By Bruce McKinney

"The world changes and we change with it." This statement encompasses the history, experience and perspective of Michael Dawson, proprietor and third generation of the Dawson family that has interleaved their lives with the printed word for five score years and this month celebrates the 100th anniversary of the founding of the firm. It is a rare accomplishment for a business of any kind to last so long and particularly ...more

By Bruce McKinney

In the 1960's and early 1970's I frequently attended the Saturday night auctions that Cal Smith of Pleasant Valley, ran. I was selling advertising at the time and Cal would let me run his two column 5 or 6 inch ads in my family's newspapers just across the Hudson in southern Ulster County. These ads were always at least a little effective because my brother and I used to go, and if there were interesting ...more

By Bruce McKinney

Joel Munsell [1808-1880] was a printer in Albany, New York. He was also a record keeper and we are indebted to him for this. In what would be a long career that begins in 1828 with his printing of the Albany Minerva, a newspaper that lasted 8 issues, he begins the record keeping that would, seven years after the Civil War ended, be the first entry in his Bibliotheca Munselliana [in the AED ...more

A review by Bruce McKinney

Sitting on the shelves of bookstores across America and around the world is 316 pages of mercury by weight. It is called A Death in Texas and was written by Dina Temple-Raston, a Bloomberg Business News reporter. It tells the story of a murder committed in Jasper, Texas in 1998 by three young men. The victim, James Byrd, Jr. 49, was black and his killers white. This is a story that many people know ...more

by Renee Magriel Roberts

As rare booksellers, it is normal for us to focus attention on publications in book form. Benjamin Franklin's Experiments and Observations on Electricity, Made at Philadelphia in America, To which are added, Letters and Papers on Philosophical Subjects. The Whole corrected, methodized, improved, and now first collected into one Volume (London: for David Henry, 1769), 4th edition, is a lovely, desirable ...more

By Michael Stillman

It may not be you, but there is probably some one of your kin who has kept a family album. It may take different forms, photos, letters, news clippings, anything that recounts the story of a life or lives. At one time vibrant and alive, eventually they and the lives they recorded fade away. What then becomes of these personal and family histories, these pieces of ephemera recording ephemeral lives? If only ...more

By Michael Stillman

One of the longest bookselling careers ever came to an end March 17 with the passing of Leona Rostenberg at her home in New York City. Ms. Rostenberg spent some sixty-five years in the field, which must be some kind of record for a person not born into a bookselling family. Indeed, she was already many years out of college, having spent several years doing research in Europe, when she applied for her first ...more

By Michael Stillman

"At his inauguration, James Madison, a small, wizened man, appeared old and worn...but whatever his deficiencies in charm, Madison's buxom wife Dolley compensated for them with her warmth and gaiety." That's a heck of a sendoff for one of our founding fathers, but that is his introduction on the official White House website. Oh, and by the way, he was also the "Father of the Constitution."

It ...more

By Michael Stillman

David M. Lesser Fine Antiquarian Books latest catalogue, number 84, fits the mold of the typical Lesser catalogue. It is filled with rare books and ephemera of Americana, mostly from the 18th and 19th centuries, and each piece comes with its own story. Reading through a Lesser catalogue is reading through a series of vignettes of American history. By the time you are finished, you will know a bit more about ...more

By Michael Stillman

This is our first review of a catalogue from Barry R. Levin Science Fiction & Fantasy Literature. It is hardly the first catalogue from Levin. In fact, we are starting with their "32nd Anniversary Highlights." Levin, of Santa Monica, California, is a major dealer in the fantasy and science fiction field. Most of the books in this catalogue are either first editions, or special printings and signed ...more

By Michael Stillman

This month we review our first catalogue from Frits Knuf Antiquarian Books. Frits Knuf is located in Vendome, about a hundred miles from Paris, France. Founded and operated for many years by Frits Knuf, it is currently managed by Anita and Rene van Elferen. Their specialty is old and rare bibliographies and other books about the printing and bookselling trades. The books they offer are not only collectible ...more

By Michael Stillman

Gene W. Baade is a Washington State bookseller specializing in the American West. Catalogue 205 presents an interesting collection of affordable books, both collectible and informative, for those with an interest in this area, particularly the Old West. Included are old books, more recent reprints of older books, and newer books about life in this territory in the 19th century. This catalogue provides an ...more

By Michael Stillman

This is a catalogue from another time. It is unlikely that you have seen one like this in ages, if at all. The Antiquariaat Forum has released its 107th catalogue, On the Threshold of Modern Times. It contains 463 pages, fully one and a half inches thick. Filled with thorough descriptions, historic explanations, and wonderful images, it will itself become a collectible. The catalogue is such ...more

By Michael Stillman

Almagre Books' List 59A offers a collection of books about the American Southwest, along with South and Central America. The official title is New Mexico, Texas, and the Southwest. Mexico and Latin America. You might wonder how a collection of this sort ended up in the hands of a Bloomington, Indiana, bookseller. So do I. However, it doesn't really matter. If you find books from this area of interest, ...more

By Michael Stillman

The latest William Reese Company catalogue (238) is a collection of "American Treaties and Diplomacy." The focus is on treaties involving the American continent made over a period of almost 500 years, plus other diplomatic material associated with them. While much involves the nation on the North American continent that would declare its independence in 1776, there are many treaties involving South ...more

By Michael Stillman

The Arthur H. Clark Company has just issued its 918th catalogue, with their focus on Americana and the American West. Arthur Clark has not only been selling books for over a century, but publishing them as well. Many of the best works of the past century about the American West have been published by Clark, and while you will find these books offered by any bookseller with a Western orientation, there is ...more