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 484 Does this Illustration Look Familiar?

The illustration above is an original. It’s by G.F. Sargent and depicts Old Mother Hubbard. I’m trying to find out whether it appeared in any of the too numerous count editions of nursery rhymes or stories about Old Mother Hubbard. So far, no luck. Does it look familiar to any of you readers? If so, please leave a comment below. Thanks in advance!

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard,
To give the poor dog a bone:
When she came there,
The cupboard was bare,
And so the poor dog had none.

She went to the baker’s
To buy him some bread;
When she came back
The dog was dead!

She went to the undertaker’s
To buy him a coffin;
When she came back
The dog was laughing.

She took a clean dish
to get him some tripe;
When she came back
He was smoking his pipe.

She went to the alehouse
To get him some beer;
When she came back
The dog sat in a chair.

She went to the tavern
For white wine and red;
When she came back
The dog stood on his head.

She went to the fruiterer’s
To buy him some fruit;
When she came back
He was playing the flute.

She went to the tailor’s
To buy him a coat;
When she came back
He was riding a goat.

She went to the hatter’s
To buy him a hat;
When she came back
He was feeding her cat.

She went to the barber’s
To buy him a wig
When she came back
He was dancing a jig.

She went to the cobbler’s
To buy him some shoes;
When she came back
He was reading the news.

She went to the sempstress
To buy him some linen;
When she came back
The dog was spinning.

She went to the hosier’s
To buy him some hose;
When she came back
He was dressed in his clothes.

The Dame made a curtsy,
The dog made a bow;
The Dame said, Your servant;
The dog said, Bow-wow.

This wonderful dog
Was Dame Hubbard’s delight,
He could read, he could dance,
He could sing, he could write;
She gave him rich dainties
Whenever he fed,
And erected this monument
When he was dead.ase

Chapter 482 2009 Fine Books & Collections Compendium Now Available

Great news! The Fine Books & Collections Winter 2010 Compendium is now available.

Those of you who have been interested in books and book collecting for a while already know that Fine Books & Collections was one of a handful of magazines for book collectors. Last year, the periodical went to an online-only format; no more print versions of the magazine will be printed. While there are still the same well-written articles on all kinds of bookish topics in the online version and there’s also a blog (to which I occasionally contribute), I find it difficult to read through an entire month’s worth of articles on my computer, especially those I might want to keep for future reference. Yes, I love and use digital technology, but I miss print!

According to Fine Books & Collections, The Compendium is a “deluxe edition of the magazine that will include our best columnists, feature articles, a directory of the industry, and more.” Last January, I received an email message from FB &C that “current active subscribers will receive the Compendium as part of your subscription to Fine Books & Collections. “

I look forward to receiving it. I have missed the print version of the magazine, and though this won’t replace that, it will also include the 2010 Gift Guide for the book minded and the 2010 Bookseller Resource Guide, a listing of more than 700 bookstores and book-related institutions worldwide. (Full disclosure: I have purchased a listing in the Resource Guide, the first time I have advertised my business in print.)

If you’re interested, you can order your own copy here.

Happy reading!

Chapter 481 Larry McMurtry on Libraries

I recently finished reading Larry McMurtry’s memoir of his life as a bookman, Books. Though McMurtry is probably best known to the general public for his novels and screenplays (Hud, The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, Lonesome Dove, etc.), he is best known to the antiquarian bookselling community as a bookseller. He still owns an open shop, Booked Up, which was in Washington, D.C. for many years and now operates out of the “booktown” of Archer City, Texas.

Much of what McMurtry had to say about his years as a bookseller resonated with me, and I enjoyed seeing in print the names of some booksellers familiar to me. Simply put, the book is a good read and more so if you also happen to be an antiquarian bookseller.

One of the many topics the memoir addresses is the transformation of libraries into places other than repositories of books. Though I have written on this same topic on several occasions, McMurtry puts my point-of-view into words better than my own. Here’s what he has to say:

“Today the sight that discourages book people most is to walk into a public library and see computers where books used to be. In many cases not even the librarians want books to be there. What consumers want now is information, and information increasingly comes from computers.

That is a preference I can’t grasp, much less share, though I’m well aware that computers have many valid uses. They save lives, and they make research in most cases a thing that’s almost instantaneous.

They do many good things.

But they don’t really do what books do, and why should they usurp the chief function of a public library, which is to provide readers access to books? Books can accommodate the proximity of computers but it doesn’t seem to work the other way around. Computers now literally drive out books from the place that should, by definition, be books’ own home: the library.”

I like that this writer values the importance of print. Anyone want to make a pilgrimage to Archer City?

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 467 September — Summer’s Best of Weather and Autumn’s Best of Cheer

Happy September 1! I’m celebrating with the poem of one of the most interesting women writers of the western United States:

The golden-rod is yellow;
The corn is turning brown;
The trees in apple orchards
With fruit are bending down.
*
The gentian’s bluest fringes
Are curling in the sun;
In dusky pods the milkweed
Its hidden silk has spun.
*
The sedges flaunt their harvest
In every meadow nook;
And asters by the brookside
Make asters in the brook.
*
From dewy lanes at morning
The grapes’ sweet odors rise;
At noon the roads all flutter
With golden butterflies.
*
By all these lovely tokens
September days are here,
With summer’s best of weather,
And autumn’s best of cheer.
*
~ “September” by Helen Hunt Jackson ~

Chapter 466 James Bond’s Reading List

Huck wanted to do a walking tour of Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco for his birthday celebration this past weekend. I tried to explain to him that we natives do not go places like Fisherman’s Wharf unless we have out of town visitors, but he was having none of it. So, Thoughtful Husband and I packed up Tom and Huck and a few of their buddies and drove them to Fisherman’s Wharf.

Here’s a photo of stop #1 on our tour, The International Spy Shop:

Once I got past all of the swords, knives, bug detectors, doorknob alarms, and microscopic hidden cameras, I sauntered over to the book section. Here are the most interesting titles I found, titles that I imagine might be on James Bond’s reading list:

How to Open Handcuffs Without Keys

The Poor Man’s Ray Gun (Deadly Rays)

Secrets from the Ninja Grandmaster

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 445 Adding To My Bookselling Repertoire, Or, The Tale Of A Quote, Part 1

Booksellers have a range of options when it comes to selling books — open shop, online, print catalogue, and book fair. These venues are effective for selling most books, but what can an antiquarian bookseller do to highlight a particular book (or books) to a particular collector or library?

Quote.

Quotes are detailed descriptions of a particular book or group of books, usually sent to a specific customer. Sometimes, the customer will see you have a book he wants and ask for a quote. Other times, you may feel that a particular collection (whether privately held or owned by an institution like a university library) is the best home for a specific title and you want to bring that title and its significance to the institution’s attention.

I recently finished writing and mailing my first quote to a library. I have sold to libraries before, but only at book fairs, where I have been able to talk to the librarians in person and hand sell the books. The book I recently quoted to a library was the first ever where I decided that the book I had would be an excellent fit for the library’s existing Western Americana collection. It remains to be seen whether they will choose to purchase the book. In the meantime, I’ll tell you a bit about the book and how I researched it and what went into my quote.

To be continued tomorrow . . .

Chapter 443 Let’s See if I Can Do This Without Interruption, Or, Why I May Move My Office to an “Undisclosed Location”

Shhh!

Don’t tell anyone.

I’m sitting down to write a blog post and I want to see if I can complete it without interruption by pets, children, car accidents up the street, ringing telephones, and various and sundry other things.

Summer has been busy and full of all sorts of interruptions which have precluded my having any sort of regular work schedule. Why this surprises me, I don’t know. Aside from the usual activities of family and home, I’ve been researching and writing a detailed description on the best and most interesting book I’ve ever bought or sold in my (admittedly very brief) career as a bookseller. (More about this later.) I’ve also been reading and taking notes on books like Bamber Gascoigne’s How to Identify Prints in preparation for my upcoming trip to University of Virginia for Rare Book School. I’ve been cataloguing new acquisitions for September and October’s book fairs, and I’ve been putting the finishing touches on a certain catalogue that I started (gulp!) nearly two years ago. At home, we have five birthdays to celebrate in the month of July in our family this year and I am helping to give one baby shower right after I return from Virginia. Combine this with grocery shopping, laundry, and trying to squeeze in some fun activities with Tom and Huck while they are off school, and you will see why I have had so little time for blogging lately. At least all of these various events and activities are fun, but I do wish I had more time to blog with a bit more attention to detail.

I’ve considered moving my office from my dining room to an “undisclosed location” so I could get some work done, but my life would be so much less exciting.

At last, here is my summer reading list. Aside from Gascoigne’s How to Identify Prints, I’m reading very lightweight, very fun books this year. The list below is only a list — it’s doesn’t mean that I will actually complete said list by the end of summer. In fact, it’s quite possible that with all of the other excitement around here that summer’s reading list will become autumn’s. In any case, I’m trying to read at least a little bit each night, and, left to my own devices, would read some books straight through if I could.

First, from my favorite British publisher of forgotten books by female authors, Persephone Books:

The Making of a Marchioness, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Family Roundabout, by Richmal Crompton
The Home-Maker, by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (it’s been on my list since spring, lol!)

Next, a book recommended to me by a reader of this blog because of my newfound love for female British novelists:
Excellent Women, by Barbara Pym

Next, a book I recently finished reading:
Winston’s War: A Novel of Conspiracy, by Michael Dobbs (interesting fictional take on the ascendancy of Prime Minister Winston Churchill during World War II. Plenty of real-life characters involved.)

Next, a book recommended to me by one of my brothers, with his cautionary email message that reads, “OK, I just read a book that I normally would never recommend to you given it is an action-thriller type book and I don’t think that is your style. [ed. note -- which begs the question, what does he think is my style?] However, this book involves lots of Thomas Jefferson references and there is even an antiquarian book conference and a 1st edition Don Quixote! Book is a decent read, but it is no classic.” The book is:

The Last Patriot, by Brad Thor. Will I think it is a worthwhile read? Who knows? It sounds like one of those novels people buy in airports. Maybe I’ll read it on the flight to Virginia?

Finally, to satisfy the Laura Ingalls Wilder pioneer girl in me, I am planning to read:

The Backyard Homestead, by Carleen Madigan. The Backyard Homestead tells those of us with small suburban lots how to eat from our backyard garden year-round with fresh vegetables and homemade preserves, make omelets from eggs laid by your own chickens, and pick fruits and berries from your back door. Will I actually do any of these things? Given my current schedule, probably not, but a girl can dream!

That’s all for now.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 437 A Bright Idea, Or, Interesting Ephemera Finds, Part 4

I promise to stop torturing you booklovers with ephemera finds soon and return to blogging about books, for balance if for nothing else. That’s what happens when I discover a subject with which I fall in love; I tend to immerse myself in it.

How deeply am I immersed in ephemera at the moment?

If I could paper my walls in ephemera right now, I would.

Don’t worry, I would never actually put wallpaper glue on ephemera. Let’s just say, though, that when I’m reading and researching a subject I love, I tend to tune out all of the noise around me. This is not necessarily a good thing for child safety.

I’m deeply immersed at the moment.

For today’s viewing pleasure, I present a 1902 trade catalogue from General Electric. It has a very scintillating title. In fact, when you read it, you’ll see why I am unable to pay attention to anything else.

It’s Electrical Apparatus and Supplies for Isolated Plants.

I know. You might be thinking, “Really, Chris? You’d tune out everything going on around you for a boring bit of ephemera about electricity? I expect better from you, perhaps an illuminated manuscript leaf or early dustjacket. But a General Electric catalogue. Who cares?”

I said the same thing when I first saw the title, but then I decided I really liked the cover.

I am such a sucker for good graphics and a pretty cover.

Then I opened the catalogue, and I saw the 1902 date and the verso of the title page, which reads, “Everybody should use Electric Light, obtaining the supply from the nearest Central Station. If impossible to secure such service, install General Electric Company’s Small Plant.”

The Introduction goes on to explain, “In the pages following is given a general description of the various devices manufactured by the General Electric Company, which are necessary for a complete installation.”

Before the United States had what we commonly refer to as a “power grid” that provided service nearly everywhere, there were places where people had to create their own electricity. This catalogue was printed to serve those places.

The catalogue has detailed illustrations on almost every page that show not only the equipment available (Direct Coupled Engine Generator Sets, Switchboards, Transformers, and Incandescent Lamps, among others) but places where it was being used — on ships, in large buildings, charging car batteries, in some homes, etc.

Lightbulbs for sale:

Though it’s not a very clear picture on the blog, this is a diagram of how to wire everything together once you purchased and assembled your own isolated power plant:

Given many people’s current desire to find alternate sources of power, I thought this an interesting find from the era when the use of electricity was becoming accessible to all.

See you in the stacks!

Chapter 426 Self-Made Woman

Recently, I’ve been buying books and ephemera that have visual appeal. Not for any particular reason. I just like it when I look at a book and see a sense of beauty in its design or its illustration or its dustjacket. Though visual appeal is not a prerequisite in my purchasing a particular book, I find that I sometimes buy a book based solely on its cover. Though we’ve always heard that we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, it’s sometimes fun to do so. I have to admit, I am just a a sucker for a pretty dustjacket. Here’s a recent fun find in a bold dustjacket that proves my point:

From the inside flap of the dustjacket:

“Cathleen was thirty, unmarried, and one of the most successful business women in New York City. She didn’t consider herself a freak of nature. Her success was extremely gratifying to her. “Was it worth it,” her mother asked her, “worth it to go without your own man and your own children in your arms?”

I love how the dustjacket copy goes on to describe the man who may may make Cathleen choose to give it all up for love:

“Perry Spencer, more expert at holding a woman than a job, a beautifully tailored blend of polo and Park Avenue.”

Here’s the technical description:

Baldwin, Faith. SELF-MADE WOMAN. New York: Triangle Books, 1941 (1932). VG red cloth book in a VG, lightly chipped dustjacket.

In case this book appeals to you as much as it does to me, it’s available for purchase for $30 plus $4.00 shipping (Media Mail in the US). Email me at chris AT bookhuntersholiday DOT com for more details.

See you in the stacks!