Yesterday's New York Times ran an article about novelist and Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk's new museum. The Istanbul museum, which opened on Saturday, is based on Pamuk's 2008 novel, The Museum of Innocence. The display cases contain nearly one thousand objects--cigarette butts, earrings, ceramic dogs--described in the novel; the protagonist is a collector, of course. Here's a neat quote from the novelist about the project:

"As far as I know this is the first museum based on a novel," [Pamuk] said. "But it's not that I wrote a novel that turned out to be successful and then I thought of a museum. No, I conceived the novel and the museum together."

Don't miss the slideshow of images from the NYT.
Catalogue Review: Steve Finer Rare Books, #197

Steve Finer of Greenfield, Massachusetts, issues your traditional antiquarian booksellers' catalogue: a solid selection of books described in clear and witty prose, preceded by a personable letter. He calls the topics here his "predictable line of attack" -- i.e., agriculture, beverages, culinary history, domestic economy, and women.

The section of beer books is strong. One unique, ephemeral item caught my attention -- a "Receipt for making Doct. Cronk's Beer" circa 1850-60. Finer calls the handbill "evidently unknown & unrecorded" ($150). In addition to menus and antiquarian cookbooks, he also offers several manuscript recipe books from the mid-to-late nineteenth century, ranging in price from $100-$250. Mock pigeon, anyone?

In domestic economy, we have all manner of good housekeeping advice. Catherine E. Beecher (Harriet's sister) gave us Letters to Persons Who Are Engaged in Domestic Service in 1842, and Finer has the first edition ($100).

In the field of women's books, Sarah Josepha Hale (The Lecturess: Or Woman's Sphere; $100), Catherine Maria Sedgwick (The Poor Rich Man, and the Rich Poor Man, $35), and Lucy Larcom (Similitudes From the Ocean and the Prairie; $250) stand out.

And in the category of 'subject headings I've never seen in booksellers' catalogues: Barbed Wire. A truly interesting find here, Memorial of Philip Louis Moen, who was the head of Washburn & Moen, America's chief manufacturer of barbed wire ($50).

Contact Steve Finer by email or phone, and stay tuned for his next catalogue, Books about Books and Printing History. Or see him in Boston next weekend at the Boston Book, Paper, & Photo Expo, sponsored by the Massachusetts and Rhode Island Antiquarian Booksellers.

Our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers continues today with Andrea Tomberg, proprietor of Tomberg Rare Books in Greenwich, Connecticut:

andrea tomberg.jpg
NP: How did you get started in rare books?

AT: My first job after graduating from the University of Michigan was in a New York literary agency.  Although I loved the idea of the job, I couldn't get accustomed to sitting behind a desk all day.  After a year, I returned to school to study for my masters in education. I taught elementary school and also received my post-masters degree in literacy so I could focus on teaching reading and writing.   After my son was born, I "retired," and focused on book collecting and studying the trade.  I frequented estate sales and volunteered as a "pricer" for my local library's book sales, which allowed me to handle a wide variety of books in varying conditions.  

NP: When did you open Tomberg Rare Books and what do you specialize in?

AT: I established my business in August 2011 after attending the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar on scholarship.  I had been selling a variety of books that I picked up at sales and was in need of a more formal education in the trade and some camaraderie among fellow booksellers.  After a compact week full of knowledge, I returned home and established Tomberg Rare Books.  I have a particular interest in the mimeo revolution, the Beats, The New York School, poetry and the 20th century avant-garde.  I am also interested in the art and music scenes from the 70s, 80s, 90s, especially in New York.  My goal is to become more curatorial in nature with the idea of putting together specific collections to offer for sale.

NP: Favorite or most interesting book (or etc) that you've handled?

AT: I had the opportunity to buy a small archive of The Kitchen, an alternative artist space started in the early 1970's.  With an assortment of fliers, photos, announcements and press releases relating to different artists and various mediums, I have a great opportunity for research in an area and time period that I am interested in. 

NP: How did you first big fair go?

AT: I had the opportunity to work for Bill Schaberg of Athena Books during this year's New York ABAA fair. He is a true master of the trade.  I watched Bill connect with customers and colleagues with a rare grace.  His level of professionalism and expertise is something I hope to achieve one day.  The book fair was a truly unbelievable experience.  The range and variety of materials demonstrates how wonderfully diverse the book trade is - and that there is always room to find your niche.

NP: What do you personally collect?

AT: I have a small Hunter Thompson and Tom Wolfe collection but the majority of books in my personal library are books on books, bookseller memoirs and books on the history of bookselling.  I also have many reference materials, bibliographies and enjoy collecting other booksellers' catalogues.

NP: What do you love about the book trade?

AT: What I love about the book trade is that it allows me to follow my own interests and curiosities in a professional way.  I continue to learn about the trade and best practices through my relationships with other dealers.  There is such a luxury and freedom in being able to follow my own path. There are no dull moments.  I have met so many generous and supportive dealers whom have selflessly offered advice, wisdom and knowledge.

NP: Thoughts on the future of the book trade?

AT: The book trade has a very definite future.  As our idea of the book evolves with today's technology, collecting habits will change with it.  New book dealers will have the opportunity to discover new areas of collecting and possibly different types of items that better represent the current culture. In studying the decades of the 70s, 80s, and 90s, it is obvious what an important role ephemera has taken - punk rock flyers, zines, and artist catalogues became the main sources for primary information.

NP: Tell us about the contents of your first catalogue and how to obtain a copy:

AT: My first catalog is now available to download as a PDF from my website. Readers interested in obtaining a printed copy can email me at info@tombergrarebooks.com or call (203) 223-5412.  Some highlights include: Ted Berrigan's Living with Chris, William Burrough"s Valentine's Day Reading, a complete set of Locus Solus, a Bob Dylan artists' book, John Sinclair's 1974 Michigan Marijuana Initiative, a few signed Ed Sanders, FY: A magazine of the arts, some small press ephemera, and the uncorrected page proof of the first edition of Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas.  Also included are signed women's poetry and artists' magazines.

Either there's a stunned silence in the book world, or word hasn't gotten round yet: Larry McMurtry has announced that a public auction will be held August 10 and 11 at his colossal bookstore in Archer City, Texas. Three hundred and fifty thousand books will be sold after a week of previews in-store. Thus the great 'book town' will shrink, just a bit. But, as is pointed out on the Booked Up website, "We are not closing. We will continue to operate Booked Up in Building 1 with 150,000 books."

Coming off our spring cover story about McMurtry, we are as surprised as anyone. Inviting book buyers to "experience Texas in August," McMurtry offered this eloquent rationale for the forthcoming divestiture:

The several hundred thousand books that we are putting in play constitute a kind of anthology of American bookshops past. In our forty-one years as booksellers we have bought twenty six bookshops and some two hundred personal libraries, some humble, some grand.

So why push them out?

Because we believe that in the book world migration is healthy: old pages await new eyes. Yesterday in Lubbock, Texas I found a copy of Sons and Lovers in the oil-cloth Modern Library with my bookplate in it. Twenty eight thousand volumes have my bookplate in them;  they reside in my big house in Archer City, and yet this one strayed. How it got to Lubbock I'll likely never know. It's home again now; but three hundred and fifty thousand of it's cousins will be flooding into the great river of books that delights and refreshes. Good reading and good luck!

In case you missed it, the big conversation on Twitter over the weekend was about the incorporation of book dealer descriptions into library catalogue records.  The entire conversation has been neatly archived by Sarah Werner, of the Folger Library, over at Storify - so go check it out.

It began, however, with this post on Saturday by Mike Widener, of Yale University Library.  Widener has added over 500 descriptions from 40 book dealers to catalogue entries for rare book holdings at Yale.  Widener wrote, "The description adds value to our catalog. It records a wealth of information about the book that would be impossible to include in the online catalog record."

In example, Widener included this entry, from Leo Cadogan Rare Books, into the description of Iustinianae constitutiones civiles (Bologna, 1608):

"Attractive and rare set of decrees concerning the functioning of the judiciary in the papal city of Bologna. These city statutes were promulgated by the Pope's legate, Cardinal Benedetto Giustiniani (1554-1621). Despite the issuing authority, the constitutions (a word indicating legislation of the highest level) are entirely non-religious in content, relating to civil law justice in the city. They shed considerable light into how courts worked in Bologna. Included are instructions on cases involving poor people; rules for notaries; the keeping of registers; seizures of property; taking of suspects; payment of officers; expert witnesses; and the governing of appeals. Pages 192-198 comprise papal edicts on the salaries of Bolognese judges and notaries." -- Leo Cadogan Rare Books (Dec. 2011)

Widener follows these guidelines when including book dealer descriptions:

  •     I must first obtain the dealer's permission to use the descriptions for all books and manuscripts the dealer sells to me. The descriptions are the dealer's intellectual property and dealers are sensitive (rightly so) about whether and how their descriptions are re-used. I assure the dealer that I will understand if he or she prefers to refuse permission.
  •     I enter a dealer's descriptions only for the books and manuscripts I buy from that dealer.
  •     I copy the description verbatim, editing only for length, punctuation, and spelling.
  •     I enclose the description in quotations, and I attribute the description to the dealer, including the catalogue (or if not in a catalogue, by the date it was quoted to me).
  •     I never include the price.

Our regular contributor Jeremy Dibbell drew the rare book world's attention to Widener's post in his Links and Review Roundup on Sunday.  


And then the Twitter conversation ignited.  So, go read the chime-ins from dealers and librarians on both sides of the Atlantic at the Storify archive.  


The general consensus seems to be very positive -- dealers are happy to have their descriptions preserved and librarians are happy to include them.  A win-win situation.


(On a related note, be sure to check out our occasional blogger Brooke Palmieri's post from last fall about scholarship and the rare book trade.  She focuses in particular on the famous catalogues issued by E. P. Goldschmidt).
love-fiercely-cover-image-tiny.jpgLove, Fiercely is a fantastic new book by Jean Zimmerman. Its subtitle, A Gilded Age Romance, is exactly the kind of thing that stops me from browsing any further at the bookshop. Zimmerman chronicles the true story of a beautiful heiress and a wealthy young architect in turn-of-the-century New York. Yes, theirs was a life filled with mansions, balls, and summer cottages, but these two were a bit different, too: Edith (whose face was used as the basis for a colossal Daniel Chester French sculpture) lobbied for women's suffrage and kindergarten programs in the U.S., while Newton strove for social reform and worked on tenement renovation. On their two-year honeymoon in Paris, they were painted by John Singer Sargent. The painting, Mr. and Mrs. I.N. Phelps Stokes, 1897, is pictured on the book's cover. Now at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, it is considered one of the artist's bests and--with a flushed Edith in 'everyday' clothes--a ringing in of the modern world.

For collectors, there is an incredible sub-narrative to savor in this book -- around the mid-point of his life, I.N. Phelps Stokes became a manic collector of prints and maps of New York City. Trying to preserve the bucolic past of his youth, he bought everything he could get his hands on and spent his entire fortune doing so. Zimmerman writes of Stokes' goal: "Collect every map, every view, every fact, every detail about Old New York. Research the city's beginnings. Bind it all together in a book of exquisite quality."

Which is what he did. Titled The Iconography of Manhattan Island, the massive, six-volume set was his life's passion. In it are reproductions of everything Stokes could get his hands on, plus histories, chronologies; it took a team of researchers and more than a dozen years to complete. The edition was 402 copies, and those, Zimmerman tells us, are scarce (and expensive) today. (Christie's sold an inscribed one last year for $5,625, a steal! They tend to go for double that retail, and even the reprint editions aren't cheap.) She adds, "None of the classic or contemporary histories of New York could have been written without the Iconography as a source."

Love, Fiercely is an engaging and erudite biography of this incredible couple and their passions. I heartily recommend it.


For the full April preview, go here. Also see my report on the Kenneth Nebenzahl sale. In this post, note particularly the final sale, yesterday's Jacques Levy auction at Sotheby's New York.


- At the 11 April Heritage Auctions Historical Manuscript and Rare Books sales in New York, the Stone Declaration of Independence on parchment sold for $597,500, while the book from Washington's library fetched $101,575. A copy of Alexander Gardner's Gardner's Photographic Sketchbook of the War sold for $194,500, and a presentation copy of Thomas Jefferson's A Manual of Parliamentary Practice (1801) made $113,525.


- The archive of letters from Joan London to her father Jack sold for $18,000 at PBA Galleries 12 April Fine and Rare Books sale.


- At Swann's, Fine Books sale on 12 April, the top lot was a portion of a vellum leaf from a ~1000 CE Greek Bible, with text from Philippians 2. It had been estimated at $800-1,200, but sold for $33,600. Another leaf from the same Bible sold for $26,400.


- Bonhams Mapping and Discovery of America sale on 14 April saw the 1512 manuscript  containing accounts of early voyages to America do even better than expected; it made $326,500. A copy of Jeffreys' American Atlas (1776) fetched $86,500.


- At Bonhams Titanic sale, the unused ticket to the ship's launch proved the top lot, at $56,250. A dinner menu from the ship for the night of 12 April 1912 sold for $31,250.


- The Fine Books and Manuscripts Featuring the Michael Lerner Collection at Bonhams, held 16 April, saw a presentation copy of Ginsberg's Howl sell for $74,500, and a Jonathan Swift letter fetched $56,250.


- Swann's 17 April Revolutionary Americana sale proved their best book/manuscript sale ever, making a total of $2,084,031 with 418 of 436 lots selling. A letter by Jonathan Trumbull as Washington's aide-de-camp to Gen. George Weedon reporting that Cornwallis had requested to open negotiations at Yorktown was the top seller, at $90,000. A Jefferson letter to Weedon sold for $57,600, and the David Hume letter about the stamp act made $48,000.


- Bonhams Oxford sold Printed Books and Maps on 17 April. A presentation copy of James Hosburgh's Directions for Sailing to and From the East Indies ... (1809-11) was the top lot, at £3,125.


- At Bloomsbury's Children's and Illustrated Books sale on 19 April, the top lot was an original Edmund Dulac watercolor, which fetched £11,000.


- The Library of Jacques Levy sale at Sotheby's yesterday was a big one indeed. The sale brought in a total of $6,415,964, with many lots leaving their presale estimates far behind. The collection of David Roberts' drawings (est. $120,000-180,000) sold for $482,500, while a presentation copy of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (1899) fetched $362,500 (over estimates of $80,000-120,000). An Eragny Press volume of Camille and Lucien Pissarro watercolors and wood-engravings sold for $314,500 (better than doubling its estimate), and Ferdinand Hayden's The Yellowstone National Park (1876) sold for $254,500. Another eight lots broke $100,000.

Catalogue Review: Jonathan A. Hill, #201

'Tis the season to review the newest catalogue from New York City-based bookseller, Jonathan A. Hill. His spring catalogue celebrates (Mostly) British Agriculture and Husbandry of the 18th Century, i.e. (mostly) farming books in beautiful leather bindings. The books offered here, the catalogue notes, were "patiently gathered by a New York City collector...over a twenty-year period...[who] was fastidious about condition..."

A peruse through the color-illustrated catalogue supports that statement. Take, for example, item #44, William Marshall's Review of The Landscape, a Didactic Poem...from 1795, bound in contemporary cat's paw calf with ornamental gilt on the spine and red morocco under the lettering -- a beauty of a book ($1,250). Samuel Copeland's Agriculture Ancient and Modern..., published in 1866 and bound in the original publisher's blind- and gilt-stamped green cloth bindings is a really handsome 8-volume set of books ($950). Another fine set, bound in half russia and marbled boards, contains most of agricultural reformer Arthur Young's works in 19 volumes ($5,000). The catalogue has many editions of Young's work, including a presentation copy of Political Arithmetic ($2,500), an uncut copy of the best edition of Travels during the Years 1787, 1788, and 1789 ($950), his most influential pamphlet, The Example of France, from 1793 ($1,250).

From this side of the pond, there are George Washington's letters on agriculture, in a collected edition printed in Alexandria in 1803 ($950) and Charles Varlo's A New System of Husbandry, a substantial text about American crops and farm animals, published in Philadelphia in 1785 ($1,500).

A perfect collection of books for an English country house -- or someone who pines for one. Some of these books can be viewed online at Jonathan A. Hill's website, not yet the whole catalogue, but previous catalogues are listed there as well. 
Our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers continues today with Zoe Mindell of The Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company in Pennsylvania:

zoe mindell photo.JPGNP: What is your role at PRBM?

ZM: Cataloguer, but at shops like ours everyone does a bit of everything -- invoicing, inventory, shelving, answering phones and email, cleaning, arranging gourmet cheese platters, and setting up party tents for summer soirees at the Arsenal.

NP: How did you get started in rare books?

ZM: I grew up surrounded by enticing clutter: my mom's textiles and books, my dad's photographs and sheet music, antiques and tag sale stuff accumulated from weekend rummaging. When I was ten or eleven, I bought my first "old" book  -- one I easily remember because it was in French, and I couldn't read it --  at a small shop in rural Vermont. But the real start of my career was in the Mortimer Rare Book Room at Smith College. I had decided to double major in Art History and Italian, and enrolled in an advanced literature survey spring semester of my first year. One bright Monday morning, our class met in the library for a presentation by Martin Antonetti, Smith's Curator of Rare Books, on early editions of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. After class I asked Martin if he hired students, and worked as his assistant until graduation. During my junior year abroad in Florence, Italy, Martin needed eyes at the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid to investigate a manuscript for his research, and suddenly I was on a plane to Spain.  More great opportunities followed, thanks again to Smith and Martin's tutelage: a summer fellowship in Italy, an art history prize for research after college, and an internship in the Book Department at Christie's London. I'm proud to say Smith College now has a Book Studies Concentration! When I came home from London, I worked part-time at Bloomsbury Auctions in New York, then landed a young cataloguer's dream job with an antiquarian book dealer and moved from my rent-stabilized apartment on New York's Lower East Side two hours south to Philadelphia.

NP: Favorite or most interesting book (or etc) you've handled?

ZM: Last summer when I was planning a visit to Ireland, David Szewczyk suggested I call on someone he knew, the Keeper of Early Printed Books at Trinity College, Dublin. We spent two hours touring Trinity's special collections, then sat at Dr. Charles Benson's desk overlooking the bustling exhibition hall and talked. As our visit drew to a close, Dr. Benson disappeared behind a large case nearby and emerged holding a small stack of books for me to see, including a copy of Arrighi's Coryciana (1524), the book that had been the very focal point of my research for Martin at Smith. And this copy was in a Grolier binding, with De Thou's ownership signature. I'll never forget that book. More recently, I catalogued a Kallierges Pindar (1515), the "editio romana" of Pindar's epinician odes, a.k.a., "a very sexy book for very many reasons". It was the first book printed in Greek at Rome, by a Greek expatriate at the palace press of the Pope's banker.  Weeks later I was doing erotica (cataloguing), and stumbled onto Fanny Hill for the first time. That was a very sexy book for very different reasons.

NP: What do you personally collect?

ZM: Right now, everything affordable that appeals to me, including but not limited to booksellers' catalogs, auction catalogs, exhibition catalogs, books on Italy and travels, books in Italian, old family photographs, romantic postcards, inscribed items, and other antiques that have some sign of a former life (vintage clothes, glassware...). Last summer I stopped by an outdoor flea market in Center City, Philadelphia, and spotted a Sotheby's catalog with a familiar image on the cover: a poster on my apartment wall that my dad had picked up hitchhiking in France in 1970. An unremarkable volume in a dusty pile, that slim catalog suddenly meant everything to me and I bought it immediately. It was serendipity, like so much of the book business.

NP: Do you want to open your own shop someday?  If so, what would you like to specialize in?

ZM: Yes! But I'm very happy where I am right now. David Szewczyk and Cynthy Buffington are incredibly supportive, encouraging me to seek out books, book people, and educational opportunities. Thanks to their generosity, I have been attending a paleography workshop at the University of Pennsylvania; Philobiblon Club meetings; academic lectures; and will have completed three Rare Book School courses by the end of this year. Then, too, there's learning about books and bookseller lore from David every day in the cataloguing office. We specialize in "Early books of Europe & the Americas" and "Other Rarities as Chance May Supply," but my favorites to catalog and read are those that remind me of places and literature I've studied. Someday I'd like to specialize in books and manuscripts from the 15th-18th centuries that shed light on contemporary regional life, like cookbooks, day books, local histories, manuals, and small town presses. For now, I'm more than satisfied with the variety I see at PRB&M, and grateful to be working for a company that cares so much about books and "finding good homes" for them.

NP: Thoughts on the future of the book trade?

ZM: The ways in which we buy, sell, and read books are changing, but I'm not threatened by technology per se. Digital "books," while useful and practical as data repositories, can't compare with the sensual experience of reading as we've known it for centuries. It's far less exciting to inherit a digital book, or see an image of an early ownership inscription, or cradle your Kindle fireside. And then there's the matter of preservation. We have a responsibility to safeguard books like we do art. You wouldn't just junk everything in the Louvre because you are able find images -- even very high quality images -- on the museum website, would you? As technology advances, I can only imagine and hope that books will become more valuable as vestiges of human experience, and pleasing tactile objects. That said, the future of the trade depends on collectors as much as booksellers, and our generation is already very much online. Our task now is to anticipate and prepare. Did I mention PRBM has a great website?


Earlier this week Christie's unveiled an extraordinary fifteenth-century Jewish festival prayerbook--an illuminated Mahzor containing 442 vellum leaves. I had the pleasure of seeing this book in New York last week, and the illustrations seem as bold and bright as they day they were created, c. 1490, near Florence, Italy.

Illumination.jpgIn the image seen here, a full-page border incorporates medallions with profile heads, landscape vignettes, and a coat of arms. The illumination is thought to be the work of Florentine artist Giovanni di Giuliano Boccardi, known as Boccardino il vecchio (1460-1529), or of his followers.

Screen shot 2012-04-18 at 11.29.14 AM.pngThe chunky Hebrew manuscript is bound in a mid sixteenth-century gold-tooled goatskin binding (seen above), featuring a coat of arms, a unicorn, and a rabbit. The text--in black, red, blue, and gold--is comprised of prayers for everyday rituals, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkoth.

The Mahzor was purchased in Frankfurt before 1908 and subsequently owned by Edmond Bicart-See and his family in Paris. It has never been publicly exhibited. The manuscript goes to auction on May 11 in Paris and is expected to bring $540,000-800,000.

Photos © Christie's Images Limited 2012