Month: June 2010

Some like it damp: creepy crawly critters

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Every book seller has opened up a box and gotten the occasional surprise critter. Or moved something and suddenly seen something scurry off. Eeep!  Most creepy crawlies are harmless to you but they are still a cause for concern.  Many wee beasties think your books are delicious! If you spot them in an incoming box, they’ll also give you a clue where these books were kept.  Or if you’re out at a tag sale, estate sale, or op shop, spotting these beasts lets you know to go shop elsewhere.

All of the following creepy crawlies like HIGH humidity.  If the humidity dips below about 60% they’ll shrivel up and die.  So if you see these beasts in an incoming box you know it’s been somewhere DAMP and that means mold and water damage are very likely.

Do note: these critters are all harmless.  They can’t sting you, bite you, or make you sick.  They can just give you a fright.  There’s pictures of bugs beyond the jump, so the faint of heart may want to skip the rest of this article…

Lepisma saccharina

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In Which We Have a Haunted Bookstore

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This is Part 4 of Caro and Susan’s foray into the land of bookselling. Here are the earlier segments:

Shortly before the auction-where-we-bought-all-those-books, we got a phone call from T. You know T., the man who lured us into even thinking that starting a used book store was a spiffy idea? His message was, ‘since you practically, almost, have a store downtown how would you like to participate in the Retail Trades Haunted House?’ All proceeds go to promote the downtown businesses. Only six days in duration, only five or six hours each day! Plus setting it all up and taking it all down, of course. And he suggested that having a haunted book store as a way of pre-advertizing our soon-to-be business. He actually talked us into this.

Now the problem with that is I have never really seen the point of haunted houses, which is basically paying big bucks to get the crap scared out of you. And I’d never even actually been to one up to that point And six hours is a long time to do anything in a place that does not have a working bathroom (there was a blue potty-in-a-box outside) or heat. But T. is a silver tongued devil and he offered to help. So we spent most of September gathering props. Some of it was remarkably easy. We had the bookcase from the college auction, and the stools. We had material for curtains and swags. We hit eBay for various props. And we went through our cheepie books and pulled out everything with a black or red cover, or/and that had a dripping knife or a skeleton on the front. Gotta tell you, there are more of those than I ever imagined. Found a lovely tall book on plagues to feature on a book easel. We even had a spooky branch to cast ominous shadows on the wall.

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Small Shipping Boxes, ask your pharmacist

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There are so many folks selling just about every imaginable product on eBay and Amazon that the range of small shipping boxes is astronomical. You would not believe some of the small shipping boxes (so called) that have shown up on my doorstep. Everthing from cereal boxes wrapped in masking tape to very sturdy custom … Read more

Are the Days of the Real Book Numbered?

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CAN THIS BE THE END?
BY
Brian W. Webster

Antique French books
(The Invisible Agent in Paris)

I can feel the tremor of fear that runs through the book world with the advent of computered books and, to be honest I felt it too.
But a thought came to my head from remembering a friend I had in ages past.
He owned a very well known Antiques Store on Madison Avenue in New York.
I was in his store one day and he had a new collection just delivered and he was one the phone describing parts he needed.
“Can you get those parts”, I asked, “these days’?
He explained that there was a whole industry turning out table legs, hand pulls, locks, all imitations of the real thing.
He took me over and showed me a table, rickety looking and one leg shorter that the three others.
“It’s going to cost me about $1,000.00 to fix this, varnish it, replace the hinges etc., to make it saleable. Now it’s worth about $4,000.00 as it stands and I paid almost that to get it. When I’m finished, at Auction, it should go for abouy $15,000.00 or more.”
I was stunned. “But that’s cheating.”
“Certainly not. I’m merely bringing it back to its original condition, and the buyer understands that. Do you know that most Antiques on sale are only 40% original? 60% have been refurbished? Even Artwork is cleaned and retouched.”

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