Old friends Joyce and Kenny Gloss came up to Gloucester for dinner last Saturday. We had reservations at Tonno, a fairly high-end (for Gloucester) seafood place, so I put my good clothes on. A clean pair of jeans and an Oxford shirt. Wore my regular old shoes, though. Comfy feet are important.
The Glosses are bookpeople, of course, proprietors of the famed Brattle Book Shop.
That must’ve been what got me thinking about books, because as I was rolling up my sleeves, the better to deal with seafood mess, I all the sudden had a full-on recollection of dressing up for book fairs – a very big deal! Jacket and tie, or sport coat and tie, minimum. Polished shoes, clean nails, shave and haircut. The Full Monty, as it were.
In the old days at Donohue’s on 64th and Lex, even Bruno the bartender wore a tie.
What I most remembered, and this surprised me, was that the whole dress up operation was kinda fun. Fancy clothes set bookfairs apart from my daily run of activities. Standing my corner in Boston, San Francisco, LA, or New York, resplendent in my business suit, I felt like a serious book dealer, a big shot.
On the other hand, it was a giant pain schlepping those bags full of dresses and suits from book fair to book fair. We always got stuck checking our bags. And, I must admit, by Sunday the thrill was gone… along with the tie.
All those years Ken Lopez was the only real fashion rebel. He wore T shirts and jeans. Some of the Euro people had clothing unrecognizable to me, save for the fact that whatever they were wearing was well made and probably quite expensive. Definitely not T shirt and jeans.
I love all those old book fair pictures from AB magazine. They ALL worse suits and ties. Hell, until the late sixties people wore ties on airplanes. I wonder what happened to our fashion sense?
Got my books all packed up and shipped to Seattle for the Seattle Antiquarian Book. When it’s time to head out there, my wardrobe for a week will fit into a carry-on mini suitcase. Underwear, toiletries, jeans, T shirt, etc.
You’ll find me in Seattle in a jacket and tie, as I am at every book fair… I like it; so why not!
Three years ago – it was still a worldwide pandemic so we were all addled – Dan Gaeta (of the inimitable John Bale Book Co.) left his garment bag with suit and brand-new oxford wingtips on the street behind the Park Avenue Armory. It was at the close of the ABAA show and nerves were frayed. Well my nerves were frayed. As his long-time bookfair assistant, I am typically ready to ditch the whole damn thing by show’s end. Until the next show…
I always assumed that I’d later see Dan’s wingtips protuding from a subway grate under a piece of cardboard somewhere on the streets of NYC.
Nope.
Last April [TWO YEARS LATER] we arrived to set up for the Armory show. Percy visited our booth with our labels, additional trash can and one very dusty garment bag. The Brotherhood of the Traveling Pants And Wingtips had come full circle. It had apparently traveled with the Union Guys to Sanford Smith’s office to god-knows-where and back.
I haven’t seen Dan wear the revered outfit since – probably supertitious. But let’s raise a glass to the Dress Code anyway. And the stories we tell.
In days of yore, there were more book fairs to dress up for. Some few years ago we were at the airport waiting for a flight, and I ran into the one other person among those thousands wearing a jacket and tie. I knew him.