I’m Sean, the bookseller behind the website.
When buying a rare book or poster online, it sometimes helps to know a little about the person who has selected and described it and what their credentials may be. So I would like to share here some information about my background, and how it has shaped Northern Lights Rare Books and Prints today.
Origins of a Bookseller
My bookish origins go back to childhood. I was an avid, rather nerdish reader, and have vivid memories of spending rainy days in Stockbridge library in Edinburgh at the age of nine or ten, reading the most diverse assortment of books imaginable. I’m fairly sure, e.g. that I considered myself something of an expert on diamond mining in South Africa by the time I was eleven.
I trace my "professional" roots to a much later time, however - 1990 to be exact. This is the year that I began in earnest to start collecting books - specifically, signed first editions. Quite what motivated me to begin that adventure is not entirely clear to me but I was living in London at the time and so the availability of suitable material and being surrounded by bookshops certainly helped.
As the collection grew, my interests broadened into modern first editions more generally. Learning about rarity and value only increased my appetite, and over the next few years the books began to accumulate.
From Collector to Bookseller
Like many collectors do, I began to trade books to fund further purchases. By about 1993, I was also deliberately buying books to sell, using the proceeds to acquire material for my own collection. Gradually, collecting became a trade.
If you look at our storefront at AbeBooks it will tell you that I have been a member of that platform since 2020. Likewise at Biblio.com. But that's not even half the story: I first subscribed as a bookseller to Abebooks when it was called "The Advanced Book Exchange" way back in 1997.
By this time I was trading - on a part-time basis - under the name "Reigate Rare Books" and as well as selling online, I was regularly exhibiting at Book Fairs in London and the surrounding areas.
A new chapter in Finland
In 2003, I moved to Finland with my wife, our three children, Lucy the cat, and a truckload of books.
I first registered Northern Lights Rare Books in 2005. Choosing a new trading name took rather longer than it probably should have: leaving Reigate Rare Books behind meant acknowledging that this was a new chapter, personally as well as professionally. Any lingering doubts about the new name - I had some concerns it lacked gravitas - were eased when an antiquarian bookseller in London looked at my business card and declared it “a great name” for a Finnish bookseller.
Over the years, living and working here has shaped the business. My interests have broadened, and I have had to adapt both to the material available locally and to the expansion of online bookselling on a global basis. In addition, the practicalities of sending books and other items from Finland to customers around the world have influenced our product range significantly.
The business today
I am much more selective about acquisitions today than I was twenty years ago. I make fewer impulse purchases and apply stricter criteria to the books and other material I buy, placing greater emphasis on quality, rarity or even exclusivity, than on building a large inventory.
My interests have broadened over the years, but the pleasure of finding an interesting book or a striking visual piece remains much the same as when I started collecting. Today, I bring that curiosity, alongside the experience gained since then, to choosing stock for Northern Lights Rare Books and Prints.
If something in the catalogue catches your eye and you would like to know more, please get in touch. Whether your question concerns the edition, its condition or a particular detail, I’m always happy to discuss it.