Used and Rare - Book Review

Used and Rare
by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
St Martins Press 1997

In the early 1990s Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone were both working long hours on Wall Street in New York City.

Nancy had given birth to their daughter Emily (born roughly around 1991) and the frantic pace of their jobs meant that Emily was being raised by babysitters.


So Lawrence and Nancy made a decision - to get out of the rat race and go somewhere less driven. So they quit their fast-paced jobs and moved to Massachusetts, where Nancy and Lawrence began writing books.

Nancy's first book was called Trading Up (Surviving Success as a Trader on Wall Street) - In this hilarious, no-holds-barred account of Wall Street, Nancy Goldstone tells of the series of coincidences and sheer luck that landed her, her trading position, how she managed to succeed in the job. and the pressures and demands of the crazy world of high finance that led her to quit.
NB - I must try and find this book to read.

I have previously read and reviewed the second and third books in the Goldstone book trilogy. Slightly Chipped and Warmly Inscribed. Now I have finally located and read the first book - which tells the story of how the Goldstones became book collectors.

In 1994, Nancy tracked down a ten-dollar copy of War and Peace in order to win a birthday bet with Larry. What started as a last resort on the quest for a cheap gift soon became an addiction. Over the next three years they haunted every used and rare bookshop between New York and Boston that they could find, from dingy, dust-filled barns to elegant Park Avenue galleries.

Starting small on cheap, out-of-print used books, their addiction soon graduated to first editions and, finally, to three-quarter morocco, custom-bound antiquarian classics that they could not afford. Along the way, they gained an education in books - and in people - that we can all savor.

I read this book for the Bibliophilic challenge.