Catalogue Review: Bay Leaf Used & Rare Books, No. 3

I received last week a bookseller's catalogue that made me stop and look. It's a brown file folder, into which is tucked several different sheets and cards, of varying colors and sizes, advertising a collection of 194 items on radical politics, modern poetry, and punk rock. It's more like a press kit than a catalogue, and it's pretty cool.

Who produced this package with so much visual punch? Bay Leaf Used & Rare Books of Sand Lake, MI, a brick-and-mortar shop that stocks a large selection of books, posters, prints, and ephemera. They have produced two previous catalogues on different subjects. This one is titled Poets, Punks & Revolutionaries.

One 5 x 7 full-color postcard shows an original screen-print movie poster, c. 1980-82, from El Salvador. The catalogue copy on the recto tells us that the film is full of images from Revolutionary El Salvador ($300). Another smaller postcard with a picture of staple-bound typed manuscript turns out to hold, on its flip side, the catalogue copy for an original Grand Jury report detailing the Dec. 4, 1969 Chicago Police raid on a Black Panther home ($800).

A two-sided color sheet lists several items on anarchism, from Remembering American Anarchism: A Mural by Susan Greene, an oversized postcard featuring the image of Greene's mural ($15) to a collection of twenty-nine scattered issues of Why? A Bulletin of Free Inquiry (later An Anarchist Bulletin) from 1942-1947 ($975).

In a stapled section titled Punks & Poets, you can find some really cool stuff, such as books and MusiCards signed by The Clash, a flyer from The Western Front Punk Festival in 1979, and an original wire photo of New York's Hotel Chelsea in 1978.

I applaud Bay Leaf on their revolutionary design sense and high production value in creating this catalogue. It's a slap of modernity to traditional catalogues and exceedingly appropriate to the content. It won't provide the same experience to download the PDF (here), but you can peruse more of their offerings and enjoy the photography.

Ayn Rand, Dr. Seuss, and Noah Webster have little in common except for the possibility of having shaped American thought.  Their books and others are on display as part of "Books that Shaped America," the Library of Congress's kick-off exhibition to the twelfth annual National Book Festival, September 22-23, 2012.  This exhibition features some of America's most influential works dating from Benjamin Franklin's 1751  Experiments and Observations on Electricity to the 2002 book, The Words of Cesar Chavez.

 

 

LOC staff members carefully selected the books highlighted in this exhibit.  Librarian of Congress James H. Billington explained recently, "It is not a register of the 'best' American books--although many of them fit that description. Rather, the list is intended to spark a national conversation on books written by Americans that have influenced our lives, whether they appear on this initial list or not."

 

To encourage this discussion, the library has developed a questionnaire on its website, asking individuals to vote for the books from the library's selection of titles.  Also, individuals have an opportunity to nominate books they think the library missed.

 

 

"Books that Shaped America" will be on exhibit until the 29th of September, perfect timing to enjoy both this exhibit and the National Book Festival.

Wes Anderson's love of inserting fake books in his films is well-documented (and arguably unparalleled).  We recently wrote about the books in Anderson's latest film, Moonrise Kingdom.  But that wasn't the first Anderson piece featuring made-up books.  Quite a few also appeared in the 2001 hit The Royal Tenenbaums, about a dysfunctional family of depressed early geniuses, languishing in Manhattan.  The film was released on DVD by the Criterion Collection (who, like Anderson, are much loved for their careful attention to detail).  Criterion has now released a gallery of images depicting the covers for the various fake books seen throughout The Royal Tenebaums.



What I find so striking about Anderson's fake books is the way that they perfectly encapsulate that particular breed of mid to late 20th c. paperbacks found so often in secondhand bookshops. The fonts, color schemes, and graphic design of the covers are all spot-on.  Furthermore, the books display just the right amount of wear for mass printed paperbacks from that era.

Here are a few of the books from The Royal Tenenbaums, borrowed here from the Criterion gallery. (Check out their gallery for more of these great images):

A few hours before dusk last Thursday in Archer City's town square, the parking spaces lining the courthouse and the perimeter of shops were at near capacity, yet there was no one in sight. I made a beeline for Building Four of Booked Up--the site of Friday's auction--and inquired about registration and the meet-and-greet. I introduced myself to the auctioneer, and he suggested I head over to the screening of The Last Picture Show that was already well underway; registration would have to wait until the following morning. After fumbling my way into the darkened theater, I grabbed a plate of picked-over BBQ, assorted fixins, a beer, and proceeded to prop up the back wall of the Royal Theater.

As the familiar images flickered past, thoughts of the screening as a bookend for a celebratory yet difficult weekend for Larry McMurtry and his guests entered my mind. I imagined three of the four buildings empty, the perplexed townspeople and their relationship with the author, and all the complexities within his own work and its perception out in the world.

Not that I hadn't come without my own baggage as well. I had been a seasonal regular at Booked Up for well over ten years, and I was disheartened to see the entirety of the stock broken up, though I could certainly understand McMurtry's reasons for doing so. I had simply grown accustomed to my habits and thoughts about and within the shop, looking forward to future trips and reflecting back on good finds, and frankly, I was a little torn-up about the whole darn thing.

The next morning, Building Two trumped a cup of coffee in order to get registered for bidding. Outside the auction venue, a line of about twenty-five people had begun to curl outside the door with about fifteen minutes to go. Soon the appointed time came, and McMurtry appeared to make a short opening statement. In a matter of quick sentences, he managed to express the tenacity of the attendees with regards to the Texas heat, comparing them to the fish population in southern rivers adjusting to the current rise of temperatures. He then thanked his staff, the local businesses, and the residents of this small town, and we were soon underway.

The sixty or seventy chairs filling the main space were full, with additional onlookers standing in the aisles or sitting on the low shelves at the front of the store. The crowd's enthusiasm boosted the start of the 1,400 shelf lots to be sold over the next two days, with many opening in the low hundreds and selling thereabouts. But soon enough they dipped down to a hundred or just below. Most lots had between 200-250 books each, some comprising parts of sections, with others being a hodgepodge of titles.

I began to pace about the building as shelves were steadily emptied and eventually wandered down the street to Building One, the main store that was--and will still be--open for business. McMurtry had returned and was seated at his usual outpost at the front table, holding court with a small group of devotees and journalists. It was difficult not to notice that there was a new assortment of swag positioned about: t-shirts with quotes from Lonesome Dove or Terms of Endearment, bumper stickers, and bags with the Booked Up pig, and a whole shelf of signed McMurtry books for sale; the likes of which hadn't been welcome in these parts for years.   

I headed into the garage beyond and combed through the monolithic stacks that flank the sorting tables, realizing that it had been an area I had neglected in past visits. Not being an air-conditioned space, it can take some stamina to effectively work the room. After a good hour or more, I resurfaced with three quality finds and headed to the register.

When I returned to the auction, they were heading into the hand-picked single book lots of "The McMurtry 100," and a renewed sense of purpose and excitement filled the room. Every few lots, the bidding would ratchet up into the mid-hundreds and then settle down again. I waited for the last-minute additional added lot to come up: a 1,139-page ledger full of original manuscript erotic stories commissioned by a wealthy Oklahoma oilman with an apparent daily appetite for the sordid. Rather quickly, the bidding surpassed my self-imposed limit, and I didn't raise my hand once, watching the lot go to bookseller Tom Congalton of Between the Covers.

After lunch, the walk-through for the upcoming lots in Building Three was the next order of business. I had spent many hours alone in these aisles, mostly poring over translated literature and fiction. Now, I really had no interest in ineffective browsing or bringing several shelves home whose individual volumes I had previously left behind. I left the building and headed to my car, retrieving three McMurtry books I had brought along should I find the courage to ask the daunting question with pen in hand. I prefaced my asking with an apology of sorts, using the notable day's events as an excuse. He signed them all while I thanked him heartily and then beat a somewhat hasty retreat.

Returning to the auction for a spell, I decided I was about done. Successful bidders were packing up their winnings, filling boxes, and overloading their cars. Some bought a few hundred books as a keepsake, while a few hatched future bookstore plans with what they had acquired. The most successful bidders of the day were either those who had the logistics in place to deal with sheer quantity or the space to store thousands of books.

The heat had defeated my enthusiasm and the repetition my curiosity. I headed to the American Legion with some friends to escape for the remainder of the afternoon. After signing in as guests, we ordered some beers and played a few rounds of pool in the back room. Soon enough, other writers started to filter into the cool, dark space, wanting to share stories and opinions of the day's events. Everyone offered their take, and toasts went around the table.

The bookstore and community within this small town had brought this group together years ago, kick-starting their writing lives with local stories, self-imposed isolation, and a knowing guide. I couldn't help but think that McMurtry himself had started much the same long before with the backdrop of Archer City as his subject and muse. Where there once had been a notable absence of books but plenty of space, the sudden release of hundreds of thousands of volumes that had taken years to assemble has created rivulets of books, ideas, and people. We can now only hope for tide pools to gather elsewhere.

Photos and essay by Brandon Kennedy, an occasional artist, former bookseller, and currently works in the modern and contemporary art department at Heritage Auctions. Kennedy wrote our spring issue's cover feature on Larry McMurtry.

Ghost stories live and die by their endings.  Now your child has an opportunity to finish a ghost story by a master of the form: M. R. James.

An unfinished story by James, which has languished for years in the King's College archive of the author's material, has been dusted off and presented for the world to see.

The story, entitled "The Game of the Bear," has been published online by Suffolk Coast.  It contains typical Jamesian elements: a secluded country manor, winter winds, embittered relatives, and a disputed inheritance.  British children (up to age 16) have the opportunity to finish the story as part of a competition to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the author's birth.  The competition will be judged by Susan Hill, an adept ghost story writer herself, whose ghostly novel, The Woman in Black, was recently turned into a film:





I'm entertained by the idea of a child finishing a ghost story by one of the art form's true masters.  I would love to read the winning entry.  And as a publicity move, it's also a laudable effort, bringing together creative composition, classic literature, and the value of archives.

And, of course, ghosts.

Ninety antiquarian booksellers will be in attendance at the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show on Aug. 23-26 at the Baltimore Convention Center. We asked a few of them to share highlights of what they're bringing.

Ken Mallory, an ABAA bookseller in Decatur, GA, is showcasing two Dali items. One is the numbered first edition of Babaouo (pictured here at left), published in Paris in 1932, in its publisher's printed apple green wraps with onionskin jacket. This copy is signed and inscribed on the half title by Dali to a French ambassador to Russia ($3500). Another is a signed first American edition of Diary of a Genius, signed by Dali in black marker ($2,500).




Mosher Books of Ephrata, PA, sent a short-list of treasures that included a signed Memoirs of Napoleon in a superb binding ($9,500); Merian's Topographia Bavariae, c. 1664 ($7,500); and a beautiful floriated binding by Kelliegram of Tennyson's Poems, 1862 ($1,500). I was intrigued by this 1912 Mosher Press edition of Walt Whitman's Memories of President Lincoln (pictured here at right), number 5 of only 10 printed on roman vellum and bound in classic vellum ($8,500).  

And for a Baltimore tie-in, Kelmscott Bookshop of Baltimore, will have this exquisite unique artists' book. It is a hand-lettered manuscript of Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee," designed, written, gilded, and decorated by artist Maryanne Grebenstein (at left; $4,500). They'll also bring O is for Opera, an abecedarian of famous operas and opera terminology, #31 of 45 copies, from Bay Park Press/False Bay Editions ($2,500).

Two related lectures may be of interest to book collectors at the show. On Thursday, Aug. 23 Lee Temares will speak about Juvenile Series Books, and on Saturday, Aug. 25, Gerald Barkham & Steve Epstein will discuss Posters & Broadsides: From Advertising to Art Forms.

Two Postcards from Maeve Binchy
Guest blog by Catherine Batac Walder

I haven't composed a handwritten fan letter in a while. I wrote two to author Maeve Binchy, and she replied to both. I was much younger when I wrote my first letter, and I must have commented that she wrote mainly about women and whined that I was disillusioned with her portrayal of men. One of her postcards is in an album back home in the Philippines. I don't remember her exact words, but it was something along the lines of "this is real life."

The second time I wrote to her was a few months after I first came to Europe in 2005. I wanted to visit Ireland. I wrote to Binchy about my trip, and I was bold enough to ask if I could visit her. It was a long shot (she didn't know me, it was before Christmas, and I was visiting only for a few days), so I didn't expect that it would happen. That she replied at all in the new year was something to be grateful for. She wrote, in part, "I am not able to meet all the people who come through Dublin. But I do send you warm wishes for 2006."

I've always had trouble classifying her works. They're not quite romance novels. In Circle of Friends, for example, good-looking Jack falls for the plain girl but still gets seduced by the beautiful woman in the end. The professor in The Evening Class has a troubled marriage. His wife is unbearable, and it should be rather romantic for him to find Sigñora, who is very understanding. But there is something about Binchy's writing that makes you question the happy ending and instead mull over issues of morality and guilt, even as you turn the last page. Sometimes you fall in love (Light a Penny Candle) with her characters or hate (Firefly Summer) them with a passion. Binchy's humor and study of the human character are a constant in her novels, as are universal themes. Even though I lived in a different country, it was as if she had written about my next-door neighbor.

At a time when I shifted from classics to contemporary authors, I found myself collecting Binchy. I was selective about reading female authors at that time but anything about my beloved Ireland was an exception. Binchy was a guilty pleasure to an extent but one I would readily share with others. I had introduced her to a few female friends who still read her up to now. She wrote of what she knew, so her stories were real and for someone who wanted to go beyond the thick forests, glass lakes, and lush countryside of Ireland; she was my free ticket. I'm one of her millions of readers who are saddened to see the last of these books. Maeve Binchy died after a short illness on July 30. She was 72.

--Catherine Batac Walder is a UK-based freelance writer. She has previously written about Ex-Libris copies, the Oxford Literary Festival, and Sherlock Holmes for FB&C.

Our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers continues today with Elizabeth Svendsen, proprietor of Walkabout Books, in Xenia, Ohio.

NP: How did you get started in rare books?

ES: Like a number of other booksellers of my generation, I got started in rare books largely as a result of attending the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. I had been running a general-interest brick and mortar bookstore for three years before I went to CABS in 2009. The more I handled older and scarcer books, the more interested I had become in the antiquarian end of the trade, but I didn't know a whole lot about it. Within two months of returning from CABS, I had produced my first print catalog, and a few months after that I did my first book fair. I haven't looked back.

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

ES: I sold my brick-and-mortar business (which I am happy to report remains alive and well under new ownership) last fall. I loved the shop, but I was finding it impossible run the everyday business and still make time to seek out and catalog the books I really wanted to work with.  I'm still re-building my inventory, but Walkabout Books has formally been open for business since October 2011. I now specialize in mountaineering, travel, Alaska, polar and other nineteenth century exploration, national parks, and some western Americana--pretty much anything outdoorsy and adventurous. I also carry a fair amount of modern literature just because I like it and always have customers for it.

NP: You formerly owned a brick-and-mortar store, but now only sell online.  Could you tell us a bit about that?  Do you miss having a brick-and-mortar store?  What are your thoughts on brick-and-mortar vs online?

ES: Actually, that's not quite accurate. I operate Walkabout Books from second floor downtown office space, where I have books on display in two rooms that are open to the public whenever I'm here--which is most of the time. I don't get a lot of walk-in traffic, but I do get some, and it provides a place for people to come sell books to me. I also do book fairs (six this year), so it's not all online. I think the ability to interact with and meet new customers--as well as other dealers--is critical to developing a successful antiquarian book business. That said, I am the kind of bookish person who's happy to work quietly and not talk to anyone all day, so I don't miss having a full-fledged brick and mortar store.
 
??NP: Favorite or most interesting book (or etc) that you've handled?

ES: That's tough. I'm going to cheat and give you two--one book and one non-book. The book was a signed association copy of John Muir's Our National Parks. I loved it for many reasons--it was visually lovely, it had subject matter that appeals to me, and most of all, researching the association--which turned out to be between Muir and the Merrill family of Bobbs-Merrill fame--was fascinating. The non-book item was an ipod filled with hundreds of audio files of Warren Jeffs (disgraced leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) teaching classes to his followers. That was a whole different kind of fascinating.

NP: What do you personally collect?

ES: Actually, I don't--at least not in the traditional sense. Maybe I shouldn't admit this---especially in this venue--but I'm one of those people who just wants the content and isn't much concerned with edition or condition. Of course, in my business I cater to people who do care about those things and I respect those concerns, but what you'll find on my personal shelves are literary fiction, mysteries, and a whole lot of mountaineering and solo sailing books narratives. I can never seem to get enough of tales of people toughing it out against the elements in remote places. I have a lot of books about Mt. Everest.
??
NP: If you could live inside the pages of any rare book, which would it be?

ES: Theodore Roosevelt's Through the Brazilian Wilderness. That would give me the chance to meet TR and explore the Amazon jungle at the same time!

NP: What do you love about the book trade?

ES: The opportunity to learn new things and explore new worlds every day. There's nothing better.
 
NP: Thoughts on the future of the book trade?

ES: I think it's in good hands. You just have to look at the archives of this blog to see that. The way we do business continues to evolve and adapt to new technology, but that's okay. There are smart, creative, and energetic young dealers seeking out new material and cultivating new collectors, and I really believe--and see evidence--that people will continue to love and value physical books even in the electronic age.

Elvis Presley's signed high school library check-out card is coming to auction next week at Heritage Auctions' August 14 Elvis memorabilia sale. Among some other of the King's artifacts--concert posters, jewelry, autographs, photographs--the library card from 1948 holds Elvis' early autograph; he was only thirteen when he signed it. His family had recently moved from Memphis, Tennessee, to Tupelo, Mississippi, where Elvis attended Humes High School and checked out The Courageous Heart: A Life of Andrew Jackson For Young Readers from the school's library.

The card with the surprising signature was discovered by a Humes HS librarian while weeding the collection years later. Heritage is offering the card along with a copy of the book. The current bid is $2,400, but the auction house believes it will reach $4,000 at least.

This item reminded me of the library slip signed by J.D. Salinger that realized $1,314 at Heritage last year. A fun find in both cases, and the kind of evidence of readership and reading habits (of the rich & famous, or otherwise) that won't exist for future scholars or collectors. 

In news more exciting to scholars than to authors, new technology pioneered by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London allows researchers to see beneath a writer's blacked-out sections and corrections in their original manuscripts.  The digital technology, invented by Ian Christie-Miller, was taken for a test-drive with the Charles Dickens story "The Chimes."  By comparing two digital images of text, one front-lit, the other back-lit, the technology separates layers of text, revealing the author's original word choice.

For example, in the original version of "The Chimes," Dickens wrote "Years... are like men in one respect."  The published version reads "Years... are like Christians in that respect."  The reason for the change gives Dickens scholars something new to ponder.

Researchers are heralding the technology's potential to see how an author thinks, how they shape and re-shape their prose.  Florian Schweizer, director of the Charles Dickens Museum in London, was quoted in The Independent: "We're talking of tens of thousands of manuscript pages that could potentially be unlocked."

Now here's hoping a similar technology isn't invented for Microsoft Office documents.  This writer is happy that all of his deletions appear to be permanently excised.  For the moment.