Lawrence C. Wroth's Notes for Bibliophiles by Richard J. Ring, Reviewed by Jerry Morris

I regard myself as quite knowledgeable about bibliophiles and bibliophilic matters.  But I learned a thing or two from reading this book.  I learned more about the bibliophiles I thought I already knew:  Wilberforce Eames, Douglas McMurtrie,  and A. S. W. Rosenbach, to name a few.  And I was introduced to a bibliophilic topic I knew practically next-to-nothing about: maps.  Richard Ring selected articles by Lawrence Wroth about mapping the Northwest Territory as well as the maps of the Pacific Battleground, where American troops were currently fighting.

And I particularly enjoyed reading Wroth's pieces about the American libraries, their exhibitions, and some of their special collections.  And Ring included pieces on American newspaper bibliography, printing, and even on early American handwriting.

What amazed me most about the book, however, was the depth of knowledge Wroth displayed about the location of copies of particular books and maps in the libraries of the world. And, I should note, Wroth had no computer on which to look up the bibliographical information he provided in "Notes for Bibliophiles."

Richard Ring has done well in his selection of the 59 articles from the more than 225 articles that appeared in the New York Herald Tribune Books.  

Moi recommends!

My Friend Paul Ruxin

I wrote this piece for The Florida Bibliophile, the official newsletter of the Florida Bibliophile Society.  I am posting it on this blog to share it with my other bibliophilic friends.

There are literally hundreds of people, many of them bibliophiles, who called Paul Ruxin their friend.  He was a member of the Caxton Club, the Rowfant Club, and the Grolier Club.  And he was the guest speaker for many of the other bibliophilic societies in the United States, including the Florida Bibliophile Society.  His death has shocked us all.

I posted a notice of Paul Ruxin's death on the Facebook page of the Florida Bibliophile Society.  And I included an anecdote of how I first made his acquaintance in September 2004.  For those FBS members who didn't read my Facebook post, I will repeat the anecdote below.  And I will add a few more anecdotes to show the kind of man my friend Paul Ruxin was.

In September 2004, Lee Harrer, a member of both the Florida Bibliophile Society and the Caxton Club, gave me a copy of the latest issue of The Caxtonian, which contained an article by Paul Ruxin titled, "Other People's Books: Association Copies and Another Pleasure of Collecting." Lee knew I'd be interested in reading the article because I, too, collected association copies.

I wrote Mr. Ruxin, introduced myself, and said I collected association copies and Samuel Johnson—but on a mailman's salary (Paul Ruxin was a partner in the prestigious Jones Day Law Firm). I told Paul that I was about to buy a copy of his book, Friday Lunch, because I was going to begin giving talks before the Florida Bibliophile Society, and hoped to learn a thing or two by reading the talks he gave before the Rowfant Club during lunch on Fridays.

Paul promptly responded and wanted to know where I had found a copy of his book. He said he was looking for copies to give to some of his friends. I gave Paul the bookseller's contact information and told him to buy it for one of his friends because at $75 it was really too rich for me. And I thought that was the end of the matter.

I decided to take the day off from delivering the mail the following Friday and was just sitting down to have lunch when my mailman came to my door with a package for me. It was a copy of Friday Lunch. And inside was this gift card:

I "surprised" Paul Ruxin a few months later.  One of the twelve talks published in Friday Lunch was about the poet and playwright Archibald MacLeish.   I had just read MacLeish's essay "The Reorganization of the Library of Congress 1939-44, " in the 1945 Annual Report of the Librarian of Congress, and when I found an offprint of the article on AbeBooks, I thought Paul would enjoy reading it.  I ordered it, and had it sent directly to Paul Ruxin's place of residence in Chicago.

Paul received the pamphlet but he didn't know who to thank!  There was nothing on the invoice that identified who bought the pamphlet for him.  So Paul called this friend and that friend,  and yet another friend—Paul had lots of friends—but, thus far, no friend admitted to sending him the pamphlet.  About two weeks later, I emailed Paul and asked if he received the pamphlet I sent him.  And he replied, "SO YOU'RE THE ONE!!"

Chicago was cold and windy in 2005, and Paul accepted my invitation to be the guest speaker for the March meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society.  He planned on spending a week or so just soaking up the warm Florida sun after he gave his talk to us.  "Soft-Hearted Sam" was the title Paul had selected for his talk.  A day or two before the meeting, however, Paul contacted me and said he had to change his plans.  He would fly in the day before the meeting; but he had to fly back to Chicago right after the meeting was over that Sunday. And that's what happened.  Afterwards, I learned that Paul had been in the middle of negotiating the sale of an oil company, and had to get back to Chicago to resume negotiations on Monday.  To me, that said a lot about what the word, commitment, meant to Paul Ruxin.

I had invited Paul to brunch at my house before the FBS meeting in March 2005.  We spent more than a few minutes beforehand in my library, mostly in front of the shelves containing the books formerly owned by Donald and Mary Hyde.  Paul remarked to my wife that I was lucky to have an entire room for my books.  He said that all his wife let him have was one small alcove for all of his books!

I had the opportunity to visit that "small alcove" in March 2011.  I was in Chicago for the Caxton Club's Book-Launch Party to celebrate the publication of Other People's Books:  Association Copies and the Stories They Tell.  Both Paul and I had contributed essays which were published in the book.  As for Paul's alcove, after seeing it, and fondling handling some of his books on the shelves, I regarded it as a great alcove!  There were books formerly owned by Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, and their contemporaries—all of them looking down and out over Chicago. At thirty-eight floors up, Paul's Great Alcove of Books was the closest I have ever been to book heaven!

I last heard from Paul on March 21st of this year.  I had sent him the link to my recent blog post, "The Story of Spence's Anecdotes." And after reading it, Paul replied, "Fascinating as usual... thanks."

To you Paul, I say with all my heart,  "Thanks for being my friend."

A Slideshow of a Bibliomaniac's Library

I've created a slideshow of my library.  And I think you'll like the display!

To view the slideshow, click on the hyperlink, "A Bibliomaniac's Library," that is above the image.

For best viewing, click on "Full Screen" after you open the link.  It's the little square in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow screen.

And turn up the volume so you can hear the music!


Click here -> A Bibliomaniac's Library

Rare Books Uncovered: True Stories of Fantastic Finds in Unlikely Places by Rebecca Rego Barry Reviewed by Jerry Morris

The book-hunter whose heart is in his quest never tires of tales of lucky discoveries, and of rare books bought for a song. This is natural enough, and moreover, authentic details of some great find invariably stimulate his eagerness, and encourage him to persevere in the search for what he is repeatedly being told—as though he of all men did not know it already—is only to be met with casually, and by the merest of accidents (32).
                               The Romance of Book-Collecting
                               by J. H. Slater, London: 1898

Books about books is my forte.  And I have a number of books by or about book hunters in my library that I enjoyed reading:  The Book-Hunter by John Hill Burton (1863), The Book-Hunter in Paris by Octave Uzanne (1893), A Shelf of Old Books by Mrs. James T. Fields (1894), The Book-Hunter in London by W. Roberts (1895),  Diversions of a Book-Lover by Adrian Joline (1903),  A Sentimental Library by Harry B. Smith (1914), The Amenities of Book-Collecting by A. Edward Newton (1918), The Book Hunter At Home by P. B. M. Allan (1920), Penny Wise & Book Foolish by Vincent Starrett (1929),  Carousel for Bibliophiles by William Targ (1947), The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter by Charles P. Everitt (1952),  Gold in Your Attic by Van Allen Bradley (1958), Old & Rare: Thirty Years in the Book Business by Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern (1974), and Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone (1997).

And then there is A Gentle Madness:  Bibliophiles, Bibliomanes, and the Eternal Passion for Books by Nicholas A. Basbanes (2005).  Looking back, I believe the dust jacket of A Gentle Madness made a statement about the book.  Striking, it was:

And it is the lack of a dust jacket  that makes a bold statement about Rare Books Uncovered:

The word, uncovered, in the title of this book has a double meaning:

This book, Rare Books Uncovered, is not covered by a dust jacket!

This book is about rare books that were discovered in unlikely places.

Yes.  You can add Rare Books Uncovered to the list of books about book hunters that I enjoyed reading.  Thousands of people read A Gentle Madness. And I expect thousands more will read Rare Books Uncovered.

You don't have to be a book hunter to enjoy reading these 52 tales of lucky finds revealed in Rebecca Rego Barry's book.  And you don't have to be a book hunter to find rare and special books either.  Some of the finders whose stories you will read in Rare Books Uncovered didn't know the first thing about book collecting.

But knowing a little bit about books helps to know how fantastic your find is.  Of the 52 finders in Rare Books Uncovered, at least half of them identify themselves as booksellers.  At least six of the finders identify themselves as book scouts, which is a modern-day term for book hunters.  And at least 15 of the finders identify themselves as collectors.  One book collector even describes himself as a bibliomaniac!

Bookwise or not, you will enjoy reading Rare Books Uncovered. And you will even pick up some of the book lingo, for Rebecca has included marginal notes for the "newbie," defining such words and phrases as incunabula, point, doublure, provenance, flyleaf, watermark, printer's device, and, my favorite, an Historiated Initial.  Sounds painful, doesn't it?

It was not painful for some of the finders when they learned the value of their lucky finds—especially the one who found at least $8.9 million worth of comic books while cleaning out the house of a recently departed relative.  This finder was neither a bookseller, a book scout, or a collector.  But it was months before he realized the value of his find.

Of the 52 finds, three were found while clearing out houses, three were found on eBay, three were found at library sales, one was found in a dumpster, another was found in a trailer park, two were found at flea markets, two were found at book fairs, at least four were found in bookstores, and five were found at auctions.  I won't tell you where the others were found, or what the finds were.  You will find out when you read this book.

Finally, did I mention who wrote the Forward to Rare Books Uncovered?  Nicholas A. Basbanes, the author of A Gentle Madness.

Separate Fountains by Patti Wilson Byars Reviewed by Jerry Morris

This book is identified as an historical fiction novel—meaning it is a novel describing imaginary events and people.  Tell that to Katie Jane Taylor!  She's the young girl who is the lead character in the story.  The Ku Klux Klan was real.  And what the Klan did in the 1950s was real.  My wife read this book first.  And she couldn't put it down.  I read it and I can't wait to meet the author, who will be the guest speaker at the November meeting of the Florida Bibliophile Society.

Blue Blood by Edward Conlon, Reviewed by Jerry Morris

An exceptional book about a "man in blue" in the Bronx.  Blue Blood was written and published before Blue Bloods appeared on television.  And although there are some similarities, the book and the tv show are two separate entities.  Most of the book was an enjoyable and enlightening read. I say "most" because the author didn't spare the pen in complaining about a certain unnamed few of his superiors.  But then again, the book is fact and not fiction.

One Righteous Man: Samuel Battle and the Shattering of the Color Line in New York By Arthur Browne Reviewed by Jerry Morris

Langston Hughes wrote Samuel Battle's biography, Battle of Harlem, more than fifty years ago.  It was about the life of the first black policeman in New York City.  But no one wanted to publish it.  So Battle had another friend revise the manuscript, and Eleanor Roosevelt wrote the Forward.  Still, no one wanted to publish it.

Now, Arthur Browne, who has probably written more about New York and prominent New Yorkers than anyone else, has gotten Beacon Press to publish his book on Samuel Battle.  Arthur Browne has taken the revised manuscript, interviewed Battle's surviving friends and relatives, researched more, even changed the title, and presented his book on Samuel Battle, not in color, but in black and white—and sometimes black versus white.  Because when you pull the shade up and look out the window on race relations in America, it's not a pretty picture.  I am, of course, referring to Black and White America as it was from the early 1900s to the 1950s.  Or am I?  There will be those who will adamantly refuse to read this book, yet will still sing God Bless America.  Are you one of them?

The Groaning Shelf And Other Instances of Book Love by Pradeep Sebastian Reviewed by Jerry Morris

Most American bibliophiles have missed the boat on reading The Groaning Shelf;  it was published by Hachette in India in 2010.   I recently traded duplicate copies of two books in my library for a copy inscribed to me by the author himself. And I'm glad I did!
   Pradeep Sebastian, author of Endpaper,  a column about books which appears in The Hindu, wrote The Groaning Shelf primarily for the bibliophile in India.  But bibliophily has an international flavor, as evidenced by the titles used in this book:  The Pleasures of Bibliophily,  The Browser's Ecstasy, Editions, A Gentle Madness, The Book Eaters, Writers, Ruined by Reading, Loved and Lost, and Bookstores—and those are just the titles of the sections!  Here are some of the titles of the 53 essays: Shelf Life, The Bookman, The Mystique of First Editions, For the Cover Alone, True Tales of Bibliomania, Marginalia (& Other Literary Curiosities), The Book Borrower, A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Library,  A Genius for Suspense, Reading in Bed, Lost Books, At the Museum of Books, The Ultimate Bookshop, and The Book in the Movie (extra kudos for the last one). Pradeep closes his book with an afterword about attending the New York Antiquarian Book Fair in 2010 and meeting Rebecca Rego Barry, editor of Fine Books & Collections, and Nicholas Basbanes, "the collector of collectors," at the book signing table.  In his inscription, Mr. Basbanes referred to Pradeep as "his colleague in India, and a fellow chronicler of the gentle madness."
  A small  number of copies of The Groaning Shelf are available online.  Several booksellers in the UK list Mr. Sebastian's book for $6 plus shipping.  Amazon has two copies listed for $255 each (not a misprint).  And Alibris currently has a copy listed for a whopping $435.90 plus shipping.  Hachette has an ebook version, which is available via Barnes and Noble's Book Nook for $12.99.
   In this bibliomaniac's opinion, Hachette would do well to have one of its American book publishing groups publish a hard copy of The Groaning Shelf —expressly for those American bibliophiles who prefer "book in hand."

Whistle Stop: How 31,00 Miles of Train Travel, 352 Speeches, And a Little Midwest Gumption Saved the Presidency of Harry Truman by Philip White Reviewed by Jerry Morris

   This book should be required reading for all those who failed to vote in the last election.  All told, over sixty-three percent of eligible voters never showed up at the polls last November—the worst voter turnout since World War II.
   Only thirty-seven percent of the voting population voted in the 1946 midterm election.  And the Republicans took control of both houses, stopped the New Deal in its tracks, and overrode Truman's veto no less than six times.  Moreover, all of the polsters predicted a Republican takeover of the White House in the 1948 election.  But President Truman had something to say about that, and say it he did, with the help of his newly-organized research team.
   President Truman didn't tell the people what they wanted to hear—he told them what they needed to hear—What the Do-Nothing Congress was doing for the rich and not doing for the people.  Day in and day out, Truman's research term provided him with the facts and the "local inside information" that directly affected the people he met and talked to on his whistle stops.  And the people listened.  And they showed up at the polls.  Fifty-three percent of the voting population voted in the 1948 election.  President Truman was re-elected.  And the Democrats took control of both houses.
   It remains to be seen what our Republican Congress does and doesn't do for the American people in the next two years.  And how many times, if any, they can override President Obama's veto.  They must, however, keep in mind that the handwriting is on the wall, so to speak: in Philip White's new book.
   Do nothing and Hillary will be in the White House.  And the Democrats will take control of both houses—provided they learn to tell the people what they need to hear.
   And if the people listen.
 

The Court-Martial of Paul Revere

Every American probably knows about the midnight ride of Paul Revere.  But how many Americans know about Paul Revere's actions – or rather, his inaction – during the Penobscot Expedition? I didn't.  And Michael M. Greenburg's book changed my opinion of Paul Revere.

Paul Revere was many things:  a patriot, a silversmith, an engraver, and a dentist.  But what he was not was a good soldier.  Several officers, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's grandfather, General Peleg Wadsworth, sought to bring charges up against Paul Revere, the most damning being Revere's refusal to obey orders during the Penobscot Fiasco.

I won't tell you about the Penobscot Expedition, what led to Paul Revere's court-martial, or how the court-martial ends.   Mr. Greenburg does an excellent job of detailing all of that. You'll just have to read his book to find out.