I received a comment from BiblioHistoria after yesterday’s post about my family’s demands on my time and the time I spend on my book business:

What months are the summer months vacation in USA? Is that usually June and July, with school starting up again in August?

Here in Canada summer covers July and August and school starts again in September. I’m just curious.

Because unless you have paid for camps for your boys, you won’t get much book work done during the summer.

Remember your blog started last year in September AFTER the summer vacation ended and the boys were back in school.

Tom and Huck have summer vacation from early June until mid-August. Both boys participate on a swim team during the summer (far less demanding than our school-year sports schedule) and both will take a couple of fun classes, such as “Making Movies Using iMovie” for Tom. These classes run for a week or so for an hour or two per meeting. Mostly, Tom and Huck are home with me. I want to relax our schedules during the summer, because this is the one time of year I can spend time with them without always rushing to be somewhere. We have time to read a book, go to the zoo, visit a museum, or just play.

I am lucky — we have lots of neighbors on our street, and there are plenty of kids with whom Tom and Huck can play. All of the parents take turns letting the kids play at each other’s houses. This is wonderful (except on the days when there are 10 kids playing in my house).

Still, I do hear refrains of “Mom, I’m bored. What should I do?” during the long days of summer. I like the kids try to come up with their own games, build their own forts out of old sheets, create obstacle courses on the lawn, etc. This type of play is, after all, a form of learning. In order to help me combat the “Mom, I’m bored” crowd, I found this at last weekend’s library sale:

It’s my ace in the hole and has excellent ideas for all kinds of contraptions kids can make themselves — spool tanks, small parachutes, whittling, slingshots, etc. Not every kid likes these kind of projects, but mine do, especially if their friends are working on it with them.

I don’t know for sure exactly how many hours of book work will be done during the summer. I can say that without sports practice and without daily homework, I will be considerably freed up. My current plan is to work before the boys wake up — from 6 until 8 a.m. each day. I should be able to fit in another hour or two during the day when they are playing. I can’t promise that this is exactly how I’ll do it, because this is my first year working on this business. I do know for sure, that I will (and already do) consistently spend time on my business, even if it’s only a little time each day.

You know, I hope, what a bookseller means when he says he’s had a good day. A good day is the kind of day when you discover an excellent “find”, perhaps nestled among the shelves of a library sale or another dealer’s shop. A good day is the day when you sell a fine book to someone who is happy to buy it. A good day is a day when you get to talk to book collectors or other booksellers. A good day is the opening day of a book fair. Actually, those days are great days!

Today is not by any means a bad day, but it is not a day that hits the apex of a good day as a bookseller. You see, I want nothing more than to prepare for this weekend’s book fair. I want nothing more than to lock myself in my house and work on nothing but the Dante catalogue until it’s complete. I want to do nothing more than plan my August trip to UCLA Rare Book School. Today, I couldn’t do any of these things.

We’re coming into the home stretch of school and sports in the Bay Area. This week we have the last book report, the last history report, and the last science project of the year (Tom’s 4th grade assignments — he is fairly independent, but does need to be supervised when working on these big projects). We have the last class field trips. We have the final guitar lesson/recital. We have the final Cub Scout meeting of the year. Soon it will be the final Little League Baseball game. Add to that a dog who needs veterinary care, cooking, and laundry and I’m too tired to think straight.

Meanwhile, I do not have a final list of books I’m bringing to the Gold Rush Book Fair nor a final draft of the Dante catalogue. I want to work on building my business but there just aren’t enough hours in the day this week. Life can be like this, sometimes. The balance you work hard to attain between your life and your work shifts heavily in one direction for a while. This week, the balance has shifted toward family activities. While I like all of the family activities very much, I also like it very much when I get time to work on my book business. Soon enough it will shift back to a more even distribution.

On days like today, I remind myself that one day in the not so distant future my children will be grown. They won’t need me to drive them to sports practices and games, to supervise their studies, or to listen (for the 100th time today) to what they’ve learned to play on the guitar. If my posts seem a little rushed lately, or less bookish, or more like a daily diary rather than a thoughtful reflection on the bookish life, this is why. I remind myself that my books, permanent objects, will still be here when my kids are grown, but that childhood is ephemeral. I want to make the most of this time, even — no — especially — on the days when family demands leave little time for books and blogging.

School is out for the summer in just a couple of weeks. We’re in the home stretch, now, and running toward the end-of-the-year finish line with all our might. I expect things to shift back toward a more balanced approach when we reach it. Thanks for reading!

I leave for the Gold Rush Book Fair Friday morning. It’s time to dust off that old Book Fair Supply List and see what, if any, new supplies are needed.

I have a few new acquisitions for which I need to write descriptions. I’ll try to do that tomorrow.

On Wednesday, I’ll begin taking books off the shelves and packing them for the fair. Unlike the other two book fairs for which I’ve prepared, I don’t feel the need to set up test shelves this time. Is this a sign of progress and experience or simply an indication that my week is too busy to think about books ahead of time? I don’t know, but I’ll be sure to take pictures of my booth at the fair.

Thursday, I’ll finish up any last details.

By now you’ve realized, I think, what this means. I will not have time for the Dante Catalogue this week. I’ll be back at it full force next week — as soon as I clean up from the book fair.

I promise.

See you in the stacks!

If you are a mother, Happy Mother’s Day!

My day began not with breakfast in bed, but with Huck’s 8:30 a.m. Little League game in fog and wind. It was early and it was cold. I tried really hard not to be grumpy about that, but really would have rather had the traditional Mother’s Day breakfast in bed. When we got home, Tom and Huck gave me some little presents they made and I perked right up.

I know it’s indulgent, but it’s Mother’s Day, and I’m a mother, so I want to share with you a booklet Huck (in first grade) made for me at school for Mother’s Day. This reward is better than the best of book finds, and is stapled in a book-like format. When I am sometimes frustrated at having to put my books aside to deal with homework, sports, etc. things like this help me put my priorities back into perspective. Thank you, boys, for giving me the gift of being a mother.

My favorite is panel number two, which states: “This is what she does all day — be’s my mom.”

I found the most marvelous literary paper dolls while looking for something else on Google today. Each charming doll is produced on a folio page and signed by the artist. There are all sorts of dolls — literary and historical characters and high fashion characters. Each has an elaborately illustrated wardrobe. I have no real need for these, and I’ve never really been interested in dolls. But these are wonderful.  I just like them.

A lot.

Imagine the literary gatherings one could have: Mr. Darcy takes Becky Sharp to tea. Jo March and Tom Sawyer take a road trip. Emily Dickinson is perhaps the least favorite, because her wardrobe is limited: she keeps wearing the same white dress. Perhaps she can get a makeover from Scarlett O’Hara.

From the website, about the artist:

DONALD HENDRICKS is an artist specializing in high fashion, beauty and lingerie. He studied at the Art Student’s League in New York. Among his clients were Vassarette, Olga, Max Factor, Lady Schick, and Redken. He illustrated many books, including The International Beauty Book, International Hair Design and Leslie Blanchard’s Hair-Coloring Book. His drawings appeared in the advertising and/or editorial pages of such magazines as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, and Hairdo & Beauty. His retail accounts dealt with the likes of Mary McFadden, Halston, and Galanos, whose gowns he used in the Fashion Illustration classes he taught at Riverside Art Museum.

I’m going to my favorite library sale this weekend. The sale is held the second full weekend of each month. I regret to say that I have been unable to attend this sale since December. I was out of town in January, at the San Francisco Book Fair in February, at opening day of Little League in March, and at my brother’s wedding in April. It feels good to get back after such a long time away. I hope some undiscovered finds wait for me on the shelves.

As part of my plan for this year, I’ve been listing my business priorities month by month. Now that it’s May, it’s time to review what I accomplished in April and set goals for this month.

First, the status on April’s goals:

APRIL 2008 PRIORITIES
+Dante catalogue. In progress. Have imaged and catalogued more than half of the books and learned to use the program I need to layout the catalogue. Should be done in another month.(N.B., I said should be done . . .)
+Contribute an article to BookThink. Done.
+Contribute an article to Bookshop Blog. Done.
+Keep blogging here. Done.

MAY 2008 PRIORITIES
+ Finish the Dante catalogue.
+ Library Sale
+ Prepare for and sell books at the Gold Rush Book Fair, May 17. Email me at chris @ bookhuntersholiday.com if you’d like a free pass to the fair.
+ Put all books back on the shelves after the Gold Rush Book Fair (sigh — I dislike that part).
+ I will be attending UCLA Rare Book School in August. I need to make travel plans and book my hotel.
+ I will be exhibiting at the Santa Monica Book Fair in September. I need to book a hotel for that, too.
+ Find out the dates for the Sacramento/Central Valley Antiquarian Book Fair, which is also usually held in September.
+ Keep blogging here. I am taking a break from writing for BookThink this month so that I can focus on my catalogue and the book fair.
+ Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. The most important goal — sell books!

I spent several hours cataloguing books and scanning images today. I’ve got about 15 more books to go before I can really start to lay out the Dante catalogue and get it ready for the printer. Once again, I spent a couple of hours researching just one item for the catalogue. I don’t intend to put so much into research for what is usually a short book description. I just get caught up in what I am doing and I don’t realize how much time is passing until I’ve run out of time. Part of me wants to be more efficient with my time, and the other part of me, the part that enjoys research, wants to research everything until my questions are answered, whether or not that research is germane to the description I’m writing. I suppose I’ll learn to be more disciplined with more experience.

I received the most recent issue of Fine Books and Collections magazine in the mail over a week ago. In an effort to establish the aforementioned self-discipline, I put the magazine aside in order to focus solely on the Dante catalogue. Today, I could resist it no longer. I took an afternoon break, and read the magazine cover to cover with a couple of cups of tea from my spring tea cup.

That break was worth every minute. I was transported from my dining room to a universe inhabited by people who spend as much time as I do fascinated by red rot (p.21), thrilled about the auctioning of a 19th century comic opera “on the theme of mosquito eradication” (p.23), contemplating a thought-provoking essay on collectible art vs. collectible books (p.34), and in awe of fore-edge paintings (p.42). I was in heaven, even if I wasn’t cataloguing that Longfellow translation of Dante’s Paradiso.

See you in the stacks!

If you will permit a motherly, self-indulgent post today, read on.

I’m feeling old again. How can I possibly have a child who is this age?

Tom is 10 years old today!

Here he is at about two months old:

Here he is when I let my high school students select his outfit (one great thing about teaching high school is that you have a lot of teenage babysitters at your disposal):

And here he is at 10 (photo courtesy of little brother Huck):

On Sunday, we celebrated with Tom’s grandparents. I like to bake, and I always make each son a special birthday cake for our family celebration. Tom wanted a skateboard-shaped cake this year. I’m no Martha Stewart, but I did my best.

The cake depicts the bottom side of a skateboard. Those are mini-donuts for the wheels with Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookies for the axles. (Oh wait, Tom just informed me that skateboard axles are not called axles. They are called “trucks”. I don’t know skateboarding lingo. I feel so old. The fact that I just used the word “lingo” in a sentence makes me feel even older.) That green tree shape painted in the middle is the logo of Tom’s favorite skateboard company, Element.

Tom, ten years ago you enriched our lives and made us a family. We love you and your grass-stained pants, your all-guitar rock band that practices at our house, your Lego creations, and your skateboard tricks. We love your inquisitive mind and your wild imagination. We love your kindness toward others, your good listening, and your smiling eyes. Happy 10th Birthday, my sweet son!

I’m looking forward to Friday. I’ll be meeting up with Mr. Z to go book hunting in the East Bay — a final search for new stock before I exhibit at the Gold Rush Book Fair in Grass Valley on May 17. If you’re anywhere near Grass Valley, CA (about one hour west of Lake Tahoe) on May 17, I highly recommend stopping by this small, regional fair held in an historic Gold Rush town filled with bookstores. The fair’s motto is, “It’s like browsing in a great old bookshop.” Is there anything better?

Actually, yes, there is: Browsing in many bookshops simultaneously, which, with the multiple vendors at a book fair, you can do with ease. See you there!

In other interesting book news, the blog Upward Departure linked today to a fun graphic novel called, Bookhunter. The entire book is online and, if you’re a book nerd like me, it’s a highly entertaining read.

A while back I posted about the need for antiquarian booksellers to reach out to the next generation of collectors, who, I opined, spend much of their time reading blogs, podcasting, and surfing You Tube. I wondered aloud how I might use these technologies to reach new and potential customers. Looks like the ABAA/ILAB has beaten me to it. Today, my friend Brian Cassidy mentioned a documentary produced by the ABAA and posted on You Tube by ILAB. The entire documentary, called Bibliomania, was filmed at the San Francisco Antiquarian Book Fair put on by the ABAA in February, 2007.

As I was just beginning to learn about the antiquarian book business in 2007, I was given the opportunity to assist Mr. Z at this wonderful fair, to observe and to learn. Truly, you’ll never see a better group of books assembled under one roof than at an ABAA fair. Many booksellers and collectors were interviewed for the film.

The documentary puts a human face on antiquarian booksellers, something I think is good. Prior to really getting involved with book collecting and bookselling, I presumed (incorrectly) that all antiquarian booksellers were know-it-alls who had been selling ancient tomes since grade school and who would treat a new collector or new bookseller with condescension. Nothing could be further from the truth. Almost every bookseller I’ve met personally has been welcoming and offered help and advice as I’ve started my business. Maybe if people see that booksellers don’t bite, they’ll be more inspired to ask our advice as they build collections. Maybe, when they see how much fun we have, they’ll come to book fairs or to our shops and ask questions about how to get started collecting books.

Here’s a link to Part 1 of the documentary. There are six parts. You can see the rest at YouTube. Go to their search box and type in “Bibliomania, Part ___” (whichever number you’re seeking).

See you in the stacks! Happy Book Hunting!