Get a Spine | Searching for used classic books; bookseller reviews

The Spine Nine: Bookends

2012-09-11T08:00:00.000-04:00

One of the stops we made on our northeast trip in August was to Bookends in Florence, Mass. We added a good number to our library (Pt. I | Pt. II), and had a very nice talk with Bookends' owner, Grey Angell.

Grey was also kind enough to participate in our Spine Nine series of Q&A with bookstore owners, which we post below here.

Thanks, Grey!

Name: Grey Angell
Bookstore: Bookends

1. When did you know you wanted to be a bookstore owner? Why? In some sense I've wanted to work in a used bookstore since I was a teenager and first discovered such things as used bookstores. (I knew about new bookstores since I was little, and loved those too -- especially the one in Andover, MA that served cookies next to a crackling fireplace! -- but a used bookstore has a different and more adventurous mystique, and exerted a stronger pull on me.) Oh, sure, I was "sidetracked" for 20 years by college and "professional" jobs, but eventually I was reading the local "Help Wanted" section and there it was, an ad for an assistant at a used bookstore only a few minutes from my home! Do such things really happen, outside of stories? Sometimes, evidently. But working in a used bookstore is not the same as owning one. When after six years the prior owner decided to sell or close the store, I had a tough decision. Even after I agreed to buy the place, I still felt nervous. I'd say the day when I knew I would enjoy owning a bookstore was my first day as owner -- especially when the day was over and we had an opening-day party for friends.

2. Do you have a book which is your white whale? If so, would you actually sell it? Do you mean a book I've been looking for for years? Sure, many of them. And yes, I would sell it, after I looked through it (maybe). That's not to say that many books do not end up in my house.

3. If you could assume the life of any character from a classic work of fiction, who would it be and why? As I think about it, I'd have to say bad things tend to happen to a lot of the characters in fiction. That makes it less appealing to be one. In a sense, I admire Don Quixote, but I'm sure it's better from the outside looking in than to actually be him.

But if you stretch the definition of "classic," one answer would be the character of Jonathan Bing, master cheesemaker and book afficionado, in James Blaylock's 1982 fantasy "The Elfin Ship." There's menace in Blaylock's world, but lots of wonders and cheery comforts as well. I always enjoy the atmosphere of Blaylock's books, and it might be a nice atmosphere to get lost in. (I could almost say the same thing about John Bellairs' one adult fantasy, "The Face in the Frost," except the dangers in that book are too scary to want to actually experience!)

4. What was the experience of selling your first book like? I was working for someone else, so it didn't have quite the frisson my first sale as a new owner might have. I honestly can't remember -- I was probably mainly concerned with being sure I gave the right change!

5. The Kindle/Nook/etc. is ... not a book, but a tool to access an electronic file. I can't say I see the appeal. Not cost-cutting, because if you buy your books used, it's cheaper than buying the text on an e-reader. Anyway, I like books, not electronic files.

6. Describe your most memorable acquisition experience. I do get books from odd situations sometimes, but the more memorable acquisitions are ones that went into my own permanent collection and have a personal memory associated with them. For example, when I started at Bookends, I was the assistant to the original owner, Ed Shanahan, who had read more widely than I had in older novels. At one point when we'd gotten to know one another, he was talking up an obscure Irish novel from 1912 called "The Crock of Gold" by James Stephens, which led me to pull down a battered old hardcover we had in the store. By the end of the first paragraph I knew I was in for a unique experience, and it's since become one of my favorites. In the intervening years I've seen many other copies, some in better shape or with nice illustrations, but I've kept the copy I originally read because it has associational value for me. (And I've since turned many others onto this quirky and cranky and magical book.)

7. If classic novelists were like rock stars or athletes, which three posters would be on your walls? I'm not a big reader of classic fiction. If it was classic non-fiction, the three posters might be William James, Henry Adams, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. I actually do have small photos/engravings of Thoreau, Jung, and Darwin on my shelves at home -- but the Darwin is mainly there because it's an interesting picture of the older Darwin with a long beard.

If it's novelists we're looking for, and more recent ones are allowed, my choices would include Robertson Davies (who knows how to look good in photos) and Jim Harrison.

8. In 25 years, used-book stores will be ... Still around!

9. If someone wrote a novel about your bookstore, what would it be called? How about Bookends: The Story of a Bookstore. I have to say I'm a bit tired of all the cute and clever titles that are so prevalent these days. Or, since it's to be a novel, how about Comings and Goings -- it sounds more novelistic than the previous non-fiction sounding title, and captures the serendipitous nature of a used bookstore, as well as the open door of a streetfront retail operation, where all sorts of people wander in.

The Spine Nine: Gabriel Books

2012-09-05T00:31:00.000-04:00

While in Northampton last month, we stopped at Gabriel Books, where we picked up one book and got a very nice parting gift from Gabriel Books' owner, John Riley.

John was also kind enough to participate in our Spine Nine series of Q&A with bookstore owners, which we post below here.

Thanks, John!

Name: John Riley
Bookstore: Gabriel Books

1. When did you know you wanted to be a bookstore owner? Why? I practically grew up in used-book stores. My mother, Edna Riley, was a devoted fan of the two used-book stores in Santa Rosa, California, where I grew up. (The Book and Bible, a combination used-book store and religious artifact shop run by a minister; and Cipriano’s, run by a husband and wife). Nearly every Saturday morning we made the rounds. She was usually looking for Sonoma County History books and I was let loose to look at everything else. When I got older I became friends with the owners. When I went to college at UCSB I had a collection of nearly 3,000 books, so what was I to do, but open a used-book store. I opened my first bookstore while still a senior, closing shop or having a friend take over while I went to classes. To save on rent I lived in the back. At night I pulled the curtains over the front windows and had a great private library in which to entertain friends.

2. Do you have a book which is your white whale? If so, would you actually sell it? Probably the first edition of Finnegan’s Wake signed by Joyce, bound in full red Morocco. I spied it once in a shop in Charleston, W.Va. It cost $2,000 and I couldn’t afford it. I’ve never seen one since, but it must cost much more now. I wish I had bought it in installments. I wouldn’t sell it.

3. If you could assume the life of any character from a classic work of fiction, who would it be and why? Don Quixote. He loved books and travel and adventure. Unfortunately, he wasn’t a fan of wind power.

4. What was the experience of selling your first book like? “I might actually be able to pay the rent on this place.”

5. The Kindle/Nook/etc. is ... A pain in the butt to read on, but a brilliant distribution device.

6. Describe your most memorable acquisition experience. I was reading through the want ads after returning from vacation and was plowing through nearly two weeks of papers when I saw a little ad for “Books for sale. Best bid takes them all.” I went with my wife Patty not expecting much, but it was a beautiful library that sat intact from the early 1900s. The grandparents had passed and the grandson was anxious to clean out the house. What we found were amazing complete sets of Thoreau, Emerson, Twain, Hawthorne, Dickens , etc. all bound in full leather, all signed and containing many holograph manuscript pages, many unpublished. It was like entering King Tut’s tomb. We maxed out all our credit cards and won the bid. We spent months cataloging and relishing this extraordinary find.

James Joyce

7. If classic novelists were like rock stars or athletes, which three posters would be on your walls? Jorge Luis Borges, James Joyce, and Samuel Beckett (with trading cards of Marcel Proust, Gustave Flaubert, Jack Kerouac, Woody Allen, Charles Baudelaire, Edgar Poe, Henry Miller, Dino Buzzatti, and Roald Dahl)

8. In 25 years, used-book stores will be ... Specialty shops, much like vinyl record stores are now. In the meantime used-book stores will be the only bookstores around, as new-book stores close or morph into gift shops.

9. If someone wrote a novel about your bookstore, what would it be called? The Perpetual Orgy (actually the title of a book-length essay by Mario Vargas Llosa about Flaubert and Madame Bovary. Since you can’t copyright titles of books, it could be appropriated in honor of Flaubert.)

The longest novel and other finds

2012-08-24T10:10:00.000-04:00

While visiting family in Western Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't resist paying a visit to our old recycling center in Northampton for its fantastic book shed. We lived there for the 2010/11 school year and were regular visitors of the shed -- this was all pre-"Get a Spine" so we don't have a log of what we found then, but suffice it to say that our current library would be much smaller if not for the book shed.

As is the nature of these "take some, leave some" free book exchanges, it is hit or miss depending on who has dropped off recently and who has been by to browse. If you're looking for classics and you see our car, best come by another day!

That day we walked away with two paperback copies of Pride and Prejudice, because you can never have enough of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. One is a Signet Classic edition with a rather uncharacteristically dispassionate drawing of whom I can only assume is Elizabeth Bennet; a peacock -- whose reference is beyond me; and a lock -- equally enigmatic. I'll ponder over these awhile. (If you have any insight, leave a comment!) The other copy we found is nothing fancy but the cover has a subtle prettiness to it that I like: a matte grey cover with purple text and a little etching of a gentleman bowing to a seated lady.

We also found another Riverside Edition to add to our growing collection. We're going to need another bookshelf just for all of our Riversides soon! This one is Clarissa by Samual Richardson -- another title we're not familiar with, but happy to discover. Interesting fact about this book: it is the longest novel in the English language based on word count, beat only by Marcel Proust's epic In Search of Lost Time (originally published in French). Who knew?

We also added Spoon River Anthology to our collection. We already had The New Spoon River (also acquired at the DPW Book Shack, oddly enough). It is a neat collection of short free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town of Spoon River as described by its deceased former residents. Originally published in 1915, we snagged a paperback edition printed in 1969. For free, it works.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to our old book shed.

Books added: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (x2!); Clarissa by Samuel Richardson; Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

Publishers (in same order): Signet; Washington Square Press; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Collier Books

Years: 1961; 1961; 1962; 1969

Where obtained: Northampton DPW Book Shack

Price: Free!

Bookseller Review: Northampton DPW Book Shed

2012-08-24T10:07:00.000-04:00

Northampton DPW Book Shed

125 Locust St.

Northampton, MA

413.587.1570

http://www.northamptonma.gov/dpw/

Pretty much just what the name says. It's a book shed at the local "dump." But it can be truly awesome. It is organized, believe it or not.

What we like: The randomness, the tight squeeze, the always-good selection of classic fiction, the fact that it's all free.

What we don't like: Unless you know how to get around it, you have to have a sticker to visit the premises, and thereby gain access to the book shed. It is possible to do it without the sticker...

Would we go again? Without a doubt. This little shed (without us realizing it at the time) helped propel us down the road toward "Get a Spine," so we will always stop by when we have the chance.

Viva Firenze (Massachusetts) -- Pt. I

2012-08-23T10:41:00.002-04:00

One of our favorite little towns is Florence, Mass. We lived equidistant from the centers of Florence and Northampton, and while Northampton is not a burgeoning metropolis by any means, it is much bigger than Florence, making Florence always seem like the place to go for some peace and quiet.

One of the places we really love in Florence is Bookends, a two-story (first floor and basement) used-book store on the main drag. We'd done some Christmas shopping there in the past, but hadn't ever really shopped for ourselves there, and now that we were "official," we had to make Bookends a stop on our trip.

The fiction section is on the first floor, so as we normally do, we split up and started from one end of the alphabet. A bonus for us about Bookends is that they have a nice little kids room right next to the fiction section, in which we could let our daughter play semi-unattended while we browsed.

As I worked my way backward from Z, I made it all the way to the M's before finding anything I wanted to hang onto, and that was a 1936 copy of Gone with the Wind. Our copy is not a first edition, though it is a later printing in the year of its original publication, and by the original publisher. All things considered, it's in pretty good shape, and looks like it has earned it's 76 years of existence. I've not ever read it, and haven't seen the movie all the way through, but something just seemed appropriate about putting it on my list of "to reads" now that we're living south of the Mason-Dixon line.

I also found us another Riverside Edition, The Rise of Silas Lapham by William D. Howells, and grabbed a Modern Library copy of The Best American Humorous Short Stories, because we all need a little comedy in our lives.

Deborah did the rest our damage at Bookends, grabbing some Austen, Conrad, Dickens, Fitzgerald, London, a Riverside Edition of Conrad's Lord Jim, and more.

We also had the chance to talk to Bookends' owner, Grey Angell, which you can read more about -- as well as see the remainder of our "Books added" (stupid Blogger tag limits!) in Part II here...

Books added: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald; White Fang by Jack London; Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad; The Rise of Silas Lapham by William D. Howells; The Best American Humorous Short Stories ed. by Alexander Jessup

Publishers (in same order): Scribners; The MacMillan Company; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Random House Modern Library

Years: 1972; 1909; 1958; 1957; 1943

Where obtained: Bookends

Price: $20.00

Viva Firenze (Massachusetts) -- Pt. II

2012-08-23T10:41:00.001-04:00

We often get a chance to meet and talk with the owners of the bookstores we visit, usually while checking out with our purchases. It was the case at Bookends, where we spoke with the store's owner, Grey Angell. Grey has long been in the bookstore business, taking ownership of Bookends from the previous owner of the store, for whom Grey worked as an assistant for some years prior to taking it on himself.

We had a very nice conversation, and among the things we talked about was Christopher Morley's Parnassus on Wheels. Neither Deborah nor I had ever heard of it, but hearing Grey describe it, we knew it was something we need to add to our reading and library wishlists. A story about a traveling book-selling business? We're sold.

Bookends had a copy, but it was recent, and with an original publication date of 1917, we know we can do better. So we're on the hunt!

Here's the rest of what we added on our trip to Bookends (Part I of our trip is here).

Books added: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen; The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler; Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens;

Publishers (in same order): Signet; Books Inc.; The MacMillan Company; Collier; Signet

Years: 1964; 1945; 1936; 1964

Where obtained: Bookends

Price: $14.50

Bookseller Review: Bookends

2012-08-23T10:40:00.003-04:00

Bookends

80 Maple St.

Florence, MA

413.585.8667

www.abebooks.com/bookends-northampton-ma-u.s.a/62006/sf

Bookends offers selections from the expected to the unexpected in virtually every category. Its strengths are in history, biography, natural history and particularly in literature-fiction, poetry and literary criticism. Bookends also has a sizeable collection of foreign language books.

What we like: Any book store with a cat is good by us. Plus, the selection is solid (two stories), the owner is extremely nice, and the prices are reasonable.

What we don't like: We visited once while we were living in Northampton and there were cookies. On this visit, no cookies?

Would we go again? Yes. It's too good of a book store, and we like the town of Florence too much, to not go back any time we can.

Not likely to be the 'Last' for us

2012-08-22T10:02:00.002-04:00

Third on our stop in Northampton during our 48-hour stay was Gabriel Books, on Market St. Tucked among various antique shops, Gabriel had been recommended on our visit to Old Book Store on the other end of downtown.

We've already posted perhaps our best find at Gabriel Books on this visit, this sweet bumper sticker. It's not that we didn't find books to add to our collection. But whether it was because of spending fatigue after visiting Old Book Store and Raven Used Books, or if it was just plain old physical fatigue after carting around a bag full of books from those two stores, we only left Gabriel Books with one new item. Yet another copy of James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans, our second on that day alone!

Much like Deborah with Pride and Prejudice, I often can't resist picking up a new copy of a "Leatherstocking Tale" whenever I find one. But sometimes I can resist. Perhaps the most enjoyable part of the visit to Gabriel Books on this day was getting a chance to check out an N.C. Wyeth-illustrated edition of Cooper's The Deerslayer. Very cool, and in really good condition for being such an early copy of this particular edition (not a 1925 first edition, I don't think, but not far off). But at $150, it was too rich for our blood.

Still worth getting a look at, all the same.

Book added: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Years: 1940

Where obtained: Gabriel Books

Price: $4.00

Bookseller Review: Gabriel Books

2012-08-22T10:02:00.000-04:00

Gabriel Books

21 Market St.

Northampton, MA

413.586.5596

www.abebooks.com/gabriel-books-northampton-ma-u.s.a/182084/sf

Books of all types bought, sold, and appraised. The book buyer is in the store on Fridays and Saturdays. Housecalls can be made for larger collections. The bookshop was started as The Madeleine in Isla Vista, California in 1972 by John and Patty Riley. It continued as The Globe in Northampton, Massachusetts, and now is named Gabriel Books after the owners' son, Gabe.

What we like: Cozy space, books everywhere, a healthy section of classics, friendly owner who gave us a great bumper sticker.

What we don't like: No real complaints other than some of the things we really liked were out of our price range.

Would we go again? Absolutely. Given a bit more time, I am sure we'd walk out of there with more than we did our first trip.

Not bad for being lazy

2012-08-21T10:21:00.001-04:00

After a successful visit to Old Book Store, we made our way next to Raven Used Books in downtown Northampton. We had already made a long drive that morning and eaten a yummy lunch at one of our old favorites, Bueno y Sano, so by the time we made it to Raven, I was feeling a bit tired and ready to be done. I did a lazy scan of the fiction section -- so lazy in fact that Kristian picked out a Riverside -- a good one, The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot -- on his way through that I had missed. He playfully chided me for my laziness and I defended myself by producing a nice hardcover edition of Collected Stories of William Faulkner, published in 1950. We both enjoy a good collection of short stories, so I was pardoned.

As he continued to retrace my steps along the fiction shelf, he mentioned that he had noticed a smaller shelf of old hardcovers behind the cashier's desk, so I wandered over to check it out. When they keep books behind the counter it usually means they are out of our price range, but it is always fun to see what they may have hiding there. My eyes fell immediately on a very interesting old spine for Bleak House. Now, Bleak House is one of my favorite books -- the story is amazing, with so many layers. I highly recommend it. Dickens was genius, a magician with a pen. But back to this book. I asked to take a look at it and was delighted to find that not only was it in great shape, but it was printed in 1883, and it was $15, which is absolutely in our price range. So that rounded out a nice little purchase at Raven Books -- not bad for being lazy.

Books added: Bleak House by Charles Dickens; The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot; Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner

Publishers (in same order): Estes and Lauriat; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Random House

Years: 1883; 1961; 1950

Where obtained: Raven Used Books

Prices: $15.00; $5.50; $6.00

Bookseller Review: Raven Used Books

2012-08-21T10:12:00.003-04:00

Raven Used Books

4 Old South St.

Northampton, MA

413.584.9868

www.ravenusedbooks.com/raven_site_002.htm

Raven specializes in academic and scholarly titles, and offers a wide variety of children's books, poetry, fiction, gardening, philosophy, cultural studies, cookbooks, eastern and western religions, fantasy and science fiction, mystery, Native American studies, women's studies, African American studies, Greek and Roman classics, linguistics, history, science and nature, and much, much more.

What we like: Raven is the quintessential college-town used-book store. A solid wall of fiction, always-changing inventory, good people-watching, good deals, and -- last, but certainly not least -- a location next door to one of the best ice cream shops on the planet.

What we don't like: On occassion, the collection can be a bit too "college course newer used book" and therefore lacking in older editions, but this is picking nits (specific to our goals) about a really good used-book store.

Would we go again? Of course. Raven was a must-visit while we lived in Northampton, and it'll continue to be any time we are passing through.

Northampton, where Old is new to us

2012-08-20T09:38:00.000-04:00

Our three-week trip concluded, we returned home to host some guests from Spain for a few days, and now we've had some time to breathe and get caught up to date on our bookstore travels in the Northeast. Up first, our trip to Old Book Store in Northampton, Massachusetts.

We'd been to Old Book Store before. Maybe a few times in the 10 months we lived in Northampton. I remember being disappointed on a Monday or two (yes, more than once -- silly, I know) when I would take a walk from my terrible job and head toward Old Book Store, only to be disappointed to find it closed.

As we made our way to Old Book Store on our first stop in Northampton on this trip -- our first time in Northampton as "Get a Spine" -- I had a good feeling about what we might find.

After three minutes inside, my feelings were justified, 10 times over.

As we have mentioned time and time again, we collect a certain style of Riverside Editions from Houghton Mifflin. We collect them both for their look and the quality of the intros and other materials they include with each work. We've had a hard time determining exactly how many and what novels were published in this style, but using the various lists in the back of each one we add, we at least knew a The Last of the Mohicans was out there somewhere. We figured it would be hard to find, especially since we were looking for it...

Yet there it was at Old Book Store, right before my eyes. I couldn't believe it, I told Deborah she wouldn't believe it... yet it was true. And in probably the best condition of any Riverside we have collected. It's practically new. Just awesome.

After that, anything else we left with was gravy, and we found some pretty good gravy at that, including two more Riversides, a Modern Library Grapes of Wrath and one of Deborah's favorites, Love in the Time of Cholera, published in the year it first appeared in print in English by the original English-language publisher (we think it's not a first edition, but a later run that year).

As we checked out, we introduced ourselves to the store's owner (as we normally do), and proceeded to have a very nice conversation with Grant Walz about his bookstore, and the future of used-book collecting and used-book store owners. We can't say it was an optimistic conversation about the future, but we can say that it was a really enjoyable meeting, and we were glad to meet Mr. Walz, and at the very least, maybe give him a little more hope about the future than he may have started the day with.

Books added: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Ordeal of Richard Feverel by George Meredith; Six Eighteenth-Century Plays

Publishers (in same order): Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Random House Modern Library; Alfred A. Knopf; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions

Years: 1958; 1943; 1988; 1971; 1963

Where obtained: Old Book Store

Price: $12.00 total

Bookseller Review: Old Book Store

2012-08-20T09:36:00.001-04:00

Old Book Store

32 Masonic St.

Northampton, MA

413.586.0576

plus.google.com/111715472117967144975

Old Book Store is in the basement of a red-brick building off Northampton's main drag. The family-owned-and-operated store has been in business for decades, and many different genres are represented in its collection, all at fair prices.

What we like: We did very well here, so that's one thing we like very much. We also had a very nice conversation with the owner. And you'll find that you get good bang for your buck here.

What we don't like: In our conversation, it sounded like once the current owner, Grant Walz, decides to pack it up, that'll be the end of Old Book Store.

Would we go again? Absolutely. Even though we took home a good haul, we have faith that when we return, we'll find plenty more.

The Spine Nine: Popeks Books

2012-08-13T09:07:00.000-04:00

One stop on our Northeast trip was to Popeks Books in Oneonta, N.Y. We had learned about this shop via the book blog "Forgotten Bookmarks," which is run by Michael Popek, the owner of Popeks Books. Michael was kind enough to participate in our recurring series of Q&A with bookstore owners called "The Spine Nine."

Thanks, Michael!

Name: Michael Popek
Bookstore: Popeks Books

1. When did you know you wanted to be a bookstore owner? Why? I didn't wake up one morning and realize it, it took a long time to settle into the job. Our shop is a family business, so I've been helping out with the books since I was pretty young. My wife and I moved back here from the West Coast in 2001 to help out with the store when my father became ill. I slowly got more and more involved, and here I am.

2. Do you have a book which is your white whale? If so, would you actually sell it? Everything is for sale. Being a bookseller means you have to appreciate books, but it can be trouble if you become attached. I have my own little collection of oddball baseball titles, that's as far it goes. Having access to so many cool books means that it's easy to start taking them home. All of that said, if a really early translation of "The Odyssey" drifted into the shop, I'd have a hard time letting it pass by, no matter what the price.

3. If you could assume the life of any character from a classic work of fiction, who would it be and why? Most of my favorite classic characters have rather tragic literary lives, I'm not sure I'd want to walk in their shoes. To give you an answer, how about Montgomery Brewster?

4. What was the experience of selling your first book like? To be honest, I don't even remember. I was probably 8 or 9 years old, and it was likely during one of the book sales we'd have before we had an open shop. A couple of tables set up on the front porch, a few calls made to local dealers, clear out some inventory.

5. The Kindle/Nook/etc. is ... Great for booksellers, they just don't realize it. My full opinion is here:
http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/10/27/im-a-used-bookseller-and-im-not-afraid-of-e-books/

6. Describe your most memorable acquisition experience. I could probably tell you the story of picking up a first edition / first state of "On The Road" or even finding the first and original Latin translation of Beowulf, but the most memorable was a house call I went on about 10 years ago. The sale had already been arranged, I was just there to pick up the books. Which were in an old barn. In the loft. That had no ladder. I get up there by standing on the roof of our van only to find I wasn't alone. There were hundreds of millions of ladybugs, more than half of them dead. Six inches deep, in every box, down every spine, between the pages. The books weren't even that great, but I loaded them up anyway. I still find the occasional ladybug at the bottom of a box, and I wonder if it came from that barn.

7. If classic novelists were like rock stars or athletes, which three posters would be on your walls? I suppose Hemingway would have to be up there, he was quite a sportsman anyway. Homer and Aeschylus can round out the trio.

8. In 25 years, used-book stores will be ... Smaller in numbers, more specialized, but very much alive and thriving.

9. If someone wrote a novel about your bookstore, what would it be called? Sisyphus -- seems like I'm always moving entire sections of books around, only to move them again in three months.

Why indeed...

2012-08-08T08:14:00.000-04:00

Still out on the road, and lots more to write about our travels, but for now we couldn't resist putting up this bumper sticker we were given Tuesday at Gabriel Books in Northampton, Ma.

The Spine Nine: Willis Monie Books

2012-08-06T11:49:00.002-04:00

While in Cooperstown recently, we stopped by Willis Monie Books to do some browsing and shopping. The owner of Willis Monie Books, Will Monie, was then kind enough to participate in our recurring series of Q&A with bookstore owners called "The Spine Nine."

Thanks, Mr. Monie!

Name: Will Monie
Bookstore: Willis Monie Books

1. When did you know you wanted to be a bookstore owner? Why? After 37 years, still not sure I want to be a bookstore owner. But honestly, this is what I like to do. My wife always tells people I’m “retired” because now I’m just doing what I like.

2. Do you have a book which is your white whale? If so, would you actually sell it? For years I collected John Milton—I would not sell a first edition of Paradise Lost if it ever came my way.

3. If you could assume the life of any character from a classic work of fiction, who would it be and why? Elizabeth Bennett -- she gets all the good lines.

4. What was the experience of selling your first book like? Too long ago -- sold books long before I started the book store.

5. The Kindle/Nook/etc. is ... an invention of the devil.

6. Describe your most memorable acquisition experience. The time I pulled a first edition of The Book of Mormon out of someone’s trash.

7. If classic novelists were like rock stars or athletes, which three posters would be on your walls? Jane Austen, Laurence Sterne, and, of course, James Fenimore Cooper.

8. In 25 years, used-book stores will be ... used book stores will be very scarce, but an antiquarian bookstore will still be very viable as we will have collectors for a long time.

9. If someone wrote a novel about your bookstore, what would it be called? For the Love of It

Wuthering twice

2012-07-26T09:54:00.003-04:00

Back in April, I discovered a really interesting edition of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre with illustrations by Fritz Eichenberg. It was our first introduction to Eichenberg's wood engravings -- they are beautiful and haunting and we love them. The Jane Eyre we found was apparently part of a box set with Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, and so we've been on the lookout for Jane's companion ever since. We imagined it would be a long time before we found it to complete the set -- especially on its own.

We're in Cooperstown, NY, this week, visiting family and doing a bit of book hunting, and Tuesday we made a trip to Oneonta, NY, and stumbled upon Rose and Laurel Bookshop when we stopped on Main Street to have some lunch. When we walked in I noticed a section of large books in sleeves, and I made a beeline for them to scan for the Wuthering Heights.

On first glance it seemed they were all of the newer sort, so I moved down the shelves. For some reason my eye darted upward once more, and there, resting on its side on the top shelf, I saw that green spine with gold letters that looked so much like the Jane Eyre spine... only much thinner. I snatched it and gasped, then ran over to Kristian with it behind my back and said, "Guess what I found?!" I was practically jumping up and down. He was as shocked as I was that we actually found it -- we were both a bit open-mouthed. But as we calmed down, we realized that the front cover did not have an engraving the way the Jane Eyre did -- otherwise they seemed the same. Same size, Eichenberg illustrations all throughout. (We had previously found a mini-version of the Eichenberg-illustrated Wuthering.) Though we wondered why and if it was truly the match, there was no way we were walking out of the shop without that book. We might never come across it again... we were so excited! We did find more at the Rose and Laurel, but Kristian will tell you more about that.

With that now checked off our list, we made a quick visit to Willis Monie Books, the used bookshop in Cooperstown. Sadly on this day, our daughter was due for a nap when we had an opportunity to sneak down there, so we were sort of pushing our luck with the visit and had to rush through it.

We split up, and I was one aisle over from where Kristian was looking. We weren't there 10 minutes when I heard a groan and then Kristian called me over. He had a book behind his back and a sort of rueful grimace on his face. "What did you find?!" I asked. From behind his back he produced Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, Eichenberg illustrated, with a brooding Heathcliff engraving on the cover. Unbelievable! This was the one! For a book we thought we might never find, it took less than 24 hours to find two! We discovered that the one without a cover illustration was actually the older version, by two years, published in 1943. The one with the cover illustration, the one that also has the matching Jane Eyre, was published in 1945. Tag, you're it, 1943 version of Jane Eyre...

Book added: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (x2!)

Publisher: Random House

Years: 1945; 1943

Where obtained: Willis Monie Books; Rose and Laurel Bookshop

Price: $5.00; $6.00

We will not forget to return to Popeks

2012-07-26T09:43:00.001-04:00

One website we discovered while creating Get a Spine is called "Forgotten Bookmarks." We had had a similar idea to have a series on Get a Spine to tell about the various items we find inside of the books we acquire, and we call that series "Left in the Leaves," but Forgotten Bookmarks is the gold standard by which our idea had to be measured ... and honestly, we might not even win the bronze in comparison.

It's a great site, very well done, and almost always has a fun/interesting post about something found inside the pages of a used book.

While preparing Get a Spine for launch and digging a little bit deeper on Forgotten Bookmarks, I discovered that the site was run by the same person who owns a used-book store about 20 miles from where I grew up in Central New York. So that bookstore, Popeks Books, quickly became a must-visit on our trip to the Northeast, and Tuesday we had our first opportunity to check it out.

We were fortunate to meet the bookstore's extremely nice owner, Michael, and talk to him a little bit about his bookstore and how he got into the book business. We hope that we'll have a Spine Nine from Michael to share soon, but suffice it to say for now that the origin of Popeks Books is one of the better stories we've heard about people getting into the used-book business.

The short version is that there was an auction about 30 years ago, and at this auction was a van that was on the block for $100... but there was one catch. It was full of used books. The Popek family wanted the van, got the books with it, and then needed to do something with them, so...

As it also turns out, Michael's cousins were high school acquaintances of mine, one being a couple of years older and the other being in my class of 95 people. Small world.

Once again, our daughter's napping schedule meant this visit would be fairly brief, but to be honest, there's so much at Popeks Books that we'd need a good couple of hours to feel like we gave the bookstore the attention it requires. So we'll definitely be back, though we did score a few items on this visit:

Deborah found, on the 50-cent rack, an interesting amalgamation of Natty Bumppo's life throughout James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales." It's called The Leatherstockig Saga, and it takes all of the parts throughout the five books that specifically pertain to Deerslayer/Hawkeye/Pathfinder/Leatherstocking and puts them together in the chronological order of his life (which is not the way the books were first published in their day) to trace the path of his life throughout the five novels. I don't usually like abridged versions of anything, but I have to say that I am pretty interested to check this one out sometime.
another Riverside to add to the collection! Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding.
a Modern Library double-William Faulkner collection, containing the novels The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying. I've once sat on the town square in Oxford, Mississippi reading some Faulkner, so I am kind of excited about this find.
last, but definitely not least, we added two John Steinbeck works, one being an upgrade over a high school-era copy of Of Mice and Men, the other being our first copy of The Grapes of Wrath. Both are in great shape, with the copy of Of Mice and Men being a second-printing done in the work's original year of publication, 1937. There is the number "200" stamped on the inside of the back cover, but it's hard to tell if this means anything as far as determining the origin of the printing. Regardless, it is an excellent find, and I can't imagine we're likely to come across a better version of this classic that doesn't cost an arm and a leg. The edition of Grapes is also excellent, it's an 11th printing, done in 1940, one year after the work was first published. It's missing its dust jacket, but the cloth cover has an interesting illustration of the migration during the Dust Bowl. I've never read Grapes, but as a fan of Mice and The Pearl, reading Steinbeck's epic has been high on my list for quite some time, so I am excited about this find.

Score one for Popeks Books, and consider us always interested in coming back anytime we are in the area.

Books added: Joseph Andrews by Henry Fielding; The Sound and the Fury and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner; The Leatherstocking Saga edited by Allan Nevins; Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

Publishers (in same order): Houghton Mifflin Riverside Editions; Random House Modern Library; Avon; Covici Friede; Viking Press

Years: 1961; 1946; 1982; 1937; 1940

Where obtained: Popeks Books

Price: $18.00 for the five

There's no place like home...

2012-07-26T02:04:00.000-04:00

Wednesday marked the first official Get a Spine visit to the local used-book store where I grew up, Willis Monie Books in Cooperstown, NY. As Deborah talks about here, we had one very interesting experience on our visit, and as she also mentions, the stop was kind of a quick one due to our daughter's need to nap. Thankfully, many more opportunities to browse at Willis Monie await us in the future.

So in addition to what Deborah discusses, we were able to quickly round up a few nice "new" works for our library in the short time we did spend there:

a 1953 edition of Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway. I know it's nonfiction, but Hemingway is second to none for me, and good older editions of his works are pretty hard to find at reasonable prices, so getting Green Hills for $5.00 was just fine as far as I am concerned.
an illustrated Modern Library edition (1944) of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass. This one is in great shape, and appears to have been a Christmas gift from a student to a teacher in 1944.
a 1925 copy of The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington. This is one Deborah highly recommends, and we hadn't yet owned our own copy. As an aside, this book smells great.
lastly, an upgrade over our current copy of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. The one we had already was a flimsy paperback, and this is a hardcover published sometime around 1950.

Like I said, it was a brief visit, but we'll have tons of opportunities to keep going back.

Books added: Green Hills of Africa by Ernest Hemingway; The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington; Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman; Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Publishers (in same order): Charles Scribner's Sons; Doubleday, Page and Company; Random House Modern Library; Harcourt, Brace and World

Years: 1953; 1925; 1944; 1950(?)

Where obtained: Willis Monie Books

Price: $18.00 for the four

Sometimes no plan is the best plan

2012-07-26T00:44:00.002-04:00

Our first stop on our trip to Central New York wasn't a planned one. On Tuesday, we were in Oneonta, NY -- home to Hartwick College, the State University of New York at Oneonta, and the James Fenimore Cooper Society, as well as being the former home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame -- to have a little lunch before hitting a bookstore we had planned to visit.

But our parking spot in downtown Oneonta just happened to be in front of a bookstore called "The Rose and Laurel Bookshop." So after a bite to eat, we hit The Rose and Laurel before hitting our known destination.

While our daughter latched on pretty quickly to a Steinbeck novel, Deborah and I collected seven works to take home with us. One of them Deborah talks more about here, while the other six were a random collection chosen for different reasons:

Eichenberg! As we've mentioned many times, we have started to be on the lookout for Fritz Eichenberg-illustrated/wood-engraved works, and we found an awesome copy of Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, which is an all-time favorite. This edition appears to date from about 1940 or so.
a visually striking and well-preserved 1887 edition of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, with "an introductory account of the work by the author."
another Riverside Edition for our collection, A Modern Instance by William Howells, published in 1957.
a 1950 Modern Library edition of Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, which is a definite upgrade over our current copy. I've not read Brothers yet, but I am definitely looking forward to reading more Dostoyevsky.
George Orwell's Animal Farm, another personal favorite, likely a book club hardcover edition from 1946, the year after it first appeared in print.
A copy of David James Duncan's The River Why, which Deborah picked up in order to return a loaned copy back to the person who gave it to her.

So, all in all, this was a very successful stop that we hadn't planned on making. Count us as fans of The Rose and Laurel Bookshop!

Books added: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe; A Modern Instance by William D. Howells; The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Animal Farm by George Orwell; The River Why by David James Duncan

Publishers (in same order): The Heritage Press; Houghton, Mifflin and Company; Houghton Mifflin Company Riverside Editions; Random House Modern Library; Harcourt, Brace and Company; Bantam Books

Years: 1940(?); 1887; 1957; 1950; 1946; 1984

Where obtained: The Rose and Laurel Bookshop

Price: $30.00 for the six

Bookseller Review: Willis Monie Books

2012-07-25T22:01:00.001-04:00

Willis Monie Books

139 Main St.

Cooperstown, NY

607.547.7128

www.wilmonie.com

Located in Cooperstown, NY for over 25 years, Willis Monie Books carries general books and ephemera, with a good selection in most all categories. They have over 80,000 books listed online, with a much greater variety offered in the store.

What we like: Since it's in Cooperstown, there's pretty much no way I am not going to like this store. But to be objective, there is a lot to like here for those seeking a book in most every area of interest.

What we don't like: We nitpick, but we always get a little bummed when bookstores don't break out the classic literature into its own section, and instead just have it scattered throughout all fiction. Like I said, it's nitpicking.

Would we go again? Of course. Every time we visit Cooperstown. Plus, I am really holding out hope that I'll be able to complete my Mohawk Edition set of James Fenimore Cooper's works (missing The Last of the Mohicans and The Prairie) here. It would be fitting.

Bookseller Review: Rose and Laurel Bookshop

2012-07-25T21:51:00.001-04:00

The Rose and Laurel Bookshop

273 Main St.

Oneonta, NY

607.432.5604

www.abebooks.com/rose-and-laurel-bookshop-oneonta-ny/72680/sf

The Rose & Laurel Bookshop is a brick-and-mortar store started in 1977 and is located in upstate New York. They have mainly used and out-of-print books, both paperbacks and hardcovers. They stock many first edtions and have a good collection of local and upstate NY history.

What we like: This place had the feel of a booklover's quaint little bookshop. Not too big, not too small, good variety, and for us, a nice section of classics.

What we don't like: Well... our daughter's legs got really dirty crawling around on the floor... does that count?

Would we go again? Yes. This was one we stumbled upon by accident, but when we pass through Oneonta in the future, we'll definitely stop.

Bookseller Review: Popeks Books

2012-07-25T21:42:00.002-04:00

Popeks Used and Rare Books

457 Chestnut St.

Oneonta, NY

607.431.9870

www.popeks.com/

Popeks Used and Rare Books is an independent bookseller which has a wide variety of titles in practically every subject area or interest. They're a family business that has been selling books for around 30 years.

What we like: Multiple classic fiction sections, friendly owner, and solid prices. A large selection of books, rivaling the number to be found in many bookstores located in much larger cities.

What we don't like: It was a little hard to figure out how the store was organized at first, but who doesn't enjoy a good hunt?

Would we go again? Definitely. We didn't have enough time the first time through, and thankfully we'll have more opportunities to stop by as we continue to visit family throughout the year.

Like Jack Kerouac ... or Willie Nelson

2012-07-18T00:46:00.000-04:00

It's time for us to go on the road (again), and this time we're headed to the Northeast to visit family and make some of our old favorites official Get a Spine stops, as well as taking the opportunity to find some new bookstores on our route.

Generally, we head north through Pennsylvania and into Central New York, with the first destination Cooperstown, home of James Fenimore Cooper (and Willis Monie Books). Then it's off across Massachusetts and up into southern Maine, where we'll be exploring bookstores in Portland and along Route 1 between Portland and Kittery, Me.

After that it's back across Massachusetts to the Northampton/Amherst/Easthampton area, where we'll visit some of our favorites like the Northampton DPW book shed and Raven Used Books, as well as making an effort to visit some of the local places we didn't make it to while we lived in that area for just under a year.

If you've got any suggestions of must-visits on our route, please let us know!

'High Reading Entertainment -- at a Low Price!'

2012-07-07T09:17:00.001-04:00

We had a to-do list a mile long on Friday that was going to take us over in the direction of McIntire Road, so we decided to pay a visit to the McIntire Road Book Exchange. We hadn't been in awhile and stuff is always moving there, so we hoped there might be something new for us.

It wasn't a life-altering experience, but we did find a couple of fun things to add to our library. We've mentioned that we have a thing for a particular type of Signet Classic Editions books -- namely because we like the style of artwork on the cover. Today we happened upon three such specimens: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; Henry James' The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels; and -- a particular favorite of Kristian's -- 1984 by George Orwell.

I also picked up a 1961 Dell paperback edition of Helen Keller's autobiography. Not fiction, but I was just last night reading the preface to Maria Montessori's book detailing her educational approach and she mentions Helen Keller as an inspiration. It seemed a happy coincidence to stumble upon it today.

The final thing we found was all Kristian's doing. He was digging through some boxes on the way out and came up with a tattered dust jacket for The Razor's Edge (one of my favorite novels).

On the cover appear two actors in black and white and some text stating "The famous novel from which the Darryl F. Zanuck production was made, starring Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power." Apparently this edition is promoting the film adaptation of this book. Kristian kept digging around, and eventually came up with the book itself. It was printed in 1946 by Triangle Books. The printing on the dust jacket reminds us a bit of the Modern Library Giants we've come across. The back cover is a marketing medium claiming "High Reading Entertainment -- at a Low Price!" I love it! And you can't beat free as a low price at the Book Exchange. The dust jacket is in pretty rough shape though, so we may have to make another visit to Ryan at Random Row for a plastic dust jacket cover -- or, even better, we should invest in some of these plastic covers ourselves for future tattered covers.

Books added: The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham; 1984 by George Orwell; The Story of My Life by Helen Keller; The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels by Henry James; Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Publishers (in same order): Triangle Books; New American Library, Signet Classics; Dell Publishing; New American Library, Signet Classics

Years: 1946; 1961; 1961; 1962; 1963

Where obtained: McIntire Road Book Exchange

Price: Free