The longest novel and other finds

While visiting family in Western Massachusetts a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't resist paying a visit to our old recycling center in Northampton for its fantastic book shed. We lived there for the 2010/11 school year and were regular visitors of the shed -- this was all pre-"Get a Spine" so we don't have a log of what we found then, but suffice it to say that our current library would be much smaller if not for the book shed.

As is the nature of these "take some, leave some" free book exchanges, it is hit or miss depending on who has dropped off recently and who has been by to browse. If you're looking for classics and you see our car, best come by another day!

That day we walked away with two paperback copies of Pride and Prejudice, because you can never have enough of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy. One is a Signet Classic edition with a rather uncharacteristically dispassionate drawing of whom I can only assume is Elizabeth Bennet; a peacock -- whose reference is beyond me; and a lock -- equally enigmatic. I'll ponder over these awhile. (If you have any insight, leave a comment!) The other copy we found is nothing fancy but the cover has a subtle prettiness to it that I like: a matte grey cover with purple text and a little etching of a gentleman bowing to a seated lady.

We also found another Riverside Edition to add to our growing collection. We're going to need another bookshelf just for all of our Riversides soon! This one is Clarissa by Samual Richardson -- another title we're not familiar with, but happy to discover. Interesting fact about this book: it is the longest novel in the English language based on word count, beat only by Marcel Proust's epic In Search of Lost Time (originally published in French). Who knew?

We also added Spoon River Anthology to our collection. We already had The New Spoon River (also acquired at the DPW Book Shack, oddly enough). It is a neat collection of short free-form poems that collectively describe the life of the fictional small town of Spoon River as described by its deceased former residents. Originally published in 1915, we snagged a paperback edition printed in 1969. For free, it works.

All in all, a worthwhile trip to our old book shed.

Books added: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (x2!); Clarissa by Samuel Richardson; Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters

Publishers (in same order): Signet; Washington Square Press; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Collier Books

Years: 1961; 1961; 1962; 1969

Where obtained: Northampton DPW Book Shack

Price: Free!

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

Northampton, where Old is new to us

Our three-week trip concluded, we returned home to host some guests from Spain for a few days, and now we've had some time to breathe and get caught up to date on our bookstore travels in the Northeast. Up first, our trip to Old Book Store in Northampton, Massachusetts.

We'd been to Old Book Store before. Maybe a few times in the 10 months we lived in Northampton. I remember being disappointed on a Monday or two (yes, more than once -- silly, I know) when I would take a walk from my terrible job and head toward Old Book Store, only to be disappointed to find it closed.

As we made our way to Old Book Store on our first stop in Northampton on this trip -- our first time in Northampton as "Get a Spine" -- I had a good feeling about what we might find.

After three minutes inside, my feelings were justified, 10 times over.

As we have mentioned time and time again, we collect a certain style of Riverside Editions from Houghton Mifflin. We collect them both for their look and the quality of the intros and other materials they include with each work. We've had a hard time determining exactly how many and what novels were published in this style, but using the various lists in the back of each one we add, we at least knew a The Last of the Mohicans was out there somewhere. We figured it would be hard to find, especially since we were looking for it...

Yet there it was at Old Book Store, right before my eyes. I couldn't believe it, I told Deborah she wouldn't believe it... yet it was true. And in probably the best condition of any Riverside we have collected. It's practically new. Just awesome.

After that, anything else we left with was gravy, and we found some pretty good gravy at that, including two more Riversides, a Modern Library Grapes of Wrath and one of Deborah's favorites, Love in the Time of Cholera, published in the year it first appeared in print in English by the original English-language publisher (we think it's not a first edition, but a later run that year).

As we checked out, we introduced ourselves to the store's owner (as we normally do), and proceeded to have a very nice conversation with Grant Walz about his bookstore, and the future of used-book collecting and used-book store owners. We can't say it was an optimistic conversation about the future, but we can say that it was a really enjoyable meeting, and we were glad to meet Mr. Walz, and at the very least, maybe give him a little more hope about the future than he may have started the day with.

Books added: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck; Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez; The Ordeal of Richard Feverel by George Meredith; Six Eighteenth-Century Plays

Publishers (in same order): Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Random House Modern Library; Alfred A. Knopf; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions; Houghton Mifflin Co. Riverside Editions

Years: 1958; 1943; 1988; 1971; 1963

Where obtained: Old Book Store

Price: $12.00 total

Cincinnati is definitely a Riverside city

As we approached The Ohio Book Store, we gazed up at a five-story brick building, with bookshelves visible through the windows all the way. Kristian looked at me and asked "Are you ready?"

Boasting a collection of more than 350,000 books, the Ohio Book Store had us full of anticipation as we walked in the door. There was bound to be something here for us. It turns out there was a whole stack of somethings, starting at the bottom floor in the paperback classics section. I had a feeling that we might find some Riverside Editions -- it just looked like the kind of place that would have some. 

But the first thing I laid my hands on was a 1962 Signet Classic of The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. Score! I actually got chills. We had collected all but Mohicans in Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales in the Signet Classic printing and we really didn't expect to come across Mohicans any time soon, as it is the most popular of that series. The set has really interesting, colorful artwork on the cover -- it has a sort of stained-glass like appearance that we find very attractive. We're so excited to have all five now. Thanks Ohio Book Store! 

Next, seconds later, Kristian did indeed put his finger on a Riverside Edition -- The Octopus by Frank Norris. The fun thing about collecting this particular style of Riverside Editions -- simply because we like the look of the publication -- is that it means we get our hands on books and authors we have sometimes never heard of, thus broadening our literary horizons. (The Octopus was apparently first published in 1901 and was originally intended to be the first part in a trilogy that Norris never finished. It is about the conflict between California wheat growers and the Southern Pacific Railroad. We'll definitely read it one day.) 

Well, that find opened the floodgates and we found Riverside after Riverside, snagging six more for our collection -- the most we've ever found in one place. They included Ten Greek Plays, Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy, The American by Henry James, The Egoist by George Meredith, and Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Volume 1. Sadly, we can only increase our total count of Riverside Editions by five -- we'd already found Minor Classics Volume I, but we thought we had Volume II. Since we couldn't remember we had to get it to be safe. Oh well. This version is in much better shape, so we'll replace the other. Our total count is up to 24. 

There are lots of great things about the Ohio Book Store -- many of which Kristian points out in his post -- but one very cool aspect is the fact that they have a bindery on the bottom floor of the store. They do amazing restorations of old books and have been in operation since 1940. As torch bearers for paper-paged, physical books, we are thrilled that places like the Ohio Book Store and its Bindery are going strong -- restoring and repairing the old books that we love and hope to keep around for a long time to come. We may have a couple to send their way...

Books added: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper; The Octopus by Frank Norris; Ten Greek Plays edited by L.R. Lind; The Egoist by George Meredith; Jude The Obscure by Thomas Hardy; The American by Henry James; Minor Classics of Nineteenth Century Fiction, Volume I edited by William E. Buckler

Publishers (in same order):  New American Library, Signet Classics; Houghton Mifflin Company, Riverside Editions

Years: 1962; 1958; 1957; 1958; 1965; 1962; 1967

Where obtained: Ohio Book Store, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Price: $21.00 for all ($2.00 - $4.00 a book)

They find you when you're not looking

We went to Daedalus this afternoon hoping that its travel section would provide some suggestions for an upcoming trip. I have spent a lot of time in Daedalus, particularly in the basement, where the hardcover fiction is kept.

I recall only being on third floor once, last summer when we were looking for some baby books, and so I had little to no memory of what was on the third floor, where the travel section also resides.

While searching for said section, I came across the poetry room, and knowing full well that there are many of the Riverside Editions that we are collecting that are collected works of poets, the search was on. The travel section would have to wait.

And wouldn't you know it, there was another Riverside, hanging out in the middle of the section. That's No. 19 for us.

Oh, and we haven't found anywhere to go on our trip yet...

Book added: Don Juan, Lord Byron

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B40

Year: 1958

Where obtained: Daedalus Bookshop, Charlottesville, Va.

Price: $6.50

Another Riverside Edition added

Today, we found No. 18 in our collection of Houghton Mifflin Riverside Editions. We have a "standing order" at Heartwood Books for these books, but since we were in the area, we thought we'd stop in and look around, and there it was.

It's hard to know how many are out there in this particular collection of Riversides, but we keep coming across new ones. It might be time for a new shelf dedicated to the Riverside collection.


Book added: Prose of the Romantic Period, Edited by Carl R. Woodring

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B57

Year: 1961

Where obtained: Heartwood Books, Charlottesville, Va.

Price: $2.00

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

The books and the bees

A small parking lot to the side of a house, a few tables out front lining the sidewalk on the way toward the front door, a man either asleep or passed out taking in the sun from one of the Adirondack chairs on the lawn.

Welcome to Book People in Richmond, our next stop on today's adventure.

It's literally a house filled with books, and upon first entering, there was a small cart up front with some older editions of Hawthorne and others, but nothing that jumped out at us. After getting our tour of their very unique way of organizing their shelves (read: not really organized that much at all), Deborah headed toward the back rooms and I started in the front.

I eventually made my way to the back, where I located a Riverside Edition. Maybe the most obscure Riverside Edition out there -- Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I -- and though it had clearly seen better days (and some water), it had to come home with us.

Deborah also found a cookbook there, for recipes using honey, and while checking out, the owner (or one of the owners) of Book People, a nice lady probably in her 60s with a northern European accent, said to me: "My mother used to have the northern-most beehive in the world, in Iceland. It didn't last very long, it's too cold."

That's kind of an impressive distinction, though, no matter how long it lasted.

Book added: Minor Classics of Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol. I, Buckler, William E., ed.

Publisher:  Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B107

Year: 1967

Where obtained: Book People, Richmond, Va.

Price: $2.00