Chapter 497 Book Hunting Trophies, Part II, Or, Comfort Found in Good Old Books

Dejected after a day spent pounding the pavement in search of good old books, I went home and had a bit of chocolate and wondered why I didn’t find any books worth buying for resale. I couldn’t come up with any real answers. Sometimes book hunters come home empty handed. It’s those times when we return empty-handed that make the thrill of finding a good book so much fun. Good books are out there, but the really good books are not out there in abundance. It takes patience and skill to find the good books, but if you search long enough and hard enough and take the time to learn how to recognize them, you will find them. Still, it’s disappointing to spend a whole day scouting books only to find nothing worthwhile.

Though distressed, the next morning I resolved to do what must be done: I arose and went to another book sale, maintaining that if I could not find one good book to purchase at any of the four sales I had attended Friday, the good books would all be waiting for me at Saturday’s lone sale. (I’ve been told that unflagging optimism is necessary for booksellers, and if that’s so, I have it in spades!)

I headed for one of my favorite places to book scout. It’s not my favorite because I always find good books there. It’s my favorite because it’s located deep in the basement of a very old and very pretty building. Here’s what I’ve said about it previously:

The County Historical Association in the area where I live has an open shop in the basement of a very old (about 100 years old, and that’s old for this area, which was pretty much leveled by the 1906 earthquake) and beautiful courthouse building. The Old Courthouse, as it is commonly called, was recently restored and is currently a history museum for the county. While the upper floors feature a beautiful dome, stained glass, and large murals, the basement has stone walls and a warren of rooms filled with books of all sorts. I like hunting for books here because it’s often hit or miss. Sometimes I go and I find no books I want to buy. Other times, I feel as though I have stepped into a fine library, finding wonderful collections, association copies, or decorative bindings donated by denizens of my county. The fun is not knowing ahead of time which type of visit it will be.

Either way, it’s always a nice visit, because it’s a beautiful building. It’s quiet in the basement, and you can see the shoes of passers-by out the windows. Mid-day on a weekday there, among the stacks of books, it feels like being in a cave, surrounded by treasure that is there only for you, while the rest of the world goes on in complete oblivion to the plunder below.

I made my way down into the dark basement rooms with all haste, anticipating, hoping, praying, and wishing I could find at least one good book, if not a spectacular one.

I was not disappointed:

This is a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, together with the supplemental volumes that make up the Twelfth and Thirteenth Editions. There are 35 volumes in all, and, yes, their spines are faded to all different shades, but their leather and gilt bindings are otherwise in very good condition. It is not so easy to find a complete set, together with the supplemental volumes, of the Encyclopedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition. If you’re not familiar with the Eleventh Edition, you can read another bookseller’s well-written description of why it’s signifcant here.

I found a few other good, solid books:

Mrs. Horace Mann’s Moral Culture of Infancy and Kindergarten Guide with Music for the Plays (1869) in near fine condition. A nice addition to my specialty of books written by or about American women.

Ivon Donnelly’s Chinese Junks, A Book of Drawings in Black and White, published in Shanghai in 1920 and with 28 tipped-in drawings (perhaps etchings — will have to examine this more closely). An unusual and pretty little illustrated book of the types of Chinese junks.

And, two odd books, which I bought for fun and challenge:

Shakespeare Cross-Examination (a goofy 1961 tome published by lawyers and arguing that Shakespeare really wasn’t Shakespeare).

The 1900 Annual Report of the Entomologist of the State Experiment Station of the University of Minnesota to the Governor (very cool illustrations of insects).

Let me make it clear that I am well aware that there are no million dollar finds here (at least they don’t appear to be at the moment), but I am happy all the same to have found interesting books in very good or better condition that I can sell.

I immediately went home and started to read an auction catalogue for an upcoming auction in which I want to participate. The book hunting never stops!

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 496 Book Hunting Trophies

I spent most of last week looking forward to the weekend.

I know, I know. When you’re working, you’re supposed to look forward to the weekend. It’s “time off”, time to recharge your batteries and do something fun.

Here’s how I know I have chosen the right career for myself: I looked forward to this weekend because I was going to be able to work.

That’s right. Work.

I couldn’t wait to tackle this weekend’s project at hand.

No, I wasn’t going to dust the books or the bookshelves. I wasn’t going to a book fair. I wasn’t going to sit at my desk researching books while throwing in one more load of laundry. This weekend it was time for one of the best and most exciting parts of the job of bookseller.

It was time for this book hunter to locate and acquire some previously undiscovered trophies for the trophy room [read: the bookcases in my hallway that store my inventory]. It was time to hunt for more books, more wonderful and special books to offer to you, my dear readers and customers.

The hunt began began in a promising way on Friday morning. I sent Tom and Huck off to school and had on my docket for the day two estate sales, one annual library sale, and one antiques fair. That would keep me busy until the boys were dismissed until 3:00 p.m. I was thrilled to have a whole day to devote to scouting books, even informing Thoughtful Husband that I would not have time to cook dinner Friday night — I’d be too busy poring over my new acquisitions, gloating over my fabulous finds. Being the usual Thoughtful Husband he is, he just shook his head and said, “I’ll cook.” And off I went, adding to the enjoyable day by stopping for tea and a scone on the way to the first estate sale, which was advertised to open at 9:00 a.m. As long as I was finished with all my stops by 3:00 pm, the day was mine to scout books.

Those of you book collectors who are in it for the “thrill of the hunt” will know the anticipation of which I write. Part of the fun in book collecting, aside from researching and selling the beautiful and interesting books, is discovering that there is life among the ruins. There, amidst the dust-covered belongings of an old and almost empty house, or there, at the bottom of a box under the table at the library sale, are books which others have discarded or overlooked, books for which I know I can find a new, good, and loving home.

Wondering what I found at the sales? Allow me to show you:

A very pretty wooden bookstand. This will come in handy for book display at book fairs.

But what about the books? Aren’t I supposed to be hunting for books?

Sorry to say, that bookstand was my only find of the day. I didn’t see one saleable book, despite shopping at four different and potentially promising venues. Either I am getting worse at identifying good books or I have become much more selective with regard to condition. One of the houses I visited for the estate sale had several huge bookcases full of books — not one of which had its corresponding dustjacket. I passed.

Exhausted and dejected, I picked up Tom and Huck from school at 3:00 p.m. Is it the measure of a good bookseller that she does not yield to the temptation to buy something when nothing spectacular presents itself? Or is it a pretty poor bookseller who attends four different sales and finds not one book worth buying?

On Saturday, I would have a chance to redeem myself. There was one more sale, in the basement of the local historical society, one of my favorite book hunting haunts.

To be continued . . .

Chapter 495 My First Appearance in Print

Today I received the Fine Book & Collections 2009 Compendium in the mail. Now that the magazine has gone to an online-only format, the annual Compendium is a print version I have been eagerly awaiting.

In addition to the great Gift Guide for Book Lovers and a slew of great articles, the 2010 Bookseller Resource Guide included in the Compendium lets you know where you might consider shopping to fulfill all of your bookish needs.

Wait a minute. What’s that?

Hmm. Let’s zoom in a little bit on page 89, to the first listing under the heading “Book Dealers”:

It’s the first time I’ve advertised my business in print! It’s a humble ad, not nearly as pretty as the half-page and full-page ads by some of the other dealers, but it’s in there. This is also the first time that my logo, originally drawn in the early 20th century by my great-grandmother, has made it into print, and I think that’s kind of neat.

Another milestone reached. I feel so official!

Thanks for letting me toot my own horn today.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 494 What He Said

I’ve had my Amazon Kindle for a little over a year now, and I like it, but I just don’t use it as often as I should. Over at Bookride is a nice post which pretty much sums up my thoughts.

Chapter 493 Things to Remember

I am finally re-shelving my books this week, the ones I brought to the Golden Gate Park Book Fair two weeks ago. Between last week’s work on the top secret Dante project and Halloween and sporting activities for Tom and Huck, I didn’t have time to shelve books. They’ve been sitting in boxes all over my house and it’s driving me to distraction. I’ve got to put them away so I can stop looking at a bunch of boxes crowding up my living room and hallway.

Once the re-shelving is done, I have a slew of other work waiting. Here’s my list of some of the things that must be done before I forget to do them:

1) Order more business cards. I ran out of cards at the Golden Gate Park Book Fair.

2) Order envelopes for mailing the Dante catalogue, so it’s ready to mail when it gets back from the printer.

3) Print the Dante catalogue — this involves dealing with the graphic designer ONE more time before actually sending to the printer. I do have a printer lined up, though.

4) Catalogue all new acquisitions — given that I sold and bought books at three book fairs in six weeks’ time, that means I have quite a few things to catalogue.

5) Make nice, uniformly printed description cards for books that go in glass case at book fairs. I have the descriptions all written, but really need to print them on sturdier paper. I want my booth to look nice at February’s San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair.

6) Update website with many more books to sell. (I’ll be doing this soon, as I have a lot of newly catalogued books to offer but have never added them to the website. Why? I have no idea. There just aren’t enough hours in the day.)

7) Begin what is likely to be time-consuming but ultimately profitable research on a few items for the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention — sell books!

Chapter 492 Best Book-Related Find at the Golden Gate Park Book Fair

In addition to selling books at last weekend’s Golden Gate Park Book Fair, I shopped. I always seem to find good books to buy at book fairs, and this fair was no exception. But at this fair, I also found some very fun, very diminutive, book-related products, courtesy of San Francisco’s Booksmith.

They’re matchboxes, all edges gilt and the covers taken from the covers of famous books. Inside are lots of matches. Perfect for winter by the fireplace!

More to come on the actual book finds at the book fair soon!

Chapter 491 Halloween Festivities

We had a fun and happy Halloween here, and we have the candy to prove it! Here are a few snapshots of our spookily spectacular Halloween weekend:

Tom decided to be Burger King this year. I have no idea why. Junior high school (6th grade) brings about strange new behavior and strange choices in Halloween costumes:

But I still have a couple of cute hot dogs, willing to dress up as almost any silly thing. Here’s Huck and our dog, Molly. Could the dog look more humiliated to be dressed as a hot dog?

Here are the boys with some of the neighbors on our front porch. They’re about to leave to go trick or treating with their dads. I stayed home to hand out candy:

Tom and Huck built a scary cemetery scene on our front lawn this year:

Our neighbor, the one who had the idea to build a hoverboard earlier this year, built this great jack-in-the-box. He figured out how to hook it up to an air compressor so that when trick-or-treaters walked by, Jack jumped up and out of the box, giving them a bit of a Halloween scare. He’s 12 and a great builder of all things mechanical:

A neighbor a few blocks away builds a different haunted house every year. This year, he built “The Tomb”. Very scary!

Now it’s back to work, but with the added bonus of some Halloween treats in the bowl beside me! Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Chapter 490 Exhaustion

I was out from nine this morning until nine tonight (Wednesday) working on that top secret Dante project, of which I can’t tell you the details just yet.

Suffice it to say that I had a great day and, having worked on this project since right after last weekend’s book fair, am now entirely exhausted and going to bed.

I should be sufficiently recovered to post again tomorrow!

Chapter 489 “May we take some pictures of your books?”

While I was at the Golden Gate Park Book Fair Sunday, I answered a lot of questions for those who visited my booth. I’m used to the typical questions asked at book fairs about old books, rare books, and bookselling. What I wasn’t expecting was this question from three people who were wandering the fair together:

“Would you mind if we took a picture of that book?”

“Uh . . . I guess not. Sure, you can take a photo of it.”

A few minutes later they were still wandering through the booth taking pictures of many of my other books.

I tried to figure out if they were bloggers, like me, who might be posting the pictures of the books in a post about the fair. Or, perhaps they loved the books and didn’t have the cash to buy them so they thought a photo would suffice.

Since the four of us were squeezed in my tiny, 8′ x 10′ booth, I eavesdropped on their conversation. I know I shouldn’t have, but I was curious (and maybe just a little bit uncomfortable) about why they would want to take so many photos of my books.

“Oh my God! Did you see this one? Quick! Get a picture of it.”

“Check this one out!”

“Someone please tell me why don’t we still make covers that look like this one! This title is hilarious.”

Paranoia began to take over. What if they wrote a blog post about how not to sell books and used pictures of my books and my booth as examples? Or what if they were booksellers and what if they used images of my books to sell their own?

Paranoia is an ugly thing. One’s imagination can make one’s thoughts entirely irrational.

I couldn’t stand by and smile silently any longer.

Finally, I said, “So, do you mind if I ask why you’re taking pictures of so many books?”

“Oh. Sure. We’re book designers. We work for Chronicle Books. We’re at the fair to get inspiration.”

What a relief!

“Take as many pictures as you like to inspire you,” I told them.

I had to laugh.

When I was in college (aeons ago), I spent every summer vacation and winter break working as an intern for Chronicle Books. Back in 1987 it was a very small (I think about 15 or 20 employees) company owned by the same family who owned The San Francisco Chronicle. I loved working there. I used to take the train to the City every day and walk through the (then) gritty neighborhood to the office at Fifth and Folsom. As an intern, I rotated to different departments, sometimes working for Operations, sometimes working for Editorial, and sometimes working for Publicity. The people there were nice and took time to teach me things about publishing. Though I didn’t work there after college, I still remember the people I met there and the days I spent there with fondness. It’s fun and flattering to think that some of the books I’d chosen to retail for my own business might be providing inspiration to a former employer.

It’s also nice to know that in this era of digital books and cheaply made mass-market paperbacks some book designers are looking to the past to design the future.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 488 Report from the Golden Gate Park Book Fair

I am carefully wading out of a sea of boxes full of books and portable book cases strewn across my dining room/office to give you a full report on this past weekend’s Golden Gate Park Book Fair, held in the Hall of Flowers in San Francisco’s beautiful Golden Gate Park. After that, I’ll have to dive back in until all the books are put back on the shelves again.

The Golden Gate Park fair was the first one I have done (and I’ve done nine fairs in the two and a half years I’ve been in business) where there was a long line of people waiting to enter when the doors opened. The fair’s organizer did a great job getting the word out about the time and location of the fair. In addition to the bibliophilic crowd were the many people who were out and about walking through Golden Gate Park on a beautiful (75 degree) Sunday who were likely drawn in by curiosity and by the free admission. The aisles were filled with people from opening until closing time. Having occasionally done a fair where the aisles are so empty the booksellers could have used them as golf fairways, the sight of so many people at a book fair made me so happy.

That said, I would characterize the customers at this fair as readers and book lovers but not necessarily book collectors (with a few exceptions, of course). What that means is I sold a lot of books, but the books I sold were in the $10-$25 range, books which are usually overlooked at the larger fairs with paid admission. What that also means is that there were many people in attendance who were like me several years ago. That is to say that I heard comments ranging from, “I never knew old books could be so beautiful!” to “Why would anyone pay $100 for an old book?” to (my personal favorite because I said it myself when I “discovered” the world of antiquarian books), “Why didn’t I know these type of books existed before today?”

There are a couple of ways booksellers view such potential customers. Some might refer to such book fair attendees as “looky-lou’s” because the person looks at the books and perhaps comments that they’re lovely but doesn’t buy any of them. Another bookseller might call such a customer a “tire-kicker”. This usually refers to a book lover who browses the books for sale, takes one off the shelf and then handles the book, often rather, er, exuberantly, perhaps opening it too far or bending pages when turning them. Such a customer usually has little or no experience handling old books. I’ve seen their book-handling methods make booksellers twitch.

The third way, and the way I think most booksellers assess such book fair visitors, is to see this as an opportunity to expose people to the world of antiquarian books, to book collecting, and to the fun of seeking and finding the perfect book. I was very impressed with the way so many people asked questions about the books — “How old is this one?” “How do I know if it’s a first edition?” “Why is this book considered significant?” “How do I learn to do this?” Before I was a bookseller, I often attended fairs but NEVER asked questions unless I planned to buy a book. I was way too intimidated by either the books’ usually high prices or by the sometimes silent manner of the booksellers.

Yep. I was a “looky-lou”. I am officially ashamed to say that I did not have the self-confidence to ask questions so I could learn more. Now I still need to learn more, but I’ve learned not to be afraid to ask questions. Many booksellers are so happy to have someone to talk to about books that they are thrilled to answer your questions. And if you find a rude seller, might I suggest trying again at another booth? While there are a few who genuinely seem to dislike people, most booksellers love to talk about books and are happy to talk to you at a book fair.

Once I observed that most of the people at this particular fair were not going to be buying rare books, I took the opportunity to explain to them why they might want to do so in the future and why it is so fun to build a collection in any field (not just the “expensive book” field) and how to go about doing so.

By the end of the day, I sold more than half of my book case filled with $10 books and had sales of a few more expensive books. I did make a profit, though smaller than my average for larger fairs, but I also think I may have attracted a few more potential book collectors (maybe even booksellers?) to the trade and that is always a good thing.

I bought a few interesting titles, and I hope to show those to you soon. Buying books and discovering new stock is another of the many benefits of book fairs.

Would you believe that in my rush to leave the house for the fair I forgot my camera? Sorry to say I did. I would have liked to show you pictures of my booth and of the bright, light-filled Hall of Flowers.

I have to run now, but tomorrow I’ll tell you about the mysterious customers who asked if they could photograph the books in my booth.

See you in the stacks!