MUSKOKA RELATED BOOKS WERE USUALLY PRINTED IN SMALL QUANTITIES - WHICH WAS GOOD ONCE, BUT INADEQUATE TODAY
THE MARKET IS UNPREDICTABLE WHEN IT COMES TO MUSKOKA REGIONAL HISTORIES
They're a good all round investment. Books that when sold, I can usually secure a reasonable margin of profit, and know that they will all eventually sell-out, because of ongoing demands, and annual surges, which one can never predict in this profession. In other words, I have no fear whatsoever, of getting stuck having too many Muskoka out of print books in stock. Muskoka books are part of my personal culture, and I've written five of them (including the biography of book collector Dave Brown, because most of the story has its root in our Gravenhurst house). Three sold out and the other two will eventually as well.
I turn down very few pre 1970's Muskoka books unless they are ridiculously priced; being books about Muskoka and composed on home turf. There are a few exceptions of books that are heavy on family history, and not so much about the community in which it was produced. An example of this is the hardcover text, Magnetic Muskoka, in essence a Gravenhurst history, because it was produced in much larger numbers than most other regional books from the same vintage. There are too many available for the price to ever escalate in the forseeable future. I have no reservation about stock-piling most other vintage Muskoka books, particularly regional histories, because they will always sell, from one decade to another. It's a matter of content. Unfortunately, a lot of coffee table style books, produced in recent years, that while well done, and printed beautifully, were produced in such a large volume, that unless they were signed, have dropped substantially in terms of retail evaluation. I keep them in stock because there is still demand, but prices remain low.
From the beginning of Muskoka settlement, most of the books written about our communities and region, were done in limited numbers, including the first of firsts, being Thomas McMurray's "Muskoka and Parry Sound," in the early 1870's; destined only a few years after printing, to require more for the book shelves to address new demand. There have been very few occasions when these books have been republished to meet the new waves of public interest, which is a shame. It's not say there haven't been exceptions, but not nearly enough to satisfy the present and future interests. Even in contemporary terms, books such as Cecil Porter's "Gilded Cage," about Gravenhurst's famous German Prisoner of War Camp, have been reprinted but not enough to meet the growing demand by a broadening audience, truly interested in our community's unique contribution, to the Allied efforts of the Second World War. I'm not sure, but I think it has sold out three times. On the rebound, I can't keep them on our shelves, because of their popularity. The same goes for dozens of other important, limited supply Muskoka books, that have shot up in price due to the rarity finding them for sale. Even shopping online, some of the asking prices for these books are astronomical, compared to the prices I was paying twenty-five years ago, when our antique shop was one of few to stock a selection of these out of print gems. Books have always been expensive to produce, proportional to the era of release, and few authors I have known, of these fine regional histories, could afford to be extravagant and produce thousands of copies in surplus. Instead, they produced hundreds instead, and were satisfied that they didn't lose money on the publishing deal. Some of these authors, elderly at the time of launching their books, died before being able to publish a second or revised edition.
When I worked for Muskoka Publications, and the Bracebridge Herald-Gazette, at 27 Dominion Street, I had a chance, as an occasional replacement desk clerk, (as a fill-in at lunch hour), to browse through every book we had published over the decades, which were then stored under the counter to sell when someone was interested. At one time, there was a "Herald-Gazette Book Store," on Manitoba Street, where they sold books the company had published, and if memory serves, postcards and related paper products that had been run off our presses; or had been contracted out. I'm pretty sure it was back in the mid 1970's, but it only lasted a short time.
The books, such as Bob Boyer's "A Good Town Grew Here," written and published as a town Centennial Project (town incorporation, 1875-1975), was one of the most popular, and should have been reprinted several times before the 1980's. You can find them in old book shops today from between seventy-five dollars and a hundred. The last copy I sold of Bob's book was a hundred dollars, to a close friend of his, Sylvia DuVernet, and I actually gave-up my personal reference text, because she needed it at that precise time. I got one back, signed in fact, but if I had a copy to sell, it would still be in the neighborhood of a hundred dollars. It's based on supply and demand, but also hinges on the fact it was a well put together text, that doesn't make the best reading, by hearthside, on such a cold winter's day, but is superb for researchers and those interested in local and family history.
The early 1870's Muskoka Guidebook and Atlas, by Captain Rogers, and artist Seymour Penson, is a book I have been chasing seemingly forever. In the mid 1970's, the book was printed twice, once as a limited printing, and the second time, as a larger general printing, which for us, in the old book business, meant they could re-sell for between fifty and a hundred dollars. I had about ten of the general circulation Guidebooks, when Boston Mills Press re-published the book, most recently, in large number, at least for the market of the day, and I got stuck with the surplus 1970's issues. They were better copies, in my opinion, but the increased number of the market, at a much lower price, killed our market for the others, and to this day it hasn't really recovered. I always have a copy of this book available for research purposes. I have seen original 1870's hand colored issues of the book, and although they don't come up for sale often, I would think they would sell for more than $1,500 to $2,000 per copy. I'm hopeful that before I leave this mortal coil, I will actually own one, for awhile. That would be nice.
Still the mainstay Muskoka history, as it will always be, is Florence Murray's "Muskoka and Haliburton," published by the Champlain Society, which is the most scholarly of all the local regional histories. There are quite a few of these books available at most times, if you search online, and range in price from fifty to seventy-five dollars; they were printed in the many thousands versus hundreds, as were most other Muskoka histories published before the 1970's.
We can get these out-of-print and rare Muskoka histories online, for customers interested in building local libraries of these limited printing books, but it is expensive these days. We always stock a solid collection of these titles, and I often pull them off the shelf to work on a story for that day's blog, or facebook column. I will never stop buying and selling regional Muskoka and Ontario histories, because generally, the pre-1980 texts were not sent to second and third printings, but instead, left to become the books we have to hunt for, to satisfy the needs of those, in contemporary times; who still cherish having a full collection of histories that profile their home regions from the commencement of settlement. The only books that out-sell regional histories these days, in our Gravenhurst shop, are regional cookbooks, which I will be writing about in tomorrow's facebook story, in the field vintage cookbooks, and who is hunting them today. It ultimately comes down to numbers; the number of books published in the first and only printing, seemed like a lot for the time, and the first couple of years, but now, in some cases more than fifty to seventy-five years later, they have become exceedingly rare, such that even us hardcore bookhounds, find them difficult to locate, and then afford.
If you have a Muskoka book you would like, but haven't been able to locate yet, let us know, and we'll check out our sources for you. We give estimates first. If you have pre-1970's Muskoka books you'd like to sell, please send us a list of what is available.
DAVE BROWN AND I SHARED A LOT IN COMMON - LIKE THE HONEYMOONS WE TOOK WITH SPOUSES
DAVE BROWN AND HIS WIFE HAD THEIR HONEYMOON ON THE BATTLEFIELD AT GETTYSBURG. I KNOW THAT ONE OF YOU JUST BLURTED OUT, "GEEZ, THAT WAS ROMANTIC!" SUZANNE AND I HAD OUR HONEYMOON AT COLONIAL WILLIAMSBURG, WHERE I SPENT MY QUALITY TIME HOLED-UP IN THE OLD PRINT SHOP. YEA, I KNOW BEFORE YOU THINK IT. I'M NOT A ROMANTIC. SUZANNE ACTUALLY HAD TO STRONG-ARM ME OUT OF THE BUILDING, WHILE MUTTERING SOMETHING ABOUT MAKING A TERRIBLE MISTAKE, AND THAT SHE SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO HER MOTHER.
DAVE AND I WERE BOTH HISTORIANS. OUR SPECIALITY WAS CANADIAN HISTORY BUT WE BOTH DABBLED IN AMERICAN HISTORY; AND MOST DEFINITELY REGIONAL HISTORIES THROUGHOUT NORTH AMERICA. AS FAR AS BOOKS GO, THAT IS! WE BOTH MARRIED GALS WHO UNDERESTIMATED JUST HOW CRAZY IT COULD GET, BEING MARRIED TO HISTORY HOARDERS. DAVE'S WIFE TOLD HIM MANY TIMES, DURING THEIR SHORT MARRIAGE, THAT HIS BOOK COLLECTING WAS GETTING OUT OF CONTROL. SHE COULD LIVE WITH THE WEE BEASTIES HE BROUGHT HOME, LIKE SWAMP REPTILES IN THE BATH-TUB, PART OF HIS OUTDOOR EDUCATION WORK, BUT THERE HAD TO BE A LIMIT ON THE BOOKS STACKED ALL OVER THE PLACE. AND FROM WHAT I'VE HEARD FROM NUMEROUS SOURCES, SHE GAVE HIM A CLEAR CHOICE, BETWEEN CARRYING-ON WITH THEIR MARRIAGE, OR CONTINUING WITH HIS BIBLIOMANIA. DAVE BECAME A SINGLE MAN, WITH A HELL OF A LOT OF BOOKS.
MR. CURRIE, ON THE OTHER HAND, WAS WARNED ABOUT BOOKS, OTHER THAN ACTUAL COOKBOOKS, GETTING INTO RESTRICTED AREAS. THEY COULD NOT BE SHELVED IN THE KITCHEN, BATHROOM, OR HER BEDROOM. SO I FILLED EVERYTHING ELSE, AND HER BEDROOM. I DID MAKE MAJOR AMENDS THIS PAST SUMMER, BY REMOVING THE TWO THOUSAND TITLES FROM HER BEDSIDE, LEAVING ONLY A COUPLE OF HUNDRED ADJACENT TO MY CLOSET. IN FACT, COMING TO MY SENSES, OVER THE PAST THREE YEARS, I'VE GOT RID OF THOUSANDS OF BOOKS THAT WEREN'T OF ANY GREAT USE, ACKNOWLEDGING AT THE SAME TIME, I'D GOT A LITTLE TOO PASSIONATE ABOUT COLLECTING STUFF. I WASN'T GOING TO LOSE MY WIFE OVER SEVERAL THOUSAND BOOKS, LIKE DAVE DID. COMPROMISE WASN'T SO HARD. I ACCUSED HER THE OTHER DAY OF BEING A WOOL HOARDER, BECAUSE OF THE LARGE INVENTORY OF MATERIAL IN RESERVE, FOR HER THOUSAND AND ONE KNITTING PROJECTS. SHE WAS NOT AMUSED. "AFTER HAVING TO LIVE WITH YOUR EXCESSES FOR THE FIRST HALF OF OUR MARRIAGE, TELL YOU WHAT……SUCK IT UP BUDDY, THE WOOL STAYS," SHE CALMLY REMINDED OF HER STAKE IN THE MATRIMONIAL HOME……INCH BY INCH APPARENTLY.
Dave Brown liked his independence. An only child, the son of a well respected Hamilton physician, Dave liked being able to disappear when not teaching, and explore places he'd never been. But with the exception of the United States, he stayed pretty much in Ontario, where he found enough adventure to feel fulfilled. He loved to camp on his own in some very wild places, and when I asked him about the intrusion of bears, and wolves, he said there had never been anything to worry about. I always suspected Dave was part wolf anyway, and when his anger rose to the surface, let me tell you……it was best to stand back. He wasn't a loud objector, but with Dave you always kind of wondered if he might give you a crushing bear hug or something. He told me once, that he had been attacked by what he referred to as a wild dog, encountered at an isolated farmstead in Southern Ontario. He was able to get out of its way by climbing a nearby ladder. The dog wouldn't let him get down. "I was up there about two hours, trying to make friends with the animal, but he would have nothing to do with it," Dave told me. "It was getting late, and as it was in October, the darkness was closing in. I couldn't sleep on the ladder, and I knew this creature was going to bite me if I tried to make a run for the car." "I took my hammer, and thought well, I've got one shot, so I better be able to knock him out, because there's nothing else but car keys to fend him off," said Dave. "I really didn't want to hurt the dog but it was him or me. I got as close as I could, without getting in his mouth, and threw the hammer. It hit him right on the head. He looked kind of stunned, got glassy eyed, and just fell over. Gone. I killed him with one throw. I felt bad because I like dogs. Just not this one." I never knew if Dave was kidding me about this, but as conservation-minded as he lived, truth was, he'd have likely hurt himself badly, eventually falling off that ladder. I'm pretty sure I would have, with genuine reluctance, followed the same course of action. Just now, Bosko looked at me, with eyes of concern. It's like she knew what I'd just written. This dog may be smarter than I thought.
THE ESTATE BOOK SALE
Dave had many connections in the book world. Truth be known, Dave had known connections to the underworld. As a result of his moonlighting work with large construction firms, that gave him permission to scavenge old architectural (heritage) pieces, from demolition sites, Dave knew that some of the associations he kept, put him under police surveillance. It got to be a joke around school, that Dave could make people he disliked disappear. I remember the night he said this to Suzanne and I, while toasting our friendship, with a glass of wine. For a couple of moments, Suzanne and I looked at each other, and pondered silently whether the guy on the sofa was a sort of teacher-Soprano mobster. "Don't worry Ted and Suzanne, I like you guys." Most of this story is true. He did have friends in unusually high places, and the cops were watching him. He said it was often the case, especially after an underworld incident, when police would show up with cameras, watching who was coming, going and hanging around these sites. Knowing Dave, even mobsters couldn't deter him from the salvage job, to save architectural heritage. Dave never had a bad word to say about his mates either.
One night, sitting out on the deck, looking over the gardens with hummingbirds flitting about, and bees still buzzing around the spring lilacs, he told us about his recent experience, at an estate book sale, on the eastern seaboard of the United States. I presume it was in New York State, though I don't remember him mentioning the community itself. Just the circumstances of the sale. Dave had a lot of American colleagues, and whether it was Chicago or New York, he knew the old book sellers. Whenever he could, he took off south, because it's where he apparently got the best deals on the books he most desired. On this occasion, a book dealer friend took him to an estate book sale, run by a charitable group that often hosted these type of dispersals, to benefit a cause. The book seller and Dave went to preview the books being placed for sale, on the day before the event was to open. It was also the time when you had to get a number, as a patron of the sale. That's how regimented and well attended the events were. I don't know how they managed this, but they were able to get four or five reserve tickets, which would cover five individuals to get into the sale…..in sequence. The organizers, you see, would only let so many buyers in at one time. Other dealers were doing the same thing, and a few were getting as many as ten reservations. I'm not sure if they actually cost something, but possibly they did. So here's what happened on the morning of the sale.
When Dave and his book dealer friend arrived, there were quite a few people already lined up for the opening. They gave their numbers to the organizer, and slotted into place. Dave could see, as far as the numbers went, that there was a shortfall of bodies. It worked this way. If only ten or twenty people were admitted to the sale to start with, there may be only four or five buyers making up the first 20 numbers. This meant that despite the few number actually prepared to shop for old books, organizers went by the ticket numbers, and not the bodies present. What they believed mistakenly, was those absent would soon show up, once the door opened, and for the half hour allotted, these would be the only folks allowed in. But there were no bodies attached to the numbers. The dealers, to minimize the competition, applied and received extra numbers, to push competitors further back. So when Dave got in, during the first round, there were only a few actual buyers mucking about inside. Despite protests, it was on a number basis, bodies or not.
Dave didn't find many books he wanted, but was satisfied with a few natural histories from the early 1800's. He saw an interesting pile of books in a corner, and decided to have a look-see. As he was going through the first five or six books on the top of the pile, he saw the feet of another shopper, push toe-first in toward the book stack. "What are you doing with my books buddy," asked the gentleman attached to the feet below. "I'm just looking at them," answered Dave. "Is that a problem?" When he looked up to see who was addressing him, the chap was patting the side of his jacket, while glaring. "I'm sorry. I didn't know they were your books," Dave replied, backing slowly away from the corner stash. The man nodded his acceptance of Dave's ignorance, and soon began asking about what Dave had found at the sale. It didn't take too long, as was Dave's inherent talent, to win the guy over completely, and before the half hour was up, they had agreed to have lunch before he had to return to Canada. Dave told me, the reason the chap was hitting his coat, was to indicate that there was a side-arm underneath, should Dave have had plans to remove any books off the pile. He said that the dealer had just recently suffered a big loss of books, at a similar sale, when another buyer scoffed his entire pile of books he intended to purchase. So the weapon was going to be used as a persuader, you see, to encourage the next interloper to back off. Is it a true story? Seeing as Dave passed away more than a decade ago, I really can't prove it beyond reasonable doubt, just like the assertion he had once killed an angry dog, or that he could make people disappear. But as his biographer, I tried to cross reference as much as I could. I had to trust Dave's word on this one.
The reality is, that many rare books can fetch a king's ransom, that's for sure. The gentleman may well have lost ten or fifteen thousand dollars worth of books, to the competitor who claimed his book stash. The right books, on the right subjects, with potentially the most desirable autographs, can certainly help you buy a new car, a new house, and a really nice vacation. But these books are from special collections, wealthy estates, and are not by any means common finds on the thrift shop shelf. On occasion you can pick up a decent autograph, and a twenty dollar-plus out-of-print book, at a second hand venue. Just not often. Which explains why these estate book sales were so competitive that they required small arms protection. If there was a first edition "Alice in Wonderland," well, that would be worth a substantial wrestle, to come out on top. I haven't once felt the necessity to wrestle a single soul, for the treasures offered by the local second hand shops. Good finds are not the same as "money" finds, in situations like Dave experienced, south of the border.
There was only one occasion of this happening, when Suzanne, picked a hundred dollar book from the mountains of library cast-offs, during a fundraising sale here in Gravenhurst. She did it right in front of Dave and I. Well sir, Dave was not impressed by the rookie's big win. I tried to speak to her, eye to eye, something that would have sounded, if spoken, like "for God's sakes Suzanne, the man can make people disappear. Give him the damn book." Dave was moody this way, and told me he was going to head back to the city sooner than anticipated. He wished us good afternoon, took off to Birch Hollow to pick up his gear, and then headed home to Hamilton. Later that night, he phone Suzanne to offer an apology for his hasty retreat. Dave was the kind of bloke who didn't like to lose, at what ever project he was occupied. But he was the kind of tutor I needed, in the profession, because frankly, I was too much of a pacifist for my own good. Dave inspired me to be a bit more of a hustler, a little more of a trail blazer, and a lot more adventurous as an antique hunter, no matter what the circumstance.
How tough and determined was Dave Brown. Only days before his death, and knowing full well the reaper was close by, he left the hospital on a pass, to have dinner with a teacher friend. He insisted on going to a restaurant that happened to be close to one of this favorite book shops. He went in, and nodded to his chum, "you never know when you're going to find a good book." He did. He found one. Alas, he never finished reading it. But he benefitted a lot of book lovers in the end, who very much recognized, in earnest, the qualifications of this curmudgeon book hound.
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