Police came on board & took our crew to jail – Collard crew
Sometimes I wonder why I even bother. Does anyone read these blog entries? I’ve been slamming away at them since the summer of 2010 and have heaped up more words than Tolstoy managed to recruit in writing “War & Peace.”
I console myself that, if nothing else, I am compiling an experiential history of our trade during what might be its most dynamic period since Gutenberg. Then, if I think carefully, I remember that part of the reason for starting “Bookman’s Log” was advertising. I imagined that if I were to write amusing and informative entries, people would follow the blog on a regular basis. Ten Pound Island Book Co. would thus have another means of outreach and, if I happened to talk about a book or manuscript in my weekly column, described and priced as if it were a catalog entry (which it invariably was), I might even sell something. And sure enough, if I go back over the documentary evidence, as I’ve just spent a lovely morning doing, I discover that, by God, I’ve sold quite a few things over the years, often to people I didn’t know!
Last week I wrote about a merchant ship’s log that I almost consigned to the “ho hum” pile – until I discovered that it was manned by African Americans who, when the ship put into New Orleans for a load of cotton, were thrown in jail until the ship departed. Bingo!
A few days later I received an inquiry from a customer in Maine who collected journals and logbooks.
“Curious…did you sell the two shiplogs referenced – Log of ship “Edward Stanley,” T. Nichols Commander.?”
I responded, “No, I put them away for New York.”
“Ah – that is in April isn’t it? they certainly are unique…is that something you’d be willing to sell before NY?”
Duhh…
“I think I might even be able to identify the “collard crew” by name,” he went on. “…where they lived, and which slaves they may have descended from… OK, that’s my prednisone talking. I do know who the anonymous diarist referenced at the Blunt White Library is… that is a good start! Augustus K. Welt. All roads currently lead to Lincoln County Maine – Waldoboro / Bristol Area… with a historically high population of free blacks!”
I’ve always said I learned more about this trade from my customers than any other source.
I’m still saying it.
Your Maine customer makes the correction…Augustus Welt was the shipbuilder, and father of the diarist, Amariah Welt. Merry Christmas Greg!
To My Esteemed Colleague Gregor Gibson:
I read your blogs religiously (actually atheistically).
I get mad when you skip a week. Or three.
You make nautical history interesting to a superficial person such as myself.
I hate when you go to your cabin in Nova Scotia to write. Too tranquil up there and not enough complaints about lack of amenities.
I’m touched when you complain bitterly about our business. A mix of empathy and schadenfreude for me.
I especially adore your show debriefs. Although I still find questionable your algorithm of adding show purchases (expenditures typically) to your profit line item.
I miss your holiday season tree sales shenanigans.
I am impressed with your bike riding prowess at your age (ouch).
I grieve with you always about gun violence and loss.
I am amazed and bemused with your always optimistic succession plans for your business. (That next new young starry-eyed employee! They’re in it for the long haul!)
I love when Peter Stern comments like the Old Man In the Sea of the Book Biz. Hi Peter!
So that’s that.
Keep up the good work!
Here’s to another 20 years of our favorite curmudgeon (that would be you).
And Happy New Year.
Your less-than-esteemed colleague, Lisa F. Bouchard
MelroseBooks
Lisa, this mirrors my feelings exactly. Thank you so much for putting it so succinctly. Now maybe Greg will stop skipping weeks.
To Lisa Bouchard. I am now a fan of yours having just read your remarks(your prose poem) concerning Gregor a dearest friend/brother since we met in college in l963.
Thanks Barry.
I’ll let you be Vice President of the Greg Gibson Fan Club.
xoxo
Greg , I so enjoy your blog I look forward to reading it all the time , I am not a book dealer just a collector , I met you at the Hynes this year and we talked about Benny Tighe . In relation to your latest post sometimes you read things and a related item pops into your ebay feed , I was reading about the USS Essex in the war of 1812 and a letter popped into my favorite seller from the wife of a sailor looking for his pay he had been gone 2 years . please keep posting
Greg,
I read your blog, I learn from every one.
And, will be happy to purchase from you when you get in some Kelmscott, Doves or Ashchendene Press.
Jeff
Swan’s
I certainly do read your blog, Greg, and congratulate you for this great service of transmitting informative facts and reports to all of us in the book world.
May you enjoy a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous 2025 !
Carmen D. Valentino
Greg,
I enjoy reading your blog. It is both entertaining and informative. I (sadly) haven’t bought a book from you since you had a brick and mortar store off Main St. in Gloucester (decades ago!)
thanks for your insights, not only into the book business, but on the human race as well.
Regards,
Dave LeBlanc
I have read your blog for many years, on and off. Please, keep up the good work! Each entry is a small (but important) 40-watt spark of wit & book history that I always look forward to. Such things matter in this increasingly dimly-lit world.
Greg,
I read ’em too. Maybe not always on the Mondays you post them, but I always go back and read the ones I’ve missed!
DC