The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter - Book Review

The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter
A Rare Bookman in Search of American History
By Charles P. Everitt
Originally published by Little Brown & Company 1951
Reprinted by Meyerbooks, Illinos, 1987
Full Text of this Book for you to Read
Booksellers who specialized in Americana 1993

There was a letter printed in the Fine Books and Collectors magazine with an anecdotal story of this book.

I am pleased to add a footnote to Kurt Zimmerman’s article, “Armchair Adventures: Ten Classic Accounts of American Book Collecting,” which appears in the November/December issue (#30) of your magazine. For those who do not insist on reading it in the first edition, The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter: A Rare Bookman in Search of American History by Charles P. Everitt is available in a trade paperback edition. I published the reprint in 1987, with an introduction by Jack Matthews. Everitt’s book was actually ghostwritten by Barrows Mussey, a book publisher and collector, who, in a letter to me, explained how the book was written: “My contract with [the publisher] Little, Brown included all the bourbon Charlie Everitt could drink, and in the course of writing I actually bought two or three cases of Old Grandad. It was a relatively moral arrangement, because I, being a rum drinker, did not take more than a glass an evening of the private stock, for sociability.” Everitt’s book was published after his death in 1950 and was a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club at the time.

David Meyer
Meyerbooks, Publisher
Glenwood, Illinois

SOURCE

As for reading it - well I found it to be a very readable book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

There are not a lot of personal details about Charles P Everitt. He came from Orange County in NY, having been raised on a farm, which he left when he was 17 to go work in the book trade. That was in 1890. He mentions having one son named Tom. His wife was Elizabeth Thompson Everitt.

I learned a lot about different things, such as Americana, the early days of US history such as the Revolution, and Exploration of the West, Dr ASW Rosenbach whom Charlie called Rosy, and many many names of Collectors, Librarians and Book Dealers (the vast majority whom I have never heard of) from the first half of the 20th century. A number of authors are mentioned as well.

I also learned that Nathaniel Hawthorne did not write The Last of the Mohicans - which I had originally stated in my previous post about the Secrets of Lost Things (now corrected). James Fenimore Cooper wrote The Last of the Mohicans. Hawthorne wrote short stories, a few novels I never heard of and something called Fanshawe. Everitt told a story of once purchasing a copy of Fanshawe as part of a collection, and selling it for $350.

Another ancedote tells of the Baptist Publication Society looking for a copy of the book Fanny Hill (R18). When the Society called Everitt and asked if he knew how to find a copy, Everitt said he did not. The last man who did know (how to find a copy) got 2 years in jail.

Everitt made regular trips to London, England looking for books. He mentioned Marks and Cohen in this book. As you know, Marks and Company is the setting of the well known book by Helene Hanff - 84 Charing Cross Road - and later the movie of the same name. Everitt mentions a number of other London book sellers as well.

But I am not telling you anything that you cannot read for yourself, The entire book has been archived online for your reading pleasure and enjoyment.

This is not a linear story of Charles's life. Rather it is a collection of stories and anecdotes about book deals he made over 60 years as a book dealer, stretching from 1890 to 1950.

Charles Everitt was born in 1871 and died in March 1951.

I read this book for the Bibliophilic Challenge.

In Search of Molly Pitcher - Book Review

In Search of Molly Pitcher
By Linda Grant De Pauw
Peacock Press (Pasadena, Maryland) 2007
Press Release

This is a YA (Young Adult) book, and I seldom read YA books, but when I received an email with a blurb about this book, I decided that this looked far too interesting to pass up. It turned out to be the right decision.


Molly Pitcher is a woman in the Revolutionary War who supposedly was passing water to the men on the cannon at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. The water was for the cannon - helping the rammer to keep the ram wet, so they can ram (push) the gunpowder and ball down the cannon mouth before it was fired. When her husband was killed at the cannon, Molly stepped in and took over the ramming duties and stayed there for several hours until the battle was won.

However, the question remains. Was Molly Pitcher a real woman or was she just a myth?

When Peggy McAllister learns about an eighth grade social studies award, she is
determined to win it. When she chooses Molly Pitcher, the legendary heroine of the
Revolutionary War Battle of Monmouth, as the subject for her research paper she runs
into difficulties. With the help of her Greatgramps, a retired private investigator, his lady friend Mrs. Spinner, historian and author of historical romances, and Ms. Guelphstein, a dedicated reference librarian, Peggy sorts through a maze of confusing and contradictory evidence as she uncovers the true story of Molly Pitcher.

Peggie learns how to look for sources, how to make footnotes, how to write a bibliography. She learns the difference between Primary sources and Secondary sources, and she learns how to choose good sources and what evidence to reject as she searches for the truth about Molly Pitcher. The chapter called The Detective's Summation is the summary of all of Peggy's research.

This is not a thick book. Only 155 pages and I read it straight through in 90 minutes. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I fervently wished that I had had the chance to do such an interesting history research project, and to learn such interesting information when I was at school. It might have made the difference between me falling in love with bibliography (just last year) in my 40's or going to University and studying it when I was 20.

Previous posts about Bibliography
October 2007
May 2007

Book Ends Book Review

Book Ends - Two Women, One Enduring Friendship.
By Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern
Simon & Schuster 2001
My copy - Large Print Edition by Thorndike Press 2001

For those of you who have been reading this blog for a while, will know that I discovered a love for bibliography last year when I read Rostenberg and Stern's book Old Books Rare Friends. Well, now I have another of their books - my third biography. Actually its the 4th book if you also count Louisa May Alcott volume I have of her dark stories that Madeleine edited. This book Bookends was published in 2001 and consists of autobiographical short stories. Some areas are detailed, others are not.

The Contents list is very interesting.

Beginnings - This is their childhood and family background. Very interesting.
Self Searching - Education and searching for a career.
The Men we did not Marry - self explanatory.
Mothers - They talk about their relationships with their own mothers.
Two Book Women in a Man's World - How they got started as book sellers, including the trips to Europe after the war, to buy books. Very very interesting.
Our Changing Book World - the impact the internet had on their business. Also mentions the book people they met and the play written about them, also called Bookends. Again very interesting.
Our Canine Succession - Over the 50 years these two ladies worked together, they had a succession of dogs. I am not a dog lover, so I skipped this chapter.
Aging Together - Self Explanatory.

Madeleine Stern died just last year.
Leona Rostenberg died in 2005.

New Bibliography discoveries.

On my way home from buying the Robert Munsch books (see the next post down), I stopped at a Rare Books bookshop - D.E. LAKE - not too far from my home. Now I haven't been in this shop for quite a while (maybe 2 years) because quite frankly the owner is intimidating. He knows I cant afford books, and (2 years ago) when I asked him if he had any books about Britain, he led me to the back of the shop, where all the expensive books were, and left me to it. When I saw that the prices were all at least $100 and more (some of these were really old books) I left fairly fast. But the look he gave me - he had a big frown on his face - and I knew he was thinking that I was just a waste of time.

Anyway, today I went back, and boy have things changed. The grumpy owner wasn't there. His wife and daughter were running the place, and they could not have been more helpful. The place was literally OVERFLOWING with books - piled up on every single shelf, so high you could not see the books already on the shelves. It was not this crowded the last time I went in. Back then everything was neat and tidy and every book was in its proper place.

Anyway, I went in and asked if they had any Rostenberg & Stern books. Actually, I also asked if they were new management. Coz the fellow who owned the shop is always there. The young lady I spoke too hadn't heard of Rostenberg & Stern. My dad's off somewhere else today. I'll have to call my mom. She gets on the phone and calls mom. The daughter gets instructions on where the books about dealers memoirs are, and takes me down. After a bit of looking we eventually find them. And then she shows me a pile of books about books.

I found a bookseller biography going for $70, (can't remember the name - sorry) and sadly I put it back on the shelf. Then I found a Rosenbach biography going for $180. That too went back on the shelf. They didn't have any Rostenberg & Stern, and no Sowerby either. But I did find The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter by Charles P. Everitt at $14, and snapped it up. And in the same pile, I hit the jackpot.

An Introduction to Bibliography for Literary Students by Ronald B. McKerrow. Oak Knoll edition 1994. Going for $40. I snapped that up as well. So starts my real education.

Old Books in the Old World - by Rostenberg & Stern

Old Books in the Old World
By Leona Rostenberg and Madeleine Stern.
Oak Knoll Press 1996

This is a diary of Rostenberg and Stern's buying trips to England and Europe in the decade immediately following World War 2. It's not written in narrative, but as a diary. The ladies kept journals for those years (1947 - 1957), and excerpts of their diaries are printed, along with updates (or Retrospects as they are called).


In 1947 the first year they went to Europe, the ladies sailed to England by boat. The trip took 7 days from Hoboken (Across the Hudson River from NYC - in New Jersey I think) to Southampton, England. I'm not familiar with any of the English Antiquarian Bookshops - except one. Marks and Co at 84 Charing Cross Road. But there was no mention of Frank Doel. The ladies also took another boat to Calais, and then to Paris where they purchased more books. Later on the same trip, they also went to Strasbourg, Basle and The Hague.

In later years Misses Rostenberg & Stern visited London regularly, also Oxford, Cambridge, Vienna, Milan, Zurich, Florence, Geneva and Brussels. In 1954 the ladies FLEW to London for the first time. That trip took just seventeen hours rather than seven days. But then they went back to taking the boat.

Even after 1957, they still made the trip every summer, but they no longer recorded the shops they visited or the books they purchased. By then they were so well known, they were being welcomed everywhere they went. Prices were also rising as well.

This book is not for reading like a novel, since it's not a narrative. You have to be a real Bibliographic fan to read all the book titles and various phrases in French and German. It would have been helpful to have a small language glossary at the back. Otherwise it was a good book.

Oh yes, and this is my third and last book for the Bibliography Challenge. I will continue reading other books about books (I have quite a few), but I need to work on the Canadian Challenge before the New Year and all the New Challenges start LOL.

My New Bibliography Career

For those of you who remember that I said a few months ago, that I wanted to be a Bibliographer. I have slowly been investigating how to do this. I have enrolled at my local college to do an Archives and Records Management Certificate, part time, starting in January. I know it's not a Library degree, but at my age, I just don't have the time to spend 6 years doing an undergraduate degree and then an MLS. So I have settled for an Archives and Records Management Certificate instead. Hopefully I can do all the coursework for this certificate in one year. I have also finally joined the ExLibris mailing list.

Actually I am getting quite excited now, and am also wondering WHY I didn't think of doing this back in New Zealand. That's easy. Because I didn't ask the right questions. I just knew I didn't want to be a public librarian, dealing with students and the public all day long. I had no idea there were any other areas away from the customer service that I could do. Archives, Records Management, Reference, Bibliography, Cataloging, Indexing (which is another area I am interested in. I'm thinking I might like to do the USAD Indexing course - but that can wait).

Now I hear you asking. What brought this on, and why am I reading all this today? Because yesterday in the mail, I finally received my copy of Old Books in the Old World, by Rostenberg and Stern. I dropped everything else and have spent the last 24 hours reading this book. I'll post again when I review it.

I did apply to work in the Toronto Public Library some years ago, but when they called me and asked if I was interested in working as a page, and I was told that a page shelves the book, I was silly enough to say NO. I was more interested in working in the administrative area, and surely I didnt need to shelve books to do that? It turns out that I did NOT do my research very well, and have since discovered that ALL jobs in the Library system, start as a page at the entry level and that is more or less the only way (except for those with an MLS probably) to get into the system. At my local library, NOONE has an MLS. They ALL started as pages, and have worked their way up.

The Club Dumas - Book Review

The Club Dumas
By Arturo Pérez-Reverte
Published Spain 1993
English translation 1998
Movie The Ninth Gate
Wikipedia
The Engravings
Reviews



This is my first book in the Bibliography Challenge, and in the Books to Movie challenge.

The main character, Lucas Corso is a Book detective. He searches out rare books for
his clients, and his methods of obtaining these books are not always legal. He knows
some Latin, Greek and history (wish I had learned those as well), and is quite familiar with bibliographies. At the opening of this story, Corso is given 2 jobs.

One is a manuscript of a chapter of The Three Musketeers. This chapter manuscript is supposed to be Dumas's original. Written in the early 1800's, Corso is charged with verifying its authenticity.

The other job is by a rich client called Varo Borja. He has a book called The Nine
Doors to the Kingdom of Shadows by 17th century author Aristide Torchia. This book is very old, and is said to be an occultic book with nine engravings or woodcut pictures. It details what is required to summon the devil. The story is that there are 3 copies of this book, but the publisher Torchia died (in 1667) refusing to say which one was the real book. So now noone knows which one is the authentic and original version.

Barjo demands that Corso locate the other two copies and determine which one is the
original. And Corso is also required to obtain both copies by any means necessary.
Corso thinks that the two jobs are related. The circumstantial evidence he finds
suggests that Richeleu of the 3 Musketeers was interested in the occult.

So Corso visits the owners of the other 2 copies of the Nine Doors. While looking at these books, and making notes, Corso discovers that the engravings are not exactly identical. There are some slight differences. After visiting each book owner, the owner is later killed, and the book either destroyed or stolen. Eventually Corso determines that all three books are authentic as one would need all 3 books to make one correct book. Corso eventually figures out who the killer is. The ending has the killer using the engravings and trying to summon the demon, but being unsuccessful because one of the engravings was fake.

While he is doing this searching, Corso is also followed by a mysterious dark skinned man with a mustache and a scar, as well as a woman who insinuates herself into Corso's search. She claims to be his protector. He also discovers the Club Dumas - a group of people who are fanactical about Dumas and his books. But they actually have no connection to the occultic book. As the Club founder explained to Corso, "Your mind made the connection, not us.".

I liked the book a lot - especially Corso's search for the Books of the Nine Doors. I also loved all the bibliographical details. This book is a bibliophile's fantasy. Almost every page includes a literary reference, or a description of a rare edition of a famous work. Lucas Corso also comes across a number of books on the occult, these titles are presumably of Pérez-Reverte's invention. Check the Wikipedia entry for details.

I have not yet seen the movie, although I do have a copy borrowed from the library. I wanted to finish the book first before I saw the movie. Apparently the movie cuts out the Dumas & 3 Musketeers plotline altogether, and has Corso summoning the devil instead.

New Challenge - Books about Books

I just picked up a novel at another sale table today - called The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. Originally from Barcelona, he now lives in Los Angeles. This novel is about a book. I LOVE books about books - whether they be fiction or non-fiction, and there are plenty of them out there. And I am enjoying this book very much.

So I've decided to host a small challenge - Read 3 books about books from October 1st to December 31st. Fiction or Non fiction, I dont mind. Just read back through my blog, you'll find lots of ideas for titles. Crossovers are fine.

Here's the Blog for this Challenge. I'm calling it BIBLIOGRAPHY challenge. I LOVE that word!!! LOL

And since I am reading Shadow of the Wind right now, in September, I'm gonna make this book, my first book for the Books Around the World Challenge since it's set in Barcelona (Europe).

RIP Madeleine B Stern

This just in from Philobiblos.
An announcement from Eric Holzenburg at the Grolier Club that just came across the lists:

"Madeleine B. Stern, surviving partner in the antiquarian book firm Rostenberg & Stern, and co-author with the late Leona Rostenberg of a number of memoirs of their life in rare books, died peacefully at home on Saturday after a brief illness. She was 95 years old.

For those of you in the New York area who may wish to pay their respects, a memorial service will be held to[day], Tuesday, August 21, at Campbell Funeral Chapel, 1076 Madison Ave. (at 79th Street), at 11 am."

Another great member of the biblio-universe gone to their rest. Philobiblos will post a full obituary soon.

And if you want to read the review I wrote about one of their books - you can click here. Rostenberg & Stern have inspired me to perhaps become a bibliographer. How I am going to accomplish this, I haven't figured out yet. But right now I am recuperating, so it can wait.

My First Decision as a Bibliographer and Collector

And here's the Beginning of my New life as a Bibliographer. I have decided that I will collect and write about Bibliography. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS. Books about Book collecting, Manuscripts, Libraries, Illumination, Book Binding, Rare Books, Bibliographies and so on. That will be my genre.

I already have all 5 of Nicholas Basbanes books, so thats a start. So I think I will start off with - Basbanes and Stern/Rostenberg plus John Dunning, and the Goldstones.

Rostenberg & Stern issued at least 84 catalogues (maybe more) for more than 40 years. I would like to document the catalogues that Stern & Rostenberg issued, maybe collect them if possible. And record everything else that Stern & Rostenberg ever wrote, including books, lectures and articles. Write a Bibliography for Rostenberg & Stern. (see below)

The Changing Rare Book Trade (PDF)

A Lecture on Louisa May Alcott by Madeleine Stern at Brigham Young University, March 1991 (PDF)

And I just found a lovely interview with Leona & Madeleine recorded in 1997.
City Arts Uncut Interview

I also have a number of books about the Shakespeare authorship debate. I'd like to write a bibliography on all the books that have been and are being written about the Shakespeare authorship question. It will be identifying those novels and biographies that support Shakespeare as the author, and those that support someone else.

See my Blog BiblioShakespeare

Oh yes, and eventually record everything on a Bibliography webpage - like this one.
A Bibliography for Book Collectors

Among the Gently Mad by Nicholas Basbanes - Book Review

Well I finished the book Among the Gently Mad. Its the first Basbanes book I have actually finished and it was VERY interesting.

All sorts of interesting comments, and tips on how to collect. One thing I agreed with, was the idea that book collecting was an intellectual hobby. I always knew that I was smart (my IQ is around 125) but I made a few bad decisions, one of which was to not stay at college and do the History degree I have always wanted to do. Now I cannot afford to do a degree. And I am not about to go into debt by taking out a student loan.

Another idea that Basbanes mentioned was that it's ok to collect just what you are interested in, not necessarily what you think will be valuable.

My tastes at this time lean towards History of Science, Elizabethan era (especially the Shakespeare authorship debate), Books about Books, and the Byzantine Empire (330-1430). There are a few other smaller areas of interest, but those are my main ones.

I have very little interest in fiction - although I will read some historical and mystery/thriller type novels. There is one fiction series I would like to collect, and that is John Dunning's Bookman series. About a police officer in Colorado who retires and open a rarebook shop. But still finds himself involved in murders & homicides - usually involving books. I have one book in the series, have read 2 others from the library - but would like to collect & own all of them.

Chapter 4 is called Three Little Words. Those words at the beginning are Rarity, Scarcity & Value. None of which I would need to know about since I will never be able to afford those kinds of books - unless I win the lottery. By the end of the chapter, those 3 words had changed to Two Little Words - Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware). These words I will take heed of.

Chapter five mentions the categories of collecting. Now I know most of you probably already know these, but I'm writing these down for the record, and so I can learn them.

A Major works in Books or Pamphlets
B First Appearence in book form of short stories and poems as well as introductions written in other books
C All known work in Newspapers & Magazines (periodicals)
D Published works in translation
E Anthologies containing the authors works
F Published facsimiles of manuscripts & letters (why not try for the originals?)
G Books & Criticism written about the author
H Newspaper & Magazine articles written about the author

Chapter 7 is my favourite. Its theme is Research, Research, Research. I LOVE doing Research. Basbanes says, and I quote, At every opportunity I get, I like to hammer home my considered belief that the best collectors are the people who know their subjects as well or better than anyone else [...] Unless you are willing to do your homework - to become conversant with the literature in your chosen field, to learn the rudiments of bibliography, to read, for goodness sake - you are doomed to mediocrity.

This is why I think book collecting is an intellectual hobby. Because as a book collector, I cannot just mindlessly purchase books, place them on the shelf, and expect to make a nice big profit when I sell them 5 or 10 years later.

I've already been jolted out of this thinking when I decided it was time to sell my Star trek manuals a few weeks ago. I have 6 of them, and I figured the demand for them would be high, and that I might get maybe $80 if I put them up for auction on e-bay. I received quite a shock when I went looking on ebay to find that none of them were selling for more than $10 each, and most of them had a start price of below $5. Also there were lots and lots of them - so the supply seems to be higher than the demand. My spouse placed a 1986 Ford truck repair book up for auction and it went for $5. The shipping costs were $15.

I'm learning as fast as I can.

The Selected Bibiography at the back of this book was 10 pages of books about books and book collecting. Some of which I now really want to get.

The first book I need to get is John Carters ABC for Book Collectors (which I have read is the best beginners book around). Nicholas Basbanes says that the Ahearns (Allen & Patricia) will not even sell their Collected Books - The Guide to Values to anyone who has not done their basic homework.

I better get started. Thanks for the excellent tips Nick.