Second Story Books Branches Out into Auctions & More

Courtesy of Second Story Books

James Montgomery Flagg's "I Want You for U.S. Army" poster. Estimate: $4,000-6,000

Filed under more ‘antiquarian bookseller innovations’ this spring, Second Story Books of Washington, D.C., and Rockville, Maryland, has begun holding auctions with Invaluable. Currently it is hosting its second auction, featuring maps and military memorabilia, including a large collection of WWI posters. The latter are particularly fun to peruse — you have the mainstay James Montgomery Flagg “I Want You” poster pictured above, plus a selection of scarcely seen vintage war posters. The “Scrap of Paper” enlistment poster is neat because it features an ivory scroll displaying a gray ribbon embossed with dark red wax stamp seals and black calligraphy. I also like “The Empire Needs Men!” with its fierce lion imagery. The bookish among us will no doubt be swayed by the German WWI poster depicting a soldier reading a book.

The bidding is open and culminates in a live auction on June 6 at 11:00. 

Courtesy of Second Story Books

Aside from the auction action, Second Story, owned and operated by Allan and Kim Stypeck, has also launched a “Sheltering with Books” project, asking readers to share what they’re reading and other book notes with fellow bibliophiles: “Are you reading under shutdown? What are you reading? What do you think about what you're reading? Want to share your thoughts / feelings / stories / photos about a book or books? Favorite authors? How are you adapting to your new stay-at-home literary lifestyle? Or is your new lifestyle basically the same as your previous? This is the place to post about any of the above (or anything related to the above – you get the idea).”

With the help of Fine Books, Second Story plans to create an online archive of the responses for the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress. So far, fans have weighed in with reading lists and shelfies. Come join us!