Source : Dora Hood

Source Title Dora Rideout Hood Bookseller
Description

Dora Rideout Hood was one of the most notable booksellers Canada ever produced. She was born in 1885 and married physician Frederick Hood in 1918. Dr. Hood died in 1927, so Dora purchased a small mail order book business to supplement her income in 1928. The following year, she began producing catalogues, listings from which are shown under her name in this database.

Dora operated her dealership from her home at 730 Spadina Avenue in Toronto. Her specialties were Canadiana and Americana. She sold to collectors, large and small, libraries and institutions. She was a charter member of the Canadian Booksellers Association. In 1954, she sold the "Book Room," as her business was known, to Dr. William S. Wallace, retired Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto. The business changed hands several more times before it finally closed in 1982, while Mrs. Hood died in 1974.

Dora Hood wrote a book about her experiences in the book world, entitled The side door: twenty six years in my Book Room, published in 1958. It provides stories and anecdotes about notable authors and collectors and her own life as a bookseller.

Scope of Text

Contained in this listing are catalogues produced by Dora Hood's Book Room from 1929-1963.

Total Records in AED 85126
  • Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly! Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
    Rare Book Hub is now mobile-friendly!
  • DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsAugust 7, 2025 DOYLERare Books, Autographs & MapsAugust 7, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    August 7, 2025
    DOYLE
    Rare Books, Autographs & Maps
    August 7, 2025
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: WALL, BERNHARDT. Greenwich Village. Types, Tenements & Temples. Estimate $300-500
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: STOKES, I. N. PHELPS. The Iconography of Manhattan Island, 1498-1909. New York: Robert H. Dodd, 1915-28. Estimate: $3,000-5,000
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: [AUTOGRAPH - US PRESIDENT]FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. A signed photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Estimate $500-800
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: [ARION PRESS]. ABBOTT, EDWIN A. Flatland. A Romance of Many Dimensions. San Francisco, 1980. Estimate $2,000-3,000.
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: TOLSTOY, LYOF N. and NATHAN HASKELL DOLE, translator. Anna Karénina ... in eight parts. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co., [1886]. Estimate: $400-600
    DOYLE, Aug. 7: ROWLING, J.K. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. London: Bloomsbury, 2000. Estimate $1,200-1,800
  • Sotheby'sFine Books, Manuscripts & MoreAvailable for Immediate Purchase Sotheby'sFine Books, Manuscripts & MoreAvailable for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Ian Fleming. Casino Royale, London, 1953. First edition, first printing. $58,610.
    Sotheby’s: A.A. Milne, Ernest Howard Shepard. Winnie The Pooh, United Kingdom, 1926. First UK edition. $17,580.
    Sotheby’s: Ernest Hemingway. Three Stories And Ten Poems, [Paris], (1923). First edition of Hemingway’s first published book. $75,000.
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: L. Frank Baum. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, 1900. First edition. $27,500.
    Sotheby’s: Man Ray. Photographs By Man Ray 1920 Paris 1934, Hartford, 1934. $7,860.
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Pennant. Zoologia Britannica, Augsburg, 1771. $49,125.