'High Reading Entertainment -- at a Low Price!'

We had a to-do list a mile long on Friday that was going to take us over in the direction of McIntire Road, so we decided to pay a visit to the McIntire Road Book Exchange. We hadn't been in awhile and stuff is always moving there, so we hoped there might be something new for us.

It wasn't a life-altering experience, but we did find a couple of fun things to add to our library. We've mentioned that we have a thing for a particular type of Signet Classic Editions books -- namely because we like the style of artwork on the cover. Today we happened upon three such specimens: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; Henry James' The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels; and -- a particular favorite of Kristian's -- 1984 by George Orwell.

I also picked up a 1961 Dell paperback edition of Helen Keller's autobiography. Not fiction, but I was just last night reading the preface to Maria Montessori's book detailing her educational approach and she mentions Helen Keller as an inspiration. It seemed a happy coincidence to stumble upon it today.

The final thing we found was all Kristian's doing. He was digging through some boxes on the way out and came up with a tattered dust jacket for The Razor's Edge (one of my favorite novels).

On the cover appear two actors in black and white and some text stating "The famous novel from which the Darryl F. Zanuck production was made, starring Gene Tierney and Tyrone Power." Apparently this edition is promoting the film adaptation of this book. Kristian kept digging around, and eventually came up with the book itself. It was printed in 1946 by Triangle Books. The printing on the dust jacket reminds us a bit of the Modern Library Giants we've come across. The back cover is a marketing medium claiming "High Reading Entertainment -- at a Low Price!" I love it! And you can't beat free as a low price at the Book Exchange. The dust jacket is in pretty rough shape though, so we may have to make another visit to Ryan at Random Row for a plastic dust jacket cover -- or, even better, we should invest in some of these plastic covers ourselves for future tattered covers. 

Books added: The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham; 1984 by George Orwell; The Story of My Life by Helen Keller; The Turn of the Screw and Other Short Novels by Henry James; Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Publishers (in same order): Triangle Books; New American Library, Signet Classics; Dell Publishing; New American Library, Signet Classics

Years: 1946; 1961; 1961; 1962; 1963

Where obtained: McIntire Road Book Exchange

Price: Free

Run, Winston, run! Big Brother is watching...

A few weeks ago, I wrote about replacing a lost copy of George Orwell's 1984, which is one of my favorite novels. I think it's genius.

The copy I found then, at the McIntire Road Book Exchange, was a suitable placeholder while I search out a hardcover copy published sometime within the first decade of when it first appeared in print in 1949.

Back at the McIntire Road Book Exchange on Friday (Deborah tells the full story here), I took another step toward that goal by "upgrading" to a 1964 Signet Classic edition with a great cover. A silhouetted Winston Smith on the run from an evil, lurking giant face looking down on him. Big Brother is watching, indeed.

It may be hot, but we need a second jacket

We've settled back into work and home life after our time off at the end of June, and while we were unloading our finds from our trip to Cincinnati, we noticed something was awry.

At one of our stops in Cincy, we found a really cool edition of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights that contained wood engravings by the famous engraver/illustrator Fritz Eichenberg. The thing that made it interesting was its dust jacket, which had the title, author's name, illustrator's name and publisher all printed directly onto the clear plastic dust jacket (you can feel each raised letter), so that if you removed the dust jacket, you remove all of that info from your book's cover.

It is definitely unique. Sadly, it also appears to be very fragile. Here's a pic of what it looked like when we bought it (left) and what it looks like now (right), after having it with other books in a shopping bag for the trip home. 

The "G" in "Wuthering" is now almost completely gone, the "N" isn't far behind, and other letters on that right-hand side are a little less full than they used to be.

Needless to say, this was alarming, especially since a big reason we added this book was because of the dust jacket. So we had to go to work to save it, or at least try to save it.

Our first stop was Random Row here in Charlottesville. In addition to being the place where we acquired the Eichenberg-illustrated Jane Eyre, we had learned a few weeks earlier in passing conversation with Ryan, Random Row's owner, that he personally covers many of his store's acquisitions with a clear plastic dust jacket. So we thought Ryan would be the perfect man for this job.

And we were right. Ryan said he hadn't seen a dust jacket like this one before, and he would certainly help us out. At first, it was determined that the plastic on our Wuthering Heights was too brittle and fragile to be flattened out and covered in the normal way Ryan would cover a book. In fact, we noticed that the dust jacket is already missing pieces, notably on the spine, from being chipped away as a result of nothing more than being opened and closed.

So we regrouped, and after being unable to find a suitable alternative to Ryan's plastic cover, we decided to make it work for us in a different way.

Rather than use a full dust jacket, we essentially cut a piece to the size of the cover, and just used it as an overlay for the front only, taping to on a couple of edges and to the inside of the cover.

It's not necessarily pretty, but it's a solution that will hopefully do the trick, for now anyway. If not, we're open to any further suggestions on the best way to preserve this unique edition.

Tell Big Brother that I am looking for him

Somehow, somewhere, in some way, my copy of George Orwell's 1984 went missing in the last couple of years. It could have been all the moving around, I could have loaned it and forgotten to whom ... I'm not sure.

All I know is that -- because I consider 1984 to be one of the most important works of fiction ever written (lending credit to the theory that I loaned it to someone who hadn't read it) -- I have been looking for a replacement, and though not the one I ultimately desire, today I found a suitable, temporary substitute at the McIntire Rd. Book Exchange.

It's a Signet Classic edition, though a bit newer than the ones we sometimes collect, this one being actually published in 1984 as a "Commemorative 1984 Edition." So that's something interesting, at least. Oh, and this edition has a foreword written by Walter Cronkite. Talking "newspeak" with America's then-favorite newsman.

So that'll work for now, but what I really would like to find is a hardcover published sometime within a decade of when 1984 first appeared in print, in 1949.

On a different note, one thing that we've found McIntire Rd. to be very good for is anthologies, and since I am big fan of short story anthologies, I'm always looking for different collections. We found two such items today.

One is a bit more textbook-ish, titled "Ten Modern Masters" (1959) and featuring Sherwood Anderson, Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad, William Faulkner, Henry James, James Joyce, D.H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Katherine Mansfield and Frank O'Connor. It does, however also contain A) an appendix --  "Stories for Comparison and Contrast" -- featuring the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Guy de Maupassant, Rudyard Kipling, Franz Kafka and Ernest Hemingway, and B) a final section of excerpts from journals, letters and essays of the authors. Score.

The other anthology is titled "The World's Best" (1950), edited by Whit Burnett, which as you might imagine, is a collection of work by authors from all over the globe, arranged by geographic region. Short stories, essays, biographies, poetry,  plays, and more comprise this near 1,200-page volume covering 105 authors (called the "105 Greatest Living Authors") and more than 20 countries. It's an intense collection, one we are thrilled to have added, and even more excited to start reading.

Books added: 1984, George Orwell (1984); "The World's Best", Whit Burnett, ed. (1950); "Ten Modern Masters", Robert Gorham Davis, ed. (1959)

Publishers (in same order):  New American Library, Signet Classic; The Dial Press; Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.

Years: see above

Where obtained: McIntire Rd. Book Exchange, Charlottesville, Va.

Price: Free!

There's nothing wrong with being partial

We enjoy buying sets, whether two volumes or 22 volumes, and one thing about the way we buy sets is that they don't always have to be complete ... because that means we have something very specific to hunt for later on, which is always fun.

As a kid, I once put together a full set of Topps baseball cards one wax pack at a time, until all 792 cards were mine. So I am not opposed to exercising a little patience in the pursuit of completing a set.

With that in mind, today we added two William Makepeace Thackeray books to our collection, each a single volume of a two-volume work (at least these editions split the works into two volumes). They were both kind of buried on a $3.00 table at Random Row Books, and they are, I have to say, pretty sweet.

They are Thackeray's works The Newcomes and The History of Pendennis, and each is the second volume of the two-volume work. Both books are published by Smith, Elder and Co. of London/J.P. Lippincott and Co. of Philadelphia, and each was published n 1868. They appear to be from a multi-volume set (22-26 books?) of Thackeray's works.

Their covers are a lovely green, with gold lettering and design, and an intertwined WMT on the front cover. Aside from their age, their relatively good condition, and the allure of having to now be on the lookout for their partners, what also made these two easy to purchase were the illustrations throughout, which in the case of Pendennis were done by Thackeray himself, while in The Newcomes they were done "on steel and wool by Richard Doyle." They really do make the books.

Lastly, one thing that I also really found attractive about these two works was that you can literally feel the printed word on the pages. It's a small perk, but I absolutely love it.

Books added: The History of Pendennis and The Newcomes by William Makepeace Thackeray

Publisher: Smith, Elder and Co. of London/J.P. Lippincott and Co. of Philadelphia

Year: 1868

Where obtained: Random Row Books, Charlottesville, VA

Price: $6.00 total

An edgy find at Random Row

I first discovered W. Somerset Maugham in 2007 when I began working my way through the Modern Library's 100 Best Novels (to date, I've read 28). Reading Of Human Bondage whetted my appetite for more Maugham -- but it was The Razor's Edge that made it on to my top five favorite novels. Imagine my delight then when, on a visit to Random Row yesterday, I found a neat cloth hardcover edition from 1944 -- the novel's original publication year. It is in really good condition, and still has its dust jacket -- protected by a Brodart book cover. I was almost convinced that it was a first edition when I looked it up, but I couldn't find anything conclusive on AbeBooks or the Library of Congress site. Either way, it is a perfect replacement for the newer paperback edition I have. Random Row does it again!

Book added: The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

Publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co.

Year: 1944

Where obtained: Random Row Books, Charlottesville, VA

Price: $8.00

Bookseller Review: SPCA Rummage Store

SPCA Rummage Store

943 Preston Ave.

Charlottesville, VA

434.293.8475

www.caspca.org/rummage.htm

SPCA Rummage Store is a thrift store whose sales supports the Charlottesville SPCA. They sell antiques, collectibles, art, toys, vehicles, furniture, clothing, office supplies, appliances, books, tvs, dvds, audio/video, computers, housewares, linens, sporting goods, and more. Books are half-price every first Saturday of the month.

What we like: On the first-Saturday sale, at $0.50 a paperback and $1.50 for hardcovers, there is always bound to be something we'll take home with us. 

What we don't like: The classics section is pretty small. 

Would we go again? Every first Saturday of the month, if we can make it. 

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

Overheard at Daedalus

Man, just entering bookstore: "Rumor has it that you sell the New York Times here."

Sandy (Daedalus owner): "That is a false rumor. We have 100,000 books, but no New York Times."

Man: "Oh."

Sandy: "You can find the New York Times across the street, at Market St. Market."

Man: "OK, thanks."

Sandy: "We have three floors, and 100,000 books. Much better than the New York Times."

--------------------

I respect the New York Times, but you won't find any arguments with what Sandy said here.

Organized thoughts on Random news

One of the two main free weekly newspapers in town -- C-Ville -- ran a story this week on the planned development of a site in town to add a hotel near one end of Charlottesville's Downtown Mall.

A few months back, a similar story ran in C-Ville, and it was our impression then that the development included only a single building, which currently houses a new pottery studio called City Clay. This week we learned, however, that the planned development of this area of town is also going to mean the end of Random Row Books -- as we've known it, at least.

I have written before that Random Row is my favorite bookstore space in Charlottesville. Daedalus is great, and has more books, and will probably yield more for us in the long run, but Random Row is just a great space with a great mission, and we've done well there for ourselves.

We've not yet been in Charlottesville for a year, but we've been around long enough to know that aside from being a really terrific bookstore with terrific people running it, Random Row has also been a valued community space, and a key component in the revitalization of the area of Charlottesville known as Midtown, which essentially describes the geographic area of Main St. between the University of Virginia and the Downtown Mall.

Random Row helped turn that part of town into a destination for the people who live in Charlottesville and the surrounding area, and they helped other businesses grow by proving it was possible to exist in that part of the city. And to know now that it's all going away so that a hotel -- which, despite the jobs it may bring to local folks, is really a business serving visitors -- is going to replace that whole stretch of businesses that has thrived in Midtown, is very disheartening on a citizen level, in addition to how it makes us feel as people who love used-book stores.

What does the impending change say about the value of books in a community? What does it mean that a town long trying to connect its two main ends will witness the removal of community-oriented businesses accomplishing just that, in favor of a hotel serving a temporary, ever-rotating population that has no stake in being a member of the Charlottesville community?

As I said, we haven't lived here very long, and the time we have lived here has largely been spent being either very pregnant or new parents, so we haven't exactly taken advantage of Random Row's community events, but just knowing that it existed in that way was enough for us. It's one of the things that we have loved about Charlottesville, that a place like that can do well here.

So where does that leave us now? We have been planning to visit Random Row for reasons related to "Get a Spine" itself, and now we will certainly add fact-finding about the future of Random Row to our visit. We'd like to think there is some kind "Save Random Row" movement brewing out there, at the very least to help find a new space if the current one can no longer be. But we'll get some answers, and provide an update when we can.

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

Our first recognition as bibliophiles

A hot May day deserved a trip to a local frozen-yogurt establishment, and while enjoying our sweet treats outside on the Downtown Mall, the owner of Random Row Books came walking toward us on his way through town.

We've been into his shop a few times (maybe eight or 10 now in 10 months), had some small talk here and there, etc., but we'd yet to encounter him outside the scene where it's obviously easy to place us.

But as he passed today, he said hello, we said hello, and then -- looking at our frozen yogurt -- he said with a smile, "You guys buy that with the money you got from selling that book I sold you?"

We got a good laugh out of that, wondered whether he meant the Sherlock Holmes or the Jane Eyre, and vowed to let him know soon that we don't sell what we buy. It's only for us.

Bookseller Review: The Book Room -- Richmond

The Book Room

5458 W. Broad St.

Richmond, VA

804.282.0633

The Book Room is a new and used-book store specializing in Sci-Fi/Fantasy and Romance paperbacks. They offer their used books at 50% off the list price and have frequent sales. They have stores in both Richmond and Charlottesville, VA.

What we like: For us, finding a Riverside Editions copy of Charles Dickens' Bleak House made us love The Book Room in Richmond.  

What we don't like: It is paperbacks only, and the selection of classics is limited ... unless you're after new Penguin Classic editions of great works.

Would we go again? We'd have to, since we had such a good experience there. We might walk out emptyhanded more often than not, but we certainly would make a plan to stop each time we visit Richmond.

Bookseller Review: Book People

Book People

536 Granite Ave. 

Richmond, VA

804.288.4346

www.bookpeoplerichmond.com

Book People is an old-fashioned books shop that prides itself on personal service, above all else. They have four rooms and over 20,000 titles in stock of half new, half used and collectible volumes. 

What we like: Off-the-beaten-path bookstore that's simply a house full of books. We definitely like that. Fair collection of fiction, with many older editions. The woman who appears to run it is extremely kind, and very helpful.

What we don't like: The organization system is unique, and not the easiest for browsing, let alone finding what you're looking for. Prices are kind of all over the place, and seem much too high for some items.

Would we go again? Yes, we would make a point to stop here anytime we make the trip over to Richmond.

Bookseller Review: Richmond Book Shop

Richmond Book Shop

808 W. Broad St.

Richmond, VA

804.644.9970

www.facebook.com/RichmondBookShop

Richmond Book Shop sells used books, records, back-issue comics, underground comix and vintage magazines. They also have a large collection of prints, posters and postcards, and some original artwork. They keep irregular hours and it is best to call before going. 

What we like: There is a great long shelf full of classics, many older editions and a good amount of hardbacks in the mix.

What we don't like: Parking isn't that great -- we got lucky with a spot right out front. It is basically right on the VCU campus and tends to skew more to college kids. 

Would we go again? Yes. Even if we don't end up finding anything there is enough in the store to keep us entertained. 

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

Overheard at Richmond Book Shop

While checking out our purchase of the latest addition ("The Prairie") to our Signet Classics collection of James Fenimore Cooper's "Leatherstocking Tales," we heard the following exchange at the counter:

Girl, late teens, after seeing our daughter: "I wish my sister would have a baby."

Guy, also late teens, with girl: "If you want your sister to have a baby, you should introduce her to me."

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And scene.

That made that little trip worth it.

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

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