Here I Am, Take Me or Leave Me !

When the old Polish bookseller in Boston approached my father about "teaching the boy the book trade, because he's kind of smart," I was thrilled. I would no longer have to ask for an advance on my weekly one-dollar allowance to buy my Earl Derr Biggers' "good Chinaman" books or my Sax Rohmer "heathen Chinee" reading matter. What did I know ? I was thirteen years old, learning a trade, and getting paid in books. And all I had to do was work at learning about books. My mother and uncle were hand bookbinders, my dad a hand compositor, and I had learned to run a letter press at age nine, so at least the smells were familiar, and pleasant. I didn't know then about the duck bread. The first day on the job - a Monday after school - I went to Tony's book store and received five dollars. In change. My instructions were clear and simple: "This money is for books and car fare. Bring me back three feet of good history by Friday night, and walk as much as you can. Go to the junk shops and churches. Look for books. Don't argue about price. We'll work a little when you get here on Friday." With a few improvements, that's been my life for the last fifty years.

We Can No Longer Recommend First's Magazine

First's Magazine has been having problems with their guest authors for some time now, and I've generally ignored them. However, the errors contained in this month's issue are so egregious that I am compelled to advise against subscribing, reading, or recommending the magazine any more.  Greyhound's Books has been advertising in the magazine for quite some time, but will do so no longer. An article by an individual named Evan Klein is extremely poorly  researched and misleading as he  feebly attempts to provide values of the science fiction Hugo Award winners. Below are some examples, with 3 prices from reputable dealers, and Klein's guesses:

A Link You Might Have Been Missing

 Gee, there are other good blogs out there !

www.themysteriousbookshop.blogspot.com

A Book for All Places, or A Place in a Book

I was reading Nicholas Basbanes’ Every Book Its Reader, and came across a term I’d never heard of before:  Commonplace Book. Thence this bit of information that you might find to be of worth, and worthwhile doing for yourself.

You can’t tell a book by its cover, but maybe the title would help - or not !

You may not be able to find these in the Valley's bookstores, but you might, so here are reasonable RETAIL prices for these most interesting titles. Christmas gifts, anyone ?

Warfare in the Enemy’s Rear  O. Heilbrunn 1963  $ 20.00  -  $ 40.00
Selected Themes and Icons from Spanish Literature: Of Beards, Shoes, Cucumbers, and Leprosy 
            John Burt  1982     $ 200.00  -  $ 250.00
 What do Bunnies Do All Day ?  J. Mastrangelo 1988   $ 2.00  -  $ 8.00
 The Romance of Proctology  C. Blanton  1938   $ 200.00  -  $ 250.00
 How to Become a Schizophrenic  J. Modrow  1992  $ 20.00  -  $ 30.00
 Teach Yourself Alcoholism  M. Glatt  1975  $ 30.00  -  $ 50.00  (Paperback)
 Nasology; or Hints towards  a Classification of Noses  E. Warwick  1848 
        $ 200.00  -  $ 250.00
 Not Worth Reading  G. Arthur  1938  $ 40.00  -  $ 100.00

Book Facts From History

Homer’s Odyssey contained the earliest instance of a plot flashback.
Xu Shen’s Explaining Words, Analyzing Characters - 100 A.D. - is the first dictionary.
Harn Darn Jun’s Forest of Jokes  - 200 A.D.. - is the first joke book.
The Memoirs of Aratus of Sicyon - 213 B.C. - is the first autobiography.
The longest word that The Bard ever used is: honoroficabilitudinitatibus.

Timelines are always fun !

- October1809  Diedrich Knickerbocker disappears in New York.