I’ve been going through two different boxes of very interesting books over the past week.  One comes from a lot that Bruce acquired from a member of the Longfellow/Emerson/Hitchcock family – so many very unusual and wonderful books.  Many are inscribed to Mary B. Emerson Hitchcock or Margaret Longfellow Emerson, some contain the bookplate of Samuel Franklin Emerson.  The other box comes from a lot that Bruce acquired from the daughter of a local painter who passed away not long ago.

I thought I’d show some photos of a few of the scarce/rare books that I’ve discovered:

Memories by John Galsworthy, First Illustrated Edition, 1914, $80

Richard Schmid Paints the Figure: Advanced Techniques in Oil, First Edition, First Printing, $250

Young Maids & Old China by F. W. Bourdillon, illustrated by J. G. Sowerby, dated 1890, Marcus Ward & Co.,  $120

Winsome Womanhood by Margaret Sanger, illustrated with photos by William Buckingham Dyer, 1901, $50

Discourses, Delivered on Public Occasions, Illustrating the Principles, Displaying the Tendency, and Vindicating the Design, of Free Masonry by Thaddeus Mason Harris, $225

Harley Brown’s Eternal Truths for Every Artist, First Edition, $150

Something else to look forward to – we move the clocks ahead this weekend – yea!!

I guess he likes milanos - yum

This winter has been a drag  for just about everyone here in New England, most likely.  Here’s a recent pic of our store with the snowbanks covering our sign:

Sign or no sign, we’ll still be open this weekend.  If you need a little extra motivation to venture out into the cold – we’ve got Valentine chocolates!  And you don’t have to walk far from our parking lot (there’s plenty of room) to the warmth of our shop.  Valentine’s Day is a great time to start thinking of Spring-like things such as flowers – we have lots of gardening and nature books, and birds – many books to delight the amateur ornithologist, and of course, Romance.

We have many shelves of romance novels to get you in the mood.  Or you might like a book of Love Sonnets, or for the more practical-minded, 1001 Ways to be Romantic by G. Godek.  There’s nothing wrong with just expressing your love for books by treating yourself to something special.  Come visit us and see what treasures you might find!

Many of the books on our main, upstairs level are discounted 50%  – it goes by the book number we put inside (our organizational system).  So any book you find with a number of 23000 or less is half price.  It may be odd but it works best for us.  Just ask if you’re not sure.

Another Holiday Special we have going is on our Heritage Press classics.  So many great classics of literature – From Darwin’s On the Origin of Species to James’ The Turn of the Screw to Penguin Island in beautifully bound editions.  We are offering a Buy 2 Get 3rd Half Price Special on those too – and they’re already very reasonably priced.  A great way to expand and beautify your library or someone else’s.    I hope to have some pics soon to follow.

For your one-stop shopping, we also have a selection of holiday cards and wrapping paper.

Season’s Greetings!

Here they are with a window seat, waiting to be admired and taken home:

A closer look at a few:

One of my favorites:

Across from the sheet music I put out an extra table for the many, many old Heritage Press books that we have.  They’ve been on shelves in one of our closets for far too long but we just weren’t sure where best to put them.  Finally, we’re pulling them out, putting them on our database and letting them see the light of day.  They are all wonderful classics of literature in excellent condition – most include illustrations (by a variety of illustrators and methods, be it woodcuts, pen and ink or lithograph), are beautifully bound and come with a slipcase.  Here’s a shot of those we’ve put out so far but there are many more on the way:

Here are a few individual samples sans slipcase:

Frankenstein ($12), Tess of the D’Ubervilles ($10), The Innocent Voyage ($10)

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ($10), Essays of R. W. Emerson ($20), Uncle Remus ($12)

We also brought over a selection of our rarest books, which are still stored at the Heritage Surveys building just down the road.  Sometime in the near future I hope to move more of our vintage children’s books downstairs and then have enough shelf space behind the desk to bring them all over.  Madeline arranged the rare books beautifully in one of our front display cases along with some sheet music for added interest.  Here’s a look at the display:

Well, I hope this inspires people who haven’t visited our shop yet to come on by …. and see what treasures you might find.

If you’re an Elizabeth Bishop fan, we have a comprehensive study of her works in

Elizabeth Bishop: Her Artistic Development by Thomas J. Travisano from the University of Virginia, 1989, Second Printing, $5.00

A couple of books of special interest from the same collection:

The Coriolis Effect by Chuck Wachtel, Hanging Loose Press, 1985, First Edition, signed and inscribed by author dated March 1988; $35

The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse, translated by Red Pine, Empty Bowl, 1986, Second Printing, printed and handbound in Taiwan using double-folded pages with each poem printed in Chinese characters and English, textured paper covers, in folded cardboard case; $90.

Columbia March by Seneca G. Lewis (Miss Hazel Dawn pictured); Remick, 1917

National Emblem March by E.E. Bagley; Walter Jacobs, 1911

Haunted Heart by Howard Dietz & Arthur Schwartz from Inside U.S.A.: A Musical Revue; Chappell & Co., 1948

The New Liberty March Two Step by Harry J. Lincoln; U.S. Music Pub. Co., 1917

Dear Old Stars and Stripes Good-Bye by Harvey Briggs and Harley Wilson; Feist, 1902

And now a quintessential fun lovin’ summertime piece from the 50s:

We hope you’re genuninely enjoying your summer.  We have plenty of beach and lake-worthy books and we have air conditioning!

Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier, 1936, Stated First Edition, $150

Tales of the Uncanny and Supernatural by Algernon Blackwood, 1974, Castle Books, $8

The Old Fall River Line by Roger Williams McAdam, Stephen Daye Press, 1955, $10

Magical and Philosophical Commentaries on the Book of the Law by Aleister Crowley, 93 Publishing, 1974, $350

Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earl, Macmillan, 1898, $40

a peak inside...

Right now we’re filling a flat bed trailer full of boxes of books that will be priced at a dollar a piece for the hard covers. We also plan on putting a couple of tables and carts full of books-for-a-dollar out on our front porch and possibly some more out on the front lawn. We’d love for you to meander inside too and check out the store. You’ll find that we have a wide range of subjects and types of books, many of which are marked down 50%. If you’re interested in vintage magazines or sheet music or other ephemera we have some of that too.

... our bookshop

Come see our unique Ferris Wheel and circus wagons too -  a little bit of folk art museum inside a bookstore.