The Citadel



Daniel Peeler

Dr. Hutchisson

English 650

October 6, 2009

Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World

By Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone

Introduction

Summary: Used and Rare is a memoir of the Goldstone’s adventures in the world of used and rare books. The book gives anecdotal accounts of shops they visit and their owners, auctions and fairs they attend, and histories of authors, collections, and personally significant events.

Unpredictable and Nonstandard Nature of the Used and Rare Book Business

‘“Oh, yes, that’s the book business. You never know.”’ – pg. 23

Wide variety of books and editions available, including personal and historical treasures:

“When we browsed through the literature section of a new-book store, even one of the new chain mega-stores, we were at least noddingly familiar with the names of the authors they kept in stock. Here … [the literature section was] filled with rows and rows of books by authors we had never heard of.” – pg. 19

“A new-book store usually carries only one edition of the book you want and, for all but new releases, that would be a paperback. You either bought it or you didn’t. Here everything was in hardcover and there were often two or three editions to choose from.” – pg. 20

“It was 1994 and Arnold Brecht was gone. We realized that, other than in a used-book store like Powell’s or in an occasional university library, The Political Education of Arnold Brecht had almost certainly ceased to exist as well. But we had it. A treasure. And it cost $12.50.” – pg. 45

Fast turnaround of books: “It hadn’t occurred to us that we could miss both the arrival and irrevocable departure of a book we wanted. That never happens at a new-book store.” – pg. 24

Prices:

“Forty dollars? Nineteen books for forty dollars? That meant that each book cost… ‘We’ll take them.”’ – pg. 35

“That [the four-digit price] explained why we hadn’t found Gatsby at a used-book store.” – pg. 155

Stock varies from store to store and owner to owner and is not dependant on what is popular

“Obviously, the stock at used-book stores, like pets, tended to reflect the personalities of their owners.” – pg. 33

“Farshaw’s Bookshop is well worth a visit for anyone who enjoys searching for good books at fair prices in an amiable environment. We do not specialize in any subjects, but tend to have books which, for one reason or another, we regard as unusually interesting or important.” – pg. 38, advertisement text

Different locations and layouts of stores

- Storefronts

- High-rise apartments

- Basements

- Homes

- Brownstones

- Standard shelving

- Double shelving (two rows per shelf)

- Glass cases (for rare books)

Diversity among store owners

- Background

- Attitude

- Age

Pitfalls of the Used and Rare Book Business

Unpredictable and nonstandard nature of the used and rare book business can be a drawback

- Difficulty in finding books

- Poor condition of books

- High prices

- Difficult owners and collectors

Complexity of the trade, especially the terminology can confuse beginners

“The man behind the counter at Rohe had said ‘no dust jacket, second state.’ And now here was a dust jacket and a first state. Obviously, the presence of the dust jacket and the earlier state (whatever a state was) accounted for a $145 difference in price.” – pg. 97

Emphasis placed on condition and collectable status, not rarity, literary merit, or significance

First edition of Tarzan of the Apes, $50,000; most expensive item in a rare book catalog – pg. 91-92

“Of all the books we had seen in all the shops, Tarzan was still the most expensive … “A dealer in the Berkshires had Hermann Melville’s personal copy of Sir William Davenport’s The Works, the one he made notations in at sea and used to write Moby-Dick. It was thousands less. How can a copy of Tarzan be worth more than something like that?’” – pg. 153

‘“Sometimes a book that is not especially rare can become rare just because very few are available with a dust jacket in good condition.’” – pg. 155

“If everyone had them, how could these books be considered ‘rare,’ how could they command such prices?” – pg. 189

Commercialism and lack of depth among rare book collectors and dealers

“‘There’s no depth in collecting anymore,’ he continued. ‘People aren’t interested in a whole body of work. Nowadays they just want the best known titles in the best condition. It’s sort of like one of those remote control devices … always skimming the dials, never staying in one place.’” – pg. 156

“‘That book fair was about commodities … People who buy books at that fair don’t know or care critically about the authors they collect…”’ – pg. 193

“Often, they [dealers at a high-end rare book fair] seemed to size you up to guess at your bank balance before they would even answer a question about something they had on display. They behaved more like the staffs at Christie’s or Sotheby’s or some snooty art gallery than people who, up to now, had always seemed to us to be doing this for love of the written word.” – pg. 188

Celebration of Books

Books can have personal significance

War and Peace begins Goldstone’s involvement in the used and rare book world – ch. 1

Short story collection ends marital dispute – pg. 46-48

Rare book a consolation in loneliness – pg. 51

Books can have historical background

“Now, for the first time, we began to appreciate that there was a history and a world of ideas embodied by the books themselves.” – pg. 74

Disguised first U.S. edition of Ulysses – pg. 75-75

Book detailing the British debate over American independence – pg. 146-148

A Christmas Carol changes the way the holiday is celebrated – pg. 167

Implications of the Gutenberg Bible and printing – pg. 170

The merit of unknown and underrated books and authors

- John Don Passos (contemporary of Hemingway that was regarded more highly then but forgotten now)

- Arnold Brecht

- Booth Tarkington

- The Night Visitor and Other Stories (the pseudonym B. Traven is the source of great speculation)

Conclusion

Used bookstores are ultimately better than rare bookstores because you can afford to read what you buy and can find books that are not aimed at collectors

“The only place you can find books like that [excellent but underrated or forgotten] anymore is a used-book shop like Berkshire Book Company.” – pg. 214

“The more we thought about it, the more we came back to our original view. You don’t really need first editions at all. They are just affectations, excuses for dealers to run up the price on you, charge you a lot of money for something that doesn’t read any better than any other edition. Still, there was the fabulous Ashenden at Pepper and Stern with that amazing dust jacket…” – pg. 215, last lines of the book

Works Cited

Goldstone, Lawrence and Nancy. Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.

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