O'Gara and Wilson, Booksellers

Ghosts of bygone days

2012-01-18T18:18:00.004-06:00

Ahem. After getting all mushy when I wrote the last blog entry, I feel the need to be serious in this entry. We shall talk of serious things. Like the ghosts of ancient times.

Well, maybe it's a little hard for me to take this week's Affordable and Interesting item seriously:

But maybe I should! Because, according to the website devoted to his memory ...

Harry Price is one of the most controversial and famous psychic researchers and authors in the history of spiritualist studies. He is particularly famous for being maligned by many of his peers but simultaneously becoming extremely popular with the public due to his fascinating studies on haunted houses, psychic activity, mediumship and other supernormal phenomena.

He lived from 1881-1948. And this book, "Confessions of a Ghost Hunter", is his autobiography. (It was originally published in 1936; our copy is from 1974.) According to the dust jacket:

In this delightful book he has set down some of the most extraordinary cases of mediumship, haunting, and other paranormal phenomena he encountered during a long lifetime of ghost hunting. He also writes about the fakes and phoneys he found. Here he describes some of his outstanding investigations. These include poltergeists, hauntings, revelations from the planet Mars, automatic writing, spirit photography, mentalism, fire-walking, eyeless sight, the Indian Rope Trick. His chapter on "How To Test a Medium" is an excellent guide for all would-be investigators, and his exposure of "spirit" photography is a warning to the gullible.

You saw it here first, folks. Well, maybe you saw it elsewhere first, but you saw it here ... today. And you could see a lot more of it if you buy this book for $9.00! Maybe I should buy it myself. It could make a believer of me.

Now on to a different kind of ghosts. An actual serious topic, like I promised. Much more important ghosts: the terrible things that can haunt us forever. A simple white cover encloses this week's Favorite, and it contains mostly pictures:

The Nazi Drawings are a 1966 collection of works by the artist Mauricio Lasansky. They're disturbing, as one might anticipate, but I also find them beautiful. Here's a close-up from another:

I don't even know how to begin analyzing this imagery, aside from knowing it hurts me to look at it. I think I know that there's something terribly unnerving about teeth in the place of eyes, especially when the teeth are strung along the page, over from a darkened skull. But there's so much more to this than mere description.

Mauricio Lasansky was in charge of the Printmaking Department at University of Iowa when he created these pictures; born in 1914, he has been resident in USA since 1943. The Nazi Drawings were released in 1966 after years of work. This book, likewise published in 1966, is a compilation of both those images and an essay by the writer Edwin Honig, who notes:

Lasansky is a survivor who is still there, in the Nazi camps, so that we view his works as a continuing rehearsal of the drama of what it means to have that experience. We see it with him in the demonic halflight between living and dying -- and this is the central condition in all the drawings -- where there is little difference between being alive and being dead.

Honig also has his own analysis of each picture, which is helpful for me, since I find them strongly affecting but difficult to interpret. For this slender volume of both images and essay, we ask $30.00.

This week's Collector's Item may be haunted, or may not be. It is certainly antique:

A lovely bell-and-chain -- and, in fact, a delicate belt. Witness:

The metal looks bright in that picture, illuminated with a blazing flash, but more often the belt looks to be a quieter kind of silver. I've seen some attractive chain belts in my time, but this one takes the cake and I'm sure it's worth every penny of $125.00. I would wear it ghost-hunting, personally. I've read that bells have ritual ghost-hunting associations; one website notes that you might want to test for breezes, perhaps by using a small flame, before using bells to seek ghosts. (Hence one medieval spirit-seeking mantra was "Bell, book and candle.")

The long nights of winter lend themselves to a fear of hauntings, and I'm thinking of that as we emerge into a freezing dim morning. Keep the lights on, gentle readers, and we'll talk again soon.

Happy New Year! Let's talk about (historical) politics.

2012-01-06T17:57:00.002-06:00

Happy New Year, gentle readers. I've been thinking that I've been involved here at O'Gara & Wilson for a long time now. I don't work behind the counter anymore, but I'm so glad to stay involved by writing the blog that I started. It helps me keep in touch with our awesome staff and, of course, the Wilson family -- especially the gentle Doug Wilson, a bookstore owner with an artist's soul. And I also get to occasionally talk to our customers, too: you are all such an excellent lot of people. There is nothing like the book trade, and there are no people like people who love books.

Anyways, I just needed a moment to get out all that mushy stuff. I, Lydia, hereby declare my undying love for O'Gara & Wilson. Hearts for everyone!

Now on to the fun stuff. Like Heidegger. Heidegger is fun, right? Here in Hyde Park, home to the nerdvana University of Chicago, nothing is more fun than Heidegger. So you all are going to love this week's Collector's Item:

This is a genuine 1933 first edition of the philosopher Martin Heidegger's controversial "Rectorship Address" (in German). It was delivered after Heidegger officially joined the Nazi party and assumed the rectorship of Freiburg University. Our resident philosopher-employee Rory tells me that, "People still publish books about that rectorship address today."

As this biography of Heidegger tells us: "Although he never claimed that his philosophy was concerned with politics, political considerations have come to overshadow his philosophical work." And the Nazi party was obviously reprehensible. But at the very least, this slim volume is valuable because Heidegger was a brilliant man who made significant contributions to the field of philosophy. And as a side note, I really like how German books print their text in awesomely gothic calligraphy-like type. $125.00 for calligraphy, philosophy, and controversy all in one small package!

On a totally different political note, we have this week's Affordable and Interesting item:

According to its website, "Dissent" is

a quarterly magazine of politics and culture edited by Michael Kazin and Michael Walzer. A magazine of the left, 'Dissent' is also one of independent minds and strong opinions. "A pillar of leftist intellectual provocation," writes the 'New York Times', Dissent is "devoted to slaying orthodoxies on the right and on the left." Adds historian John Patrick Diggins, "Dissent is kind of an anomaly... a magazine that's all heart and good hope."

Founded in 1954 by a group of independent-minded radicals, the magazine set out to "dissent from the bleak atmosphere of conformism that pervades the political and intellectual life of the United States ...The accent of 'Dissent' will be radical. Its tradition will be the tradition of democratic socialism." Inspired by their opposition to both McCarthyism and communism, its early editors "wanted to speak for the spirit of democratic utopianism that runs like a bright thread through America's intellectual life."

So this is a 1970 copy of the magazine, and what a copy it is. From the disclaimer at the table of contents:

... to the sympathetic-but-analytical article about Cuba's failing economy, this is very much an icon of its time and culture. And only $10.00 to boot!

This week's Favorite isn't quite an icon of anything; it's too unusual.

.

This is a small antique silk jacket embroidered with dragons, an American flag, the Chinese flag as of 1946, and more dragons. I sniffed around the Internet to see what was going on with China and the USA in 1946, and I discovered that 1946 was the year that the Chinese War Brides Act was passed:

This Act amended previous Acts controlling Chinese immigration, in particular the Magnuson Act passed on December 17, 1943, which repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act and allowed Chinese immigration under the quota system established in the 1924 Immigration Act. After the rewording it states, “With the exception of Chinese alien wives of American citizens and those Chinese aliens coming under subsections (b), (d), (e) and (f) of section 4, Immigration Act of 1924, all Chinese persons entering the United States annually as immigrants shall be allocated to the quota for the Chinese computed under the provisions of section 11 of the said Act.”

So basically, Chinese wives of American soldiers had many fewer problems getting into the country. This was right after the end of World War II, of course, and presumably soldiers were still steadily trickling home. This jacket probably came with one of them, and is probably unique -- a bargain for $75.00.

Thanks again for reading, folks. I'll try not to get too mushy, and wind up this entry in a calm manner. But seriously, I love this bookstore more than I can say! Happy New Year to everyone!

Aaand now for the real holiday post!

2011-12-23T01:37:00.002-06:00

I kind of tried to avoid talking about the holidays in our last entry, gentle readers. But by now, we are too close to Christmas for me to evade it. Let's start this week's entry with one of the coolest Affordable and Interesting items in the store right now:

For only $12.50, you can obtain this classic 1950s photo album cover! There is script in the background spelling out names from "Lee" to "Marilyn" to "Beverly", and as you can see, the graphics recall 1950s tropes from malt shops to radio technology. If you're hard up for a gift that would suit someone who was around in the 1950s, then might I suggest that you locate a bunch of their life photos and then enclose them in this amazing album cover? A homemade book or scrapbook: now that would be a pretty amazingly thoughtful gift.

Since it's the holidays, I'll give you another Affordable and Interesting option:

Tis the season for ornaments. And these are such perfect ornaments that I just had to post about them! They're tiny, antique Russian dolls that we're selling for only $3.00 apiece. We've got a whole box of them: you could put hooks on them and hang them from a tree, or you could arrange them on a mantel.

But now that I've posted two Affordable and Interesting things, you're probably jonesing for this week's Collector's Item. And I am happy to oblige!

Beautifully painted on a piece of wood, this $350.00 image is about a foot high. The background color is a really pretty deep gold, and I love the way it's painted, though I'm not sure what it portrays. Obviously it shows a woman in the street holding an apple, and there's Garden of Eden imagery every which way! But I really wonder what else the painter intended. This was apparently created in 2003 by an artist named Sasha Williams; I thought about trying to find the artist, but the closest result on Google was for a painter who created this blog (click here), and the art looks very different. So by purchasing this piece, you gain both beauty and mystery.

But I heard somewhere that we're a bookstore. And you know what my Favorite thing is? Books! Such as:

At $5.00, this is a typically awesome book from the O'Gara and Wilson inventory. Who doesn't love books for holiday gifts? We've got gifts in all shapes and sizes, but books are the greatest. And this Benjamin Franklin book in particular includes a wonderful Christmas quote:

"How many observe Christ's birthday; how few His precepts! O 'tis easier to keep a Holiday, than Commandments!"

Truer words were never spoken. I hope everyone is keeping faith and honor this holiday season, whether you observe Christmas or some other holiday or none at all. Stay warm and enjoy, gentle readers. We'll talk more in the New Year.

Incipient midwinter holidays, but I refuse to celebrate yet ... mostly.

2011-12-06T19:27:00.004-06:00

Midwinter holidays are on the horizon, and with them all the crass commercialism you could possibly expect! I guess I should be more excited about crass commercialism given that I am currently writing a blog post for a retail establishment, but I always feel somewhat resistant. So I won't mention midwinter holidays. Much. Yet.

Our last dragon-shaped brass candle-holder was sold in record time, but we've got more where that came from! For Collectors:

Lovely, right? And in fact, this is a two-candleholder set! Here are both of them together, lit by an excessively bright light:

Normally their shininess is more muted, as per the first picture. But the bright light in the second picture shows us every tiny and detailed scale! If you missed the first dragon candleholder, then these can be yours for $135.00. They might also make lovely romantic lighting for your holiday dinner. Wait, I said I wouldn't talk overmuch about the holidays.

Okay, you know what's not about the holidays? These Affordable and Interesting antique 1920s-1930s chapbooks from the "Chicago Tribune":

At first I was somewhat puzzled by these little pamphlets, and thought they might be a magazine-ish thing like I highlighted in our last blog entry. But then I read inside the front cover of one, and lo, all my questions were answered!

The first Linebook was published in 1924 and since then it has become a yearly event, looked forward to by a steadily increasing number of people whose mornings would not be complete without reading the famous Richard Henry Little's "A Line o' Type or Two" in the "Chicago Tribune". The gay and impish tone of the column, made up of unregenerate laughter at the foibles of men, acid thrust at their follies, philosophy masked in humor, and the steady reminder that few things are to be taken seriously, pervades these small anthologies.

The pamphlet also asserts that they always went quickly out of print due to demand, and remained treasured possessions of those who purchased them. This may or may not be true, but I can attest that they are definitely really cool, if only for the covers:

This one too!

They are even cool on the inside, notwithstanding the fact that ... as it turns out ... I couldn't get away from the holidays even here:

That's an image from the inside of one pamphlet. Here's the text, retyped for your reading convenience:

Christmas Suggestions For the man who hasn't got a shirt: A shirt. For a man who wants an automobile: An automobile. For the girl who wants a skunk skin coat: A skunk skin coat. For a lady who wants a new set of false teeth: A new set of false teeth. For a boy who wants a fine set of skates: A fine set of skates. For a young man who wants a saxophone: A swift kick in the pants.

We sell Linebooks at prices ranging from $4.50 to a bit over $20.00. I won't comment about what kind of gift they would make.

Finally, this week's Favorite cannot possibly have anything to do with midwinter holidays:

Anansi is an African folk hero: a spider, clever and sly, who is always getting into hijinx and tricking the other jungle animals. If you Google for Anansi then you'll come up with tons of websites devoted to his adorable and brilliant exploits. This 1954 book is an especially great Anansi item, however. Firstly, because it's got neat illustrations:

Secondly, because it belonged to the pioneering African-American sociologist St. Clair Drake! Drake was a force to be reckoned with; he developed some of America's first African-American Studies departments, and was an advisor to the first prime minister of Ghana. Also, he wrote an awful lot. Drake's name is written on the inside front cover of this little Anansi book, and you can purchase it for $20.00.

See? No midwinter holidays when I covered Anansi. Our next blog post will have to be all about midwinter holidays, I suppose. But I guess it's okay if it's only one entry! Stay warm, gentle readers ....

Thanksgiving is upon us! Let's talk America.

2011-11-22T01:18:00.005-06:00

It's Thanksgiving time! Thanksgiving, the most all-American of American holidays. We put a pilgrim hat on our resident waxwork monk, as he labors away upon some manuscripts:

And this week's Affordable and Interesting item features what is perhaps the most hilarious pilgrim picture I've ever seen:

The pilgrim on the cover of this 1931 pamphlet appears quite startled. But he's not as startled as the publisher must have been when he saw the pamphlet cover ... complete with that "Ovember" typo. (Presumably, it was supposed to be November, but maybe I'm wrong about that.) This appears to be one copy of the small magazine "Friendly Chat", which was composed mainly of jokes and ads. Here's a sample page:

Don't you want a skimming machine? Not to mention new window casements. But the skimming machine is way more exciting, if you ask me. (Skimming machines back then were designed to separate cream from milk; you can learn more about that whole process by clicking here. Today, skimming machines are unfortunately associated with credit card fraud, but let's not discuss that.)

The text is very small in the scanned image I'm showing you, so I'll transcribe some of it for ya. There's a great joke on that page. It goes like this:

The president of the local gas company was making a stirring address. "Think of the good the gas company has done," he cried. "If I were permitted a pun, I should say, 'Honor the Light Brigade.'" And a customer immediately shouted, "Oh, what a charge they made!"

Teehee. Don't you want lots of 1931 jokes and ads? Yours for $4.00.

Since Thanskgiving is all about American history, I decided that my Favorite item this week ought to highlight an all-American art movement:

As it happens, I myself grew up in New York in the stomping grounds of the good old Hudson River School. The website for the Metropolitan Museum of Art has this to say about the School:

The Hudson River School was America's first true artistic fraternity. Its name was coined to identify a group of New York City-based landscape painters that emerged about 1850 under the influence of the English émigré Thomas Cole (1801–1848) and flourished until about the time of the Centennial. Because of the inspiration exerted by his work, Cole is usually regarded as the "father" or "founder" of the school, though he himself played no special organizational or fostering role except that he was the teacher of Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900). Along with Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), Church was the most successful painter of the school until its decline.

You can learn a little more about the school by clicking here -- or you can learn a lot if you purchase this beautiful thick tome for $75.00. It's long and detailed. Plus, it's full of both art history and lovely color reproductions of Hudson River School paintings. Here's an incredible sunset painting by Frederic Church:

And a pretty sun-dappled tree by Albert Bierstadt:

Now, if you want a later American artist, we can look at this week's Collector's Item:

This is a truly exquisite 1910 compilation of antique classical tales retold by Nathaniel Hawthorne -- another all-American historic figure: the 1800s author of the famous novel The Scarlet Letter. In this book, Hawthorne is not just retelling classical tales; he also frames them in an all-American context. Here's the first couple sentences from his introduction to the tale of the mythological gorgon:

Beneath the porch of the country-seat called Tanglewood, one fine autumnal morning, was assembled a merry party of little folks, with a tall youth in the midst of them. They had planned a nutting expedition, and were impatiently waiting for the mists to roll up the hill-slopes, and for the sun to pour the warmth of the Indian summer over the fields and pastures, and into the nooks of the many-colored woods.

According to Hawthorne, these kids are running about telling each other these stories while on their nutting expeditions! So charming! Almost as charming as the gorgeous pictures by Maxfield Parrish, who was the most popular American illustrator of the early 1900s. Here's how Parrish illustrated the tale of a man sowing dragon's teeth in the earth:

Those dragon's teeth took root and grew into soldiers ... or so they say.

This book is not just gorgeous; it's also in pristine condition. Notice that the pages are what we in the book trade call "uncut":

When books emerge from the printer, the pages look like that -- but the pages are usually cut before the book is sold. In older books, they were sometimes sold with "uncut" pages, and the new owners could (carefully!) cut the pages themselves. A book with uncut pages has, accordingly, been subjected to extremely light usage. We're charging $350.00 for this beautiful 1910 book, and we can show you how to cut the pages at home if that's what you want to do!

Enjoy Thanksgiving, gentle readers! I am personally very grateful for this wonderful bookstore, my brilliant coworkers, and my gentleman boss. And I'm grateful to you for reading. Take care and we'll talk in a couple weeks.

Sports! And also culture! And antique art!

2011-11-09T15:54:00.006-06:00

I usually write about art and literature as much as I can, here at the O'Gara and Wilson store blog. I don't typically write about sports, because I am a nerdy little bookworm who doesn't get enough fresh air. And indeed, I'll tell you all about some beautiful artistic antiques in a moment. But first, I have to say, sometimes we receive a sporty item that is too perfect to resist. Like this week's Favorite:

It's a 1959 pennant for the Chicago White Sox -- the South Side's own baseball team! As Doug, the owner of our lovely bookstore, tells me: "On the North Side they have the Cubs ... Here on the South Side, we have a team that's actually won the World Series since the Wright Brothers!"

South Side pride, my friends. Yes, the Sox won the World Series in epic fashion in 2005. But this pennant is from '59, when they won the American League title with a roster that included many future Hall of Famers, only to be defeated by the Dodgers in the Series. Own this little piece of our South Side history for $35.00.

Fishing is also a sport! And it is highlighted by this week's Affordable and Interesting item, a book that's also from the 1950s:

The Coit Fishing Pole Club released this book, which is as sporty and all-American as it could be. Founder Frank Coit is pictured on the back, with his picture-perfect 1950s kids and their fishing gear:

When this book was published, you could have joined the Coit Club yourself! With this very membership card:

Those cards probably aren't available anymore. Still, this book is an incredibly charming period piece. It includes all kinds of advice about hunting and camping and fishing, plus engravings of various fish, and stories from the greats such as Mickey Mantle and Ty Cobb. (Even a nerdling like me knows about Mickey Mantle!) All this for $9.00.

I'm not sure what sports are popular in India. Yoga? Well, anyway, we don't have anything sporty from India right now, but we do have an unbelievably gorgeous Collector's Item:

This is a large and beautiful antique teakwood screen, circa 1920, with some of the loveliest carving I've seen. I focused on one section so you could see that it's beautiful close up, not just far away:

I am in awe of the patience and discipline of the crafters who made this screen. Can you imagine how long it took to hand-carve all those little flowers? If this screen were in my apartment, then I would almost be afraid to touch it -- though Doug tells me it's rather sturdy. For $450.00, you could have this screen to decorate your own space. I will try not to perish of envy!

And if you don't have $450.00, then you could always get these miniature, low-cost screens:

Here's a pretty red case that contains six miniature screens -- all of which are tiny replicas of big Japanese painted room-screens. You could use these little screens to section off your desk, set up a dollhouse, or look lovely on a mantelpiece. And all together, the whole case comes to only $15.00!

Well, gentle readers, I suppose I didn't stick to sports very well during this blog post. I loved the screens too much! If you can figure out a way to combine sports and antique screens, let me know. And aside from that, we'll talk again in two weeks.

Halloween: I can't stop loving it.

2011-10-27T00:55:00.003-05:00

Every year I talk way too much about Halloween. This year is no exception. This week's Affordable and Interesting item is Exhibit A:

Vampires! Or vampyres, as the case may be. We have plenty of vampire-related paraphernalia at the store, and this is one of the cheaper items, at a mere $9.50. This book is composed of both brilliance and kitsch: the cover is a bit puffy, and that blue eye you see shimmers in the most unearthly way. Within, we discover many an image of vampires through the ages, plus exciting visual tricks such as this:

Watch that picture of a man in the lower right corner. Watch it ... watch it ... and as we tilt the book to a new angle, see that he becomes:

... a wolf! Haha! Beware! While some people believe that vampires and werewolves are forever opposed, others believe that vampires are werewolves: they can turn into wolves. But that's not all. The book also has other tricks up its sleeve. Note how the left edge of those pages are folded over in a narrow strip. The strip bears the images of other animals that vampires can turn into -- from spiders to bats. When I unfold the strip, I discover:

... a pop-out butterfly! It seems that in some traditions vampires can also be butterflies. I will never look at local fauna the same way again.

Awesome as that book is, it is not my Favorite thing this week. No, my favorite is more elegantly creepy:

Creepy ... and beautiful! It is a candle-holder to end all candle-holders. For only $25.00 you can carry the most Gothic, elegant light source that could ever be imagined. Picture yourself, holding this candle-holder before an old dim mirror. The flame flickers. A vampyre launches itself from the shadows. Briefly panicked, you turn and thrust the candle in its face! There is a flash; the vampyre shrieks and collapses into a pile of ash. Fire is their weakness, you see. So this candle-holder could save your life!

Okay, I'm trying not to let Halloween colonize this whole entry. And there is something else really cool in the store these days ... a Collector's Item that would be especially perfect for someone who collects perfume:

It seems that New York's exquisite, world-famous Metropolitan Museum of Art decided to collate all the art that had to do with perfumes ... and then make a lovely book about them. But there is so much more to this than just a book. You see, it also comes with:

... a legion of scented oils! For $40.00, you can purchase these pretty vials of scented oil, ranging from orange-flavor to various spices ... and also you will get a lushly illustrated book to go with them. The whole is tied with a green silk ribbon, and unfolds into this picturesque tableau:

I am nearly apoplectic from wanting this book so much. I love the Metropolitan Museum, I love scents, I love art. Who could ask for anything more? Seriously, gentle readers. Who?

Well, Halloween will be over by the next time I write. So this is Lydia, signing off. My costume this year is a fallen angel. But sometimes I think I should just bite the bullet and be a vampyre.

Ready for Halloween? Us too.

2011-10-13T10:00:00.002-05:00

Halloween is, hands down, my favorite holiday of the year. I love it more than I can possibly express to you. You may recall that we have a waxwork monk here at the bookstore, name of Jerome. Jerome also loves Halloween, and this year he's decided to go as the Grim Reaper:

See that scythe leaning beside Jerome? I don't know where it came from, but it's a nasty piece of work. I'm hoping that if anyone tries to rob the store, they'll either run screaming when they realize that we're guarded by Death himself ... or they'll trip on that scythe, cut themselves accidentally and get tetanus. We don't get robbers much here at O'Gara and Wilson, but it kinda makes me wish we did.

But so many things are Affordable and Interesting at this here bookstore, I can't imagine why anyone would steal anything! Like this:

"Watchmen" is a classic graphic novel, famous in its genre. It features a cast of aging and disillusioned heroes who grapple with madness, mortality and other all-too-human concerns as they are called upon to save the world one more time. It's known for being gritty and cynical ... for example, this character:

... is shown in the above picture with his desk covered by little commercial action figures of himself. "Watchmen" was inevitably made into a movie, and I recently saw it on an excellent list of 10 disturbingly brilliant graphic novels. Buy it from us for $12.50.

I'm glad we got another week of warm days -- although I said in our last blog entry that I was scared I wouldn't get to go to the Dunes, it was warm enough this past weekend that I frolicked on the beach. But soon enough I'll be needing this week's Collector's Item!

Want to grind ice the old-fashioned way? Thanks to our unique bookstore, you can have that experience. You can make snow-cones powered only by the strength of your arms! You can't have our action figure of Mr. Bill, though. We're having too much fun putting him in dangerous situations around the store. Look how he clings to the side of the ice grinder, desperately trying to save himself from its teeth!

"Run!" I can imagine Mr. Bill telling us. "Save yourself!" Poor Mr. Bill. You could relieve his peril by purchasing the antique ice grinder for $60.00. I'll tell him you're coming, and he'll be so grateful. Until we put him in another awful situation ....

I think my next blog theme should be "blackmailing readers into saving Mr. Bill by purchasing our wares". Hmm .... The possibilities abound! Come back in two weeks and you'll see just how much they abound.

Oh, the saucy Roaring Twenties!

2011-10-01T11:00:00.001-05:00

Today when I came in, Doug showed me this week's Favorite right away, and included free commentary: "Look at where that gentleman is putting his hand! That's why they called 'em the Roaring Twenties."

Oh, we can be saucy at O'Gara and Wilson, yes we can! Especially when we look at Chicago's history, which is about as saucy as it gets. Along with the above slim volume on the history of Chicago's music, we have received a number of issues of "Chicago History" magazine:

The above issue's cover features one of those beautiful old posters for the South Shore Line and the Indiana Dunes .... I was meaning to try and get out to see the Indiana Dunes before the last heat of summer vanished, but then the last heat of summer vanished. (Is it just me, or was the change of seasons particularly abrupt this year?) We have an assortment of other "Chicago History" issues from decades as diverse as the 1970s and the ... um ... early 2000s (was last decade the new "oughts"?). Each issue (and the music book) costs $7.50. If you have a Chicago history fan in your life (and if you're reading this blog then you almost certainly do!), one of these would make such a thoughtful gift.

Of course, the Chicago music history book could also go to a music-lover. As could this week's Affordable and Interesting items:

Here at ye olde bookstore, we often trade in antique objects that are not books, including old vinyl records. Since we don't know anything about records, we sell them for $3.00 apiece and rarely attempt to ascertain their true value. We just pulled in a new batch ... and while I'm not the most educated music fan, even I recognize names like Eric Clapton and Three Dog Night. Also, I know a ridiculously awesome 1970s collage when I see one. Way to go, Iron Butterfly!

Jon Arnold, a store regular who likes to tease me by pretending to be scoundrel competing in an Indiana Jones-style arms race for magical antiquities, had lots of fun sorting our records. He also told me the origins of the band name for Three Dog Night -- apparently, the band is from Australia, where nights can be cold; on cold nights, many people bring their dogs to sleep in bed with them. Thus, a very cold night is a three-dog night. Here are a couple great album covers from those guys:

Someone's been looking at too many melting clocks ....

Gotta love those decorated capitals.

And as a final note, can I just say that I love this image from a collection called Top Of The Rocks?

Makes me think sentimentally of my childhood favorite film, "Yellow Submarine". It truly does.

Finally, I would like to meet the collector who would collect this week's Collector's Item:

You may wonder what it is! Well might you ask. It is a picture of an African woman, made entirely from the wings of moths and butterflies. As a vegan who is opposed to animal cruelty, I want to be more horrified than I am ... this piece is so beautiful that I'm drawn to it anyway, somewhat to my shame. $40.00, and perfect for your favorite lepidopterist.

Oh, but I'm ashamed! Shame drives me from this blog, verily. I'll catch you again soon, gentle readers. In the meantime, please consider eating some tofu for me. It would make me feel so much better.

Beautiful bindings, whatever that means to you

2011-09-15T20:56:00.004-05:00

I am so sorry for being absent so long, gentle readers. I had some illness to contend with, but now all is well! I can go back to showing you many pictures and idiosyncratically ranting.

So I'll start with the least idiosyncratic thing I want to show you this week, just to get it out of the way ... though maybe I should save it for last, because it's still wonderful. Actually, even though it's arguably not-so-idiosyncratic, I think it's my Favorite item in the lineup:

I recently realized that there are actually some people who do not know that we here at O'Gara & Wilson have a whole section for Lovely Victorian Bindings. These are well-preserved antique books that are still, quite obviously, beautifully made. For example, the above compendium of Milton's poetry. I tried scanning the cover so that I could show you a close-up, and while the color is a little washed-out, the scan came out pretty well!:

The book includes "Paradise Lost", "Paradise Regained", and many other fine classic poems. You -- yes you -- could own this beautiful thing for $20, and don't try to pretend you aren't tempted.

On the Affordable and Interesting end of the spectrum, we have some random 1970s "National Lampoons":

This iconic "college humor" magazine was begun in 1970 and experienced the most success is that decade, although it continued publication through the 1990s, and its immensely popular brand name has been bought and sold and bandied about by many salespeople in various genres. I do believe that the classic 1978 frat film "Animal House" was associated with the "National Lampoon", for example -- and "Animal House" was the first anyone ever heard of toga parties, so its cultural influence must be undeniable, right? Wikipedia gives us a gigantic list of the anthologies, spinoffs and so on, which includes not just "The Best of National Lampoon" but also "The Breast of National Lampoon". Tasteless? Maybe, which is why you can buy antique issues from us at a mere $2 apiece. In their own way, they too are beautifully bound, with 1970s humor illustrations such as the above!

Comics, on the other hand, are never tasteless. You can tell, because collectors never collect anything tasteless, and this week's Collector's Item is as comicky as it gets:

"Dick Tracy", that fearless old standby of a noir detective, has had many years of fame ... and many artists. Here we have a 60-year compilation that was curated by some recent artists, Collins and Locher, who were sure to pick their favorite strips of all time. That may not sound so special, but what's cool about this book is that it's one of only 1000 copies that were signed by both artist and writer. So for $75, you get not just their chosen favorites but their magic touch!

I always liked "Dick Tracy". As a youngling I found a number of compilations and clips, from which I learned to draw femme fatales in snaky black gowns. Ah, childhood. But I am of course not the only Tracy fan. Indeed, the artist who drew another famous cartoon, "Lil Abner", created a satirical version of Dick Tracy within his own cartoon whose name was Fearless Fosdick. Fosdick had a career almost as long as Tracy's, because he had enduring popularity within the world of "Lil Abner". You can even find buttons featuring Fearless Fosdick right now, should you be so inclined.

And, if all you really want is to read old Dick Tracy panels, I found a blogger who's scanned a ton of them -- and some other contemporary comics besides. Enjoy! Remember, if you become a fan, we've got the ultimate fan book right here at O'Gara and Wilson ....

Was that idiosyncratic enough for you, readers? I'll have to hope so. Au revoir ... and I'll try to keep up the weirdness in two weeks, as per usual.

Books have destroyed many writers, and possibly me too!

2011-07-27T16:40:00.004-05:00

I do some little writing on my own, gentle readers, even when I am not rambling on this here blog. And as a writer, nothing is more terrifying to me than this week's Favorite:

Well, that's not the terrifying part. That's just the cool owl logo next to the author name on the cover of this 1903 tome: Books Fatal To Their Authors. It also has a cool rooster stamp on the front free endpaper!

But that's not the terrifying part either. Here's the terrifying part -- an excerpt from the Preface:

To record the woes of authors and to discourse de libris fatalibus seems deliberately to court the displeasure of that fickle mistress who presides over the destinies of writers and their works. Fortune awaits the aspiring scribe with many wiles, and oft treats him sorely. If she enrich any, it is but to make them subject of her sport. If she raise others, it is but to pleasure herself at their ruins. What she adorned but yesterday is today her pastime, and if we now permit her to adorn and crown us, we must tomorrow suffer her to crush and tear us to pieces. To-day her sovereign power is limited: she can but let loose a host of angry critics upon us; she can but scoff at us, take away our literary reputation, and turn away the eyes of a public as fickle as herself from our pages. Surely that were hard enough! Can Fortune pluck a more galling dart from her quiver, and dip the point in more envenomed bitterness? Yes, those whose hard lot is here recorded have suffered more terrible wounds than these. They have lost liberty, and even life, on account of their works. The cherished offspring of their brains have, like unnatural children, turned against their parents, causing them to be put to death.

Fools many of them -- nay, it is surprising how many of this illustrious family have peopled the world, and they can boast of many authors' names which figure on their genealogical tree -- men who might have lived happy, contented and useful lives were it not for this insane cacoethes scribendi. And hereby they show their folly. If only they had been content to write plain and ordinary commonplaces which every one believed, and which caused every honest fellow who had a grain of sense in his head to exclaim, "How true that is!" all would have been well. But they must needs write something original, something different from other men's thoughts; and immediately the censors and the critics began to spy out heresy, or laxity of morals, and the fools were dealt with according to their folly.

Now that, dear readers, is motivational. In case it's not clear from the admittedly florid introduction, this is a collection of short biographies of writers who have been jailed or slain for their work. Chapter titles include Fanatics & Free-Thinkers; Astrology, Alchemy & Magic; Satire; Drama & Romance; Booksellers & Publishers; and many more. The misfortunes of everyone from Tyndale to John Dee to Daniel Defoe are chronicled here, and all for $20.00! I have to admit, part of me can't wait to be killed for my writing. How romantic is that?

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. So when I describe this weeks' Affordable and Interesting item, I can get out of the tiresome task of quoting so many words as I did above:

These scans are from Barrio: Photographs from Chicago's Pilsen and Little Village, a book of photographs (with some storytelling) by Paul D'amato. D'amato spent 14 years -- 1988-2002 -- trying to integrate himself into and photograph the Latino culture in these areas. He caught girls and boys like those above; people at work, people at play, even gang members spray-painting walls. Although he acknowledges that he can't help but be an outsider, D'amato writes that he hopes he caught some of the inside view. The resultant book is worth every penny of its $20.00.

And now for something completely different ... although this week's Collector's Item is still, in its own way, quite affordable:

This gigantic chunk of petrified wood is, in a word, gorgeous. It's hard to do it justice with that small picture, so let me show you a photograph of a smaller cross-section:

Doug acquired the books of a mineral collector, and then Doug -- being the enterprising gentleman that he is -- acquired the minerals too. There are a number of lovely rocks scattered about the store, but this is by far the queenliest gem, and a steal at $1500.00. (Really, it is a steal. Most such pieces would be far more expensive.) Come in and admire it soon! It is a rare piece and may soon be acquired by a gem-lover.

Also, if you buy it before the gem-lover does, then this is a good day to do it because today is not so hot. You could probably carry it all the way down the block without dying of heatstroke ... unlike other recent days I could name. And now this will be my third recent entry that I end with complaints of the heat. But really it's because I'm concerned about you! Drink lots of water, dear reader, and we'll talk again soon.

Bottles, bones and Bibles

2011-07-12T17:13:00.002-05:00

Have you ever wondered how the Bible was written? I have, but only because I was forced to by my philosophy professors. Fortunately, some people have a more genuine interest in the topic:

In today's Affordable and Interesting item, this question is extensively pondered by an Englishman named Adam Nicolson. He contests that "Boisterous, elegant, subtle, majestic, finely nuanced, sonorous and musical, the English of Jacobean England has a more encompassing idea of its own reach than any before or since. It is a form of the language that drips with potency and sensitivity. The age, with all its conflicts, explains the book" -- that is, the King James Bible.

King James is described as "brilliant, ugly and profoundly peace-loving", and the text of the Bible has "never been equaled" even though it has many failings and was compiled by a team of about 50 scholars. "How did this group of near-anonymous divines, muddled, drunk, self-serving, ambitious, ruthless, obsequious, pedantic and flawed as they were, manage to bring off this astonishing translation?" How indeed. All the quotations in these two paragraphs are from this book's jacket copy, so you can be sure that the book itself will be more than worth a paltry $7.50!

On the other hand, perhaps all those adjectives drive you to drink. In which case, you should use my Favorite thing in the store today!

.

This is basically the most pastoral item I have ever seen. It practically breathes "jug of wine, loaf of bread, and thou ...." The bottle easily lifts out of the lovely green leafy metal bottle-holding cage. I would like to romance someone with this bottle and bottle-holder -- plan a picnic, fill the bottle with fine wine, and go sit at Promontory Point Park while batting my eyelashes at the gentleman. In fact I might do this. I'm still thinking about it. In the meantime, you have the chance to snatch this bottle out from under me for a mere $20.00!

Any gentleman who wishes to be so romanced by a slightly bookish, mildly and morbidly evil-hearted, but innocent-seeming young lady such as myself would do well to study the works of Posada:

Jose Guadalupe Posada was born in the mid-1800s and lived through the early 1900s. Underappreciated in his time, he is now seen as one of the first great modern artistic humorists. He is best known for his awesome skeletons, many of which dance, but some of which engage in other activities:

Many celebrations for Dia de Los Muertos -- or The Day of The Dead, a Mexican holiday -- feature Posada's work, but he's known for far more than that. After all, he didn't only draw skeletons!

This art book -- filled with Posada images, and Posada biography -- is somewhat rare, and our copy is a Collectible steal at $60.00. I should perhaps note, however, that it is in Spanish. I can't witness for the quality of the prose because my Spanish isn't good enough. On the other hand, the images really do speak for themselves, don't they?

I wonder if Posada ever drew skeletons on bicycles? I'll ponder this as I bike home this evening. Stay cool, gentle readers -- perhaps by buying the above bottle and filling it with water rather than wine! We're in heatstroke weather now.

Which is more romantic: the Army, or Zorro?

2011-06-21T17:09:00.002-05:00

Zorro owns my heart, dear readers. Forever. I love Zorro more than I could ever possibly love a mortal man. It's sad, but true. I just hope my future partners can understand.

So in my mind, Zorro is more romantic than basically anything. I am tempted by this Collector's Item as I have never been tempted before:

Zorro, in case you -- poor unfortunate soul -- have not heard, is an action hero who originated in the 1920s. His tale was set in old-time Spanish California, where he engages in many stirring exploits in order to protect the weak! Also, he wears a black cape and wields a rapier. And he has a secret identity as a wealthy landowner. And he is an amazing dancer. And he is famously ironic and seductive. Ah, Zorro. He even inspired the creation of Batman, did you know?

The first Zorro story, "The Curse of Capistrano", came out in 1919. In 1920 it became a legend by means of a movie adaptation called "The Mark of Zorro", starring Douglas Fairbanks. By the strange alchemy of books-turned-movies, the movie was then recreated as a 1924 book and titled "The Mark of Zorro", which is dedicated to Douglas Fairbanks. Our copy of this rare book has the beautiful original dust jacket, upon which we see Zorro and his lady love in a tense tryst; of course the text features all the usual rhetorical flourishes and glorious action, and the whole comes to $250.00.

Now that I've told you where my heart lies, the question that started this post -- "more romantic: Army vs. Zorro?" -- is, I hope, not pre-emptively settled. Because you are certainly entitled to your own opinion, and I acknowledge that there is some romanticism to the army! And here at the store we occasionally get nice military memorabilia of various types. Like this week's Affordable and Interesting little sign:

For only $12.50, you may own this piece of memorabilia from the World War II era. It is simply made, and shows the starkness of the war effort. I feature it here because I like the fonts, and I also like the spare little stars at each side of the bit that says "NAVY V-1 PLAN". It even piqued my curiosity enough to Google for "V-1 plan", at which point I found a stirring YouTube video that was made to support the United States Navy V-1 (click here). Although I may be a bleeding heart Zorro-lover in my personal life, I do feel that we ought to support our troops.

On a less serious note, you know what else I totally support? Racing pigeon unions! They're my Favorite, or at at least they are today!

This souvenir book was created and sold at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, and it contains many tracts about pigeon racing, as well as advertisements from relevant organizations; notes from pigeon clubs; and a program for the Union's visit to the Fair. Also, there are some loose unbound certificates included!

Several antique American Racing Pigeon Union Diplomas, no less. These documents list the starting points for competitive pigeons, as well as the pigeons' speeds and other aspects of the competitive experience. As it happens, the American Pigeon Racing Union still has a website, including an astonishingly detailed "Introduction and History" page (click here). Maybe I should call them and let them know about this historical find, available for only $150.00! Or maybe you will snap it up instead. Only a soulless human could fail to love pigeons.

Which do you suppose is faster: a racing pigeon, or Zorro on his trusty horse Tornado? Please ponder that question over the next few weeks, dear readers, and I'll see you when you're done pondering.

Mysteries abound

2011-06-08T18:38:00.003-05:00

Do you know the things I do for you, O my readers? I do things like walk outside in 95 degree heat to take a photograph. For you! Witness the evidence:

We have an assortment of Collector's Item movie posters from the 1950s and 1960s, and I decided to photograph one of them in the harsh, hot sunlight. (I think I felt the colors might come out better ... well, it seemed like a good idea at the time.) Then I fled back into the air conditioning and searched the Internet for this "Master Spy" movie ... and found naught! "Master Spy" is a mystery in itself. Did any of you see it in the cinema, gentle readers, back when it came out? I'm quite curious about what it was like. But even if you've never seen the film, you can own this original and mysterious poster for a mere $60.00.

If you prefer cheaper period mysteries, then check out our Affordable and Interesting little gems such as:

A Mickey Finn is an old term for a drink packed with knock-out drops. It is supposedly named for a gentleman of Chicago, the keeper of the late-1800s Lone Star Saloon, who drugged and stole from his customers. Dastardly! The above 1939 thriller is set in Paris and not Chicago, but it features a drugged drink nonetheless. Own it (and its panicked cover illustration) for $10.00! Or perhaps you'd prefer two thrillers packed into one book:

.

Back in the day ("the day" being, in this case, the 1950s), Ace Books used to sell two-for-the-price-of-one: buy one book, turn it over, and you've got a second book. As you can see above, the covers were regularly glorious, and so now the Internet has whole image galleries devoted to antique Ace Double covers. Yet you could buy a real Ace Double -- not just a scan! -- from us for $6.00.

But what am I thinking? You, being a reader of the O'Gara and Wilson blog, are far more discerning than me. You don't want Ace Doubles or references to criminal bartenders. You want 1930s lifestyle magazines instead:

This week's Favorite is a 1931 issue of "The American Magazine". I am informed by Wikipedia that this publication ran from 1906 to the 1950s; it was originally a bit of a muckraking outfit, but eventually ran to human interest, fiction and lifestyle stories. As is so often the case with these old magazines, I find the stories (including a mystery thriller!) to be entertaining ... but the ads are most entertaining:

Smoke Lucky Strikes, boys and girls, because all the harmful chemicals have been safely removed! And your voice will sound lovely. And you will be a round-faced woman in a veil. $30.00.

I've been dragging out this blog entry a bit because I am terrified of exiting the store onto the harsh, hot street. But my time has come. If I die of heatstroke, tell my mother I love her. As for you, dear readers, please do drink some water and keep up your spirits ... there's supposed to be rain tomorrow!

Crimson wizards and Ruby daughters

2011-05-25T17:30:00.004-05:00

I love it when Chicago is warming up. It puts everyone in a good mood. And yet, as always, I am so attracted to evil and darkness ....

That's the Chicago skyline, for those of you who don't live around here. I post it because we have a great Affordable and Interesting collection of short stories today ... all about Chicago noir. That's even the title! Chicago Noir! As the back says, "These stories tell of a Chicago beyond Oprah, Michael Jordan, and deep-dish pizza." Each story is associated with a certain Chicago cross-street, too.

I opened the book at random and discovered this sentence: "After a while, he came to believe he'd conjured her whole, except for the aching sadness left by the turbulence of love suddenly and unexpectedly lost. That was real, real for both of them, real and terrifying too." Who could ask for anything more? This book is a steal at $6.00. (Edited by Neal Pollack; my quotation came from a story by Achy Obejas that's associated with 26th & Kedvale.)

My Favorite things around the store today are even more Chicago-themed:

Ah, John Dillinger. Never has another criminal captured my heart so ... or in fact the entire nation's. Dillinger was a Depression-era bank robber. He was eventually betrayed by his landlady, who was called "The Woman in Red", and shot in a North Side alley. But he was well-loved! Movies have been made (including one with Johnny Depp), and while looking for Dillinger pages that I could link you to, I discovered that there is an upcoming Chicago event on July 22 that will be hosted by the John Dillinger Died For You Society. Ladies in red get in half price.

Point being -- as you can see above, we've got a 1938 issue of the "Chicago Sunday Tribune" that will tell you all about Dillinger's life and times. You are seeing a scan of but a corner of the front cover; the whole paper will run you $60.00. If you want to spend much less on a 1938 "Tribune", we've also got this:

"The Crimson Wizard" was a radio show back in the day. It sounds like it was pretty awesome; here's a snip from this description:

The first season ran twelve weeks and starred Hugh Studebaker, one of Chicago's radio soap opera veterans as the lead. Maida Travers played by Donna Reade was a vocalist whose singing inspired Quill to give purpose to his life. Born a frightful hunchback, Peter Quill never ventured outside his laboratory. His discovery of invisible lightning involved him in a plot against The Red Circle to recover stolen battleship plans. ... The story begins in Washington, DC with the theft of the plans. The action moves to New York and the Jersey Coast, then across the Atlantic to the British Isles. The final showdown occurs in the Mediterranean Sea with a treasonous Peter Quill on a Red Fleet battleship. How did he get there? Was he a traitor? This was all a clever ruse to deceive The Red Circle who wanted him to use his invisible lightning against the free world.

The "Sunday Tribune" that features "The Crimson Wizard" is $17.50. It also features lots of purple prose, and a publicity photo from the show that is 100% pure 1938:

Oh, for the days when ladies smiled so fakely.

Finally, in the Collector's Item corner, we have an exhaustive examination of Shakespeare and precious stones. The title page:

This 1916 tome contains an enormous amount of analysis on a topic that I personally have never before thought to consider. As the author notes, "We find no trace in Shakespeare's works of any belief in the many quaint and curious superstitions current in his day regarding the talismanic or curative virtues of precious stones. This is quite in keeping with the thoroughly sane outlook upon life that constituted the strong foundation of his incomparable mind." That's good to know.

The book also discusses contemporary gem treatises; jewel thefts of Shakespeare's time; gem-cutting processes of Shakespeare's time; the jewels that belonged to royalty back then; and many other topics of interest. And in back, it tells us exactly which jewels come up in which plays and poems. Turquoise, for example, turns up once, in "The Merchant of Venice". (I'll be really impressed if any of you, gentle readers, know the quotation off the top of your head.)

Note that the author, George Frederick Kunz, dedicated the book to his daughter Ruby. The author has also inscribed this copy of the book to a friend; so our copy is signed, and yet it is still the cheapest copy on the market at $150.00.

Red is my favorite color! Maybe I should theme every blog entry after a color. Except I'll be bored now that I've already done red. Oh well. Something to think about for the future, certainly!

Lydia's back, and strange things are afoot!

2011-04-25T17:10:00.003-05:00

Hello, gentle readers! It is I, Lydia, returned from Africa. I shan't be working regularly here in the store, but Doug has asked me to resume blogging duties as long as I am around Chicago, so you can expect my bright shining typeface semi-regularly for at least a few months.

Yes, this means that my entire role at O'Gara and Wilson right now is to find entertaining things around the store and blog about them. Fear me!

It seems as though I might as well resurrect the old pattern: each blog post features a Collector's Item, a Favorite and something Affordable & Interesting. I'll start with the Collector's Item, because it is the most bewildering:

This comes from an 1883 illustrated play titled "A Parody of Iolanthe", written by one D. Dalziel, who apparently edited some sort of theatrical newspaper at the time. "Iolanthe", as I learn through the Internet, was a Gilbert & Sullivan satire that played in the early 1880s. It featured fairies messing about with the House of Lords. So Dalziel's "A Parody of Iolanthe" features fairies messing around with ... railroads.

The Fairy Queen is quite stern, and although much of the script puzzles me (because it has so many references to contemporary late 1800s railroad politics), even I could tell that some moments are funny, like when the Queen makes a bunch of magical decrees that the railroad people are magically forced to obey:

Queen: The comfort of your passengers must be your primary consideration. (Very solemnly) You will also be forced to run your trains according to your advertised time-table.

All: (shriek) Oh, spare us! Spare us!

How could that cruel Queen force the trainmasters to run on schedule? How terrible! Presumably many railroad historians (or Gilbert & Sullivan fans) are vying for this book, because ours is the cheapest available copy at $495.00. Far beyond my ability to afford, alas, but I'm glad I got to look at the pictures of dancing Olde Worlde lords.

Slightly less esoteric is this week's Favorite:

Yes, indeed: O'Gara & Wilson has the all the 1976 issues of "The Michigan Polka News". All these issues have been pulled together in one tall binding, which I would show you except that the book was too big to fit in the scanner (I could only fit one corner of the News itself, as you can see above). The Michigan Polka News did not merely feature Polka Band Calendars, but also Polka Tidbits, information about Polka Sprees for Charity, discussions of the Origin of the Polka, various polka contest winners, and the stories of polka heroes. Our collected 1976 "Michigan Polka News" issues will cost you only $60.00, my friends, and every page is in beautiful condition.

You are probably wondering how the Affordable and Interesting item can top these. It probably can't:

.

I really wish I had access to a video camera right now, or at least a camera, because attempting to scan this object is not doing it justice. (It's hard to scan things that aren't flat!) Basically, it's a rubber mermaid in a small, round, clear plastic case. There is a tiny crank on the bottom that makes the mermaid shake her hips and gyrate. The scan on the left shows her with her hips to one side, and the scan on the right shows her after a half-turn of the crank! She is supple, 1950s, and only $5.00. Apparently this type of novelty item was quite the thing among libidinous young men back in the pre-"Playboy" days ....

Where else in the world could you find such random things? Nowhere, gentle readers. Nowhere. That's why you keep coming back to O'Gara & Wilson, and we love you for it. See you soon!

2010-10-21T22:30:00.020-05:00

We're baaaaack!!! After a lengthy hiatus, the O'Gara & Wilson blog is back in business! Take a look at that photo up there -- this is without a doubt the coolest bookstore in the city. Who else has the ambience? Who has the books? Who has the art and the antiques and the ephemera and the way cool tchotchkes? Who has the buffalo head and the wax monk, for goodness' sake? O'Gara & Wilson, that's who!

And for the next week we'll be featuring a special Halloween window, with books on witches, goblins, vampires, zombies, mythical beasts, and death and doom of all sorts. And let's not forget the aforementioned tchotchkes, these particular ones of a distinctly ghoulish nature.

But wait -- there's more! Through the end of the month, all regularly priced stock is 25% off! Select books, records, and magazines $1.00 each!

Incredible article about our store in the Chicago Maroon!

2009-05-17T14:22:00.002-05:00

The Chicago Maroon -- the University of Chicago's student newspaper -- recently ran a wonderful article on our humble store. It's got a lot of background for O'Gara and Wilson, some lovely quotations from owner Doug, and is simply all-around charming.

Read the article by clicking here!

Excerpt:

O’Gara & Wilson owner carries on century-old bookselling tradition

Antique typewriters, Victorian postcards, and Soviet-era lapel pins overflow in O’Gara & Wilson window

Though he may be the sole owner of O’Gara & Wilson Booksellers on East 57th Street and South Harper Avenue, Doug Wilson doesn’t delude himself into thinking the store is his alone. As the fourth person to take the helm of what is now Chicago’s oldest continuously operating bookstore, Wilson can trace the store’s lineage from the 1890s, and sees himself as merely the latest bearer of “the torch of the ins and outs of bookselling.”

“Book stores aren’t so much a set piece of real estate as they are a line of knowledge, a passing of a profession from one person to another,” he said.

In 1972, Wilson was a 22-year-old college graduate “on a fast track to a job I would hate” at a Chicago department store. He had wandered into Joseph O’Gara’s store a few times as a “book scout,” trying to sell used books he’d found at local Salvation Army stores at a markup. But O’Gara gave him more than he bargained for.

Keep reading ....

Villainry, villainry, wherefore art thou villainry?

2009-05-13T16:46:00.004-05:00

I have a confession to make, gentle readers: I love villains. I love villainry! If I could be a villainess then I would do so. Swiftly and decisively. Since actual outsize villainry does not exist, I settle for trying to be a very moral and responsible girl. But seriously, I'd rather be a villainess.

This Affordable and Interesting book might give me some pointers:

From the dust jacket:

"Rosalind Valdar," he hissed, "my bed shall be your bed! My will shall be your master! My lust shall feed upon your charms, and your body shall be minister to my passions! I'll use thee -- use thee as I list -- and when I tire of thee I'll cast thee out into the streets for dogs to bark at; for men to sneer at; and for all honest women to shun! So will I do if you become not my wife!"

Now that's a healthy relationship for you. But actually, that's an excerpt from an excerpt quoted in this book, and not a passage from the book itself -- because Villains Galore is a book about the low-priced weeklies that were filled with villains, rather than a book of villainry itself. $12.50, and you can think about villainous literary theory all you want! What's not to like?

If you have more resources to throw behind your villainous studies, then you might be interested in this Collector's Item:

Louis Wain was a Victorian gentleman who liked to draw cats ... a lot. He drew them all the time. Eventually, he became famous for it! Everyone loved his cats! But then at some point I guess some folks decided that Wain was unbalanced, not to be trusted, etc. He spent the last fifteen years of his life in various mental institutions, and indeed, while Googling Wain I came upon this online Neuroscience Art Gallery feature on him: Cats Painted in the Progression of Psychosis of a Schizophrenic Artist. I enjoy the apparent progression rather a lot.

Now personally I don't feel 100% comfortable judging Wain's mental status, and in fact it looks to me as though his later cat portraits were far more enlightened than his earlier ones. I'd much rather see a glowing electric cat than a tamer cat dressed in Victorian clothing! Unless, of course, that cat is Bluebeard:

... Wain's version of the tale starts like this:

Bluebeard the Pasha, a wealthy cat,
Married and mourned three fair wives;
They were dutiful tabbies, be sure of that,
And yet in the end he took their lives.

So if you're interested in fairy-tale doggerel by a pre-schizophrenic cat enthusiast, then there is just no way you can pass up this book. It seems that there are lots of people interested in that, because this item is a bargain at $950.00! Before it sells, I plan to study and see if I can dye my own hair blue. I'd like to murder some fine husbands before I die.

Just kidding! Just kidding, really. Here, I'll distract you from my macabre little joke by bringing up this week's Favorite:

... arguably another macabre little joke. We actually do have a (perhaps surprising) number of gun-related books here at O'Gara and Wilson, and this was recently added to the group, but I think that perhaps it would be better in our Mystery section or even True Crime. Or maybe I should just make a section for "incredibly weird books that Lydia likes because she has been driven mad by spending long hours indoors with books when what she really needs is healthy fresh air; she'll be drawing cats next".

So anyway, apparently certain guns are famously good only for committing suicide, and this is a primer for the discerning collector! The Introduction assures me that this book is needed (or was in 1958) because "the field is wide open" and "the scope of variation in these arms is incomprehensible". Only $60.00, my dear dear readers, and you'd better come buy it so that when I snap and go Bluebeard I won't be able to make my boyfriend's death look like a suicide.

I think this place is twisting me, gentle readers. Till next time, au revoir, and I'll try not to go homicidally mad on the interim.

Transportation! I like how it looks.

2009-04-27T18:48:00.002-05:00

Greetings, O Gentlest of Readers! I am posting the blog entry early this week, because I (Lydia) will be away on Wednesday; I considered dragging Alan in to write another of his incredible blog entries on the right date, but I figured it was just as easy to write it myself two days early, and I wanted the excuse to indulge my latest idea for a theme.

You see, sometimes I do shiny themed blog entries here at O'Gara and Wilson. The themes are frequently somewhat loose and ill-observed, and always ridiculous. This entry's theme? Transportation!

Observe, for instance, this Collector's Item:

The book containing this plate, Advertisements of Lower Mississippi River Steamboats 1812-1920, starts its Foreword with a historical analysis of steamboat advertisements and notes that

Now that Leonard V. Huber has unearthed this interesting sample of art -- for art it is -- of attracting patronage to a particular steamboat through stylistic advertising, the wonder is that nobody thought of doing it before. Individual boats were noticed as "new and splendid", "new and elegant", "new and light draught" (always new, even though overdue at the boneyard); but this business of republishing their ads has real newness. They have the tang of fresh-brewed coffee, and should be sipped gingerly to be appreciated. The reader will discover herein a treat which bears repetition from day to day, from week to week. These ads are ageless.

Convinced? I am. And better yet, the book doesn't just contain steamboat ads! $60.00 gets you the ads, plus some old articles about steamboats, plus other little bitty bits such as:

This scan comes from a page headed "Steamboat Money". There is no other description or explanation; I tried Googling "Steamboat Money" but came up with nothing of use, though I did find a page talking about tokens that were used to represent money for travelers on on some steamboats, so that those travelers wouldn't have to carry actual money. Maybe that's what's going on here.

So yeah, I wish I could use steamboats for transportation. I also wish I could use a car -- but not just any car: a vintage 1920s car that utilizes this week's Favorite.

Being as I really know nothing at all about transportation beyond what I write in random bookstore blog entries, I can't say much about this $30.00 package of 1920s auto bulbs. I am excited by the packaging, because I like deco stuff! Plus I have a thing for mythology, so representations of Vulcan are fine by me! Also, I love Googling for pictures of 1920s cars! But I guess that once I get past how pretty it all is, I'll have to move on.

And hence we find ourselves at this Affordable and Interesting book ....

I've mentioned before that I love it when customers point out really fascinating items that I have somehow missed. I love it even more when those customers decide in the end against buying those items. That way, I can fall upon said items with cries of glee and fascination, and examine them myself.

I am so excited about this book that I stretched the blog entry's theme to include it -- viz., this book is relevant to transportation because the cover features a gentleman riding on an elephant. But it's actually about race and culture! You see, the title is The Exotic White Man: An Alien in Asian and African Art. Note the looks of the gentleman atop the elephant:

And then there's this couple, a Japanese woodcut featured on the back:

I hear people talk about representations of other cultures in imperialist Western art all the time, but never ever have I seen a book like this. I am fascinated! It is from 1968 and has a slightly racist tone, which makes me sad, but it seems like the authors were doing their best at the time. And I'm amused by their note in the beginning that the Caucasian "pinkish color [is] somewhat revolting". You can buy this book for $12.50, but only if I don't weaken and take it home myself. I'm still thinking about it.

Thinking ....

I'd better end this blog entry before I think too hard. See you two weeks from Wednesday, gentle readers!

Local, independent used bookstores are better than Amazon!

2009-04-15T17:06:00.006-05:00

You may have heard of the ruckus that erupted around Amazon this weekend when a glitch caused the site to make many books on gay, lesbian, and sexuality themes largely unavailable for search by its customers. This was apparently a mistake on the site's part and not an outright act of attempted concealment -- but I am here to tell you, gentle readers, that such a mistake would never happen here! For one thing, we have an entire section on Sex/Gender/Sexuality that is just as available to the public as the rest of our books; indeed, you may recall that -- just two months ago -- I wrote a blog post that included "Kama Sutra Marketing Through the Ages". More to the point: if we make an inventory-tracking mistake around the store, then we lose just one book, not entire categorizations. We're better than Amazon. Convinced yet?

No? Well, these Affordable and Interesting items demonstrate another reason we're better than Amazon:

.

.

A lovely antique fairy-tale book, illustrated by Frank Adams, was recently badly damaged -- it lost many pages and the binding came apart. We could have simply thrown it out, but instead we elected to save as many pages as we could and then sell them each for $3.00. Amazon would never show such tender loving care. As you can see from the above, the pictures are lovely, bright and sickeningly cute: ideal for people who ... enjoy cute things! There must be people like that out there.

This week's Favorite is another excellent example of our betterness.

Here's the thing about bookstores that you could never, ever find on Amazon: random chance and serendipity. Personally, I love knowing that I could come upon an 1899 book called Fables in Slang at any time. It's not that I wouldn't live a happy life without it, but I just think my life is better now that I've read "The Fable of the Visitor Who Got A Lot for Three Dollars", the main character of which is referred to as the Learned Phrenologist. (Did you know that there are still phrenologists out there? Learn all about the history of phrenology at this very pro-phrenology page: click here!)

Check out how the 1899 slang book characterizes phrenology:

The Learned Phrenologist sat in his Office surrounded by his Whiskers.

Now and then he put a Forefinger to his Brow and glanced at the Mirror to make sure that he still resembled William Cullen Bryant.

Near him, on a Table, was a Pallid Head made of Plaster-of-Paris and stickily ornamented with small Labels. On the wall was a Chart showing that the Orangoutang does not have Daniel Webster's facial angle.

"Is the Graft played out?" asked the Learned Phrenologist, as he waited. "Is Science up against it or What?"

I love this book. $30.00, and you get tons of Fables in the above style. Did I mention that all of them are illustrated?

.

People who buy all their books on Amazon don't come across slangy 1899 fable books with awesome illustrations of stern phrenologists. Nuff said.

Or wait, not quite enough said. I still need to cover this Collector's Item!

Not only is this pamphlet unavailable at Amazon, but when I tried to search for it, I was confronted by a horrible banner of grinning and cavorting Disney characters. We will never assault you with obscenely vivid moving advertisements, gentle readers -- that's a promise that makes O'Gara and Wilson much classier than Amazon. But to return to my point: this incredible item -- all the way from 1922 -- is too rare to be found on Amazon. I assert that the cover alone makes it worth the $40.00 we are charging, but the pamphlet's historical perspective is icing on the cake.

The moral of the story, gentle readers, is that we are better than Amazon. Love us!

I wish I lived in the 30s-60s just for the headlines ....

2009-04-01T14:26:00.010-05:00

Here I am again, gentle readers -- Lydia, writing this week’s blog entry! Though I don’t know why I do it, with Alan writing such incredible entries when I'm away. Please, if you missed the last two blog entries here at O’Gara and Wilson, I entreat you to read Alan's work: Here’s the one on Ireland and crotchety bookstore ghosts, and here’s the one in futuristic science-fiction style. Read them, for your own sake. They are amazing.

Now before I get into silly unimportant stuff like what we're actually selling at the bookstore these days, I want to let you all know that my hometown literature club is running a poetry contest. My hometown is in New York, but you can certainly enter the contest from afar, and all you have to do is write a literature-related clerihew! "Clerihew?" you may ask in bemusement. "What's that?" Well, here is an example:

Edgar Allan Poe
Was passionately fond of roe.
He always liked to chew some,
While writing anything gruesome.

Go write one and enter the contest (click here for details). It'll be great. Trust me.

OK, now let's get down to business. This blog entry's theme is Lots of Pictures of Antique Periodicals, folks, and we're starting with these astounding Affordable and Interesting old science magazines!

.

We've got stacks and stacks of various science magazines from the 30s, 40s, 50s ... for $15.00 you get that glorious "Popular Mechanics" with the picture of smilingly excited guys leaping out of a sky machine; or you could pay $7.50 for the "Science and Mechanics" featuring a glove-ridden contraption that does ... wait, what does it do?

But I think the best example -- available for a mere $15.00 -- is this one from 1933:

BAAAAAHAHAHAHA! IT LIVES!

Moving right along ... let's talk about Collectible Scottish material. If you like Scottish material, then we here at O'Gara and Wilson have exactly the magazine for you!

.

"Tocher: Tales, Songs, Tradition -- Selected from the archives of the School of Scottish Studies" ran from 1971 to 1995, and we have a complete set of all issues! I have elected not to show you, dear readers, the approximately 30% of "Tocher" covers that feature bagpipes in some fashion. Really, I felt that the above two cover images were most representative of Scottish life in general.

But this periodical has so much more to it than Scotch gentlemen hitting each other with golf clubs; there is a truly bewildering array of stories about people whose names start with "Mac", and some of them are in Gaelic! Some are even translated! You could also learn productive skills from "Topher", such as how to dye cloth black by using the roots of the water lily. All this for $400.00. It's a steal, gentle readers, let me tell you, an absolute steal. Especially since you get this winsome Scottish maid to boot:

Last but certainly not least is my Favorite thing. Ever.

We're selling these 1950s-60s scandal papers for $15.00-$25.00 apiece, and if I had to choose a word to describe them, it would be "hilariousincredibleamazingbrilliant". But unfortunately our scanner cannot encompass the entire front page of all the papers I want to show you. Case in point: My scan of the above 1968 "National Mirror" regrettably cut off the top two headlines: "Surgeon Uses Virgins in Sex Transplants" and "Insane Nurse Sets Mental Hospital on Fire". At least you can read for yourself the "Raid Flesh Club In Funeral Home" and "Barmaids in Bloody Brawl Over Lesbian". $25.00 for this issue, which -- need I remind you? -- includes not just the headlines but the interior articles. And the articles are even better!

Or you could buy one of these others ....

"The National Enquirer", 1964. "Deadly Flies Make Everyone Blind ... Whole Town Doomed". $25.00.

"The National Informer", 1968. "Should A Girl Proposition A Guy?" plus "Women Are More Excited By Pornography Than Men" and "A Report of the Disappointments of Wife-Swapping". $25.00.

"The National Enquirer", 1963. "Rita Hayworth Says: I'm Back From the Dead. For Two Years I Was a Zombie". $25.00.

Another 1963 "National Enquirer". "Mamie Van Doren: I Still Love the Crumb Who Jilted Me!" $20.00. I'm thinking of buying this one and mailing it to my ex-boyfriend ... what do you think, gentle readers? I'm a classy girl, aren't I.

I'm almost tempted not to advertise these scandal papers, because they really do make the best lunchtime reading ever. Don't buy them too quickly, folks, and I'll see you in two weeks!

Homage to the Kindle. Not.

2009-03-18T15:56:00.007-05:00

It was March 18, 2109, and I was bored. Quendy and I were lying next to each other on Quagnar beach, drinking Zoofle Blasters and watching sky pirates shooting each other down over the ocean.

“I’m sick of Zoofle Blasters,” I said, throwing away my fluorescent blue cup. It disappeared as soon as it hit the sand. “And I’m sick of sky pirates. They always do the same thing every time.”

“Me, too,” said Quendy. “Maybe we should go visit the Xenon 5 beach. They have a whole new sky pirate show.”

“Okay,” I said. We both felt 25 zilodollars drain from our accounts, and the beach around us changed. Now it was green sand, instead of black. The sky pirates were black, instead of red, and they shot each other down even more frequently. There were four suns in the sky.

“What kind of drinks are there here?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” said Quendy. Immediately a pull down menu appeared in our heads.

“I’ve had all of these,” I said.

“Me too,” said Quendy.

“Well,” I said, “maybe we should call it a day. I can’t think of a single thing to do.” We lay there in the green sand, not wanting to go somewhere else because we’d already spent 25 zilodollars getting to Xenon 5. Suddenly Quendy spoke up.

“I have an idea,” she said excitedly. “I know something we could do. Let’s go to a bookstore.”

“A bookstore?” I asked. “Why?” I’d already downloaded all the books I needed for school. I had them on background filter, and they were slowly transferring directly into my brain. Some people like to do it all in one go, but that makes my head hurt.

“No,” said Quendy. “This is different. I saw it when we went to visit Grandma and Grandma in Happy-Old Land.”

“Oh,” I said. “So it’s out there?”

“Yeah,” said Quendy.

“Weird,” I said. “Why would there be a bookstore out there?”

“You’ll see,” said Quendy. We turned off our Virtua-Screens, and got up from my sofa. Then we got in the hyper-car, and Quendy set it for 5212324 Happy-Old Land Drive.

“I know it’s near there,” said Quendy. When we appeared, things looked pretty familiar. I’d only been to 3423435 Happy-Old Land Drive, to visit my grandparents, but this place wasn’t so different.

“I think it’s next door,” said Quendy. “But we have to walk.” We got out of the car, and walked about twenty feet to the next building, which felt strange. The building said “O’Gara and Wilson” on an green cloth thing hanging out in front.

“This is it,” said Quendy. “I’ve been here with my grandmother once.”

Inside the store were all sorts of things that I’d learned about in history class, called realbooks. There were big realbooks, and little realbooks, and they were filled with words, just like the ones in the advertisements and pull-down menus.

“This is so weird,” I said. “What do you do with these?”

“Read them,” said a voice behind me. “Although no one really does, anymore.” I turned and saw an ancient man, with bushy eyebrows and a goatee.

“Why would you read them,” I asked, “if you can just download them instantly and transfer them into your brain in the background?”

“Well,” said the old man, “some realbooks aren’t actually available for download. Take this one, for example.”

He opened a case made out of something called glass, and took out one of the strange old things. The front (he called it a cover) looked like this.

“Careful,” he said, as I flipped through it.

“Cool,” said Quendy.

“Not just cool, young lady,” said the old man. “It’s the coolest Collectible realbook in the store. Written in 1901 by H.G. Wells, a first edition, back when people had never visited the moon before.”

I’d been to the moon with Quendy lots of times. Super boring, unless you’re a little kid. “Can’t download a first edition,” added the old man, though I didn’t know what he meant. “That’s why it’s so expensive.” 400 zilodollars, said the price tag. That was like 16 beach trips.

“What are these?” asked Quendy, who had found something somewhere else in the store.

“That’s a magazine,” said the old man. I recognized the little white cylinders in the picture – they were cigarettes. Long ago, said the history textbook I’d uploaded last year, people used to kill themselves by smoking them.

“Is a magazine a realbook?” I asked.

“Not exactly,” said the old man. “But it would take too long for me to explain the difference. Not too expensive, though,” he said. “Only 6 zilodollars, so you could probably get one yourself. We’ve got Time magazines, like that one, and also Life magazines. Affordable and Interesting, magazines.”

“Of course,” he said, “you probably don’t know how to read.”

“Nope,” I said. Only old people knew how to read, like this guy or grandparents. “It would take so long. And these realbooks are big and clunky. I think downloading is much easier.”

“I don’t know,” said Quendy. “Maybe it would be fun to learn how to read.” The old man didn’t say anything. He just went over and pulled another realbook off the shelf and started reading from the back.

This is what he read:

“We read to find the end, for the story’s sake. We read not to reach it, for the sake of the reading itself. We read searchingly, like trackers, oblivious of our surroundings. We read distractedly, skipping pages….We read in gusts of sudden pleasure, without knowing what brought the pleasure along.”

Quendy and I browsed for a while, and I ended up buying the realbook the old man had read from, for only 9.5 zilodollars. It was called A History of Reading, by an elder-one named Alberto Manguel. Even though it didn’t look that special, it was my Favorite thing in the store, and no matter how much I searched the Virtua-Center, I couldn’t find a copy available for download, at least not at that price.

(Thank you to M.T. Anderson and his wonderful realbook, "Feed".)

"All for me Grog-Blog"

2009-03-04T17:30:00.002-06:00

(Apologies to multimedia fans out there -- no pictures this time, technical difficulties).

______________________

Close readers of this blog may have noticed that the name of our store is O’Gara and Wilson. Wilson, needless to say, is the surname of our current visionary owner, Douglas Wilson. But what of “O’Gara”? Who’s behind those beautiful Irish syllables?

Don’t worry, I’ll give it to you quick and easy. Joseph O’Gara, a bookman of the highest order, that’s who. He inherited the store in 1937, and ran it for a long, long time. Smoked a pipe, had a cat, and argued with anyone and everyone who walked through the door. He left us for the Heavenly four-leafed clover meadows some years back, but his spirit still lingers in the bookshelves and the treasures they hold.

In fact, his spirit was in here this morning. “Alan,” it said wispily, but with a pronounced Irish brogue. “Why haven’t you gotten started on the grog?”

“Who’s there?” I asked. “What ghost haunts this bookshop? And what kind of grog does it fancy?” I added, just in case.

“Not grog,” said the spirit, materializing slowly. It was bald with a moustache and wire-rimmed glasses, and a pipe in its mouth. “Blog. Young Dougie has hired a real winner here, I see.” That’s when I knew it must be him, the legendary Joseph O’Gara.

Now, those who knew Mr. O’Gara might object at this point, if they haven’t already. “He didn’t speak with an Irish accent,” they might say, or “He never referred to Mr. Wilson as Dougie.” Fair enough. If you want the scoop on our founder, come in and chat with Mr. Wilson himself. He’ll tell you how Mr. O’Gara faked being Scottish, regaled customers with crazy tales, and made the bookshop a wonderful place to be.

But for the sake of this blog entry, please let’s power through the falsehoods until the imminent segue.

“I haven’t gotten started because I’ve got writer’s block,” I told Mr. O’Gara’s spirit. “I’m completely stumped.”
“Well, lad, write on Ireland, my homeland.”
“But why Ireland?”
“What’s wrong with you?” he said. “Are your brains addled from not enough reading? It’s Irish-American Heritage month!”
“Good Guinness!” I shouted. “That’s brilliant! But there’s a problem…”
“What’s that?” asked the spirit, and ultra-wispy smoke wafted from the semi-wispy pipe he held clamped in his teeth.
“Well—“ I hesitated.
“Out with it, lad!”
“I don’t know anything about Ireland. Not a single thing.”

Mr. O’Gara flitted over to the Ireland section.

“Start with this,” he said, and handed me the ironically titled Oxford Companion to Irish History.

“Leaping leprechauns!” I exclaimed, after flipping through it briefly. “It’s so informative and thick, just like all the other companions from Oxford that we've come to know and love. And cheap too, only $9.50! I’ll make it our Affordable and Interesting item.”

“Enough with the shop-talk,” said Mr. O’Gara. “You’ve not much time before I disappear and your deadline comes.”

“But I’m helpless without you,” I said. “All I know about is Chinese philosophy and fairy tales.”

The spirit’s moustache twitched with impatience. “And didn’t Oscar Wilde write about both?”

“Sure,” I said, “but that doesn’t help.” Suddenly it hit me like a blood pudding in the face. “He was IRISH,” I exclaimed, and rushed to the glass case and picked out one of most wonderful Collectible books in the store.

Were the blasted camera working, you'd be treated to numerous pictures from the second edition of Wilde’s famous fairy tales, illustrated by Walter Crane and Jacob Hood. You would be able to see the beautiful condition, and establish for yourself that the price of $650 is easily worth it. This book, you would think to yourself, is something one finds at the end of a rainbow on a lucky day. Instead you'll have to imagine all that, or come in to our store and see it in person.

In fact, the book is so wonderful that I began paging through it myself, before the blog deadline interrupted my reveries.

“Aiee!” I said, looking through Mr. O’Gara at the clock. “It’s nearly time, I’ve got to post this thing.” With a disdainful nod, the spirit floated back over to the Ireland section.

“This is probably beyond you, lad, but put it in there. Only true Irish-people will know what it is. But it’s one of my Favorites, from when I was a wee boy.”

He handed me (how did he do it with those wispy fingers) a book that appeared to be in a foreign language.

"But I need something in English," I said. Mr. O'Gara didn't even deign to answer. I asked the computer and found out that Fiche Blian Ag Fas translates as Twenty Years A’Growin, and it’s one of the most famous pieces of modern literature written wholly in Irish. An excellent present for the Irish lover in your life, difficult to find in a nice vintage edition like ours, and impossible for a mere $15.

As soon as I finished writing that last paragraph, Mr. O’Gara tapped out his pipe and spoke his final words to me.

“The craic was good,” said the spirit, and disappeared.

That’s right – it’s pronounced crack. But don’t go getting any ideas until you read up on the original meaning, hopefully in a book you purchase from O’Gara and Wilson. And "All for me Grog" really is a real song (just ask the Google-mind if you're an unbeliever).

Happy Irish-American heritage month!

How to manage your miffed Valentine: a lesson, with O'Gara and Wilson

2009-02-18T18:17:00.003-06:00

Since we only update the blog once every two weeks now, I totally missed Valentine's Day. Did you also miss Valentine's Day? If so, then this is the blog entry for you! You will learn all about some gifts you can give your lover to make up for your unbearable faux pas. What expresses love better than crass materialism? I ask you.

Let's start with this week's Collector's Item: great for the man in your life, assuming the year is 1926 and your man really likes Benjamin Franklin.

Let us begin with a Valentine-relevant quotation from a "Beau Magazine" watch advertisement:

Choosing your woman (to employ the phrase of our national arch-beau, Benjamin Franklin) is only the beginning of your adventure: to hold her (if hold her you must) you must have become skilled in that most delicate of all the social arts -- the art of selecting the proper gift for the proper occasion.

Now the "Beau" is an inveterate believer in this pleasant form of bribery. Gift giving is the oil of the social machinery, the only form of flattery which women have not yet learned to suspect, and therefore to be pursued with a certain amount of assured success.

Well, I've certainly learned to suspect it now. So maybe you shouldn't buy this book for your lover ... maybe, instead, you should buy it and hide it from them such that they never learn its secrets.

You will also be concealing many other delights: for instance, a reprinted letter (purportedly from 1745) from Benjamin Franklin to a friend on "Choosing Your Woman". Franklin urges his friend to select an older woman for a mistress for eight reasons, one of which starts with "Because when they cease to be handsome, they study to be good." Do we really? These and other pieces of advice come to $75.00 -- discuss 1926 romantic mores with your lover (or alternatively, hide these insights from your lover) to your heart's content.

Perhaps you and your partner pen a lot of love letters? In that case, you can use this week's Favorite to write a historically accurate one, World War 2-style:

V-mail (short for "Victory mail") was a form used entirely by soldiers on the front during World War 2. They would write in special ink ...

(here we have two facets of the ink box ...)

... on special forms ...

... and their letters would be applied from paper form, to microfilm. The original forms would then be destroyed and big bags of microfilm sent overseas, to be reconstituted into letters for mopey loved ones. As noted by the National Postal Museum: "The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45."

I am sure that a military history buff would find a love letter written V-mail style to be the most romantic thing ever. Indulge them: a box of forms and a box of special V-mail ink -- Quink! -- is only $25.00 and provides dozens of letters!

(And before we move on to the next items, a quick message from Doug: "Before there was e-mail, there was v-mail!" Hilarious.)

Last but not least, gentle readers: an Affordable and Interesting way to relate to your loved one.

You may have heard of the Kama Sutra, an ancient Indian text on physical love. Well, I am here to tell you that there are many, many editions of the Kama Sutra out there, and we've got a bunch of them here at O'Gara and Wilson. The one presented above takes what I think of as the "academic and cultural approach" -- tasteful cover featuring a pretty Indian painting, restrained script, all promoting the scholarly value of this tome, and all for $15.00!

Then there's this approach!

This I consider the "scandal" approach. Published in 1963, it emphasizes the mind-blowing debauchery therein. The photo of Greek statuary totally fails to respect the original Kama Sutra's cultural context. Yours for $7.50.

And here's the third and last in my "Kama Sutra marketing through the ages" series:

Not cultural, not academic, but not scandalous either: this one's all about long walks on the beach, soft-lit candles and romantic dinners. $12.50.

That should pacify your partner, gentle readers! Don't say I never do you any favors ... and oh yeah, happy belated Valentine's Day!

Black History Month 2009 is upon us! Also, Soviets.

2009-02-04T17:47:00.004-06:00

February, my gentle gentle readers, is upon us in all its snow-laden glory. On the bright side, February is Black History Month! Most of this blog entry shall regale you with many amazing items of African-American historical value ... but not all of it. Why, you ask? Well, because this week's Affordable and Interesting item was supposed to be picked up by Doug when he went home to Indiana for the evening ... but then, a stunning amount of Indiana snowfall kept him in Chicago for the night.

So, before we continue on to Black history, dear readers, allow me to show you these Affordable and Interesting pins:

. .

.

.

. .

The above pins were produced in the former Soviet Union between the late 1960s and the early 1990s -- they were badges for all manner of occupations, clubs, and organizations. Our regular Jon characterizes them as "bright, sprightly, and lots of fun" and reports that he gave one to his friend Olga, who translated its slogan as "Society to Fight for Sobriety". When she picked herself up from rolling around of the floor laughing, she added, "I need some more for my friends."

These pins are a bargain at $3.00 apiece; I'd consider buying the Stalin one myself, but I want to be able to take airplane flights.

Now let's move on, away from my hasty insertion of those pins and towards this week's Favorite:

Fisk University was one of the first African-American Universities -- established in 1867. It is now open to all races, but has historically served Black history very well -- one notable instance being the Fisk Jubilee Singers. The Singers started touring in 1871, and they did a lot to preserve African-American musical traditions and further the acceptance of those traditions in popular culture.

We have a number of 1910s-1920s Fisk University magazines here at the shop, showcasing various interesting historical angles:

.

.

The Fisk magazines vary in price from $20.00 to $25.00 -- or act now and you might be able to snag the 1916 Fisk Alumni Quarterly for only $10.00!

Last, but certainly not least, we arrive at this Collector's Item, which includes an amazing and touching story:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a real live tintype of Mr. and Mrs. Watham, who were once enslaved in the southern United States. In the second half of the 1800s, the Wathams were freed, and they struck off to make their fortunes by participating enthusiastically in the Oklahoma Land Rush. These two Black pioneers established an Oklahoma homestead that served their families well until their descendants sold it off in the 1950s, at which point one trunk full of the Watham's heritage was saved.

That trunkful of history is now here, at O'Gara and Wilson! Its contents include -- but are not limited to -- two cotton bonnets, a blue polka-dotted parasol, a spyglass, two leather baby booties, a corncob pipe, a thimble, and two six-sided dice. We're selling this collection for $750.00, and we encourage all and sundry to come by and examine it before someone takes it home. All these objects come together to create a lovely picure of the lives of two pioneers of the American West. They're really fun to look through!

Black History Month seems like a particularly inspiring time right now, with our first Black president assuming power. (I know I've been mentioning that a lot lately, but cut me some slack, gentle readers -- I live in Obama's very neighborhood!) Let that inspiration warm you against the frigid February weather.

Alan refers to us as an "increasingly inaccurately named bookstore"

2009-01-21T18:24:00.003-06:00

Sometimes we joke around the store about how we barely even sell books here -- we are so inundated by other amazing historical material. One great example are these fabulous, semi-insane Affordable and Interesting Victorian marketing cards. I had a really hard time choosing just six of them to show you, gentle readers -- we've got a whole boxful! Fortunately (or perhaps un), a recent customer already bought up all the ones that featured little children dressed up as insects and snails.

.

.

.

.

.

I can't even begin to imagine what the Victorians were thinking when they decided to use some of these images to advertise their businesses. I mean, I'll accept that quasi-demonic children drowning cats in ink is a fabulous promotion for dye! But what does a pig frightened by firecrackers have to do with dentistry? And do you realize that those two clowns are eyeing each other over a pot full of "meat extract"? These cards are $3.00 apiece, which I consider a low price to pay for the opportunity to raise our eyebrows yet again at those crazy Victorians.

For this week's Collector's Item, let's move on to something saner, like Don Quixote:

We've got a set of four beautiful porcelain tiles showing Don Quixote at his best! My personal favorite is this one, with a windmill ....

I find that frequently, the phrases I use require extensive explanation (for instance, I recently really confused some friends by saying, "Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"). I mention this because there is a wonderful phrase -- "tilting at windmills" -- that means "attacking imaginary enemies". It derives from the Quixote scene above, and even if you have not read the book you can probably figure out what happens in that scene. Ah, Quixote ... you taught us farce. Celebrate Don Quixote with these tiles: $150.00!

Our last non-book objects for today feature one of Doug's Favorite pieces of racial commentary:

We've just gotten in a number of amazing prints, now hanging all about the store in various positions! Doug is particularly in love with a large, broadside-style printing of Gwendolyn Brooks' "We're The Only Colored People Here". Brooks, a Chicagoan through and through, was a well-known African-American poet whose works gained international fame. This piece is an especially touching bit about the way the world was as it was desegregating, and yet its inhabitants were still a bit uncomfortable when they mixed. In the 1930s, Paris-based Black Sun Press issued a series of large poster-type printings of very short fiction -- including a very nice 12" x 15" version of "We're The Only Colored People Here".

The Gwendolyn Brooks is $40.00. The rest of these prints vary in price from $35.00 for a lovely engraving of Marie Louise looking benevolently cross-eyed, to $300.00 for the below print:

Apparently -- at the end of the Civil War -- Jefferson Davis mistakenly threw on his wife's raincoat as they were trying to flee capture by Union soldiers; when caught, he was widely mocked for supposedly "dressing as a woman" in an attempt to escape. Above is just one of the political cartoons that resulted!

I'm inspired by those Victorian cards -- I think I'll go home and find some cats to dye! Never claim that the media doesn't affect your children, gentle readers.

Let's put this inauguration in its historical context!

2009-01-17T15:27:00.002-06:00

Here we have a special edition of the O'Gara and Wilson Store Blog! In honor of Barack Obama's inauguration, we are featuring a collection of items from two previous historical inaugurations -- those in 1941 and 1945, for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. (His first vice president was Henry A. Wallace; his second, Harry Truman.)

We have all kind of materials here, from invitations to inauguration tickets to programs, etc. etc. etc. ....

Here's the 1941 official program for you ....

... and the list of ceremonies, complete with adorable tri-color ribbon!

If you'd attended in 1941, you would have presented this ticket.

There's the back of the ticket.

And if you were lucky, you'd have been invited back in 1945!

There are other things included in this little group, too -- all told, there are nine (count them, 9) pieces of Roosevelt inauguration ephemera. Celebrate inaugural history by purchasing this great collection for $250.00!

Here ends O'Gara and Wilson Special Bulletin for today! I have to venture outside now, but at least it's a whole 20 degrees or so.

Barack Obama, we hardly knew ye!

2009-01-07T18:38:00.004-06:00

Ah, gentle readers ... the travails of living in Barack Obama's neighborhood! Occasionally I must display legal identification to the police in order to reach my home; the excellent local restaurant Medici now requires all its wait staff to wear shirts that say, "Obama eats here". Let's hope Obama rises above the record set by previous Chicago politicians such as Rod Blagojevich. (What's your favorite Blagojevich quote? Mine is, In a Nov. 11 conversation, Blagojevich acknowledged that Obama wanted an unnamed "Senate Candidate 1" for the seat but "they're not willing to give me anything but appreciation. [Expletive] them.")

This week we learn that Blagojevich is in a fine, established legacy of evil. For instance, let's look at this Affordable and Interesting item:

.

This little book-shaped matchbox-holder was used to promote P.J. Carr in his 1926 campaign for Sheriff. "If elected Sheriff," the matchbox-holder promises, "I will make all of the highways of Cook County absolutely safe for every man, woman and child." Highways? What did a 1926 Chicago highway look like, I wonder? Carr is mentioned in a study by Carroll Hill Wooddy, "The Chicago Primary of 1926" (click here to read it on Google Books), which thoroughly explains that he was just another small cog in the corrupt machine we love so well. $12.50 buys you evidence of Chicago's grand old tradition ... and a cool place to keep your matches, to boot!

Our Collector's Item is rather more informative and straightforward than that little matchbox:

This scarce First Edition "history of Chicago crime and politics" was written in 1952, and the Preface notes, "From the 1951 fall election returns, it was evident that everywhere in America the people were revolting against criminal-political alliances. ... Generally overlooked, however, was the fact that these conditions are not of recent development." Now there's a lesson of which we could remind ourselves today. This copy of the book belonged to Raymond J. Hederman (who was once Chief Clerk in the Circuit Court of Cook County), and I wonder if he would agree with my immediate reaction to the title -- "What a funny editorial choice, to separate crime and politics into two different concepts like that!" They do say that power corrupts. Learn how much, for only $70.00!

This week's Favorite goes a bit afield from our subject: it is not specifically related to corruption in Chicago. Still, it does at least have a section on the Chicago World's Fair, and I bet there's lots of information on general wickedness:

"This book aims to present as many opinion poll results as possible, in a convenient and useful form. The material presented has been collected from 23 organizations in 16 countries and covers the period from 1935, when George Gallup and Elmo Roper began publishing results obtained by this sampling method, through 1946." If that sounds large in scope, well, that's because it is. Look at the index section around the Chicago World's Fair:

Chemistry, technical. See Synthetic products.
Chiang Kai-Shek. See Persons.
Chicago -- World's Fair, 1933-34. See Exhibitions.
Chickens. See Poultry.
CHILD LABOR ... page 97; see also Hours of labor, Labor supply, Agricultural, Wages.

I opened to a random page and found sections for Habeas Corpus and Happiness:

Then I opened to another random page and found the Black Market section! I love this bit:

13. (Denmark, Nov. 12 '44.) Have you ever bought anything directly or indirectly from the black market? -- Yes: 10.3%. No: 89.7%.
14. (Denmark, Nov. 12 '44.) Have you any sympathy for any form of black-market transactions? -- Yes: 7.3%. No: 92.7%.

One wonders what that 3% of people thinks of themselves -- you know, the ones who have had black-market transactions but don't sympathize with them. These and many other intriguing questions come up every time I flip through this book, which you -- yes, you -- could own for $60.00. Hours of entertainment, and a remarkable historical snapshot to boot!

As our first Black President, Obama has already shattered one stereotype. I'm rooting for him to break with Chicago's legendary corruption, too! Let's keep history in mind as we watch his presidency. I can't wait to see what happens!

Malfunctions everywhere, nor any drop to drink

2008-12-28T17:04:00.005-06:00

Oh, dear, my dear dear readers.

We officially apologize for not having a blog entry, this past week. Helena, who was due to write it, was delayed in her Chicago visit by three days due to the inconstant weather's effects on air traffic.

I tried to take a picture of a really cool antique book-shaped matchbox cover to show you guys today, just to tide you all over until our next blog entry ... but the store's digital camera refuseth to connect to the computer. Any computer. Reinstallations accomplish naught.

So my dear readers, technical difficulties afflict us to an extent too large for our poor little blog. But we'll be back! Expect us on the next slated blog entry date, which -- since we schedule them every two weeks these days -- shall be the Wednesday after this coming Wednesday.

Take care, all, and happy New Year!

Atoms are our friends; Blagojevich is not. Are P.T. Barnum's sideshows?

2008-12-10T18:56:00.002-06:00

Fun Book Hour with Lydia once again, dear readers. Looks like I'm pretty much back in the saddle for regularly writing the blog; my plans to depart have briefly been derailed. (I can't say I'm too depressed about that, when I work in such a wonderful place as this!) But I have a treat coming up for you in two weeks: our prodigal daughter Helena will write that blog entry! She moved to the West Coast earlier this year, but she'll be back for Christmas, and she contacted us saying that she actually wanted to use part of her holiday break working at the good old bookshop. So she'll be covering the place while many of our employees scatter to the four winds for vacation, and she'll write the next blog entry.

Why Helena would want to return to Chicago, city of vice, for her holiday is her business. Recent events with Governor Blagojevich have hurled Illinois once again to top the list of Dens of Sin. Our history -- partly encapsulated in this week's Favorite -- has always been thus:

"The Light" was apparently a regular magazine that considered itself the "official organ of the American Purity Foundation"; this is the 1911 issue, which had a special feature on vice in Chicago. Specifically, the article is titled "The Social Evil in Chicago", and begins with an amazing rundown of recommendations -- firstly, the appointment of a Morals Commission, and secondly the establishment of a Morals Court. Many proposed ordinances follow! Other articles of note include "The Prevention of Insanity" (including a subheader: "The Relation of Alcohol to Insanity") and "The International Conference Relative to the Repression of the Circulation of Obscene Publications". I wonder if the American Purity Foundation's solutions could be applied today? For $75.00, I suggest that you purchase this fine magazine, study it, and let me know. Maybe together we can prevent another Blagojevich.

Blagojevich is not our friend. But this Affordable and Interesting book can tell us who is:

That's right -- the atom is our friend, and in 1956 Walt Disney produced a book to tell us so! Author Heinz Haber writes at the beginning that although "we all know the story of the military atom, and we all wish that it weren't true," and although "so far, the atom is a superb villain", "it is up to us to give the story a happy ending" -- to "make a hero out of a villain". It's "a story with a straightforward plot and a simple moral"!

This vintage paperback is basically a history of the scientific discovery of the atom, but it's noteworthy both for the chipper "Hey kids, aren't atoms great?!" tone and the fabulous 50s graphics. At $5.00, it makes the perfect gift for anyone interested in both 1950s nostalgia and the history of science. I wonder how common people like that are.

People without arms are not common. And least common of all are people without arms like the one pictured in this Collector's Item:

Ann E. Leak was a remarkable woman: born without arms, she simply learned to do everything with her feet. Really. Everything. Look closely at the (regrettably a little faded) photograph above, then read the back:

"This is a specimen of toe-writing," proclaims the calligraphy. Miss Leak sold these cards while traveling both on her own and as part of P.T. Barnum's circus -- toe-writing all the while! She even published an autobiography, describing good times roaming America and Australia. Interestingly, she believed she was born without arms because her father, an alcoholic, came home from the pub with his coat thrown over his shoulders without his arms in the sleeves, and her mother saw this image while pregnant with Ann (click here). We are selling this photograph of Miss Leak for $250.00, but we certainly have no idea why she was born armless. If you do, please leave a comment!

Hyde Park is probably quite charming over Christmas, but I won't know because I'll be away. Welcome Helena next week, gentle readers, and I'll see you in January!

Help us be eco-friendly! And read about charming popup books!

2008-12-07T15:05:00.002-06:00

First things first. By our reader Harry I have been notified of this amazing online exhibit on the history of popup books (click here). By visiting that site, you can learn all about the long history of popup books (dating back to the 1200s!), and look at wonderful pictures of these charming works, which can be amazing feats of papery engineering when they try!

Also, gentle readers: do you shop at local grocery store Treasure Island? If so, you may have noticed that they use very good-quality plastic bags. Here at O'Gara and Wilson, we must buy quite thick plastic bags, because books are heavy and require good bagging. But because Treasure Island uses such sturdy bags, we are initiating a new program: We will re-use your Treasure Island bags if you donate them to us!

So, please help us help the environment by giving us your old Treasure Island bags!

In which we finally find out: "Why World's Fairs?"

2008-11-26T17:03:00.003-06:00

Is it two weeks later already? So it seems, gentle readers -- and here is Lydia, back again! I don't watch much TV, but I'm suddenly picturing the introductory bit to a potential TV show: "Fun Book Hour With O'Gara and Wilson". It could feature shots of the bookstore with happy children dancing around our stuffed buffalo head, and then pull in to me sitting very sternly in a red leather chair, with some kind of pet at my feet and an elegant stack of books beside. I'd look over my glasses at the viewer and say, "This week, on Fun Book Hour ..."

Our first Fun Books should thrill many Collectors:

John Lange, you say? Who is John Lange and why do I care? Perhaps you recognize this author's real name better: Michael Crichton, who died recently at the age of 66. Crichton is most famous for science fiction thriller classics like The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, but he wrote his first books as John Lange. In fact, his very first book ever was Odds On (1966), and here we have the first printing of the first edition! You could purchase that for $200.00, or perhaps you could go for the cheaper first edition of Easy Go -- a slightly later "Lange" book for which we're charging $75.00. I can't quite decide which of these two lurid paperbacks makes me happier, but I think that if I were buying one, I'd pick Easy Go entirely because of the cover blurb: "Rob the tomb, hijack the harem -- five master criminals plot history's hottest heist on the banks of the Nile!" (I'd tell you all about the descriptions on the backs of these books, but they are just too scandalous. It's worth your time to come into the store and read them, I assure you -- they're quite funny!)

Now for our Affordable and Interesting Fun Book!

Around Chicago, we have a great deal of evidence of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition -- indeed, we have written about it here on this blog any number of times! I spend an unreasonable amount of time passing the Exposition's leftover buildings during my daily meanderings, and frequently I find myself amazed at the colossal amount of resources that went into that brief festival. I also find myself wondering why in the world such exhibitions were considered worth it -- for there were many of them, not just Chicago's! In fact, I was recently stunned to realize that World's Fairs are still going on (click here for Wikipedia's list of them, or try clicking here to look at the online Museum of World's Fairs).

As it happens, this question is the subject of this very book: The Story of Exhibitions. It's a hilariously pompous 1951 examination of World's Fairs through the ages, seeking to "capture for the general reader something of the romance of exhibitions, which are among the most remakable social phenomena of our times". My favorite line is from the introduction, "Why Exhibitions?": "The first [reason] is, quite simply, the desire to 'show off'." $15.00 will purchase this trenchant observation as well as quite a lot of history and photos of past expositions!

This week's Favorite is more a Fun Chapbook than a Fun Book:

Frans Masereel was a remarkable woodcut artist of the early 1900s. He's best known today for his novels without words, in which he would take evocative titles like The Passion of Man and tell a story without text -- entirely through woodcuts. This little chapbook is a scarce title on Masereel's life and work, with a ten-page written introduction followed by a number of Masereel images:

.

Masereel is sometimes described as "expressionist", and I would have to agree. His images are so powerful and arresting! This would make a really cool gift for any designer or comic artist -- get your arty kid's Christmas gift here, only $25.00!

Man, I never know how to end these blog entries. On the TV show it would probably be even worse -- or maybe there'd be a song that played at the end, or a routine I went through: another kids-around-the-buffalo dance? That would make it easier. I will, gentle readers, think on it. Feel free to comment if you have any ideas!

Social engagements of ages past!

2008-11-12T16:21:00.005-06:00

Hello again, gentle readers! It is I, Lydia, who created this blog. I am something of a freelancer about the bookstore these days, and this week I have decided to be a guest star on ye olde O'Gara and Wilson Blog. What does it mean to be a guest star in an institution that I created? There's an odd philosophical question.

You know who liked philosophical questions? Ben Franklin, as featured in this Affordable and Interesting tome.

We all know who Benjamin Franklin was. Even beyond his contributions to the founding of the United States, he was remarkable -- a scientist, a man of the arts, in all ways an accomplished gentleman. As it happens, he was also famous for his ... ahem ... lady friends. Franklin spent eight years in Paris, during which time he won French support for our fledgling nation, and also cut quite a swath through the elegant Parisian ladies he met. This $12.50 book describes Parisian culture from 1777-1785, when Franklin was there, and gives the story of the time he spent discussing ideas; making diplomatic overtures; and most importantly, charming women.

From this week's Favorite we learn that if Ben Franklin had been a student in the 50s, he would have been featured on many girls' dance cards.

Here we have a bunch of social materials from the mid-1950s at the Dunbar Trade School! There are some run-of-the-mill things like ID cards and Dunbar Trade buttons, but there's also great stuff like a "High School Daze Memory Book". It's blank; it seems that no one wrote their memories in it, but that does mean you could give it to your favorite high school student for their own records.

Perhaps you prefer the invitations to Masquerade Balls and New Years Balls hosted by the Gay Eights Social Club -- not to mention the invitation to the annual Hippity Hop hosted by the King of Clubs. (I wonder if the Gay Eights and the King of Clubs were rival organizations?) Me, I particularly enjoy these little Prom booklets:

The booklets contain the lists of Prom Queens and Kings, plus their royal retinues. They contain hilarious Mad Libs about Prom Night (again, blank -- you could fill them out yourself!). And they have dance cards! One of the dance cards is blank, but the other has one name scrawled in pencil across every song's field. ... Dear God! In an incredible moment of synchronicity, I just realized that name is: Robert W. Franklin! Gentle readers, I couldn't make these things up. Do you think he's a descendant of the aforementioned Franklin?! For $50.00, you not only acquire this entire trove of 1950s nostalgia, but the evidence of a ridiculous coincidence.

Which brings me to the coincidence I discovered in this Collector's Item.

Here we have a genuine Victorian photo album, complete with red velvet cover and brass clasp. Below, we have photographed it with another Victorian photo album that we are also currently selling:

The pictures within these albums are mostly the expected Victorian familial photos, featuring severe expressions and elaborate formal clothing. The occasional antique photographer's card is in here as well. But what really excited me was the folded letter I found in that red velvet album, listing the participants in a hair wreath! Many Victorians, being of a fascinatingly macabre bent, would weave flowers and wreaths from the hair of people they knew (find out more by clicking here). So this handwritten page starts with, "Miss Alma L. Denny's hair wreath made, June 19, 1875. A List of the names of the persons that have hair in this wreath." Each person's name is then followed by a description: "my Sister," "my seckond cousin", "a nabor", "a nabor a true friend". (We cannot be held responsible for this person's spelling and grammar.)

The reason this is a startling coincidence is that we ourselves, this very bookstore, sold an antique Victorian hair wreath some months ago (it was even featured on our blog at the time!). I find myself wondering if it's the same hair wreath. Not that it matters overmuch, since our wreath is long sold to a happy customer, but $150.00 buys the red velvet album ... and the mysterious letter as well!

That's a wrap, gentle readers. It was nice to visit. I understand that Alan is updating once every two weeks these days, so I guess you'll hear from him in a couple weeks. Or perhaps I'll return myself. You shan't know what to expect ... and in the meantime, take care!

The Haunted Bookshop

2008-10-29T15:09:00.004-05:00

Dear Blog Readers,

With trembling fingers I type these words, a vain attempt at leaving some record of what has transpired in the last hour. The bookstore has become a terrifying prison, and all signs indicate escape is impossible -- for I have become my own incarcerator! What did I do? What law did I break, what suffering did I cause, that I should be forced to live such monstrous events, descend into what can only be madness, and live out my final moments writing words that won’t be read – a letter from the very depths of Hell itself.

This morning nothing seemed out of the ordinary, and, like any reasonable person, I would have scoffed to hear but half the things that this letter will have you believe. At 10:00, as usual, I removed the sturdy padlock on the steel security gate that protects O’Gara and Wilson from after-hours undesirables. How was I to know that the least desirable things can slip between bars and under doors, hide between books and even in dark crevices of your own brain! Like the coin of Janus, I weep and laugh at this tragic irony, and so, perhaps, will you. For today was the day for blog-writing, and I was particularly excited to write something frightening, in anticipation of Halloween. (One can only suppose that the persistence of this gruesome pagan holiday, a ghastly carnival, with ritual indulgence of appetite, deception and disguise, the corruption of youth and inculcation of spirit-fears, can only be accounted for by supposing that the otherworldly denizens to whom it does homage must really exist. And indeed, dear Lord forgive me, they do, and are far beyond the pen of Dante himself to describe, or Duhrer to depict.)

After setting down my bag, and, in cruel anticipation of things to come, procuring a two volume set of Greek tragedies for later purchase, I began the serious work of coming up with a topic for the blog. Supernatural or horror – well, certainly, but what books did we have, amenable to being weaved into a coherent narrative? It was deathly cold as I wandered the aisles looking for inspiration, and I took this to mean that our broken furnace still hadn’t been fixed. Had I known then what I do know, ah! That feeble hypothesis would have trembled at the truth, at the yet-concealed evil spirit sucking the life-force out of the very air, quivering with desire to feed on my soul. Perhaps my subconscious sensed it when I decided on the first blog book. This week’s Affordable and Interesting: a terrifying illustrated version of Dracula ($7.50).

. .

As I thumbed approvingly through its pages, pausing longer at the darkest, most evil drawings, a tremendous crash rang out behind me. I turned immediately to check on the situation at the front of the store. Though I was undeniably alone, the collection of Egyptian metal plates was scattered everywhere, and the largest piece, a bronze table-top, had landed in middle of the display window, crushing a number of books and knocking others over. This shocking discovery occupied my immediate attention for quite some time, and so it was only later, as I tried to clean things up and sort out a reasonable explanation, that I noticed the windows were completely dark. I couldn’t see outside. Even the glass in the door was dark, but I could dimly make out the shadow of the steel security gate, which had somehow been pulled shut and secured with the padlock. I called out a number of times, but no one answered. Calm down, Alan, I told myself over and over again. Just calm down, think rationally about all the evidence. But calming down was extremely difficult, especially when the books began to fall off the shelves. First two or three in philosophy, then an artbook, then something from political science in the back. Suddenly there were hundreds flying through the air, some very near my head, like horrible leather-winged bats. I received several serious paper-cuts on my face, and dropped down huddled on the floor, with my hands behind my head to protect my neck from the sharp hardback corners. Only moments later the lights snapped off, and everything went silent and still. At this point I am entirely crippled with fear, begging for mercy from some power that had obviously decided to ignore me completely. A dim light showed from the first aisle, where we keep the occult books. Like a madman compelled by some force he doesn’t understand, I moved slowly towards the glow, which seemed to be coming from behind the books themselves. Upon close inspection I realized the light was coming from the books themselves! Three, to be exact, and with a stroke of irony let me make them this week’s Collectible, though woe betide their future collector! The paper spine label reads “The Proceedings of the ASPR”.

.

I began reading a volume at random, which according to the note in the back was unavailable at any other bookstore.

Quickly I found that ASPR stands for the American Society for Psychical Research, and this particular volume concerned their research into something called the Margery Mediumship. You can imagine my horror when a high, thin voice began to wail softly, ‘Margery. Margery dear, is that you?’ I wheeled around -- nothing. ‘Now turn off the lights, Margery, there’s a good girl. You know how I don’t like the lights Margery, I really don’t like them.’ The voice sounded unhappy, and I dropped the glowing book on the floor, backing slowly away. ‘Margery. Turn it off, Margery, turn it off, off, off!!! It’s killing me Margery, do you want me to die, Margery, because I know you don’t want to die, turn it off, off, off!’ The book became blindingly bright, and I must admit that I passed out from fear. When I awoke, the books were still strewn about the store, but the lights were on. The secondary store computer was also on, though I hadn’t touched it yet, and a CD was playing old blues music. Slowly I stood up and began walking to the front of the store. After only a few steps my right foot slipped out from under me, and I fell, scraping my head badly on an old vintage typewriter behind me. At my feet was a pool of blood, far more than could possibly have come from my injury. A drop fell in the pool. Then another. I looked up, and saw a thin red stream oozing out of the heating vent.

Bang! Bang! Bang! The vent shuddered three times. ‘Mother,’ called a voice. ‘Mother, are you still there?’ The banging again. ‘Help me, please,’ said the voice. ‘Someone please help me.” And still again the banging! Numbly, I went to get one of the tall, rickety wooden ladders for accessing higher shelves. My mind was concocting all sorts of ridiculous stories: perhaps a young girl was stuck in the vent by her mother. That would explain things, I thought. She needs to be rescued. Sure, just rescue the girl, it's probably Margery. How was I to know that I was the one who needed rescuing!? I climbed the ladder, and the banging ceased. ‘Mother?’ ‘MOTHER!’ The voice went from feminine whisper to guttural snarl, and from the vent burst the cause of my eventual madness, the beast of darkness behind the blood and voices. The only way to save me from it, I fear, is by reading this week’s Favorite, the unnassuming sllsk red;las nl;aksh;ll;lk

_____________________

Sarah discovered Alan dead, slumped at the computer, when she came in for work at three. No signs of violence or struggle, and no customers in the store. Nothing had happened to the books or the window display, and the four volumes mentioned in his blog were found piled neatly on the front desk. Next to them was the padlock. There was, unfortunately, no sign of this week’s Favorite, though customers are welcome to search for it. The photos were added later, in homage to Alan’s first two selections. Happy Halloween.

Elect O'Gara and Wilson! We Exist!

2008-10-08T15:28:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers,

After the slew of e-mail responses (no, really, 1 comment definitely counts as a ‘slew’) I’m changing the topic of conversation to something a little more controversial: politics. Fear not – this blog takes no sides. Or rather, I’m so amused by the ridiculous rhetoric of our candidates and this media circus of an election, that there’s really no time to take sides. Let’s start with the fact that these guys both sound like robots – boring, boring robots programmed to be as inoffensive as possible. See, there’s no real way to be sure what either candidate actually thinks – they’re both paralyzed by the desire to get elected, which restricts them to platitudes, tautologies, and catch phrases. These, of course, are decided upon by handlers, advisors, and strategists, a horde of game-players that use each candidate as a loudspeaker for their calculated nonsense.

Let’s take a great platitude: “Absolutely, I believe in America.” My goodness! Do you really? What exactly would it mean to not believe in America? America is not Bigfoot, or a fairy, last I checked. The tautologies are slightly longer, disguised by length to mask their utter meaninglessness: “Certainly, the economy falls and rises, but American workers continue working, and markets will be controlled by factors that we are responsible for. As Americans, and as people, we participate in this country, and as president I’ll work for the country, to make sure that justice is justice.” How illuminating! I was under the impression that the economy only rose, Americans were not by definition people, and the president worked for General Electric.

And don’t even get me started on the catch phrases! Holy-moly, if I hear Obama mention McCain’s statement about the “fundamentals of the economy,” or McCain bring up “earmarks,” I’m going to, well, actually, I’m going to do what we should all do. Head down to O’Gara and Wilson, where numerous books can help you free yourself from the haze that inevitably envelops all who pay attention to political discourse.

Take the economy, for example. If Nobel Prize winning economists disagree about what’s going on and how to address, why do we listen to the same tired lines from these Senators who are drastically unqualified to explain such issues? Truth is, no one really knows what’s going on. And that’s why I recommend this week’s Favorite, The Folklore of Capitalism, written by Thurman W. Arnold in 1937.

Arnold was a trust-busting lawyer who also fought for taxation by private organization. But it’s his phenomenal sense of humor and disdain for empty discourse that blows me away. Take the subheading of Chapter Three, “in which it is explained how the great sciences of law and economics and the little imaginary people (!!) who are supposed to be guided by these sciences affect the daily lives of those who make, distribute, and consume our goods.” (My italics and exclamation points of joy.) Or this eerily relevant heading on corporations: “In which is explained the doctrine of vicarious atonement through which the debts of an industrial corporation are forgiven.” Best of all, check out his analysis of the word ‘justice’: “Since justice is a nice word, we refuse to apply it to people who are struggling for things we do not like. The pacifist will refuse to admit that any war can be a war for justice. The born fighter will say that men who refuse to fight for justice do not really care for justice at all… these arguments never get anywhere in persuading the other side. However, they perform a real function in bolstering up the morale of the side on which they are used. The trick is to find a pair of polar words, in which the nice word justifies your own position and the bad word is applied to the other fellow.” Thurman W. Arnold for president, I say! Vote Arnold! $7.50 for this vintage book chosen by H.L. Mencken as one of the three best books he read in 1936.

Hopefully all this has started you thinking about elections in general. Perhaps the last “wartime” election, or current candidates constant references to the war on terror have you bristling at the way politicians use fear and national turmoil to further their own political ends. Rest assured, little has changed. In this weeks Affordable and Interesting selection, John C. Waugh narrates the greatest wartime election of all in 1864.

Reelecting Lincoln: The Battle For the 1864 Presidency is filled with illuminating anecdotes and quotes. Take this effort at bipartisan dialogue: “Now that the election is over, may not all, having a common interest, re-unite in a common effort, to save our common country? For my own part I have striven, and shall strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man’s bosom…May I ask those who have not differed with me, to join with me, in this same spirit towards those who have?” Nice, Abe. You decide the proportions, dear blog reader: tautologies ( %), platitudes ( %), catch-phrases ( %). Not much has changed, it seems, except Lincoln did it all a good bit more eloquently. For a mere $4.50, you can check it out yourself.

So let’s go back even further. This week’s Collectible is a leather bound Easton Press edition of The Prince, by Machiavelli.

Leather bound, silk page marker, and gilt decorations, all for $35. Let’s see what he has to say about how princes (and presidents) should conduct themselves: “Every one understands how praiseworthy it is in a Prince to keep faith, and to live uprightly and not craftily. Nevertheless, we see from what has taken place in our own days that Princes who have set little store by their word, but have known how to overreach men by their cunning, have accomplished great things, and in the end got the better of those who trusted to honest dealing. Be it known, then, that there are two ways of contending, one in accordance with the laws, the other by force; the first of which is proper to men, the second to beasts. But since the first method is often ineffectual, it becomes necessary to resort to the second.”

Looks like politicians may have been doing their reading after all. From O’Gara and Wilson, this is Alan, over and out.

The Survival of Used Bookstores, A Digression

2008-09-25T12:55:00.005-05:00

Dear Readers,

Many of you have been to our store before. No doubt you are acquainted with the monk who sits serenely at the rear, and the ill-fated buffalo whose head hangs just above the beginning of American History (no coincidence, that). What, one might ask, do these two members of O'Gara and Wilson have in common with Douglas Wilson, owner of this venerable institution? What spiritual kinship inspired him to recruit such unusual allies in the bookselling battle?

Let me put your curiosity to rest. The Scriptorium monk represents care for the printed page, a connection with times long past, when an author's text required the hand of a craftsman for its completion. In the mid-1800's book-binding machines began to catch on, slowly reducing the concept of "book" to nothing more than an efficient means for distributing ideas. Mr. Wilson and Jerome, as he is fondly called, still cherish the idea of book as artifact, something the significance of which depends not merely on the meaning of the words within, but is continually shaped by all those who share in its history, from the author to the customers that frequent second hand bookshops.

And the buffalo? Both he and Mr. Wilson represent what biologists refer to as a “keystone species.” A keystone species has a disproportionately important effect on its surroundings. Though its presence may be small in terms of population, the existence of a keystone species is crucial for sustaining diversity of life in its environment. When such a species goes extinct, the ecosystem that it supports falls apart, like a bridge whose keystone has been removed. Mr. Wilson and the store he runs are a powerful if subtle force, shaping the Hyde Park community and consequently the world. Luminaries like author Saul Bellow and theologian David Tracy have found fuel for their intellectual furnaces here, at this well-stocked woodpile of ideas, whose logs are daily gathered, bundled, and delivered by the bibliotaph (one who caches or hoards books) of whom we speak. Not to mention the many others who pass through our doors, hoping to stumble upon some synchronicity that radically changes their perspective. One can only imagine what would happen to the diversity of life and thought in Hyde Park if O’Gara and Wilson were to be replaced by, say, another Borders.

And that brings me to the most important part of this blog, namely the crucial difference between Mr. Wilson and these two fixtures of his bookstore. Not only is he still alive, but Mr. Wilson plans on continuing to thrive. He will not bow to the cultural forces that escorted monastic scribes and majestic herds to their respective graves. This keystone species, at least, is fighting and winning. The used bookstore’s struggle to survive can take many forms. Mr. Wilson is unique in that he employs a three-pronged approach. In fact, he himself has suggested the metaphor of a three-legged stool. This term was supposedly coined by Oxford scholar Rev. Richard Hooker, in reference to the Anglican church (sorry, Jerome) and the three legs that support it: scripture, reason, and tradition. Our elements are humbler, but no less important to stability. They are high-end auctions (Collectible), in-store sales (Favorite), and the internet (Affordable and Interesting).

Most people don’t know it, but much of the bookstore’s revenue comes from consigning very collectible books and items to auction houses. These venues have an international audience, ranging from university libraries to enormously wealthy private collectors. Here are some examples:

http://www.swanngalleries.com/index.cgi

http://www.bonhams.com/

While your average walk-in customer may not have the necessary liquidity to purchase Shakespeare’s hand-written first draft of Romeo and Juliet (originally entitled Romeo and Bernice, it appears), auction houses allow Mr. Wilson to distribute such items through the proper channels.

But whence these auction-worthy artifacts? Is Mr. Wilson some sort of latter-day treasure hunter, digging under every Hyde Park oak until he discovers the secret stash of an eccentric Shakespeare scholar? Do kind souls simply drop box upon box of their Loeb classics on our doorstep? Nuh-uh. Aquiring a truly magical used bookstore inventory is a simple function of customer relations and rapport with fate.

Let me explain. Quite often it is long-time bookstore patrons who provide us with our wares. We have seen books come back through that were once sold by Mr. O’Gara over thirty years ago. Without long-term customer relationships our store would be dead in the water, not only because no one would sell us any books, but also because many people wouldn’t have cool books to sell. Just as often, though, sheer chance seems to bless Mr. Wilson with extraordinary caches of books and objects, although when something chancy occurs on a regular basis it’s usually due to something. But how do you explain this –

.

a German hand-grenade storage box, converted by an army chaplain into a container for bibles and altar cloths. Talk about swords to plowshares – and a serious instance of the book as a historical artifact. Good luck finding another one of those, or any of the other strange confluences of events that can be found and purchased at O'Gara and Wilson…
Unfortunately, the gusts of modernity will overturn any two-legged stool. Science and technology vigorously trumpet the demise of feeble furniture: “Physically impossible!” they cry, or “I can buy a three-legged stool for less online!” until the vast majority of two-legged-stool-used-bookstore-hybrids are chopped into metaphorical kindling, to be sold somewhere else, or failing that, to be unceremoniously dumped in the dustbin of history. We have not remained in the Luddite past of unscientific bookstore cavern-people. Like some nuclear accident that results in a positive mutation, we evolved a third leg. The internet.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/ListingBrowse?vendorclientid=78077

That links to our online inventory. You may have thought the appearance of these funny stickers around the store had a deep meaning –

-- discounts, perhaps, or a pox with a tendency to infect more expensive academic texts. Not so. These are the brands of the internet, bright marks of our submission to a new order. Orange dot: book might go online. Green dot: book is online. Some days we sell more books online than we do in the store. Much clerk time goes into putting books online, or searching the internet for prices so we can be the best deal in town (that is generally how we price our books, in line with the lowest online prices). There is a new competitive force; the open market of the internet has changed the face of bookselling. Now a beautiful art book might be worthless because so many were printed, but an expensive Russian calculus book might be salable to a client overseas. There are drawbacks to the internet, but for a store like ours there are also advantages, provided we are ready to use them. Right now, in fact, you are helping us with another aspect of the mutant technological third leg, just by reading this blog. Go on, write in! Let us know you made it this far through the blog! Let us know you’re out there! Come into the store, and say – the blog technology brought me here!

Uh-oh. Things are getting a little out of hand. I think we covered everything we set out to cover – from O’Gara and Wilson, this is cyber-Alan, wishing you a three-legged future with Jerome.

To picture or not to picture...

2008-09-17T18:25:00.004-05:00

Dear Readers,

The focus of our current blog is a topic close to my heart – the illustrated book. There is no question, of course, that certain types of books benefit from illustrations. One shudders at the thought of a cookbook entirely bereft of pictures, and an art-book without some reproductions of the works it treats seems, at least to me, entirely pointless. But the relative value of illustrating fiction is not so easily decided. Tolkien himself, in his essay “On Fairy-Stories” complains that illustrating such tales deprives children of the opportunity to imagine things for themselves. This, of course, from an author who illustrated the Hobbit himself. While Tolkien doesn’t count the Hobbit as a fairy-story, it seems plausible to extend his argument to all illustrated fiction. Somehow, the act of reading is essentially an imaginative one, and illustrations restrict the reader’s freedom, imposing particular images onto the blank canvas of the text.

I’ve heard people make similar claims about movies – Christopher Tolkien wanted nothing to do with the film adaptations of the Lord of the Rings, saying they were peculiarly unsuited to film, and his father has been quoted as hating all things Hollywood. After watching the cinematic form decimate favorites like The Phantom Tollbooth and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, some might be inclined to agree. But the issue is more complicated than that. Certain books might be bad material for film adaptation. Others, like Gone with the Wind, Pride and Prejudice, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, do quite well, in my opinion. There is, I think, no standard rule to be applied in this case. Plays, needless to say, are actually meant to be performed – with Shakespeare or Beckett we should have no compunctions about restricting the reader’s imagination with a movie or performance, since the reader is actually meant to be a spectator. A book that has been singled out as impossible for adaptation (Sterne’s Tristram Shandy, for instance), is simply waiting for a talented film-maker to rebut the claim.

So when should something be illustrated, and when should things be left to the reader’s imagination? Do the same rules apply – can a good illustrator always rebut the claim that a book ought not be illustrated? Perhaps. But maybe a different place to start is the general consensus on which audience benefits most from illustrated books. The answer is easy: children. Modern novels tend not to be illustrated – children’s books almost always are. Indeed, the amount of illustration in a book is inversely proportional to the target age group. (Imagine Dr. Seuss without illustrations!!)

At first this trend might appear intuitive. Kids like pictures. They need them to supplement necessarily sparse narratives, and peak their curiosity. Or do they? “When we are very young children we do not need fairy tales: we only need tales. Mere life is interesting enough. A child of seven is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door and saw a dragon. But a child of three is excited by being told that Tommy opened a door. In fact, a baby is about the only person, I should think, to whom a modern realistic novel could be read without boring him.” G.K. Chesterton makes a wonderful point. Children have vibrant imaginations, lacking in most adults, it seems. Not only that, but our modern attention span has dwindled to a pathetic shell of itself – just look at the length of camera shots in recent movies compared with those of a couple decades past. One could make the case that it is adults who need illustrations to help them imagine things more vividly, especially given the rather dry content and increasing length of the reading material they tend to choose.

You may, at this point, be starting to lose patience. It is my hope, in fact, that you are thinking, “All right, all right, enough already. Where are the pictures of the books? That’s why I read this blog.” Because if you are, it would make my argument that much more compelling. The interest of this blog lies in part with the inclusion of pictures, which spruce up the otherwise dreary procession of letters that currently clog your screen. So without anymore boring, intellectual, adult-oriented prose, I offer three books for your consideration. All are illustrated, and they cover a wide enough variety of target audiences for any interested blog readers to come in and settle this question for themselves.

Collectible

. .

Book: East of the Sun West of the Moon. $200. Target audience: Children (and wealthy adults). Illustrator: Kay Nielsen. One of three greats from the golden age of book design and illustration (Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac are the other two). He is my favorite of the three, due to his pronounced Asian influence and particular skill with line drawings. This book of Norse fairy tales showcases, I think, his best work. Absolutely wonderful example of the lavish gift books produced during the first half of the 20^th century.

Favorite

Book: The Iliad. $30.00. Target audience: Adults (and unusually precocious children). Illustrator: Leonard Baskin. Baskin was close to Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, among other luminary literary figures. He sculpts and illustrates, and his influence can be seen in modern illustrators like Ralph Steadman. Particularly good at portraits, Baskin’s interpretations are often dark and disturbing. I absolutely love this guy – and I’ll be honest, I need his help to get through Homer. Among Baskin’s greatest works is an edition of Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” which leads nicely into the final item.

Affordable and Interesting

Book: Gulliver’s Travels. $7.50. Target audience: Adults? Children? Illustrator: Luis Quintanilla. Manifestly a book for adults, the fantastical elements of Swift’s “frank and vitriolic satire” (from the dust jacket) are now popularly targeted at children (in abridged editions, a topic for another blog…). Almost every page of this edition is profusely illustrated with Quintanilla’s hilarious black and white prints. A stunning example of graphic art, at a remarkably affordable price.

There you have them. Say whatever you like about the relative merits of book illustration, but make sure your opinion is educated, preferably through a visit to our store.

From O’Gara and Wilson, this is Alan, over and out.

2008-09-10T16:14:00.002-05:00

Dear Readers,

Part 1: Collectible

“The history of mankind, as a history of the human spirit, may be thought of as consisting of two elements: an escape from this world to another; and a return to it. Chronologically speaking, these two movements, the rise and fall, represent the whole of human history; and the two take place microcosmically many times in peoples and nations…

The nature of haiku cannot be rightly understood until it is realized that they imply a revolution of our everyday life and ways of thinking.

…Haiku record what Wordsworth calls those ‘spots of time,’ those moments which for some quire mysterious reason have a peculiar significance. There is a unique quality about the poet’s state of feeling on these occasions; it may be very deep, it may be rather shallow, but there is a ‘something’ about the external things, a ‘something’ about the inner mind which is unmistakable. Where haiku poets excel all others is in recognizing this ‘something’ in the most unlikely places and at the most unexpected times.”

-- R.H. Blyth (selections from the prefaces)

Flying in by the bamboo-blind,

The swallow is tame

With the beautiful girl.

-- Ransetsu

The kingfisher;

In the clear water of the pond,

Fishes are deep.

--Shiki

In the spring breeze

The snowy heron flies white

Among the pine-trees.

--Basho

Haiku, 4 volume set of first printings, $200.

Part 2: Favorite

Among twenty snowy mountains,

The only moving thing

Was the eye of the blackbird.

I was of three minds,

Like a tree

In which there are three blackbirds.

III

The blackbird whirled in the autumn winds.

It was a small part of the pantomime.

A man and a woman

Are one.

A man and a woman and a blackbird

Are one.

I do not know which to prefer,

The beauty of inflections

Or the beauty of innuendoes,

The blackbird whistling

Or just after.

Icicles filled the long window

With barbaric glass.

The shadow of the blackbird

Crossed it, to and fro.

The mood

Traced in the shadow

An indecipherable cause.

VII

O thin men of Haddam,

Why do you imagine golden birds?

Do you not see how the blackbird

Walks around the feet

Of the women about you?

VIII

I know noble accents

And lucid, inescapable rhythms;

But I know, too,

That the blackbird is involved

In what I know.

When the blackbird flew out of sight,

It marked the edge

Of one of many circles.

At the sight of blackbirds

Flying in a green light,

Even the bawds of euphony

Would cry out sharply.

He rode over Connecticut

In a glass coach.

Once, a fear pierced him,

In that he mistook

The shadow of his equipage

For blackbirds.

XII

The river is moving.

The blackbird must be flying.

XIII

It was evening all afternoon.

It was snowing

And it was going to snow.

The blackbird sat

In the cedar-limbs.

--Wallace Stevens

The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, 1982 printing, $7.50

Part 3: Affordable and Interesting

Sections on rhythm, and rhyme, and the music of words. Each poem with a sentence to inspire thought about poetic technique.

The Poet’s Craft: Selected Verses, Daringer and Eaton 1935, $10.50

2008-08-27T13:05:00.001-05:00

Dear Readers,

I sincerely hope the whirlwind of changing blog authors and new employees has not been too dizzying. That said, I must introduce yet another member of our staff. His name is Jerome.

As you have no doubt guessed, Jerome is a monk. He can be seen in this photograph working hard on the ledgers, meticulously copying columns of records in order to... Hold on a moment. I hear a faint voice calling from the back of the store.

Sorry about that. Jerome has informed me that he tires of his mindless drudgery, hour upon hour of the same boring tasks that occupied him at the old Scriptorium. I offered to let him write this week's blog, and he seemed greatly cheered by the prospect. My apologies if the writing is dry or the topic dull. Without further ado...

Dull? Dry? He's got some nerve, that Alan, implying we monks sit around all day discussing how many angels can fit on the head of a pin, or debating the intricacies of Trinitarian doctrine. I'll give you readers a, what do you call it, an Internet Grog, I think Alan said, that's both educational and stimulating.

In fact, speaking of grog, you should know that many monks like myself specialized (and still specialize) in the brewing of beer. We've been a fun-loving bunch for ages. Hopped barley beer first appeared in the charter of a Benedictine abbey in 768. Water was often contaminated, and beer provided a safe alternative beverage, since boiling is a step in the brewing process. The quality of this fine product improved generation after generation, and eventually brought fame to monastaries. Over 500 monastic breweries existed by the year 1000, producing beer both for sale and consumption by their members (a slightly weaker version was even developed for nuns). Of course, some stick-in-the-mud monks have tried to curb this habit -- pun observed but unintended. In 1664, the Abbot of La Trappe felt things were getting a little too liberal, and passed the Strict Observance, permitting only water to be drunk at the monastery. Needless to say, righteous monks like myself were loath to comply, and I have it on good authority that many disobeyed the regulations and continued to brew tasty beer in secret. This is no longer necessary, thank goodness, as the rules have been relaxed considerably since then.

Ironically, monastic beers experienced an explosion in popularity and quality during the 1920's and 30's, precisely when this nation enacted its own Strict Observance. Of course, if monks were unable to desist from beer making and drinking, Americans were even less likely to do so. Alcohol thrived during Prohibition, and the main character in this week's Collectible was accused of making his fortune in bootlegging.

Jay Gatsby -- monk at heart? Alan has been reading over my shoulder, and insists I mention the fact that this is a first edition of The Great Gatsby. Of course, at the Scriptorium, all editions were first editions, since they were copied by hand, but that's another matter. So there you have it, a first edition of the Great Gatsby, excellent reading for those who are interested in life during America's time of Strict Observance. Needless to say, F. Scott Fitzgerald did not observe strictly. He was a heavy drinker, and it interfered severely with his writing later in life. In fact, if you look closely at the photograph below, you might see a slight shakiness in his signature.

Yes, that is F. Scott Fitzgerald's signature, in a copy of his Flappers and Philosophers. These two books are priced at $1950 and $6500 respectively. Drink some good Trappist ale and perhaps you'll be less reticent to make the purchase.

If your tastes run more towards beer than literature, as mine do, you will probably be tempted by the Affordable and Interesting items this week.

Practical Points for Brewers was published in 1933, the year that Prohibition ended. Along with this fine volume there are scores of advertisements, pamphlets, beer-brewing manuals, and other printed material of related interest available for purchase. Prices range from $5 for one page ads to $75 for the scarcer books. They provide a wonderful window into the world of early 20^th century American beer and alcohol. Personally, however, I wouldn't use the reference materials to actually brew beer -- I borrowed one of the volumes, followed the instructions rigorously, and came up with some pig-swill that I wouldn't wish on the man behind the Strict Ordinance. A friend of mine said it tasted a good deal like Miller High Life, which makes sense -- in 1933, Miller dispatched a case of said beer to President Roosevelt, celebrating the repeal of the 18^th Amendment. Knowing this makes me feel better, since it means the poor quality was the fault of the method, not the brewer. Alan is again reading over my shoulder, and wants me to add that the thoughts and opinions expressed in this grog (sorry, blog, I'll get it straight from now on, thanks Alan) belong solely to the author. Alan himself is a fan of Miller High Life.

With all this talk of alcohol, and the mention of Mr. Fitzgerald, it is fitting to mention one of the most eloquent testaments to the beauty of drinking, though The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam concerns wine, not beer.

Translated by Edward Fitzgerald, the poem beautifully twines drinking and living: "So when that Angel of the darker Drink / At last shall find you by the river-brink, / And offering his Cup, invite your Soul / Forth to your Lips to quaff -- you shall not shrink." I shall not shrink, thank you very much. This particular edition, and the Favorite of the week, combines my greatest loves -- good drinking, divinity, and quality bookmaking. Peter Pauper Press produces quality, affordable books ($6.00 for the one pictured here). Interestingly, despite his fame as a translator of this poem, Edward Fitzgerald did not resemble the later F. Scott in his actual drinking habits -- in fact, he was a vegetarian who destested vegetables, and subsisted entirely on a diet of bread, fruit, and tea. Perhaps he didn't pay close enough attention to the meaning of what he was translating -- a mistake often made by scholars.

Well, that brings me to close of this week's blog. Now it is up to Alan to type it up -- any spelling errors are his fault, not mine (just check the original manuscript if you happen to drop by). From O'Gara and Wilson, this is Jerome, over and out.

Up Front and Personnel

2008-08-20T17:31:00.006-05:00

Dear Readers,

Allow me to introduce a blog entry concerned with introductions. Recently, new forces have been introduced at O’Gara and Wilson, forces that are redefining the store from top to bottom, back to front. It would be an admirable day’s work if we could cover one of those areas -- I propose starting with the front.

Most importantly, there are new faces to be seen there. Sarah and Kim are now a part of the staff, helping in our mission to exchange one type of printed material for another. Lest you underestimate the power of their presence for this institution’s feng-shui, witness another significant change to the storefront, due in no small part to their efforts. Alongside Helena, these two dedicated craftswomen reshaped the glass cases, sculpting a thing of beauty that rivals any of its component parts.

Organized by topic: done. Arranged by size: done. Sorted by aesthetic appeal and age: done. In honor of their efforts there will be a ONE-WEEK SALE on the choicest Collectibles we have to offer. From the opening chime of the register on Saturday, August 23^rd until the thump of the deadbolt next Friday evening, every single item in the glass cases will be discounted 10%.

Wait just one moment, you say. Hold on. What about the really high-end stuff? What about the signed T.S. Eliot, say, or the first folio Shakespeare? Surely those are not 10% off?

Do you think Mr. Douglas Wilson, owner and moral backbone of O’Gara and Wilson, would ever allow the electric ambassador of his business to disseminate deception? Never! First of all, the signed T.S. Eliot will absolutely be discounted 10% -- either one (yes, we have two). As for the first folio Shakespeare. We don’t have a first folio Shakespeare, and I never claimed we did. But for those that got their hopes up, rest easy. The Norton facsimile first folios partake of the same discount as every other item – either one (yes, we have two).

And they are much more reasonable -- $125 regular price, so you do the math.

Now that we’re up in front by the glass cases, I should mention a new policy introduced by the city. No longer is the beloved bargain book cart allowed to make its daily pilgrimage to the sidewalk. Chicago, ever thoughtful and clear-headed about the orderliness of its streets, has informed us via local agents that a fine will attend any such excursion. In protest of this unjust imprisonment, the week’s Affordable and Interesting item is taken from this humble cousin of the glass cases.

As you may or may not be aware, every paperback on the cart is $1, and every hardback is $1.50. Big deal, right? That’s where bookstores put all the crap they can’t sell… Think again, my friend, because things don’t work that way here at O’Gara and Wilson. Ask any of the book dealers who occasionally go treasure hunting through the contents of the cart. Or examine this gorgeous copy of Beowulf, illustrated in color and black and white by Lynd Ward, plucked freshly from the top row of bargain books. That’s right, only $1.50.

Of course, without the cart our window will have time to shine. Here you can see an assortment of high-quality art books featured there, all priced between $5.00-12.50.

The sign suggests more such treasures inside. Again, you may think we cannot resist exaggerating the extent of our selection – perhaps most of the books inside are paperback, or more expensive than those in the window. This week’s Favorite will put to rest any such notions, while simultaneously facilitating another introduction, this time one of my favorite illustrators.

Aubrey Beardsley does extraordinary work, some of it playful, some fantastical, some erotic, and nearly all of it intricate and beautiful. I found a wonderful book of his collected drawings inside on the shelf, when I was looking to verify the claim of our storefront sign. Price: $6.50.

Just to review this week’s key points: New employees -- Kim and Sarah. Glass cases sale -- Saturday the 23^rd to Friday the 29^th, everything 10% off. Front of the store -- changed, invigorated, and well worth a visit. From O’Gara and Wilson, this is Alan, hoping the conclusion of these introductions can be in person.

Indignant Ruminations

2008-08-13T12:31:00.008-05:00

Readers of the Blog,

It is both a privilege and a duty (the latter far less present to my mind than the former, of course) to take over this magnificent means of communication from my erstwhile, stalwart, and winsome co-worker, the one known to most simply as "Lydia", and to a few as "Lydia, supreme leader and benevolent bestower of order and organization."

I hope I don't screw it up.

See, while Lydia may appear to be kind, big-hearted, magnanimous, even-tempered and level-headed, it is a fact that she will not let mistakes go. Recently, she built an extremely minor error of mine into the very fabric of our store. My irresponsibility, immortalized. I quote from the updated edition of our employee manual (censored for security purposes): “The camera is kept in a ____ beside the ____ _____, along with its manual and installation CD (note – manual and installation CD were mislaid by Alan, possibly at home – keep reminding him to keep an eye out for them; but remember that you don’t actually need to have the camera program installed to retrieve the photos – the computer can take them off the camera automatically).”

Mislaid by Alan??!! What if they are found? Do I have permission to exonerate myself by altering the instructions? Should I still be stamped with the proverbial scarlet letter, for my malfeasance? What if they aren’t found? Am I doomed to receive phone calls from the mystified employees of O’Gara and Wilson fifty years hence, when CD’s don’t even exist, and the only discernable information in that sentence will relate to the fact that I committed an indiscretion? Why does it matter, since the manual and CD are, by the author’s very own admission, unnecessary?!!

Forgive me, I got carried away. It won’t happen again, I promise. As Lydia pointed out in her previous blog, the tone of my writing will be less Victorian, more thematic. Less chatty, more down to business. I shall have no truck with wordy digressions, lengthy meditations, and spurious fabrications. "Gentle readers?" she used to call you? Hah! You better toughen up, blog-reading softies, fed too long on the soft soup of Lydia's molly-coddling. More like "hardened readers," by the time I'm through with you. Nothing but straight-shooting information about the most ridiculous things that crop up in this store. No punches pulled, no absurdities omitted. Feverishly strange and morally objectionable objects will be our standard fare. Lydia will have no more mistakes to criticize, nothing to seize upon and commit to the computer’s ever-pulsing memory circuits.

Let's see what we've got this week. My lord! It's a story detailing what could happen to me or those miserable blog readers who can't hack it, here in the real world of ruff n' tuff blogging. Lemony Snicket cover your head in shame! Job, count your blessings. Ladies, gentleman, and all people stout of heart, this week's Collector's Item is: "The True and Affecting History of Henrietta Bellgrave, A Woman Born Only for Calamities, Being an Unhappy Daughter, Wrteched Wife, and Unfortunate Mother: Containing a Series of the Most Uncommon Adventures that ever Befel one Person by Sea and Land, Giving an Account of her Shipwreck; her falling into the Power of a Brutal Villian; and her Being Providentially Relieved by a Party of Indians; with her further Sufferings to the Time of her Death."

Indeed. For $600 you can own this unfortunate saga, bound in leather together with no less than 5 other similar chapbooks, each preceded by a hand-colored engraving. These are followed by a comedy in five acts, from the pen of Shakespearean opera-writer Frederick Reynolds, entitled "The Dramatist; or Stop Him Who Can." All date from the early 1800's and were published in London. There is nothing remotely like this volume available online. Don't pass it up, lest you feel like Henrietta some years down the line for having missed such a unique opportunity.

Ah yes... some of you may be calloused from watching television and playing violent video games. Perhaps poor Henrietta's travails do not curl your toes or stand your hair on end (while the price does more than its share of both). Well, I promised morally objectionable, and morally objectionable you’ll get. Maybe with the aid of this week's Affordable and Interesting item you'll be able to afford the chapbooks listed above. See, with only a little willingness to overlook ethical strictures, this book will pay for itself. Published in 1913, "How to Collect Money by Mail" is a mint condition copy of 327 Tested Plans, Petters and Schemes that Make the Mail Bring Money Due.

A mere $12.50 buys you the means to make millions upon millions. Well, not exactly. What this book will allow you to do, however, is act as an effective collection agent. If you have some vagabond friend who constantly fails to pay you back, or in the unlikely event you are actually an old-time collection agent who still operates by writing persuasive personal letters, chapters on "Rousing the Will to Pay" and "Handling Collections Through an Attorney" will certainly be useful, if not somewhat dated. We have all read it here at the store, so if anyone is tempted to pay with a bad check, think again. We'll get our money by hook or by crook (usually by crook, since our hook is rather large and unwieldy).

Whew. At this point you might be feeling tired, sapped, drained, winded, wearied, listless. So much reading, so much activity, it's all too much, just like it is at the end of your work-day. Most people nowadays can't handle high intensity exertion, physical or mental. No matter, that's nothing I wasn't able to solve for myself, with the aid of Bernarr MacFadden, author of this week's Favorite. In 1904 he did everyone the incredible favor of publishing his classic "Building of Vital Power." As he asks so eloquently in his Preface: "My friends, do you realize the meaning of VITAL POWER? Have you ever experienced that super-abundance of health which breeds an intense satisfaction with life and all living things? Have you ever felt the supreme joy of mere existence? The satisfaction of that makes you exclaim: 'There is indeed zest in life!' "

Chapters cover everything from "Vast Importance of Water" to "Erroneous Methods of Breathing," including a section on the "quiet breathing used by weaklings." Take note. Purity of essence and precious bodily fluids are all safe once you've internalized MacFadden's philosophy. All you need to do is externalize $15 in the presence of one our clerks, and the opportunity is yours.
Short and to the point, just like I said. It has been a pleasure, and I hope you will join us again here next week. Wonders and mysteries await. From O'Gara and Wilson, this is Alan, over and out. And everyone: three cheers for Lydia. She will be missed.

"Eggs must not quarrel with stones", dear readers.

2008-07-23T14:00:00.003-05:00

Gentle readers, I have two meaty bits of news for you to set upon like terriers. The first bit is that the bookstore shall be closed from this coming Sunday, July 27, through Saturday August 9; we will reopen on the 10th, doubtless to cheers! During that time we will all be relaxing on the beach, and so should you be. (Obviously, there will be no blog entries written for the next two weeks.)

The second bit is that I will be scaling back my involvement in this wonderful bookshop, becoming something of a rarely visiting but tyrannical consultant-like figure as I get the rest of my life in order, and as a result I -- Lydia -- will no longer write most of our blog entries! I weep, dear readers, truly I weep. The hilarious Alan will replace me on a regular basis, so you can look forward to blog entries with less of a Victorian tone and more coherent themes.

No longer writing the blog! Dear readers, it is like an omen or a portent -- something like what's recorded in this Affordable and Interesting little tome:

In case you cannot read that Gothic lettering, the tagline of this book reads: "Strange and Terrible News of Ghosts, Apparitions, Monstrous Births, Showers of Wheat, Judgments of God, and other Prodigious and Fearful Happenings as told in Broadside Ballads of the Years 1624-1693". Now I knew that a "broadside" is a term referring to excitable poster-like sheets of paper, splashed about the town; what I did not know is that once upon a time, all broadsides recorded ballads, and were sold for a pittance by musicians. (You can see some images and such from old broadsides at the Bodleian Library's website: click here!) It would seem that this book chronicles a particular collection of broadside ballads (that of Anthony Wood, a medieval gentleman who essentially kept a scrapbook of the things), and that his collection particularly featured tales of strange and marvelous occurrences. For instance, one page has this woodcut:

... accompanied by a rather involved set of verses covering many lands, including:
In Anno sixteene hundred and eighteene,
A blazing Starre was o'er Bohemia seene,
Which for the space of seven and twenty dayes,
Within the sky most fearefully did blaze.
And in Hungaria (as 'tis understood,)
Water was Metamorphos'd into bloud.
In Brunswick-land (within an evening faire,)
Were seene two armies fighting in the aire.

Intrigued? Me too! $12.50, and who knows what you might discover of our supernatural past?!

Supernatural influences are pernicious and subtle. I think that some must have been at work in these Collector's Items:

You see, the Easton Press produces elegantly leather-bound books with gilt detailing and gilt edges; editions that will last a long time, and look nice to boot. In the past I have mostly seen books chronicling American presidents, or famous classic books, from the Easton Press. But it seems that some odd supernatural influence has caused them to branch out ... into things like "New Yorker" cartoons! (I see from their site that they are also selling the classy How to Be A Betty: Unleashing Your Inner Boop... what is the world coming to?) At any rate, here lie collections of "New Yorker" comics (as hilarious as ever) on the subjects of Doctors, Lawyers and Business -- $75.00 apiece. The gilt detailing on these particular Easton editions features the famous New Yorker monocle theme: gilted doctor with monocle, lawyer with monocle, and businessman with monocle. And if you get the Business one, you will gain one of the most legendary "New Yorker" cartoons ever:

I wish all my comic books were bound in elegant leather!

But my Favorite this week, and possibly for all time, is not comics or strange phenomena or leather; it's the entire incredible Asian Studies collection that we're getting in right now.

We've only just begun processing these books, and they are absolutely marvelous! We have had to dramatically expand our sections on Miscellaneous Asian Countries, China, Chinese Art, Japan, Japanese Art, India / Pakistan, Eastern Religion / Philosophy, and Middle East / Islam -- just to fit all the remarkable books that we're getting. And there's more to come! Our Asian Studies section will be completely incredible for some time, gentle readers, I assure you -- here you see a mere sampling of the material we worked with today. First we have some quite scholarly titles on subjects like Asian literature, psychological theories, education, and all manner of more specific subjects -- such as the above-pictured book on Japanese castles, which I might just kill for (or buy for $10.00). Then there's various kinds of art in translation; Three Tibetan Mystery Plays: As Performed in the Tibetan Monasteries is one of the most obscure and fascinating examples ($35.00):

And then there's some random items, such as this charming little collection of translated Chinese proverbs:

$12.50 gets you all of the following and more!:
* He who only comes from upstairs is a guest.
* Don't ask a guest if you may kill a fowl for him.
* He is truly a superior man who can watch a chess game in silence.
* Eggs must not quarrel with stones.
* A divided orange tastes just as good.

I am thinking that I may be unable to leave the store. I may simply sit in the Asian Studies area and read. For the rest of my life. You mark my words! My beard will grow long and my sight will dim before I can tear myself away from these books ... probably.

Thank you for being an appreciative audience, my dearest readers. I will return perhaps as a guest star, and see you all around!

My attempts at thematic titles are becoming ridiculous!

2008-07-16T15:47:00.004-05:00

Living in Hyde Park, one hears a lot about the World's Columbian Exposition, which took place in 1893 right along Hyde Park's southern edge. I must confess that before I got here I knew practically nothing about it -- but being around this excellent bookstore has given me quite an education, in the form of all kinds of items from the Columbian Exposition! The event was a few months long and constituted a kind of enormous fair, which technically was intended to celebrate technology and progress, but occasionally ended up going off into strange little side-alleys ... for instance, there were exhibits of real science, and then there was an eleven-ton block of cheese. And carnival rides. It sounds like a spectacularly good time was had all round, and I'm sorry to have missed it!

I bring up the Columbian Exposition, gentle readers, because of this Affordable and Interesting item:

As near as we can figure, this is some kind of publicity material issued by a Wisconsin general store:

... but most of it isn't advertisement. It's mostly pictures of the buildings of the Columbian Exposition -- a little worn, but not at all astonished! * There was apparently a Machinery Hall, for instance, and a U.S. Government Building:

There was also apparently a casino -- goodness me! For $15.00 you get 17 pictures of the Exposition, and can sigh in nostalgia for what must have been the largest carnival man has ever known.

Perhaps you are more interested in antique viewpoints on Washington than Chicago. Now, I don't know why you would be -- gentle readers, I have adopted quantities of Chicago pride! -- but I suppose Washington has its charm. And if you're all about Washington, then this Collector's Item is for you:

This 1897 book is simply a series of "Views of the City of Washington" (apparently it is from a series known as Brentano's Views of American Cities). Each photograph is accompanied by explanatory text:

I suppose that many of the monuments I have spent time in while in Washington -- the JFK Memorial, for instance -- was after this book's time, and I had to remind myself what a very different city D.C. would have been so long ago. Another reminder of the time gap: the page for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving notes that newly-made banknotes are transported to the Treasury in "guarded wagons". Ah, how times change. I wonder if many of these buildings are no longer around? This $125.00 book is exceptionally rare; we haven't been able to locate any other copies for sale on the Internet. So I'm afraid that if you'd like to check on how many of these photos remain applicable, you'll have to come look at our copy -- and if you do, please educate me!

This blog entry seems to have a more antique theme than usual. This you can see in this week's Favorite items:

... which I selected from our section on India and Pakistan. We recently went through this smallish section, repricing all the older material. Here you see three of my favorite items from it. The first is a 1926 book on "Close-Up Views of India's Womanhood", by a Presbyterian missionary woman; it opens with a sweetly written portrait of a young Indian girl who wants nothing more than to learn to read (but cannot because of her repressive culture), and continues to discuss other Indian women's studies issues, like marriage. Considering that the dedication is to the missionary's husband, and says: "Having followed him half-way around the world to marry him, I have been following him in everything ever since; but he is worth the pursuing," I am unsure how well-qualified the author is to comment on female subjugation. For $20.00, you can form your own opinion! (Interestingly, this book is also inscribed by the author to Cyrus Hall McCormick and wife. Not that McCormick is very relevant to the matter at hand, but he did invent the mechanical reaper.)

The second book, also published in 1926, is pro-Indian independence: "I propose to prove in the following pages that British rule in India is inefficient in the matters that concern the Nation's life; that India is slowly wasting away and will inevitably perish, unless she regains her right to rule herself." India only gained independence from Britain in 1947 (click here for an interesting assortment of historical documents on the subject, from the British Library), and this $15.00 book makes an interesting portrait of pre-independence agitation on the subject. The third book is in German, so I have no idea what the text says, but it has some beautiful reproductions of Indian miniatures:

If you know German you should come translate it for me! (Or buy it for $20.00.)

In India it is hot. In Chicago it is also hot. I wonder if they go swimming in India? Because I think we should all do it in Chicago ... starting as soon as I go home today. Maybe I'll see you at the Point, gentle readers!

* This is a pun on a line from Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories. I thought maybe I should explain that.

Superman sock puppets in the Victorian era!

2008-07-09T18:49:00.003-05:00

There are tiny, mysterious sections about the shop that are very easy to miss. I didn't even realize, for example, that we have sections on Etiquette and Horsemanship until a good five or six months after I first started working here. Another example is the tiny little subsection of drama on Puppetry! In a recent attempt at tabulating all the sections in the store, I found that Puppetry is (perhaps it has become) small enough that the books ought simply to be distributed into the general Drama section. But before we do that, gentle readers, I thought I'd show them to you as this week's Favorite.

The first thing I found in Puppetry was a book on mimes, which isn't quite relevant, but is interesting anyway. Written by a famous early 1900s mime, it contains a log of her attempts to teach her art ($15.00). The next was a circa 1940 book on masks and puppets -- a beautiful how-to, containing instructions on construction using everything from paper to socks to plaster to sticks and strings. It puts me in mind of adorable pranks I could play on everyone in the store ("I bet you didn't think your socks could do this!"); you could save my coworkers by taking this book away ($20.00)! Next we have Remo Bufano's own book on puppetry: apparently an acknowledged master of the craft, he shares all his puppetty secrets. You could know them for $25.00! Last comes a $15.00 book on marionettes, which has endpapers patterned with Indonesian shadow-puppets and many internal illustrations. It details Medieval, Italian, Spanish, Old English, and all manner of Oriental marionettes (from Burma to India to Turkey and back again!), and then talks about modern marionette artists and describes marionette scripts! (Punch and Judy are mentioned, of course.) As the author says in her opening Note, "One cannot write of marionettes without saying more than one had intended and less than one desired: there is a piquant persistency to them."

(All this reminds me of a filmmaker I simply must tell you all about, gentle readers! Kihachiro Kawamoto (click here) is a brilliant Japanese artist who has made many short films and one or two longer ones -- featuring only puppets. His work, though it might sound ridiculous, is painfully touching and exquisite and perfect and remarkable. It's very difficult to see his films because they are so obscure, but sometimes they're showed in obscure movie-showing places like the Gene Siskel Film Center. Please, gentle readers, for your own sake, see if you can watch a Kawamoto film sometime.)

Now that we've hit our obscurity quotient for the day (there aren't many subjects more random and obscure than puppetry!), we can safely move on to something incredibly famous. Take this week's Affordable and Interesting item:

It's hard to find someone or something more famous than Superman, is it not, gentle readers? Comic aficionados can tell you that there have been zillions of takes and retakes on that particular legend (and this site -- click here -- can answer any possible question you might come up with). This large-format item is in an attractive watercolor-esque style, stereotypically "classier" than the usual comic style, and with an unusual story: Superman decides to use his powers to fight -- not bad guys -- but world hunger! It's a strange kind of story, with really beautiful panels:

... and perhaps more shades of grey than an old-style Superman comic might have had. A must, I think, for any true Superman fan, and only $10.00!

Superman can pick up trains. That's the only possible segue I can come up with to this Collector's Item:

Today, I think nothing of traveling unattended by rail. In the late 1800s, it was quite a different matter! The four young ladies of this book's account were being a little daring by going, all alone, by train across ten thousand miles. They took all kinds of photos:

... and seem rather scandalously proud that they were unaccompanied by men. Indeed, the title page boasts first of all that this was "An Unattended Journey"! I had hoped that there would be some kind of exciting romance in the pages, but it appears that there isn't. (Perhaps that makes it better. After all, who needs a man to have a fun journey by rail? In fact, I guess it's rather refreshing that such a narrative would exhibit itself without too much evidence of the patriarchy.) At any rate, the whole makes an extraordinarily charming travel narrative, piquant with Victorian turns of phrase and bedecked with detailed description of each locale. Anyone who loves trains, Victoriana, and young ladies would surely be excited about the $150.00 book!

Perhaps I will make a sock puppet play about the four Victorian young ladies, and have them saved by Superman during a railway accident. Stay tuned, gentle readers -- I probably won't do it, but you wouldn't want to miss it if I do!

I must go back to the Madison again, to the lonely Madison and sky ....

2008-07-02T15:47:00.008-05:00

I have had a busy week, gentle readers! Firstly, I ought to tell you all that we will be closed this Friday, July 4, for Independence Day. Secondly, I have heard of a most remarkable contrivance: the Book Bike (click here)! The website is scanty as of yet, but apparently the plan -- starting July 5 -- is for the Book Bike to travel the wilds of Chicago, passing out books willy-nilly. Charming! -- though I can but hope it doesn't put me out of a job.

What has kept me busiest, though, was a weekend trip to Madison, Wisconsin. During this trip I visited many lovely bookstores! Some, such as Browzer's Books, appear to have no Internet presence at all. Others, such as Paul's Books, can only be linked to by means of colorless Internet listings -- they don't have their own Web sites. But these were fine stores nonetheless. Browzer's, I recall, had a whole section on Circus; Paul's, like us, sells random prints and even its own postcards! There was also A Room of One's Own, a feminist bookstore. Alas, it stocks new material rather than used, but it featured many fascinating books plus hilarious pins and bumper stickers! (I purchased one that says, "Tact is for people who aren't witty enough to be sarcastic.") In the end, I think my favorite (a hard choice) was Avol's Books. It's not just enormous -- it even contains a whole nother bookstore within itself, BookWorks (specializing in rarer books and hardbacks)! Avol's itself has a great deal of various material, including enough science fiction and fantasy to keep me happily immersed for a while, and it also boasts some fine murals on several walls in back. I look forward to returning to Madison and looking through the rest of the city's bookstores, and I recommend a road trip for all of you, gentle readers! (Madison has stuff besides bookstores too, like lakes and gardens and beautiful architecture and cafes and ... stuff.)

One might think that what with all of the above, this week's entry would be nationalist -- or Madison-related -- or bike-related. It is wholly irrelevant to all three. But this week's Favorite may shed some light on American economic history:

This slender volume appears to be advertising material for the Research Institute of America, published in 1941. Said Research Institute seems to have been "a mere handful of business leaders in 1935, but a straight-thinking group of more than 20,000 today -- bankers, wholesalers, manufacturers, attorneys, accountants, retailers." Having "hired or developed a group of specialists who don't have a thing in the world to do except study the problems that you haven't either the time or facilities to study," the Institute is advertised as telling "its 20,000 members where to go, what to do, when to duck, when to fight and when to pull in their horns". Complete with fabulous 40s graphics ....

.

... the book goes on about the various terrible new laws and regulations that are hurting American businessmen, then assures the reader that these don't need to be problems: indeed, they can be advantages! It uses a lot of rhetoric like, "Many executives, when they face a labor problem, shut both eyes, see red, turn off whatever reasoning power God gave them, and come in swinging!" -- moving from there to descriptions of how confusing contemporary economics were, and how the Institute's exhaustive research had helped its members navigate tricky business waters. I confess that I know little of economics at all, let alone 1940s American economics, but this book's tone and graphics alone say something about American culture. It seems to me that this $25.00 item could be a real prize for just the right historical economist!

This Collector's Item is at least relevant to American history because it's by a landmark American author:

Mark Twain's "1601" (click here for history and e-text) was apparently written as a satire. It tells the story of a supposed fireside chat among Queen Elizabeth, Ben Jonson, Beaumont, Sir Walter Raleigh, and the Duchess of Bilgewater; it's famously obscene, filled with naughty words and references to bodily functions. Mark Twain himself was well-known to be a foul-mouthed and bawdy fellow, rather amused when others claimed that history (or historical personages) from ages past might have been lily-white clean-minded folk. He had read a great deal of history and had some idea of how coarse discourse had been in ages past. So, in "1601", he was not only amusing himself by writing something naughty -- he fully intended to eloquently reproduce "a past time as he saw it in Shakespeare, Dekker, Jonson, and other writers of the Elizabethan era".

"1601" is not widely known, but the great Twain always has something to offer, and this Limited Edition was privately printed in handsome linen and sturdy paper for the Mark Twain Society of Chicago in 1939. (It's an out-of-series copy; 550 were officially printed.) This particular copy is of especial interest because it's inscribed by the editor, Franklin J. Meine, to fellow editor William A. Kittredge. It also still has Kittredge's bookplate in it, which was designed by the legendary Rockwell Kent:

Kent, Kittredge and Meine are of peripheral interest to the study of Twain himself. But this is the only available signed copy of this Limited Edition, and everyone loves Rockwell Kent! $250.00 seems a steal for such an obscure and wonderful item.

There's no way I can relate this Affordable and Interesting book to American history ... well, I guess I could try, but it just seems such a stretch.

Winner of the Caldecott Medal for children's illustration, this book has very little text. In fact, the only words are at the beginning: "Tuesday evening, around eight." Thence it tells an entire astonishing story solely by means of illustration!

The flying frogs are leavened only by occasional insertions of times, amusing incidents, and bystanders' expressions. For instance, at 11.21PM:

Not your usual children's book, this little piece struck me as unusual and made me laugh. Come look at it (or buy it for $8.50!) to see what happens to the flying frogs! I do hope this starts a trend in all-graphic children's books.

I must go back to the Madison again, to the lonely Madison and sky ... but though I had a great time there, gentle readers, I'm glad to be back. This is my favorite bookstore of all -- there's no bookstore like home!

Learn to fold cranes, magic items, maybe Václav Havel!

2008-06-25T15:33:00.006-05:00

Sometimes our past blog entries return to haunt us! Long ago, I wrote about the Czech writer Ludvík Vaculík, briefly discussing his political writings and censorship. Because of this, the lady who sold us this week's Favorite thought me a Czech expert:

She said it was a campaign poster for the first Democratic president of the Czech Republic, then turned to me and said, "I've forgotten his name, but you'd know it, wouldn't you?" I must confess, gentle readers, that I was a bit floored! I did not get the chance to explain that I tend to simply research specific books that I find around the store and that seem intriguing, and only rarely have comprehensive or prior knowledge of the subjects I tell you all about here. So, hereby, I tell you this: I am, sadly, no real mine of information -- or at least, only a shallow one.

Still, in the end it did turn out that I'd heard of the fellow -- because the first Democratic president of the Czech Republic was a famous writer, Václav Havel! He was elected president of Czechoslovakia in 1989, resigned when the country broke up in 1992, and was then elected first president of the Czech Republic in 1993. For many years, he had been a political agitator, arrested many times for his subversive activities. In his essays, he excoriated both Western culture for being horrid and egotistical, and communism for being horrid and inhumane; in his earlier life, he wrote (mostly politically-themed) plays. (As a writer, this all makes me wonder if I could claw my way into the Presidency by means of science fiction. But that seems unlikely.) The item you see us offering here is one of Havel's campaign posters, for $25.00! I wish I could tell you what its slogan means, but I fear that I not only don't speak Czech, but can't seem to find an Internet translator than can figure out any of those words but "volit" ("vote"). Havel left office in 2003 and has spent all his time since then doing boring things like hosting symposia and winning peace prizes, so his campaign posters are a vanishing breed!

Another thing I know very little about is magic. But not to worry, gentle readers -- this week's Affordable and Interesting items will educate me!

For $2.00 apiece, we are distributing adorable 1960s-70s "magic" and prank items. With these, you could do all kinds of things ... like charmingly trick your friends with a false hot dog (how very Chicago)! Or confuse them with a tiny false-bottomed canister of "disappearing" beans! Or amuse your staid old aunt by spraying her with disappearing ink! (She'll love you for it, I promise.) This last says on the package that it's the "greatest laugh producer of this generation", and who am I to imply that packaging ever lies?

I will do my best to have a sense of humor if some wit squirts me with disappearing ink. Indeed, I will emulate the author of this week's Collector's Item, who clearly has humor to spare:

This 1928 book is awesome for all kinds of reasons. Firstly, it's about paper folding, for heaven's sake! Everyone loves paper folding! Learn such icons as the Frog, the Sunfish, or the Shirt-Waist, and then read the last chapter for an entire story that can be learned and recited with real-time paper-folding "illustrations"! I would be jumping up and down in excitement if I didn't have to sit at this keyboard.

Secondly, it has an amazing title page:

Thirdly, it is dedicated to "Lessner" (or maybe "Lerner"?) with an illustrated note by author William Murray. But the personalized touch to this book gets far better than that! Laid in are some miscellaneous antique news clippings, several 1929 letters and cards from Murray to a couple people ("Hewson" as well as "Lessner"). These letters have some of the most adorable hand-drawn illustrations I have ever seen:

They also feature incredibly cute stories, penned in Murray's rounded scrawl. Murray tells the tale, for instance, of some of the compliments he's received on his book -- excerpt: "A boy in Princeton wrote, 'I think your book is perfect' and sent me a paper glider. From California came a letter from a girl enclosing a number of things and saying, 'Thank you for the pleasant hours you have given us.' I liked that." He recalls a comment made by Frank Rigney, his illustrator -- "As each day folds up for you may it have proved to be the end of a day that unfolded for you greater opportunities for making yourself and others happier." The best part, however, is arguably the goat anecdote:

"One time when I was a little boy we lived in 123rd Street in New York. One night my father came home and told me and my brother that he had brought us a team of goats! So next day my grandfather took us to Riverdale, where the goats were, and we drove them from there to 123rd Street, while my poor old grandfather walked. And you can hardly imagine what happy boys we were! The only trouble was all the boys in our [illegible] wanted to borrow our goats. Once I came home from school and found that a boy had borrowed them. Then I was angrier than a boy ought to have been and came very near having a fight. It would look queer now, wouldn't it, to see boys riding around New York driving a couple of goats!"

There's nothing quite like good letters from authors, is there? I wish I could have known Mr. Murray! I've rarely been so tempted by one of our items as I am by this $80.00 book. It has it all -- awesome content, awesome format, and an awesome unique twist! This is what used and antiquarian bookstores are all about!

Well, I'd better stop before I shriek with enthusiasm and scare off the customers. Someday, if I make it as an author, I too will be able to tell goatlike anecdotes to my admiring fans! In the meantime, gentle readers, I will simply perhaps do some paper-folding. I've had the crane down pat for years -- if you'd like to learn it sometime, do stop by the shop!

P.S. Jill sends along this story:
Here's a little Czech humor for you. When president, Jimmy Carter decided to boycott the Olympics because they were being held in Moscow and he wanted to protest the Soviets' invasion of Afghanistan. So of course the following Olympics, held in the U.S., were boycotted by all the Soviet bloc countries in retaliation. One day while listening to the news, my dad heard that the Czechs had just announced that they would not be attending the Games. "Oh," he said, "canceled Czechs."

Astonishing news!

2008-06-18T18:23:00.003-05:00

Gentle readers, I have news of a kind that has never before been announced on this store blog: we are hiring! The amount we can pay is shockingly low, and we are seeking only a part-time employee -- but if you are interested, then I encourage you to send us a resume. I can personally attest that this is one of the most wonderful jobs ever, and I'm not just saying that because Doug lets me ramble absurdly on this store blog every week. Apply swiftly if you wish to apply at all, for we are reviewing applications even as I write this.

Working here, I have learned rather a lot about collecting, for instance. Take this Collector's Item:

Previous to encountering it I had, of course, heard the phrase: "All quiet on the Western front." I had also heard many puns derived therefrom. But I didn't know much about the book itself -- for instance, that it was originally written in German! In 1929, this chronicle of World War 1 soldiers was a smash hit in Germany; it was swiftly translated into two dozen languages, and an Oscar-winning movie was out by 1930. The book describes the horrors of war and the deep alienation of soldiers returning home, and has apparently been held up as an incredibly moving anti-war classic ever since. Of course, anti-war sentiments are not appreciated by everyone, and the author's next book (The Road Back, which described German soldiers trying to cope with their postwar lives) was not only banned in Nazi Germany -- the author himself was stripped of German citizenship in 1938. All this makes this 1929 First American Edition a particularly strong antiwar (and antifascist) symbol, worth every penny of its $125.00.

Also in German: several of the books included in this week's Favorite.

Doug, who is ever on the lookout for strange and interesting sets (he likes to tell the story of the time he paired a antique red typewriter with a book about a magical antique red typewriter), has decided to present all these books together because they all came from the same place: an antique Pennsylvania Dutch trunk. The Pennsylvania Dutch, you see, are an American subculture composed of the descendants of pre-1800 German immigrants. Wikipedia claims that Pennsylvania Dutch ethnic consciousness is currently quite low, but that has not been my experience with the Pennsylvania Dutch I have met!

It has always seemed to me that there is a somewhat romanticized Pennsylvania Dutch image -- similar to the romanticized image of many American colonists -- and I just love picturing bonnetted women in homespun dresses sitting around, their bespectacled husbands smoking home-carved pipes, reading from some of these books. Again, we did find some German books in the 1800s collection from that trunk -- demonstrating that these American colonists took a while to abandon their mother tongue. We also found some antique English spelling and grammar guides, though, so clearly much effort was made to adapt. This is also demonstrated by some of the American citizenship primers, such as this 1851 book ("arranged for the use of schools") on American history:

Other books in the trunk included 1800s books on being a lawyer, plus lawyer form letters: perhaps the patriarch of the clan kept a law office? There are some books of music, bringing to mind the unbelievably charming picture of a sweet Pennsylvania Dutch family sitting around a fire and singing together, and then one or two books on random subjects (such as a little 1885 treatise on the usage and measures of logs and lumber). Although we are presenting these books together, they are individually priced starting at $20.00 (most are in the $30.00-$60.00 range, though some are more expensive). It is perhaps a mere fantasy that a Pennsylvania Dutch family might buy the whole collection and keep them together as a historical trove, but I like to think it could happen.

On a completely different note, have you ever wondered what the Arabs thought of Lawrence of Arabia? I hadn't either, until I saw this amazingly Affordable and Interesting tome!

I've never seen the 1962 film myself, but it's supposed to be very good. T. E. Lawrence himself (1888-1935) was famous, of course, for being a British-Arabian liaison. His life was overall incredibly romantic and adventurous -- beginning as an archaeologist of sorts and working around the River Euphrates, he was snapped up by his government during the First World War due to his local knowledge of Arabs. * From there he became an Arabian fact-finder, then the aforementioned liaison -- fighting with and for the Arabs to whom he represented England. After the end of the war, he tried desperately to represent the cause of independence for the region to the West, but to no avail; it was divided up among the Great War's winners. Later, he wrote some successful books, served in the English army, and died in a motorcycle accident.

So, what might the Arabs themselves (as hopefully well-represented by the author of this 1966 book) have thought of Lawrence? In the introduction, the author notes:

Examples of western exaggeration are to be found in General Allenby's claim that Lawrence was "the mainspring of the Arab movement", in Sir Basil Liddell Hart's statement that but for Lawrence "the Arab movement would have remained a collection of slight and passing incidents", and in Sir Ronald Storrs' description of Lawrence as "kingmaker". There were, of course, some Western writers ... who attempted to belittle Lawrence and reveal the rather unsavoury aspects of the Lawrence legend. But in the works of Lawrence's admirers and detractors alike one seeks in vain for a semblance of justice to the Arabs ....

Lawrence's resounding fame was viewed by the Arabs with a mixture of amazement and disbelief. This was because they understood the Revolt to be a purely Arab endeavour, carried out by Arabs to achieve Arab objectives [rather than something that was done to help British aims during the Great War]. ... Many Arabs ... view the Lawrence legend as a western fabrication. Some of them even consider that Lawrence was a spy or intelligence officer.

... [None of Lawrence's biographers] took the trouble to come to this part of the world and investigate the Arab viewpoint. On the other hand the Arabs themselves have not attempted to put forward their side of the argument. This in itself is further evidence that there is a gap that must be bridged.

Whew, now that was a long quotation!

One might fear that this $20.00 book would be nothing but excoriation of Lawrence, but it does not seem to be. Still, it's certainly not complimentary, and ends with an assessment of Lawrence as a "guilty" man who "knew that the greater part of his fame was based on fraud". Interestingly, there are comments by Lawrence's brother published at the end, which uphold T. E. Lawrence's good character and deny some of the author's claims of falsehood. I don't feel qualified to judge one side or the other of the matter -- but it seems to me a good thing that this book was published, and even better that Lawrence's brother was invited to comment on it.

I think I shall add "Lawrence of Arabia" to my movie-watching list, gentle readers! Of course, by the time I see it this book will no doubt be long gone to a happy customer (perhaps Jill, who says that in her youth she would indulge her own romantic fancies by dressing up and pretending to be T. E. Lawrence!). Them's the breaks of working in a used bookstore!

* By this, as near as I can tell, is meant the natives of the Turkish-ruled regions that are now Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, and the Hedjaz region of Saudi Arabia.

let's not forget Father's Day!

2008-06-12T20:32:00.003-05:00

Gentle readers, what must you think of me?! I fully intended to make at least a big a deal about Father's Day as I did about Mother's Day, but in writing the last store blog entry, I forgot! But it is not too late. Let me hereby encourage you to call your fathers this Sunday, June 15. You could also get them the gift of a book, of course, but mostly you should remember to call!

Footnotey footnotery, plus tomfoolery!

2008-06-11T17:40:00.007-05:00

In modern times, it appears to be fashionable to write histories of random ideas and concepts; or perhaps this has always been fashionable, and I merely young. Still, it seems as though the Victorians must not have written such things. One of my dear friends, for instance -- knowing my sanguine proclivities -- once gave me a history of the color red. What possible purposes do these serve? Entertainment, I guess, and much accidental edification as one encounters obscure anecdotes and historical byways.

This Affordable and Interesting little thing is a beautiful example of this scholarly phenomenon:

This "rich vision of the true origins and gradual triumph of the footnote" discusses, in a quite erudite fashion, such footnotey masters as Edward Gibbon (who "transformed it into a high form of literary artistry") * as well as how the footnote has evolved and what that says about scholars and thinkers through the ages. Footnotes are "the weapon of pedants," trumpets the dust jacket, "the scourge of undergraduates, the bête noire of the 'new' liberated scholar"! Flipping through the book demonstrates that the author has liberally polished his own use of the footnote form, being as enthusiastic as any of the aforementioned undergraduates, though arguably more skilled. I cannot imagine that this book would technically be useful for anyone, but I can think of lots of people who would find it interesting: for instance, writers and other weirdos. **

Ever hear the phrase, "a footnote in history"? Past U.S. minor party presidential candidates count for that status, I think. From this Collector's Item, we can discover the 1908 candidates for parties Probitionist, Independence, Socialist and People's:

The Democratic candidate was William Jennings Bryan with John Worth Kern for Vice, while the Republicans fielded William Howard Taft and James S. Sherman. The book opens with an earnest introduction saying everything that might be expected about the glories of democracy, and then something interesting comes up right away: a table of what the voting requirements are, state by state! These, naturally, seem a bit shameful now: "uncivilized Indians" being disallowed from voting in some places, or "Indians holding tribal relations", or "Chinese". Clearly, women couldn't vote either (who would ever think that's a good idea?). The rest of the book attempts to summarize the various parties and their ideas before continuing on to topics of more general interest ("Morality in Wall Street", "Socialism", "The Crimes of Labor"). Overall, a very interesting book, and accompanied by a neat historical piece!

Doug says that this tin plate -- a campaign advertisement for Taft, sort of like a bumper sticker, I guess -- would have been hung upon 1908 stove-pipes, hiding them from view. Apparently stove-pipe decoration used to be all the rage! These days, this plate would more likely be used as a simple wall-hanging ... for someone who really wants a picture of Taft on her wall. And who doesn't want that?! These two items together come to $50.00, and you'll unquestionably earn your chops as a real Taft fan if you go for this unique pair.

Turn of the century politics were interesting not just in America, of course, but elsewhere too, as we see from this week's Favorite:

Cuba, in the late 1800s, went for a War of Independence against Spain; pressure built in the U.S. to intercede on Cuba's behalf, until in 1898, we vigorously joined the fray. The U.S. made short work of the conflict (though some contest that it was pretty much over anyway), and came away feeling triumphant -- Secretary of State John Hay called the events "a splendid little war". Written by a geographer who traveled there for some time, this is a nicely illustrated little piece ...

... that answers what the author says were "common questions" about Cuba -- chapter titles include "Right of Search of American Vessels" and "The Question of Atrocities". Splendid, indeed. For $40.00 you can learn just how splendid war can be!

Well, we try not to let the blog get too political here at O'Gara and Wilson, so I'll refrain from any of the cultural observations that come to mind. Enjoy the beautiful weather, my gentle readers -- there's clover everywhere! How much gentler could it get?

* My personal favorite master of the footnote would be Terry Pratchett, the famous comic science fiction author, whose books are apparently the most shoplifted in Great Britain, and whose earlier work -- which, I often contend, is better than the later -- is chock full of glorious footnotery. He always uses the footnote form to tell a tangential story, or stick in an irresistible hysterical/sardonic punchline/observation that would otherwise spoil the narrative flow.

** Which means it's good that it's affordable, *** because we don't make any money.

*** $12.50.

Truth, beauty, you know.

2008-06-04T17:42:00.002-05:00

I have conquered a new foe, gentle readers: the Books on Books section! It is now cleaned up, cleared out, and relocated, and material that's been around for a while has received the brutal price slash we love so well. As I mentioned last week, the section was rather a mishmash, but now it has been pared down -- it covers pretty much only books about printing, publishing, book layout, etc etc. There are some somewhat odd items, though; I simply didn't know where to put them, besides Books on Books! One example: this Affordable and Interesting book:

Not only does this book have many nice color illustrations ....

(love that Celtic knotwork!) ... but it also boasts some interesting hypotheses. For instance, as the jacket summarizes: "The author shows how the shape of particular alphabets grew out of the controlling material or tool -- the clay tablets of the Sumerians, the papyrus and reed pen of the Egyptians, the stone-carving of the Romans -- and how these almost haphazard circumstances became turning points in the story of writing up to our own times." So, not only will these pages instruct the reader on making -- say -- a reed pen and some papyrus; they also speculate on how those things led Egyptian writing to develop ... and from there, perhaps the book discusses how methods of writing influenced cultures and the minds therein? I hope so. At the very least, if this book were to fall into my hands (I'd have to come up with $12.50), I would probably spend ages thinking about what various era's writing types indicated about the ways they might consider communication. And then I would write a whole new chapter, for typing on the computer! (There is a chapter on Writing in the Machine Age, but since this book is from 1981, it's not so computery.)

I have wondered before how computers have influenced older groups, such as the Boy Scouts. I once knew a man who got some merit badges designing web sites! With this clumsy segue, I give you this week's Favorite:

This reminds me of our previously listed 301 Things a Bright Girl Can Do (from this entry: click here), though it doesn't seem to contain instructions on how to make colored fire. Regardless, I am sure clever youngsters of both sexes might find this 1940 Boy Scout manual enjoyable, and of course it would likely appeal to Boy Scout historians. This illustrated manual reminds us not only of the respect due the U.S. flag and other issues of citizenship, but covers such broad topics as: correcting common misconceptions about snakes (they cannot form into hoops and roll about!); emergency medical care; and astronomy. It describes merit badges, making me wonder whether the Computers merit badge (I assume that's what it's called, anyway) is entirely new -- or replaced such merit badges as Hog and Pork Production. Hey, there are merit badges in both Reading and Bookbinding! All this enough to make me want to be a Boy Scout.

I also find this Baby Ruth ad hilarious:

"Wholesome, delicious Baby Ruth is the ideal candy for athletes, because it's rich in Dextrose." My, how far we've come. You could show this to your favorite dietitian for only $15.00!

You know who I bet the Boy Scouts admire? Gandhi.

This week's Collector's Item is an item of Gandhi-ish history, though it is mainly about the idea of Dharma: its aim, as described in the introduction, is to "cultivate in individual and collective life the doctrines of Dharma, such as Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truth), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmacharya (self-control), Aparigraha (non-acquisition). ... Our new magazine will make a special effort to bring to the West the noblest and best of India where Dharma originated .... The progress of Mahatma Gandhi's spiritual battle for peace and freedom ... will be especially recorded." It's from 1930, and the covers are accordingly rather fragile and brittle, but I think the illustrations are still nice-looking:

Herein we find an article by Gandhi himself, as well as a section on Indian folklore (specifically, legends of the Mahabharata), a discussion of yoga ("Yoga: or, communion with God"), and much more. This is Volume 1, Number 1 of the magazine -- frequently, of course, the very first issue of any magazine is the rarest -- and we're offering it for $300.00. But what price truth and beauty? This I ask you, gentle readers.

Let us all practice non-violence, truth, etc. over the next week -- though certainly if someone or something prevents you from getting your O'Gara and Wilson blog fix, I wholly support violence as a solution to the problem! Anyone who keeps me from a computer deserves whatever they get, I always figure.

Letters, drama, and dramatic letters!

2008-05-28T18:58:00.004-05:00

Because someone talked Doug into selling her the dish we were using to collect pennies, Joan has brought in yet another store mascot!

I keep meaning to ask Joan what its name is, and to think seriously about the gastronomy of a dragon that breathes pennies instead of fire.

But on to serious topics ... such as letters! Letters, while charming, have only rarely been something I spent much time on. However, I once sent a friend a postcard that reached the wrong recipient, viz., the woman across the hall from my friend. The lady put pictures of the postcard on her blog, and was thereby discovered by both her neighbor (the recipient -- whom she had never met) and myself! Truly we live in a strange age, with this Internet ... but the point of this story is that, when Ms. Postcard Discoverer first posted those pictures, she speculated that she'd found her very own Griffin and Sabine! Whoever could Griffin and Sabine be?

As I discovered later -- and as you yourself might discover with these Affordable and Interesting books -- Griffin is a young artist who, one day, receives a mysterious postcard from a woman named Sabine. It addresses him in the manner of an old friend, asking for a postcard he recently designed. The problem? He has neither met nor heard of Sabine before! From there, the plot thickens in a more and more fantastical manner. The book's story (and those of its sequels) are told through the correspondence of Griffin and Sabine; the best aspect is certainly the original presentation -- postcards shown front and back, while letters are presented in envelopes stuck to the pages:

.

I seem to recall that my third grade teacher had us all do a class project in a similar manner, creating our own fictional correspondences between two characters. But these books are not merely for children -- the story they tell is more than charming enough to pull in adults, and the art is remarkable. If you would merely like to investigate the beginning (or middle) of Griffin and Sabine's story, you may acquire either the first or second in this three-book series for $7.50. But if you'd like to gleefully snatch up the three-volume set, then we are also selling that, for $25.00! *

I uncovered Griffin and Sabine lost in our Books on Books section -- now that, gentle readers, was a confused mishmash of a place! But it has any number of wonderful things in it, and as I whip the section into shape, I'm oohing and ahhing a lot. Take this Collector's Item:

I believe I have mentioned the Caxton Club here before; they've published a number of beautiful Limited Editions, many on book-related topics. This particular book, Printers' Marks and Devices (number 272 of only 600 copies printed), gives brief biographies of 78 historical printers, then offers lovely illustrations and deconstructions of their devices. Heinrich Petri of Basel, for instance:

The Petri device was apparently inspired by a Biblical motto: "Is not my word fire, like a hammer that shatters stone?" Those fiery words seem to have fit Petri well -- he was "a zealous promoter of Lutheran books", and at one point he got in trouble with the city's nobility for publishing Luther's Christian Warning to the Nobility. Later in life, he secured his own noble title (and presumably thumbed his nose at past detractors). You could read 78 stories like this -- in an attractive linen binding to boot! -- for $75.00.

Sometimes I think I don't talk enough about old bindings on this here blog. I write too much about odd little paperbacks and bizarre antique cartoons, and not enough about the kind of bindings that make one swoon. What are antiquarian bookstores for?! Well, I aim to change my regrettable tendency with this week's Favorite:

Now, these are just gorgeous. The pictures don't do the gilt patterns, the restrained coloring of the leather, or the lovely rose image justice. Unfortunately, we don't have the complete set of these books -- which all together would comprise a survey of the humble topic, "The Drama: its History, Literature and Influence Upon Civilization" -- but we do have four individual volumes. Fortunately, however, each volume covers an area in full, which makes them very nice as separate books. We're offering Oriental Drama, Drama of Great Britain, Drama of Spain and Portugal, and Russian Drama.

The set was originally published in 1903. Some have silken bookmarks. All are printed on exquisite paper with gilted edges and lovely full-color illustrations. And the bindings ... the bindings! Each book has the beautiful covers you see above; the insides of the covers make me sigh, too:

Best of all, each of these books is only $20.00. So if you decide you'd like to convince some dramatic person that you spent an absolute fortune on an exquisite, collectible gift for them, you can easily do so without actually breaking the bank. Perhaps the lucky recipient will stage some hysterics for you!

I consider sowing the seeds for such philanthropic dishonesty to be my good deed for the day! Gentle readers, I charge you to consider who you know who'd love these theatrical books; I will do the same, and meet you back here next week.

* i.e. We have two copies of the first and second books.

Everything you ever wanted to know about a dysfunctional childhood!

2008-05-21T16:57:00.007-05:00

When I was a small Lydia, my cultural education coalesced from a confusing mishmash of sources that included my grandfather's "Pogo" collection. Gentle readers, many of you probably have not heard of Pogo, but your time has come! We will start with this Affordable and Interesting collection:

"Pogo", you see, was a comic that started running in the 1940s, as you can discover from artist Walt Kelley's hilarious quick autobiography (click here). (On August 25, 1913, Walt Kelly, a clear-eyed youth of honest Scotch-Irish-English-French-Austrian blood found himself in Philadelphia, Pa. He was one day old, and although his ancestors had been rooted along the shores of the Delaware for 150 years, he immediately hatched a plan. Two years later, he was in Bridgeport, Connecticut, complete with father, mother, sister and sixteen teeth, all his own.) The comic features a possum (surprisingly named Pogo) and his various adventures, which include running for president and kicking his deadbeat friends out of his house:

It also features amazing political commentary (much of which I didn't understand at age nine) and gentle mockery of humanity at large. Famous "Pogo" slogans include "We have met the enemy, and he is us" (a takeoff on Captain Perry's famous words) and "We are confronted by insurmountable opportunities" (which is merely hilarious). Though it got off to a slow start, the comic ended up running for quite a while, and compilations sold millions of copies. This is, of course, the First Edition of one such compilation; it's in much better condition than my grandfather's were once I got done with them, and it could be yours for $20.00!

Another thing featured in "Pogo" was glee clubs. In my youth I had no idea what those were, but this Collector's Item gave me a chance to find out!

Apparently glee clubs were all the rage in the late 1700s through the 1800s; members frolicked about singing various secular songs, particularly glees (an old-fashioned type of multi-voice unaccompanied song that sounds like it'd be very well-suited to a roaming batch of singers). It seems that in the 1900s, glee clubs were mostly supplanted by more formal (and often religious) choral societies, but there are still some around -- notably, there's one in Chicago's very own suburb of Naperville! And I clearly recall a Pogo compilation that included a glee club formed of various swamp animals.

Glee clubs, of course, often required songbooks such as the above. This Pacific Glee Book was published in Chicago in 1869; presumably it recorded the songs of a local glee club -- making it an interesting piece of local history! And since 1869 was before the Great Chicago Fire, this book is quite hard to find. I hope that someone buys it (for $50.00) in order to restart the Pacific Glee Club, because I'd love to hear such tunes as "Is a Man a Whit the Better?"

This week's Favorite brings us to a similarly light-hearted, but later, episode in Chicago's history:

Apparently, old-style carnivals gave out plaster keepsakes rather than stuffed animals to winners of their games of skill. I currently boast a large stuffed tiger, won for me by a dear friend in the early 2000s; if he and I had instead been at Riverview Amusement Park in 1950, then I might be the proud owner of this dog instead! Riverview apparently took up an area bordered by Western and Belmont Avenues, the Chicago River and Lane Technical School (on Addison). It was open from 1904 to 1967, called itself the World's Largest Amusement Park, and sounds like it was a landmark in many Chicago citizens' lives. (When we first got this dog, I overheard Doug asking one of our regulars whether the gentleman was "pre-Riverview or post-Riverview".) Capone himself had some territorial disputes there, and it was at Riverview that the famous foot-long Chicago-style hot dog was introduced for the very first time! We're not sure what exact point in the park's history this plaster dog hails from, but we know it's one of the Riverview prizes -- and rather than spend your life savings attempting to win it, all you need to do is offer $25.00!

Tonight I don't think I'd be up for carnival activity, but all this Riverview talk makes me want to find a carnival to attend. And not that Six Flags business either -- something more nostalgic! Have you any suggestions, gentle readers?

This week's moral: men and women are both bitter and bright!

2008-05-14T13:18:00.003-05:00

Since last week's entry mentioned bright girls, I decided to make this week's theme bright men! Bitter men, too, for a variety of reasons. Both women and men have reasons to be bitter, I think -- indeed, last week's bright girl-writer made several bitter notes (remember?: "[unlike men,] girls do not throw away the good they have won upon the hockey field, and the swimming bath, by imbibing whisky and other absurd concoctions, by sucking ceaselessly upon a filthy tobacco pipe, nor by crowding into hot billiard rooms and bar parlours"). But these men have particular reason to be bitter, starting with a Collector's Item about a put-upon brother-in-law:

The conceit of this 1930 Limited Edition (number 56 of 250 printed) is that it's an account of the Flood, as related by Noah's brother-in-law. In mannered verse form, it notes that Noah's brother-in-law doesn't much like Noah, and then goes on to describe their (peculiarly modern) society as it is deluged:

V.
Our government shows its fore-sight. In the sky
with some projector-trick last night it writ:
"Stay in your houses. It will soon be dry."
Indeed it will. And so the people sit
without one trace of panic. By and by
we'll gain control of the storm-clouds bit by bit.
But now it's the present, and I'm rather glad
for the little touches of strange we've had.

Do I perchance detect some social commentary? Indeed, although the illustrations are great ...

... the best part may be the fact that as Noah's brother-in-law goes under, his final thought is about how ugly his carpet is (said carpet was given him by his cursed brother-in-law, of course). Yes, it does seem to me that the poem describes human nature to a T. And this psychological portrait could be yours for $300.00! Also, you could impress every Religion major you know.

Now that we've established that brothers-in-law are bitter, let's move on to this Affordable and Interesting bit on married men:

As the cover notes, this is a novelization of the 1965 movie (click here) -- the tagline for which was, "Bring the little woman -- maybe she'll die laughing!" The plot (such as it is) concerns the young Stanley Ford, who accidentally marries a gorgeous Italian woman. His consternation is well summed up by this scene with his butler, Charles:

There was a suspicion of moisture, of anguish in Mr. Ford's eyes. His eyes had the look of suffering of a TV headache commercial before fast, Fast, FAST relief.
"Charles," Mr. Ford said.
Some men are made of iron, some men have hearts of oak. Charles was made of flesh and blood, after all. His veneer, his icy sophistication, his air of disapproval collapsed.
"Good God! How did it happen, sir?"
Like two shipwrecked men who find each other on a desert island long after each had given up all other crew members for lost, they almost fell into each other's arms.

Obviously, Mr. Ford -- upon finding himself in this untenable situation -- seeks the only possible solution.

I'm tempted to see the movie myself! To me, nothing sounds worse right now than marriage; perhaps someday I could use such a how-to guide. Perhaps I'll be able to relate to Mr. Ford (probably better than his blonde cooking-genius wife). But rather than renting the film I may simply purchase this book for $3.00, so you should snap it up if you want it! (Or if you want to save the life of any potential husband of mine ...)

I think Mr. Ford would have liked this week's Favorite:

The title page states that this hilarious 1903 book was "compiled by an old maid and approved by a young bachelor; illustrated by an ex-bachelor; and published by a young married man". It features a misogynistic saying for every day of the year (May 14: "Women, plain or fair, do not readily forgive. --William Sharp"; I think the best is November 16, "To remain a woman's ideal, a man must die a bachelor. -- Smart Set"). It also has wonderfully expressive illustrations:

And they're very persuasive, I think! If you have any friends who need to be persuaded out of some ridiculous marriage, perhaps you should lay down $20.00 for them. The friend will doubtless thank you later!

I think my work here may be done, now that I've covered both women and men of both bright and bitter persuasions. What more is there to talk about, really? Maybe next week I'll just cover inanimate, soulless objects. See you then, gentle readers!

Mother's Day this weekend, for real!

2008-05-07T13:40:00.005-05:00

Ahem. I realize that my last entry implied that last Sunday was Mother's Day. I was corrected by my own mother when I called her, shrieking "Happy Mother's Day!" on the eve of this past Sunday. No harm done, of course. But this time, you definitely have to remember to call your mothers this coming Sunday, the 11th. Because it'll be Mother's Day. Really.

My mother is definitely a bright girl, so I think she'd appreciate this week's Favorite:

I was positive that this circa 1900 volume would mostly contain patronizing notes about needlework, and a woman's proper place, and all that kind of thing. I was even complaining about it before I cracked the cover! Imagine my surprise when I found the Preface to read:

If this book had been written many years ago it would have contained more pages about needlework .... Each year, however, shows how fallacious are those no more than conventional notions concerning the limitations of women, for men are being eclipsed from time to time .... How gracefully and well does a woman ride a bicycle usually; how humpbacked and ungainly do most men appear upon the same machine! Moreover, girls do not throw away the good they have won upon the hockey field, and the swimming bath, by imbibing whisky and other absurd concoctions, by sucking ceaselessly upon a filthy tobacco pipe, nor by crowding into hot billiard rooms and bar parlours. Thus it is easy to see even now as we walk along the streets how girls and women are surpassing boys and men in carriage, health and intellect.

It seems that Jean Stewart (the author) had rather more confidence in the female half of the species than most similar authors of her time. Of course, she's still clearly prejudiced -- I mean, I imbibe absurd concoctions all the time. And I know plenty of men who avoid the filthy tobacco pipe! It's always funny how supposedly "enlightened" works often showcase many more cultural issues than they dissolve. But be that as it may, this happy book remains an excellent source not just for sewing projects and making marzipan, but for throwing up tents and netmaking! And that's not mentioning the disciplines of palmistry and making colored fires (for green fire, make a powder of 18 parts nitrate of barytes, 4 parts shellac, 4 parts calomel and 2 parts chlorate of potash). Also, it appears to be quite a scarce book -- there are no copies to be found for sale on the Internet, though similar books are available; our $40.00 copy is the only one available, anywhere! Perhaps Stewart's mix of prejudice and non made this particular book unpopular ... or parents thought the colored fire too dangerous for their children!

In the Affordable and Interesting corner, we have another bright girl:

Of course everyone's heard of Little Orphan Annie! (When I was a small curly-headed child and wanted to capitalize on being cute, I was known to wander about singing "Tomorrow!" myself.) But not everyone knows that Annie originated as a comic strip. The character was created by Harold Gray for the Chicago "Tribune", and she was (obviously) an incredible success! This book is #6 of the Little Orphan Annie compilations, published in hardcover after the strips had run in the paper; the strips are from 1930 or so, the book from 1931. As one might suspect, this collects the story of Annie being shipwrecked and winning her way free by means of wit, verve and charming smile. $20.00 gets you panels and panels of Annie crying, "Great Caesar's suspenders!" plus a heartwarming scene at the end:

Daddy Warbucks and Annie before the fire. What could be cuter?

Well, African animals are cute. Though the moral of this Collector's Item is a bit more complex than that:

This title page is from our beautiful 1932 copy of René Maran's Batouala, number 694 of 1500 published by the Limited Editions Club (a now-defunct group that printed many gorgeous books in its time). The African animals within are indeed "cute":

. .

... though the word I would prefer to use, I think, would be "glorious". (This book is signed by the illustrator, Miguel Covarrubias.) But again, the real strength of this book is the beautiful story within, which netted its author the prestigious French Prix Goncourt. Maran, who grew up in Africa, was the first Black man to win the Goncourt -- and thanks to the New York "Times"' very comprehensive archives, you can read the original 1922 article about that historic event by clicking here! In that article, the "Times" calls Maran's tale of Batouala -- an African village -- "an unsparing indictment of the white masters of Africa"; around the same time, Ernest Hemingway opined that it's a "great novel". High praise, though some of the turns of phrase from the "Times" do remind me a bit of earlier conversations on prejudice. Still and all, it's clear that this beautiful printing -- which we are offering for $125.00 -- showcases not only a literary landmark but a cultural one.

Now, gentle readers, that we have come to our customary end, I shall again remind you of Mother's Day ... and pretend that last week I didn't say the same thing. Mother's Day! May 11! Don't miss it!

Don't forget to call your mother!

2008-04-30T14:40:00.002-05:00

Mother's Day is nearly upon us! I put some books in the window that my own (admittedly somewhat odd and cynical mother) might enjoy, such as O'Flaherty's Women, Androgynes and Other Mythical Beasts. She would probably also enjoy this strange masklike thing:

Doug says that these are meant to be painted, but I rather like the raw bare brutality of the thing. I tried holding it over my face, and both Doug and Alan called the effect "terrifying". I would like to wear it on a rampage through the streets, batting my eyes at the ladies so they throw roses at me, but instead I will offer it to you for $20.00! I do hope some street-rampaging comes out of it, though.

Now, gentle readers, you may remember the first Best of Literary Criticism entry, which was written when I reached the halfway point of that glorious and overpowering section. I noted that it's quite a diverse place, Literary Criticism, with zillions of subjects covered and strange ideas aplenty! I have completed the whole thing now ... and I have a Best Of Lit Crit II to offer you!

The last Best Of included a book on obituaries. This Best Of has no fewer than two books on death!

1) A book on "styles of dying in British fiction"! Apparently the author presents over forty major death scenes, and demonstrates that the Victorian death scene is less sentimental and formulaic than has usually been assumed. I wonder how many people there are out there who assume things about the Victorian death scene? If you know any, send them here! $7.50.

2) A discussion of the modern elegy! Sylvia Plath has her very own chapter; less stereotypically, so does Langston Hughes. The author argues that in an age of mass death, religious doubt, and forgotten ritual, the elegy has turned violent, unresolved and anti-consolatory. This is always the hallmark of literary criticism books: both literary and cultural discussion! $5.00.

But onwards from that macabre subject -- along with last entry's Victorian hair garland (made from real hair!), I think I've said enough about death for quite a long time. The rest of the books:

3) Romantically, we have a whole book about rose symbolism. The rose is secular and divine love; Apuleius's ass and the Virgin Mary; beauty, youth, joy and sorrow at the world's transience. ... Of value to dreamwork practitioners, literary critics, students of symbolism and the arts, art therapists, and all those cultivating an aesthetic imagination. Instead of giving your lover (or mother!) a dozen roses, I think it'd be far sweeter to give this. $4.00.

4) Even more romantically, a whole nother book on tower symbolism! Immediately after World War I, four major European and American poets and thinkers moved into towers as their principal habitations. Taking this striking coincidence as its starting point, this book sets out to locate modern turriphilia in its cultural context ... Turriphilia? $7.50.

5) T. H. White's treatise on scandal; this seems to be something of a tabloid biography for the 1700s. It describes, for instance, a Lady Cathcart who died in 1789; she displeased her fourth husband by wearing a ring that said: "If I survive, I will have five". Included also are such notables as the Duke of Queensbury, who "dislocated London's milk supply". That's even worse than dislocating a joint, I assume, though I've never dislocated London's milk supply myself. It's funny how it seems literary to read about eighteenth-century people like this, yet I would make fun of anyone who talked overmuch about Britney Spears! Oh well ... feed your gossipy urges in a more academic fashion, for only $5.00.

6) This one might be my favorite book in the section: a tome describing the careers of more than twenty literary forgers! Vrain Lucas is the name of one who wrote tens of thousands of letters -- supposedly from Galileo, Mary Magdalene, Voltaire and Cleopatra. There's also William Ireland, who created a "lost" Shakespeare play. Others specifically aimed to discredit certain literary figures, while still others just wanted to create proud legacies. (I hope that someday I become famous enough that unprincipled shysters produce "new" works of mine!) The dust jacket also mentions that some of the forgers have become so well-known that their own works are quite valuable: those of Thomas J. Wise, it seems, fetch tens of thousands of dollars. $7.50.

I think that my goal for the weekend shall be to build a tower, in which I will languish -- weeping elegies and smelling roses, creating forgeries that I sell to tabloids to make the bills -- until I die of consumption as every good writer should. But I won't forget to call my mother on Sunday (I hope), and neither should you, gentle readers!

2008-04-23T14:17:00.004-05:00

Gentle readers! Gentle readers! I finished Literary Criticism! I got all the way through Z! Now I'm going to work on the enormous sets above the Literary Criticism shelves; and next week you may expect a Best Of Lit Crit Volume 2.

It's like the death of an era, finishing Literary Criticism. It's taken me months. I confess that I don't tend to spend a lot of time thinking about rituals of death. Embalming, burial rites, etc. -- these are all interesting in their way, but not something I devote a lot of mental space to. I have, however, always found the Victorian ritual of crafting corpse hair into decorative objects to be somewhat amazing, a feeling that is only increased by this week's Collector's Item:

Yes, indeed, that is hair. Not lace, not thread, but hair. In case you don't already know about this macabre Victorian custom, I am now very pleased to tell you that the Victorians used to collect hair from their dead relatives and weave it into attractive flowery wreaths. You can find out more at this page (click here); you can even buy more recent hair stuff from hair-workers today at sites such as this one (click here). Indeed, you can even follow in the footsteps of Jo from Little Women and sell your hair, if you're desperate (or curious): just click here!

I am sorry to say that I don't actually know whose hair was used to create the pretty little garland that we're selling, but it does seem to boast a variety of shades. It also -- unlike any other antique hair wreaths that I was able to unearth with ten minutes of internet research -- is adorned with jet beads, affixed to the whole by means of wires (sort of like hair themselves, really). (So many things in the world are like hair! This vaguely creepy thought will be dogging me for days now, I can tell.) For $125.00, you could own one of these astonishing items of craftsmanship -- rather lovely in an autumnal way, and it comes complete with a fabulous story that will bring you adulation at parties.

If you would prefer adulation from one bookstore staff person, then you might come in and tell me how to use one of my Favorite things around here:

I thought it might be an astrolabe, because I've never seen an astrolabe and in fact I wasn't entirely sure what exactly they were for; my initial image search made me doubt that assessment, but once I realized that there is such a thing as a spherical astrolabe, my doubts cleared. And then I spent far too long looking at pictures of neat astrolabes. Astrolabes were once widely used to figure out how the sky looks from any given place at any given time. Thus, the globe itself is stationary, while the outer lattice spins -- that lattice being marked with the twelve signs of the Zodiac and the months of the year. Because my temperament lends itself more to romance, occult ideas and strange fantasies than to science, I have dreams of purchasing this $60.00 item merely so I might set up a skylit workshop with stuffed alligators and bottles of mercury ... then sit around in medieval dress and spectacles, pretending to be an antique scholar. I could also write sonnets in a garret! Oooh ... I could crack my mirror from side to side! But really, this all shows that literature is my strong point. I'll leave the astrolabe for a scientist.

Strange fantasies are the byword of Virgil Finlay, whose work is compiled in this Affordable and Interesting portfolio:

Finlay was an incredibly prolific science fiction and fantasy illustrator earlier this century; his images -- drawn in a graceful, restrained, yet rather glorious and exuberant style -- decorated many of the pulp magazines and Ace doubles of bygone eras. This is simply a collection of his work, filled with statuesque men and women, chains of light, peculiar phenomena, and so on and so forth. (Also magical creatures -- speaking of which, there is a magnificent exhibit at the Field Museum right now that I highly recommend. It's comprehensive and beautiful and inspiring and I loved it. If you have even a passing interest in mythical creatures, please do yourself a favor and go see it.)

One of the nice things about our copy of this portfolio is that it previously belonged to a pulp collector, who carefully wrote in (below most of these pictures) where the image appeared first. For instance, this was for the 1940 edition of Austin Hall's The Rebel Soul:

$20.00 will gain this strange and wonderful collection, including the informative annotations. Dragons bound by chains of light have never been so reasonably priced!

Without Literary Criticism I feel somewhat bereft. I'll start another project soon, I think, but for now it's time for me to go home and relax. Have the best of evenings, dear readers, and do see that exhibit!

We all live in a yellow submarine.

2008-04-16T17:07:00.002-05:00

I really am the bookish type. I've never been much for sports, or getting out in the healthy fresh air for that matter.* I like to sit hunched behind a computer like a gargoyle, or to curl up in a chair reading, far more than I like -- say -- football.** But I was still pleased to find this Affordable and Interesting program in the Sports section:

It's from the 1938 Twin City Football Championship, and it does list the official line-up for the game, which (judging from the scribbled pencil note on the front of the program) took place on November 11. More interesting to me, however -- as is frequently the case with these old, ephemeral things -- are the advertisements within the program:

Suits pressed for 25 cents! Complete full-course Thanksgiving dinner for 85 cents! Wow, those were the days. Beyond the gee-whiz factor of the prices, though, it's always fun to look at the style of antique advertisements. When was the last time you saw the words "Fun for the whole family!" used in a non-sarcastic manner? (1938, apparently.) I also find myself wondering how the Globe Business College would react if I called asking after the stenotype classes they advertised. Maybe they'd be willing to send us $3.00 for this little piece of history ... or maybe not. I guess it's more likely to appeal to a football fan.

Ten years later, we come to this week's Collector's Item:

Arkham House is one of the most famous genre presses in the world. Founded in the late 1930s, its original purpose was to keep the works of the late, great pulp author H.P. Lovecraft in print; it quickly expanded to other pulp titles, though. Their 1947-48 catalogue is rather humorously idiosyncratic ("We are too badly understaffed to do the necessary bookkeeping ...") and contains not only instructions (and harangues) for the press's subscribers, but also descriptions of the books Arkham had available at the time, announcements for upcoming books, and an adorable middle section:

Titled "Book Review" and accompanied by the above picture of a bug-eyed child, it seems to be a poem about the reader's fear that things from his ghost stories are coming to get him. Are all publishing house catalogues so filled with personality? $60.00 seems a paltry sum for such.

But my Favorite is from 15-20 years later still:

The Beatles' illustrated lyrics? Now this is some serious 60s nostalgia, here. Among other things, the variously-styled and -colored illustrations feature women with golden skin being chased by crocodiles who have butterflies coming from their mouths ... men with hands for moustaches and barbells for eyeglasses, or wings on their heads ... giant woodcut-style beetles (I mean, the insects) playing guitars. I'm not making this up:

Contributors include David Montgomery, Erté ... actually, rather than listing the contributors, I'll just show you a picture of the creature presenting their names:

There are also many random pictures of naked people, and imaginative portrayals of the Beatles themselves (cat ears all around!). And, of course, the Beatles' lyrics are printed throughout the book -- plus comments from the great men themselves (did you know that John always hated "Run For Your Life"?). I'm not really clear on how a man with hands for a moustache illustrates "Don't Let Me Down", but I try not to quibble about these things. For $15.00, you can secure this tome for yourself and ponder such mysteries on your own!

I now have the irrepressible urge to listen to Beatles music, but this bookstore is a dignified place and I'll try to wait till I get home. Listen to some Beatles for me in the meantime, gentle readers!

* This is a slight exaggeration for dramatic purposes.
** But football is still boring.

Now if only someone would make Holmesian sheet music!

2008-04-08T14:47:00.003-05:00

I'm posting on Tuesday this week because I'm going to a conference tomorrow, and I totally forgot to ask Alan to cover the blog for me. Oh well, he's having more fun cleaning out our Glass Cases, anyway. First Editions everywhere, nor any drop to drink!

Doug says the shop is really starting to "sing", and I tend to agree with him. I probably talk about all our wondrous cleaning and organizing too much, but it's wondrous! I recently asked Shelley to half-price all our sheet music; during this effort, she found a bunch of unpriced pieces, which I made Affordable (they were already Interesting):

I really like a lot of the illustrations on the covers of these old music, but not as much as I like the idea of some of these musicals. I had no idea that there was a musical version of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"! What will they think of next? And just look at the soulful gazes of some of those old-time stars ... ah, Sinatra, I never understood why older women thought you handsome till I saw you in this light!

Plus, this bear is just amazing-looking.

.

I spent a few unproductive minutes trying to imitate its facial expression, then Alan did it perfectly and I laughed forever. This whole stack of music bits is now $2.00-4.00 apiece (I think the only $4.00 one is Sinatra), and if anyone else wants to stop by and imitate bear expressions with me before someone snatches up that piece, I'm sure we'll have a fine time.

We acquired a bunch of cool Sherlock Holmes material recently, and I have thus discovered that the Holmesian subculture goes further than ever I imagined. Did you know that August Derleth, the famous fantasy/horror writer, was totally crazy about Sherlock Holmes? Check out this week's Favorite:

When Derleth heard that Arthur Conan Doyle intended to write no more Holmes stories, he took action by creating Solar Pons! Solar Pons, as I understand it, is basically just like Sherlock Holmes except that his cases are set slightly later (the 1920s-30s), and he is aware of -- admiring of! -- the great Holmes. Apparently Derleth wanted to simply continue the Holmes series -- he even wrote to Doyle and asked for permission! -- but Doyle refused, so Derleth simply created Pons. Indeed, it seems that August Derleth eventually published more Solar Pons stories than Doyle ever did Holmes stories. The Casebook of Solar Pons contains cases with names such as that of the "Fatal Glance", the "Spurious Tamerlane", the "Whispering Knights", etc. etc. .... you may also discover the secret of the "Haunted Library", the "Missing Huntsman", the "Sussex Archers" and heaven only knows how many other English things. This First Edition is $60.00, and we have several other Pons collections as well!

And for those who devote even more love to their Holmesian habit, we can offer Collector's Items:

The Illustrious Client's Casebooks were a series put out by (who else?) the "Illustrious Clients", a group whose shared love of Holmes led to fabulous writerly feats. As I glance through the third, I see that it contains some very recognizable names: Derleth -- of course -- and others like Vincent Starrett and Christopher Morley. It also contains all manner of literary thingies: essays and poems, pastiches and quizzes, parodies, "tales-in-verse", and even limericks! Isaac S. George's limerick, for instance:

There once was "The Woman" Irene
Whose mind was most active and keen.
With good-natured pleasure
She quite took his measure
And stole from the Master the scene.

I didn't get many of the inside jokes in these, since I haven't read an enormous amount of Holmes material myself; but I am charmed by the geekery involved in such an endeavor (being somewhat of a geek myself). Perhaps whoever buys this $200.00 third casebook will be able to fill me in a bit.

I'll look for mysteries to bring you from my conference, dear readers! With luck none will afflict the shop while I'm gone, and I'll return to the same quiet little place next week.

Quote of the Day: "There's a buffalo there. Has there always been a buffalo there?"

2008-04-02T17:59:00.004-05:00

I'm through V in Literary Criticism ... on to W! Doug says we should have a party to celebrate when I'm done. Personally I think we should have a party to celebrate Shag the buffalo. I raptly documented the long process by which Doug wrestled ladders, screws, and lightbulbs in order to mount Shag. A glorious photo essay results!

.

Doug cleans and prepares the work area.

Joan coordinates efforts from the ground.

Looks good ... but something's missing ....

Ah! Perfect! How dignified!

Doug says that we might end up selling the buffalo head if, after a few weeks of buffalo presence, we feel overwhelmed and unfortunate. So if you might be interested in owning Shag the buffalo head, you should email and let us know. I haven't decided my stance yet, but I think I'm becoming pro-buffalo-in-the-store. If you would like to file a vote, please feel free to email or leave a comment!

In order to install Shag, Doug had to temporarily move the busts of Jefferson and Dickens normally kept on top of those two shelves. Apparently, they were gifts to Mr. O'Gara, who owned the store for a long time; a local Catholic church gave them to him after he sent them lots of books. People keep asking to buy them, but they're not for sale, so I try to redirect customers' attention to this week's Collector's Item:

These circa 1920, painted iron bookend-gentlemen sport excited grins, as if nothing could possibly make them happier than sitting reading in their libraries. Since there's two of them and they're identical, I was reminded of an interesting plaque I saw once in an exhibit of aboriginal material at the Art Institute; it said that ancient cultures considered twins sacred. The reason behind this was the cool part -- every person alive was considered to have a sacred doppelganger in the post-death lands; if twins were born, it was thought that the sacred doppelganger had come through to our reality by accident. Basically, therefore, one of the twins was sort of like an angel, but didn't know it yet. Well, I thought it was cool, anyway ... if you agree, you can find more awesome doppelganger superstitions at this site (click here). You can also buy these bookends for $125.00 ... and yet -- which is the sacred doppelganger?

Ya like how I used innocent-looking bookends to rant about something completely unrelated? I definitely won't do that with this Affordable and Interesting item:

Ludvík Vaculík is a Czech writer and thinker who began his life as a fairly idealistic communist, but later began to criticize his government's communism. Now, I would be the first to admit that I know nothing about Czechoslovakia except what I found out on this hilarious California-Czech restaurant page (click here), but Vaculík is an interesting enough character that I feel the urge to know more. One of his most famous works, "Two Thousand Words to Workers, Farmers, Scientists, Artists, and Everyone", was published with sixty signatures (from intellectuals as well as everyday folks) and soon actively condemned by the Czech Communist Party. Encouraging peaceful protests and elections, it caused such a furor that it's often cited as a factor leading to the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by "normalizing" Warsaw Treaty forces. It must be amazing to write something so powerful! Vaculík was censored soon thereafter, and forced to pass out his work in the form of signed, hand-typed "manuscripts" (since it was against the law to print his words) for many years. By reading this book of his short essays (many of them originally distributed in rare "manuscript" form), you will learn all about recent Czech history, as well as what it's like to be an oppressed idealist. You will also totally show up anyone who tries to act pretentious because they've read the much more famous Czech writer Milan Kundera. (Why do snooty folks so love to brag about reading Kundera?) That's definitely worth $5.00!

Czechoslovakia is not especially close to the Ottoman Empire, but my Favorite item this week is about the Ottomans anyway.

I've been interested in the Ottoman Empire for a long time. During their Golden Age under Süleyman the Magnificent, the empire outshone every country in Europe. It espoused comparative religious tolerance, allowing members of many persecuted religions to settle on its lands; and it produced incredible art, particularly calligraphy. So I was very excited when I discovered this huge, beautiful book full of portraits of Ottoman sultans. In both English and Turkish, this gorgeous folio discusses the basics of portrait-painting (European portrait types, costumes in which subjects were painted, etc.) and describes each individual sultan's life and reign -- for instance, Süleyman:

Süleyman I extended the borders of the empire to embrace three continents and reach from the Persian Gulf in the east to the western Mediterranean. He also developed a strongly centralized system of government control and fostered the development of a social order based on the equality of his subjects through laws that abolished distinctions based on religious tenets or national origin. ... In addition to his success as a statesman and an administrator, Süleyman I had a degree of sensitivity worthy of a poet, as well as a thirst for knowledge and an appreciation of the arts ....

Did I mention that Süleyman was magnificent? Because he was. If you want to be almost as magnificent, you could buy me this book ($125.00) ... though I think I can live without it, as long as I get some quality time with its glorious pages first.

There's your ~~history lesson~~ blog entry for the day, gentle readers! I hope none of you were bored enough to go do homework instead. For myself, I think I'll dream of handsome sultans tonight (not to mention limpid buffalo eyes).

Nothing says "I love you" like an academic ferret discussion!

2008-03-30T13:09:00.003-05:00

I love ferrets! I owned seven or so over the course of my hectic childhood. They are such adorable, weaselly, clever little things. So I found 2008's hottest plagiarism scandal to be particularly awesome:

Romance novelist plagiarizes ferret wildlife report

The article is every bit as funny as you might imagine. Unfortunately, it's a "Newsweek" article, and their website is a nearly intolerable mishmash of flashing ads and very short article sections (note: if you have an older browser, it might even crash your browser). But it's definitely worth it for the romantic dialogue quotations that involve the exact weight, diet, and evolutionary history of the black-footed ferret.

Let's all welcome Shag to his new home!

2008-03-26T14:21:00.005-05:00

Astonishing things are afoot.

Doug has decided that we need a new label for our American History section ... in the form of a buffalo head! It will hang in the center of the store, gazing soulfully down upon staff and patrons alike. I have to say, "Oregon Trail" never prepared me for the size of that thing. * It is immense and stupendous and I am half-tempted to bow my head every time I pass it. I am a little terrified of its stare, in fact, as I sit here innocently typing away at the store computer.

We have, however, had a few entertaining moments with it, such as the time when our regular Jon started using it as a hatrack, and the conversation about its name. (Doug has decided that it will be named Shag. You may recall that we got a bunch of cool Carl Sandburg stuff a bit back; well, at that time we discovered Sandburg's wonderful story, "The Wooden Indian and the Shaghorn Buffalo", from Rootabaga Stories. From this comes Shag's name!)

But enough of that. Let's distract ourselves from deep dark buffalo eyes with this week's Favorite, which -- strangely enough -- depicts bookstores as totally free of buffalo heads:

I somewhat doubt that many of you, gentle readers, are of an age to be bringing a lunchbox to school -- even a lunchbox with an adorable kinda-three-dimensional kinda-diorama thing behind glass. But this little thing can easily double as a handbag, so that's all right. In fact, it's lined with cloth and contains a wallet!

Plus, I brown-bag my lunch before I come to work myself. So who's to say any of us are too old for a lunchbox?

Apparently, the diorama behind the glass in this handbag is based on a picture by the well-known Dutch artist, Anton Pieck. Pieck worked in many different media -- from woodcuts to paintings to designing at least one fairytale theme park -- and is, in fact, so famous within the Netherlands that there's a whole museum devoted to his work. Most of his images seem to be charming in an old-European, Victorian-childlike sort of way; for instance, can you spot the hook-nosed bookseller with checked pants in the handbag? Or the bonnetted little girl leading a dog? Now I'm not saying that this handbag / lunchbox is an original Pieck or anything, but you have to admit that it's a pretty creative tribute to his work. And you can even carry your credit cards in it! At $35.00, I call that a deal.

Speaking of children, this week's Collector's Item is an 1816 treatise on the making thereof:

I'm not entirely sure why the writers of this book called it Aristotle's Master-Piece, Completed ... though it did at least give this publisher an excuse to create that hilarious picture of a wild-eyed Aristotle holding a skull:

Good God, his left eye is like a very vortex.

I had no idea how well-known the Masterpiece was until I started Googling and found it online (click here). (Although I may be navigating the hypertext of that one incorrectly, it seems to have many divergences from the one I hold in my hands, so I assume that among the many reprints of Aristotle's Master-Piece there were various editorial changes / omissions / etc.) Apparently, this work initially came out around the mid-1600s and influenced -- or at least was mentioned by -- all manner of literary luminaries, such as James Joyce and Anthony Burgess. Perhaps this explains some of their ... funnier ... gender-related attitudes.

After all, among the things this Master-Piece tells us are that a woman's imagination can change the form of her child (therefore, birth defects are determined by things the mother sees or envisions during her pregnancy, as is the child's sex) and that women who don't marry and mate quickly will become ill with the "Green Sickness". Now I know you can follow that link I provided above and read all of "Aristotle"'s insights for yourself, but you have to admit that it would be exciting to own a version bound in 1816. This one is $125.00 -- but the information it contains about imagining yourself a healthy child is priceless!

It seems that Aristotle's Master-Piece was sometimes considered a kind of "dirty book", passed around to clandestine giggles and gasps -- though really, nothing in there struck me as remotely sensual. There have been far more sensual printed things since then, anyway, as our Affordable and Interesting item tells us:

This book was well-reviewed by Salon.com (click here); from what I can tell, it's partly the story of Olympia Press but mostly the story of Maurice Girodias, its founder. Olympia was a famous "smut" press -- famous because, though it published its share of icky titles, it also printed many literary masterpieces that might not otherwise have seen the light of day. Nabokov's Lolita, for instance, was published by Olympia, as was Burroughs' Naked Lunch. In the delirium of censorship that apparently afflicted the mid-twentieth-century,** Girodias put out literature that -- had it been successfully suppressed -- would have been a great loss to mankind. Of course, it doesn't really sound like he was a saint -- the reviewer I linked to above calls him "the strangest fish imaginable, a contradictory, insufferable, magnetic man". But his bravery is worth noting and personally, I'm glad we have Lolita, so I can't help but be pleased that this book is available (for $7.50) to tell the world about Girodias.

It's warm again, gentle readers! I know I talk about the weather way too often here, but I'm just glad I can walk to the library without whimpering from cold. I think I'll go there tonight, in fact, and see you all next week.

* "Oregon Trail" is one of the most famous educational video games ever made -- there are even popular, mass-produced T-shirts available that reference the game -- and doubtless shaped my entire generation's attitude about buffalo.

** Perhaps we shouldn't assume that censorship has left us behind too soon ... there's some unsettling news from Indiana: Indiana Bookstores Are Now Required to Register with the Government If They Sell "Sexually Explicit Materials".

Triumphant return, sans liquids

2008-03-19T14:18:00.005-05:00

Ah, gentle readers ... having returned, I (Lydia) fear that it is beyond my abilities to write entries as hilarious as those penned by ~~Mr.~~ Alan. I guess it's lucky for me that he's got too much to do to write the blog entry every week! Well, sort of lucky, because that means I get to research ridiculous topics and wander around the store looking for books to feature myself -- but unlucky, because his blog entries (one and two) made me laugh hysterically all the way in Berlin, and I'd like to read more.

Berlin! Yes, Berlin! I was in Berlin -- seeing the remarkably beautiful, vibrant city for the first time, and learning all about the place, including the German people. Did you know, for instance, that Berliners in particular are famously rude? They disdain saccharine smiles and soft-spoken courtesy -- hallmarks (they maintain) of American interactions. If I notice any Berliners coming into the shop, I will be sure to scowl at them and shout invective in order to win their respect.

I was inspired by my newly vast knowledge of the German people to investigate this week's Collector's Item:

This seventeen-volume set from our Germany section was first written by the well-known Catholic priest and historian, Johannes Janssen, in the late 1800s. It's a facsimile (printed in the 1960s) of the 1890 15th edition -- indeed, it was a successful series! Janssen himself apparently felt that he was redressing quite a lack: "I ... resolved to bring out ... the civil and intellectual growth of our nation; not to give marked preference to so-called leading state events, campaigns and battles, but to depict the German national life in all its varying conditions, and stages, and phases of destiny ...." A man of modest aims, I see. I do think he either was very fair-minded or very sarcastic, given that he describes earlier Protestant scholars as "trustworthy and unprejudiced".

Volume 1 alone describes everything from a totally unbiased description of 16th-17th century German writing ("in place of the earlier simple, natural, fluent writing, a sort of clumsy, jerking stuttering and stammering had come into fashion, which cannot be read without a feeling of pain") to 1400s pictures of headgear ("Women wore pointed lace caps a yard high, or head-dresses formed of coloured stuff pressed and ornamented with gold and precious stones"; I have to say that if I had something like that on my head, I'd be rude too). If you're interested in sixteen volumes (plus index) of similarly trustworthy and unprejudiced discussion, they can all be yours for a mere $275.00!

This week's Affordable and Interesting item was also published by Catholics:

The Daughters of St. Paul, an order that apparently puts out quite a lot of media, published this book in 1967. It gathers several decrees from the Pope regarding the use of modern media. The book is mostly the decree itself, plus pictures; it mainly encourages Catholics not just to view properly Catholic media, but also to produce it. Interestingly, it also instructs authorities to pass laws that will restrict media to a certain moral level. In some parts, it sets up Catholic offices to oversee media and tells them how best to control the beast. I would be intrigued to see what Catholics who currently work in the media thought of this book. It might also be a good resource for students of religious history or media studies; it's a good price for students -- $7.50!

Not particularly Catholic, but possibly related to the beginning of this entry (Berlin!), I now present you with this week's Favorite:

How can a cane be relevant to Berlin, you ask? Well, look at this:

It's a flask-cane: you can store beer in it! (Not to stereotype Germans, or anything.) Imagine: a beer-storing cane, just for you. Only $30.00. Please, come buy it and take it away from me before I consider sneaking all manner of strange liquids into my workplace. Ooh ... I wonder if you could sneak liquids onto a plane with this cane?! (I had a delicious energy drink removed from my possession on the way back into the U.S., and I still miss it.) Or perhaps one could fill the cane with poison, and become a famous and subtle assassin -- always smartly dressed. But why limit it to liquids? You could fill the cane with sparkles and be a street magician ... or with sand to create impromptu Zen gardens wherever you go! The possibilities are endless! Indeed, I hope whoever buys it doesn't just use it for beer.

It's good to be home. I'll be dreaming up strange fancies of what to put in that cane all week, now ... I love my job!

Brain Judo

2008-03-12T09:09:00.004-05:00

It is in the best interest of booksellers to promote the great benefits of books. Some of these are so obvious they hardly need mentioning: books tend to have information printed inside of them; they make excellent gifts; heavier ugly ones can serve in a pinch as doorstops or projectile weapons, and so on. But being the creatures of letters that we are, most scientific evidence has been, until recently, well outside our bailiwick. Fortunately, the Internet has put rigorously researched medical knowledge into the hands of those unqualified to judge its veracity, but well-qualified to wield it to their own ends. One such tidbit recently appeared on Yahoo Health, in a short article entitled “Pick Up a Book, Bulk Up Your Brain.” It claimed that reading books doesn’t simply increase one’s knowledge. Indeed, the article extols passion for the printed page as a “self defense class for your brain.” Scientists have always known that avid readers outperform their indolent counterparts on cognitive tests. But what they recently discovered is that people who read regularly have “extra brainpower to keep the mind rolling when brain cells are under attack.” This is known as a cognitive reserve; extra brain cells are set aside to be called upon when their employer is exposed to pollution and toxins. In a study of factory workers exposed to toxic substances like lead, big readers routinely showed no loss of cognitive function, while others tended to drool on the survey questions and occasionally attempted to eat the paper.

So kudos to the advances of authors, chapels of printers, and pies of typesetters who have contributed to the mental health of people everywhere. Advances? Chapels? Pies? What the heck is going on here? Has the author of this blog been exposed to too much lead and too few books? Hardly, my friends. These extraordinary collective nouns are the genuine article. They come from this week’s Affordable but Interesting item, An Exaltation of Larks, complied and written by noted playwright and actor James Lipton. Filled with engravings and over 1,000 venereal terms (yes, you read it right, that’s the actual word for collective nouns), this fine volume is guaranteed to provide hours of entertainment, ridiculously cool trivia, and a strengthened brain cell per word. Of course, we would never make such a scientific guarantee were it not backed by a discord of experts. Seriously – see page 182 of aforementioned book. And if you are worried about your finances because a foreclosure of bankers (pg. 250) has informed you that your account is running dry, fear not. It will run you a mere $7.50.

Perhaps some of you are skeptical. Perhaps you think Yahoo Health news is an unreliable source. Perhaps you suspect that the complex of psychoanalysts (pg. 172) responsible for this study is interested only in sensationalism. I don’t blame you. Doctrines of doctors (pg. 80) will claim that only the hard sciences can provide us with the objective basis necessary for assessing the veracity of otherwise sketchy studies, conducted by unreliable broods of researchers (pg. 182), whose results are as reliable as the interest groups that fund them. Therefore: this week’s Collectible item. Published in 1918, this beautifully bound French Manuel de Neurologie is chock full of the information you need to evaluate the information you want to believe. And for those who don’t speak French, there are lots of pictures of weird looking things, which appear to be the very cells that books are purported to strengthen. Dr. C. Winkler’s fact-filled phenomenon is a mere $75 – a low price to pay for certainty about one’s brain.

But all this science is making me feel a little woozy. What need is there to objectify the value of books? Why the insistence upon facts and figures, the constant justifications in terms of brainpower improved or information gained? According to the author of this week’s Favorite, Books and Men, it is because modern progress has made naïve belief and superstition into vices. Children “have ceased to read fairy stories, because they no longer believe in fairies; they find Hans Andersen silly, and the Arabian Nights stupid; and the very babies, ‘skeptics in long-coats,’ scorn you openly if you venture to hint at Santa Claus.” This is a disaster, says Agnes Repplier, in her beautiful and affordable ($12.50) 1896 treatise on the relationship between humans and the written word. Such books, she writes, free of facts but full of fancy, are “legitimate food for a child’s mind, nourish its imagination, inspire a healthy awe, and are death to that precocious pedantry which is the least pleasing trait that children are wont to manifest.” A displeasing trait in adults, as well, I might add. Agnes might have been aghast to hear us justify books according to brain cells created rather than worlds imagined. But we booksellers need to sell books, and so both approaches must be used.

Well, there you have it. Fact or fiction? Either one will most likely be good for you and your squiggly gray friend upstairs.

Synchronicity

2008-03-05T14:16:00.011-06:00

Just to get this out of the way: Lydia. Please do not refer to me as Mr. Alan. Mr. Alan is how my 1st and 3rd grade Chinese students referred to me, before asking if my goatee was real and then puking watermelon all over the floor. Incidentally, there were no teacher's assistants to help me correct their misappropriation of my name, or the floor's misappropriation of the watermelon. China, while a charming country, has its drawbacks.

On to the actual blog.

Okay. It’s very simple – weird coincidences happen at used bookstores. There’s simply no way around it. About a week ago I received a book recommendation from a German friend of a friend. She told me to look for a copy of “Max und Moritz” by Wilhelm Busch. This happened to be the only week when I was not responsible for putting out new arrivals on Saturday, so I had no idea what might be around the shop. Needless to say, when I came into the store on Monday there was a vintage, German, hand-colored copy of “Max und Moritz” sitting in the new arrivals section. I had been looking online that morning for the book, to no avail. The few copies on abebooks were far too expensive. And the price of our copy, you ask? $15. Yep, hand-colored 100 year old coincidences starting at $15.

The current owner of O’Gara and Wilson, Doug Wilson, has assured me he partakes fairly often of this invigorating synchronicity. Three times in thirty years he has encountered customers who came in to the store and began describing a particularly scarce book, only to realize he was holding precisely that book in his hand when they started speaking.

What does this mean? Well, I’m not exactly sure. But the people who frequent used bookstores know exactly what I’m talking about. They thrive on the energy that has infused used books – four leaf clovers that flutter out from old editions, inscriptions that yield unusual provenance when you check them out on Google, marginal notes that eerily echo your own opinion as you read. These books are alive, in a strange way, and looking for human companions.

Speaking of “alive in a strange way and looking for human companions,” this week’s Collector’s Item is about a gentleman who meets that description to a T. If you can’t afford the tens of thousands it costs for a first edition, this pristine first trade edition of Dracula is well worth your $75. Copies routinely go for more on ebay, and in far worse condition. Ours looks like it just came off the press (though it’s actually about a hundred years old). And there are irresistably cute bats on the spine…

But I’ve gotten away from the synchronicity theme. How to get back. Let’s see… give me an hour or two to wander around the store, looking for some coincidences.

Just back from wandering around the store for an hour and a half, and nothing. Absolutely nothing. Because that’s the thing with synchronicity. You just can’t go looking for it, and I should know that after years of trying to and failing. However. As I was looking through the children’s section I found the following book, which I had never seen before, and will definitely be our Favorite for the week. Published by Let’s Save the Children, Inc. in 1972 (nothing here is a joke), it is a rhyming, twenty page biography of Marvin Gaye with full page pictures, apparently meant for children. The poetic bio includes such gems as “For Marvin is a special man / He has a lot to say. / He’s not just a writer who writes / Of everyday sights / Nor a singer who sings / Of everyday things.” No copies available online, and this one a mere $20! Fantastic collector’s item and a very, very basic description of Marvin Gaye. Very basic. Not for serious research purposes. Perhaps this will be exactly what someone was looking for, and in that case synchronicity, as it always does, will come through the back door.

So just now a customer came in looking for a very scarce play by an obscure playwright. Guess what? I walked right over to our drama section, and couldn’t find it. But we have a large collection of scarce drama in our back storeroom, and Mr. Wilson was kind enough to check and see if it was there. And you know what… it wasn’t. But while I was looking for it, I found this week’s Affordable but Interesting item. If you are like me, then you think Johnny Depp is freaking awesome, in a Platonic way of course. If you are female and like me, you probably just think he’s freaking awesome. Either way, “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” is coming out on video quite soon, and we have a beautiful copy of the play, complete with dust jacket and dramatic black and white photos of the 1979 production. Expensive? No, this out of print book club edition is an astonishing $7.50, complete with the macabre dust jacket.

Well, here we are at the end of the blog on synchronicity, and nothing crazy happened. In fact, everything went totally normally. But in the process of looking for coincidences, I came across books I didn’t know existed. Very cool books. And that’s the upside of a used bookstore – you can never really lose once you walk in, provided you look hard enough.

I couldn't find a Latin word for "map"!

2008-02-27T17:53:00.004-06:00

Next week, gentle readers, I will not be with you. I am going to the Continent for some time, so the next two blog entries will be written (no doubt with great humor) by the dependable Mr. Alan. In the meantime, I have been trying to get in some last-minute visits to Chicago's Festival of Maps, a really amazing citywide celebration of, well, maps. All of you should run -- not walk -- to the closest station on the Festival, for it is soon to close!

I mention this because it is from the Festival that I derived this week's Favorite:

One amazing map exhibit is at Hyde Park's own Oriental Institute: European Cartographers and the Ottoman World, 1500–1750 (click here for information). (I thought the exhibit was supposed to close on March 2, but the museum had a sign that said March 16, and the website reports it as both March 2 and March 16.) On display were, of course, many maps, as well as some truly fascinating observations about the development of mapmaking, and what historical maps indicate about the geographical and political consciousness of various eras. Also on display was a copy of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's letters from Turkey -- relevant as historical travel writing. The exhibit plaque quoted Lady Montagu (1689-1762) speaking so sarcastically of previous travel writers that I was intrigued. Who doesn't love sarcasm?

When I returned to the store, I couldn't help looking through this 1892 biography. Apparently Lady Montagu was quite a woman; two sentences found on the Internet demonstrate this admirably:

Constantinople was full of wonders which Lady Mary, unlike so many European wives, set out to explore and understand. She mastered the language, investigated mosques, and visited with the women of the harem, whom she came to admire.

And as this book notes, she wasn't only known as the "first Englishwoman to send back accounts of the mysterious and magnificent East", but "as the friend and then the enemy of Pope; as the courageous introducer of inoculation; as the strong-minded, independent, eccentric traveller. Alike to friends and enemies, she has ever stood out as a strong, original figure." I can't believe I've never heard of her before! And I can't tell you how tempted I am by this beautiful biography -- it's only $15.00. But I feel that I should seize the chance to tell you all about Lady Montagu, and since I'd like it if more people learned about her, I think I'll repress my acquisitive feelings and let a customer have this biography.

Also in a travel-relevant vein is this Affordable and Interesting tome:

The dust jacket tells us that,

The Royal Tour is a facsimile of an altogether unique, handwritten and illustrated account of the cruise of HMS Ophir in 1901, when the Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) toured almost the whole of the British Empire .... The whole trip took nearly nine months and was enormously popular with the countries visited. It was a time when the British Empire was immensely strong .... Harry Price wrote and illustrated his journal during the voyage itself, and produced a picture of the tour which has an immediate and spontaneous impact, far removed from the turgid official reports of the time.

To prove that this description is no exaggeration, I hereby present you with pictures of the facsimile's pages.

.

The whole book is like that! It's a steal at $12.50. Who doesn't love royalty?

I was attracted mainly by the cover of this week's Collector's Item:

"Hot Stuph"! Goodness! And a picture of a yellowjacket! What could be going on in this 1909 book? My interest only increased when Doug idly opened it to the front page and read aloud:

To the Misguided, Imbecile, Impotent and Senile Democratic Party and its Surviving Unfortunate Members -- Those Men who should Know Better and Act Better; Those Men who Have Opposed with Might and Main the Institutions Made Sacred by the Republican Party, this Volume is Respectfully and Reverently Dedicated, in the Sublime Hope that it may Cause Them to Live Anew; to Shed Their Slimy Skins; ... and that Finally, For their Soul's Salvation, they May Quit the Party of Intolerance and Bigotry and Get in the Procession of Intelligence and Progress ....

... et cetera. It seems that this is a compilation of editorial comments from the early years of the "Yellow Jacket", a North Carolina newspaper that began in 1895 and ran through the early 1950s. Clearly, the editor was a Republican of no little sarcasm (say it with me now: Who doesn't love sarcasm?), and the book is a great period piece -- demonstrating not only politics of the day, but popular Southern ideas and prejudices. Maybe I'll buy it (at $75.00) as a gift ... except that I'm not sure whether I would give it to a Democrat or a Republican friend. Which would be more entertained, I wonder?

Off I go to the Continent! I can't wait to see what Alan comes up with in my absence ... I'll doubtless check on the store blog from all the way across the pond. Don't forget the map festival, everyone, and I'm sure I'll talk all about European books when I return in two weeks.

Used bookstores put people in touch with their history!

2008-02-21T13:45:00.003-06:00

An exciting thing happened today! Remember the First Edition I showcased just last entry -- Black Man in the White House: A Revealing Diary of the Eisenhower Administration by the first Negro Presidential Aide in History, by E. Frederic Morrow?

Well, today Mr. Morrow's goddaughter came into the shop and bought said First Edition!

Carole Landrum was out for a jog, and was quite tickled to spot Black Man in the White House in our window. She tells me that her godfather invited her parents to Eisenhower's Inaugural Ball. She also mentioned that she now regrets having disposed of her parents' books -- there was a copy of this very book among them, of course. But now she has her very own First Edition once again!

(I hope I'm getting all the details right! Ms. Landrum, please feel free to call or email and correct me if I've got anything wrong!)

Thanks to Ms. Landrum for being a good sport about taking her photo, and for telling me the story of why she was interested in this book!