must have some “WOW” feeling about a piece. More often than not, it’s both of us. But one of us has to feel enough excitement about a piece to become committed to it. After this criterion is met when we try to determine if it is work we think we can place. It’s not a very complicated circle. We don’t take work we feel we cannot be successful in placing. We are most successful in placing work we like.

Q PW: what is driving the market right now? (if this is a trade secret, don’t answer. This is true for all I ask.)
A VT: We don’t know what is driving the market. We can talk about a few trends we’ve seen, but ultimately we think the delight that artists’ books bring to the librarians and collections is what leads to placement. Whether that delight is with content or structure, it seems to be the one emotion that overrides all else.

Q PW: Does the Vamp and Tramp name have a significance your can share or are willing to share?
A VT: Short answer: It comes from the names of our pets. We had a dog named Tramp and a ?cat named Prissy. When we had to come up with a name for our adventure into bookselling, we didn’t want a stuffy-daffy name. We thought about it over a bottle of wine with our dog and cat. Tramp and Prissy didn’t sound too good, but the cat was strutting around like a vamp, and Vamp & Tramp popped out. The next day their names just seemed to fit what we wanted to be–playful may be even witty, but not run of the mill.

Q PW: Do the sales trips reflect your personalities? Are they your style?
A VT: We love to travel– see new places, meet new people, be in different situations. So, yes, they reflect our life style. We enjoyed having an open shop but didn’t like the forced routine of six days a week,opening at a certain time and being open to a certain time.

Q PW: Are your sales equal, from sales trips, internet presence, and physical shop? Does one way work better than the other?
A VT: We closed the physical shop at the same time we acquired Califia. The web site brings in a small portion of our total sales. For us, by far the most successful way to sell artists’ books is to take them to the prospective collector. Librarians like to touch, feel, smell, and we suspect taste if that were possible, those works that interest them. No matter how lovely the catalogue is or how good the images are on the web site nothing replaces holding an object in your hands to ascertain its worth to you. These books were meant to be manipulated. To experience without being able to play with them is not to experience them.

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Artists’ books are at the moment hot items with librarians and collectors. For once it is nice to be on the “train”—not the one running it or missing it all together. Life is way too short in the long run. As a book artist, i am glad that folks like Bill and Vicky Stewart love what we book artists do, and love what is natural in the artistic cycle: placement of art in collections. Sure is nice to get two results: One, satisfaction that one’s work is in a good place, two, some money for the art. Will it be on the level of pay for pro athletes or entertainers? Most likely not. My feeling is that Bill and Vicky have much more of a chance to get our arts much more money than we can get by ourselves and that is a “win-win” in my book. (I’m such a bookie, even book metaphors).

If you get the chance, take time to meet them. Once you do you will know, as i do, you and your work won’t get any better treatment. They love every minute of what they do.
~ Pamela S. Wood