We opened the newly renovated Ten Pound Island/Flatrocks Gallery building in 2008. Sadly, my Jackass neighbor’s tree destroyed the building in 2010. Mr. Jackass denied any responsibility and did everything in his power to prevent us from reopening. But we forged on. We took the insurance money, borrowed everything we were worth, and built the […] More >>

Over the past few years my old friend and colleague John Thomson of Bartleby’s Books (far left in the photo) has adopted an adage that gives me pause. We might be looking at a fascinating bibliographical discrepancy, or a dense manuscript, full of promise but chaotic. As I reach for my checkbook he turns away, […] More >>

  You can always count on a good Ephemera Society of America Dealer’s Showcase. Nice hotel, good eating nearby, affordable booth rents, captive audience.  Plus, they’ve been running the identical show so long it could almost run on autopilot. What’s not to like? Well, there’s always something. The Friday night preview for Ephemera Society members […] More >>

Lately I’ve been re-reading books I’d read in my youth, just to see how they hold up over time. Catch-22 was a total flop. The same joke over and over. The Great Gatsby seemed like a vast, sweeping drama when I first read it. The second time around it was a sad, skinny tale. On […] More >>

I always wondered why the late Peter Howard named his business “Serendipity.” He was an excellent bookman, in many ways a leader of his generation of bookpeople. I found him astute, focused, tireless, and deeply knowledgeable – about as far from Serendipitious as I could imagine. After a while I simply assumed he was talking […] More >>