Rare Book Collecting

Fair warning here’s yet another post about books-about-books, if you’re not into that sort of thing, (despite the Book Barmy name of this blog) please feel free to skip this.

I am a book hoarder accumulator, not a book collector in the literal and rare sense. But I have, over the years, very much enjoyed reading about book collectors, their collections, and especially how they find their books. Two of my favorites authors in this genre are the the husband and wife team of Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. I own all three of their books about books and recently revisited them while dusting.

(Side note: Dusting my books takes several days as I get down the books and have to remind myself – Did I read this? Will I read this? Yes, I read this and will keep it. Often I find myself reading away the time I should be dusting and sorting — such was the case with these three books.)

Their first book is titled Used and Rare – Travels in the Book World

A book for anyone who loves books, the Goldstones didn’t know anything about rare books when they started visiting antiquarian book shops — all they wanted were nice hardback copies of the authors they loved. It all started when Ms. Goldstone tracked down a ten-dollar copy of War and Peace as a birthday gift for her husband, this set the couple onto an unexpected, delightful and expensive journey of book collecting.

Used and Rare was written in 1997, before Amazon or Goodreads took off, so most of the book shopping is done the old fashioned way — the Yellow Pages and a full tank of gas. Over the next three years they haunted used and rare bookshops between New York and Boston — from dark, dust-filled barns to elegant Park Avenue galleries. Starting with cheap, out-of-print used books, their addiction soon graduated to first editions and, finally, to three-quarter morocco, custom-bound antiquarian classics that they could not afford. Along the way, they gained an education in books—and in people—that we can all savor. This warm and witty story is filled with eccentric characters, from a punk book dealer peddling fifty-thousand-dollar modern firsts to a golf-obsessed Shakespearean scholar with books on demonic possession in his basement. Part travel story, part love story, and part memoir. If you’re looking for a very gentle introduction to the art and business of used, rare, and fine book dealership, Goldstone’s humorous book is an absorbing place to start, a delightful journey, and a love letter to book lovers everywhere.

The squeal is titled Slightly Chipped – Footnotes in Booklore

This follow up is different – a collection of essays which detail the couple’s further explorations into the curious world of book collecting.

They get hooked on the correspondence of the Bloomsbury group (especially their romantic liaisons), they track down Bram Stoker’s early notes for Dracula, and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. (Recently published books that prove very collectable. A first edition of Sue Grafton’s “A Is for Alibi” sold for $1,250 in 1998. Yes I checked my shelves, just in case…but no.)

The Goldstones chronicle their visits to bibliophile’s dream places such as the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia and the Pequot Library in Connecticut. They are fascinated by the reading habits of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and attend the auction of the contents of their library at Sothebys. This auction ultimately brought approximately $24 million and included a number of collectible books.

Slightly Chipped was published in 1999 at the dawn of the Internet era, and therefore touches only lightly on impact to booksellers.

Again, unlike their first book, Slightly Chipped is written as separate essays and I missed learning more about their story and their book collecting. I had to laugh when Nancy says to her husband:
“Do they really think people are going to use a computer to buy books they’ve never seen from a dealer they’ve never heard of and give him a credit-card number to boot?”

Again Slightly Chipped is different from the first book, and while I enjoyed the various essays I did miss the couple’s story of their own book adventures and collecting. Don’t get me wrong, this book is another delight for both the general reader and book collectors alike.

Warmly Inscribed is the third and last of Lawrence & Nancy Goldstone’s books about rare book collecting.

This book finds them once again visiting book fairs and many antique book sellers. Written in 2001, the authors once again write about the internet and how it was starting to change the way people buy and sell books and the devastating effect on brick and mortar bookstores.

There is a chapter devoted to the New England Forger, Kenneth Anderson, with the details of his forgery of signatures on books and the difficulty in getting law enforcement to prosecute him.

The Goldstones treat us to a great tour of the Library of Congress Rare Book Section led by one of the library’s rare book specialists — an insider’s look most people will never experience. (Okay on my bucket list…)

As always, the writing is easy, personable and inviting. The stories are engaging, the gossip is juicy. I found it a great book to read a few chapters at a time while cuddled up in bed on a cold night.