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.

Gardening for Love by Elizabeth Lawrence

I’m lucky to stumble across books in a myriad of ways. A Book Barmy follower from England, has become an email pal over the years. She lives in a picturesque area of England, is an avid reader (natch), and a gardener. A subscriber to Slightly Foxed quarterly, she read about an American book, Gardening for Love and wrote me about it. I searched and found this nice used copy on Ebay.

Eudora Welty put Ms. Lawrence’s name the mailing list of The Mississippi Market Bulletin, a twice-monthly collection of classified advertisements founded in 1928. Our author soon discovered market bulletins from the other Southern states, as well as similar bulletins published privately in the North. She began ordering heirloom plants from the bulletins, and started a lively exchange of letters with the gardeners who sold them, took trips to acquire plants, and met a cast of fun and interesting characters.

Thus sparked Ms. Lawrence’s interest in this fascinating topic and the compilation of this book filled with gardening lore and snapshots of the gardeners she befriended in the 1950s and 60s.

Before the internet, avid gardeners sold seed and plants through classified ads in state agricultural bulletins. Tiny, small print classified ads that farmers and gardeners would pore over. Often the ads did not involve money, but merely the trading of seeds and plants.

These ads were posted by gardeners who had something to offer or wanted something. The only expense involved was postage.

Here’s a sample:

“Anything I have for three wandering Jews.”

“Come to my place for pretty flowers cheap, have so many.”

Then there is this farmer’s ad seeking a family to work his cotton and help milk forty cows. He offers a comfortable home to a small family of good workers but, he says, “People who live here must be happy. A beekeeper is needed who must not be afraid of bees or work; wages will be determined on worth.”

I found the correspondence back and forth most interesting – especially when it digs into the southern regional folk names of various plants and the lore behind the species.

Some of my favorite tidbits:

The dogtooth violet is called wild peanut because the bulbs are edible and have a taste of green peanuts. Bluets are the southern name for forget-me-nots. Grape hyacinths are known as blue bottles or blue jugs.

And this one made me giggle — a shrub, which is normally called a butterfly bush, but if anyone asks the name, the custom is to answer kiss-me-and-I’ll-tell-you.

As you can probably ascertain, Gardening for Love is a quirky, charming, and admittingly, a very niche gardening chronicle that celebrates the bond between gardeners of any sort and the simpler times in American gardening.

I found it’s not a book to read in order or even in one sitting. I kept it out to dip into when I had a few moments here and there.

Best enjoyed in snippets throughout a long winter.

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Pinch Me by Barbara Doyle

It was a cold, rainy day when a small publishing house sent an email requesting a review of this memoir about a couple who find and restore a 300-year old Italian farmhouse. As nothing had grabbed me recently, book wise, I was still in much pain with my knee, and craving a warm escape — I replied ‘why yes, yes please’.

Pinch Me takes place in a part of Italy that really appeals to me – the Piemonte region. Now, unlike our friends who moved to France, I would prefer Italy, specifically this area of Piedmont, bordering France and Switzerland — and (sigh) at the foot of the Alps.

At first, this memoir seemed typical of this genre — a couple discovers a crumbling old stone farmhouse and face the challenges of purchasing it and then setting about to rebuild. But soon, I was transported with the author deeper into the beautiful area, exploring the village, looking over the landscape, sipping coffee in the little cafe, and being introduced to the neighbors in their new community. I especially liked getting to know Biagio and Angela who live on the same property and let the author and her husband rent a separate apartment in their home (while their property is in construction) — they soon become family.

Ms. Doyle relates how she and her husband struggled with the language, the endless Italian paper work, wrestling with builders, and their own long hours of hard labor, including hauling heavy stone away from the foundation. She also waxes on the zen-like calm found in doing dishes by hand and the joy of shopping at the village street markets where the produce is so fresh it comes with dirt attached.

The couple have kept their apartment in San Francisco, and are able to go back and forth once they found a trusted and reliable contractor to keep the house renovations moving. But, as their new home nears completion, the call of Italy is soon too irresistible and they make the permanent move, with heart break at leaving friends and family, but also excitement.

As they settle into their new life, Ms. Doyle’s writes beautifully of their piece of paradise — the beautiful landscapes, dinners with neighbors, trips into the alps, spending hot afternoons napping, and refreshing dips in their pool.

There’s a very funny (okay maybe not for our intrepid couple) tale of trying to get their American car licensed – which perfectly captures the long drawn out and confusing frustrations of Italian bureaucracy.

As a good cook and self-acknowledged foodie, Ms. Boyle shines with her descriptions of the good food, long meals in Italian restaurants, and even shares her favorite recipes learned from local home cooks–Bagnetto Verde and Risotto Milanese – as well as, her mom’s southern pecan pie.

A delightful new experience for me — Ms. Doyle has included her photographs via QR codes at the end of each chapter. Here’s photographic evidence of the before and after – just incredible.

A short read, Pinch Me is a warm, wonderful escape. Sit back and immerse yourself in a couple’s dream come true, and the home they created. Enjoy the warm evenings, gracious neighbors, and the food (oh the food!) of this beautiful region. Maybe like me, as soon as you close the book, you’ll be researching this area as a possible future destination.

Many thanks to She Writes Press and Books Forward for an advanced readers copy.

More Light Reading

Happy New Year. The last couple of weeks have been busier than expected, between physical therapy, some lovely visits from friends, and (surprise) a water heater issue – bad timing – brrrrr.

I decided to continue and settle in with more light and easy reading. I saw THIS video from Ann Patchett talking about Truman Capote’s short story called A Christmas Memory. I realized I had never read it and found it in this lovely collection of Christmas Stories from my shelves.

“A Christmas Memory” and “The Thanksgiving Visitor” were inspired by Capote’s early years with a family of distant relatives in rural Alabama. These two childhood tales pay loving tribute to his eccentric old-maid cousin, Miss Sook Faulk, who became Capote’s best friend.

In A Christmas Memory, Miss Sook, Buddy (the narrator), and their dog, Queenie, celebrate the yuletide in a hilariously tipsy state as they have adventures gathering ingredients to make the annual fruit cakes they give away. And in between baking they fly kites they made together. Later, we learn that Buddy is shipped off the military school where he is homesick for his friend and their traditions he grew up with. It’s a sweet but sad story about two gentle souls who were best of friends and loved one another genuinely. Warning tears may occur.

I have no memory of where this book came from – I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I purchased it myself – given the pretty cover. I am a sucker for attractive Christmas books which become part of my holiday decorating

The Stowford Bookshop has been on High Street in Stowford a small village in the Cotswolds for over forty years. Nora grew up living above the thriving bookshop with her mother. Now, Nora and her husband Simon have inherited the shop, and they help their customers find books for themselves and as gifts…

Nora rang up the picture book, then reached down to hand it back to the little boy in the stroller, who hugged it to his chest. I love my job, she thought happily.

In reality, the bookshop is suffering from a leaky roof, competition from online book stores, and to top it all off, the unpaid taxes have tax enforcement officers at their door. Nora tries to uphold the ‘all is well’ facade in order to protect Simon who has had some heart issues — but for how long?

One rainy evening close to Christmas, an elderly gentleman enters the bookstore looking for a specific book for his grandson who is in the hospital. He has looked everywhere and the Stowford Bookshop is his last resort. He buys ‘The True Story of the Christmas Truce’ which was one of the very first books that Nora and Simon ordered for the store, has been on the shelf for over thirty years. Buoyed by the sale of the book, Simon and Nora decide to give away six books to anyone who needs an act of kindness. They soon discover that their small gifts multiply after the books are delivered.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Christmas By The Book, which is reminiscent of ‘The Greatest Gift’, the heartwarming story that became the classic film, It’s a Wonderful Life. The story of the bookshop, the residents of Stowford, and its lovely Cotswold setting made for a delightful holiday read.

I’ve been a fan of Ina Garten’s for over 20 years and I own several of her cookbooks. (Note: every recipe I’ve tried has been great!)

Be Ready When the Luck Happens is her new memoir and I put it on hold at the library — which came through a couple of weeks before the holidays. Opened it up the other day and devoured it in one or two readings. This is a relaxing, low stakes book — perfect for my ‘light reading time’.

Her warmth and humor sparkle throughout. If you like Ina, as I do, you will enjoy the story of her leaving her White House job and buying a high end food specialty shop (called The Barefoot Contessa) in the Hamptons. We read of her long hours and back breaking work to make it a success. It also highlights how a woman building a business and the available financial options in the 70s/80s were very different than today.

I admired Ina’s determination, can-do attitude, and lack of fear throughout this memoir. She struggles with the decision to sell The Barefoot Contessa after many years of building its success, and then the obstacles that get in the way of her vision for the creation and publication of her first cookbook.

However, I had to suspend my brain from going on a ‘say what?’ reality check as she tells of her experiences. Ina comes off tone deaf as she never really acknowledges that she has had immense privilege, financial stability, and connections — which most of us mere mortals lack.

When moving from Washington DC, Ina and Jeffery just dumped all their belongings on the side of the street and restarted anew, (who does that?). They built their dream house in the Hamptons and furnished it utilizing expensive interior designers and furniture makers from around the world. She owns a convertible car on her therapist’s advice, and hosts expensive dinner parties with notable and famous people.

I did sigh with delight during the chapters describing Ina’s love of Paris and her search for the perfect apartment in just the right arrondissement — be damned the cost of flying first class back and forth to see multiple possibilities. To add to the over-the-top Frenchness – Ina buys copper cookware from Dehillerin, the famous Paris cookware shop, and orders a La Cornue stove – this is it in her Paris apartment. Oh dear, I’m just a bit jealous – but well beyond my budget.

I agree with another reviewer who said –but hey, no shade on Ina!

I admire her and really enjoyed reading about her life and no matter how privileged, she earned it with determination and most importantly, never letting anyone shame or guilt her onto another path.

With hard work and some lucky breaks, Ina was able to build a remarkable career and fulfilling life with Jeffrey by her side encouraging and supporting her every step of the way.

Now that I finished it, I’ve decided that Be Ready When the Luck Happens was an interesting, enjoyable read, and in the end, a good time. Plus, Ina includes some yummy recipes.

Happy New Year to all my bookish friends out there.

Stay warm, stay safe, and enjoy every moment.

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

I always find it difficult to review a memoir. How does one comment on another person’s life experiences? Often, if it’s well written and when I find myself relating to and/or learning from a memoir – then I can go from there.

Such was the case with Between Two Kingdoms. Ms. Jaouad is best known for her Emmy-award winning column titled “Life Interrupted”. Her writings have been featured in many magazines and she has appeared on NPR. And finally, she is featured in Jon Batiste’s documentary “American Symphony” — but more on that later*.

You might question, like I did, if you really want to read about a young woman’s experience with cancer. So, I entered the book gingerly, but quickly found her story captivating and both devastating and uplifting in equal measures.  

Ms. Jaouad tells of her leukemia diagnosis at just 22 years of age and the toll this disease took not just on her life, but also on the lives of her family, friends and her relationship with a wonderful man.   But despite all of those things, she was a survivor ready to pick up where life left off.  Rather than succumb to depression, instead she picked herself up and took steps to actively re-engage in life (a study guide for anyone).

Her writing is beautiful and brave as she shares how the cancer ravaged her body. Her writing is painfully honest and — fair warning — she does not shy away from sharing the details. I never thought it possible to write poetically about nausea – but she does. One can certainly see why she is a respected reporter.

Everyone who is born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” Susan Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor. “Although we all prefer to use only the
good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.

But it’s not all gloom and doom, Ms. Jaouad also has an adventure story. While a patient in Sloan Kettering, she wrote articles about her real-time experience fighting cancer which were published in her New York Times column “Life Interrupted”. This fame sparked a correspondence with other cancer warriors across the country. In an adventuresome exercise, when Suleka’s health improves she takes off on a 100-day 15,000 mile car ride across the country to visit some of these people whom she had become to know. This road trip is full of surprises, warm meetings, and much bad driving.

Between Two Kingdoms is not only marvelous storytelling, it is also an insight into one woman’s struggle to make sense of a world that seems impossibly and devastatingly uncertain. Ms. Jaouad gives her experience eloquence without shying away from the hard truths.

All of us have experienced cancer – either your own or a loved one’s. If you’re like me, you’ll perhaps find that Ms. Jaouad’s memoir deepens the way you view sickness, recovery…and the importance of loved ones throughout the battles. In the end, this memoir is an uplifting celebration of life – as they say through sickness and in health.

* N.B. “American Symphony” is a Netflix documentary about musician, Jon Batiste, who sets out to compose a symphony. But, Ms. Jaouad, his life partner, learns that her cancer has returned. The documentary showcases the portrait of these two artists at a pivotal crossroads in their relationship and their respective creative journeys. Well worth watching – with a box of tissues nearby — and his music is just wonderful.

Down and out with Covid

Hello, thanks for all your well wishes, It seems we’re not alone, many are also suffering from Covid.

This was our first time, others, we hear, are experiencing it for the second or third time…poor dears. And we were/are fully vaccinated.

I think we’re back with the living – feeling a bit better, still coughing, very, very tired, and still testing positive (arghhh).

And so we wait it out. Wearing masks both indoors and out…remember doing that?

Not fun, not fun at all.

Friends and neighbors have been wonderful – made us soup, brought groceries, lovely flowers – even pie.

We are very fortunate to have such a group of loved ones – we are so appreciative and feeling the care.

But for now, I’m going to take a break until I feel better and gather my thoughts to bore you with our recent trip – it seems so long ago now.

Be back soon.

As you can imagine, I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.