BibliophileBullpen

Thanks to all out entrants, I will reread all the posts and pick a winner either arbitrarily or by throwing a dart at the computer screen. I will post it on the weekend.

Truly thanks for lending me your words to use instead of my own. So, far this week I have been smacked in the head, not once but three times by cabinet doors, and once by a shelf full of books. I had a lovely nasty cold which left me voiceless for a few days and found out that my mother’s apartment has mice. Which is a lie, it’s the building that has always had a few mice but since her apartment has been vacant they have been merrily rooting through her cupboards.

And before you ask, NO. No one in my family has had the balls to tell her that her life is being deconstructed without her knowledge. She still thinks her new residence is temporary, and believe me if I had the funds I would make it so, even though she makes me completely and utterly nuts. But now that my arsehead of a brother has managed to move her out of the building, he has his eye on getting rid of me next. He did however have the gall to tell me I shouldn’t be running a business out of my home (btw 31 years now) I just laughed at him and reminded him that he runs his contracting business out of his OWN home. So, he can kiss my ass. I’m only leaving here toes up, unless of course I become one of those women who dies and no one notices until weeks later and her pets have EATEN her toes . . . or is the eyes they eat first? I will have to look that up.

BTW the part came for my camcorder, I will try to clean off my workbench enough to shoot another repair video. And for some unknown reason I committed to doing the Concord, NH show June 1st – well I know the reason, because I was asked. And of all the shows I did last year, it was the only one that turned a profit. I think the main reason I agreed was so that I would have a virtual kick in the ass, I need to make a paper catalog . . isn’t that almost arcane? But it is something I have put off for months now, and hopefully I will git’erdone for June 1st. Cross your toes.

From Craig Harris @ Bridge of Dreams

Ok, I’ll admit it.
I started out with comic books.
Just a few at first, but it got out of hand pretty quickly.

I graduated to the hard stuff and quickly spiraled out of control. In high school I’d skip lunch and spend the money in musty bookstores on Jackson Blvd., their names long forgotten. By the time I was 16, I was over the edge. I conned my father into a major advance on my allowance to buy the signed, limited edition of Gary Snyder’s Regarding Wave at my regular haunt, Circle Books.

One day Doug and Gordon, who owned Circle and put up with me hanging around almost every day, paid me $20 to help them unload a shipment of books. Of course they knew full well I would spend that $20 right away – on more books.
Little did I know that would be my last paying work in the book business for almost 34 years.
Yes, I had been pulled into the maelstrom of … book collecting!
Almost five years ago I woke up, found I had been working all that time in the Family Business I Never Wanted To Be In, was running it in fact, and there was a bit of a rough spot – actually a major crisis. I did all the right things and was still turned out. There always has to be a fall guy. I looked around at the alternatives, and the more I thought about it – be your own boss, work from home, low overhead, no employees, travel on your own terms, and look at all this, well, inventory I’ve got to start with – the more sense it made to reinvent myself as a bookseller.

Now I ask myself why I waited so long to do this, and I don’t really have a good answer. So be it.

It’s not easy, but I can’t imagine doing anything else. There are advantages. I have very short meetings since it’s always clear who screwed up, and if I want a quick lift I can listen to the traffic report when I walk to the garage. And there’s never a lack of books to read.

Even that copy of Regarding Wave.

Craig

in from Bob Lewis – Sylvan’s Foremost Bookstore

How I Became a Used Book Seller

When I was very young my mother read me stories. I loved stories. I wanted them all the time.
When I started school I thought I would learn to read and then I could have stories any time I wanted. But I had a lot of trouble with reading. My parents mentioned it to Mrs. Batts, a retired school teacher who lived next door.
At this time, 1956, I was 8. Mrs. Batts said it was because they weren’t teaching phonics. She told my parents to get a set of books called ‘The Beacon Readers’. In 6 weeks she taught me to read.
Whenever we went anywhere, my father was on the lookout for used bookstores. My mother went for wool shops. I went with my father.
Owning a used book store seemed like too much of a fairy-tale – it would just be too good to be true. I didn’t even consider it as a real possibility. I sometimes got jobs like night gas station attendant, which meant I could just sit there and read for nearly 40 hours a week.
I was about 50 when I spotted an ad in the newspaper for a used book store for sale. I knew that I couldn’t afford it, but then I thought – what are they going to do – beat me up if I don’t buy it? So I phoned. A young woman had started Red Ink Books on the second story of a store in London, Ontario. She’d had it open a year when she got accepted to university. 12,000 books with pine shelves – a good starter collection – and the lease would be up in a week, so the price was right. I gave her a deposit and set off for home.
Sylvan, where we live, has a population of about 25. When we came here we bought the existing gas and grocery store but had closed it after our road was closed for 4 summers in 5 years. I thought I could open weekends only, and with no rent to pay it could work. It was early May – I just had time to tidy the store and get set up.

in from Gwen Foss @ Alan’s Used Books

Old King Cole Rises Again

One of the most bizarre things happened to me a few months ago while I was out hunting the local garage sales for used books to resell.

I picked up an remarkable Mother Goose book. I have a special interest in folklore and collect nursery rhyme books. This book was not old, not nicely bound, and
not in good shape. I was going to thumb through, see it there were any rhymes that were unfamiliar, and if
so, buy it. I expected to put it down and walk away, but–

There on the front endpaper was an illustration I had known since I was about three years old. But the book was completely unfamiliar.

I looked again and realized that no, this was not quite the illustration I knew. But it was a very close match. I realized suddenly that it was the original on which “my” illustration had been based.

Some background here. All but one of my grandparents were artists. When I was about three years old, my maternal grandfather made me an original illustration of my favorite nursery rhyme, “Old King Cole.” Then he framed it, and has hung on my wall ever since.

My grandfather passed away when I was about five years old. I don’t remember him very clearly but I have always treasured his illustration which I can remember him by.

Imagine my surprise to learn, some forty years later, that my grandfather had actually copied someone else’s work! That sneaky man!

(The book is: _Mother Goose: A Random House Book_,
with artwork and claytoons directed by Maxwell Dorne and Bill Sass, color photography by Maxwell Dorne, copyright 1949.)

The full front endpaper is actually pretty striking: it depicts not only the Merry Old Soul but also his Fiddlers Three.

After I got over my initial shock and surprise, I found that I enjoyed having the original as well as the copy in my collection. My grandfather embellished the original with many clever details like the decorative features along the king’s collar and hemline and his very stylized hair.

It may be a cliche but you never know what you’ll find when you’re out book scouting. And no, although the book is pretty beat up and part of the backstrip is gone, it is not for sale!

in from Jon Speed: The Book Scout

I’m a bookseller by birth. My uncle, Craig Ross, was an old-school
gentleman bookdealer. He was the eccentric of the family. It was rumored
in some family circles that he had money, probably because of the few great
items he sold from time-to-time. He handled documents signed by Lincoln,
Custer, the founding fathers and other historical items. During his career
he had at least five true first editions of the Book of Mormon, which he
thought may have been a record although he was too humble to prove it. And
he handled really obscure, one-of-a-kind sort of stuff. One of his
mimeographed lists contained a notarized document from a sheriff (if memory
serves) who testified that when President U.S. Grant visited his town he
never once even stopped by the local pubs

A visit to his old Victorian home was a treat. On my first visit, I
remember being shocked. Books were shelved everywhere imaginable; all of
the large portions of wall space being taken up, he fashioned shelves for
closets, above windows, and anywhere else he could get them. At that time,
he had a large barn where he kept the cast-offs from his book hunting; boxes
of common stuff which were leftovers. I bought three Horatio Alger, Jr.
books from that barn when I was nine. Once a year he would advertise a book
sale in Medina, NY and the locals would all come out and pick through his
cast offs for pocket change.

Craig got me into the business when I found a first American edition of one
of David Livingstone’s books. He explained to me the difference between the
American and British editions, the condition of the book, and how these
factors influenced price. He graciously offered to carry the book on an
upcoming list and sell it on commission. At the time, I wasn’t sure what to
do with it and thought I might like to become a collector. I read
everything I could get my hands on regarding book collecting in the
Rochester Public Library. I started frequenting the local antiquarian
shops; many of those dealers were friends of my uncle’s. I was pleased when
one introduced me to a customer as “the next Craig Ross”. I will never live
up to that billing, but I loved being associated with him. It opened a lot
of doors for me when I decided that I would never be able to justify
collecting rare books, but could sell them. Those were the days when you
needed more than a computer and a credit card to sell books.

Our homes have resembled Craig’s. Right now we have about 30,000 books.
Over the years we have gone in and out of bookselling, but always come back.
The last time we came back my wife surprised me when she said, “This place
didn’t really seem like ‘home’ until now”. My kids love reading and I can
only credit the atmosphere of a bookselling home. They have grown up
believing that books are important. What better legacy could my uncle leave
us?

If you wish to participate in the judging please leave your comments.

Last Call – done or undone, get them in folks.

RULES.
• 250-500 original words on any bookselling topic : why you want to be a bookseller when you grow up, why you like being a bookseller, why a brick and mortar store is better than an online store, why being a bookseller is better than being a fireman etc . . .etc . . .
• essay must not have appeared elsewhere
• entrant must include contact information
• email to bibliophilebullpen@gmail.com

DEADLINE. April 30th.

JUDGING. All reasonable entries will be posted to the Bullpen as they arrive. Judging will be completely arbitrary depending on my whim and reader responses. I may not like something and if enough readers do that will count much more.

PRIZE. The winner gets a copy of ‘Book Shops, how to run them’ by Ruth Brown Park. Doran & co. 1929.

DOOR PRIZES. All the entrants will get something just for entering, I have collected up what I think are enough prizes to choose from.

which is which?, originally uploaded by jgodsey.

Proctor and Gamble’s Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner. How many people wear their glasses in the shower?

Container and product are much much too similar, I have to use my glasses to differentiate them BEFORE i get in the shower.

Well, a day on the coast anyway. Despite the universe’s attempts to prevent me, I managed to nip up to Portland to exchange several boxes of books with Don Lindgren @ Rabelais for money, so I can exchange that money for more books. The cruel circle of life eh? The weather was disgusting, all bright colors and sunshine, nakedly walking around without layers of winter clothing and woolen socks. It’s just unnatural I tell you.

But, I did manage to catch up with Ian and Eli Kahn of Lux Mentis, boy booksellers, who kept me entertained for a few hours.

Maine is still a good booking place if you have the time and inclination to bop about. I have toyed with pulling up stakes for it but I still shudder at the thought of squeezing my life into a few dozen boxes. Perhaps someone else will come into my home when I am not there and do it for me.