BY JACQUIE HENDERSON

In this week's sales column we feature a report on the sales of Pathfinder books and pamphlets at the American Booksellers Association convention. BY JACQUIE HENDERSON

CHICAGO-"Glad to see you here. These are great books. We've been carrying Pathfinder books in my store for some time and now the other stores in the chain have started ordering them," said a book buyer for a bookstore in Washington, D.C., as she stopped by the Pathfinder booth at the American Booksellers Association (ABA) convention June 15-17.

"Our first order of Episodes of the Cuban Revolutionary War came in and I put it on the shelf just before I left to come here," she added. "I can't wait to find out how it's doing."

She was one of several hundred people who stopped by the booth at the three-day trade show, the largest in the United States. It was attended by independent bookstore owners and buyers, publishers, wholesalers, librarians, authors, and agents from across the US and around the world.

Those visiting the Pathfinder booth included booksellers, librarians, and publishers from Mexico, Colombia, Chile, China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Russia, as well as from Europe and Africa.

The booth displayed the majority of Pathfinder's titles in front of three big displays on the Russian revolution, U.S. and world politics, and the Cuban revolution. It was staffed by volunteers from Chicago, Detroit, Twin Cities, and Peoria, Illinois, as well as a sales representative from Pathfinder's New York office.

Six independent bookstores placed orders for more than $1,000. Some 150 people said they were interested in having a sales person from their area visit. Many more took catalogs.

Several bookstore buyers commented on the help they already get from local Pathfinder sales representatives. "We didn't see your people for quite a while," said a man from a bookstore in Provo, Utah. "But now we have someone assigned to us who stops by every month or so. He's been a big help."

A librarian from a public library in the Midwest said she planned to reorder all of Pathfinder's Malcolm X titles. "They just keep disappearing," she said. "It's hard to get too upset about it when you know they're being read."

A buyer from a travel bookstore said they carry Ernesto Che Guevara's Bolivian Diary. A New York store specializing in Jewish history and culture placed an order for 13 books, including several copies each of The History of the Russian Revolution and The Struggle against Fascism in Germany, by Leon Trotsky, The Jewish Question by Abram Leon, and Israel: A Colonial Settler State?, by Maxime Rodinson.

Pathfinder's books in Spanish, French, and Russian were also popular. Two buyers said they planned to order some Pathfinder titles in Farsi for their store.

One woman who stopped to admire the new edition of Teamster Rebellion by Farrell Dobbs, explained how she first learned about the Teamster series, Labor's Giant Step and other Pathfinder books in college while studying labor history. "I found these books contained the material I needed," she said. "I make sure we carry them in my store."  
 
 
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