Jennifer Taylor
珍妮弗·泰勒
作者簡介
珍妮弗·泰勒（Jennifer Taylor），美國作家，曾在日本旅居兩年，期間在鄉村中學擔任英語教師。
本文於2007年9月發表於雅虎網站。書探，顧名思義就是淘書的偵探。書探的工作怎樣進行？書探有什麼特征？他們淘書的標準又是什麼？種種疑問或許正在你心中升騰。別急，作者將為你一一道來。如果你碰巧是愛書人，不妨做個業餘書探吧，或許寶藏就在前方等你來尋。
Books inspire passion in people from all walks of life. Why not turn thatpassion into a little extra pocket money by learning the art of being a bookscout?
書會激起各界人士的熱情。為何不學著做個書探，把這種熱情變成一點零花錢？
Book scouts are individuals who haunt estate and library sales and otherinteresting venues looking for elusive collectible books to sell to antiquarianbook dealers. With the growth of book collecting as a hobby, demand for rare orinteresting volumes has skyrocketed, leading towards an overall growth in thepopularity of the book scout task. But book scouts are notoriously secretiveabout giving advice on how to do what they do. Knowledge, after all, is the keyto a book scout success. Knowing where to look for books and what is valuableis ninety percent of the book scout trade, and such secrets should not be givenaway lightly!
有些人常出沒於資產出售、藏書出售和其他有趣的場所，尋找有收藏價值的珍本，並將其賣給古籍書商，這些人就是“書探”。由於藏書作為一種愛好已得到發展，人們對珍本或有趣書籍的需求急劇高漲，導致書探的任務大幅增加。但書探也因其神秘性而臭名昭著，他們不會告訴別人如何做這一行。畢竟，知識是一名書探成功的關鍵。知道去哪淘書、哪些書有價值是書探90%的工作內容，這種秘密他們可不會輕易告人！
A day in the life of a book scout typically starts out very early in themorning. Book scouts are the first people to arrive at estate sales; often, theyshow up prior to the opening of the sale to sign up on an entry list or get agood spot in line. Many times they will visit several sales that are closetogether and visit them all shortly after opening. he early bird catches the worm might as well be the motto of the book scout profession. The afternoon orevening is often spent either shopping the day finds around to various bookdealers, or listing the books online if the book scout happens to be abookseller too.
書探一天的工作一般開始於清晨。他們最先到達資產出售的地點，通常銷售開始前就在入場名單上簽了字，或在排起的長隊裏搶了個好位置。他們往往一次逛幾處相距不遠的銷售地，都趕在剛開門的時候。“早起的鳥兒有蟲吃”也許也適合當書探這個行業的座右銘。下午或晚上，他們通常把當天的收獲拿去和多位書商做交易，本身碰巧就是書商的書探還會在網上開列書籍清單。
To be a book scout is to spend a lot of time alone, digging through piles of Reader Digest Condensed Books and old copies of Good Housekeeping; it takespatience, knowledge, and a willingness to persist. It also possible to gomonths and months without coming across a real treasure, so the book scoutprofession is not for the faint of heart. Many people find being a book scout abetter hobby than a career, given the very unpredictable nature of finding andselling rare books.