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.
