The Fine Books Blog

California Antiquarian Book Fair (Books, Lectures, Exhibits)

2012-02-12T21:20:30Z

BOOKS:

With big book fairs come big books. This year in Pasadena was no exception. Fair highlights included the three volume first edition of Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first novel, offered by Biblioctopus for $65,000. Biblioctopus also had to hand an impressive copy of Shakespeare's fourth folio, offered for $180,000.

Douglas Stewart, a young dealer from Australia, brought along a first edition of The Lord of the Rings inscribed by Tolkien in the Elvish language he invented for the book. The book, priced at, sold quickly in the first day. Stewart also had a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible, which he offered for $85,000.

In the realm of the truly unique, Lorne Bair had a personal photo photo album from Adolf Hitler, showing a variety of casual (and mostly unknown) images of Hitler and his lover on holiday. The album was priced at $65,000.

EXHIBITS:

A special exhibition on display at the fair was entitled "A Love Affair with Books: Personal Stories of Noted Collectors." Select items from the collections of Tony Bill, Mary Murphy, and Sarah Michelle Gellar amongst others, were proudly exhibited in glass display cases. Gellar's collection of children's books focused in particular on the works of Arthur Rackham. She has almost acquired all of Rackham's illustrated books.

LECTURES:

I had the pleasure of attending Mark Dimunation's excellent lecture "Jefferson's Legacy," about the building of the Library of Congress' rare book collections. Dimunation, the head of rare books at the LOC, spoke about the nation's library as being a "collection of collections." The first collection acquired by the nation, of course, was Thomas Jefferson's famous personal library. Jefferson sold his truly outstanding collection of books to the US government in 1815 for $24,0000. The 6,487 volumes in Jefferson's library became the basis for the Library of Congress. Two-thirds of Jefferson's books, however, were subsequently lost in a fire. One of Dimunation's goals in his tenure as Chief of Rare Books has been to reconstruct Jefferson's library exactly as it was in 1815. Thus, he set about on a multi-year quest to track down the exact editions of some 4,000 books from the original Jefferson library that were lost in the fire. Dimunation has almost achieved this ambitious and noble goal. As of early 2012, there are only 275 books - from three centuries of printing and in nine different languages - left to acquire.

Dimunation also spoke about some of the other key collections that have become cornerstones of the national library: the personal collections of Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and Harry Houdini, as well as several major private collections of Americana and Lincolniana. Two of Dimunation's favorite acquisitions, from two separate Whitman collectors, are a copy of Thoreau's A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, inscribed to Walt Whitman, and a copy of Whitman's Leaves of Grass, inscribed to Thoreau. The two giants of American literature met each other once in Brooklyn in 1856, where a walk in the park saved a stalled conversation. Whitman and Thoreau exchanged their books at the end of their walk before they parted, never to meet again. The books are now happily reunited, facing each other, on display at the Library of Congress.

California Antiquarian Book Fair (Day 2)

2012-02-12T02:59:38Z

Day two just wound down at the California Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena and the general mood amongst booksellers remained upbeat and positive. John Crichton of Brick Row Book Shop in San Francisco, said that overall the fair had gone "exceptionally well." Lorne Bair, of Lorne Bair Rare Books in Virginia seconded the opinion as he discussed the "really pleasant venue, packed with a lot of people." Crichton chuckled when he said that the whole experience remained "unstressful" despite "the [onsite] bar closing too early."

The busy crowd included a wide variety of ages. I spoke with two members of the Canadian punk rock band Terrorist, who are playing a show tonight in Los Angeles. This was their first antiquarian book fair, which they stopped by on a whim. They called the fair "eye-opening" and "kind of surreal," as they expressed surprise at seeing such expensive books -- especially those that "you can just check out for free at the library."

Another young reader, Christina Donatelli, was also attending her first book fair. She will be traveling to Denmark next week and was amazed when a bookseller handed her a copy of a first edition of Hans Christian Andersen's tales, complete with the author's signature. The bookseller told her that hardly anyone in Denmark had ever held a book signed by Andersen.

As the fair finished day two, most booksellers seemed in a good mood with foot traffic and sales remaining high and steady throughout the day.

I will be posting again about this busy day at the fair covering the excellent lecture from Mark Dimunation of the Library of Congress about the formation of the core LOC collections, the special exhibitions on display, and some fair highlights brought along by booksellers..

California Antiquarian Book Fair (Day 1)

2012-02-11T06:19:23Z

After a late departure, stalled by dense fog (which is virtually unheard of in the high desert of Bend, Oregon), I arrived at the 45th annual California Antiquarian Book Fair around 6:00 p.m, just in time for the last two hours of the day. This was the first year that the Los Angeles Book Fair was held at the convention center in Pasadena, moving away from its long time home at the Century Plaza Hotel on the west side of LA. The general mood among booksellers was that the change was a big improvement. All the booksellers were together in one spacious, open area, a nice contrast from the winding corridors of the Century Plaza. The lighting - bright and clear - was another improvement commented upon by several booksellers. Hosea Baskin, of Cumberland Rare Books, in Northampton, Massachusetts, referred to the new venue as "clean and sparkly and delightfully un-antiquarian." Teri Osborn, of William Reese Co., and one of our profiles in the Bright Young Things series, said that there was "a lot of foot traffic" and overall sales "seemed alright." Tom Congalton, of Between the Covers Rare Books, also mentioned that the there was good amount of the usual pre-fair activity amongst dealers.

I spoke with a young fair attendee named Caitlin Getz, who at 23 years old was attending her first antiquarian book fair. She found the experience "amazing" and "mind-blowing" and was clearly enjoying a leisurely stroll amongst the medieval manuscripts, first editions, and signed photographs.

By the time 8:00 pm rolled around, the fair activity had died down considerably, and the book dealers commenced making plans for dinner and drinks in the old town of Pasadena. Tom Congalton succinctly summed up the mood for day two: "We're hopeful."

I'll be posting again tomorrow with two entries about Saturday at the book fair.

Collecting R.S. Thomas

2012-02-10T14:28:19Z

Earlier this week I had the pleasure of 'going home again' so to speak. Drew University Library in Madison, New Jersey, has been holding a series of conversations on collecting. Drew is where I did my graduate work in book history, and where I stayed on to work in the library's archives for several years. This past fall, the library held a talk on collecting Byron and Whitman with collector Norman B. Tomlinson, and another on collecting political ephemera with Dr. James Fraser. This past week, collector and Rev. John McEllhenney, whose particular interests are Methodism, Robert Frost, and Welsh poet R.S. Thomas, gave a wonderful talk that he titled "Evolution of a Bookish Magpie."

McEllhenney recalled a childhood love of books, but credited Fred Maser, a major collector of prayer books, with really sparking his interest in collecting in the 1950s and 60s. When a parishioner gave him a signed copy of Frost's A Further Range, he was well on the path to bibliomania, but he felt that a real collection of Frost might be beyond his pocket. His advice to collectors, particularly those without an inheritance: "Find something to collect that you think will grow in value." Then, in 1974, he read a review of R.S. Thomas' Selected Poems, bought it, and enjoyed it so much, he decided that Thomas, also a fellow clergyman, would be the focus of his collecting activity.

Not only did McEllhenney voraciously collect Thomas in all forms, he made several trips to Wales to meet him during the 1990s (the poet died in 2000). He had the pleasure--unknown to most collectors--of conversing with, exchanging letters with, even touring the countryside with the object of his collecting life. It is a heartwarming story for any bibliophile.

McEllhenney has given much of his R.S. Thomas collection--including more than 200 books, 100 periodicals, essays, articles, reviews, typescripts, sound recordings, and ephemera--to Drew, as well as his Frost holdings. He surprised the audience this past week by handing over two more Thomas books, signed by the author to his wife with an elegant cross for a signature.

Bright Young Things: The Bookshop

2012-02-09T05:21:40Z

Our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers continues today with Brad and Jen Johnson, proprietors of The Bookshop in Covina, California.

NP: How did you both get started in rare books?

BJ: At the tender age of fifteen before I knew any better I answered an ad for an "apprentice bookseller" in my high school bulletin. This past December, I celebrated my 19th years in the trade. Jen, a former newspaper reporter and public relations executive, dove in headfirst when we purchased the shop. She was recently accepted as an Associate Member of the ABAA.

NP: When did you take over The Book Shop?

BJ: We purchased The Book Shop in October 2006 from Brad¹s mentor Roger Gozdecki, who now operates Anthology Rare Books in Pasadena, California.

NP: What roles do each of you play within the company?

BJ: We make an excellent team, and collaborate in many aspects of the business. Jen manages the finances and public relations, while I am responsible for the lion¹s share of the buying and cataloguing books.

NP: Tell us about your shop in Covina:

Established in 1981, The Book Shop is located in the heart of downtown Covina, about 20 miles east of Los Angeles. Our shop is open six days a week and houses an inventory of some 30,000 titles, ranging from the general second-hand to the truly antiquarian.

NP: Have you found it challenging to maintain a brick-and-mortar store in the age of online bookselling?

BJ: Like any small business, it can be challenging. However, we have found that as bookstores are closing around us, The Book Shop has become more of a destination for those who hunger for the opportunity to browse the stacks and let serendipity lead the way.

NP: What do you love about the book trade?

BJ: First and foremost, the pursuit and acquisition of knowledge. We also love the thrill of the hunt and the satisfaction of placing a book in the right hands.

NP: Favorite book (or etc) you've handled?

BJ: A few years ago, we acquired an early 17th century English law text with a chained binding complete with the iron chain. More recently, we handled a great Edgar Allan Poe collection that included the February 1845 issue of The American Review containing the first appearance of The Raven.

NP: What do you personally collect?

BJ: We have a small collection of books either personally inscribed to us or handed down through generations. Brad tends toward ancient history and European noir, while Jen likes quirky books, such as "Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods" (1910), a fantasy field guide to the mythical creatures of North America.

NP: Any thoughts to share on the future of the book trade?

BJ: Early in my bookselling career, I spent countless hours combing the pages of AB Bookman¹s Weekly. Now my days are web based. The trade is constantly evolving, but much remains the same. As booksellers, we are locating materials and constructing narratives around them that reflect their significance and scarcity. I feel as though my generations of booksellers are telling original and dynamic narratives that are inspiring new collectors while also respecting the traditions of the trade. As such, I am
bullish on the future of the trade.

NP: Tell us about your new collective catalogue and how to get a copy:

BJ: Our friends in the trade are like family to us, and we really look forward to every opportunity to come together and share our experiences, knowledge, and passion for what we do. It is in that spirit that The Collective came together.

As I recall, the idea was formed during a conversation I had with my brother Josh Mann of B&B Rare Books in New York during the 2011 Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair. The concept was to feature a small selection of books representative of each firms¹ inventory, while also generating excitement for the California book fairs this February. It was a lot fun working collaboratively and thanks to Jen¹s design skills, the final product looks fantastic.

You can obtain a copy of the collective by emailing brad@bookshopllc.com and let him know if you would like to be mailed a hard copy or would like a PDF.

(Photo Credit: Teri Osborn)

Serendipity Books: The Long Goodbye

2012-02-08T02:32:27Z

Nearly a year after bookseller Peter Howard's death, Bonhams is holding the first of many auctions to dissolve the store's stock this Sunday. This first auction is chock-full of amazing books and art, John Steinbeck material leading the pack with a typed manuscript of "The Pearl of the World," the original version of his novel, The Pearl, estimated at $15,000-20,000. Another highlight is James Joyce's rare self-published broadside poem, Gas from a Burner. Its estimate is $12,000-18,000.

But surely there is room for serendipity at this auction, as a peruse through the catalogue verifies. How about this portrait (seen above) of Walt Whitman looking like Rip Van Winkle by the Philadelphia artist Gladys Logan Winner, c. 1910. The estimate is only $600-900.

Or these original gouche on paper sketches of costume designs for an unknown production, unsigned but attributed to Orson Welles -- one of the figures clearly resembles him. The estimate for these bold and beautiful sketches is $3,000-5,000.

There's also a wonderful collection of Robinson Jeffers books and letters spread over fourteen lots. Having just learned about Jeffers' Tor House and Hawk Tower from our winter issue's article on literary spots in Big Sur, I can better appreciate the warm inscription and architectural sketch he placed on the front flyleaf of this copy of Roan Stallion, Tamar and Other Poems.

To view the full auction catalogue and experience the serendipity for yourself, click here.

To read more about the heyday of Serendipity Books, here's an article from our winter issue about one writer's encounter with the legendary bookstore. Kurt Zimmerman also posted an appreciative essay about Peter Howard on his American Book Collecting site.

In addition to shelf sales at the store in Berkeley, Bonhams intends to sell other material from Serendipity Books within these scheduled 2012 auctions: Fine Photography in New York on May 8, Period Art & Design in San Francisco on April 15 and May 20, Made in California in Los Angeles on May 21, Fine Books and Manuscripts in New York on June 19, and Entertainment Memorabilia in Los Angeles on June 24.

World Book Night

2012-02-07T05:23:35Z

UPDATE: Since the post was originally published, the window to become a book giver on World Book Night has closed. Keep an eye on their website or follow them on Twitter in case they put out another call.

In a move calculated to warm the cockles of any book lover's heart, April 23, 2012 has been dubbed World Book Night. In theory, 50,000 volunteers across the United States and Britain will each hand out free copies of twenty books. That's 1,000,000 free books being released into the world on a single night.

Anyone can sign up to be a book giver. The requirements are simple: you must pick up twenty copies of a book of your choice (from a generous list of thirty titles) at a local library or bookshop and give them away to people who either don't read, or read very little, over the course of the evening. The idea is to inject some of the joy and enthusiasm of reading into the non-reading population.

The list of titles selected for World Book Night is impressive, containing massive bestsellers (such as The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and The Stand by Stephen King), popular literary fiction (including The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving), and genre standouts (such as Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton). Each copy will be released by its publisher in a special World Book Night edition, not intended for re-sale.

Well, I'm not so sure about the "not intended for re-sale" part. It will be interesting to see how these World Book Night editions fare on the antiquarian market in the years to come.

In the meantime, it's a noble idea and I applaud the idealism behind it. I hope April 23, 2012 is the first of many successful World Book Nights in the years ahead.

At Heritage, a Whopping Pocket-ful of Books

2012-02-06T13:28:24Z

Coming up on Thursday of the week, Heritage Auctions will hold a large auction of rare books and manuscripts in Beverly Hills, where the heavy hitters will be a first edition of Hemingway's Three Stories & Ten Poems inscribed to Margaret Anderson, a Pony Express Bible in its original binding, a complete set of first editions of Dickens' Christmas books, some Poe, some Melville, and a few others.

As I perused the collection, one of the lots of greatest interest to me is a collection of Pocket Books, including a complete run of the first 1,257 titles, published in New York between 1939 and 1960. These little paperbacks with their vibrant cover illustrations for novels like Lost Horizon and The Maltese Falcon are incredible cultural artifacts, and to see them as a group must be stunning. Another collector had all the fun of acquiring this incredible collection, but someone else can now have the pleasure of it as a standing collection. Much as I'd love to have them--and enough bare bookshelves to shelve them--it would be best for them to end up at an institution with an interest in mid-twentieth-century reading habits, publishing, and print culture. I can imagine great projects that could arise from such a collection in such a complete form. The estimate is $1500--a bargain, in my opinion.

Another fun find is a first limited edition of Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 that has been signed by the author a total of four times to the same owner, "Ted." Signed once upon publication in 1953, again 1969, then in 1982, and finally in 1990. What a neat story that book has to tell.

I feel at odds to pluck a few items here and there to highlight from this big and varied sale, but others that caught my eye include an early Virginia imprint of Peter Cottom's The Whole Art of Book-Binding...(1824), a first edition of T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land from Margaret Anderson's personal collection, and a set of of The Book Lover's Almanac from 1893-1897.

You can view the catalogue online and begin the bidding straight away, as Heritage has already opened the auction to online bidders.

The Mystery of the Redoute Rose Print

2012-02-05T18:08:24Z

A reader wrote in to us to ask for help in gathering information about some Redoute rose prints (chromolithographs?) she has. I'm posting a picture in the hope that someone out there might have some information about the publisher, Henry B. Sandler of NYC (printed on its verso).

Our reader has done some Googling and found the same rose print in brighter colors, with the words "Bouquet No. 3" printed below the image. Hers lacks that, having only "P. J. ReDoute" under the image. I'm also showing below the more colorful version offered by J. Manley Gallery. Comment below or email me at rebecca at finebooksmagazine.com if you can help solve this mystery!

ReadInk

2012-02-03T14:34:28Z

Catalogue Review: ReadInk Books, No. 3

You can be sure that ReadInk of Los Angeles will be exhibiting at next week's California International Antiquarian Book Fair in nearby Pasadena. Whether or not you can make it there, you can peruse their latest catalogue -- an exceedingly clever booklet arranged in an ABC format, e.g. A is for Appel, a "hardboiled writer"; B is for Booze; C is for Cowboys.

I, for one, like the W section, with one book falling under each journalistic query, Who, What, When, Where, and Why. What Actors Eat -- When They Eat, a compilation of recipes from the radio and screen actors of the 1930s looks like a hoot ($125). In the Zs, a second printing of Stefan Zweig's The Tide of Fortune caught my eye ($200). Zweig is, as the catalogue states, "in perhaps permanent eclipse" as a writer, but he was also a major music collector.

One of the great treasures buried in this visually interesting catalogue is a VG+ first edition of Nancy Mitford's Wigs on the Green, which so distressed her family that she barred reprints until after death ($4,000). So states our friendly bookseller here in the catalogue: "I actually don't expect to ever see another copy after I sell this one to you, but such is the lot of the dedicated bookseller." This book, by the by, is under S for Sisters; another Mitford gem, a near fine first of Jessica Mitford's The American Way of Death, is filed under F for Funeral ($50).

This is a fun catalogue, full of neat mid-twentieth-century books usually in dust jackets, that veers (or leers) toward the underbelly of literature -- where D is for Deranged with 1947's If a Man Be Mad ($250) and Q is for Queer with 1964's My Son, The Daughter ($50).

Browse it all here, or see them in Pasadena next week!

Real Life Dickens Characters and Locations Revealed

2012-02-02T05:15:12Z

Charles Dickens turns 200 next week and commemorative exhibitions are already in full swing across the globe. (Check out the Morgan Library, here in the States, or Dickens 2012 for a variety of events in Britain). But a particularly interesting bit of news came out yesterday when the Guardian reported that a Cambridge scholar and skilled researcher, Ruth Richardson, had uncovered the real-life inspirations for several classic Dickens characters.

It began when Richardson discovered a four-story workhouse from the 1770s in Cleveland Street, London, which was likely the inspiration for the notorious workhouse in Oliver Twist. (Read more about that story from the Telegraph). Richardson then stumbled across a peculiar fact previously missed by Dickens researchers: Cleveland Street was formerly known as Norfolk Street. Biographers had long known that Dickens lived in an apartment above a corner shop at 10 Norfolk Street, but they assumed the building had disappeared ages ago. Richardson re-discovered the building, now at the address 22 Cleveland Street. Thus Dickens lived a scant nine doors away from the infamous workhouse.

Richardson then delved deeper into the life and times of the Cleveland Street neighborhood in Dickens' day, revealing several more surprises:

A "William Sykes" sold tallow and wax at 11 Cleveland Street. (Possible inspiration for Bill Sikes in Oliver Twist)
A "Mr. Sowerby" owned a nearby pub. (Possible inspiration for the undertaker Sowerberry in Oliver Twist)
A "Dan Weller" cobbled shoes across the street from Dickens' flat. (Possible inspiration for Sam Weller in the Pickwick Papers)
A "Mrs. Corney" sold and repaired gloves nearby and a "Mrs. Malie," the wife of a local doctor, also lived on the same street. (Possible inspiration for Mrs Corney and Mrs. Maylie respectively in Oliver Twist).
A dancing master was a fellow lodger in Dickens' building. (Possible inspiration for the dancing master in Sketches by Boz).
A pawnbroker shop was located just up the street. (The plot of Oliver Twist hinges upon a locket pawned from Oliver's dead mother).
Two tradesmen operated a nearby shop under the name of their partnership, "Goodge and Marney." (Possible inspiration for "Scrooge and Marley" in the Christmas Carol).

And so the Dickensian Norfolk neighborhood springs to life, thanks to Richardson's stellar research. Perhaps these little London lives lived in obscurity have found a lasting immortality in the work of Dickens.

Richardson can be seen on location in London here in a fun little video pointing out the Dickens locations she uncovered on present day Cleveland Street:

Countdown to California

2012-02-01T14:38:40Z

Booksellers are packing up and shipping out this week, as many head to California for the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print and Paper Fair this weekend and the California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena the following weekend. Last week I reviewed the 'collective' catalogue of seven booksellers bound for both fairs. Today I'm taking a look at some other books on their way to the Golden State...

Books Tell You Why, a purveyor of fine first editions and signed books based in South Carolina, is headed to the fair in Pasadena with this stunning copy of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale, his first James Bond novel. It is a first edition/first impression in fine condition in first state dust-wrapper. The price is $55,000. Books Tell You Why is also bringing the German translation of the Physica Sacra, in five volumes. The book, concurrently published in Latin, is Johann Jakob Scheuchzer's famous scientific commentary on the Bible with 762 plates on cosmography, paleontology, zoology, botany, and anatomy. The price is $12,500.

Moving to booth 221 at the Pasadena fair, you will find fine illustrated and children's books from Aleph-Bet Books of New York. In addition to a rare inscribed copy of Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time ($18,500), they will be bringing the fabulous Edmund Dulac manuscript seen here above. "This is an amazing finished manuscript tale about King Henry, his knights on horseback, medieval lords and a nervous Earl Hugh Bigod and his castle of Bungaye. It appeared as a full page color illustration in the Christmas 1906 issue of the Graphic." Bound in crimson morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. The price is $40,000.

UK-based Simon Beattie is exhibiting at Pasadena for the first time. Among his selection of fine continental books, an intriguing book: Der Orang-Outang in Europa, 1780, the first 'California' imprint, though published in Berlin. A satire of life in Poland, it's anyone's guess why the printer choose 'Californien' as its fictitious place of publication. The price is $3,250. William Godwin, Sergei Diaghilev, and a playbill for Richard Wagner's Der Ring Des Nibelungen will also be at Beattie's booth.

Sophie Schneideman Rare Books & Prints of London will be exhibiting at both California fairs. She is bringing a selection of private press books, including some California imprints from the collection of Clarence B. Hanson, Jr. of Birmingham, Alabama. She'll also have several fine books on food and wine, and an original wood engraving from Lucien Pissarro, Girl Seated on a Grassy Hillside, No. 4 of 20, numbered and signed. The price is $949.

Jonathan Franzen Condemns eBooks

2012-01-31T05:32:17Z

"Maybe nobody will care about printed books 50 years from now, but I do. When I read a book, I'm handling a specific object in a specific time and place. The fact that when I take the book off the shelf it still says the same thing - that's reassuring," said Jonathan Franzen, author of The Corrections, at the Hay festival in Caragena, Colombia this weekend. Franzen continued, "Someone worked really hard to make the language just right, just the way they wanted it. They were so sure of it that they printed it in ink, on paper. A screen always feels like we could delete that, change that, move it around. So for a literature-crazed person like me, it's just not permanent enough."

And so Franzen articulated a feeling shared by many of us bibliophiles. That's one of the reasons we collect books in the first place, right? That sense of connection, permanence, and place.

Fueled by Franzen's comments this weekend, the Guardian also published a fascinating, revealing article from Ewan Morrison on the current eBook publishing bubble. With these two articles leading the charge under the "Most Viewed" section of the Guardian's Books section, another recent eBook article shot to the top of its list: the profile from earlier this month of Amanda Hocking, the young author who has already made $2.5 million off her self-published eBook series on Minnesota vampires. So the perennial debate over eBooks and the future of publishing has once again been refueled across the pond.

All of it makes for interesting reading. But it's Franzen's comments that hit home with so many of us book collectors:

"Everything else in your life is fluid, but here is this text that doesn't change. Will there still be readers 50 years from now who feel that way? Who have that hunger for something permanent and unalterable? I don't have a crystal ball. But I do fear that it's going to be very hard to make the world work if there's no permanence like that. That kind of radical contingency is not compatible with a system of justice or responsible self-government."

I think we here at Fine Books can answer a resounding "yes" to Franzen's questions about future bibliophiles. For evidence, see our Bright Young Things series, where young bookseller after young bookseller has offered compelling insight into the promising future of books and the people who love them.

Wyeth and Much More at Freeman's This Week

2012-01-30T13:38:13Z

What I like about Freeman's auction of books, manuscripts, ephemera happening on Thursday of this week is the incredible selection -- 500+ lots of letters, books, photographs, newspapers, posters, find binding sets, works on paper. It's great fun to peruse because there surely will be items to interest one's particular collection(s). The sale also features the Wendy and Alan C. Wasserman collection of N.C. Wyeth. I've chosen a few pieces to highlight below, to give you an idea of the breadth of the auction; the first piece is from the Wyeth collection.

What is hoped will be one of the bigger sales of this auction. Wyeth's original charcoal drawing on paper of Abraham Lincoln, c. 1920s. The estimate is $8,000-12,000.

Life in London; Or Day and Night Scenes, illustrated by I.R. & G. Cruikshank. The first edition in book form published in 1821. I like the pictorial boards, not a common sight. Moreover, this book contains an inserted 12mo sheet bearing George Cruikshank's autograph annotation and his embossed Hampstead Road address. The estimate is $500-800.

An autograph letter signed of Walt Whitman's, May 24, 1879. References a play about Lincoln's murder. The estimate is $3,000-5,000.

A signed and dated silver print of Queen Elizabeth II, showing her in her coronation dress, 1953. The estimate is $500-800.

One Collector's Obsession

2012-01-29T19:51:00Z

I suspect that most of us have vices that we occasionally rue. Mine is the so-called political novel.

Despite the fact that most such novels rarely rise to the level of brain candy, I can't seem to get enough of them. I blame this unfortunate defect of character on the American Legion.

In the summer of 1972, the American Legion post where I was living at the time decided to send me to Boys State, one of this nation's best-known institutional attempts to instill in young men some modest sense of civic responsibility.

A month or so later, the Legion compounded its mistake by sending me to Boys Nation, a program which sought to instill that same sense of civic responsibility at a national, rather than a state and local, level.

The political process that myself and my fellow delegates were privileged to witness, especially at the national level, was fascinating. But then, the American Legion had worked very hard back then (as it continues to do now) to make certain that delegates such as myself came away with precisely that impression.

The inner workings of the Defense Department were outlined for us in a meeting with the Secretary of Defense (and former Congressman) Melvin Laird. A former Attorney General, William P. Rogers, briefed us on the State Department, where he was then serving the nation as Secretary of State. Each delegate had lunch with his state's two Senators in the Senate Dining Room. The highlight of the program was a handshake and a few brief words with President Richard Nixon in the East Room of the White House. (Unbeknowst to us teenagers, the seeds of this President's eventual downfall had been sown only a few weeks earlier in a hotel just a mile or so from where we then stood.)

I was hooked. On politics. Shortly thereafter, I took a B.A. in Political Science with the idea of going into the Foreign Service. And I started reading everything political that I could get my hands on: theories, histories, biographies ... political novels.

I think I should get at least partial credit for not starting out immediately with the dross. No sirree! It was Stendahl's The Red and The Black, Dostoevsky's The Possessed, Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984, as well as American political classics like All the King's Men, Advise and Consent and The Last Hurrah.

Unfortunately, there were enablers. Lots of them! I was doing a good bit of travel in those days. Lots of airports. Lots of airport bookshops. Lots of enforced downtime (this was BLT: Before Laptops). A copy of Irving Howe's Politics and the Novel.

Pretty soon, my briefcase was stuffed with the likes of Time Will Run Back, Speak No Evil, even (much later) my current Senator's A Time to Run....

At one point, I had hundreds of political novels, mostly paperback, scattered about my abode-of-the-moment. Alas, I eventually parted company with most of them due to demands on my time.

But my addiction to the political novel has never been entirely suppressed. A couple of years ago I picked up a copy of Stuart Scheingold's The Political Novel: Re-imagining the Twentieth Century.

Oops...!