Author Archives: tavistock_books

Rare Books and Manuscripts Galore! We Get a Low-Down of Last Week’s RBMS Conference from Our Very Own Attendee!

Vic, how many years have you attended RBMS for now?

My first RBMS Conference, then called the Preconference for the conference precedes the big ALA event, was in San Francisco, 2002. I was the local ABAA rep to the RBMS Local Affairs committee, and helped with things like stuffing the book bag, helping arrange the ABAA hosted reception, etc. The conference hotel was the Fairmont, which is a lovely hotel at the top of Nob Hill. I confess I don’t remember too many specifics of the conference itself, just have an overall impression of enjoying the week.

What are some of your most favorite past locales where it has been held?

Having just returned from Miami, I can definitely say that locale was one of my favorites, though one prior that does stick out was a number of years ago [2009] when the conference was held in Charlottesville, VA to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the event. Always like travelling to Charlottesville. Another that comes to mind was that of 2013, which was held in Minneapolis. The reason this one is memorable is because, even though I was registrered, I had to cancel at the last minute, as I contracted a bout of pleurisy [as you may also remember!]. Ouch!

Could you give us a walk-through of this weekend, or a typical RBMS weekend? Conferences, showcases – give us the low-down!

The week is filled with sessions & panels, etc., etc. As you might imagine, as one of the trade, not all issues germane to the librarian community has relevance to my work, however, by better understanding those issues important to my institutional clientele, I can better serve them, which is my job. The bookseller showcase is an adjunct to the conference, which provides the curators attending the conference an opportunity to sample the wares of my colleagues & discuss with those exhibiting booksellers their needs/wants.

What have you learned at this past RBMS? What conferences did you attend and who struck you as a phenomenally great speaker?

The Chairman of Florida’s Welcome Committee!

The individual that immediately comes to mind, Pellom McDaniels, was a speaker this year at the Thursday afternoon panel [“A Broad and Deep Look at Outreach”] held at the University of Miami. The intent of the session was “to demonstrate the myriad ways special collections and archives can engage and interact with multiple constituencies.” This fellow from Emory was high energy, engaged & enthusiastic. And you could tell from his presentation, that he had achieved the goal of “engaging & interacting”. It was good to see that, at least in his case, special collections was reaching out beyond the reading room, and showing the community the wonders that lie behind the mahogany doors.

Why do you do the RBMS showcase? Is it to sell? Or is it rather to meet new people?

The intent of the showcase is to provide an opportunity for both the bookseller & the librarian communities to interact. It is most definitely NOT a bookfair. Remember, the booksellers are there as an adjunct to the conference, in other words, the showcase is not the main event.

Some of the usual suspects…

Would you recommend attending RBMS to other booksellers? What about newbie booksellers? Librarians?

If institutional clientele are part of your business model, or you wish to add them to your customer list, then yes, the showcase provides an *opportunity* to do this. Granted, it’s not the only way, just one way, especially if you are a new ABAA member, it’s one way to do so. As for the librarian community, if your responsibilites include collection develeopment, then yes, meeting and talking with the exhibiting booksellers can help you with this facet of your job. Afterall, if you’re fishing [for books], why not cast a wide net?

In summary, this past week was a great one- both from a program perspective, as well as a venue. The Biltmore Hotel is a grand old lady, whose elegance if fading somewhat, but she still outshines many younger models. Next year’s conference will be in Iowa City. While certainly it’ll be different than Miami, I have no doubt it too will be a success.

Charles Dickens & the Beginning of “The Pickwick Papers”

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By Margueritte Peterson

Get yourselves ready for one of the most morbid (therefore, we celebrate it in high style) days of the year… the anniversary of Dickens’ death! Every year we do a Dickens blog around this day, though I prefer to think of it more as a celebration of life blog, rather than as a homage to his death. Last year we wrote about Dickens’ last (and unfinished) work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. This year, with your permission, I would like to focus on one of his very first works – The Pickwick Papers.

To be completely honest, the Pickwick story never grabbed my interest as other works by our main man. No Great Expectations love story, no Christmas Carol morality lesson, no Tale of Two Cities history… what about it could be so enthralling? Now, in all fairness and honesty, I did not scramble to read The Pickwick Papers in order to write this blog. All the information in this blog is found via research. I’ll let you in on a little secret, however… after writing this blog, I just may have to pick it up and begin reading!

As we’ve stated in blogs past, Dickens didn’t begin his career desperate to become a writer. His first passion was to be an actor – and he (most likely, as it seems everything Dickens did he did well) very nearly got his wish – until he became ill before his first audition and was unable to perform. For reasons we may never know, Dickens did not try to book another audition and never attempted to become an actor again. Instead, he settled down as a political journalist in London. His first published collection of writings was called Sketches by Boz and consisted of various character sketches originally found in his periodicals. Sketches was immediately popular and Dickens rapidly gained success and fame.

One of the original illustrations by Seymour.

Here’s where the Pickwick story gets interesting. Amusingly enough, Pickwick was not an original idea by Dickens. Pickwick actually began when publishers Chapman & Hall asked Dickens to provide text to match illustrations by (somewhat) popular cartoonist Robert Seymour. Even Dickens later admitted that the idea was not his – that it was Seymour’s. However, the presumption that The Pickwick Papers would have amassed the popularity that it did without Dickens – is completely false.

[Now, I do hope that this blog does not come across as hating on our main man – not at all! I am not trying to say that Pickwick was not at all his idea, though it was what bought him much in the way of fame and success. (Though, that is, you know, technically true about how it all began.)] What I do aim to do with this blog is to bring to light a slightly tragic tale that isn’t well-known about the origins of the Pickwick Papers.

One of the more difficult scenes Seymour had to illustrate for Pickwick.

What is fact and known about the beginnings of the book is that after Chapman & Hall picked up on his idea, Robert Seymour was contracted to make 4 engravings for each written installment of the book (as usual for the time, they were published in installments) and he and the publishers chose Dickens to write the book alongside the illustrations. However, before the second episode could be completed, Seymour committed suicide in his home in Islington, following severe stress and a mental breakdown. The mental breakdown could, possibly, have had something to do with the very little monetary advance Seymour was paid for the Pickwick installments, and also with his struggle to illustrate according to Dickens’ text (according to sources at the time, Seymour envisioned a much more light-hearted tale than he ended up illustrating, at the beginning). In any case, Seymour did struggle with depression, and the somewhat ugly truth of the matter is that, after his death, when Dickens teamed up with “Phiz” to illustrate the rest of the text and introduced the Cockney character of Sam Weller, the series became immediately more popular and sold in much higher volume.

Check out our holding of Pickwick illustrations, circa 1837! See it here>

So what does this all mean? Truthfully, in my (not-so) humble opinion… it means… not much. It is a sad tale, that makes it sound a bit like Seymour got the short end of the stick, yes. However, I think that the fact that the series did not become interesting to readers until Dickens had full control of the text and the full cooperation of the illustrator – is important. We know Dickens was a performer, a writer, a journalist, and a well-known socialite (eventually)… perhaps we should agree that he possibly also knew what the people wanted! And though Pickwick might not have began with Dickens’ imagination, he was, ultimately, the one who truly brought the text to life. So on this anniversary of Dickens’ death, remember the man as he was – someone who immortalized stories, not just wrote them!

“Perhaps life is just that… a dream and a fear”: A Brief Biography of Joseph Conrad

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By Margueritte Peterson

A large genre of antiquarian books collected and sold by many is known as “Modern Firsts”. Now, quite obviously that refers to Modern First Editions, right? Right! However, what many don’t realize is that the scope of Modern Literature is truly as wide as it is varied! Some “Modern” authors that people recognize the names of include Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Today, however, I’d like to talk about one author of Modern Literature that could have been said to really open up the genre in certain ways… Joseph Conrad.

Despite the fact that he is known as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language, Conrad did not learn English until he was in his twenties. He was born in Berdychiv, part of Ukraine that had been under the Kingdom of Poland (though at the time of his birth under Russian rule) on the 3rd of December, 1857. Born Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, he was called simply “Konrad” while growing up – part of his name that his father took from his two favorite poems by Adam Mickiewicz. Though his parents were strongly patriotic and fought hard for Poland’s freedom from Russian rule, Konrad [Conrad] was never quite as interested in politics the way his father was. Because of his father’s political activism, the family (Konrad an only child) was exiled several times to various locales in Russia. Konrad was homeschooled by his father in his early years, and enjoyed reading Victor Hugo, Shakespeare (his first introduction to the English language) and Polish romantic poets (such as the poet his name came from – Mickiewicz). Tragically, by the time Konrad was 11 he lost both his parents to tuberculosis and the boy was sent to live with his maternal uncle Tadeusz Bobrowski.

Unsurprisingly (due to the constant moving, exile, and losing both parents at such a young age), Conrad [as the spelling will be hereafter because I am confusing myself] was a nervous adolescent. He did very poorly in school as he hated discipline and schedules, and suffered from severe anxiety attacks and slight depression. A physician advised his uncle that the boy needed more fresh air, hard work and exercise – and due to his poor schoolwork, the uncle agreed and thought it time that Conrad learn a trade. Despite early protestations that he would be a great writer, Conrad quickly grew to love the idea of becoming a sailor – no doubt influenced by some of his favorite authors, James Fenimore Cooper and Captain Frederick Marryat. At 16, his uncle sent a well-read & intelligent (though not necessarily properly schooled) Conrad to Marseilles to begin his career as a sailor.

Conrad became an important figure in the merchant marine services and eventually settled in England. To become a British subject, Conrad had to apply to the Russian embassy on numerous occasions to be released from being a Russian subject, under rule of the Tsar. In April 1889, after three years of living in England as a captain of the British merchant marine, he was granted his request and released from Russian rule.

After many years at sea (and on land, as Conrad probably only spent half of his time in the merchant marines at sea), Conrad decided at 36 years old to give up his career and focus instead on his literary skills. In 1895, his first novel, Almayer’s Folly, was published under the Anglicized name Joseph Conrad. Almayer’s Folly, like many of Conrad’s works, deals with a criticism of colonialism (similar to his later, and famous work, Heart of Darkness). Within 5 years he had written and published 3 novels. At the beginning of his writing career he was often published in literary magazines, quarterly papers, and newspapers. At first his writing was mainly only recognized by English-speaking intellectuals. Widespread popularity for Conrad did not come until 1913 with the publication of Chance (now, ironically, largely considered one of his lesser works).

Conrad’s works, like those of Woolf and Joyce, opened up the modernist genre of literature in a few different ways. He experiemented with daring new narrative techniques and even employed different character studies where the audience was almost a part of their evil or good behavior (making his characters seem wildly accessible). Perhaps some of what makes Conrad’s work so influential is the fact that much of the detail in his novels (characters, locales, treatment of citizens around the world) was based on real life and his actual adventures during his time as a captain of the merchant marine. The realism in his novels is subtle but always there – a fascinating presentation of real life in the form of novels and short stories.

Our shop holding of “Lord Jim” is up for grabs! See it here>

Look no further… than the Latest Items at Tavistock Books!

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Does the name Victoria Lucas ring a bell to you? She’s a super famous poet! We recently wrote a blog about her, even. Not ringing with understanding yet? Hmm… she also struggled with depression her whole life and wrote some of her most famous poems at the peaks of her despair. Here’s a hint if you’re STILL confused… Victoria Lucas is her pseudonym. That’s right, ladies and gents – it’s Mrs. Sylvia Plath. And here we offer a 1st edition of her novel “The Bell Jar”! See more here>

We can’t get enough of Plath around here… have you ever read her Journals? Get on that as soon as possible! But first, perhaps you’d like to spend some time with a 1st edition of her, arguably, most famous book of poetry – published, unfortunately, in 1965, two years after her death. Interested? See it here>

Fun fact about poet Wallace Stevens – winner of the Pulitzer Prize for one of his books of poetry! He loved to visit Key West (which is evident in much of his poetry) and while there, he encountered writers and poets Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway… both of which he argued with each time! Did I say argued? Ernest Hemingway beat him to the curb outside, is what I meant. Nevertheless, Wallace was an important figure on the poetry scene, even if only for a while! His poem “The Man with the Blue Guitar” we offer here>

A collector of cookery items and menus knows that it is difficult enough to find a menu in good shape from the beginning of the 20th century. How about a menu in VG condition… from the trenches of WWI? We wouldn’t lie to you! This menu even has a graphic illustration of soldiers confronting each other in the war. Check it out here>

“We Pointed Them North: Recollections of a Cowpuncher” is one of the best books depicting cowboy life that we have in our inventory today! Though born in England, “Teddy Blue” Abbott was a cowboy from a young age – once his parents moved him to Lincoln, Nebraska and his father let him try his hand a herding cattle! But oh, we shouldn’t tell you the entire story, should we? Read his memoirs here>

We love our cookbooks here at Tavistock Books… Ever wish you could make Pea Fritters or Rice Coquettes? This book is the cookbook for you! Our “Cookery in the Golden State” is a 1st edition published in Sacramento in 1890… by our good old Unitarian Ladies! Somewhat scarce in the trade, this book will meet all your cookery collection needs! Try the recipes here>

It is always a wonderful thing when you meet someone who truly and desperately loves where they are and what they are doing. Too often we are too apt to complain about where we’ve decided to settle! Not for Mabel Dodge Luhan and her beloved Taos, New Mexico. Her “Winter in Taos” describes her simple life from season to season, in an almost stream-of-conciousness style. She connects with the earth and finds great “pleasure in being very still and sensing things”. Find out about Luhan’s deep connection with the “deep living earth” here>

This is not your average manuscript book… this is a book of a pharmacy’s ledger of prescriptions… from 1874! Essentially an apothecary recipe book containing innumerable medicinal formulas with ingredients and dosage instructions from an unnamed apothecary in the Boston Area at the end of the 19th century. Truthfully, we would note this as an invaluable primary source for medicinal recipes used by the US medical community in the 1870s. Forget WebMD… check it out here>

“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” OTD in 2001, the Universe Lost … “a dreamer, a thinker, a speculative philosopher… or, as his wife would have it, an idiot.”

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By Margueritte Peterson

As a child, I was required to listen to many different things. Classical music, for one. Teachers getting annoyed with me for asking too many questions, for another. And… The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy quotes, for a third. For that last particular factor I have my father to thank. (Though actually, now that I think about it, he seems to have had a major hand in all three of those particular life events… but I digress.)

Douglas Adams may be best remembered for his humorous saga The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a “trilogy” of five books which sold over 15 million copies during the author’s lifetime, but he was much more than a simple humorist (or was he?). He was a script writer, a lover of Doctor Who (he wrote and edited for the show on more than one occasion), and a self-proclaimed radical atheist (as in… if you asked him if he meant agnostic he may have attacked you with a wet towel). By adulthood Adams stood at 6’5″- but his stature was far from the only thing that set him apart from the crowd!

Adams was born in March of 1952 in Cambridge, England. Though his family only lived there a few short months after his birth, where he then moved a couple times throughout his childhood – first to East London and then, once his parents divorced, to Brentwood – a small city in Essex. By the time the young Adams reached age 12 he already stood at (nearly) his full height – his early growth spurt only rivaled by his short stories, poems & essays as for what was most interesting about him. He was a published author by the time he was 10 years old, with his earliest writing found in school publications and local boys’ comics. Adams continued to write sketches and humor throughout his time at school, though, in all other aspects, his University education was otherwise… predictable.

After University (St. John’s College, Cambridge), Adams moved to London with dreams of becoming a writer for television and radio. Amusingly enough (pun intended), his breakthrough came with his contributions to Monty Python – he not only helped write sketches for the show, but even made special appearances a couple of times… and was only one of two people who ever received writing credit for the show outside of the original cast members. Though he made this early success with the Monty Python gang, Adams then hit a wall in regards to his writing. For a time he was unable to publish any of his work (due to a lack of interest by fools) and performed odd jobs (even as a bodyguard and a chicken shed cleaner… apparently) before moving home to live with his mother in 1976. (All great adult men live with their mothers at some point… right?)

This gloomy state of affairs did not last long for Adams, however, as when he and radio producer Simon Brett pitched the idea of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (an idea that came to Adams while he was lying drunk in an Austrian field…. I couldn’t make this up if I tried) to BBC Radio in 1977 it was immediately taken up by the station. The series began being broadcast on the UK’s BBC Radio 4 in March and April of 1978. The success of the initial series led to a special Christmas episode the same year and a second series broadcast in early 1980. Despite a difficulty in writing to appease deadlines (he is famously quoted with “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by”), Adams published five novels in the Hitchhiker’s series, from 1979 to 1992. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was the beginning of a cult phenomenon – comic books, computer games, spin-offs and movies have just been the start of the HHGG following!

Towards the end of his (painfully short) life, Adams authored another short series (just two books) on Dirk Gently and his life – a story Adams himself described as “a kind of ghost-horror-detective-time-travel-romantic-comedy-epic, mainly concerned with mud, music and quantum mechanics” that Adams loosely based on characters he used previously in his contributions to Doctor Who. Also later in life, Adams became an environmental activist, campaigning for the sake of various endangered species. He took his environmentalist acts extremely seriously, like in 1994 when he raised over £100,000 by traveling to and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in a rhino suit for a British charity called Save the Rhino International.

Adams died suddenly on May 11th, 2001 from a heart attack after working out at a private gym near his home in Southern California (and people ask why I don’t exercise…). However, don’t fret (at least, not on your left-handed guitar, of which Adams had a collection of 24 when he passed away) – May 25 celebrates international “Towel Day” – a day where fans of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy openly carry towels around with them… as “any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.”

… Please excuse me while I go look for mine!

Don’t panic… I found it.

“It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both”… As we lose one “Prince”, We Study Another

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By Margueritte Peterson

Niccolò Machiavelli is a name known to many. We all know (with a name like Niccolò… it’s pretty obvious) he was Italian, we know he wrote “The Prince” and we know that he is quoted by posh academics. Often. And at length.

But what else is known about our man Machiavelli? For instance, did you know that he was once imprisoned by the Medici family for three weeks and tortured under his supposed involvement in a conspiracy against them? Or that he was in Rome during the time of the Borgia rule and witnessed the cruel and (dare we say it…) anti-Christian dealings of the family to their subjects? No, you weren’t aware? Well, well… sit back, relax, and allow us to (briefly) enlighten you! (Niccolò would be so proud.)

Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli was born on the 3rd of May, 1469, to a well-respected Florentine family that is believed to have been descended from the old Marquesses of Tuscany. During the years of Niccolò’s youth, battle for power in Italy raged on and on… Italy consisted of many separate city-states, all ruled separately (imagine that) and the struggle for power of the different states was consistent. In 1494 Florence banished the Medici family (though they had been ruling over Florence for over sixty years) and restored a Republic government to the city-state. In this new Republic, Machiavelli was appointed to a medieval writing office that placed him in charge of the production of official Florentine government documents. Also during this time, Machiavelli was made the Secretary of a council called the Dieci di Libertà e Pace, a group which was entitled to a separate control over some departments of the interior.

With these two highly coveted positions, Machiavelli went on several diplomatic missions, most notably to Rome (where he witnessed the somewhat savage practices of the Borgia pope) and to both the French and Spanish royal courts. These missions had a great influence on Machiavelli’s political opinions and played a key role in his later literary works. Unfortunately, at what one might consider the peak of his political career in 1512 (at one point just a few years earlier he had been responsible for the entire Florentine militia), the Republic of Florence was overthrown and the Medici family returned to power. Accused of acts of conspiracy against the Medici family, Machiavelli was imprisoned and tortured (thought to have had both shoulders dislocated… ouch) but was released a few weeks later and exiled to his father’s country property south of Florence.

Our beautifully bound LEC holding of The Prince, circa 1954. See it here>

It is during the years he spent at his father’s estate that he wrote his most notable (or most remembered) works. The Prince (1513), a work of political theory which focuses on the concept of the people needing a “new prince” rather than a hereditary prince – a man of strength and valor, immorality and fearlessness (and apparently like… no emotion). Machiavelli dedicated it to the new ruler of Florence, Lorenzo di Piero de’ Medici (the Lorenzo de Medici’s grandson), in hopes of being brought back into the Medici’s good graces. His plan worked and he was allowed to return to Florence, but unfortunately was never allowed to resume his grand political lifestyle.

Machiavelli, stripped of his titles at this point and considered an average citizen, went on to write several popular plays of the time, and insinuated himself into many Florentine intellectual groups. He carried out hope to return to the political sphere until his death at the age of 58 in 1527.

“And then I spent two years wandering the Sahara Desert before being rescued by a wandering trio of exiled German princes who brought me along as their entertainment… a court jester, if you will…”

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By Margueritte Peterson

Personal confession: normally I am a proponent of all types of blogging. Though I believe the (not-so-old) adage “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet” – I also find the internet to be a most useful place for information. Some of it genuine… some of it not quite so genuine… some of it kind, some of it negative. In any case, the internet is a fount of information. And I do use it – boy, do I use it!

However, that being said, there is one thing that I cannot make up my mind on how I feel about it. The internet is partially responsible (in my own humble opinion) for making one particular genre of published book not quite as popular anymore.

Travel Writing.

Nowadays, just about anyone can and does post just about anything they want online. They went on a hike with their girlfriend and found a killer “secret” camping spot? Let’s tell the entire online world! (Not so “secret” anymore – so much for skinny dipping!) Did you travel to Versailles with your parents and take pictures of every single item of gold you saw? Post them to Facebook! Gone are the old days where someone went on adventures that others might never experience and went home to write colorful and descriptive tales about their travels. Travel writing had to be good enough, exciting enough and gripping enough to spend money to publish it – it had to appeal to the masses. Now don’t get me wrong – I love to travel and always want to write about my “adventures” – but I would rather write them down for a book than blog about them online! Perhaps it is old fashioned of me, but I think that this is a genre that we ought to bring back.

Try this 1879 1st edition on for size! See it here>

Travel Writing began as early as the 2nd century, when Pausanias wrote his Description of Greece and when Gerald of Wales wrote Journey Through Wales and Description of Wales (does it count as travel writing if you are reporting on your own hometown? Apparently so if it was written in 1191 and 1194). Travel writing was also a fairly common genre in medieval Arabic literature, with the travel journals of Ibn Jubayr (d. 1214) and Ibn Batutta (d. 1377) being the most well-known examples of this genre. In medieval China (the end of the Song Dynasty, in particular, 970 – 1279) travel literature was also widespread, and belonged to a genre the Chinese named “youji wenxue” or “travel record literature.” Authors in medieval China wrote narratives, essays and prose that extensively focused on geographical and topographical information – authors like Fan Chengda and Xu Xiake are two of the most celebrated writers of this period’s genre – and their descriptions are valuable and amaze academics to this day! Even other nationalities were interested in describing Ancient and Medieval China… Venetian traveler Marco Polo, for example, wrote extensively about his travels and adventures when he reached China in 1271. His writings sparked other adventurers for centuries after his death in 1324 (be they authors or not, such as explorer Christopher Columbus).

Going further down the chronological ladder of history, in 1589 an English writer known for promoting the settlement of North America by the British, Richard Hakluyt (d. 1616) published his text The Principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation – a book (which ended up as 3 volumes) that detailed lands around the world and was based on as many eyewitness accounts as Hakluyt could find. His texts are widely accepted as the foundations of the “modern” travel literature genre.To this day, the London-based Hakluyt Society publishes scholarly editions of travels, adventures and voyages.

The 1700s is where things become, if I may interject my own personal feelings about it (which I never fail to do)… fun. In 18th century Britain, most of the most famous authors worked in the travel literature genre and once published would travel widely (imagine that) and give lectures about their books and their anecdotes. Captain James Cook’s diaries published in 1784, for example, were unbelievably well-known and were some of the most exciting publications to ever be made available to a literate public. Entering into the 1800s, Charles Darwin detailed the HMS Beagle’s journey and findings – a combination of travel writing, scientific study and natural history/geography. Not all authors of the period combined science with their studies – some interspersed humor with their anecdotes… authors like Mark Twain and (even our main man) Charles Dickens are good examples of other travel writers in the 1800s.

Our Richard Halliburton Archive, complete with letters about his daring voyage (which would be his last) aboard a Chinese Junk Ship attempting to cross the Pacific ocean. See it here>

Travel writing remained popular through the 20th century, with a higher emphasis on adventure tales, as travel was becoming more and more possible with the advent of different types of transportation – the car and the plane, in particular. Adventurers and authors like Richard Halliburton made their name by performing acts of bravery (and/or stupidity) and experiencing highly unlikely scenarios.

Humans have not lost the yen to travel and experience… so why has this type of narrative fallen a bit away from its original intent? Because times change! Though this is not a bad thing and who knows… perhaps one day I will end up writing my own travel blog… I still yearn for the days where one could read the “Royal Road to Romance” and see the adventure and the distant lands in our minds alone – without seeing a 3D movie about the same things! Who’s with me?

There and Back Again: a New York Book Fair Tale by Vic Zoschak

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New York, New York… a hell of a town!

So you have now attended your… what, 27th New York ABAA fair? How does it feel?

Well, perhaps not quite that many, but have gone, either as an exhibitor, or as an attendee, pretty much every year since becoming an ABAA member in 1995. I haven’t exhibited at the fair since sometime in the early 2000s [2005?], so the last decade has been as a shopper, and like years past, some wonderful things were on exhibit, and I even brought home one or two!

What was different about the New York fair this year as opposed to years past?

In my experience, the New York fair has been a strong fair for a good while now, considered by most members to be the Association’s flagship event, and, in my view, this year continued that trend. The Armory, at 66th & Park, is a lovely location, and perfect size, for our book fair. We have an international, cosmopolitan exhibitor base, and as a result, the same is true of the fair visitors/shoppers.

Photo credit: John Schulman of Caliban Books

Does it make any difference when you walk about knowing that by this time in a two years you will probably, if tradition holds, be President of the ABAA?

Well, to some degree, for in my opinion, that position shoulders a bit more responsibility for the continued viability of the Association. And the association faces a change of venue for the fair, either beginning next year, or perhaps in 2018, and so there is the uncertainty associated with a move to a new locale. Will it be as successful? We will assuredly do our best to ensure it is, but sometimes the capricious hand of fate doesn’t necessarily embrace your vision of what you hope will be.

What was the most interesting item you laid eyes on?

Oh my, that’s so difficult to pick just one, however, since I have it in front of me as I write this answer, I will say I bought one of the most interesting things I saw- the first miniature book published in Ohio [1815]. According to Rare Book Hub, one hasn’t been on the market since 1964.

What was the neatest item you purchased, if different from the above?

In addition to the miniature described above, I bought a collection of 50+ British broadside ballads, mainly 19th C. While individually they’re not particularly uncommon, to come across a cache of this number is decidedly so, and I just couldn’t resist. It will be fun to research the individual titles, hopefully with a few or more ending up with “Not previously recorded” in the catalogue entry.

And here come the crowds!

What’s your usual book fair routine when you aren’t exhibiting, such as in NY or in Boston? Do you run around, eyes glued to glass cases at first…. do you saunter with a glass of wine or a manhattan and allow the items to come to you (by knowledgeable booksellers who probably brought it with you in mind, of course)?

Usually, on the fair opening, I walk the aisles to see who is exhibiting, while letting serendipity catch my eye. During this meandering, I tend to make it a point to stop with colleagues who I know will most likely have the unusual, non-dust jacket material that I find so interesting. This year was no different.

How were the shadow fairs?

Due to the ABAA’s annual meeting being held Saturday mid-morning, I, unfortunately, wasn’t able to get to the Getman show uptown, but did have the opportunity to visit the 2nd shadow show, across from the Armory on Lexington. I did find a few things there, though not as much as in times past.

Did you have fun?!?!

Always! 🙂

The Art of Freeing the Mind (and Body) with Henry Miller

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By Margueritte Peterson

Normally our author blogs are based on a date in the life of said author – birthdays, publishing dates, even memorials to their deaths. I’d like to take this moment to say that this is not one of those types of dates. This blog is completely and utterly random… all because I recently dreamt about seeing a sunrise at Big Sur and decided to get to know one of the many authors who made the area their home… Mr. Henry Miller.

Henry Miller lived to the ripe old age of 88, and in less than a century managed to offend tens of thousands of people. His books were banned in not only states but entire countries. (The United States being one of them… yay for freedom of speech?) And why was this one man as taboo as sex before marriage was to Victorians? Because he dared. Well… dared in life and then proceeded to publish his daring activities. Miller was known for his free way of writing – a truly singular author in style, blending many different genres of literature (autobiography and philosophy, surrealism and social critique – to name a few) creating a truly unique voice. But one of the many aspects that set him apart from the crowd was the fact that his work was, at the least, semi-autobiographical in nature – and to describe the sexual exploits of a lonely man in Paris in the 30s was gutsy, to say the least. So what in Miller’s life was so audacious as to be banned in countries around the world? Well I’ll tell you…

Miller was born the day after Christmas in 1891 and spent most of his childhood growing up in Brooklyn, New York. The author married his first wife (Beatrice Sylvas Wickens) young, and though the union produced his first child, daughter Barbara, in 1919, the marriage was not a happy one and the couple divorced in 1923. A short while after his divorce was finalized (so shortly, in fact, that it is quite likely Miller began the next relationship before the end of his first one) Miller married a dancer who went by the name June Mansfield. June would be much written about and discussed for both her beauty and her deceptive and slightly challenging nature. During his marriage to Mansfield, Miller would spend much time abroad, particularly in Paris (and continued to live there for 5 years after she divorced him by proxy in 1934). His time in Paris was very influential to his writing, as he became ingratiated with a literary community there – so far as to be financed by Anais Nin and her husband Ian Hugo for most of the 1930s while he wrote in (what would today be considered) poverty. Nin and Miller were lovers and their relationship would be common knowledge once Nin’s private diaries were published (with both’s permission) in 1969. The pair would remain friends for life.

The Dust Jacket on his first published work, “Tropic of Cancer” (1934) came with a warning to readers that it was not to be distributed in the United States or in Great Britain. Miller’s work detailed varied sexual experiences that were considered extremely scandalous (perhaps because they were based in truth!) for the time and for a great number of years his work was banned in two of the most (supposedly) democratic countries in the world. Luckily for the author, however, the censorship and scandal surrounding his work grew him a fantastical reputation in underground literary society – and despite his books being banned he was world-famous and well-known. Though Miller eventually grew tired of being respected for writing what, to some, came across as smut or erotica, he did not fight his reputation (being married and divorced five times certainly didn’t help to quell the image of his excessive sexuality). He is known to have inspired an entire group of writers that later would become known as the Beat Generation (Jack Kerouac cited Miller as one of his literary idols). For that he is considered one of the forerunners of modern literature, and is to be revered for his help in freeing up the “mind” for future authors and audiences.

Who cares that Gold was found near Sacramento? Check out these Gems we Mined at the Sacramento Antiquarian Book Fair…

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Circa 1869, this pamphlet titled “God is Love. A Sermon” was authored by George Storrs – one of the leaders of the Second Advent movement, affiliated with William Miller and Joshua V. Himes. After a fair amount of study, Storrs preached to some Adventists on the condition and prospects… for the dead. OCLC records no copies of this pamphlet, nor is it found in the NUC! See more on it here>

This set of 5 Nursing Student journals were written between 1923 and 1926 by one Mildred Godwin, a class of ’26 nursing student at Crozer Hospital, Chester, Pennsylvania. Within these journals the young lady records diverse class notes beginning in September of 1923 from lectures by her professors – Dr. Crowther, Miss Burkhard, Dr. Gray, etc. The subject of her entries range widely across the medical spectrum, from items such as Social Service to “Why Cases are Referred.” A very interesting archive of post WWI nursing education! Check it out here>

This is no ordinary promotional photograph album or scrapbook… at least, not in terms of subject! The Alaska Blue Fox Company seem to have produced this interesting documentary album, providing an invaluable historical look at a very successful fox farming venture (yes, you read that correctly. No, there’s nothing I can do about it) on Bushy Island, in the Southeast Alaska Islands. After WWI there was a rise in fur prices, giving some eccentric entrepreneurs an opportunity to lease the island in the Tongass National Forest off the coast of Alaska and stock it with some 20 breeding pairs of foxes – all for your wearing pleasure. Be unnerved here>

This 1929 Promotional Project Photograph Album details the Western Maryland Railway – a (primarily) coal & freight hauling operation – with images of the diverse aspects & views of the port facilities & docks, of the ‘up-to-date’ buildings & even some freight moving mechanisms (spiral chutes & cranes, etc). An outstanding, possibly unique album documenting local pre-depression Baltimore history, as well as the capital improvement efforts of one of Maryland’s major transportation firms! Love automotive and locomotive history? This is the album for you…