A little (more) history…

I heart NY

Here’s a redacted blog post from 15 years ago, written on the occasion of the 2011 New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. I’d been doing the Armory show since the late 1980s, and this was the first one in which I did NOT have a booth. I simply shopped it and left town Friday night to work on my piece about John Ledyard, which at that moment and even now, seemed more interesting and fun, if less remunerative. The old blog post will serve in part as historical context, but I republish it here (in part) primarily because it was the first Bookman’s Log entry in which I mentioned Donohue’s Steak House, a place that has been as central to my New York Book Fair experience as the Armory itself.

Always, throughout those difficult years of trying to be a big shot, there was the healing calm of the bar at Donohue’s Steak House. It was my refuge, my happy place.

Last Saturday afternoon, May 2, in company with Rob Rulon-Miller, Lorne Bair, and Dan Lipcan, I enjoyed my final meal at Donohue’s. The place is due to close its doors forever sometime in June, after a run of 75 years, about one third of which I have enjoyed there.

So, here’s that 2011 blog post.

The Donohue Effect

April 9, 2011 

When I first got in the book business “the City,” as we called it, (could there be another city?) was still a mecca of book stores – little holes in the wall all over town out of which great things came. There was a lady named Gertrude down in the Village (could there be another village?) who knew all the intellectuals and got their books and papers when they died. Or maybe she just went through their trash.

I started doing the New York Book Fair in the late 1980s. It was held in the Park Avenue Armory, as it is now, but back then it had more of a neighborhood flavor. The roof leaked and there were still $25 books on exhibit. I know, because I brought them. Hundreds of them. Sold a lot, too.

I stayed with this fair through thick and thin – race riots, union troubles, a misbegotten move to the Americana Hotel, then back to the Armory under the management of Sandy Smith. And that – no matter what you might think of Sandy – was when the fair blossomed into the world class event it is now. The New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is where the books are, folks. The very best of them.

On April 9, 2011, I drove into the City early, and used my extensive knowledge of the place to secure a very reasonable hotel on the West Side.

Scouted shops all day and made enough to pay my hotel bill, then went up to Donohue’s, an old-fashioned neighborhood bar and chop house on Lexington Ave. for my ritual pre-fair drink.

Made it to the Park Avenue Armory just as the doors were opening…

REDACTED CONTENT HERE

 …talked with two dozen colleagues Thursday and Friday. Comments ran from “pretty good” through “great” and, if no one was having their best fair, no one was having their worst. Pre-fair sales among dealers (a significant percentage of income for many of us) was also good but not great. The Baumans, Bill Reese and Jeff Marks did their parts. The smaller dealers did not seem to be buying as aggressively. So what’s new? The market is increasingly stronger for big books, as little books (and booksellers) struggle to hold their own.

For me, however, the true indicator of the fiscal health of the trade was at Donohue’s.

I’ve been drinking (and eating lunch and dinner) there for two decades, and Jerry and Bruno (above) the bartenders, and Maureen the owner, feel more like colleagues than barkeeps. In the old days the bar used to be packed with book dealers – before, during and after fair hours. Since 2008 the place had been relatively empty, inhabited only by my buddies and me, and a few locals. But this year Donohue’s was mobbed as in days of old.

It was like the swallows coming back to Capistrano. A good sign for the industry.

***

But now, back to the present. The Shadow Show was pretty good selling, disappointing buying. Sold $8500 bought only $2000. The big fair, from reports gathered at Donohue’s and elsewhere, was very good this year. Very, very good.