More than 40 years attending book fairs, reviewing them, badmouthing them, supporting them, and I never had an experience even close to what I experienced at Rare Books San Francisco on Saturday afternoon, February 4, 2023. But first, a little context. The event was held in a historic bank building – someone told me it […] More >>
The Human Condition
So, somebody in our august trade org. was watching a 2016 rerun of Antiques Road Show and saw there the mug of a convicted felon who’d formerly been a bookseller/appraiser before he was kicked out of said august trade org. and just about everything else (as he should have been) except, apparently, our collective memories […] More >>
Froggie Went a Courtin’
Worked all last week cataloging, arranging, and spiffing up presentation of the 70 or so items I’m sending out west for Rare Books San Francisco Feb 3-5 and the California International Antiquarian Book Fair in Pasadena, Feb. 10-12. That’s right. Five boxes. Total. There’s always more to do, but I figured I’d earned a […] More >>
PAPERMANIA MINUS
I hope you won’t take this as unseemly complaining, but any time I sell more at a provincial book show than I spend, I know I’m in trouble. This year, at “Papermania Plus – 2023” I sold about $4370 and bought $750 worth of goods. A bad day for me. Here’s how it happened. Several […] More >>
A Carefully Curated Collection of My Mistakes
Mike is back working in the stacks, freeing me up to get another list of rares out. Unfortunately, he’ll be headed back to Ireland in a month or so, and I’ll be back in the dungeon of cheap books. A couple of years ago I thought Dave would bail me out. He was a smart […] More >>