Tuesday, January 17, 2006

 

Working in the shop after being away...

...is always a joy. The first thing I do when I open the door is smile and ask everyone how they're doing (the books, that is). It's like walking into a room full of old friends.

I'm getting caught up with email and messages from my long weekend off, and I had an email from a new customer, Todd, who was in last week and was waxing enthusiastic about books in general, and a book he just bought and read at my shop in particular: "...I find myself gleaming with enthusiasm." How nice is that phrase, particularly when it relates to books. He wants advice for a beginning book collector, so here it is: Buy what you love. Simple. What themes are you passionate about? English poetry, cookery, Turkish history, musicology, books published in the U.S. before 1800, Australian autobiographies, the history of roofing nails? Find the fields that you love deeply and often irrationally, and find out what books are considered the best in those fields - "best" is somewhat subjective, perhaps "classic" is a better term. Or "any" if your subjects of interest are obscure enough. Visit all the used bookshops you possibly can and hoover up all the books in those fields. Read them. Keep them neatly arranged in sturdy bookcases. Warning: this is habit-forming and will consume vast swaths of your lifetime. Luckily, it's heaven, and it's FUN.

A few reading suggestions for anyone who loves books but doesn't know how to begin collecting:

Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone, St. Martin's, 1998. Gentle, easy reading about a book-loving couple who discovers the world of used books and booksellers. I think the jacket blurb for this said it was like A Year in Provence for booklovers. That about covers it - like a macaroon, it is light and fluffy, but enjoyable. If you like it, the authors have written several other books-about-books in a similar vein.

Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2000. Lovely essays about being a book fanatic from a bookish family. My kind of bookish book. Highly recommended.

A Gentle Madness: Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes, Owl, 1999. Scholarly and well-researched journalism on the history of book collecting and a few of the odd characters attracted to this lifestyle. If this is your cup of tea (as it surely is mine), rush out and buy all of Basbanes's other books.

Just a few. I've already mentioned others below, either in posts or comments, that bear repeating: of course, 84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff. And Sixpence House by Paul Collins (which is the very book that had Todd agleam, in case anyone was wondering).

Comments:
Welcome back, Sarah.

I agree with all your suggestions. I especially enjoyed Anne Fadiman's essays. The only other "joy of reading" suggestions I have are Ruined by Reading by Lynne Sharon Schwartz and a collection of essays Reading in Bed, selected and edited by Steven Gilbar.

Best,

Dan
 
I liked "Ruined by Reading" also, Dan. I'll look for "Reading in Bed" - I haven't come across it yet, I don't think...

One more: "Understanding Book Collecting" by Grant Uden. The focus is on British and European antiquarian books. Great plates throughout, and chapters on bookbinding, illustrated books, private press books, first editions, ephemera, letters and manuscripts, etc., and "The Adventure of Collecting." Full of book-lore - good stuff.
 
I've read all the books you mentioned,Sarah and Ruined by Reading as well(yep,being a show-off here)-84 Charing Cross Road is a favorite of mine. The follow-up books to 84(Duchess of Bloomsbury Street and Q's Legacy)are worth looking for.

Also,Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea is excellant for anyone who's
worked in a bookstore. You've probaly read Rare Books,Old Friends by Leona Rostenberg and Madeline Stern-I have one of their earlier
books,Old Books in the Old World. Wish I could've met them-not that many people keep on being Louisa May Alcott fans while in adulthood.
 
Fans of Anne Fadiman might enjoy Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit the Books they Love. Fadiman is the editor of the collection and contributed the wonderful forward. Don't miss Katherine Ashenburg on the Sue Barton Books, Picor Iyer on Lawrence's The Virgin and the Gypsy, and David Michaelis on the back of the Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.
 
I admire the Rostenberg/Stern books, and I wish I could've been in the book biz with them in their early years, when they were taking trips to Europe to hunt for antiquarian books.

*Sigh*

I have yet to read Anne Fadiman's new one, I keep eyeing it at Borders and knowing that as soon as I break down and buy a new copy, I will find a used copy somewhere - that's what always happens...
 
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