antiquarian bookselling https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/ en ILAB Bookseller Webinar on COVID-19, April 9 https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/ilab-bookseller-webinar-covid-19-april-9 <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">ILAB Bookseller Webinar on COVID-19, April 9</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/37" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rebecca</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed, 04/08/2020 - 11:44</span> <div class="node__links"> <ul class="links inline"><li class="node-readmore"><a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/ilab-bookseller-webinar-covid-19-april-9" rel="tag" title="ILAB Bookseller Webinar on COVID-19, April 9" hreflang="en">Read more<span class="visually-hidden"> about ILAB Bookseller Webinar on COVID-19, April 9</span></a></li></ul></div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Access to reliable and relevant information is vital in a time of crisis. Many of our colleagues are concerned about the following weeks and months, have spend weeks re-organizing the business, were forced to lock up shops, send staff on leave or furlough or are simply in lockdown at home.</p></div> Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:44:29 +0000 rebecca 15928 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com Bright Young Booksellers: Jon Munster https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/bright-young-booksellers-jon-munster <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Bright Young Booksellers: Jon Munster</span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p><em>Our <a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/bright-young-booksellers">Bright Young Booksellers series </a>continues today with Jon Munster, proprietor of <a href="https://www.munsterbooks.com/">Munster & Company</a> in Corvallis, Oregon.</em></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>How did you get started in rare books?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>Mainly through chance and unemployment, although I would like to think that my father unknowingly planted the seed. He was my sixth grade teacher, and one day when he passed out the monthly book order forms to the class, he quietly told me to pick out what I wanted and put it on his desk. I tried to keep myself under control, but must admit that I may have taken advantage of his unexpected generosity in order to try to collect all of the Sherlock Holmes books. Many years later I started college as an English major, which made sense to me given my love of reading. After that first year of college, I moved to Oregon, and began to question whether teaching literature was really my calling. I spent the next few years working in a coffee shop while wondering what I really wanted to study, the main problem being that too many things appealed to me. In 2001 when I was between jobs, I noticed that a local book store was hiring. It wasn’t what I was necessarily looking for, but decided to apply as I was quickly running out of money. I was initially hired as a clerk, but within a few months was given the position of used book buyer. My collecting compulsion kicked in, and I ended up spending a good portion of each paycheck on a bag full of books. It wasn’t long until I started being more selective by seeking out first editions and signed copies of books by the authors that I loved. I became more and more interested in rare books and book collecting itself, and started reading up on the various aspects of the book industry and rare book trade. In the meantime, I finally returned to school in 2003 as a Philosophy major, and focused on Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy and started studying Classical Tibetan. My plan had been to get a M.A. and PhD. and then teach Asian Philosophy, but within a few years of graduating, I began to question my path yet again. After I attended the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair for the first time, I realized it was all over for me. Working with books was my passion, not a life in academia. It was then clear to me that if I ever went into teaching, I would spend my career longing for retirement and the chance to sell books again. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>When did you open Munster & Company, and what do you specialize in?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>My wife Jessie and I started the company in the autumn of 2017 when we bought Black Oak Books, formerly of Berkeley, California. We filled three massive freight trucks with boxes of books and shelving and had it sent up to where we live in Corvallis, Oregon. As we are currently sitting on thousands of uncatalogued books, I would have to say that for the time being we are generalist booksellers. In the coming years we hope to focus more on our interests and strengths, which are British, European, and Asian literature; Buddhist philosophy (primarily Tibetan); textiles and textile arts; oppressed peoples; and accounts of ordinary people in extraordinary situations, with a special focus on material relating to the Holocaust and the various partisan movements during WWII. I also have a keen interest in people who do good works, and hope to start collecting material related to Mister Rogers and other people who are simply and inexplicably <em>good</em>.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>What do you love about the book trade?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>Definitely the people and the variety of the material that we get to work with. I can point to just two times in my life when I felt that I was finally in a place where I actually belonged, and one of those times was when I attended the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar in 2015. I had found my clan, so to speak, and was suddenly among people that were just as passionate about working with books as I am. Despite the huge variety in interests, we all shared the same excitement for what we do. That feeling of belonging comes back every time I’m at an antiquarian book fair and get to spend time among colleagues, who are some of the nicest people I’ve ever had the honor of calling friends. The customers are wonderful as well, and I love having the chance to share something that they might find exciting, regardless of whether or not it ends in a sale. Being someone that can get interested in just about anything, the sheer breadth of material satisfies my curiosity and need to constantly learn something new. If I went into academia, I would have had a hard time keeping a narrow focus for several years. With the book trade, however, I can focus on a number of areas, and keep adding as my intellectual appetite demands. Bookselling is nearly infinite, and even after nearly twenty years of working with books, I can’t see myself ever possibly getting bored.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>Describe a typical day for you:</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>My wife and I have two children; a four year old daughter and a one and a half year old son.  The day starts with trying to get everyone out the door before 8:30 when the kids need to be at their daycare. After dropping them off, my wife and I head to the office. Processing orders and answering inquiries happen first, and then any other pressing emails are dealt with. After that, I can usually focus on cataloguing or research until just before noon, when we leave to pick up the kids.  Once my wife and the kids are settled at home, I walk back to the office for a bit more cataloguing and/or research. I always package orders for shipping around 3 pm, and then walk them to the post office at 4 pm. After that I can be cataloguing, photographing books, or agonizing over something interesting to say in an Instagram/Facebook/Twitter post, which I try to do at least once a week. When the weather is conducive, I go out to our storage units for a few hours to look for promising material to catalogue. At 6 pm I walk home, make dinner, and then my wife and I get the kids to bed.</span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>Favorite rare book (or ephemera) that you’ve handled?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>Although I can’t say that I have ever had any interest in Americana, I think my personal favorite from the past two years is a handful of letters written by John, Abigail, and John Quincy Adams.  They had been sitting in a box in the office for over a year, when I decided to have a closer look at them. Up until then I hadn’t bothered to give them more than a cursory glance or see who they were written by; they were merely American letters that I would deal with at another time. Little did I know that I was holding John Quincy Adams’ earliest known confession of love for Mary Frazier, whom he courted when he was twenty-three years old. I spent three solid weeks transcribing them, researching content in the letters, and studying up on the Adams family. I ended up with a completely unforeseen admiration for the Adams family. A close second is a pair of Emily Dickinson’s First and Second Series of poetry that were owned by the author and progressive journalist Elia Peattie. Although I’m still working on determining whether or not they were actually inscribed to Elia by their editor, Mabel Loomis Todd, they have sent me down several fascinating rabbit holes in regards to the life and work of two utterly fascinating women. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>What do you personally collect?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>I must say that I haven’t really added much to my own collection since starting Munster & Company, focusing instead on selling rather than collecting for myself. I have, though, been trying to recreate and improve upon my first collection of British and European modern firsts, Holocaust memoirs, and religious studies, which had a strong emphasis on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy.  I’ve always collected what I enjoy reading, out of both interest and pleasure, and am always on the lookout for anything by or associated with my favorite author, Italo Calvino. Unfortunately my first personal collection which consisted of hundreds of titles was destroyed in a fire just over ten years ago. Since then I’ve tried to collect better copies of what I once had, and also expand on what I originally possessed. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>What do you like to do outside of work?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>Our children are fairly all-consuming little creatures, but I really wouldn’t have it any other way.  I love spending time with them, and look forward to the day when I can send them off to clean cases at book fairs. When they are finally down for the night, my wife and I indulge in lying on the couch, drinking hot chocolate and snuggling the cats while watching a nice British or European crime drama. We party pretty hard at Chez Munster. When the season is right, I enjoy helping Jessie in the garden, which is an ongoing project. I enjoy walking to and from the office, and relish having a bit of solitude to get locked inside my own head in order to troubleshoot problems, come up with new ideas, and fantasize about the minutiae of future projects. We hope to have an open shop some day after the kids are in school full-time, so I spend a great deal of time imagining what that shop will be like.  </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>Thoughts on the present state and/or future of the rare book trade?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>It’s a pretty exciting time to be a part of the book trade. Actions are being taken to make the trade more inclusive, and so I’m looking forward to seeing how the trade becomes more diverse in the coming years. A newer generation of booksellers has been introducing some exciting and creative ways of presenting and selling material. Contact between booksellers through social media and email has increased communication, fostered collegiality, and improved security in the trade. As we face the uncertainty of how to attract the interest of new generations of potential collectors, the benefits of inclusion, creativity, and communication will be paramount in keeping the rare book trade alive and relevant. Although I can’t say with any certainty what things will look like in ten or twenty years, I have tremendous faith in the abilities of my colleagues and their willingness to adapt. </span></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><strong><span>Any upcoming fairs or catalogues?</span></strong></span></span></span></p> <p><span><span><span><span>It will probably be another year or two until we’re ready to issue a proper catalogue, as we still have a lot to do get the business built up and on sound footing. I’ve only just started mentally playing with a design idea for our first catalogue, and my creative process can be a bit slow and requires a lot of gestation. As for upcoming fairs, we will be exhibiting at the Rose City Book & Paper Fair in Portland in June and the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair in October as usual. Beyond that we haven’t made any definite plans, although we do try to have a booth at the Rare Books LA fairs when possible. </span></span></span></span></p></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/42" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">nate</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed, 03/11/2020 - 10:05</span> Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:05:36 +0000 nate 15846 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com Paean to CA Bookman Henry Evans https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/paean-ca-bookman-henry-evans <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Paean to CA Bookman Henry Evans </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>Because this weekend will see the grand, 53rd annual <a href="http://cabookfair.com/">California International Antiquarian Book Fair</a>, the time seemed right to call attention to a beautifully produced new book written by California bookseller John Crichton about a fellow Golden State bookman, Henry Evans. Published by the <a href="http://www.bccbooks.org/">Book Club of California</a> (BCC), the 51-page volume stems from a 2018 exhibition that Crichton curated at the BCC, <em>Henry Evans, the Peregrine Press, and the Porpoise Bookshop</em>.</p> <p>With that exhibition and this book, Crichton, proprietor of San Francisco’s <a href="https://www.brickrow.com/">Brick Row Book Shop</a>, seeks to renew interest in Evans, a mid-century bookseller, letterpress printer, and later, botanical printmaker. To that end, Crichton offers a short biography, illustrated by archival photos and examples from the Peregrine Press. Evans was, it appears, very independently-minded and only printed exactly what he wanted to print; Crichton relays a delicious anecdote about Evans turning down the opportunity to print Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl," referring the poet to City Lights instead.  </p> <p>Increasingly, Evans and his first wife, Patricia, focused on artist portfolios and experimental printing, including his own linoleum block prints. Bright color illustrations accompany this section of Crichton’s book. Evans’ botanical prints fared well with collectors, to the point where he fazed out of antiquarian bookselling entirely. His magnum opus, <em>California Native Wildflowers</em> (1976-1984) was a fully subscribed limited edition of fifty books, each costing $1,500, and was “one of the most remarkable books of its genre,” writes Crichton.</p> <p>For collectors and scholars, a chronological checklist of the publications of the Peregrine Press, the Porpoise Bookshop, and Henry Evans, Printmaker, 1948-1990, follows Crichton’s admirable biography.</p> <p><a href="https://squareup.com/store/bookclubofca/item/henry-evans-bookseller-printer-publisher-printmaker-2"><em>Henry Evans: Bookseller, Printer, Publisher, Printmaker</em></a> can be ordered from the BCC’s site for $35.</p></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/37" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">rebecca</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed, 02/05/2020 - 12:10</span> Wed, 05 Feb 2020 17:10:30 +0000 rebecca 15706 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com Change Comes to New Haven's Antiquarian Book Scene https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/change-comes-new-havens-antiquarian-book-scene <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Change Comes to New Haven's Antiquarian Book Scene</span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The antiquarian book world lost a giant in June when longtime bookseller Bill Reese passed away at the age of 62 after a battle with prostate cancer. His hope was to see the Reese Company continue to build on his forty years in the business, and now, the New Haven-based business is ready to do just that: last week the <a href="https://www.williamreesecompany.com/%20">William Reese Company</a> announced the imminent return of bookseller <a href="https://www.abaa.org/booksellers/details/nick-aretakis%20">Nick Aretakis</a> to run its Americana department. Aretakis spent fourteen years as a Reese associate before heading to his native California to set up his own shop. </p> <p>  </p> <p>"I am eternally grateful that in the summer of 2000 Bill Reese offered me the opportunity to become an associate at the William Reese Company," Aretakis said recently. "Over the next fourteen years, I learned from Bill every day. I am proud of the business I built over the past four and a half years [in California], and during that time I learned new skills as I developed a business on my own. I bring these skills, as well as all that I learned from Bill Reese, with me as I return to the Reese Company."</p> <p>   <br />Aretakis's official start date was November 1, and he will be manning the Reese booth at the <a href="http://bostonbookfair.com/">Boston Antiquarian Book Fair</a> November 16-18.</p> <p>      <br />"I am excited to be part of the team that will guide the William Reese Company into the future," Aretakis said, "and continuing on in Bill's tradition and adapting to the ever-changing environment of antiquarian bookselling."</p> <p>   <br />Meanwhile, longtime Reese associates <a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2011/10/bright-young-things-teri-osborn.phtml%20">Teri Osborn</a> (a <em>FB&C</em> "<a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2011/10/bright-young-things-teri-osborn.phtml">Bright Young Bookseller</a>" in 2011) and <a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2017/03/bright-young-booksellers-james-mcbride.phtml">James McBride</a> (a 2017 <a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2017/03/bright-young-booksellers-james-mcbride.phtml">BYB</a>) recently launched <a href="https://www.mcbriderarebooks.com/">McBride Rare Books</a>, also in New Haven. </p> <p>   <br />"This certainly is an interesting and exciting time for us," said McBride and Osborn. "Together, we have a combined experience of nearly two decades in rare books, including academia, librarianship, and the trade. With McBride Rare Books, we look forward to continuing our roles as trusted and valuable members of the antiquarian book trade, working closely with our clients and colleagues." As they did at Reese, the pair plan to continue focusing on Americana and are making their inaugural appearance as freshly minted bookstore owners at the <a href="https://www.bookandpaperfairs.com/fairs/2016/1/23/boston-antiques-and-ephemera-fair">Boston Book, Print, and Ephemera show</a> on November 17. "It's a consistently great fair, and we're very much looking forward to exhibiting." And though McBride and Osborn have chosen to hang their shingle in New Haven for now, they plan to move to New York City in spring 2019. </p> <p>   <br />As for thoughts concerning Aretakis's move to Reese: "Nick will be a much-needed steady hand at the tiller," team McBride said, "and we have no doubt that he will carry the business forward in the finest traditions of the firm."</p> <p>     </p> <p>Many heartfelt congratulations to all in what appears to be a bright new chapter in the field of antiquarian bookselling.</p> <p>   </p></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 11/09/2018 - 09:00</span> Fri, 09 Nov 2018 14:00:00 +0000 fbcadmin 8864 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com The Woodcuts of Viva Talbot https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/woodcuts-viva-talbot <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The Woodcuts of Viva Talbot</span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>One of my first purchases as a new rare book dealer was a curious portfolio of 15 woodcuts entitled <em>Steel Making: Woodcuts by Viva Talbot</em>, a woman I had never heard of. I bought it for several hundred British pounds, and rather surprisingly, it became one of my first sales at the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair two weeks ago. I sold it for what I now realize is a reasonable sum to a research library at a university in the United States with a deep interest in the history of steel making.</p> <p>The portfolio contained 15 woodcut prints of scenes depicting the iron mining, smelting, and extraction processes. Talbot was the daughter of Benjamin Talbot, managing director of both the Cargo Fleet Iron Company and the South Durham Steel and Iron Company. She made the prints in the 1930s as an untrained but clearly talented artist who had special access to her father's industry.</p> <p>                                                                                                                                                                                                  <a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2017/09/Viva_Talbot-14032.phtml"><img alt="Viva_Talbot.jpg" class="mt-image-center" height="441" src="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2017/09/Viva_Talbot-thumb-autox441-14032.jpg" style="text-align: center; display: block; margin: 0 auto 20px;" width="350" /></a>A quick Internet search proved that Viva Talbot was a forgotten and underacknowledged artist until recently, when Dr. Joan Heggie rediscovered her in 2006 and determined to do everything she could to bring her work to light. As a project manager for the British Steel Archive Project, Dr. Heggie launched an exhibition at the Dorman Musuem in Middlesborough in 2010.</p> <p>The edition of prints I purchased was black and white and unsigned except for a printed signature, and folded in a sheet of paper with a string. It was a simple and unassuming package containing incredible work by a woman who had little-to-no acknowledgement for her documentary art until recently. As a bookseller interested in bringing women's work to light, it was validation of exactly why I have entered the trade. Not all books or work I sell will end up in a university, but when they do, it feels less like a business transaction and more like a preservation of history.</p> <p><em>Image of Viva Talbot via Wikimedia</em></p> </div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu, 09/28/2017 - 11:43</span> Thu, 28 Sep 2017 15:43:07 +0000 fbcadmin 10724 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com In Memoriam Bookseller Bob Fleck https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/memoriam-bookseller-bob-fleck <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">In Memoriam Bookseller Bob Fleck </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>We at <em>Fine Books</em> were so saddened to learn that Bob Fleck, founder of <a href="http://www.oakknoll.com/">Oak Knoll Books & Press</a>, passed away last week. <br /><br />For so many bibliophiles, including myself, Oak Knoll is a point of entry into the world of books about books. I first visited Fleck and his shop back in 2001, when I wrote <a href="http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20010827/29765-books-on-books-from-oak-knoll.html">an article about Oak Knoll</a> for <em>Publishers Weekly</em>. I attended Oak Knoll Fest VIII, took home one of the amazing catalogues for which Oak Knoll is known, and was swept up into a world that I was only beginning to explore, a world that he had, in large part, created. For that, I am so grateful.  <br /><br />It was at that festival fifteen years ago that I first met Nicholas Basbanes--talk about an entrée into bibliophily. Nick has twice presented at Oak Knoll. He described Bob this way: "A truly great bookman, and an outstanding human being. When we talk about 'books about books,' we are talking about Oak Knoll Books, its publishing arm, Oak Knoll Press, and the guiding spirit of both, Bob Fleck. I couldn't begin to count the number of titles Bob sent my way for my own work." <br /><br />According to Webb Howell, publisher of <em>Fine Books</em>, Bob Fleck was a long and loyal supporter of the magazine. "<em>Fine Books</em> had worked jointly on several things with Oak Knoll over the years, including a limited edition of <em>Every Book Its Reader</em> by Nicholas A. Basbanes. Bob brought a wonderful sense of business and order to the book community." <br /><br />Oak Knoll has announced that this year's <a href="http://www.oakknoll.com/fest/index.html">Oak Knoll Fest XIX</a> scheduled for September 30-October 2, will go on, as per Bob's wishes. <br /><br />The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers has posted a lovely condolence note <a href="https://www.ilab.org/eng/booksellers_main_page/Obituaries/Bob_Fleck.html">here</a>, and the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is collecting memories and memorials to post <a href="http://www.abaa.org/blog/post/in-memoriam-robert-fleck">here</a>. In 2014, Bob sat for this video interview at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair:<br /><br /><br /></p> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/auKxVJpipig" frameborder="0"></iframe></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Mon, 09/26/2016 - 11:01</span> Mon, 26 Sep 2016 15:01:32 +0000 fbcadmin 9464 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com Guest Post: My Week At Bookseller Hogwarts https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/guest-post-my-week-bookseller-hogwarts <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Guest Post: My Week At Bookseller Hogwarts </span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><b>Guest Post</b>: My Week At Bookseller Hogwarts <br />by Megan Bell, First-Year<br /><br />If bookselling is an extreme sport, as the venerable Messrs. Rob Rulon-Miller and Lorne Bair rousingly declared the first morning, the <a href="http://www.bookseminars.com/">Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar</a> (CABS) is certainly high-altitude learning. In fact, I would and will go as far as to say it's as extreme as Quidditch and CABS is a classroom overlooking the Pitch.<br /><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2014/08/page3image256-7186.phtml"><img src="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2014/08/page3image256-thumb-300x402-7186.jpg" alt="page3image256.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" height="402" width="300" /></a>Before I go on to make some <i>siriusly riddikulus</i> connections between CABS and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, which is exactly what I intend to do, I feel I should provide some context as to why I think this is a reasonable connection to make. For one thing, the future of the book trade depends on future booksellers and future collectors. Though some may bemoan millennials as the digitization generation, I believe it is important to keep in mind that we are also the Harry Potter generation--you don't have to convince us that books are magical.<br /></div><br />Through our adolescence and into adulthood, we queued up, dressed in costume, sipped "Butterbeer" from paper cups, and spent hours counting down the minutes to midnight and a new Harry Potter book in our hands. The key idea here is the memory of finally having that book in hand, and that memory is imbued with feelings of excitement and joy and community. Though many of us have gone on to embrace the digitization trend, toting e-readers instead of books around in our bags and backpacks, our love of books began with a physical book, wrapped like a Christmas present in a beautiful dust jacket with illustrations by Mary GrandPré. In comparison to contemporary children's and young adult books, these were fine bindings. The CABS faculty spoke to the sensual nature of books, how books are visual and tangible, of course, but also delightful to smell, and it is distinctly lovely to hear the susurration of page on page. This generation has sense memories of the entire Harry Potter series, and though it was the text that drove us en masse to these release events, we were indoctrinated early with a pleasure in seeing, touching, smelling, and hearing physical books (never tasting, I promise).<br /><br />Furthermore, Rowling constantly points to the importance of books throughout the series, starting in the first book, where Harry, Hermione, and Ron must conduct serious research in the Hogwarts library to find the identity of Nicholas Flamel, and many events hinge on Hermione's encyclopedic knowledge of Bathilda Bagshot's classic <i>Hogwarts: A History.</i> The series admirably examines the vast landscape of the physical book, from required reading textbooks to Gilderoy Lockhart's mass market titles, from the Restricted Section of the Hogwarts library to Diagon Alley's independent brick-and-mortar Flourish and Blotts. The original handwritten manuscript of <i>Hogwarts: A History </i>is even contained in the Restricted Section and available by appointment only. Throughout the series, the characters must depend on and contend with books, and Hermione's bibliophilia serves them well.<br /><br />TL;DR: As the explosively successful films and the now multinational "Wizarding World of Harry Potter" attractions attest, the people at Warner Bros. and Universal Studios very smartly recognize and continue to capitalize on the Harry Potter generation, and the book trade would be wise to not discount them.<br /><br />That said, the CABS experience was for me as full of pure magic as my first reading, at the tender age of eight, of <i>Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone</i>, from the august and brilliant faculty, full of gravitas and kindness, to the student body, a more enthusiastic bunch has never been witnessed, I'm certain. If you want to learn from the best, from people like Lorne Bair of Lorne Bair Rare Books, Rob Rulon-Miller of Rulon-Miller Books, Terry Belanger (Order of Merlin, First Class) of the University of Virginia and Rare Book School, Sally Burdon of Asia Bookroom, Brian Cassidy of Brian Cassidy, Bookseller, Dan De Simone of the Folger Shakespeare Library, Dan Gregory (formerly) of Between the Covers, Nina Musinsky of Musinsky Rare Books, Inc., and Steve Smith of the University of Tennessee Library, if you want the guidance of Head Girls Zhenya Dzhavgova of ZH BOOKS and Maria Lin of Rulon-Miller Books, if you want to be surrounded by world-class peers and fight side-by-side with them in the battle of antiquarian bookselling, then come to Colorado. By the end of the first day, I truly felt like a first-year muggleborn come to Hogwarts, sitting in the Great Hall on the first night, just after the sorting, looking around and thinking, "These nutters are my people."<br /><br />CABS covers such subjects as the Care of Magical Creatures (Tips on the Care and Handling of Books), History of Magic (Descriptive Bibliography I and II), Charms (it's duodecimo, not dew-decee-muh), Defense Against the Dark Arts (Fakes, Forgeries & Theft), Arithmancy (Collation), Herbology (printing and binding materials), Potions (Refurbishing Books), Transfiguration (turning a bought book into a sold book), and Divination (Evaluating & Buying Books, Scouting).<br /><br />There's even a CABS Sorting Hat (of sorts). The houses here are not Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin--you must be brave, ethical, studious, and ambitious to be a bookseller--but as Dan Gregory explained in "Marketing the Antiquarian Book Trade," you may be a scholarly, humorous, service-oriented, or reading bookseller. Or you may belong in explorative, where dwell the brave in heart (the travels in their catalogues set these booksellers apart).<br /><br />So I say to my fellow millennial bibliophiles, stop straining your ears for the sound of owl's wings and consider this your letter of acceptance to CABS School of Bookcraft and Bibliography. If your Gringotts vault isn't gleaming with galleons, you need only consult the Bookseminars.com scholarship page, as I did. It is with great and ongoing gratitude to the ABAA Wizengamot that I was able to attend CABS this year.<br /><br />--<b>Megan Bell</b> co-owns <a href="http://www.undergroundbooks.net/">Underground Books</a> in Carrollton, Georgia, with her husband, former CABS seminarian and "<a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/2012/03/bright-young-things-underground-books.phtml">Bright Young Thing</a>," Josh Niesse. <br /><br /><font style="font-size: 0.8em;">Image of the author, courtesy of Zhenya Dzhavgova. </font></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Wed, 08/13/2014 - 08:48</span> Wed, 13 Aug 2014 12:48:14 +0000 fbcadmin 9296 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com In Memoriam, Bookseller and Author Patricia Ahearn https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/blog/memoriam-bookseller-and-author-patricia-ahearn <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">In Memoriam, Bookseller and Author Patricia Ahearn</span> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2014/05/Pat%20and%20Allen%202%20copy-6879.phtml"><img src="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/fine_books_blog/assets_c/2014/05/Pat%20and%20Allen%202%20copy-thumb-300x476-6879.jpg" alt="Pat and Allen 2 copy.jpg" class="mt-image-left" style="float: left; margin: 0 20px 20px 0;" height="476" width="300" /></a>The antiquarian book world lost one of its nicest, most beloved figures this week with the passing of Patricia Ahearn, the wife of Allen Ahearn, her partner for close to forty years at <a href="http://www.qbbooks.com/">Quill & Brush</a> booksellers of Dickerson, Maryland, one of the nation's leading dealers of modern first editions and literary collectibles, and now in its second generation of family management and ownership. Together, Pat and Allen were the authors of seven books on book collecting and rare book values, most famously, perhaps, four impeccably researched editions of <i>Collected Books: The Guide to Values</i>, the successor to Van Allen Bradley's groundbreaking series of the 1970s and '80s, <i>Book Collector's Handbook of Values</i>. The photo of the couple reproduced herewith graced the dust jacket of the 1991 edition, their debut effort, and in the years before the Internet arrived so explosively on the scene, was pretty much the only game in town for determining issue points and comparable values.<br /><br />On a more personal level, some of my earliest and fondest memories of the rare book world have involved the continuing good cheer and companionship of Pat and Allen Ahearn. My first ABAA fair as a published author, in Washington, D.C., in October 1995, had as an unqualified highlight a sumptuous crab feast at Quill & Brush, and the beginnings of a long and lasting friendship with these two very classy and decent people. For me, a book fair in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, or Boston didn't start until I went over to the Quill & Brush booth and got my big hug from Pat, and it wasn't over until we all got together somewhere for spirits and dinner in a group that always included Allan and Kim Stypeck, the owners of Second Story Books, and lifelong friends of the Ahearns. These were special moments for me, and I treasure them.<br /><br />Connie and I extend our deepest condolences to Allen and their four children, thirteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Mary's Church in Barnesville, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to a local non-profit hospice of choice, or the Alzheimer's Association. <br /><font style="font-size: 0.8em;"><br />Photograph 1991 by Robert Kalk. </font></div> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Fri, 05/30/2014 - 10:49</span> Fri, 30 May 2014 14:49:15 +0000 fbcadmin 9465 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com The 2012 Grolier Club Library William H. Helfand Fellowship https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/2012-grolier-club-library-william-h-helfand-fellowship <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">The 2012 Grolier Club Library William H. Helfand Fellowship </span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Thu, 12/13/2012 - 11:33</span> <div class="node__links"> <ul class="links inline"><li class="node-readmore"><a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/2012-grolier-club-library-william-h-helfand-fellowship" rel="tag" title="The 2012 Grolier Club Library William H. Helfand Fellowship " hreflang="en">Read more<span class="visually-hidden"> about The 2012 Grolier Club Library William H. Helfand Fellowship </span></a></li></ul></div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item">New York, December 13, 2012 -- The Grolier Club Library is pleased to announce its tenth annual fellowship offering in the history of the book, named in honor of Grolier Club benefactor and former president William H. Helfand. Awards of up to $3,000 are available for research in the Library's areas of strength, with emphasis on the book and graphic arts, antiquarian bookselling, and the private collecting of books and prints. Fellowship awards may be used to pay for travel, housing, and other expenses.</div> Thu, 13 Dec 2012 16:33:06 +0000 fbcadmin 11672 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com Grolier Club Fellowship https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/grolier-club-fellowship <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">Grolier Club Fellowship</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span lang="" about="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/user/1" typeof="schema:Person" property="schema:name" datatype="" xml:lang="">fbcadmin</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden">Mon, 12/13/2010 - 21:51</span> <div class="node__links"> <ul class="links inline"><li class="node-readmore"><a href="https://www.finebooksmagazine.com/news/grolier-club-fellowship" rel="tag" title="Grolier Club Fellowship" hreflang="en">Read more<span class="visually-hidden"> about Grolier Club Fellowship</span></a></li></ul></div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item">New York, December 13, 2010 -- The Grolier Club Library is pleased to announce its eighth annual fellowship offering in the history of the book. Awards of up to $2,500 are available for research in the Library's areas of strength, with emphasis on the book arts, antiquarian bookselling, and the private collecting of books and prints. Fellowship awards may be used to pay for travel, housing, and other expenses. A research stay of two weeks is desired, and fellows are expected to present a seminar or lecture at the Grolier Club, and submit a written<br />report.<br /></div> Tue, 14 Dec 2010 02:51:54 +0000 fbcadmin 11061 at https://www.finebooksmagazine.com
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