Viva Firenze (Massachusetts) -- Pt. II

We often get a chance to meet and talk with the owners of the bookstores we visit, usually while checking out with our purchases. It was the case at Bookends, where we spoke with the store's owner, Grey Angell. Grey has long been in the bookstore business, taking ownership of Bookends from the previous owner of the store, for whom Grey worked as an assistant for some years prior to taking it on himself.

We had a very nice conversation, and among the things we talked about was Christopher Morley's Parnassus on Wheels. Neither Deborah nor I had ever heard of it, but hearing Grey describe it, we knew it was something we need to add to our reading and library wishlists. A story about a traveling book-selling business? We're sold.

Bookends had a copy, but it was recent, and with an original publication date of 1917, we know we can do better. So we're on the hunt!

Here's the rest of what we added on our trip to Bookends (Part I of our trip is here).

Books added: Mansfield Park by Jane Austen; The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler; Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell; Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens; 

Publishers (in same order): Signet; Books Inc.; The MacMillan Company; Collier; Signet

Years: 1964; 1945; 1936; 1964

Where obtained: Bookends

Price: $14.50

Tasty finds at the Iris BookCafe

If the possibility exists that we can find some good books and get some good food at the same place, we're there. Such was the case Friday at Iris BookCafe in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood.

We're not food reviewers, so we'll just keep it short and say that we didn't eat any better anywhere in Cincinnati than we did at Iris, even if all we had were two sandwiches and two cups of coffee. But everything was fresh and delicious, and the seating out back was really, really nice. A real garden oasis in the city.

As for books, the book store is moderately sized, and there is a sort of companion book/record store next door. For us, the fiction section was kind of in the middle of the layout, two decent-sized bookcases full of various works.

Given the number of books we had to choose from, we did well at Iris, walking out with seven new additions. First, a replacement copy of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina published in 1946 that is not only a significant upgrade from our much more modern version, but which also has illustrations done by Fritz Eichenberg, the same wood engraver/illustrator we'd been collecting. These are color illustrations, not engravings, and are very cool.

We also added a collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories (1989) that is similar to a Hemingway collection we currently own; The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow from 1964; a Modern Library edition of Sinclair Lewis' Arrowsmith, for which he won the Pulitzer, published in 1946; a 1922 copy of Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome: and a first-edition, third printing of John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down from 1942.

Last, but certainly not least even though it's true crime and not fiction, I had to get a "new" copy of In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, a first printing "Book-of-the-Month Club" selection from 1966, the year after the story first started appearing in The New Yorker. I picked up that book one night in college and didn't put it down until it was done, but had loaned my copy only to never see it again... so I had to have this one, which is much better anyway.

All in all, Iris BookCafe was a real find, and a great way to start our book hunting on a Friday in Cincinnati.

Books added: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (illustrated by Fritz Eichenberg); The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck; The Adventures of Augie March by Saul Bellow; Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton; Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis; The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli; In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

Publishers (in same order): Doubleday & Company; The Viking Press; The Viking Press; Charles Scribner's Sons; Random House, Modern Library; Charles Scribner's Sons; Random House

Years: 1946; 1942; 1964; 1922; 1946; 1989; 1966

Where obtained: Iris BookCafe, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Price: $30 for the seven

Books for every variety of taste and opinion

We had big plans for this Saturday morning. A leisurely trip to our farm for some fresh veggies, then off to the SPCA Rummage store! The first Saturday of the month their books are half-price (regularly $3 hardcovers, $1 paperbacks) and we've been meaning to hit up the sale for awhile now, but kept missing it. Well, a few exciting home improvement projects and an eight-month-old who refused to nap without her mama meant we got a much later start than we had planned, which in turn meant I was hitting up the sale solo (with the baby) since Kristian had to work this afternoon.

We've been to the Rummage store many times -- it is a great thrift store all around -- but I had never really checked out the book section before. There was a small classics shelf with a mix of paperback and hardcover. On first scan, I didn't see much to get excited about, but as I examined more closely -- in between picking up dropped toys -- I came away with a few pretty good ones. On a prior visit, Kristian saw that they had the same 1964 paperback edition of The Awakening that we have, only without the sun-bleached cover, so that came home with me today. In addition to that, I found a funky paperback copy of Death in Venice by Thomas Mann that I liked, and a 1953 hardcover edition of The Magic Mountain, also by Thomas Mann -- nothing super special about it, but I've been wanting to read it and for $1.50 I figured, why not?

I also came home with a small hardcover Modern Library of "The Collected Stories of Dorothy Parker". But what I was most excited about was the copy of "The Best Known Novels of George Elliot" -- those being, Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner, and Romola. A big book, published in 1940, it is a Modern Library Giant. The dust jacket is in pretty rough shape, but it is one of the best parts about this book. The inside of the jacket has a complete list (as of 1940, that is) of titles in the Modern Library and also seems to be the marketing medium. Printed across the top of the list it reads, "Which of these 334 outstanding books do you want to read?" And along the side is printed "Books that appeal to every variety of taste and opinion".

Books added: The Awakening, Kate Chopin (1964); Death in Venice and Seven Other Stories, Thomas Mann (1964); The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann (1953); "Collected Stories of Dorothy Parker," Dorothy Parker (1942); "The Best Known Novels of George Elliot," George Elliot (1940)

Publishers (in same order):  Capricorn Books; Random House, Vintage Books; Alfred A. Knopf; Random House, The Modern Library, Random House, The Modern Library

Years: see above

Where obtained: SPCA Rummage Store, Charlottesville, VA

Price: $5.50

Four down, one more to go

Richmond Book Shop was the last of our stops on our trip to Virginia's capital Tuesday. There is a wide variety of materials sold at Richmond Book Shop, and not all of it books. We had high hopes on our way through the door, but we were only able to find one item of interest on this trip, another edition of Cooper's The Prairie.

Maybe we were fatigued from a long day. But now we have four of the five "Leatherstocking Tales" in this style of Signet Classics, but the final piece will likely be the hardest to find, as it is the most popular one: Last of the Mohicans.

I am sure we'll see you again, Richmond Book Shop.

Book added: The Prairie, James Fenimore Cooper

Publisher:  Signet Classics, The New American Library

Year: 1964

Where obtained: Richmond Book Shop, Richmond, Va.

Price: $3.00