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

Not bad for being lazy

After a successful visit to Old Book Store, we made our way next to Raven Used Books in downtown Northampton. We had already made a long drive that morning and eaten a yummy lunch at one of our old favorites, Bueno y Sano, so by the time we made it to Raven, I was feeling a bit tired and ready to be done. I did a lazy scan of the fiction section -- so lazy in fact that Kristian picked out a Riverside -- a good one, The Mill on the Floss by George Elliot -- on his way through that I had missed. He playfully chided me for my laziness and I defended myself by producing a nice hardcover edition of Collected Stories of William Faulkner, published in 1950. We both enjoy a good collection of short stories, so I was pardoned.

As he continued to retrace my steps along the fiction shelf, he mentioned that he had noticed a smaller shelf of old hardcovers behind the cashier's desk, so I wandered over to check it out. When they keep books behind the counter it usually means they are out of our price range, but it is always fun to see what they may have hiding there. My eyes fell immediately on a very interesting old spine for Bleak House. Now, Bleak House is one of my favorite books -- the story is amazing, with so many layers. I highly recommend it. Dickens was genius, a magician with a pen. But back to this book. I asked to take a look at it and was delighted to find that not only was it in great shape, but it was printed in 1883, and it was $15, which is absolutely in our price range. So that rounded out a nice little purchase at Raven Books -- not bad for being lazy.

Books added: Bleak House by Charles Dickens; The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot; Collected Stories of William Faulkner by William Faulkner

Publishers (in same order): Estes and Lauriat; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Random House

Years: 1883; 1961; 1950

Where obtained: Raven Used Books

Prices: $15.00; $5.50; $6.00

Pretty Bleak-ing awesome find

For a while now, Deborah has been telling me that I should read Charles Dickens' Bleak House. She believes I will like it. I don't have any reason to doubt her. But in addition to having some other planned reading to get through before I am ready to get my Bleak on, there was one small problem we were finding: despite the abundance of Charles Dickens works out there, for some reason, we were coming up empty on Bleak House.

Enter The Book Room in Richmond, the first of the booksellers we visited on our trip Tuesday. We arrived at around the same time that our daughter was a bit hungry, so I suggested that I go in alone to scope the place out, to see if it was worth us all piling out of the car.

On first glance, once I entered, I wasn't so sure. Not that there weren't a lot of books there, but it didn't appear that we were going to find anything on our unwritten list. I wandered through the shelves of current fiction, mostly the kind of stuff you might find at an airport bookstore, until spotting a single, narrow yet tall bookcase in the back. It was marked "Classics" and had a small sign on it saying "Minimum $1.75." 

They were all paperbacks on these shelves, and many were fairly recent editions. As I scanned, I believed I was closer and closer to leaving and moving on to the next bookstore, but then I saw it. I couldn't believe it. I did walk out, and went straight to the car to tell Deborah she needed to come in.

I brought her to the same shelves, and picked up my discovery. I don't remember exactly, but she may have squealed when she saw that not only did I find Bleak House, but it was a Riverside Editions Bleak House in the style of Riverside Editions that we have been slowly collecting as we find them. And I think it's the earliest-dated one in our collection.

Bliss at The Book Room in Richmond. It was our first stop of the day, but already the trip was a rousing success.

Book added: Bleak House, Charles Dickens

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B4

Year: 1956

Where obtained: The Book Room, Richmond, Va.

Price: $2.00