Also useful and not too expensive and much less rarified in scope are the McBride pocket guides. These little paperbacks fit in pocket or backpack, and assuming you’re out in the real world and not pouring over the Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England 1475…...1640, can be extremely helpful. Look for McBride’s POCKET GUIDE TO THE IDENTIFICATION OF FIRST EDITIONS and McBride’s POINTS OF ISSUE : A COMPENDIUM OF POINTS OF ISSUE OF BOOKS BY 19TH-20TH CENTURY AUTHORS. He also recommended Firsts Magazine, and noted that a 20th anniversary index to the popular collectors’ periodical is finally available.
As interesting as the bookstore, the books, and learned commentary were, the interaction among the various participants was also lively. Zoschak hosted the group to a lunch at the neighboring sushi restaurant and talk turned to catalogs, ephemera, the pros and cons of entering the trade, the emergence of the ebook and readers, the changing tastes of collectors, which shops in the area were interesting, who might have a collection for sale and all the other tidbits that the bookish find so interesting to discuss while sipping their hot tea and spearing the sashimi.
Later in the afternoon those who had brought a book or two along got a chance to put those stellar reference books to work. Out popped a T.S. Eliot with a variant binding, a Jean-Jacques Rousseau in a 19th century English translation, an unusual 1865 missionary almanac from Siam, Civil War papers. As the various books floated around the circle and as if by magic the right reference source popped out, all that fine print became considerably more interesting and the invisible mental dollar sign clicker much more readily apparent.
Before ending the day Zoschak turned his attention to references on line including our own Americana Exchange (by subscription) and the long running American Book Prices Current (also by subscription) and openly yearned for a portal to some of the more pricey and expensive services that are available to many academics. He told the group that the iPad is an indispensible addition to your ability to research in a mobile or book fair situation, and moments later was checking his own inventory or that same device.
The handouts for this annual session are free and available on request from Vic Zoschak vjz@tavbooks.com.
