NY Antiquarian Book Show

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

A New London CT Bookshop Dream

To go directly to Indie GoGO to donate money to help get indie bookstore Monte Crisco up and running:   http://www.indiegogo.com/montecristobookshop With major changes to the entire industry leaving the concept of a bookstore, period, on shaky ground, opening an independent bookshop during these uncertain economic times sounds like savings suicide. Yet, this is exactly what a … Read more

The Old Book Shop

Sometimes the urge comes on me, and I desperately need to be among old volumes. The scent of fine aged paper, unopened boxes of new acquisitions, rows of superior bindings and dust jackets, ordinary reading copies that will be passed along to some other biblio, is essential to my mental health.  The spot I rush … Read more

A Passionate Bookseller–On The Sidewalks Of Manhattan

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

Booksellers: "A Very Special Class Of Condescending Nerd"

  “Book stores employ a very special class of condescending nerd…  “If bookstores fall, America will be inundated with a  wandering snarky underclass of unemployable mock purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.” The Daily Show on Comedy Central usually targets politicians, pop culture, movie stars, and finds hilarious behaviors to out and bring to the forefront. Either by Jon Stewart, or by one of his many ‘correspondents’, a point will be made about something highly ridiculous and whatever the subject be, it gets … Read more

Banking on Their New Coffee Shop

Washington NC is a sleepy  town of 10,112, unless someone died or was born since we visited. It was deserted when we arrived, but  it was 100 degrees in the shade and maybe most humans preferred to survive and declined strolling outdoors. Self titled “The Heart of the Inner Banks,”  it’s bisected by the waters … Read more

Condition, Shelving, Identifying, and Evaluating First Editions

Coming from a smaller venue where the books were mostly paperbacks and the space limited,  to being seated behind a huge desk in a beautifully appointed room was a little bit of a jolt. The amount of employees was tripled,  with two floors of stock, a shipping department, and rare expensive titles in an unlocked … Read more

Talk About A Targeted Audience–Booksellers, Please Weigh In

“My new favorite number: 17 — That’s where Sentenced to Death will hit on the NYTimes Bestsellers list for mass market paperbacks. And to make it just a little bit sweeter, it also hit #1 on Bookscan’s mass market mystery list. Yes! There’s a martini with my name on it.” This is the author Lorna … Read more