For those like this writer who live in an area where reference libraries and books are scarce the best part of the day was to actually see-feel-touch and thumb-through the dozens of volumes presented as essential, useful, or interesting. These he divided into five categories: Literature including Modern First Editions, Americana with an Emphasis on Western America and California, Children’s Books, Early Printed Books with a Focus on Books Printed in English and On Line References.

 

Of the things he showed, the works that proved most unexpected were those that offered scholarship and detail devoted to relatively recent books of less than stellar literary merit, such as Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys - both series with their own comprehensive bibliographies. There’s also a fat and detailed compendium on every imaginable version of Little Black Sambo titled Pictus Orbis Sambo that leaves little out in a hundred year review of that now politically incorrect story. I was also much taken with First Editions of Dr. Seuss Books by Younger and Hirsch, which goes through the output of Theodor Geisel book-by-book, dust jacket-by-dust jacket, cover price-by-cover price and is certainly a must own for the Seuss fan or collector.

 

None of these specialty children’s reference titles come cheap. The least expensive on line copy of the Seuss Firsts was $150 and rapidly escalated to close to $300. The Sambo reference came in at $200 low to $500 high, Farah’s Guide to Nancy Drew only slightly less pricey could be found on line starting at $60 and going up to $200.

One title in the Western Americana section, a title I found fascinating, was A Complete Collection of the Zamorano 80, A Selection of Distinguished California Books Made By the Members of the Zamorano Club Formed By Daniel G. Volkmann Jr. This was not just a bibliography, it was a bibliography with extensive annotation, lots of contextual notes, wonderful reproductions of plates and maps in color and black and white, as well as facsimile titles for each of the books. It was an outstanding auction catalog of an impressive and important regional book list and best of all Zoschak’s copy had a complete list of the prices realized laid in the back. It was equally surprising to me that this volume of considerable scholarship, impressive graphics, a detailed narrative for each of the 80 titles on the Zamorano list and a wealth of Western Americana detail, can be had for as little as $10; I saw a copy with prices realized for $20  You can also view it in capsule form on line along with prices realized at Dorothy Sloan’s (Austin, Texas) site www.dsloan.com/Auctions/A12/A12Contents.htm.