SHE: “This book is going for $85.00 on the internet. I’ll take $25.00 for it though.” ME: “Let’s take a look.” SHE: “Well, I said it’s going for $85.00.” ME: (typing) “MmmHmm” SHE: “You don’t believe me?” ME: (typing) SHE: (straining to see my computer) “What would you pay for a book worth that much?” [...]
I just posted this over at the Fine Books and Collections blog, but though I’d put it up here too for the three or four people who read this blog but not the one at FB&C (and if you’re not, you should!): I would just list to pick up where Chris left off and recommend [...]
The last couple of days I’ve had some success posting some special deals to my Twitter account (@briancassidy), but in the interest of not annoying those friends and followers who would prefer their tweets without commercial interuptions, I’ve started a new account: @cheepreads. (Tweet+cheap, get it?). So a couple times a day or so I’ll [...]
I leave tomorrow for the Santa Monica Book Fair where I’ll be exhibiting (Booth 712a) and thought I would try something a little different. Through the wonders of modern technology (read: my iPhone), I’ll be posting nearly-live updates from the fair – from set-up to break-down and everything in between, maybe even a few from [...]
I’ve been neglecting this blog (again). The summer has just been crazy; traveling / vacation, family visits, daughter out of school and assorted other major and minor personal distractions have served to conspire to keep me from posted here. In between all of this confusion, I have managed to get some actual work done. Catalog [...]
That’s Larry McMurty’s simple advice to booksellers from this profile. He continues: Junk is a major problem, it tends to creep in. The taste of the bookseller is important. We sell only our kind of books, a general humanities selection, all in very good condition.”
Edwards Books of Springfield, MA was at the center of one of my favorite bookselling memoirs: Suzanne Strempek Shea’s Shelf Life: Romance, Mystery, Drama and Other Page-Turning Adventures From a Year in a Bookstore about her time working in the shop after battling breast cancer. Sadly, the shop is closing.
I’ve spent the past two days going through over 300 boxes of books that were part of an estate. I estimate I looked at over 7500 books. Now, here’s a question. How many books/boxes did I go home with? Take a minute. I’ll wait. Ready? Have your number? Answer: Five boxes. About 150 or so [...]
Okay, seriously. I mentioned last week that I was being offered a lot more books than normal and I wondered if perhaps this was an indication of the weakening economy. But it’s now official. I’ve bought / been offered more books over the last two weeks than I have over the preceeding two months. And [...]
“Do you have any old books with clasps on them?” “You mean that would be attached to the covers and used to close the book?” “Yes, exactly.” “Does it matter what the book is?” “No, I collect books with interesting clasps.” “Actually, I do. I have this lovely 19th Century Bavarian prayer book.” “Oh, that [...]