Other Book Dealers

Subculture Spoken Here! (Hint: They read! You can sell them books!)

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by Jas Faulkner Fifteen years ago I was browsing in the graphic novels section at Media Play, a now-defunct retailer in Madison, Tennessee.  I had just picked up a trade paperback of Grant Morrison’s The Invisibles, when a young girl who had stepped up to look through the same shelves said, “That’s a good one.” … Read more

Art Deco Dust Jackets

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While perusing the New York Antiquarian Book Show, I came across a seller, Yesterday’s Gallery & Babylon Revisited, whose inventory almost exclusively deals in the period between the wars. The dust jackets of that span reflected the artistic craze now known as Art Deco. I’ve collected many books with the Deco motif, and would have grabbed one … Read more

NY Antiquarian Book Show

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At the annual New York Antiquarian Book Show, even the paper within a bookseller’s catalog, has a refined air. A fragrance if you will, of  expensively  printed sheets of paper, beautifully bound with my favorite illustration from In Powder and Crinoline by Kay Nielsen’s hand.Within its pages are detailed descriptions of tomes I’ve never heard … Read more

The Butter Did It and A Incomparable Bookman

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A look at a yummy bookseller.

The Butter Did It. This is a running joke my friend Jamie McCoy will meet me with whenever he wants to point out my fallibility. Back when hypermodern collecting was all the rage, I would tout the newest first time author, depending on print run, etc. Not all new authors were great or even remained authors. Some faded quickly leaving behind a couple of signed books in someone’s hopeful collection of possible appreciating volumes. The Butter Did It melted away into oblivion and with it Jamie’s hope of resale at a profit. It became the symbol for Jamie and I, of the silliness in  believing every new novel could or should be collected. If I now recommend some book I think was a fantastic read, or possible investment, he utters those cholesterol filled words and we both chuckle, me a bit ruefully. Recently, Jamie had some heart related issues, and I swore to my husband I was going to create a card with the cover of the book on it and declare, ‘Yep, that’s right, Jamie, The Butter Did It! ‘ I never fulfilled that task, much to my regret, lol.

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Are Some Booksellers Out of Register?

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It happened again. I found a title with divine illustrations that I could afford, and ordered it from ABE or another seller on the bookfinder website. I eagerly mutilated the box tearing tape and cardboard in my haste to see the promised art. A Mother Goose naturally, this one illustrated by Edna Cooke, a new … Read more

A Passionate Bookseller–On The Sidewalks Of Manhattan

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Sidewalk booksellers were a common sight in New York City when I lived there. And I frequently bought from them. At first I was surprised they were allowed to set up shop–I didn’t notice a merchant’s license, which vendors selling anything from berets to Falafel needed in order to stay in business. A friend of … Read more

Refreshing, Odd, Bizarre, Weird, and Wonderfully Offbeat Books

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One of the cool things about AbeBooks.com, is the theme e-mails they send to customers, like myself. I use bookfinder.com, which in turn sends me to various internet used book sellers on Abe and other large sites. Before the invention of the internet, it could take months, sometimes years for a wanted book to be … Read more