Books of Worth and Worthwhile Books

A Fraternal Visit from Americana Exchange's Bruce McKinney

2012-01-25T08:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday was a fairly slow day, which in and of itself is ok, but I appreciated the slowness more when Bruce McKinney from AE walked through the door. You should remember that quite often I post links to the AE monthly online newsletter as the information contained therein is usually excellent for Bookmen of all levels. We had an extended chat, and I benefited significantly from his cogent observations about the trade and life in general. If you don't subscribe, please do so, it's wonderful education. Here's the link: AE

Recent Acquisitions 2012

2012-01-09T13:38:00.000-08:00

It's been a very good year so far for acquiring stock that's worthy of being in our store, and worthy of our customers. That always makes us feel great, and hopefully this trend will continue. All books are First Editions, First Printings, unless otherwise specified.New goodies include:

Roger MacBride West From Home: Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder
San Francisco 1915. Signed

Senator John F. Kennedy A Strategy of Peace. Later printing. Inscribed.

Sirio Maccioni Sirio The Story of My Life and Le Cirque. Signed.

Loni Anderson My Life in High Heels. Warmly Inscribed.

Jeff Lindsay Dearly Devoted Dexter.

Philip Pullman The Tin Princess.

Bookstore 104 Registration - a few spaces left.

2012-01-03T13:57:00.000-08:00

The first of the Bookstore Series for 2012 is Bookstore 104 -It's A Mystery. This is a course similar to Bookstore 103, but it is a specialty class in collectible mystery authors and books, and requires, as usual, considerable outside work. Registration and details: It's A Mystery Feel free to call me if you have any questions - 702.444.9415

Back By Popular Demand

2012-01-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Since I abandoned this blog I've had quite a large number of people complain that I am a quitter, and that the blog is much more worthwhile than am I. Well, I'm back, but most of the postings will be new arrivals, sales, and the ongoing Bookstore Series of courses at UNLV. And, of course, books of worth and worthwhile books.And other book-related things.And... Happy New Year to you all !

Time To Say Good-Bye

2011-11-26T11:20:00.001-08:00

Poor Barbara ! She hears the same thing from me in many different ways that it must get boring for her, but she generally agrees with my diagnoses. The guiding principle of our business life is to make as few stupid business decisions as humanely possible, and we've pretty much got that down pat. This principle also argues that if a genre, or author, is no longer worthwhile, we delete it from our inventory; if an approach does not work, we abandon it. For example, when we first moved here, we contracted for a years' advertising in the RJ. That was a stupid business decision, and we've not repeated it.
For the past year, we've been conducting two experiments: on-line selling, and this blog. The on-line sales have been quite worthwhile, and a source of income and pleasure, as we sell only items that are a hard sell in a store. This has not been the case with the blog. Given the lack of readership, input, and feedback, we have decided to put the poor blog out of its misery, and devote the time spent on it to a worthwhile endeavor. Ave atque Vale

I HATE ISBNs

2011-11-16T14:45:00.001-08:00

Mostly because of the ignorant Billy & Betty Blackberrys I have to reach around to get the expensive books that they have passed over while scanning the ISBNs of the crap that they buy to sell for fifty percent more than they paid for it. However, this ISBN leads you to some of the best autobiographical writing I've read in the last 30 years: 0-7434-1065-3.
Thisbn should make sure that you buy John Dunning's Booked To Die in the January 2001 Pocket Books first paperback version. Yes, the story is wonderful, but as a philosophical piece, and soul-baring, Dunning has surpassed himself in his nine page "Then and Now" essay that introduces the book. Buy it. Read it. NOW !

Books of Worth In All Genres

2011-11-15T13:50:00.001-08:00

Yes, that's our motto here at Greyhound's Books, and we have a ball seeking out books that are interesting and scarce for our stock. We do this every day. Our customers, and our colleagues seem to enjoy some of the books we buy: the customers spend money; our colleagues keep egging us on to find more and better. Some books of interest, and of course, worth that we bought this week:

Peter Franke Wine and Coins in Ancient Greece 1st Edition
(Gastronomy) Le Cordon Bleu at Home First Hearst Books Edition
(Pacific Northwest) Columbia River Power For The People
Brenda Lewis Hitler Youth The Hitlerjugend in War and Peace 1933-1945 First MBI Edition
Carlos Castaneda The Fire From Within First Edition
(Various Hands) How to Hug Volume 6 of a poor quality encyclopedia
Robert Louis Stevenson An Omnibus Edition that contains the very scarce novel Prince Otto.

Twenty-Four Skidoo !

2011-11-14T14:45:00.001-08:00

We have the largest selection of author-signed and -inscribed books in the Valley, and just celebrated a milestone: 2400 of them on our open shelves. We have to keep out-doing ourselves, and this past weekend we added some more in a variety of genres. Take a look:

Peter Beagle The Innkeeper's Song First Edition, Inscribed
Pearl Bailey The Raw Pearl First Edition, Inscribed
Dennis Banks Ojibwa Warrior First Edition, Inscribed
Jody Vasquez Afternoons With Mr. Hogan First Edition, Inscribed
Hasna Mouddud A Thousand Year Old Bengali Mystic Poetry (sic) First Edition, Inscribed
Jeff Benedict & Don Yaeger Pros an Cons First Edition, Inscribed by Yaeger
Lora Brody Cooking With Memories First Edition, Inscribed

Now, to shelve them ! And buy more !

Westeners International, Redux

2011-11-11T13:03:00.001-08:00

Like many other organizations, WI has a list of the top 100 books in their field. Here 'tis:
WI Top 100. Enjoy !

We're All Westeners, But...

2011-11-11T12:54:00.001-08:00

The major joy of owning a bookstore is the constant knowledge acquisition that comes with buying, pricing, and stocking interesting books. This week's knowledge came from the books published by the Denver Corral of the Westeners International organization. Who are they? From the WI website:

The Westerners movement began in Chicago in 1944 by Leland D. Case, editor of The Rotarian magazine, and Elmo Scott Watson, a newspaperman and educator. Case had grown up in South Dakota and was fascinated by history as was Watson. Since the academic world did not seem to offer much for “history buffs” the two men decided to form a group open to anyone interested in the history of the American West. The members would promote the study and understanding of Western history and, at the same time, have fun and avoid taking themselves too seriously. The first local “corrals” and “posses” (names of the member groups) began organizing in 1945, after Chicago in 1944, and the movement has spread to include more than 138 such groups in the U.S. and overseas. Laypersons form the majority in most corrals. The corrals usually meet monthly for a meal and program about some Western history topic. Each group is rather loosely organized, with few rules and its own traditions. While Westerners are devoted to their historical interest, the main thing to remember is that membership in a corral or posse satisfies this interest in a spirit of fun and camaraderie. The purpose of the Westerners is fun and scholarship related to the American frontier West. "Westerners share a dislike for stuffed-shirtism, over-seriousness, shiftless thinking, and above all ignorance," wrote the late Ray Allen Billington, historian. Western traditions prevail in all meetings of Westerners.

My Ungrateful Friends and Colleagues

2011-11-10T14:32:00.001-08:00

Not content to know what the largest book in the world is, they now want to know the smallest ! Next they're going to want the median book, and the mode book. Anyway, here 'tis: Small Fry

Las Vegas Bookmans Guild November Meeting

2011-11-08T12:19:00.000-08:00

Will be held at:
Strings Italian Cafe
2222 East Tropicana Avenue Las Vegas, NV 89119-6573

(702) 739-6400

Wednesday, 9 November, 6:30 meet-&-greet, order 7:00

TOPIC: What I Bought For Stock This Month That is REALLY COOL !

We've Recovered From Sunday !

2011-11-08T12:15:00.000-08:00

Every year, our colleague, Myrna Donato - Amber Unicorn Books - and I do a show and sale at the Vegas Valley Book Festival's Feasting on Words day, the first Sunday in November. This year, our friend and local author Steve Grogan, author of Vegas Die, Captain Cooked, and a new I-book, was a featured author at the FoW show, and caught Myrna and me at our best ! Thanks, Steve.

By The Pound !

2011-11-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

Our colleague and friend, Ann DeVere - Plaza Books - and her henchwench, Maryann, mentioned at the dinner table last night that a customer came in to her store with a collection of Elvis-iana, which all of us would cheerfully buy. Ann bought most of the books, but passed on the Elephant Folio - 24 x 32 x 3 inches - piece. The book was quite pricey, but the problems inherent in preserving the quality of the book in a store are almost insurmountable. Selling the book on-line, as Ann does, poses truly insurmountable problems - the damn thing is so big and heavy, and consequently fragile, that it would almost have to be shipped by truck. Ah yes, the problems of bookstore ownership. Believe it or not, there is a bigger book - the largest in the world:
How about 5 feet tall, 7 feet wide, and weighing in at 133 pounds ? That's Bhutan: A Visual Odyssey. And this from the country that placed itself on the map by issuing postage stamps !

UNLV Registration for 2012 Now Open

2011-11-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

The first of the Bookstore Series for 2012 is Bookstore 104 -It's A Mystery. This is a course similar to Bookstore 103, but it is a specialty class in collectible mystery authors and books, and requires, as usual, considerable outside work. Registration and details: It's A Mystery
Feel free to call me if you have any questions.

A Tip of the Hat to Carl Sagan

2011-11-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

The next 2012 offering is:
BOOKSTORE 105 BILLIONS & TRILLIONS: THE YEARS OF SCIENCE FICTION

An advanced Bookman seminar on Speculative Fiction - Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror - stock for a credible bookstore, either brick and mortar, or click and order. Prerequisite: Bookstore 101 and Bookstore 102, or instructor's permission. Considerable out-of-class work is required. Enrollment is limited.
Registration: Bookstore 105

Aggies, Miggies, & Bunny-in-the-Hole

2011-10-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Our friend and colleague, Pat McCarty, the premier book restorer, binder, and repairer in the Valley, did a class on making marbled paper for her apprentices yesterday. Thence the title of this article, all blasts from my past as a marble-shooting child in Boston. I was treated to seeing the variety of patterns Pat's students created, and regaled with the tales of the effort involved. Too much work for me, but a grand experience for them.
Pat and I are working on a new offering in my Bookstore Series of Courses: Bookstore 108 - Book Repair for the Bookseller. The class will be like the rest - five two-hour evening sessions that hopefully will be held at UNLV in the Summer of 2012.

Bookstore 101 Started Last Night

2011-09-28T14:54:00.000-07:00

And what a pleasure ! The first night we discuss the types of bookstores that the students would like to have. Art. Only. Black Studies. Only. Bricks & Mortar stores - Yes. Internet sales - Yes. Where ? A resounding response: "Why, here in Las Vegas, of course." Almost perfect business models for this town and this time.
We have a three or four credible bookstores in town, but they have a general stock of quality books with major sub-specialties. The true specialist dealer came to an end here when Bob Coffin closed and Nevada Mineral & Book moved to California. Bob Coffin's was a medium-sized store; Nevada B&M was absolutely huge; most of us are medium to large stores, but I think the time has come for hugely enthusiastic folks like my current students to accumulate quality stock and establish a small specialty store with low rent and expenses to serve a specific customer base. Blessings on the heads of those who do what they love, for they shall never work a day in their lives.

If You Have A Dirty Mind...

2011-09-21T14:21:00.000-07:00

Do you have a sense of humus ? The non-misspent part of my youth involved reading all the jokes from Bennett Cerf's humor books, Reader's Digest page bottoms, and in particular the Boy Scouting magazine, Boy's Life, Think and Grin page. My sense of humor is still rather juvenile, but I never play practical jokes, just tell old ones. I must admit that the most hilarious, and most extremely raunchy, jokes were told by Buddy Hackett in his Live and Uncensored show in the Catskills -
there was filthy humor, ethnic humor, and above all Jewish humor. When that show ran, we didn't have today's inordinate hypersensitivities so everybody was fair game, and all were skewered equally - equal opportunity and treatment at its best ! One cannot dissect Hackett's humor, and when one tries to dissect humor, you wind up with an absolutely turgid, boring book just like the one I just couldn't finish: What Is A Jewish Joke by Henry Eilbirt. I hate to put it into stock for sale, but I will. Fortunately, we just found a book we (read "I") had to have:
The Reader's Digest Treasury of American Humor. Welcome back to Boy's Life 1955, Phil. Enjoy !

Tits On A Stick

2011-09-16T13:18:00.000-07:00

Every day as Barbara & I wend our way to work we see a billboard that is rather disgusting. It advertises a nightclub - not a (non)Gentlemen's Club - with the portrait of a young woman who appears to be completely drugged, with vacant eyes, a vacuous expression, open arms, extending her hand to anything - or nothing - that might be in her line of sight. Her appearance and costume inspired this article's title. Her name is not Elizabeth Gaskill, also known as Mrs. Gaskill.

Mrs G (Edited from Wikipedia)

Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton, was published anonymously in 1848. The best known of her remaining novels are Cranford (1853), North and South (1854), and Wives and Daughters (1865). She became popular for her writing, especially her ghost stories, aided by Charles Dickens, who published her work in his magazine Household Words. Her ghost stories are quite distinct, in the "Gothic" vein, from her industrial fiction. Even though her writing conforms to Victorian conventions (including signing her name "Mrs. Gaskell"), Gaskell usually frames her stories as critiques of contemporary attitudes: her early works focused on factory work in the Midlands. She always emphasised the role of women, with complex narratives and dynamic female characters.In addition to her fiction, Gaskell also wrote the first biography of Charlotte Brontë, which played a significant role in developing her fellow writer's reputation.

We highly recommend the dvds of the Masterpiece Theater Classic Cranford as a wonderful rendition of her works. By the way, here's the TOAS

Cat's Curiosities

2011-09-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Our friends and colleagues Vin & Amy - I prefer Amy & Vin - have a retail operation that is unique in the Las Vegas Valley: Amy, who is the one with exquisite taste owns a vintage clothing business that's quartered in one of the collectible malls; Vin, who has an excellent eye for and knowledge of books, sells, strangely enough, books in the same mall. He also sells and buys books on the Internet. Here's one of his recent electronic exchanges with an II:
Hi, "Benjamin's Book Nook"-- We spotted your listing, on Biblio,for:
The Wild Wheel by Garet Garrett Book condition: Like New
Book Description: Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2007. Paperback.Like New. Signed by Author. This is a new-looking 2007 softcover. AUTOGRAPHEDby the author inside the front cover.
As Garet Garrett lived 1878-1954, canyou explain how this 2007 paperback came to be "AUTOGRAPHED by theauthor inside the front cover"?
Best Wishes,-- V.S .Cat's Curiosities

But Vin adds:

The guy in Japan who sold me a "'Save Me The Waltz,' Scribner's 1932" (no other details provided)was probably better. He sent me a 1970 Signet paperback with a number line987654, and ended up eating the $15 postage plus the $5 purchase price.The unread paperback is actually worth a few bucks, but it sure ain't "Scribner's1932." (Is this "the tyranny of the bar code"?)

H.P. Kraus

2011-09-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

The BookThinker copyrights their articles, which of course is the right thing to do, but they are kind enough to permit republishing of their articles, as long as they're credited. Here at Greyhound's Books, we always give credit where credit is due, and damn just as freely. Kudos again to The BookThinker !
H.P. Kraus

Borders Is Dead, and Rightly So

2011-09-12T11:52:00.000-07:00

In both Bookstore 101 and 102, I stress the need to have a smart business model for my students' putative bookselling operation. The CNN article below tells the sad tale, and points out why we didn't "make a run for the Border(s). CNN Borders It's quite a cautionary tale.

Completely Useless Bookseller Alert !

2011-09-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

On August 3rd, I ordered a book from Boardman Sales in Ohio. Today, after 10 e-mails to and from the Selling Site - in this case, Biblio - I received a refund, because, although the sale had been confirmed, and the book shown as sent, the book was "out-of-stock". It was a pricey book that I ordered at a quite advantageous price. This leads me to believe several things: 1) they never had the book; 2) they realized that it had been mispriced; 3) both. Given all the aggravation, and the fact that Biblio has no mechanism to leave feedback on this type of (non) transaction, I feel compelled to let you all know that this dealer is unreliable, and certainly justifies the label on this post.

One of The Reasons Borders Failed

2011-09-07T08:23:00.000-07:00

Again from Publishers Weekly, an interesting article: More Wonderful Employees

We Don't Have Employees

2011-09-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Many bookstore have part-time employees, some of which are unpaid apprentices - read "Book Groupies" - who want to learn the trade. Publishers Weekly links to blogs that sometimes have interesting articles. Here's one: Employees From Hell !

From the Current Bookthinker

2011-09-06T14:42:00.000-07:00

I like reading the BookThinker articles, because many of them reinforce my buying policies and philosophy. Thanks to The BookThinker for permitting the reprinting of their copyright material:

An ad poppedup on craigslist for a professor's library priced at $32,000. I don't always respond to craigslist ads thatfeature interesting books because many times you almost have to call before the ad appears - if you knowwhat I mean. But a library priced at $32,000? Seemingly, this would put many other booksellers out of the running, so I called.The professor's nephew was selling the library, and I arrived at his house about mid-morning. Boxes werestacked everywhere, filling a dining room and a living room, and after a few minutes investigating some of them,two things were clear: One, the professor's field of study had been psychology, and two, if the collection wasworth $32,000, there had to be a $30,000 book hiding in one of the boxes. I took my scanner out of my pocket,and for the next 10 or 15 minutes, showed him in black and white what we were dealing with. I sensed that hewasn't convinced that he wasn't sitting on a gold mine and subsequently learned that he had previously found severaltextbooks that he had taken to a college bookstore and sold for considerable amounts - thus the high price for the remaining books.

Anyway, he suggested I look through the books in more depth, and meanwhile, he would go outside and drink a beer!I did find a few interesting items - some Ayn Rand books that were at least marketable, etc. - but nothing thatwould persuade me to offer him more than $1,000 for everything, figuring into this that I would have to move anddispose of perhaps 3/4 of the books there - and in any case I wasn't about to insult him with an offer. I wouldjust tell him that I couldn't come close to meeting his price.

Of course, he insisted on knowing what I would offer him, and to make a long story short, by the time I lefthe was down to $8,000. An hour later he called with a "final" offer of $6500 and free delivery. But he wasn't done!More calls followed in the ensuing days, one to inform me that a bookselling friend/competitor had been there afterme, apparently exhibiting much more patience than I had and even going so far as to organize the books into categories -though they couldn't reach a deal either. So it wasn't just the burden of educating him; it was being gamed by himtoo, even though he continued to drop his price. I stopped answering the phone during a party on Memorial Day.It seemed like the right time to put a lid it.

More and more I pass on stuff from "project" sellers now - i.e., where there's a great divide between askingprice (because the seller needs to be educated) and what I will pay. As I set out to illustrate last week, there'ssomething to be said for following the path of least resistance.

2011-09-05T10:03:00.000-07:00

Our friend and colleague Maryann the writer has several interesting posts at her blog. Check them out, and maybe even subscribe at: Maryann's Blog

And, MORE NUMBERS !

2011-08-30T13:33:00.000-07:00

Our colleague Ann DeVere, Plaza Books, although she has posting rights on this blog, suggested that Bookfinder.coms Fall Report would be of interest to all, but particularly my former and future Bookstore Courses students: Top 100

And, Since We're Talking About Numbers...

2011-08-30T12:32:00.002-07:00

In the Harry Potter series of books, there are 4,169 pages. But, more significantly:
81% of Americans are convinced they could write a best-selling book. We need to hunt these people down and disabuse them of their fantasies.

Vacation's Over - For Everybody !

2011-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Our colleagues from Amber Unicorn Books spent last week vacationing at the World Science Fiction Convention (WORLDCON) in Reno, where they found a dealer who had paperback copies of the Winston Juvenile Science Fiction Series. My mentor and master, Rick Cook - Attic Books, Laurel Maryland - was in town, again vacationing as were we, and Myrna & Lou told us about the paperback Winstons. My immediate thought, of course, was a blogicle, thus ending my vacation. We dumped Rick & Ellen at Southwest yesterday morning, and I hit the google, finding:

36 BATTLE ON MERCURY by Erik van Lhin pseudonym [Buy it!]

[show this book only]

Del Rey Lester writing as Erik Van Lhin.

75.00

ABAA

L. W. Currey, Inc.

Philadelphia, Toronto: The John C. Winston Company,. [1953]. pictorial wrappers.. Shelf wear at edges, a good copy. (#132298). First edition. Part of the classic Winston science fiction series for young readers published between 1952 and 1961. Once thought to be an advance issue or uncorrected proof, this paperbound issue may have been prepared for use at U.S. Military base libraries or perhaps was a remainder issue. The book is made up of first edition sheets complete with the illustrated Schomburg end papers enclosed in stiff paper wrapper which has the dust jacket pasted to it. The jacket is a later printing with 29 titles listed on the rear panel instead of the 15 that were listed on the first printing jacket. Anatomy of Wonder (1995) 5-160. Philadelphia Toronto: The John C. Winston Company

Once again, Lloyd Currey strikes. As did our colleague - and Rick's brother-in-law, John Knott:

Lhin, Erik Van (pseudonym of Lester Del Rey). BATTLE ON MERCURY. Philadelphia: The John C. Winston Company, [1953]. Octavo, pictorial wrappers. First edition. Once thought to be an advance issue or uncorrected proof, this paperwraps issue is possibly prepared for use at U.S. Military base libraries or perhaps a simple low cost remainder issue. The book is made up of first edition sheets complete with the illustrated Schomburg end papers enclosed in stiff paper wrappers which has the dust jacket pasted to them. The jacket is a later state jacket with 29 titles listed on the rear panel instead of 15 that are listed on the first. This is an uncommon issue. A good copy in pictorial wrappers.
This listing, and the one below, mailed to me last night by Rick who was just as interested in them as was I.

And even Robert Gavora:

BATTLE ON MERCURY
Del Rey, Lester (as Erik Van Lhin)

New York: John C. Winston Company, 1953. First edition, later binding Scarce trade paperback issue, probably issued as remainder copies at the end of publication of the Winston Science Fiction series, not to be confused with the advanced reading copies issued by Winston. First edition sheets bound in the illustrated stiff card covers. Twenty-nine titles listed on the rear cover. Schomburg endpapers. A bright very good plus copy with one inch corner crease on the rear cover, with lamination separation at that corner and edges of the front cover. A very nice copy. Trade Paperback (Item ID: 28484)
$95.00

For more about the Winstons: Winston Article

Join Us ! Make A Post ! Build A Fence !

2011-08-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

Follow the link below, and you'll join BOWAWB - that's this blog. You'll be able to make posts and comments, and build a fence between you and what currently passes for reality.
Join Up Now

A Tip From My Former Partner, Cynthia

2011-08-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

My dear Cynthia, the Romance Queen of the East Coast, likes to keep Barbara & me apprised of the latest developments outside of Las Vegas. She has a rather high opinion of my Bookstore Series of courses, and sent this:

Hey DEF,Looks like Bookstore 101, etc. has competition in FL. 8-) CP:

Has anyone attended the 5-day Owning a Bookstore seminar presented by Paz & Associates? I am wondering if this would be worthwhile as I am still in the planning stage. Would like to hear about any thoughts or experiences. Here's a link to the seminar website: http://pazbookbiz.com/training-workshops/opening-a-bookstore-workshop/

Now, would someone explain to me what #8, -, and ) mean ?

The Government Speaks - Again

2011-08-15T08:37:00.000-07:00

Perhaps we have the final word, courtesy of PW, from those wonderful people in Washington about Children's Books: Lead Heads & Kid's Books
Now go out and buy all those collectibles for stock.

A Student Sent This !

2011-08-12T12:44:00.000-07:00

Very interesting, and she even sent it Snail Mail because she couldn't find our e-dress. Sort of like when air was clean...British Bookstore Bollicked Thanks, Holly.

Hot Diggedy Dog !

2011-08-11T13:58:00.000-07:00

Our friends and colleagues, Michael and Andy de Cave des Cheveaux, have gotten their website up and running. Check it out: Two Bears and A Dog
Michael's the one with the glasses. Or is it Andy ?

Ex-Library or Ex Libris ?

2011-08-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

The IIs sell huge amounts of former library books, usually at 99 cents each, plus $ 3.99 shipping. There are a few ISs - Internet Scumbags - including several ABAA dealers I know personally that try to make their crap look better by labeling junk as ex libris, i.e. "from the library." Yes, I know, some incompetents use the phrase to denote that the book is from someone's library, but that's not usually the case. Ex-library is ex-library no matter if you speak English or Latin. If you can't afford a proper copy of a book, save your money until you can.

Paperback, Softbound, Chapbook, Chapter Book ?

2011-08-08T12:28:00.000-07:00

We still speak English here at Greyhound's Books, but sometimes it's hard, especially with book-related or literary terminology. For your information, from my favorite, Wikipedia:

A Chapbook is a pocket-sized booklet. The term chap-book was formalized by bibliophiles of the 19th century, as a variety of ephemera, popular or folk literature. It includes many kinds of printed material such as pamphlets, political and religious tracts, nursery rhymes, poetry, folk tales, children's literature and almanacs. Where there were illustrations, they would be popular prints. The term is derived from chapmen, a variety of peddler, who circulated such literature as part of their stock. The term is also in use for present-day publications, usually poetry, of up to about 40 pages, ranging from low-cost productions to expensive, finely produced editions.

Chapter books
For ages 7-10, Chapter books are transitional books that help children move from early readers to full novels. Most chapter books deal with contemporary situations that are familiar to the readers, and are often humorous books.

At least, paperbacks and softbound books remain self-explanatory.

Good Words about "The Kinder Gentler Bookstore" and Another

2011-08-05T15:17:00.000-07:00

A colleague in Texas referred a friend to us - and The Others Across the Street, herein known as TOATS - and he stopped in yesterday. He's here for a convention, and made a post on a blog, to which our colleague sent us a link . Our thanks to him for the good words, and will surely welcome him back. Anytime. And, I even referred him to our friend and colleague, Ann Devere at Plaza Books. Read on:

I’ve never really thought of Las Vegas as a bookish town, but (a friend) tipped me off to two vintage bookstores that I visited today. I heartily endorse both of them, and strongly recommend that you visit both. Doing so is pretty easy, as they’re basically right across the street from each other.

I’m sorry I didn’t catch the name of the gentleman who runs Greyhound’s Books, but he came across to me as someone who’s very much worth knowing. I wouldn’t describe him as “kind”, as I so often describe others; he seems intolerant of the rude, the willfully ignorant who wish to remain so, and others who would waste his time. (While I was there, he literally chased one person out of the store for using a cell phone.) But for the serious and polite book shopper, this store is a delight. He seems to be very strong on mystery, military history, and history in general. His food and cooking selection also seemed strong to me; he had the only copy of Cross Creek Cookery I’ve seen in probably five years of searching. (The owner also writes, along with other folks, at Books of Worth, an entertaining site I was previously unaware of.)
I didn’t want to press for details (I’m not sure it is any of my damn business) but Amber Unicorn Books appears to be related in some way to Greyhound’s Books. I didn’t have as much interaction with the owners there as I did with the Greyhound’s Books owner, but they certainly seemed like very nice folks. Amber Unicorn appears to be stronger in paperbacks, especially genre paperbacks, but also has a good stock of history, mystery, and law/true crime.
One thing that really struck me about both stores; the folks at both knocked 10% off the total of my purchases for no apparent reason, other than (I guess) I was reasonably polite and didn’t use my cellphone or urinate on their rugs. They didn’t have to do that, and it was very much appreciated.
(And it helped, especially at Amber Unicorn. They had a copy of Skeeter Skelton’s Good Friends, Good Guns, Good Whisky, a book I didn’t even know existed until today. I’ve written before about the gun writers I read growing up; I remember Skelton’s stories with great fondness. Especially the one reprinted in this volume about Dobe Grant and his crate full of Colt Single Action Army parts. When I read that for the first time, man, I wanted a vintage Single Action Army. Still do, come to think of it. I don’t want to say what I paid for that book; let’s just say “Nostalgia is a moron” and leave it at that.)
If you’re a serious book person, you have to visit both of these stores if you’re ever in Las Vegas.

Quill & Brush

2011-08-03T13:18:00.000-07:00

Allen & Pat Ahearn have just published the fourth edition of their wonderful book on collecting. Please check out their website for more of their reference books - all equally splendid - but check this one out first: Quill & Brush The article is from the latest issue of Fine Books & Collections.

And Another One...

2011-07-31T14:03:00.000-07:00

My mom, when she was chewing me out and not just waiting behind the door with her cast iron frying pan, was the mistress of "And, another thing, Philip..." Well, here's another eminently credible dealer trying to sell a $ 1.00 book for
$ 40.00:

Book Description: Subterranean, 2002. Hard Cover. Book Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Ed. First Edition thus.Very good/Very good condition. This is a professionally restored library book with little evidence of its former status. Signed limited ed. #497/850. Signed by Author.

Hip, Hip Hooray !

2011-07-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

Our colleague, Vin, who sells books both on-line and at Cat's Curiosities in the Charleston Antique Mall posted two comments on an article here, and our favorite wanderer, Explorer, posted one. All three actually made it to the blog ! So, that's evidently working.

Our friend and colleague, Ann DeVere, Plaza books sent an interesting link: Buyer Beware, or at least Careful

We tell folks there's a dumpster out back for customers who fall.

A Lesson Learned

2011-07-29T15:17:00.000-07:00

No, I didn't learn a lesson, but you might try my kind, gentle approach when dealing with IIs. Follow the electron trail below:

1. Initial order response from the vending site, dated July 18th:
Thank you for your order. Delivery estimate: July 25, 2011 - Aug. 9, 2011

2. Followup response from the vending site, dated July 25th:

We're writing about the order you placed on 7/18/2011 with chimera512. Unfortunately, chimera512 has not confirmed the shipment of this order, and we are not able to provide you with shipment details yet. Because of this, your credit card has not been charged.

3. My follow-up to seller, dated July 27th:

Did you receive this order ?

No answer until I sent the following electron blast

4. My further follow-up to seller on July 28th:

Strongly recommend you do one of two things:
1. Confirm and send my order.
2. Expect absolutely horrendous feedback if you cancel it.

5. Final message on this purchase, just 4 hours after my bomb blast:

chimera512 shipped the following item(s) in your order 104-7053128-1617818, placed on July 18, 2011.
Delivery Estimate: July 25, 2011 - August 09, 2011
You have been charged for the following items shipped today:
The Last Colony; Sold by: chimera512; Condition: used - like new

6. Maybe !
Now, we'll have to wait and see if the moron sends the book that I ordered. Probably more to come !

My Recent Internet Experience

2011-07-29T13:05:00.000-07:00

From time to time, I buy books on the internet. My purchase arrived, and it was so completely different from what I bought that I sent the following to the "dealer:"

This book was listed, and portrayed, as the signed, limited edition. It is a poor to good copy of the book club edition. Before I leave extremely negative feedback, or contest the sale, what would you like to do ? I do this ONLY as a courtesy to an amateur. I would recommend to you an immediate refund of what I paid, and if you want this book returned, also credit return postage.
His reply:
I'm so sorry about this transaction as it was listed carelessly. I already placed a full refund, and I decided that you can keep the book free of charge if you wish. Sincerely,

No, it didn't do any good to keep a crap book, but I did.

It Always Amazes Me..

2011-07-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

My Bookstore 103 students are getting to be right little Fascists about book condition. This is as it should be.My colleague Ann DeVere, Plaza Books contributed this from her Internet rooting about:

Decorative red clothbind. rubbedat extremities; spine base, corners frayed; backstrip lightly sunned;sm. bump to fore-edge of back board;boardssoiled; ffepmissing; front hingecracked; owner's stamps, pencilled name & quotations on paste-downs & eps;leaf edges foxed/soiled,else a nice, clean copy.;

Not to be outdone, I found this as I was rooting:

Burton, Michigan, U.S.A.: Subterranean, 2002. Ex-Library. Very Good. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). Limited/Numbered. Excluding removed first blank page and library tape on the spine the book looks like new and unread. Cover in mylar. This is a #555 of 850 numbered and signed copies.

Beware the Internet Idiots.

We Speak Standard English Here.

2011-07-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

For many years notable, and some not-so-notable, authors wrote historical novels. In general, the historical facts portrayed in these books was very accurate, so the general reader got some knowledge along with the enjoyment of reading a good yarn. My previous post inspired me to look at the other side of the coin, again from Wikipedia:
Nonfiction novel: a story of actual people and actual events told with the dramatic techniques of a novel. The American writer Truman Capote claimed to have invented this genre with his book In Cold Blood (1965). A true story of the brutal murder of a Kansas farm family, the book was based on six years of exacting research and interviews with neighbors and friends of the victims and the two captured murderers. The story is told from the points of view of different “characters,” and the author attempts not to intrude his own comments or distort fact. Critics pointed out earlier precedents for this type of journalistic novel, such as John Hersey’s Hiroshima (1946), an account of the World War II atomic bombing of the Japanese city told through the histories of six survivors. Norman Mailer’s The Executioner’s Song (1979) is another notable example of the genre.
Let's get back to basic English: these are, have been, and will continue to be as long as I draw breath Historical Fiction. C.S. Forester didn't write non-fiction novels. Conan Doyle didn't, either. There are other blogs that have addressed an issue that's much more serious than my rantings, i.e., public libraries are starting to shelve fiction titles in the non-fiction ! Local examples:
THE GREAT PACIFIC WAR, by Hector C. Bywater
SCHINDLER'S LIST (SCHINDLER’S ARK) by Thomas Keneally.
ROOTS, by Alex Haley

Once again proving that if you tell the same lie enough times, it becomes truth. At least to the uninformed.

Another Stump the Chump Winner !

2011-07-23T13:55:00.000-07:00

Suzanne the Student did a presentation on John McPhee and mentioned to the rest of the class that his style is for the most part "Creative Non-Fiction." We all nodded wisely, and when we could, did a little research. Wikipedia is a fairly reliable source, and I quote from it:

Creative nonfiction (also known as literary or narrative nonfiction) is a genre of writing that uses literary styles and techniques to create factually accurate narratives. Creative nonfiction contrasts with other nonfiction, such as technical writing or journalism, which is also rooted in accurate fact, but is not primarily written in service to its craft. As a genre, creative nonfiction is still relatively young, and is only beginning to be scrutinized with the same critical analysis given to fiction and poetry.

Notable morons who tried to pass off their crap as CNF include
Binjamin Wilkomirski's memoir Fragments: Memories of a Wartime Childhood detailing his experiences as a child survivor of the Holocaust, contained factual inaccuracies.
James Frey's memoir, A Million Little Pieces, contained experiences that turned out to be fabrications.
Margaret Seltzer, whose pen name is Margaret B. Jones, had her book, Love and Consequences, canceled by Riverhead Books " when it was revealed that Seltzer's story of her alleged experiences growing up as a half white, half Native American foster child and Bloods gang member in South Central Los Angeles were fictitious.
And then there is the imbecile who wrote Dutch.

Just an Observation. And a Question.

2011-07-21T14:33:00.000-07:00

Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor were friends but not married. Both are dead. Eddie Fisher was married to Elizabeth Taylor. Both are dead. We recently found a signed copy of Fisher's autobiography - it has a picture of Taylor & Fisher shot through the back window of a limo, probably on the way to their honeymoon.Thus endeth the observation. Now for the question:
Is it at all significant that the book contains photos attributed to a person named Stupp, and is it even more significant that the title is Been There, Done That ?
I never should have done the previous post on Crap Books. My mind has been polluted !

Trees Died for this Crap !

2011-07-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

An earlier post on this blog dealt with our colleague Ann DeVere's thoughts on Misery Lit. Publishers Weekly touted today a new low in Crap Books, and provoked this posting, and a whole new heading for the future: Crap Books ! The PW tout is: The Most Anticipated and Controversial Novel of the Year: "Sixteen year old Zach..and kindergarten teacher Judy begin an affair that at first thrills, then corrupts each of them." Read an excerpt from this literary masterpiece: Crap Books

Wow !

2011-07-20T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last night's session of Bookstore 103 was absolutely dynamite ! My favorite student, Kim, told us about J.R.R. Tolkien and Frank Dixon. My other favorite student, Carla, told us about mysteries - Diana Mott Davidson and Dorothy L. Sayers. My other favorite student John discusses Robert E. Howard and Roger Zelazny. My blah, blah, blah, Suzanne tackled Edward Abbey and John McPhee, much to our amusement. My blah, blah, blah, Holly, didn't join us. Our colleague and friend, Myrna Donato from Amber Unicorn Books sat in to enjoy my favorite students' presentations. In honor of Kim & John, check out the following from PW:
Kids
SF/F/H

Enjoy !

There are Signed Books, and Then There are SIGNED Books

2011-07-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

New arrivals for our signed books section are always fun to price. We acquired three signed political pieces this morning, two of which are SIGNED, and one of which is signed. "Why the differentiation ?" you ask. I reply: "Cause !
Leo Rangell, M.D.'s The Mind of Watergate is obviously SIGNED - or technically, Inscribed - because it's inscribed, dated, and has a program in it from Doctor R's Man of the Year Award's Banquet in 1981. Not a terribly pricey book, but still good shelf stock at $ 25.00

Chef Hans Karl Adam's International Wine and Food Society's Guide to German Cookery is also SIGNED, and as a later printing is sound shelf stock at $ 35.00

President Lyndon Baines Johnson's The Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963 - 1969 is a signed book. This one is, of course, a fine first edition, as are most of our books It has a signed bookplate on the half title page The plate is pretty- glossy white with the Presidential Seal and LBJs initials in gold. It also has Johnson's signature on the plate Is it SIGNED ? No. Is it signed ? Yes. LBJ's official signature is there, but the signing was done by an auto pen, i.e., a signing device that does the signing for a great man, usually operated by a secretary.
But, credible shelf stock at $125.00.

PW Strikes Again !

2011-07-18T11:36:00.000-07:00

Every bookstore in the world is personality driven, including Borders and Narns & Baubles. Think about it. PW has 10 stores that are quite interesting:
10 of a Kind
You might want to subscribe to PW Daily so you can see what I don't think is worthwhile. Or not.

I Spel Cheked It Gud !

2011-07-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Bookseller Competencies is one of the key topics in Bookstore 102. We expect authors, editors, and publishers to demonstrate competence in their fields, as it can either add considerably or detract significantly to or from our reading, and opinions of authors. Publishers Weekly, in the current issue, had an interesting article from the New York Times on this topic, too: Oops !

Michael Jackson is Dead, but the Thriller is Still Alive !

2011-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

We clump mystery, suspense, capers, and thrillers together on our mystery shelves. Others in the Valley segregate them. PW Daily has an interesting article on how the folks behind the words live: Thrillers

Park Your Carcass, Pick Your Carcossa

2011-07-16T14:23:00.000-07:00

For the Science Fiction fans, Arkam House is a Holy Grail. So is Carcosa, but which one ? The text below is derived from the famous Wikipedia, the commentary and valuations are mine, and my thanks go to Zac Carter for the inspiration to do this research.
Carcosa House was a science fiction specialty publishing firm formed by Frederick B. Shroyer, a boyhood friend of T. E. Dikty, and two Los Angeles science fiction fans, Russell Hodgkins and Paul Skeeters in 1947. Shroyer had secured a copy of the original newspaper appearance of the novel Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett P. Serviss which he wished to publish.
(Phil’s Note: it was supposed to be a sequel to The War of the Worlds.)
Shroyer talked Hodgkins and Skeeters into going in on shares to form the publisher which issued the Serviss book in 1947. Dikty offered advice, and William L. Crawford of F.P.C.I. helped with production and distribution. Carcosa House announced one other book, Enter Ghost: A Study in Weird Fiction, by Sam Russell, but due to slow sales of the Serviss book, it was never published.

Conquest of Mars 1/1500 Near Fine in a Very Good Dustjacket: $500.00

Carcosa was a specialty publishing firm formed by David Drake, Karl Edward Wagner, and Jim Groce who were concerned that Arkham House would cease publication after the death of its founder, August Derleth. Carcosa was founded in North Carolina in 1973 and put out four collections of pulp horror stories, all edited by Wagner. A fifth collection was planned, Death Stalks the Night, by Hugh B. Cave; Lee Brown Coye was working on illustrating it when he died, causing Carcosa to abandon the project. The book was eventually published by Fedogan & Bremer. The Carcosa colophon depicts the silhouette of a towered city in front of three moons.

All this Carcosa books are in the $ 60.00 - $100.00 price range

Another interesting thing is the large number of q.v. possibilities above. I know most of them, do you ?

Bookstore 107 - Non-Fiction

2011-07-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

A couple of new - just this morning - items for our stock made me think about all the different kinds of books that fall under the overarching heading of non-fiction:

* Fishing Canada's Mountain Parks - a boxed, limited, signed book by James Butler and Roland Maw.
Limited editions are always cool, but this one is practically frigid, because it has an honest-to-God fishing fly fastened to the title/limitation page.

* Craft of Cooking - although it's a later printing of Tom Colicchio's opus, it's signed by Chef TC.

And I thought Non-Fiction was just boring history, or biography, or science, or ...

Chump Stumpery 101

2011-07-14T14:05:00.000-07:00

A customer asked if we had any Kay Neilsen illustrated books. Answer: Huh ?
Research reveals: Kay Neilsen
Further research reveals a very good research site: Sur La Lune Fairy Tales
Enjoy !

Abbie Hoffman says: "Steal This Book"

2011-07-14T11:20:00.000-07:00

Theft is quite common in new bookstores, but not anywhere near as bad in our world. Publishers Weekly had an interesting Blog post you might enjoy: Five Most Stolen Books
By the way, current values for STB are: $ 100 - $ 500 for the hardbound first edition, $ 20 and up for the paperback.

Jazz and Bookstore 103

2011-07-13T13:59:00.000-07:00

The current iteration of Bookstore 103 - The Who of Professional Bookselling - started last night, and while we were going over the book search references, a student asked "Why Jazz?" My response was that quality books on Jazz, the original American art form, are hard to come by. As is often the case, when we were out scouting this morning, we stumbled on a collection of Jazz books and music, with a heavy emphasis on Django Reinhardt, all highly collectible ! Who says the Bookstore courses don't pay off ?
From Wikipedia:

Jean^[1] "Django" Reinhardt (French pronunciation: [dʒɑ̃ɡo ʁenɑʁt]; 23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer.

Reinhardt was born into a family of Manouche gypsies and invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar) that has since become a living musical tradition within French gypsy culture. With violinist Stéphane Grappelli, he co-founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France, described by critic Thom Jurek^[2] as "one of the most original bands in the history of recorded jazz." Reinhardt's most popular compositions have become jazz standards, including "Minor Swing", "Daphne", "Belleville", "Djangology", "Swing '42" and "Nuages" (French for "Clouds").

Who is Thomas C. Hinkle ?

2011-07-07T13:47:00.000-07:00

Yet another customer played "Stump the Chump" with me, and won ! No, it's not that I'm failing physically, just failing in knowledge. Follow the link, and learn about this rather prolific author: Thomas C. Hinkle

Americana Exchange Article

2011-07-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

I recommend you subscribe to the AE Monthly, 'cause there is always an article as interesting as this one in it:
AE Article

A New Fiction Genre

2011-07-04T10:16:00.000-07:00

Ann DeVere, our colleague at Plaza Books called, and I couldn't understand a word she was saying - in fact I thought she was crying. She was, but tears of laughter. As many of us do, she subscribes to several book-related listserves, and on one of them, there was a posting about a new genre. Do you remember that:
Bambi's mom got shot - stage left.
Lassie saved Timmy - eventually.
It was a dark and stormy night...

Nowadays, mothers go through the anguish of divorce and raising autistic children; men face sexuality crises; families are even more disfunctional than ever before and we read all about it; people, especially women, relive the pain of fleeing their native land or the agony of unloving fathers; Stephen King keeps on writing; Oprah is still alive. And trees keep dying so that this stuff can see the light of day, and remind us of how awful things really are, or could be, or might be !
Most of the books in this new genre have a shelf life of about two minutes.
Why ?
Because they're worthless - they do nothing to lift the human spirit - and in fact diminish it considerably.
The genre, according to Ann's reporting : MISERY LIT !
On this, the 235th anniversary of our nation's birth, please declare your independence from crap books. And the people who write and flog them !

It Isn't Good Only in Las Vegas

2011-06-30T13:39:00.000-07:00

Another bright spot, this time from the East Coast: Bald Isn't Bad

I Love This Business !

2011-06-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

A customer called from California looking for a juvenile series we had never heard of, and we do have a fairly large selection of JSs from the 1920s through the 1950s. Another reason to have an open store - we learned something new today. For your edification, follow the link to TomFolio, another excellent book site:
Robert Schulkers

Boston - 220 Years Apart

2011-06-27T08:32:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, I'm an Improper Bostonian, but had many illustrious predecessors, among them General Henry Knox, Bookman manque.

Born in Boston on July 25, 1750, Henry Knox was the seventh (of ten) child of William and Mary Knox. A merchant captain, William Knox died in 1759, after experiencing a financial collapse. Three years later, Henry was forced to leave the Boston Latin Grammar School in order to support his mother and younger siblings. Apprenticing himself to a bookbinder, he learned the trade and eventually opened his own shop, the London Book Store, at the age of twenty-one. An avid reader, he was fascinated by military topics and read widely on the subject, with a focus on artillery.

Get an a plane, buy a book, and get it signed !

2011-06-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

Our friends and colleagues, Michael & Andy, Two Bears and A Dog Books, Horse Cave, KY, are having a book signing on the 4th of July ! Big Deal ! Yeah, it is, 'cause the book's title is Greyhound to Vegas: the Odyssey of Hilda Reynolds Krause, and the author is Robert Dickey.
West Virginia - in a lumber camp - to a Greyhound Station in Bowling Green, Kentucky, to our very own Caesars Palace, to the casino scene in Batista's Havana ! And Castro's Havana ! And... But you get the idea.
Maybe our Christmas present will be an inscribed copy. Maybe not. But the cover art is really cool.

When I'm Tired, I Write !

2011-06-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well, Bookstore 103 is currently available at UNLV. Now what ? That's easy, at least or me. I just finished up most of the work on:

Bookstore 104:

An advanced Bookman Seminar on Mystery Authors & Books

Bookstore 105:
An advanced Bookman Seminar on Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors & Books

Bookstore 106:

An advanced Bookman Seminar on Literature

and last, but really hard:
Bookstore 107: An advanced Bookman Seminar on Non-Fiction

As usual, all 10 hour courses. Hopefully I'll be able to get UNLV to offer some of them next year.

Let me know your thoughts.

BookThinker Article

2011-06-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

I've recommended many times that you subscribe to The BookThinker. Here's another reason why:Few venues - well, let's be real: No venue has undergone as many changes as eBay has over the years. My hat goes off to anybody who started there in 1990s and still has a viable selling presence for this reason alone. There aren't many of us left - for this reason and, of course, others. Nobody talks about this much. If there's talk about numbers, specifically about bookselling, it's about how many books are listed, or how many sellers there are, or, shudder, how many books are sold. Or aren't.

If we're talking about the present state of bookselling, there's no question that those numbers, which have more or less grown steadily year in and year out, notwithstanding disguise a massive turnover of booksellers since eBay's founding in 1995. (That's 16 years, by the way - an eternity in cyber years.) Anybody who spends any time either researching eBay sellers or even, say, participating in the eBay Booksellers forum knows that almost nobody is still around from the early days. I used to keep a running list of booksellers who I either had success purchasing inventory from or wanted to watch because they often taught me something. At one point, about four or five years ago, my entire first page of sellers had been crossed out save one. It seemed ridiculous to go on using this format, and today I just bookmark sellers instead and delete them when they disappear.

Does this bode ill for those getting into bookselling today? Well, it depends. In some ways bookselling is more difficult to succeed at today than it was even ten years ago, and the reasons are many. In one important way, however, it's never been easier to distance yourself from your competition. Why? Because almost nobody wants to learn more than the bare minimum about books - just enough to get by is what it looks like to me, time and time again. So - the opportunity to make a part-time or full-time living at bookselling is still very much alive. The only barrier to success is an unwillingness to learn what needs to be learned to make it happen.

Craig Stark

They wrote the Book - Quill & Brush

2011-06-02T11:53:00.000-07:00

Allen and Pat Ahearn, the owners of Q&B are in the very top tier of Bookmen in the country. Think Bauman's with reasonable prices. They also have written THE book on book collecting. And authors, and many other things. Check them out. Yes, this is really what their operation looks like ! Quill & Brush

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: A HISTORY

2011-05-31T14:01:00.000-07:00

Our colleague, Ann DeVere who owns Plaza Books and we shared a customer last week who collected role-playing material, known to the trade as RPG Stuff. One of my students in Bookstore 102 wants to deal in this genre, also. Ann sent me this about the Father of D(ungeons) & D(ragons):

Gary Gugax was an insurance underwriter, making probability predictions based on data.

In his spare time, he and his friends played war games on a giant table in his basement.

In the late sixties, he changed the rules a bit, and created a new game called Chainmail. This was new and exciting only for a short time, He then decided to add new fantasy elements, with figurines depicting different characters, each with magic abilities. In 1971 he published a fantasy supplement to Chainmail.

Once this happened, players began experimenting with Chainmail, and with Gary Arneson, created another game called Blackmoor. Instead of the traditional armies, controlled by one "general", Arneson got rid of the large armies and had each player assume the identity of a single character, rolling dice to determine character attributes. This was a dramatic change, and was the advent of "Role-Playing". There were many revisions, to the game, making the characters harder to kill, allowing advancement to higher levels, adding strength characteristics, and allowing points to be carried to the next game.

The next level of play was reached when Arneson decided the play was going underground, into a dungeon of an old castle. This provided a wealth of scenarios, and expanded the role of the game host, who became the creative master of the game, part storyteller, part part guide, responsible for designing the dungeons and filling it with monsters and treasures. This was the birth of the Dungeon Master.

In the early seventies, Gary Gygax realized the commercial potential of this type of role-playing game, if it were more organized. His skill in reducing the game to coherent lists of monsters, character types weapons and spells, etc. resulted in the 150 page version that became the first commercial edition of the game.
Around the same time, Gygax solved the problem of the six-sided dice that limited options. He found 4, 8, 12 and 20 sided polyhedrons. This opened up possibilities for character enhancement.

It was a difficult task to interest publishers in this type of game. They had never seen one that had no real winners or losers, and no definite ending. Gygax decided to publish himself, raised money to found Tactical Studies Rules, or TSR, named it Dungeons & Dragons and released 1,000 copies in 1974.( Arneson received royalties, but did not join or innvest in TSR.)

The game immediately caught on with college students and spread mostly by word of mouth, since TSR had no money for marketing or publicity. The first printing sold out in just seven months. It bacame so popular that many bootleg copies were circulated. Gygax didn't mind because it gauranteed the spread of the game's popularity.

By 1979 TSR was selling more than $4 million worth of games, dice and other D&D accessories. Then scandal astruck when a Michigan State University student named James Dallas Egbert disappeared into the steam tunnels underneath the school. Rumors started that he was a D&D player and went there to experience a live game. In fact, he was struggling with depression and addiction, and went there to commit suicide. This attempt failed and he hid out in a friend's apartment for a month before notifying the police that he was OK. The rumors gained national attention however, and tha game was demonized in the media, Ironically, this boosted sales of the game tremendously.

In the mid to late seventies, Gygax lost control of TSR, and he severed all ties with the company in 1985. By 1997 the company was in in debt and collapsing. It was acquired by Wizards of the Coast. Gygax developed other role-playing games, but none were as successful as Dungeons & Dragons. His health was declining, and he died in 2008 at the age of 69.

SUMMARY:

1977- The game was split into two versions, Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons,

1989 -The second Edition of the game was published,

2000 - The original version of the game was discontinued, renamed Dungeons & Dragons 3rd. Edition,

2003 - Version 3.5 was released,

2008 - The 4th. Edition was released

Regardless of color...

2011-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Wonder Bread, the famous Duck Bread from my apprenticeship had red, yellow, and blue balloons on its wrapper. Perhaps Betsy did her apprenticeship in their bakery so that she could make this listing:

Seller: Betsy's Books Georgia
Seller Rating:94% positive over the past 12 months. (53 total ratings)
In Stock. Ships from GA, United States.
Domestic shipping rates and return policy.

Never red, but slightly yellowed and worn from age

A Strategic Plan for the 21st Century

2011-05-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

Here at Greyhound’s Books we are unabashedly an Upper Middle-Class (UMC) Bookstore. We come by it naturally, because it is, and has been, our life position thanks to our parents who worked so hard to help their children climb into the educated, professional ranks of society. In many ways, we’ve acquired our educations the hard way - school yes, life-learning, apprenticeships, and hard work combined with rote memorization. In other words, we’re authorized to be snobs because we’ve demonstrated our professional credentials, good taste, and discriminating eyes.

Our stock is designed to appeal to the UMC: we sell quality books, don’t bother with what I generally call “crap,” - either in condition or content -and require a certain level of knowledge and taste from our customer base. If you have no idea of what you want to buy, you generally get short shrift from us. If you vaguely know what you want, we have all the time in the world to work with you. If you look like a freak, you’re usually not welcome. Cell phones are anathema.

Our model has worked very well for us - we aren’t constantly churning low-cost books, our average book price is $ 18.00, and the average customer usually buys two or three books in an order. To us, that’s the ideal.

Remember Walden Books ? How about B. Dalton and Crown Books ? Borders the Bankrupt ? Barnes soon to be IgNoble ? Stupid business models invoke Darwin. The death rattles of these operations leads us to a plan for opening a new bricks & mortar store, or re-evaluating a current business model.

The age-old business model for used book stores still obtains: paperbacks pay the rent, hardbounds buy the jam. We generally oppose this model, but I think it’s a great way to go for the future, with certain conditions. A general bookstore tries to be all things to all people. We also tend to think that genres that sold very well in the past will continue to sell well in the future. This isn’t necessarily the case. The Hippy Dippys are dying off, thank God. So much for hemp, grass, gunny sacks, LSD, indiscriminate sex, and toe-foo. Yuk ! If we make buying reading matter - not books, per se - easy and fun, we’ll grow and prosper because we’ll be local outlet alternatives to buying on the internet.

Who is Sanora Babb and Why Was Her Timing So Very Bad ?

2011-05-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

We have the largest selection of author-signed books in the Valley -over 2500 different titles in all genres - so we're always looking for more. Sanora Babb's first published novel is The Lost Traveler and we bought an inscribed copy of it this week. Much of a Bookman's time is taken up in research. We have to make sure we're providing our customers with good and absolute value for their money. Doing this, of course leads us to find out very interesting facts about books and authors. Old Sanora Baby, was quite the gal ! Follow the link, if you'd like to become enthralled: Sanora Babb

There were giants in the land in those days...

A B(ad) A(ttitude) A(ppears)

2011-05-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I applied for ABAA membership a number of years age, but couldn't get enough members to endorse me. Why ? Not because of the quality of our stock-in-trade, but because I'd built no buying relationship with my potential sponsors. As the late, great Mark Twain, or perhaps - it's disputable - Groucho Marx said: I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member. Today's question came in the e-mail from our colleague Ann DeVere at Plaza Books:

I ask you, how can a so-called ABAA dealer describe a book as follows?:

ISBN 0671626191
Simon & Schuster, 1990 1990; Cloth. First Edition. ISBN:0-671-62619-1. Very fine copy in a fine jacket. Wrinkle bottom panel. Library sticker and stamp front paste down. First Edition Fine Cloth Book; First Edition; 0671626191 Very Fine (Fiction 0-671-62619-1)

Jeff Bergman Books ABAA/ILAB
[United States]

Ann

BookThink's Top Ten Auctioned Books on eBay for April 2011

2011-05-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Just the fiction, M'am, just the fiction:
Top Ten

Pusillanimous Pissants !

2011-05-09T15:06:00.000-07:00

A gentleman called today looking for a book. He had seen an overage, overweight, overwomaned actor on a television show hosted by three women who lack only brains, taste, and a cauldron to be Shakespeare creations.
When OOOA was asked what he had done to overcome the tribulations of his pitiful existence - although the question was couched in the vernacular - his response was that his reading of a particular book carried the day for him. The book ?
Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me by Richard Farina, who is quite appropriately named. The potential customer couldn't find a copy in the Valley. He also sounded like a mature individual. I asked him if he knew anything about the book, to which he responded: "Well, OOOA said it was good." I reached orbit in 7 seconds flat ! After denigrating the mental abilities of all involved in the television program, I read to him a precis of the book:
"Farina evokes the Sixties as precisely, wittily, and poignantly as F. Scott Fitzgerald captured the Jazz Age. The hero, Gnossus Pappadopoulis, weaves his way through the psychedelic landscape, encountering among other things mescaline, women, art, gluttony, falsehood, science, prayer, and, occasionally, truth."

The response: "Thank you very much, sir. You're right, they're all imbeciles. I don't want to read that book."

My response: "I told you so !"
Mutual laughter ensued.

Busty & Butty Chicks with Big Hair

2011-05-03T13:24:00.000-07:00

Frank Frazetta the heroic fantasy cover artist, is known for, to use current parlance, hot chicks, in leather, or nothing but skin - big busts, big butts, big hair. They pair - no pun intended - very nicely with his massive thighed, heroic men with big swords and bigger muscles. Think Sophia Loren in her heyday and Ahhhnold with no accent. But wait, there's more to our Frank.

George Macdonald Fraser wrote a wonderful series about Harry Flashman- Tom Brown's nemesis - who was a coward, a poltroon, a womanizer, and a cad who rose from leftenant to major general in the 19th century British Army. Frazetta also did a cover for one of the Flashman books - it's rather scarce - and guess what: B&BCWBH. The art is completely inappropriate for the book, but it is a Frazetta cover that's getting scarcer and scarcer.

My thanks to Ann DeVere, Plaza Books, for calling and correcting my egregious error in the original post.

Modern Library Books

2011-05-03T12:33:00.000-07:00

Our friend, Maryann, a local Las Vegas author, has developed a fascination for Modern Library Books. Our friends, Michael and Andy deserted us to open a fine bookstore in Horse Cave, Kentucky. We all still talk and interact, and Michael sent us an interesting piece on Modern Library books. You might also want to check our previous post on Modern Librarys after you look at this:

Unfortunately, no citation came from Michael, but since he's trustworthy, here it is:

Designing a Liberal Arts Curriculum using Modern Library titles
Why Modern Library?
From it's inception, the Modern Library was intended to be a collection of Literary Classics. Today, many homeschooling families are building their own curriculum returning to a more "Classical" education.

We included some subject areas beyond a typical Liberal Arts Curriculum, well, because we could.
Modern Library books are compact, easy to handle, sturdy and in many cases collectible. There are many series books for younger homeschool children to read, use and collect, but few for the high school age student, especially those preparing for college. Utilizing Modern Library Titles inspire both the scholar and book collector in a student.

ML (Modern Library Small Size)
MLG (Modern Library Giants)

Ancient Western World
Aeschylus - Prometheus Bound (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Aeschylus - Agamemnon (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Aeschylus - Complete Greek Tragedies Vol I, II - ML 310.1 & ML 311.1

Apuleius - The Golden Ass - ML 88.2

Aristophanes - The Frogs (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Aristotle - Introduction to Aristotle - ML 248.1

Aristotle - Politics - ML 228.1

Aristotle - Rhetoric & Poetics - ML 246.2

Caesar - Gallic Wars and Other Writings - ML 295.1

Cicero - Basic Works - ML 272.1

Euripides - Complete Greek Tragedies Vol V, VI & VII - ML 314.1, ML 315.1, ML 316.1

Euripides - Alcestis (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Euripides - Medea (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Gibbon - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - MLG 6.2 & MLG 7.2 & MLG 8.2

Graves - I, Claudius - ML 20.2

Herodotus - Persian Wars - ML 255.1

Edith Hamilton - The Greek Way - ML 320.1

Homer - Iliad - ML 166.1 or ML 166.2 or

Homer - Odyssey - ML 167.1 or ML 167.2 or ML 167.3

Homer - Complete Works of Homer - MLG 19.1 or MLG 19.2

Horace - Complete Works of Horace - ML 141.2

Multiple Authors - Greek Poets - ML 203.2

Multiple Authors - Hellenistic Philosophy - ML 356.1

Multiple Authors - Latin Poets - ML 217.2

Multiple Authors - Roman Comedies - ML 337.1

Multiple Authors - Seven Famous Greek Plays - ML 158.2

Multiple Authors - Stoic and Epicurian Philosophers - MLG 45.2

Pater - Maruis the Epicurian - ML 90.1

Petronius - Satyricon - ML 156.1

Plato - The Works of Plato - ML 181.1

Sophocles - Complete Greek Tragedies Vol III & IV - ML 312.1 & ML 313.1

Sophocles - Antigone (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Sophocles - Oedipus the King (Contained in Seven Famous Greek Plays) - ML 158.2

Suetonius - Lives of the Twelve Caesars - ML 188.1

Tacitus - Complete Works of Tacitus - ML 227.1

Thucydides - Complete Writings of Thucydides - ML 58.2 (Intro by Gavorse and Color Map) or ML 58.3

Virgil - Virgil's Works - ML 75.2 (Intro by Charles Durham) or ML 75.3
Medieval World (c. 1066-1485)
Thomas a Kempis - The Imitation of Christ (Contained in Consolation of Philosophy) ML 226.1

Aquinas - Introduction to St. Thomas Aquinas - ML 259.1

Augustine - Confessions - ML 263.1

Boccaccio - Decameron - ML 71.3 or ML 71.4 (Frances Winwar Translation)

Boethius - Consolation of Philosophy (Contained in Consolation of Philosophy) ML 226.1

Sir Thomas Browne - Religio Medici (Contained in Consolation of Philosophy) ML 226.1

Chaucer - Canterbury Tales - ML 161.1 or ML 161.2

Chaucer - Troilus and Cressida - ML 126.2

Dante - Divine Comedy - ML 208.1 (Introduction by C. H. Grandgent) or ML 208.2

Dante - Inferno - ML (Unnumbered)

Dante - Paradiso - ML (Unnumbered)

Dante - Purgatario - ML (Unnumbered)

Froissart's Chronicles - ML 387.1

Multiple Authors - The Consolation of Philosophy ML 226.1

Multiple Authors - Medieval Epics - MLG 87.1

Multiple Authors - Medieval Philosophy - 344.1
Renaissance (c. 1485-1660)
More Titles To Come
Francis Bacon - Selected Writings of Francis Bacon - ML 256.2
Donne - The Complete Poetry and Selected Prose of John Dunne - ML 12.3
Machiavelli - The Prince and the Discourses - ML 65.3
Dmitri Merejkowski - The Romance of Leonardo Da Vinci - ML 138.1
Walter Pater - The Renaissance - ML 86.1

William Shakespeare - The Comedies Volume One ML 4.5 and Volume Two ML 5.4
Restoration (c. 1660-1702)
More Titles To Come
Anthology - Twelve Plays of the Restoration - MLG 10.1

Pierre Corneille & Jean Racine - Six Plays by Corneille and Racine - ML 194.1

Samuel Pepys - Diary of Samuel Pepys - ML 103.1
Eighteenth Century (1700-1799)
More Titles To Come
Joseph Addison - Cato (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1
Anthology - Twelve Plays of the Restoration - MLG 10.1

Boswell - The Life of Samuel Johnson - ML 282.1 (Abridged)

Henry Fielding - The Tragedy of Tragedies (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

John Gay - The Beggar's Opera (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Gibbon - Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire - MLG 6.2 & MLG 7.2 & MLG 8.2

J. W. Goethe - The sorrows of Young Werther and Novella - ML (Unnumbered)

Oliver Goldsmith - She Stoops to Conquer (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Oliver Goldsmith - The Vicar of Wakefield and Other Writings - ML 291.1

George Lillo - The London Merchant (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Ludwig - Napoleon - ML 95.2

Nicholas Rowe - The Tragedy of Jane Shore (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Richard Brinsley Sheridan - The Rivals (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Smollett - The Expedition of Humphry Clinker - ML 159.1

Richard Steele - The Conscious Lovers (Contained in 18th Century Plays) - ML 224.1

Jonathan Swift - Gulliver's Travels - ML 100.2 or ML 100.4

Various - 18th Century Plays - ML 224.1
English Romantic Literature (c. 1770-1880)
More Titles To Come
Shelly - Selected Poetry and Prose - ML 274.1

Alfred Lloyd Tennyson - The Selected Poetry of Tennyson - ML 230.2
Victorian Literature (c. 1819-1901)
More Titles To Come
Bronte - Wuthering Heights - ML 106.1 (Introduction by Rose Macaulay) or ML 106.2 (Introduction by Royal Gettmann)

Samuel Butler - The Way of All Flesh - ML 13.1 (introduction by R. A. Streatfeild)

Lewis Carroll - Complete Works of Lewis Carroll - MLG 28.1

Joseph Conrad - Lord Jim - ML 186.1

Joseph Conrad - Nostromo - ML 275.1

Joseph Conrad - Victory - ML 34.2

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - The Adventures and Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes - ML 206.2

George Meredith - Diana of the Crossways - ML 14.1

George Meredith - The Egoist - ML 253.1 or ML 253.2

George Meredith - The Ordeal of Richard Feverel - ML 134.2

John Stuart Mill - Philosophy of John Stuart Mill - ML 322.1

Mary Shelley - Frankenstein - Unnumbered

Francis Thompson - Complete Poems of Francis Thompson - ML 38.2

William M. Thackeray - Henry Esmond - ML 80.3

Oscar Wilde - The Plays of Oscar Wilde: Salome, The Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Windermere's Fan, A Woman of No Importance, An Ideal Husband - ML 83.2

19th and 20th Century American Literature
More Titles To Come
Sherwood Anderson - Winesburg, Ohio - ML 104.1

Edward Bellamy - Looking Backward (2000-1887) - ML 22.3

James Fenimore Cooper - The Pathfinder - ML 105.2

Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage - ML 130.3 or ML 130.4 (introduction by Robert Stallman)

William Faulkner - Absalom! Absalom! - ML 271.1

William Faulkner - Go Down, Moses - ML 175.4

William Faulkner - Light in August - ML 88.5 or ML 88.6 (without introduction by Richard Rovere)

William Faulkner - The Sound and the Fury (Corrected Text)- ML (Unnumbered)

Bret Harte - The Best Short Stories of Bret Harte - ML 250.1

John P. Marquand - The Late George Apley- ML 182.2

Irwin Shaw - The Young Lions- ML 112.3

Irving Stone - Lust for Life- ML 11.3

Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin - ML 261.1

James Thurber - The Thurber Carnival - ML 85.3

Mark Twain - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs' Court - ML 162.3

Eudora Welty - Selected Stories - ML 290.1

Edith Wharton - The Age of Innocence - ML 229.1
19th and 20th Century American Drama
More Titles To Come
Maxwell Anderson - Winterset (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1
Robert Anderson - Tea and Sympathy (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
George Axelrod - The Seven Year Itch (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan - Mister Roberts (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1
Lillian Hellman - The Little Foxes (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1
William Inge - Come Back, Little Sheba (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
George Kaufman and Moss Hart - The Man Who Came to Dinner (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1
Arthur Miller - Death of a Salesman (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
Eugene O'Neill - The Long Voyage Home: Seven Plays of the Sea - ML 111.2
Eugene O'Neill - The Emperor Jones (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1
Tennessee Williams - The Glass Menagerie (Contained in Six Modern American Plays) - ML 276.1

Tennessee Williams - A Streetcar Named Desire (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
Herman Wouk - The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (Contained in New Voices in the American Theatre) - ML 258.3
19th and 20th Century American Poetry
More Titles To Come

Lonnie Adams (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Conrad Aiken (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Lee Anderson (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Howard Baker (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

John Peale Bishop (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

R. P. Blackmur (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Louise Bogan (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Anna Hemstead Branch (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

John Malcolm Brinnin (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Harry Brown (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Witter Bynner (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Malcolm Cowley (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Hart Crane (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

e. e. cummings - The Enormous Room - ML 214.1

e. e. cummings (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Emily Dickinson (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Richard Eberhart (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

T. S. Eliot (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

John Gould Fletcher (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Lloyd Frankenberg (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Robert Frost (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Horace Gregory (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Marsden Hartley (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

H. D. (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Robert Hillyer (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Robinson Jeffers (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Alfred Kreymborg (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Vachel Lindsay (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Amy Lowell (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Archibald MacLeish (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Edna St. Vincent Millay (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Marianne Moore (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Multiple Authors - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Kenneth Patchen (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Ezra Pound (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

H. Phelps Putnam (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

John Crowe Ransom (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Edwin Arlington Robinson (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Muriel Rukeyser (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Carl Sandberg (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

George Santayana (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Delmore Schwartz (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Karl Jay Shapiro (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Theodore Spencer (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Wallace Stevens (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Trumbull Stickney (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Allen Tate (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Mark Van Doren (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Jose Garcia Villa (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Robert Penn Warren (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

John Wheelwright (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Walt Whitman - Leaves of Grass - ML 97.2 or MLG 50.1

Oscar Williams (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

William Carlos Williams (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Edmund Wilson (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Yvor Winters (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Elinor Wylie (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

Marya Zaturenska (Included in Anthology) - Twentieth Century American Poetry - ML 127.3

19th and 20th Century African-American Literature
More Titles To Come
Ralph Ellison - Invisible Man - ML 338.1

Lorraine Hansberry - A Raisin in the Sun - ML (Unnumbered)

19th and 20th Century British Literature
More Titles To Come
W. Somerset Maugham - Of Human Bondage - ML 176.1

W. Somerset Maugham - The Moon and Sixpence - ML 27.2

H. H. Munro (Saki) - The Short Stories of Saki - ML 280.1

Hugh Walpole - Fortitude - ML 178.1

H. G. Wells - Tono-Bungay - ML 197.1

19th and 20th Century British and Irish Drama
More Titles To Come
Paul Vincent Carroll - Shadow and Substance (Contained in Five Great Modern Irish Plays) - ML 30.3
Lady Gregory - Spreading the News (Contained in Five Great Modern Irish Plays) - ML 30.3
Sean O'Casey - Juno and the Paycock (Contained in Five Great Modern Irish Plays) - ML 30.3
George Bernard Shaw - Bernard Shaw's: Saint Joan, Major Barbara, Androcles and the Lion - ML 294.1
George Bernard Shaw - Four Plays by Bernard Shaw: Candida, Caesar & Cleopatra, Pygmalion, Heartbreak House - ML 19.3

John M. Synge - The Playboy of the Western World (Contained in Five Great Modern Irish Plays) - ML 30.3

John M. Synge - Riders to the Sea (Contained in Five Great Modern Irish Plays) - ML 30.3

Various - Five Great Modern Irish Plays - ML 30.3
19th and 20th Century Danish Literature
Isak Dinesen - Seven Gothic Tales - ML 54.3
19th and 20th Century French Literature and Drama
More Titles To Come
Jean Anouilh - Antigone (Contained in Four Contemporary French Plays) - ML 90.3
Albert Camus - Caligula (Contained in Four Contemporary French Plays) - ML 90.3
Alexandre Dumas, fils - Camille - ML 69.2
Gustave Flaubert - Madame Bovary - ML 28.1 (Aveling Translation) - ML 28.2 (Aveling Translation with Introduction) - ML 28.3 (Francis Steegmuller Translation)

Anatole France - Penguin Island - ML 210.1
Andre Gide - The Counterfeiters - ML 187.1 - ML 327.1 (With the Journal of The Counterfeiters)
Jean Giraudoux - The Madwoman of Chaillot (Contained in Four Contemporary French Plays) - ML 90.3

Andre Malraux - Man's Fate - ML 33.2 or ML 33.3

Marcel Proust - Cites of the Plain (Complete in One Volume) - ML 220.1

Marcel Proust - The Guermantes Way (Complete in One Volume) - ML 213.1

Edmond Rostand - Cyrano de Bergerac - ML 154.1

Jean-Paul Sartre - No Exit (Contained in Four Contemporary French Plays) - ML 90.3

Stendahl (Marie-Henri Beyle) - The Red and the Black - ML 157.1

Various - Four Contemporary French Plays - ML 90.3
19th and 20th Century German Literature
More Titles To Come
Thomas Mann - Doctor Faustus: The Life of the German composer Adrian Leverkuhn as told by a Friend - ML 365.1
19th and 20th Century Jewish Literature
More Titles To Come
Sholom Aleichem - Selected Stories of Sholom Aleichem - ML 145.2
19th and 20th Century Russian Literature
More Titles To Come
Anton Chekhov - Best Plays - ML 171.2

Anton Chekhov - The Short Stories of Anton Chekhov - ML 50.5

Dostoyevsky - Crime and Punishment - ML 199.2

Dostoyevsky - Possessed - ML 55.3

Dostoyevsky - Brothers Karamazov - MLG 36.1

Leo Tolstoy - Short Novels Volume One - ML 354.1

Ivan Turgenev - Fathers and Sons - ML 21.2
American History
More Titles To Come
William Bradford - Of Plymouth Plantation 1620-1647 - ML 379.1

Stephen Crane - The Red Badge of Courage - ML 130.3 or ML 130.4

Thomas Jefferson - Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson - ML 234.1

Allan Nevins and Henry Steele Commager - A Short History of the United States (New Enlarged Edition) - ML 235.3

Vincent Sheean - Personal History - ML 32.3

Harriet Beecher Stowe - Uncle Tom's Cabin - ML 261.1
Biographies and Biographical Novels
More Titles To Come
Henry Adams - The Education of Henry Adams - ML 76.2

Benjamin Franklin - The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin - ML 39.2

John Gunther - Death Be Not Proud - ML 286.1

Irving Stone - Lust for Life- ML 11.3

Lytton Strachey - Eminent Victorians: Biographical Sketches of Cardinal Manning, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Arnold of Rugby, and General Charles George Gordon - ML 212.1

Henry David Thoreau - Walden and Other Writings of Henry David Thoreau - ML 155.2
Political Theory
More Titles To Come
Karl Marx - Capital, The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings - ML 202.1
Philosophy
Absurdism
Albert Camus - Caligula (Contained in Four Contemporary French Plays) - ML 90.3
Albert Camus - The Fall & Exile and the Kingdom - ML 352.1
Albert Camus - The Plague - ML 109.2
Albert Camus - Resistance, Rebellion, and Death - ML 339.1
Empiricism

John Stuart Mill - Philosophy of John Stuart Mill - ML 322.1
Existentialism

Franz Kafka - Selected Stories of Franz Kafka - ML 283.1
Marxism/Socialism
Karl Marx - Capital, The Communist Manifesto and Other Writings - ML 202.1
Pragmatism
John Dewey - Human Nature and Conduct - ML 173.1

George Santayana - The Sense of Beauty: Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory - ML 292.1
Rationalism
Rene Descartes - Philosophical Writings - ML 43.4

Benedictus de Spinoza - The Philosophy of Spinoza - ML 60.3
Psychology
Karl Abraham (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Alfred Adler (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Franz Alexander (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Michael Balint (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Therese Benedek (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Mabel Blake Cohen (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Erik Erikson (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Thomas French (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Sigmund Freud - The Interpretation of Dreams - ML 96.3

Erich Fromm (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Frieda Fromm-Reichmann (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Karen Horney - (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Ernest Jones (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Viola Klein (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Ernst Kris (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

A. H. Maslow & Bela Mittelman (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Rollo May (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Sandor Rado (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Otto Rank (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Willhelm Reich (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Janet MacKenzie Rioch (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Ernest Schachtel (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Ella Freeman Sharpe (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

William Silverberg (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Harry Stack Sullivan (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Clara Thompson (Included in Anthology) - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

Misc Authors - An Outline of Psycho-Analysis (Revised) - ML 66.2

A Book Fair Experience

2011-05-03T12:14:00.000-07:00

Book shows and sales aren't anywhere near as good as they were 25 years ago. Booth rentals have skyrocketed, organizers have really gotten into their horses' patoot personas, and customers are more interested in looking than in buying. However, there's hope: New York Antiquarian Book Fair

An Absolutely Beautiful Modern Library

2011-04-09T12:57:00.000-07:00

We have several customers and friends who collect the Modern Library. Our friends Jim & Carol were in this week to cruise the MLs, and he was telling us about his collection. Not only did he manufacture cases to match an antique European case they had owned, he actually paid someone to learn how to use Photoshop so that he could recreate the original dustjackets his collection was missing. Good God, book people are just splendid. Take a close look at his work:

AE Monthly Article

2011-04-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Susan Halas gives us a historical perspective on a family of booksellers. Once again, I recommend that you subscribe to the AE Monthly newsletter.
Halas History

Silver Spring Books, Silver Spring Maryland

2011-03-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Many years ago I was a member of a group shop that was wholly minority-owned: four-and-a-half Black People, and me, the solitary Jew Boy. The half was the son of one of our partners. Now, two African Americans still remain there - yes, things have changed as has vocabulary. But, I'm still with Cynthia and Dan in spirit. Cynthia sent this article to me from the local rag, and I thought you might recognize the store. Hint: it's quite similar to the one Barb & I have here in Las Vegas. Now, if we can only get Cynthia to come out here for a visit we'll be happy !

The Silver Bee by Debbie Cook, 3/24/2011

http://thesilverbee.com/2011/03/24/unique-cozy-funky-vintage-shop-silver-spring-books/

Unique, Cozy, Funky and Vintage – Silver Spring Books

March 24th, 2011 Categories: Silver Spring Businesses, silver spring real estate

I’ve always liked this bookstore. The atmosphere, arrangement and smell remind me of the “bookmobile” that used to come to our neighborhood when I was a kid. Remember them? This place is exactly what you think of when you think of a great used book shop. Long rows of tall bookshelves, cluttered, dusty, books piled almost to the ceiling. It’s packed with books, hardbacks, paperbacks, periodicals, reference books, magazines and a huge selection of romance novels. The organization here is a little crazy, but searching for a book is half the fun of visiting this shop. Just browsing in here is a great relaxing escape and I could do it for hours. Rooting through shelves and stacks of miscellaneous books is a experience you can’t put a price on. The prices are decent, higher but sometimes much lower than online used bookstores but competitive if you consider that you don’t have to pay for shipping or wait for your books to arrive.

Looking for a specific category or author? You may need to look in two to four different places. Because the store handles books for multiple used book dealers, and they each get their own area of the store, one book or author may exist in a different section for each of the sellers.

Co-owner, Cynthia Parker, is an expert in Romance Novels. She has won an award for promoting romance novels and writers. The award is proudly displayed at the front desk. Cynthia was wearing a pink “Books – The Original Search Engine” T Shirt when I visited. She says they are struggling to stay in business right now.

There used to be a lot of these used bookstores, but they are mostly gone. Remember Bonifant Books? This one moved to Wheaton – then died. I also remember a cool little used bookstore being on that strip of Sligo Avenue where Jackie’s Restaurant is now. It is great to see this one still hanging on after 20 years in business.

Shop this store, and support a local Silver Spring business. It’s definitely a different experience than you will have around the corner at the huge Silver Spring Border’s Store.

This perfect little independent book store is within walking distance of Downtown Silver Spring/METRO. Located on the “eclectic” part of Bonifant Street, between Georgia Avenue and Fenton Street. Don’t drive or walk down this street too fast, or you might miss it, the storefront is inset next to the Ambros Tattoo Parlor, just past the Atlantic Gun Shop.

Silver Spring Books
938 Bonifant Street
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
(301) 587-7484

One Writer's Experience - Time for a Cigarette !

2011-03-24T13:55:00.000-07:00

Those of us who grew up in the book trade many years ago scorned "Vanity Press" books, and other self-published books. The digital age gives us all - including your not-so-humble servant - the opportunity to appear in print, or electrons. As I have mentioned in the past, our friend Maryann Guberman writes a LOT ! Her book gestation and birthing process is just about complete now, and if you want the rest of the delivery-room info, visit her at
Maryann's Blog, or if you want to download her book, $2.99, click below
The Mine
Or, maybe even both ! Enjoy

Children's Books from BookThinker Part II

2011-03-23T07:59:00.000-07:00

The education continues: Children's Books II

Some Days I Just Don't Know...

2011-03-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

We were outside, having a cigarette, and a young woman walked into the store. It was my turn, so I walked in after her, and asked the usual question: "Can I help you with anything ?" And it went downhill from there.

- Oh, it's a bookstore ! (I could see the smiley face showing through
         her forehead)
- We like to think so. (Smile)
- You have books ! (Modified rapture)
- About 20,000. Are you looking for anything in particular ? (Bigger Smile)
- Are they new ?
- No, they're for the most part new-looking, but are generally used,
        out-of-print or collectible. (Smile starting to fade)
- But they're all on shelves (I could see the amazed look showing through
        her forehead)
- We like it better that way. (Smile has faded)
- Oh. Then they're not in any order. (Out the door)

Children's Books from BookThinker

2011-03-15T11:54:00.000-07:00

Once again, I would encourage you to subscribe to this e-letter because they have some great information there: Children's Books

One Writers Experience

2011-03-11T12:54:00.000-08:00

Our friend and colleague Maryann writes a LOT ! She has been published in many venues over the years, but she has recently started a blog about her writing, past and present. She's just detailed her efforts in creating an e-book. The six part series is below, and quite interesting for both the fledgling and the experienced author. Take a look: Writer Blog

Some Model Bookstores

2011-03-01T12:18:00.000-08:00

From August 2010 Fine Books & Collections: Stores

A Bookmobile from Fine Books & Collections

2011-03-01T12:15:00.000-08:00

I always wanted a bookmobile, and still do.
This one is really cool ! CoolMobile

AE Monthly Articles Worth Reading

2011-03-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

The future of antiquarian bookselling: Antiquarian

Powell's Lays Off Employees: Powell's

eBay Top 10 for December 2010

2011-02-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

The latest eBay Top 10 Books info is at The BookThinker at the link below. As usual, interesting information, and I'd urge you to subscribe.

eBay Top 10 December 2010

An Interesting Retrospective

2011-02-01T12:26:00.000-08:00

Joyce Godsey writes interesting articles, some of which have appeared here. In the current AE Monthly, she has
yet another real gem on the book business: AE Monthly

Ciao, Ciao, Bambino or Ave atque Vale

2011-01-31T12:28:00.000-08:00

For the last two months I've been locked in Ancient Rome, with the Colleen McCullough series on Julius Caesar; three of the Conn Iggulden Roman series; Tacitus; Suetonius; Livy; an excellent new biography of Cicero of "Quam diu Catalina" third-year Latin fame; Ruth Downie's Medicus series; Lindsey Davis's Falco series; and I'm now rereading the John Maddox Roberts mystery series, having just finished Morris West's Clowns of God.
Steven Saylor's books are just hanging out on my shelves, gathering dust while waiting their turn.The best part is that every one of these books is great ! In addition to Donna Leon's mysteries, there are other literary and literate books set in Italy - Literary Fiction Set In Italy
Eat your heart out, Stephen King !

Never a Dull Moment

2011-01-28T12:10:00.000-08:00

Since we are a small store, we must limit the genres that we carry - we don't carry psycho-babble self-help books; best sellers unless they are best sellers that have proven their enduring worth, and then only in First Editions; popular biographies of glitterati; or the rest of the genres we consider to be crap. An individual came in yesterday looking for sociology, which we don't have. He then asked for Kalil Gibran, which we do. Then came the real question: "Where are your books on hemp ?"
Popular aids to delusion we don't have, either. Then came my education for the day when he told me, and I quote: "You need to research hemp, man ! It's the only thing that'll save us from those who are going to come to destroy the
Earth !"

Recommended Internet Dealers Here at Home

2011-01-26T14:31:00.000-08:00

I can, without any equivocation, most highly recommend several on-line dealers who are not only based in Las Vegas, but also have brick-and-mortar stores here:

Plaza Books: Plaza Books

Cat's Curiosities: Cat's Curiosities

Amber Unicorn Books: Amber Unicorn

And, Greyhound's Books sells only in the store, but does have a web presence: Greyhound's Books

This just in from a Colleague

2011-01-26T12:05:00.000-08:00

I do tend to bemoan the lack of professionalism demonstrated by many - not all - on-line book sellers. The true Bookmen are OK, but these folks comprise only about a quarter of the internet selling community. One of our colleagues sent the following our to our Bookmans Guild members for our information, and delectation:

From Our Colleague to "Better World Books", Indiana regarding a copy of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale they have for sale, a purported First Edition:

Wondering whether this copy of "Casino Royale" could really be a Macmillan 1953 or '54 edition (as advertised) in the classic red & green dust wrapper, not the far more common book club edition in gray banded DJ with tiny silhouettes of babe and pistol (of which every used book dealer has thrown away dozens)
From Better World Books to our colleague:

Hi, Thank you for your inquiry! This is the first edition of the book that was published in 1953. It is not the book club edition. It does still have its dust jacket, but there are two tears on the front cover of the dust jacket. If you have any additional questions please don't hesitate to let us know. Thanks for your interest in Better World Books!
Sincerely,
Stefanie
Better World Books

From Our Colleague to "Better World Books"
The book has now arrived, in its unpadded plastic body bag. Yep, tears to top of DJ front panel: check. But it's the 5 3/4 X 8 1/2-inch later BOOK CLUB EDITION, hardly worth the postage.

"Book Club Edition" is clearly stated at bottom of front DJ flap. Nowhere in this book is "First Printing" or any other printing stated, as required on any trade edition by Macmillan's 1947 publisher's statement, per Zempel & Verkler Fourth Edition, page 359. Unclipped DJ shows NO PRICE. Copyright page (the page Stefanie would have had to check to determine whether this was a first edition) carries zip code "10011" as part of publisher's address. Since U.S. zip codes were first introduced in 1963, how could a zip code appear in a 1953 first edition?

Nor was this error caused by a scanner. There's no bar code to scan; no ISBN anywhere.

I didn't try to buy this book via Amazon or from some Scannerboy via eBay; I used the Antiquarian Booksellers Exchange. I didn't just cross my fingers and hope, I e-mailed an inquiry and waited for a reply.

This is not even some "hard one," where trade edition and BCE look identical save for deboss to rear board or something even trickier.

It's been only a few weeks since you advised me not to even bother returning the "1952 Go Tell It On the Mountain" (which, upon receipt, turned out to be clearly identified as "Eleventh printing 1972" with ISBN) and the "1957 From Russia With Love" (actually clearly identified on copyright page as 1972 with ISBN, listing 9 later James Bond titles, and with the full-page ad for the posthumous Ian Fleming biography on rear panel.)

Even if it I were presumptuous enough to try and advise you re. your business model, I would hardly know where to start.
Do you want this one back?

From me to you: Be careful out there, not everyone is as honest or as knowledgeable as many of us in the Valley are.

Our Motto: Books of Worth In All Genres

2011-01-20T13:28:00.000-08:00

If a book is good, we try to stock it irrespective of price, given our limited space, If a book is very good, we try harder to have it available for our customers. If a book is great...
William Lashner is an author new to us. I have thought for quite some time that Steve Martini in his Paul Madriani series writes the best lawyerly mysteries around, even though his stand-alone books except for The Simeon Chamber suck. Wrong, as usual - oh, well. Lashner writes incredibly witty lawyerly books, and is well worth your reading time. It appears that the prices of his books in collectible condition so far is quite low, and I tend to believe that they will not skyrocket. But, if you want a good read, buy him in paperback. Now.
Lashner's Website

Howard Schwartz and Patterson Smith

2011-01-19T15:18:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes ! Non-stop gambling and non-stop book selling in Las Vegas. Our friend and colleague, Howard Schwartz, late of the Gambler's Book Club, stopped in to educate us yet again, and brought a hard-copy monograph on gambling books that had emerged from the morass of his file cabinet. The gentleman who wrote it some number of years ago is still alive, well, and expert. We promised to tell you things you may not know, and here's one of them. Actually, several. If you follow the links below, you'll be directed to Patterson Smith's website, and two very interesting articles.

Patterson Smith

Patterson Smith1

Patterson Smith 2

A Colleage Asked...II

2011-01-18T11:59:00.000-08:00

We get many calls for book appraisals, and most people decide against paying the $ 150.00 per hour that we charge for them. We also discourage people from investing in appraisals unless they have some kind of provenance for the book, or strong knowledge that the book is worth considerably more than the appraisal fee. If you look at the research I did for my colleague and my response to her. you'll see why this is:

1. Title: Myrsky Nousee - this has no possible relationship to German, as the letter combinations are wrong. It could be Russian, but that's one of the languages I'm fluent in. It isn't. The "see" part of Nousee is a common North and East European word for "Sea" so that delimits the area of the world to Europe. It couldn't be French, Flemish, Spanish Portuguese, Romanian, or Italian, again because the letter combinations are all wrong. There are no diacritical marks in any of the text you sent me, so that pretty much eliminates Hungarian, Czech, Slovak, and Polish. So, we look to the north. Norwegian is out, as is Danish.

2. The copyright page gives no locational information - where it was published - except for JUVA - which is in Eastern Finland. A Google search would have led you to this, and thus the probable identification of the language.

3. Another Google search would have led you to the Finnish Rock band Musta Paraati, which recorded "Myrsky Nousee" - Storm Arising - in 1984.

4. Q.E.D. This is Latin, and expands to Quod Erat Demonstrandum - that which was to be proven.

5. The best part of all is learning that the Finns have rock bands !

A Colleague Asked...I

2011-01-18T11:46:00.000-08:00

Our monthly Las Vegas Bookmans Guild was last Wednesday night. One of my colleagues asked for some help in identifying a book she had bought just because it was unusual. She had done a search by the ISBN, and met with no success, so she sent me the following information from the copyright page:

englanninkielinen alkuteos
Red Storm Rising
c Jack Ryan Enterprises Ltd. and Larry Bond 1986
Published by agreement with
Lennart Sane Agency
ISBN 951-0-14528-9
WSOY:n graafiset laitokset
Juva 1987
8vo HB w/black cloth boards, DJ is black and red with the title "Myrsky Nousee"
in yellow and Tom Clancy in white. There is also a gold tear drop on the front.
(To Be Continued)