Author Archives: Garrett

Marc Selvaggio, Bookseller, Catalogue Number 123: World’s Fairs & Expositions, 1851-1940.

Posted on June 11, 2007 by Garrett

517 items, from London in 1851 to Brussels in 1958. Though Selvaggio pretty much covers the waterfront (or perhaps the Midway), there is much here on the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco and several of the later fairs (San … Continue reading →

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And suddenly the memory revealed itself.

Posted on June 5, 2007 by Garrett

I don’t usually follow the market in contemporary children’s books (and its sundry related material) with anything that might be construed by the unwary observer as attention, but the news at last reached me today (via Daddy Types) that an … Continue reading →

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Bookworm & Silverfish, Catalog 582.

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Garrett

206 items, in the Bookworm & Silverfish broadsheet format. Much of Mr. Presgraves’ usual assortment of old sheet music (including a lot of 13 pieces of ante-fire Chicago sheet music, 1857-1869, priced $650 for the batch), as well as miscellaneous … Continue reading →

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Peter L. Masi – Books, Catalog 187.

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Garrett

443 items, with the usual emphasis on ephemeral material and a further emphasis in this catalogue on Business & Industry. Peter’s material tends to be interesting and attractively priced, though necesarily sparingly described; when he does grow discursive (the eye … Continue reading →

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John Michael Lang Fine Books, Recent Acquisitions List 21.

Posted on June 4, 2007 by Garrett

Amid much gnashing of teeth over the graying of the antiquarian book world, there comes in my post office box this morning another reminder that there in fact exist booksellers of a younger sort (where by younger sort one means … Continue reading →

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On the taxonomic branches of gee-whiz factors in bookselling.

Posted on June 1, 2007 by Garrett

The Wall Street Journal has run a “gee-whiz” article about an upcoming sale at Sotheby’s in conjunction with the June book fairs in London. The collection being auctioned off has been built around a catalogue of high spots, Connolly’s The … Continue reading →

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A further salvo in the war against the precious culture of dusty tomes.

Posted on May 31, 2007 by Garrett

The happily periphrastic entry on Harry Houdini (and the pizzas of Minnesota) is but one recent example of a blog being used to get an institution’s name and mission in front of the public, presumably for less than the cost … Continue reading →

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Brian Cassidy, Bookseller, Catalog No. One.

Posted on May 31, 2007 by Garrett

40 items, from a New York School anthology to Louis Zukofsky, with a number of interesting association items. The catalog includes a well-researched batch of material (a typed letter and a typed manuscript from William Burroughs sent to Allen Ginsberg … Continue reading →

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David M. Lesser, Fine Antiquarian Books, Catalogue 98.

Posted on May 30, 2007 by Garrett

124 items, the usual interesting mix of Americana and American imprints. In one instance, an abolitionist pamphlet writer excommunicates the First Church in Newbury, Mass. (Henry Clark Wright’s Duty of Abolitionist’s to Pro-Slavery Ministers and Churches, Concord N.H., 1841, $250); … Continue reading →

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The pen is mightier than lighter fluid.

Posted on May 29, 2007 by Garrett

A Kansas City bookseller has made the news over the past weekend for burning portions of his unsold inventory in “protest of what he sees as society’s diminishing support for the printed word.” He might have noted that this event … Continue reading →

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