Bibliophagist

Bookseller as melancholy hero, via recent correspondence with Dr. B.

Tomorrow I will once again be staffing a table on the sunny side of the sixth annual Kerrytown Book Fest here in Ann Arbor. The book fest combines book arts, author panels, and vendors of antiquarian, collectible and various books. It will also once again offer a complimentary low-rent version of the Antiques Road Show at the free book appraisal table. The appraisal table will be staffed by Jay Platt of the West Side Book Shop and yours truly.

While I enjoy the opportunity to chat with local book lovers and to peddle some of my wares, I have a complicated emotional relationship (at best) with the appraisal table, one aspect of this complication being my tendency toward a narrow focus of interest; this, allied with a reticence in matters of delivering bad news, makes me perhaps a less-than ideal public face for the antiquarian book trade. In sum, your family Bible is unlikely to be worth much, and I am unlikely to want to tell you of this fact or to pursue the question at length. Happily, Jay Platt combines years of experience with a street-level bookseller’s jaded eye. Thus, our rough division of labor has traditionally split along logical lines:

I handle the 19th century Ohio Valley religious controversies, Jay handles everything else.

But even if you don’t have a copy of Alexander Hall’s Universalism Against Itself (St. Clairsville, O., 1846) that you’ve been dying to find out more about, please feel free to stop by booth 43 tomorrow at the Farmer’s Market in Ann Arbor. Gleefully shout the magic word (”Bibliophagist!”) and while supplies last you will get a promotional decal suitable for your laptop computer or whatever means of transportation you choose to festoon.

Somewhat souped-up print on demand has come to the University of Michigan library system. This has of course been in the works for a while, and I am not remotely qualified for (nor inclined toward) prognostication, so I will withhold predictions on the death of the book. Though it would be cool to hear from scholars who can provide me with instances where the original book or pamphlet is clearly preferable to the digital version.

(Of course, once Google offers an on-line/on-demand virtual Hinman collator I will begin to throw up my hands in dismay for real.)

Otherwise, we here at bibliophagist industries have marked the return of another school year with the publication of our twentieth catalogue, catchily entitled “Catalogue 20: American Pamphlets.” 372 items in wrappers, ranging across our usual array of hobby-horses. If you are not on the mailing list and would like one of the remaining copies, feel free to drop me a line. Supplies are limited — act now!