Our Bright Young Booksellers series continues today with Clare Trimming, proprietor of Beaux Books in Hampshire, England:

How did you get started in rare books?

My secondary school had a tradition of releasing us from the classroom for a couple of weeks work experience. The careers' advisor suggested I channel my love of books into a placement at the local library but that didn't sound quite exciting enough. Luckily my uncle, John Collins, worked at Maggs and he put me in touch with, what was then, Bloomsbury Book Auctions. I spent a fortnight there and caught the bug. That was in 1994 and I'm still here.

When did you open Beaux Books and what do you specialize in?

I spent several years working in London, including six years at Sims Reed. During this time I developed my knowledge and love of rare art and design books. When I had my first child the need to be closer to home and work more flexible hours spurred me on to take the plunge and start my own business. In 2012 Beaux Books was born. The company specialises in fine and rare books on art, design, fashion and photography. The majority of our stock is 20th century and we sell around the world. Many of our clients are art and antique dealers, and designers.

What do you love about the book trade?

I love the fact that every day is different. I love the books. And I love the interesting people that I meet - collectors and dealers. I met my husband, Nick Trimming (part of Daniel Crouch Rare Books), at a dealer's party.

Describe a typical day for you:

I start the day dealing with emails and any orders that have come in overnight. I usually have a few books that I need to source for clients and I check any upcoming auctions. I'll then catalogue and photograph any new stock. I'm currently working on a catalogue of Bruce Weber material so I'm spending time researching that. I try to fit in regular trips to London to see other dealers and catch-up with current exhibitions. In between all this there's the school run and trips to the park. Bookselling is a great job to fit in around the children.

Favourite rare book (or ephemera) that you've handled?

At Sims Reed I handled some amazing objects. Highlights included an archive of original William Morris wallpaper samples and a complete set of Gazette de Bon Ton.

I'm not at that level yet with Beaux Books but David Hicks's books from the 1960s encapsulate the kind of books I love to sell - good-looking books, striking dust jackets and stylish design by an iconic designer. And my customers love them too.

What do you personally collect?

I have a soft spot for the work of Cecil Beaton and his set. I have just bought a copy of Rex Whistler's own bookplate which is now hanging on my office wall. I've also recently been reading Patti Smith's memoirs and poetry. Her voice is so powerful and evocative of the creative scene in 1970s New York. I've started to collect some of her works.

What do you like to do outside of work?

As a family we like exploring and going on mini adventures. Nick is an excellent cook so food and entertaining is a big part of our weekends. And it goes without saying - reading.

Thoughts on the present state and/or future of the rare book trade?

I am optimistic for the future of the trade. The internet has changed the way we deal in books but for me these changes have been advantageous. I can buy a book from Paris and then sell it to a customer in New York without leaving the office. Yes, it's not as much fun as before but it's efficient and fits well around my schedule.

In the past few years I have seen people who started in the business at the same time as me setting up on their own and trying new and positive approaches to bookselling. The emphasis is moving from the generalist to the specialist. The good booksellers are those with an intensive knowledge of their subject coupled with a head for business.

Any upcoming fairs or catalogues?

Beaux Books will be exhibiting at the Olympia Antiquarian Book Fair for the first time in May. We will be launching "the WEBER list" there, a comprehensive catalogue of books produced by and about the American fashion photographer, Bruce Weber. Do come and say "hi".

Among the medieval manuscripts and fine bindings on offer at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair last weekend, a very modern collection attracted notice: an archive of early McSweeney's books, magazines, photographs, artifacts, props, and ephemera, focused primarily on the company's first retail storefront called "Store" in Brooklyn, c. 1999-2003. The San Francisco-based McSweeney's is the immensely successful literary outfit founded in 1998 by Dave Eggers which now includes several magazines, a book publishing arm, and national 826 tutoring centers.

"[Store] began as, and remained, as much an installation art project as a retail shop and had a built-in performance space for readings and musical concerts and other events: David Byrne played there; Zadie Smith read there ... It developed a house band--One Ring Zero--and a house artist, Marcel Dzama, and it became a hangout for writers and artists from the area," writes bookseller Ken Lopez in a brochure for the archive, which is priced at $30,000. "As they did with books and literary journals, Dave Eggers and the others involved with the store played with the concept of a retail establishment, so that context became content," Lopez commented earlier this week. "Aside from the publications, this was version 1.0 of McSweeney's in the public sphere."

The original Store closed in 2003--making way for the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. storefront, which also houses the 826NYC chapter. The archive that Lopez is selling was assembled by a McSweeney's insider and chronicles those early days with photographs, copies of the journals signed by contributors, signed proofs, dust jacket variants, and ephemera such as retail signs, stickers, and shopping bags. Among those featured within: Jonathan Lethem, Ricky Moody, George Saunders, David Foster Wallace, A.M. Homes, Nick Hornby, and many more.

Lopez views the archive as complementary to the "official" archive purchased by the Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin back in 2013, as it zeroes in on an early part of McSweeney's history. He said, "It fills in and documents a seminal operation/activity of McSweeney's that is very much under-documented so far, and at some risk of being virtually "lost" to history--even in this Internet-saturated age: if you try to Google the first Brooklyn store you get very little information--an occasional article in the Times or someone's blog post, but mostly the links are to the later stores and activities. But the first Store was, in effect, the testing grounds for McSweeney's public face, and it contributed a number of the seminal ideas that have since flourished and defined McSweeney's to the world."

                                                                                                                                                             The question is, where will this unique trove of literary history be preserved: Brooklyn, San Francisco, Austin?     

                                                                                                                                                                 Image courtesy of Ken Lopez.

While we've been busy covering the New York Antiquarian Fair and Rare Book Week NYC this past week, some major news surfaced from across the pond. A previously unknown First Folio was found at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute off the Scottish coast.

The First Folio was found in the library at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute, the ancestral home of the Stuarts of Bute. The find was confirmed as genuine by Professor Emma Smith of Oxford University.

The find brings the worldwide census of First Folios to 234 from an estimated 750 copies published in 1623, seven years after the author's death.

The Mount Stuart copy's provenance includes Isaac Reed, a well-known literary editor in London in the 18th century. A letter from Reed indicates that he purchased the Folio in 1786, keeping it until his death in 1807. Soon after, the book was sold to a "JW" for £38. (The last First Folio to appear at public auction sold for £2.8m in 2006). Sometime between 1807 and 1896 the Folio was acquired by someone in the Stuart family as the book next appears in a catalogue of the Mount Stuart library produced in 1896. The Folio was then forgotten about for many years, not appearing in the 1906 census of First Folios conducted by Sidney Lee.

Researchers at Mount Stuart House discovered the Folio while conducting research on the books held in the library. Adam Ellis-Jones, director of the Mount Stuart House Trust, said the identification of this original First Folio was "genuinely astonishing" in an interview with the BBC.  Ellis-Jones continued, "We knew that we had special things here, but we keep discovering how special - because it's never been researched and never been in the public eye."

Our interest is piqued by the "abundance of mysteries" that still remain at the library and we look forward to hearing more as research continues.

[Image from Mount Stuart]

The 56th annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair took place this weekend. It was, as always, a spectacular and dizzying experience trying to "see it all." Any list of highlights in bound to be subjective, but here's a short list of interesting sights:

The Book of the Hamburgs. This is L. Frank Baum's first book -- and it's a treatise on chicken breeding! Published in 1886, fourteen years before The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it is Baum's "first and rarest book," according to the bookseller, New York City's own Books of Wonder. The price was $45,000.

Here was a book after my own heart: A first edition of The Body Snatcher [1895] by Robert Louis Stevenson. It's a grisly tale about an anatomist and his need for fresh cadavers, presented in an elegant violet binding. I spotted it front and center in the booth of Maine booksellers Sumner & Stillman. The price was $1,650.

When I asked David Lilburne at Antipodean Books about his fair favorite (outside of his own stand, of course), he directed me to Jonathan A. Hill, who was offering this breathtaking sample-book of decorative face powder wrappers and envelopes, assembled in Kyoto in 1815. The price was $3,500. Coincidentally, Hill recently released its first all-Japanese catalogue: Japanese Books, Manuscripts & Scrolls. Antipodean, by the by, had a super charming nineteenth-century book of dried sea mosses, hand-made by one Anna Bigelow.

Having posed the same question to historic documents guru Stuart Lutz, I was sent across the aisle to Daniel Crouch Rare Books, where a framed wall map of the world from 1604 enticed passersby. A cartographic masterpiece, it was priced at $975,000.   

Kubik Fine Books of Dayton, Ohio, deserves credit for reaching out to younger/newbie collectors with a shelf of $50 volumes, a stack of vinyl, and a pile of vintage comics. Gone With The Wind fans could have glimpsed a treasure in the booth of Jeffrey Marks: a volume signed by the entire motion picture cast (price: $85,000). Priscilla Juvelis showcased a beautiful artist's book by Barry McCallion of John Williams' novel, Stoner, bound in soft yellow suede (seen here, price: $2,750).

The most unusual item at the fair was a late 13th-century bronze bell from Southwest France, offered by Thomas Heneage, London, although Anna Pavlova's pointe shoe ($25,000) from Schubertiade Music & Arts of Newton, Massachusetts, took a close second.

The eyes have it: Guercino (artist); Gatti, Oliviero (engraver). Sereniss. Mantuae Duci Ferdinando Gonzaghae DD. Jo. Franciscus Barberius Centen. Inventor.

Guercino (artist); Gatti, Oliviero (engraver). Sereniss. Mantuae Duci Ferdinando Gonzaghae DD. Jo. Franciscus Barberius Centen. Inventor.

                                                                                                                                                                   Be sure to visit stall A33 and welcome Honey & Wax Booksellers to its first New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Founded in 2011 by former Bauman Rare Books employee Heather O'Donnell, the shop specializes in great literature, rare first printings, curious editions, and, as O'Donnell puts it, "books with no downloadable equivalent."

Among her wares, O'Donnell is highlighting books dedicated to education, including one of the earliest Italian pattern books by self-taught painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, better known as Guercino. A 17th-century drawing manual (pictured above) showcases his luminous and lively style, and instructs readers to concentrate on one feature at a time--eyes, hands, then, eventually, full portraits. Honey & Wax is offering this single-broadsheet volume comprising of twenty-two numbered copper-engraved plates bound in full contemporary vellum for $4,800.

Urania's Mirror, or, A View of the Heavens; WITH: A Familiar Treatise on Astronomy, Explaining the General Phenomena of the Celestial Bodies . . . Written Expressly to Accompany Urania's Mirror.

                                                                                                                                                               Another instruction guide is inspired by the luminous heavens. Rather than a simple guide to the skies, O'Donnell is offering a complete, second-edition, 32-card set of Urania's Mirror. These charming, hand-colored cards illustrate the constellations, where pinholes denote the stars' locations. Images are based on those found in Alexander Jamieson's Celestial Atlas (1822). To see the formations of the constellations, viewers held the cards in front of candles or lamps to see the shape the stars would make in the night sky.  Few of these sets remain intact, and this one, which includes an astronomical table and textual explanations, can light up your corner of the sky for $6,200.

Among the highlights at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend is a complete three-volume set of "History of the Indian Tribes of North America," by Thomas McKenney and James Hall, one of the undisputed high points of Americana collecting. The set, offered for sale by Donald A. Heald for $170,000, is inclusive of a fourth volume containing the original front and rear wrappers from each of the original 20 parts. 

The first edition of "one of the most costly and important [works] ever published on the American Indians" (Field), includes 120 beautifully hand-colored lithographic plates, considered to be some of the best examples of the lithographic arts produced in the 19th century. The book was published in Philadelphia by Edward C. Biddle, etc., between 1837 and 1844.

The book was a passion project from Thomas McKenney, a director of the Office of Indian Affairs, and James Hall, a journalist and lawyer, who hoped to preserve an accurate visual record of rapidly vanishing Native culture. The color plate portraits include many famous chiefs of the early 19th century, such as Sequoyah and Red Jacket, who were painted by Charles Bird King from life in his Washington studio.

At time of publication, "History of the Indian Tribes of North America" was the most elaborate plate book produced in the United States.

This copy, with a morocco binding over period cloth, is particularly special for including the rare original wraps in a fourth volume. In his description of the book, Heald mentions that "copies with their original wrappers are of the utmost scarcity and seldom found."

Donald Heald can be found in both C1 at the fair.

If you can crack the seven silver locks on this incredibly beautiful red morocco binding, a seventeenth-century manuscript on heraldry will be revealed.

Titled 'The Baronage of England since the Norman Conquest...', the manuscript on parchment was made in England in 1627. It contains 20 large painted royal arms and 810 small painted arms, all in gold and colors, with captions in a neat English hand.  

Bookseller Justin Croft will be showcasing this book at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, which opens tomorrow evening. The price is $15,000.

Images courtesy of Justin Croft.

Ten autograph letters from H. P. Lovecraft to Frederic Jay Pabody will be up for auction on April 6th at Heritage as part of the fesitivites during Rare Book Week NYC. The lot, which totals forty-six pages, opens at $10,000.

Lovecraft, an avid correspondent, wrote these lengthy handwritten letters full of publishing advice to his young fan, Frederic Jay Pabody, in the 1930s. Highlights of the letters include comments on fellow writers R. H. Barlow, Adolphe de Castro, Robert E. Howard, insights into "good" vs "bad" marriages, the nature of weird fiction, and Lovecraft's own hatred of typewriters. A particular highlight is a 1936 letter that includes a hand draw map of Kusha, a mythic land associated with Atlantis.

Parts of two of the letters appeared in the multi-volume "The Selected Letters of H. P. Lovecraft" edited by August Derleth and published between 1965 and 1976.  The majority of the contents in the ten Pabody letters remain, however, unpublished.

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair opens on Thursday, and today we're highlighting one fantastic item that will be offered there, courtesy of British bookseller Simon Beattie. This unique collection of press cuttings and other printed ephemera dated 1885-1914 relates to Oscar Wilde, primarily to his 1895 criminal trial for gross indecency.  

Compiled by photographer Frederick H. Evans, who shared common literary acquaintances with Wilde, the brown cloth scrapbook contains 24 neatly mounted items with a frontispiece fashioned from Toulouse-Lautrec's 1895 portrait of Wilde. Another 33 loose items detail the sensationalism of Wilde's trials--from allegations about his private life to his prosecution and subsequent imprisonment. "The assiduousness with which these cuttings have been preserved certainly suggests a deep personal interest in the case," writes Beattie.

The price is $5,000.

All this week we'll be showcasing Rare Book Week book fairs and auctions. Click here to check out more highlights from the New York book fairs, or here for our Rare Book Week guide to related auctions, exhibits & events.                                                                                                                                                                             Image: Courtesy of Simon Beattie.

Devil's Claw ©2016 Paul Mirocha. Reproduced with permission from University of Arizona Press.

This year the National Park Service turns 100, and while plenty of new books on the topic clamor for attention, one standout will surely interest readers of this blog. The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, published by the University of Arizona Press takes an innovative approach to natural history by combining words and image in a most striking way. A delightful hybrid of scientific exploration and creative writing, the book is a unique match for the desert topography, which is itself a study in paradoxes: Encompassing over 120,000 miles between Arizona and Mexico, North America's hottest region is also the world's "lushest" desert, and claims five distinct seasons, allowing for a surprising array of life.

To capture the biodiversity of the desert, editors Eric Magrane and Christopher Cokinos included material from fifty writers and poets based in the American West. The writers and their styles are just as varied as the plants and animals discussed: Alison Hawthorne Deming's odes to the Saguaro cactus, "What the Desert is Thinking" and "Questions for a Saguaro," mimic the long arms of the desert's keystone flora, while Wendy Burk's spare, methodical composition matches its subject, the desert tortoise. These, and other entries represent a sampling of what the editors charmingly coined a "literary biomimicry." Plenty of creatures are included whose names alone demand further inspection, such as the desert globemallow, the fairy duster, and the Arizona walkingstick. Sketches by award-winning illustrator Paul Mirocha are crisp, bright, and lively. (Readers may recognize Mirocha's handiwork; he has illustrated over 20 children's books and pop-ups, including Barbara Kingsolver's Small Wonder.)

Each creative contribution is accompanied by the subject's physical description and habitat, and these scientific entries are entertaining as well: the desert tortoise is called "the Oreo of the desert" for their prevalence on predator menus, and inebriated young men are frequent victims of rattlesnake bites. The diversity of the text and the species of the Sonoran offer up a rich resource that celebrates the beauty of this extraordinary biome.

Cactus Wren ©2016 Paul Mirocha, reproduced with permission from University of Arizona Press

The Sonoran Desert: A Literary Field Guide, edited by Eric Magrane and Christopher Cokinos with illustrations by Paul Mirocha; University of Arizona Press, $19.95, 216 pages, 2016.