Owning Books Not What It Used To Be; I Think It Is Better Today

CAN YOU LEARN EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW BY SURFING THE INTERNET?

WHAT'S THE POINT OF OWNING BOOKS, OLD OR NEW?

     There is no question that the internet has assisted us in the old book and antique business. I would suggest that for identification purposes, online searches have reduced research time by upwards of three quarters. Which is huge, when you consider how many hours are devoted to authenticating pieces, and researching provenance. And it's true, that most major antiquarian texts have been republished on Google Books, including our very own "Gravenhurst; Or Thoughts on Good and Evil," by William Henry Smith. This is where the Town of Gravenhurst, of course, got its name in August of 1862.
     From electronic readers to Google Books, there are few reasons to own books these days, and if you add to this, the amount of research material that is already online, wow, how do book publishers and sellers make any money? As I pointed out in a previous blog, like the doomsayers who predicted that vinyl (records) were on the way out, with the onset of the CD era, and have been proven wrong times a hundred, those who heralded the curtain call for books, were also premature and ridiculously untutored about the resilience of book buyers, collectors and advocates of the printed word, to maintain a tradition that has been serving us well for centuries. Naysayers be damned, books will survive, and I predict there will be more old book collectors, as the beautifully bound, wonderfully ink-scented texts become more desirable in the future; not just for decorators to "pretend-their-smart," but for serious admirers of the history of publishing.
     Dave Brown was just one of millions, who have dedicated their free, and professional time, to hunting and gathering these old and rare books, and conserving them in massive and incredibly valuable collections. I know what Dave Brown liked the most, and it did, in a way, have something to do with the book, "Moby Dick," by American Author, Herman Melville. Dave was a collector of books on whaling, and would have given an arm and an eye to own a handwritten log book. from a whaling ship from either the eighteenth of nineteenth centuries. He had quite a number of antiquated books on whaling heritage, some dating before the story of "Moby Dick," and the movie with Gregory Peck, became milestones in literature and then film. These how-to, and "what happened out there" books, were quite valuable, and Dave had to muster all his capabilities as a bookman, and horse-trader, to get what he wanted off many of his book dealer friends, mostly in the United States. Dave was keen on getting any rare or antiquarian text on the natural sciences, because he was also, as I have written about numerous times, a well known Outdoor Education innovator, working for the Hamilton, Ontario school board. He did have these books for a reason, but he really should have had a university level teaching position, because this is what he had in his repertoire, as research material. The public school students of the region loved the man, but he had so much more to share, which would have been way, way over the heads of his underlings. It was over my head for the first two years of my apprenticeship.
     This past weekend, Suzanne and I, and the wee lads of the music industry, went on a regional antique, musical instrument, and old book hunt, in the spirit of Dave Brown; the man who left no stone unturned, and never came away from an outing anywhere without a truck load of goods for himself, or to use as trade-bait with a plethora of collectors of just about everything; who may have had some books and old paper they would consider using as barter to get what they wanted. It's what we do as well, and he was, afterall, our mentor. Suzanne was able to get ten out-of-print cookbooks, with some international significance, and I was able to get eight interesting books, including a little gem, circa 1917, dealing with Astrology, having some amazing art work on the dustjacket; being of a wizard looking into the future, with a human skull positioned on his desk. The author opens up the text, trying to convince the readership, that astrology is a matter of science, and should be taken seriously by the scientific community; yet the appearance of a wizard on the front, with a human skull, looking into the future as a psychic, seems in contradiction to the author's interest in validating the study of astrology. I will offer a picture of it on our facebook page in the next day or so.
     Another strange find, and full to overflowing with coincidence, was the discovery, in a second hand shop, of the hardcover "Volume Two 1878-1883," of "Cosima Wagner's Diaries," this copy being published by Collins, of London, in 1980. What makes this a significant find for me, outside of the fact, it is about one of the world's great music composers, Richard Wagner, (Cosima being his life partner) is that it was found in Orillia. Just over a year ago, we acquired the remainders of an estate, of an elderly German woman, who had in her possession several portraits, of what we presume were her grandparents. There was no clear documentation, as to the male and female subjects of the portraits, but most recently, we found research material in old papers from the estate, given to us a month ago, that these were her grandparents; but there is nothing written on the portraits to have led us to this conclusion.
     There was a suggestion, from the executor of the estate, that the man in the portrait, was somehow related to the composer, Richard Wagner, but of the many photographs and paintings of Wagner that we studied, we couldn't find any parallel likeness with this particular painting, other than some obvious facial similarities. We knew it wasn't Wagner, or his son, but could it have been a nephew, or cousin? We have had many coincidences since acquiring this small collection, which isn't unusual for us in this trade, but somehow or other this is going to be proven beyond the coincidences; and, as it turns out, by the use of books and print material, and not exclusively the internet.
     We have photographs we can attach to this pair of portraits, of who we believe are the German woman's parents, and a brother. First of all, we have a picture of her parents, her father being wearing a German military uniform, from the era of the First World War. We also have two other images of a person we believe to be her brother, also in a German military uniform, from the vintage of the Second World War. Slowly we have been tying them together, on little more than tidbits of information, gathered over the past twelve months from inconsistent sources. Yesterday, there it was, sitting on the bookshelf of a popular second hand shop, and as happens many times in my book hunts, I felt as if something spirited was forcing me to look at the bottom row of books; where I found this book out of place with the other titles. Only a few weeks ago, Suzanne and I had been researching Wagner and his performer wife, Cosima, because we found references to both of them in the collection of personal papers we had received, from the same estate, nearly a year after acquiring the first lot of items.
     What makes this a little spooky, is that I knew the woman when she lived in Gravenhurst, back a few years, before she moved to Orillia. She would call me twice a year, and talk for an hour about the Second World War, and what it was like to be a civilian in her native Germany, during the Allied bombing attacks. Seeing as I had never had a first person account of this reality, I was eager to listen, and it's true, I did make copious notes on our talks. She was as fascinated about the history of Gravenhurst's Camp Calydor, (German Prisoner of War Camp, 1939-1946) as I was, and she had enjoyed many contacts with those intimate to its heritage, especially in the German-Canadian community. Some of her viewpoints were a little radical from what I was used to, up to that point as a modest historian of the war years, and it seemed she liked the fact she was knocking me from my complacency, to hear another side of the story. Not that she shifted my opinion, but I wanted to know about her side of the story, as a German citizen, who as a child,couldn't escape the ravages of war. And how it shaped her life-long opinion about war and the history that was recorded; which she did not agree with entirely. She would be considered a Holocaust denier, without question, and she supported those with higher profile, who worked in this regard internationally. I listened regardless, because I'm an historian, and she was offering something that, while troubling to my understanding of the Holocaust, to that point, offered me a chance to hear this from someone who was in the country, at the time these atrocities against the Jews, and others, were being committed. And yes, she also gave her opinion about the fire-storms set off by Allied bombers, that killed many thousands of German civilians. My position was to listen, and not to debate. She was a very intelligent individual, with considerable knowledge of European history, so it wasn't the case she couldn't offer scholarly opinion of the war and all its horrors. She did, on occasion send me material as a counter-point to the Holocaust, but never included her name as the sender. I just dumped it in the trash bin, because it was from a larger body of Holocaust deniers who were also fundraising, which I wanted no part.
     I didn't know, when we purchased the collection, the contents had belonged to the same woman, who had left the area, to reside in an apartment in Orillia. In fact, she had been in our Gravenhurst store, only a few weeks before her death, to pick up a copy of Cecil Porter's book on the Gravenhurst POW Camp, known as "The Gilded Cage," and to enquire whether we had an accordion she had once owned, and sold to us before she moved south. It has been a curious sequence of events ever since, but quite in keeping with the way things happen in the antique trade, that inevitably involves someone's death, and the settling of an estate.
     As for trying to prove the connection to composer Richard Wagner, there is a family resemblance we are following up on, just in case it's true. Some times these roads lead to nowhere in particular. Other times, well, let's just say it pays to perform due diligence, when there is suspicion of a bigger, more interesting picture to uncover.
     Old books? You never know when you're going to need one to prove a point. I will spend the rest of my life being in the company of books. They make me feel connected to world history; these wonderful authors are my mentors.

A RUTHLESS COLLECTOR WITH A LONG MEMORY - CARRIED OVER DECADES

DAVE BROWN WAS SMART, INSIGHTFUL, WISE, AND WILEY - BUT COULD HE EVER HOLD A GRUDGE

I NEEDED DAVE BROWN'S TUTORIALS IN THE ANTIQUE AND RARE BOOK FIELD. HE WAS A GOOD ADVISOR ON PAPER HERITAGE ITEMS, AND WHAT TO LOOK FOR, AND HOW TO UTILIZE THE INFORMATION WITHIN. WE WERE BOTH HISTORIANS, AS WELL AS ANTIQUE-FIELD DABBLERS. MINE WAS PROFESSIONAL DABBLING. HIS WAS AS A COLLECTOR, HOARDER, AND OCCASIONAL YARD SALE LIQUIDATOR. DAVE WAS FAMOUS FOR HIS HAMILTON YARD SALES, AND SOLD THOUSANDS OF FURNITURE PIECES HE ACQUIRED, TO MCMASTER UNIVERSITY STUDENTS, NEEDING DESKS, CHAIRS AND SHELVING FOR THEIR NEW DIGS.

MOST IN HAMILTON NEW DAVE BROWN AS THE DIRECTOR OF ONE OF THE MOST FASCINATING OUTDOOR EDUCATION CLASSROOMS IN THE PROVINCE. IN OUR SPARE TIME, FROM OUR MORE SERIOUS EMPLOYMENT, DAVE AND I TALKED A LOT ABOUT COLLECTING OLD BOOKS AND ANTIQUES GENERALLY. I VERY MUCH APPRECIATED DAVE SHARING HIS STORIES WITH ME, BECAUSE TO THAT POINT, I'D HAD TO EDUCATE MYSELF WITH ONLY PERIPHERY ASSISTANCE FROM COLLEAGUE-COMPETITORS……AND THEN, I LEARNED BY WATCHING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS, NOT THAT THEY HAD VOLUNTEERED TO TUTOR THE NEW-GUY TO THE TRADE.

DAVE LIVED HIS OFF-SCHOOL HOURS AS AN ADVENTURE. BELIEVE ME, HE HAD LOTS AND LOTS OF ADVENTURES. HE MET A LOT OF INTERESTING PEOPLE, AND HE WAS INVITED INTO HOMES THAT WERE LIKE ART GALLERIES, FULL OF PAINTINGS AND ANTIQUES. FOLKS TRUSTED DAVE, AND HE WAS WORTHY OF THE HOSPITALITY. DAVE WOULD HAVE SHARED HIS TALES WITH ANYONE KIND ENOUGH TO INVITE HIM HOME FOR DINNER, OR OFFER A PLACE TO SLEEP FOR THE NIGHT.

NOW I DIDN'T FIND OUT MANY DETAILS OF DAVE'S STRANGER SIDE, UNTIL MONTHS, YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH. IT WAS PRETTY INCREDIBLE, THE LENGTHS DAVE WENT TO, IN ORDER TO SURROUND HIMSELF WITH NATURE, HISTORY AND ARTIFACTS. ONE OF HIS BIGGEST PROJECTS INVOLVED WHAT WAS KNOWN, I BELIEVE (BUT ALWAYS STAND TO BE CORRECTED BY THOSE WHO KNOW BETTER), AS THE "TURTLE CLUB," A LARGE LOG CAMP BUILDING ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF ALGONQUIN PARK. DAVE HAD BEEN VISITING THE ABANDONED BUILDING FOR YEARS, AND BY SOME ARRANGEMENT WITH A PARTNER, WHO WILL NOT BE REVEALED BY THIS WRITER, THE BUILDING WAS TO BE TORN DOWN, THE LOGS NUMBERED AS TO THE LOCATION OF THE BUILDING THEY CAME FROM, REMOVED TO A STORAGE SITE, AND THEN RE-BUILT AT ANOTHER CAMP SITE IN THE DORSET AREA…..OR THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LED TO BELIEVE. DAVE DID TALK ABOUT THIS ADVENTURE WITH AN ANTIQUE BUILDING, BUT REVEALED VERY LITTLE ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP THAT WENT SOUR.

IN THE SUMMER, THIS PARTICULAR YEAR, DAVE WAS TO COMMENCE, WITH HELP PRESUMABLY, TEARING DOWN THE LOG STRUCTURE, AND COMMENCING THE NUMBERING IDENTIFICATION. IT WENT OFF WITHOUT A HITCH, AND WHEN THE JOB HAD BEEN COMPLETED, AND THE LOGS SHIPPED TO A YARD NEAR DORSET, THERE WAS TO BE A SETTLING OF ACCOUNTS BETWEEN THE PARTNERS. I HAVE NO IDEA OF THE PAYMENT SCHEME, OR IF THERE HAD BEEN SOME OTHER ITEM FOR BARTER, ON THIS ADVENTURE. BUT DAVE WASN'T REIMBURSED ACCORDING TO THE TERMS OF THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN HISTORIANS……. AS THEY BOTH WERE WELL KNOWN IN THEIR PROFESSIONAL LIVES. AMONGST BEING OCCUPIED IN OTHER PROFESSIONAL CAPACITIES AS WELL. IN SHORT, DAVE FELT HE GOT STIFFED FOR A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF SOMETHING…..MONEY OR PIECES USED AS TRADE BAIT.

LET ME PUT IT TO YOU, THIS WAY. SHORTLY AFTER DAVE'S DEATH, A SMALL JOURNAL WAS SOUGHT OUT BY THE SURVIVING PARTNER, THAT CONTAINED THE NUMBER CODE OF THE LOGS, THAT HAD ONCE MADE UP THE ARCHITECTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE FORMER TURTLE CLUB. FOR YEARS AND YEARS THE HARD FEELINGS WERE ALLOWED TO FESTER, BETWEEN TWO FORMER FRIENDS, AND THE LOGS SAT ROTTING WHERE THEY HAD BEEN DEPOSITED, AS A RESULT OF THE FINANCIAL GRID-LOCK. TO MY KNOWLEDGE, HAVING BEEN CLOSE TO THE EXECUTORS OF THE ESTATE, AS DAVE'S BIOGRAPHER, HE HAD DESTROYED THE NUMBER CODE MUCH EARLIER……..TO RULE OUT ANY POTENTIAL, THAT IN THE EVENT OF HIS DEMISE, FIRST, HIS PARTNER WOULD GET THE WEE BOOK. FINALLY WINNING THE BATTLE OF WILLS. JUST THIS PAST YEAR, THE PARTNER PASSED-ON AS WELL, WITHOUT THE MATTER EVER BEING SATISFACTORILY RESOLVED.

On one weekend, the summer season before his death, Dave arrived at the house particularly animated. He was on the brink of getting a major paper collection, of very old business journals, from the late 1800's, that he had been called to look at, and appraise somewhat, by a Hamilton jeweler. There were about five or so books in the small lot, but content wise, the material was quite significant for local historians. While the jeweler had the books, they had actually been left in the building by a former owner, and the ledgers contained inventory and sales records from a general merchant's business, that had been kept in an old safe. The former business owner didn't care about the old books and receipts from the retired general store, but to Dave, they were a precious find. But here's the thing, once again. The jeweler didn't want to sell them. He wanted a rough idea what they were worth. Dave knew he had his work cut out for him, but was optimistic he could eventually seal the deal with a nice, fat, cash offer. Dave was a cheapskate, of that there's no doubt, but when he really wanted something, like these books, he could definitely make a substantial and alluring offer. So for hours, Dave ran ideas past Suzanne and I, to create a master plan in advance, that would convince this jeweler to unclench the paper heritage. He wasn't being dishonest about it, but once again, the collector-Dave was obsessive about getting what he wanted, with a "take no prisoners" point of view.

To the best of my knowledge, the jeweler never relented to Dave's many forays, and unless he didn't tell me about it, my guess is he struck out on the books. He probably had to settle for a first-refusal kind of agreement with the chap, that if he was to ever sell the records, Dave would be asked to make a bid submission. He was not a good sport when it came to such things, but in all honesty, this kind of relationship with a "maybe" seller, has been a damnation to many of us in the antique trade. I'm reminded of the nice old timer, who invited me over to his house, to look at some antique furnishings he wished to sell. I was pretty green as a dealer, and very poor as a business man, and the gentleman's pieces were way, way beyond my budget…..for the whole year. They guy was a jerk, and made me feel quite inadequate as a dealer, and offered the smart-ass comment, before I left, that "I knew you wouldn't be able to afford my stuff. I just wanted to hear what your appraisals would be, so I could compare with the other dealers I've spoken with." I left with a nice pellet gun, I bought for five bucks. Geez, I had to buy something to justify my time. I did think, God forgive me, about winging a pellet into the guy's buttocks, but then I'm too good looking to go to prison.

Dave had an uncompromising determination. One day, a friend of his, with a cottage on Clear Lake, east of Bracebridge, was getting rid of an old stove that had been in the vintage cottage, from its original construction. Dave used to stay for weeks at the island cottage, even by himself, and when his owner friend told him about changing over the old wood stove, for a new one, of course the wheels started turning. Dave thought he'd like the stove for a display he had planned for the small museum exhibit space, he maintained, at the Hamilton Board of Education Administrative Centre. I'm betting the stove was made at a Hamilton foundry. So the plan was to ship the old stove over to the mainland car-park, by available watercraft…..say a small aluminum boat.

I knew Dave was going to do this, because he had dropped in on the Friday night, here at Birch Hollow, just to say hello. So when he came into our antique shop, on the main street of Bracebridge (at the time), I asked him right-off, how the big stove move went. He just stood there, with hands on hip, covered in mud and bits of plant life from the bottom of the lake, and two great big cuts on his bare legs. The light colored shorts were no longer so light. Kind of mud-hued. I didn't have to ask a second time. Dave had a wonderful way of introducing a story…..that he had obviously honed as a career teacher. He described the process of getting that old iron stove out of the cottage, down the rocks to the dock, into the the perfect spot to then drop it down into the moored boat. To hear him tell the story, was hilarious but if you laughed, he could fire off like a triple loaded musket…..flames shooting out his nostrils. Well, it went badly, and that was obvious, looking at the wounds on his legs. "I was working with people who didn't understand the requirements of patience and balance," he said, while picking debris out of his waist band. "I told them to wait, wait, and be careful, and they just dropped the stove into the boat. It flipped us over in half a second, and the stove hit me on one leg, the dock on the other, and we all went swimming at once."

Another time, he arrived at the store wet and covered in mud, and frankly smelled like swamp. "For God's sake man, don't you know how to paddle a canoe?" I inquired. "Oh I know how to paddle all right, Ted. But the mud on me isn't from capsizing. I meant to jump into the swamp," he smiled with a wink of the eye. "Why Dave?" I asked. "I found a huge preserved end of a white pine log, at the bottom of this swamp, and I could see the imprint of an old logging stamp." To Dave, a logging historian himself, this was a big deal-find. The actual iron stamps are very expensive to purchase, if you can find one at all. Here was the result of an iron stamp, from a Muskoka based company, imprinted into the log. I believe it was attributed to the J.D. Shier Lumber Company. The irony here, is that my father, a career lumber salesman, had moved us to Bracebridge in the mid 1960's, to work at Shiers.

So Dave got a large section of pine log……weighing about three hundred pounds on dry land, up from the muck of the ages, and into his canoe. He got the log secured in his canoe, and then walked through a large portion of Muskoka swamp, pushing the canoe toward shore. And yes, should you be wondering, he was covered in leeches. Yummy. That explained the suction marks and blood on his bare legs. His plan, as the owner of the pine chunk, was to put it on display at the school board's offices, as part of a new logging exhibit he had planned for later that fall…..with a selection of logging artifacts, including the iron logging stamps from his private stash. I have his drawings for the set up, that the estate afforded me after his death, to use as graphics in his biography. Dave was not adverse to pushing the envelope, if and when he had an opportunity, and the plan to pull it off. I asked him, sometime later, if he had any plans to haul up that old wood stove that had been unceremoniously dumped into Clear Lake. "No Ted, that one's for the fishes!"

Dave Brown Book Collector and The Opposition, Historical Society

DAVE BROWN AND THE AUCTION COMPETITION - DAVE 1 HISTORICAL SOCIETY 0.

SOMETIMES AUCTIONS BRING OUT THE BEAST WITHIN

I WOULD HAVE PAID DAVE BROWN TO MENTOR ME IN THE FIELD OF ANTIQUES AND COLLECTING IN GENERAL. I WOULD HAVE OFFERED HIM FOLDING MONEY, LOTS OF IT, TO LET US KNOW HOW TO BE THE BEST BOOK COLLECTORS, THE MOST PROFICIENT ANTIQUE HUNTERS, THE MOST THOROUGH HISTORIANS, AND HOW WE COULD IMPROVE OUR ACQUISITION TECHNIQUES. I ADMIRED HIM THAT MUCH! IT WAS UNDERSTOOD, HOWEVER, THAT PAYMENT WAS ALWAYS THE SAME. A PLACE TO SLEEP ON TRAVELLING WEEKENDS, FOOD AND CONVERSATION. DESPITE WHAT DAVE MIGHT HAVE LED US TO BELIEVE TO THE CONTRARY, HE WAS OFTEN QUITE LONELY, AND JUST LOVED SOCIAL OCCASIONS TO TALK ABOUT LIFE AND TIMES. MOSTLY HIS. I DIDN'T MIND. THAT'S WHAT DINNER AND LODGING PAID FOR. ON MANY OCCASIONS I EXTENDED THE LENGTH OF DAY JUST TO GET ONE MORE HOUR OF CONVERSATION OUT OF DAVE, BECAUSE HIS STORIES WERE FABULOUS. AS HE MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE SAID…..I DIDN'T HEAR IT THOUGH, "NEVER LET FACT GET IN THE WAY OF A GOOD STORY." DAVE NEEDED US, AND WE CERTAINLY APPRECIATED HIS COMPANY. I'M PRETTY SURE HE KNEW I WAS STUDYING HIS STORIES, LIKE A UNIVERSITY STUDENT HANGING ONTO THE WORDS OF AN ECCENTRIC PROFESSOR…….NOT SURE WHAT IT ALL MEANS, BUT NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES; EVEN THE CRAZY STUFF, WILL PROBABLY FIT SOMEWHERE, SOMEHOW IN THE FINAL BIG PUZZLE OF THE "BIOGRAPHY."

DAVE BROWN DIDN'T WORRY TOO MUCH ABOUT MY FEELINGS. IF HE THOUGHT, AS A COLLECTOR, OR AN HISTORIAN, I WAS MISSING THE MARK, OR MISINFORMED, HE LET IT BE KNOWN. I GREW UP THROUGH THE MINOR SPORTS PROGRAMS IN THIS PROVINCE, AND I WAS PRETTY USED TO HOCKEY AND BASEBALL COACHES BERATING ME FOR SWINGING AT A BALL, AND LETTING IN A FLUKE……I WAS A GOALIE IN HOCKEY, AND THE COACH USED TO CALL ME "FUNNEL". I HAD SUGGESTED THIS, BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT MY PARENTS HEARING HIM CALL ME "SIEVE," WHEN SCREAMING FROM THE BENCH. I WASN'T A BAD GOALIE OR A POOR BALL PLAYER, BUT WE ALL GOT YELLED AT BACK THEN, AS THERE WAS NO POLITICAL CORRECTNESS OR SENSITIVITY AWARENESS POLICIES. AS WITH MR. BROWN, HE CALLED IT THE WAY HE SAW IT. WITH ME, I HOPE HE THOUGHT I WAS A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH, BECAUSE HE REALLY SPENT A LOT OF TIME TRYING TO SHAPE ME UP FOR THE BIG LEAGUES OF COLLECTING. AS HE HAD APPOINTED ME HIS BIOGRAPHER, JUST BEFORE HE DIED, HE HAD A SERIOUS AND VESTED INTEREST, IN MY EDUCATION IN THE FIELD OF OLD BOOKS ETC. SO, WITHOUT FEELING THAT BEING PUT-DOWN BY THE EXPERT WAS A BAD THING, I LISTENED AND MADE COPIOUS NOTES ABOUT OUR DISCUSSIONS.

NOW, THIS DOES NOT MEAN I AGREED WITH HIS STRATEGIES, OR HIS METHODS, BECAUSE I DIDN'T. I STILL NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT THEM, AND HOW I COULD CIRCUMVENT, TO HANDLE IT DIFFERENTLY, WITH MORE SENSITIVITY, AND ACHIEVE SOMEWHAT THE SAME RESULTS. IF YOU THINK THIS IS A LONG-WINDED INTRODUCTION TO THE STORY, BELIEVE ME IT IS REQUIRED. DAVE COULD TIP-TOE THE ETHICS BETWEEN HONESTY AND DISHONESTY LIKE A RAZOR-THIN TIGHT ROPE……AND NEVER LOSE HIS FOOTING…..BUT ALWAYS LEAVING THAT FAINT IMPRESSION SOMETHING WASN'T QUITE RIGHT. WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS ETHICAL, TO ME, WASN'T ALWAYS SO. FOR EXAMPLE, HE HATED HISTORICAL SOCIETIES…..NOT BECAUSE OF THE WORK THEY DID CONSERVING HERITAGE IN OUR COMMUNITIES, BUT BECAUSE THEY ATTRACTED, IN HIS MIND, A COLLECTION OF "KNOBS," AND "THE FRIENDS OF KNOBS." NOW WE HAD AN IMMEDIATE CONFLICT, SORT OF, BECAUSE I WAS THE FOUNDER OF ONE OF THESE ONTARIO REGIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. IN THE WINTER OF 1978 I SET ABOUT TO ESTABLISH THE BRACEBRIDGE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AS THE FIRST STEP IN SAVING AN OCTAGONAL SHAPED HOME, IN TOWN, FOR A NEW COMMUNITY MUSEUM……WHICH ACTUALLY OCCURRED A FEW YEARS LATER. I WAS ONLY A SMALL COMPONENT OF THIS, AND A FUTURE PRESIDENT OF THE SOCIETY, BUT STILL IT PUT ME ON A COLLISION COURSE WITH DAVE, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE ARGUED ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE OF PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF ARTIFACTS AND PAPER ARCHIVES, AND PUBLIC STEWARDSHIP. DAVE WAS FOR "PRIVATE IS BEST"……ON LOAN, WORKS FOR EVERYONE.  HE WAS PRETTY SURE OF HIMSELF, IN THIS REGARD, SO THE STORY I'M ABOUT TO RELATE WILL MAKE SOME SENSE.

IT WAS A REGULAR OCCURRENCE ON THE AUCTION CIRCUIT, IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO, THAT DAVE BROWN WOULD BE IN ATTENDANCE TO BID ON HISTORICALLY RELEVANT BOOKS AND ARTIFACTS, ALSO BEING THE CHOICE ITEMS OF THE LOCAL OR REGIONAL HISTORICAL SOCIETIES. THEY ALL KNEW DAVE. TO SAY THEY LOATHED THE MAN IS QUITE CORRECT, BUT GENERALLY, IN THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT, HE MOST DEFINITELY LOATHED THEM. THERE WERE A NUMBER OF PREVIOUS CONFLICTS DAVE USED TO TALK ABOUT, THAT TAINTED HIS OPINION OF CERTAIN MUSEUMS, AND THE CORRESPONDING HERITAGE SOCIETIES THAT OFTEN PROVIDED THEIR ADMINISTRATION. HE COULD GET ALONG WITH CURATORS AND SOME DIRECTORS, BUT WHEN IT WAS A FORCE AGAINST HIM AT AN AUCTION SALE, HE MADE IT A PERSONAL WAR TO OUT PLAY THEM.

THERE WAS A PARTICULAR AUCTION, TOWARD THE END OF HIS LIFE, WHERE THIS PLAYED OUT BEAUTIFULLY. I WOULD HAVE GLADLY PAID, TO HAVE SAT IN THE GALLERY, WATCHING THE PRE-AUCTION HUSTLING OF SOCIETY MEMBERS, AND DAVE BROWN, SCREWING WITH THE BOXES OF OLD BOOKS AS PART OF THE ESTATE SALE. SO HERE'S WHAT THE CONFLICT WAS OVER. OF ABOUT THIRTY OR MORE BOXES OF OLD AND SOME RARE BOOKS, THERE WERE SOME IMPORTANT REGIONAL HISTORIES SCATTERED OVER THE COLLECTION, STREWN ON A SECTION OF LAWN; BOOKS THAT WOULD BE SOLD OFF SOME TIME IN THE AFTERNOON. IT WAS A BIG SALE. WHAT ANGERED DAVE, WAS THAT THE "OLD FARTS" FROM THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY, WERE TAKING THE BOOKS THEY WANTED, AND BUILDING A "SUPER BOX," OF ALL THE ONES THEY WISHED TO PURCHASE THAT DAY. NOW WHAT THAT MEANT TO DAVE, WAS THAT THEY HAD JUST ENOUGH MONEY, TO MAKE A GOOD STAB AT WINNING THAT ONE BOX, WHICH WOULD CONTAIN POTENTIALLY THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS WORTH OF REGIONAL MATERIAL. HE DIDN'T WANT THE SOCIETY UNLOADING THEIR SPENDING LIMIT ON ONE BOX, BECAUSE HE WAS INHERENTLY FRUGAL…..CHEAP. VERY CHEAP. SO HE WOULD GO BACK, AND CHANGE ALL THE BOOKS THE SOCIETY HAD BROUGHT TO ONE BOX, BACK WHERE THEY ALL CAME FROM…..A RATHER PAINSTAKING TASK.

"OH THEY WERE WATCHING ME TED," HE SAID. "EVERY TIME I MOVED THE BOOKS BACK TO THE BOXES THEY HAD BEEN TAKEN FROM, ONE OF THE MEMBERS WOULD REVERSE IT BACK AGAIN, SO THEY COULD BID ON ONE BOX INSTEAD OF THE LOT." IN THEIR OPINION, DAVE WOULD HAVE HAD MORE CAPABILITY OF OUT-BIDDING THEM ON A BOX BY BOX BASIS, VERSUS HAVING ONE SUPER COLLECTION OF BOOKS IN ONE NEAT AND TIDY CONTAINER. DAVE WAS WAY AHEAD OF THEM, AND HE KEPT REVERSING THE BOOKS, EVERY TIME THEY'D MAKE THE CHANGES. "THEY WERE GETTING MAD," HE SAID. "WE MUST HAVE DONE THIS BACK AND FORTH THING FIVE OR SIX TIMES, BEFORE I FINALLY GOT FED UP AND WENT TO TALK TO THE AUCTIONEER." FOR THOSE WHO DON'T KNOW SOME OF THE PREVAILING AUCTION PROTOCOLS, THE AUCTIONEER COULD HAVE SOLD THE BOXES "ON CHOICE," WHICH IS DIFFERENT OF COURSE, THAN HOLDING THE BOXES UP INDIVIDUALLY, AND HIGHLIGHTING THE CONTENTS. THE SOCIETY WOULD NOT HAVE WANTED THIS TO HAPPEN, BECAUSE IT WOULD HAVE DRAWN MORE BIDDERS TO THE "SUPER BOX," AND THUSLY A MORE SIGNIFICANT BIDDING COMPETITION. THIS IS TIME CONSUMING. SO IT'S TO BE EXPECTED, THAT THE AUCTIONEER, WOULD SELL ON CHOICE, AND THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY WOULD KNOW EXACTLY WHAT BOX WAS "STACKED." THE FLY IN THE OINTMENT, SO TO SPEAK, WAS THE FACT DAVE WAS WATCHING CLOSELY, AND THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE WAS NO LONGER A FACTOR IN THE SALE. DAVE MADE IT HIS BUSINESS TO WATCH THEM, EVEN IF HE STOOD AT THE BACK, AND LOOKED THROUGH THE ARMS AND LEGS OF THE CROWD IN FRONT.

WHEN THEY SAW THAT DAVE HAD LEFT THE SCENE OF THE "BOOK SWITCHING CAPER," THEY WENT TO WORK ONE LAST TIME, TO GET THEMSELVES ALL THE BOOKS THEY WANTED IN THAT ONE SPECIAL BOX. DAVE KNEW THEY WOULD. HE ALSO PREDICTED, THAT WHEN THE AUCTIONEER TOOK A COFFEE BREAK, SO WOULD THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY. AND HE WAS RIGHT.

SO HERE'S THE SCENE THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MEMBERS GOT TO SEE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL. MR. BROWN LOADING HIS RED PICK-UP TRUCK WITH ALL THE BOXES OF BOOKS THAT HAD BEEN PUT UP FOR AUCTION AT THAT ESTATE SALE. EVERY BOX, EVERY BOOK, EVERY HISTORIC PIECE OF PAPER, WAS INCLUDED IN THAT JOB-BLOT OF PRINT HERITAGE.

Well sir, what a scene that must have been. "What are you doing with those boxes," they demanded, of the portly little man, with dirty t-shirt and shorts….and really big running shoes. 'Well, I'm loading the books I just bought, onto my truck…..is that okay?" "What do you mean, your books," questioned the officials of the local heritage group…..most standing with stunned looks etched on their sunburnt faces. "Go and ask the auctioneer….I just purchased these books while you people were having coffee."

What was trademark David Brown, was that he had reached a point of frustration with the society members doctoring the boxes, and decided to call a favor of a friend….a long time buddy, the auctioneer, asking if he could please sell off the books as soon as possible, because he had to attend another event that day. Dave was a huge buyer of books at these auctions, and auctioneers knew he'd remove them all, leaving none behind at the end of the day. He was an asset to them. (They would otherwise have to deal with the left over items themselves). I've used this excuse about a dozen times in the past, and it has never failed to work as intended. They don't want to lose my cash contribution to the sale, so they are usually willing to bend if the audience approves. So the auctioneer agreed, told the audience in front, what the next auction lot would be, and without moving more than a few feet, started the bidding. He wasn't the only bidder, and it probably cost him quite a bit of money, but the boxes were not sold "on choice" as the society had hoped would be the case. So he got all thirty odd boxes, and the members of the historical society were left to "hiss" in unison, at the bad, bad, bad bibliophile who had, in their minds, pulled a fast one. If only it ended there.

Dave knew the books that were in that auction. There may have been thirty boxes of old books, but there were only about five exceptional texts, amongst what the society had wanted to purchase. One of the five was missing when he got home. I can imagine he let out a Homer Simpsonesque "doah!!!", when he realized it had been removed from the collection. In about a month's time, he made a point of going to the local museum that had been represented by the historical society, and when he went to look at their archives collection of regional books, he found the copy that had gone missing. He didn't accost them, didn't make a fuss, never called a cop, a lawyer, or had any kind of reaction to the folks who ran the museum. What it did, for him, was justify his actions at the auction, and made it a personal mantra thereafter, to have nothing to do with historical societies. All kind of crazy stuff, but this is not uncommon behavior amongst the vested interests, who attend auctions and estate sales. The auctioneer was doing what he was supposed to do……looking out for the client he was representing, and regarding customer service to be of the utmost importance. Just because the historical society was out of earshot, when the announcement of an order change was made, didn't mean there was any slight of protocol on his part. Dave played fair. He asked a question…..that in his mind was the same as a favor, and put the jockeying for position to rest. This was the way Dave acted for decades, to get what he wanted out on the antique hustings. He was a gentle man in most other ways, and a wonderful teacher to thousands of kids in Hamilton, but he was a champion at getting the big deals out there……and he outplayed many dealers and collectors with similar methodology.

There are those folks who go to auctions, and have no idea how rough it can get between competitors for important and valuable pieces. I've been with Dave at auctions, and he could lock-in like a heat seeking missile, when something of value was coming up. Friendship meant nothing at this point.

I confess to borrowing some of Dave's strategies for acquisition but I won't ever balance on the high wire……in that tippy-toe between honesty and dishonesty, because I don't ever take things that seriously, to wager a reputation on a box of old books. But none the less, I needed to see just how determined some collectors and dealers get out there, so that when I see them clench their teeth, while bidding against me, they're actually wishing I might vaporize, before I dare bid them up one more time.

It's hard to be a pacifist out there, and still come home with something for your efforts.

Hard Core Book Hunting, Collecting and Buying For Resale Not A Walk In The Park

INTRODUCTION TO THE "YEAR OF THE BOOK" AT BIRCH HOLLOW ANTIQUES -

THE HAUNTING AURA OF OLD BOOKS; AND THE WILD AND WOOLY ADVENTURES TO ACQUIRE THEM - YOU WOULDN'T BELIEVE WHAT LENGTHS COLLECTORS AND DEALERS WILL GO TO - IN ORDER TO HAVE THE COMPANY OF A VALUABLE AND EVASIVE RARE BOOK - WEARING A SIDEARM AS A PERSUADER

     I have always liked books. I only had a dozen as a kid, but they got me through a lot of childhood illnesses; I re-read them many times, laying in bed with an old work sock around my neck, concealing the slathering of vicks vapo rub on my chest and neck. The stories in those books were escapism and they worked perfectly. I loved television, radio and the wonky phonograph but nothing could take the place of my small book collection. This must be understand before anything else in the series on old books will make any sense. I couldn't have become either a book collector or dealer, without first loving the content of books. What moved me most of all, was that I could buy books and sell them to like minded individuals, who very much desired the stories and information within. Not only was I hustling-up books I liked, and wanted to own, I was getting paid to hunt, because of the books I was able to sell in our antique shop, and later, online. There's considerable happiness being associated with books, and for me, the older the better. My favorite movie is "84 Charing Cross Road," about the exchanges between the British antiquarian book shop, and an American writer. My favorite book is "The Haunted Bookshop," by Christopher Morley, who also, by the way, wrote another story about books, with his "Parnassus on Wheels," which was the folk story of a travelling book seller, who took his inventory house to house in a horse drawn wagon. I confess, however, that at times in my life, for whatever reason, I have loved books a little too much and it has compromised the way we have lived. Imagine five thousand books stacked in a room of your house. I had many rooms to work with, and I hit about 30,000. which I thought was pretty moderate, considering my mentor, Dave Brown, had 100,000 stored in his house. Suzanne drew a line on the carpet, and suggested that passing it, with an arm full of books, to store in this open space, would mean the time had come to discuss the future of our marriage. I knew when to quit. Dave Brown didn't. Let me explain what loving books too much can mean to an otherwise ordinary, sensible existence.
     A fellow antique associate, who I knew as being a tad on the snarly side, even when he was in a good mood, who apparently didn't care for my "take no prisoners" attitude, at an auction, where I was buying many boxes of old books, referred to me with the salt spray of the north wind, as "you crusty old sea dog - you privateer son of a bitch." Now, if I had my hockey equipment on, (it still fits) and there was a puck in play, I would have had this guy's sweater over his head, doing the great hockey ice-dance that makes the crowd stand and cheer. The hustle of the antique and collectable trade parallels, in many way, with the competition I knew as a youngster on the ice hockey pad. It's how I grew up, and it's what my old hockey coach, Donny Thur, most famous these days for his near iconic burl bowls, taught me about winning at all costs. He wasn't kidding about that, and well, we had a winning team as a result. I'm not saying Don made me a wild and crazy antique hustler, but when I elbow a competitor in the throat, or cross check them into the shelves of bric-a-brac, you can blame him for shaping my young mind, to be ruthless for the cause of ultimate victory. I know he reads these pieces, so I'm just toying with him. Most of the time he coached us, he had his head in his hands, moaning about the other things he could have been doing that day.
     Suzanne had to clarify, as my interpreter, standing behind, that he had just called me a freelance pirate, meaning, I was doing something of a pirate's crime by purchasing all these boxes of books. Low and behold, he had been a back bidder on several of the boxes, where there were books he had wished for his own collection. Well, he didn't get those books, even when he tried to convince me that I didn't need all the texts in twenty overflowing boxes. Book collectors and dealers are a rather unique lot, even over and above the eccentricities of antique collectors and dealers (strange folks), compounding the intensity by which we pursue our objectives. We must, for our well being, have the focus of a triple crown racehorse, because if we didn't, we would make serious mistakes with our purchases, and I have to tell you now, that an error in judgement can cost a fortune; buying books we shouldn't have because we got distracted by the big mouths at an auction, or estate sale. Even the competition between book collectors can be a thunderous clash of the titans, and I've been in the middle of many of these war of the minds; and I have always backed away, because one of the combatants was usually my mentor, Dave Brown. If I was to continue being mentored, the rule was simple; be a spectator and learn all you can, about the determination of bibliophiles to get what they want of any transaction.
     How can competition for an old and collectable book become so wild and crazy, such that a sidearm would have to be employed for insurance against other over-zealous collectors. Well, there are books worth many thousands of dollars, and this can lead to some possessive behavior, akin to miners of gold protecting their stake. A signed and inscribed first edition, or an associate copy, that was given to another author, by an equally famous writer, could be worth a king's ransom if the writer happened to be world revered, such as Charles Dickens or Washington Irving. So instead of panning or digging for gold, or being privateers, looking to board another ship to steal its precious cargo, we "book hounds" scour the seven seas, and the land in between, for big finds in old and rare books. Sometimes we even slip into bibliomania, and then watch out!
     I have never met a book collector who was without the tell-tale characteristics of minor to major obsession. There is a slippery slope between the status of bibliophile into the fold of bibliomania, and my old friend Dave Brown had crossed over early in life to the mania part of collecting. I was given the task of writing his biography, because I was a collector of books myself, and even as I was writing the text, after his death, I knew that I was starting to love the association with books more than my family. Dave's wife Barbara was a casualty of his passion for books, and lots of them, and she left him partly as a result. I was beginning to worry less about the compromises to Suzanne and our boys, as far as open space in the house, and had actually resorted to sneaking boxes of books into the house, when Suzanne was at work and the boys at school. I wrote the biography of a bibliomaniac while I was a hair's breadth away from the same unsettling status. I caught myself in time. Or rather, Suzanne reminded me how appropriate it would be, if I recognized that I was entombing her and our sons (a visual would suffice), while engaging in my profession, that seemed much less sociable and non-intrusive in her opinion, than it had begun a few years earlier. She wasn't wrong, because there were far more books in the stacks I wasn't prepared to sell, (beginning of the hoarder stage of collecting) and seeing as I could only read so many books in a year, something had to give, with my obsessive attitude to own every book that had ever been written.
     A half dozen years ago I got fed-up with my old books. I got rid of more than half of them, at deep discount prices, because I was getting frustrated by the downturn of sales, and the shortage of space at Birch Hollow, our ranch bungalow on the edge of The Bog, here in South Muskoka. In the antique profession, this happens now and again, (I really mean a lot of times in a career) and after a thorough cleansing of the mind, and in my case, the book shelves, other changes and influences took over temporarily. I started chasing art work, until I filled our house and shop. With the stars aligning, and a new interest becoming all consuming again, I found myself hustling the same as before. Just not books. Or at least with the same fervor. I have never turned down a good book find. With art and paper heritage, the oomph was even bigger than I had experienced with bibliomania. Was I crazy? I was also quite profitable with this rekindling of enthusiasm, for a return to a storefront (which I said I would never do) here in Gravenhurst. Sometimes I return to old habits with double the gusto. For me, this time, I was reluctant to immerse myself back to the way I was, especially with books, because the excesses had become a burden on our existence at home. I had many thousands of books, and half of them didn't even have a book shelf to call home base; relying instead on the floor as a platform for stacking. At one time, Suzanne's bedroom would have housed three thousand books easily, along with seven boxes of old paper. She knows the value of books so it wasn't the case she didn't support the fact we had so many books; but hated the fact they weren't on proper shelving. Enter Dave Brown, outdoor educator, book hoarder (bibliomaniac).
     Dave Brown, who you will read about in this newly revised series of blogs, had 100,000 books jammed into his Hamilton house at the time of his death. It may have been the first case in the study of books and their collectors, of finding that Mr. Brown had gone to the extent, of making his stacks of books, load bearing walls. The executors of his estate only found this out when they tried taking the books out of the basement, before decreasing the weight on the first floor. When the timbers started to creak and then crack, it was time to stop and look up, before the first floor met the basement with a thundering crash.
     Dave used to stay at Birch Hollow when he was travelling in the area, possibly staying at a friend's cottage on Clear Lake, or paddling somewhere in Haliburton, or Algonquin Park; and then with a hustler's intuition, getting the idea Suzanne may have been cooking-up one of her famous roast beef dinners, deciding to stop-in for a weekend of "book talk." I'll share some of those stories later in the series.
    Dave had acquired, with an unnamed partner, dozens of industrial grade metal shelving, from an old warehouse, that he wanted to sell or trade me. We never got to the transaction phase of the deal. I found out he had been turned down by several other book dealers we knew, because the weight of the massive shelves, plus the load of the heavy books, would have been too much for the floor joist of these old book shop buildings. When he showed me pictures of the units, while we were standing in our recreation room, he was, you see, trying to point out, how much better looking these shelves would look, versus the stacks and wooden pieces I was using at that moment, to keep my books safe and organized. Suzanne would have booted my sorry keister out of the house, if I had ever agreed to take even one of those giant shelves. I knew I was on thin ice with my excesses anyway, so I just advised Dave that, in order I not be forced to live with him, in his Hamilton House, as a new bachelor, I was going to have to agree with my wife this time, that the shelves were simply too intrusive to consider. Dave was ticked-off because of this, and said he had to head back home immediately; (he used to have these snits regularly when he didn't get his way) until that is, he opened the recreation door to the front yard, and the draft brought him the aroma of sizzling bacon and eggs, that Suzanne had been whipping up for breakfast. By the way, Dave would never have used those bookshelves himself, and he wouldn't have been able to erect even one, with his house already jammed to the rafters with old books.
     I remember as I finished up Dave's biography, sitting at my desk in the same recreation room where he used to sleep on his visits to Birch Hollow, acknowledging that he was most definitely a bibliomaniac. He had nearly suffocated himself in books. He was a retired teacher and had enough money to afford a better, more accommodating facility for his books, but he was to set in his ways, and eccentric in his beliefs, to ever move out of his sanctuary. He had the money to get his teeth looked after, because they were rotting in his mouth, and may have contributed to the disease of the blood that eventually claimed his life. He refused to eat vegetables other than potatoes, although he would eat lettuce if Suzanne served it to him, and it appeared she would have hurt feelings if he didn't make an effort. When it came to old books, he had the focus of Superman. Everything else was minimized in order to maintain that intense examination, of what made him happy. It was his bibliomania that ruled his life, and there was nothing any one could do, no matter how close they were to the man, in friendship, to make him realize his obsession was also his ruination.
     It will take some time to explain this all more sensibly, and what it means to a recovering bibliophile, who has once again, entered the ring as a book seller in my elder years of antique and collectable sales. Please join me in the coming weeks, for an examination of what makes book collecting, buying and selling so infectious, and profitable if performed with the utmost respect for due diligence; getting the best for the least.

ANTIQUE APPRAISAL EVENTS AND PRICE GUIDES ARE USEFUL - NOT THE END-ALL

ANTIQUE GUIDE BOOKS AND ONLINE ESTIMATES FOR PARALLEL ITEMS, MISLEADING AND UNRELIABLE

JUST A SHORT INTRODUCTORY NOTE ABOUT ANTIQUE APPRAISAL EVENTS. I AGREED TO DO AN APPRAISAL GIG, SEVERAL YEARS AGO, TO OFFER ADVICE ON OLD BOOKS, AND ANDREW PROVIDED VALUATIONS FOR OLD GUITARS, IN SUPPORT OF A LOCAL FUNDRAISING EFFORT. I REALIZED AS THE EVENT GOT UNDERWAY, THAT THE PEOPLE WHO HAD PAID FOR APPRAISALS, WERE GENERALLY LOOKING TO SELL THE ITEMS THEY HAD BROUGHT TO THE EVENT. I THINK THIS HAPPENS A LOT BUT THERE'S A REAL PROBLEM WITH THIS OCCURRENCE. WHEN YOU SUGGEST "AT AUCTION," WHEN YOU PRESENT AN APPRAISAL, THE APPRAISER ISN'T REFERRING TO A REGIONAL AUCTION. THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT A MUCH HIGHER LEVEL OF AUCTION, THAN WE HAVE SEASONALLY, OCCURRING IN OUR REGION OF ONTARIO. AND WHEN YOU DECIDED TO TURN TO A LARGER AUCTION ENTERPRISE, TO HAVE THE PIECES OFFERED FOR SALE, WELL, IT'S AT THEIR DISCRETION, NOT YOURS. I IMAGINE QUITE A FEW PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTED TO FIND OUT, THAT TO GET ANY MONEY FROM THEIR ITEMS, THEY HAVE TO CONTACT A MAJOR CITY, NATIONAL, OR INTERNATIONAL AUCTION HOUSE, IN ORDER TO HAVE THEIR ART OR ANTIQUE PIECES REVIEWED BY EXPERTS AS A FIRST STEP. THIS WILL REQUIRE SOME MOTORING BACK AND FORTH, PLUS THE EXPENSE THIS INVOLVES, AND IT'S STILL POSSIBLE THEY (AUCTION HOUSE) WON'T TAKE THE ITEM(S) FOR SALE.

IT ALL COMES WITH A LOT OF "IFS" AND DO THE EXPERTS AT THESE SMALL COMMUNITY APPRAISAL EVENTS, NOTE, AS A SIDEBAR, THAT IF THE ITEM IS ACCEPTED FOR AUCTION, AT A MAJOR AUCTION HOUSE, IN THE FIRST PLACE, WHAT PERCENTAGE IS REQUIRED AS PAYMENT, ON SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THE SALE. A LOT OF FOLKS DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT IS MEANT BY "AT AUCTION," SOME BELIEVING IT IS MUCH EASIER TO ACCESS THAN IT REALLY IS. AS FOR A COUNTRY AUCTION, NOT MUCH IS TRACKED AT THESE SALES, IN TERMS OF MILESTONES ATTAINED FOR PINE BENCHES AND FLAT-TO-THE-WALL PINE CUPBOARDS. LARGE AUCTION HOUSES OF COURSE ARE IMPORTANT FOR THIS INFORMATION, AS WITH ART FOR EXAMPLE, ESTABLISHING NEW VALUATIONS WATCHED BY THE ANTIQUE TRADE, MUSEUMS, GALLERIES, AND I'M SURE INSURANCE COMPANIES, THAT NEED TO KNOW UP-TO-DATE SALE RESULTS.

I HAD ALL BUT ONE OF MY VISITORS, THAT DAY, ASK FOR THE VALUATION, FOLLOWED BY, "AND YES, I WOULD LIKE TO SELL IT FOR THAT AMOUNT." THE EVENTS SET THIS UP, AND IN MY MIND IT CREATED AN UNCOMFORTABLE CLIMATE IN THE HALL. FIRST OF ALL, WHAT IF I HAD OFFERED A RIDICULOUSLY LOW APPRAISAL, SUSPECTING THE CLIENT MAY HAVE WANTED TO SELL ME THE ITEM? THERE WERE NO SAFEGUARDS, NOT RULES ABOUT THIS POTENTIAL CONFLICT SITUATION. THEN WHEN I DID GIVE MY APPRAISALS, THEY ASSUMED WRONGLY, THAT THIS WAS THE PRICE AN ANTIQUE AND RARE BOOK DEALER WOULD PAY TO ACQUIRE THE PIECE. I HATED THE FACT I HAD TO TELL EACH OF THEM, THE RULES OF RETAIL SALES. I COULDN'T BUY FOR THE APPRAISED AMOUNT. MARK-UP IS AT THE HEART OF IT ALL. NO MARK-UP, NO PROFIT, NO ANTIQUE BUSINESS. AT MOST, I COULD ONLY PAY FROM A QUARTER TO A THIRD OF THE APPRAISED VALUE…..NOT BECAUSE I'M CHEAP OR MEAN. IT'S JUST THE WAY IT IS. WHILE ANTIQUE DEALERS READING THIS MIGHT HUFF AND PUFF, AND DISAGREE, THEY MUST THEN GET UP, LOOK IN A MIRROR, AND BE HONEST WITH THEMSELVES ABOUT THE PERCENTAGE OF MARK-UP THEY APPLY TO FOUND PIECES OUT ON THE HUSTINGS. WHILE IT'S ALL ABOVE BOARD, AND THE MORE RESOURCEFUL YOU ARE AS A DEALER, AND THE LOWER YOU CAN ACQUIRE PIECES, THE BETTER THE PROFIT MARGIN. IT'S JUST OLD FASHIONED RESOURCEFULNESS. IT'S DONE IN MOST PROFITABLE BUSINESSES. THERE IS HOWEVER, A ROUGH EDGE TO IT ALL, WHEN YOU HAVE TO EXPLAIN THIS TO SOMEONE WHO THINKS THEY'VE HIT THE JACK-POT, AND CAN THEN GO OUT AND AFFORD THOSE BRACES FOR THEIR CHILDREN. I'VE SEEN A LOT OF HAPPY FACES TURN UPSIDE DOWN, WHEN THE ACTUAL PURCHASE PRICE IS DISCUSSED.

I WOULD NEVER PARTICIPATE AGAIN, AT ANY SIMILAR APPRAISAL EVENT, NO MATTER WHAT THE CHARITY, BECAUSE I DON'T WANT TO BE IN THAT POSITION, WITH FOLKS WHO ARE HOPEFUL OF A MAJOR FIND, WHO INITIALLY GET A POSITIVE RESULT, BUT THEN THE PIE-IN-THE-SKY COMES CRASHING TO EARTH, WHEN THE DETAILS OF SALES, AND AUCTIONS ARE MORE CLEARLY EXPLAINED…..ALMOST AS AN AFTER-THOUGHT.

I'M ALSO VERY TIRED FINDING ANTIQUE SHOPS, THAT HAVE ONLINE AUCTION PRINT-OUTS ATTACHED, OR DESCRIPTIONS WITH PRICES, TAKEN FROM BOOK COLLECTIVES, ALSO FOUND ONLINE. THESE VENDORS, AND SOME INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE DONE LESS THAN ADEQUATE RESEARCH, WILL VALUE THEIR PARALLEL ITEM, IGNORING SOME PRETTY BASIC FACTS OF THE BUSINESS. AS FOR ONLINE BOOK PRICES, TRUTH IS, MANY DEALERS WHO DON'T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT OLD BOOKS AND THEIR APPRAISALS, WILL STUFF ONE OF THESE PRINTOUTS IN THE BOOK, FROM THE HIGHEST (NOT LOWEST) APPRAISAL THEY FIND. THEY NEGLECT TO CONSIDER CONDITION, WHETHER OR NOT IT HAS ITS ORIGINAL DUSTJACKET, OR IS EVEN A STATED FIRST EDITION AS TYPICALLY CLAIMED. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY, AND IT'S WHY THOUSANDS OF THESE BOOKS ARE NEVER, EVER PURCHASED……BECAUSE THE ONLY ONES WHO WOULD CONSIDER DOING SO…..WELL, THEY KNOW EXACTLY HOW TO APPRAISE THEM, ACCORDING TO ALL THE BOOK STANDARDS. THEY DON'T NEED A SLIP OF PAPER TO TELL THEM ANYTHING. JOHN OR JANE Q. CITIZEN, IS NOT GOING TO PAY $200 FOR A BOOK UNLESS THERE'S SOME PERSONAL, AND COMPELLING DESIRE, OTHER THAN VALUE, TO MAKE THE ACQUISITION. FOR A BOOK DEALER OR COLLECTOR, IT MUST BE PRICED MUCH, MUCH LOWER THAN ITS APPRAISAL, AND MEET ALL THE CRITERIA OF CONDITION, ATTACHED TO THE VALUATION. IN OTHER WORDS, MOST FOLKS ARE SIMPLY GOING TO CLOSE UP THE BOOK, WITH THE PAPER INSIDE, AND MOVE ON TO ENJOY THE REST OF THE DAY.

ADDITIONALLY, IT IS VERY COMMON TO HAVE VENDORS RELY ON ONLINE AUCTION LISTINGS, THEY PRINT OUT, AS THE SUPPOSED VALIDATION AND AUTHENTICATION, WHEN IN FACT, THIS IS JUST TOO FLIMSY AND LOOSE-ENDED, TO EVER BE CONSIDERED ANYTHING MORE THAN A BALL-PARK APPRAISAL FOR REFERENCE…..NOT FOR MARKING A PRICE STICKER. AS A LONG-TIME ONLINE AUCTION SELLER, BELIEVE ME, THE BIDDERS SET THE PRICE…..AND IF THEY DON'T LIKE MINE…..I HAVE A CHOICE OF RE-LISTING FOR A LESSER PRICE. MANY FOLKS WHO HAVE HAD UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS, ABOUT ANTIQUE AND COLLECTIBLE VALUATIONS, ARE USUALLY CRUSHED BY THE REALITY THEIR ITEMS CRASHED AND BURNED. THERE ARE EXCEPTIONS, AND I'VE HAD THEM, BUT ON EACH OCCASION, THE MARKET…..THE BIDDERS….YOUR AUDIENCE, HAS DECIDED WHAT YOUR ITEM IS WORTH. EVEN IN THE CASE OF ON-LINE STORES, THE AUDIENCE EITHER APPROVES OR DISAPPROVES OF THE PRICE, AND THE CYCLE OF SALES CAN END BEFORE IT STARTS.

I'VE HAD MANY PEOPLE PHONE ME, OR ASK ME WHEN WE MEET IN GROCERY STORE AISLES, FOR IMPROMPTU, SIGHT UNSEEN, APPRAISALS. I DON'T DO THIS EVER. GENERALLY SPEAKING, I DON'T DO APPRAISALS EXCEPT IN THE CASE OF ESTATES THAT WE HAPPEN TO BE BIDDING ON AS A BUSINESS. I DON'T BUY SINGLE PIECES AS A RULE. IT DOESN'T MEAN I WON'T OFFER ADVICE ON WHERE TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION, WHAT TO PAY ATTENTION TO, AND POSSIBLY EVEN WHO THEY CAN APPROACH, FOR RESEARCH PARALLELS. IF I DIDN'T SET THIS AS A RULE OF CONDUCT, I MIGHT NEVER ENJOY A MOMENT, TO HAVE A WEE PINT OF ALE, OR WRITE BLOGS LIKE THIS. THAT'S HOW BUSY IT CAN GET, BELIEVE ME. IF I'VE APPRAISED "GONE WITH THE WIND," ONCE….WELL, AS THEY SAY, IT'S BEEN A TRILLION TIMES. I'VE NEVER BEEN PRESENTED, EVEN FOR SHOW, A FIRST EDITION YET. THAT DOESN'T STOP THEM FROM BRINGING 24TH, AND 37TH EDITIONS TO ME…….BELIEVING THEM TO BE GENUINE "FIRST" PRINTINGS.

BACK TO DAVE BROWN

I REMEMBER ON THREE OCCASIONS, ON ONE OF DAVE BROWN'S VISITS TO BIRCH HOLLOW, WHEN HE TOTALLY IGNORED ME, AS I ENTHUSIASTICALLY REFERENCED A NEW PRICE GUIDE, I'D JUST PURCHASED, ON THE SUBJECT OF OLD BOOKS. I'D ONLY RECENTLY PURCHASED MY FIRST PRICE GUIDE FOR ANTIQUARIAN, RARE AND OUT OF PRINT BOOKS. DAVE WAS ONE OF ONLY A FEW OLD BOOK COLLECTORS I KNEW, AND AS I WANTED TO TALK INTELLIGENTLY ABOUT MY RECENT ACQUISITIONS, IT SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA TO SHELL OUT THIRTY BUCKS FOR THE NEWEST, MOST UP-TO-DATE GUIDE, ON OLD BOOK VALUATIONS.

"TED, I DON'T CARE HOW MANY TIMES YOU SHOVE THAT PRICE GUIDE IN MY FACE, IT DOESN'T MATTER," DAVE INTERRUPTED. "I DON'T USE PRICE GUIDES, BECAUSE I DON'T BUY BECAUSE OF MONEY, OR INVESTMENT. I BUY BOOKS I LIKE. END OF STORY." SO FEELING VERY MUCH A TOOL, AND NOW WAY OUT OF MY ELEMENT, I TUCKED THE BOOK UNDER MY ARM, AND DID WHAT GENERATIONS OF MY FAMILY HAVE BEEN DOING, SINCE DAYS YELLING AT ONE ANOTHER IN THE PASTURES OF THE OLD COUNTRY. I ARGUED VEHEMENTLY ABOUT THE USEFULNESS OF GUIDEBOOKS ON ALL KINDS OF OLD STUFF. WHAT ELSE WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO? SUZANNE WAS WATCHING THIS UNFOLD, AND SHE HAD OBJECTED TO THE PRICE OF THE BOOK TO BEGIN WITH.

"It's okay to have price guides if you're in this business," Dave directed to Suzanne, who was just then preparing his lunch. So I thought, oh that's great Dave, soft-peddling to get an extra pickle on your plate, and demeaning the rookie book collector……who also has to live here when you leave. "I told you so, I told you so," she'll repeat for a week. "If you are going to profit from buying and selling old books, Ted, you need a lot more knowledge and experience in the trade, than you're going to get from a price guide, or a dozen of them. Knowing what goes on in old book shops is a good start. I haunt them all the time." Of course he was right, but thirty bucks down the drain hurt my feelings. I was cheaper than Dave when it came to buying books.

I knew what he meant. I know it better today, because since that time, I've had a lot more time to investigate the values of old books, and the ones that look like they've got potential, but are actually worthless….or close to being of no value. What he meant, was that he was a collector of non-fiction history and natural history, as well as some others scientific texts that were in his specific areas of study and interest, regardless of the values. For example, he was particularly interested in non-fiction, real (up close and personal) encounters of authors profiling the whale hunt as it existed hundreds of years ago. He wasn't looking for newer books on the subject, but rather ones that were from the time period of the 1700's to mid 1800's. He would buy books about recent explorations from that same period, where new lands were opened up, natural discoveries being made and documented in text form. These were valuable books. Here's the thing. Dave, one of the provinces best known outdoor educators, did have knowledge of book values, in his area of expertise, but much was done by barter and less by cash payments for titles he desired better than most dealers, because he comparison shopped. He was a horse trader, like Will Rogers, without the horse. This is why he could say, with honesty, he didn't worry about book values as such, or need a price guide. Dave, by immersion in the industry, knew book prices. Believe me. But he had a way of circumnavigating everything, by being a smooth talker, congenial when it was needed, and always willing to make a lucrative deal, based on the tradition of what he wanted to dump, in return for what he fancied. I got sucked into a lot of old book trades, let me tell you. So I did what I had to do. Bartered meals and lodging, so I hope to God, Suzanne doesn't read this…..or I'm going to be living on the porch for the balance of the winter.

Dave Brown passed away, in the late 1990's, having amassed about 100,000 books, stuffed into his Hamilton bungalow. It was a valuable collection. It took a behemoth effort for the executors to handle the estate. McMaster University benefitted from Dave's benevolence, as quite a few histories were donated to their archives. Book and old paper dealers from around the province, benefitted from the dispersal which took a giant two day auction, to clear it all out. Some of those books had been mine. Outsmarted by the chairman of the board. That was Dave to a "T". You know, he was a fantastic tutor, because his rule was tough-love. He bestowed a huge volume of information on both Suzanne and I, and in exchange for dinner, hot drink, a little wine, and a bed in my downstairs archives, we had full evenings of antique talks. Stories about Dave's many adventures in the old book trade, amongst many other collectible interests. He was a huge fan of the logging industry in Canada, and had many artifacts stored in his humble book-laden home. I wrote Dave's biography back in 2000, but a lot of stories didn't make the small collection, aimed largely at his collector friends and teaching colleagues. There are many more instructional, humorous stories about Dave's experiences, in books and antiques, that didn't make the book, which I'd like to share with blog readers. Some of the stories seem pretty far-fetched, except if you knew the name Dave Brown. There was nothing ordinary about the man, or his noe legendary exploits as a collector. They are stories that helped us, as young, impressionable collector / dealers, and may be for you as well……..pondering just how crazy and wickedly competitive the antique trade can become, even in what appear ordinary circumstances. Over quite a few years, our summer nights were always more interesting, when his familiar red truck, with yellow canoe banded to the top, pulled into the lane at Birch Hollow. Dave may have been on the way to an Algonquin adventure, or somewhere deep in the Haliburton lakeland, an old haunt of his, as a summer camp councillor near Dorset, Ontario. Whichever way he was going, we would ply him with whatever was necessary, to share some of his exciting reminisces. Our boys, as young as they were at the time, hung off his every word, because these were real-life adventures not to be found in any of their books…….most of which, had been given to them by Mr. Brown over many visits. Dave was like that. He just didn't like price guides. Or people he found arrogant or obstinate…..even though he was a model of both characteristics.

MR. BROWN, AS AN EXAMPLE OF FRIEND AND COMPETITOR AT THE SAME TIME

FIRST OF ALL, DAVE NEVER SIGNED UP TO BE A ROLE MODEL , AND HE WASN'T INTERESTED IN MENTORING ANYONE. DAVE WAS VERY ENTHUSED ABOUT HIS OWN COLLECTION AND COLLECTING ABILITIES, AND DESIRED AS MANY ADVENTURES AND ODYSSEYS AS HE COULD JAM INTO 24 HOURS EACH DAY. YOU NEVER CHIDED DAVE ABOUT BEING COVERED IN SWAMP MUD, FOR EXAMPLE. YOU JUST ASKED HIM WHAT HE'D BEEN LOOKING FOR AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SWAMP. A LOGGING CHAIN? POSSIBLY. A PRESERVED CHUNK OF WHITE PINE, FOR A SCHOOL DISPLAY? YUP. HE'D JUMP INTO A SNAKE INFESTED SWAMP ANY TIME, TO GET SOMETHING NEAT…..MANDMADE OR NATURALLY PROVIDED. ONE DAY A MECHANIC IN HAMILTON, NEEDED HIS HELP ON A SERPENT ISSUE. HE GOT CALLED OUT ON A COLD WINTER AFTERNOON, TO UNCOIL A MATURE BOA CONSTRICTOR, THAT HAD ESCAPED ITS CAGE, SLITHERED OUTSIDE, AND THEN BEEN FORCED, DUE TO THE COLD, TO SEEK THE WARMTH OF A CAR IN A PARKING LOT. DAVE DID THE JOB FOR A SNAKE! THAT WAS HIS PAYMENT. HE GOT TO KEEP THE DEAD SNAKE, AND IT WAS PRESERVED BY A FRIEND IN THE TAXIDERMY BUSINESS, AND THEN USED AS A SHOWPIECE IN HIS OUTDOOR EDUCATION CENTRE……FOR THE BENEFIT OF A LOT OF SPELLBOUND KIDS.

WHEN HE TALKED ABOUT HIS LIFE WITH OLD BOOKS, AND THE OTHER LIFE AS AN OUTDOOR EDUCATION TEACHER, IT WAS WITH THE KNOWLEDGE I WAS TO BE HIS BIOGRAPHER. HE HAD WANTED TO WRITE A BOOK FOR SOME TIME, BUT BY HIS OWN ADMISSION, HE WASN'T A WRITER. I WAS. IT WASN'T UNTIL SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH, THAT I FINALLY UNDERSTOOD WHY HE HAD BEEN TELLING ME ALL HIS COLLECTING STORIES, AND ABOUT HIS YEARS WITH SUMMER CAMPS AND THE OUTDOOR EDUCATION PROGRAM IN CANADA. "I WANT YOU TO WRITE THE BOOK, TED," HE INFORMED ME, ONE NIGHT BY PHONE FROM HAMILTON. "OKAY," I ANSWERED. "WHERE'S THIS COMING FROM DAVE? YOU NEVER MENTIONED THIS BEFORE." "I'VE BEEN WANTING TO THIS FOR SOME TIME." HE ANSWERED. "NOW IS THE PERFECT TIME. HOPE THAT'S OKAY FOR YOU."

Well, if I've spoken well of this man, so far in this blog, let me tell you, that to be asked to pen his biography, was the highlight of a long, run-of-the-mill newspaper career. This was, in my mind, a big break-out from feature column writing, and composing regional histories. What was heart-breaking, came a few weeks later, and it arrived through Suzanne, with great hesitation and regret. Dave called, and when we started to have our usual conversation, and I just happened to ask how he was feeling (he'd recently experienced a few medical problems that forced him to retire from teaching), Dave said, "barked" is a better word. "I'm not telling you Ted. I want to talk to Suzanne." I knew it had to be pretty bad, if Suzanne was the filter for the latest health news. "Dave's going to die, Ted," she said, ashen, with tears running down her cheek. "He's been diagnosed with leukemia." It was the last time I talked to Dave, because the end came quickly. When I agreed to do the damn book, I expected Dave against my shoulder most of the way through the manuscript. I was left to write it largely from memory, of all our conversations.

Dave Brown's name was widely known. In person, he was a bit more of a mystery. He didn't tell you he was a major book collector, and by his general appearance, you would be more likely to think he was just in from the hobo jungle, than owner of a major Canadian book collection. That was fine with Dave. He never corrected folks who thought he was a bum. Well, maybe just once that I know about. It happened when Dave attended an antiquarian and rare book show /sale, where there were numerous vendors from Canada and the United States. He never dressed up, except to go to school, or attend an administrative event for the Hamilton Board of Education, and even then he was casually appointed. Just not shorts and food-stained t-shirt, with big honking sneakers. By wandering around, largely unnoticed, Dave looked terribly out of place, and one vendor seemed most concerned about what looked like "greasy fingers," and a chap without enough money to spend on old books. Now if you asked many of these same vendors, while Dave was standing in their booth, if they had seen Dave Brown, their eyes would nearly pop out of the sockets. "Dave Brown! My God, where is he……what's he look like?" This is because many knew his name from the network of dealers they associated, and that he had become kind of an urban legend in his own time. It was once said of Dave, that "he'd skin a louse for its tallow." Well, he was frugal, that's for sure. But they seemed to know his taste in books, and respected his knowledge of the trade…..as if they might wish to seek the great bard's advice, or opinions on books in their own collection.

Dave liked to play "silly ass" at someone else's expense. He was sort of a "Shane" kind of cowboy, if his story had been a western. He was always the good guy. Always well liked. You wanted to give Dave a good deal because of it. Yet every now and then, a dealer or seller, would tick him off during a business transaction. So at this book event, Dave had been in the subject booth for quite some time, and he could see the vendor getting anxious about the handling of the books. He obviously didn't think Dave worthy of holding them. His interest? He had found two under-priced books on "whaling" as I have written about earlier in this blog. When the dealer came and forcibly took the books from his hands, suggesting that "appropriate care must be taken in the handling of old books," Dave turned his big feet toward the cash table where the man had retreated. Wanting the books, but deciding to remain calm, Dave played along, and continued to discuss the books, condition, and the asking price. I don't really know how long the discussion went on, or what Dave may have been thinking at the time….or if he wished to slug the bloke, but the end result is that he paid the asking price, and took possession of the books. I have always imagined, the dealers chin resting on the sale counter, when Dave took out his trademark wad of big bills. After the purchase, with the books neatly tucked under his arm, he let loose on the guy something fierce. He had a way with words, without raising his voice, or swearing, that could certainly put you in your place on a thin budget of adjectives and verbs. Dave didn't like the way he had been treated, as if someone who had no business being at an old book show, or handling these precious natural histories he'd just prchased.

The cap of the story is this. After Dave slapped his heavy running shoes out of the booth, another vendor ran out to greet him……as almost a celebrity guest. "Dave, I've been keeping these books for you. Do you have a minute to take a look?" The book dealer he'd just left, in a mire of confusion, asked his neighbor later, who the chubby man with dirty sneakers was. "Dave Brown. Heard of him?" Now, from what Dave told me, and he had no reason to lie to his biographer, there was a lot of silence following "oh shit!"

What Dave had told the chap, before leaving the booth, was that some of this friends in the book business would be told of this unfortunate event……and that it had been a mistake to judge a person solely on appearance. How many times have you heard that one? He wasn't fooling. Dave had a good sense of humor, but this book dealer was not going to benefit for any type of goodwill going. In fact, Dave told every book seller he could, about the poor treatment he'd received at this dealer's show booth. Whether he received an apology or not, the book seller got his comeuppance. Dave was powerful in the business, because he networked like a mad-man, to make friends throughout the old book community. Many didn't like Dave, because they considered him a shark with a nasty bite. That's true. He did have a bite, but not if you gave him the credit he deserved. If you showed respect for his accrued knowledge over a lifetime, he was willing to share, and compare notes. He was very much an historian, and that's why we hit it off.

One last story about the lesson Mr. Brown provided me, about the true scope and struggle of competition for the best of the best. Dave came up to attend an "old" book sale at the Anglican Church in Bracebridge. He stayed at our house on the Friday night before the sale, and we were going to travel there together in our car from Gravenhurst. We had an enjoyable night, talked till midnight, sucked back a bottle of wine, and hit the hay. As Suzanne was preparing breakfast for us, I went to call Dave to the table. He was gone. Not for good. Just at that moment. Suzanne did remind me that he said it was possible he would head out a little earlier to tend to some business, and then meet me at the sale. I assumed this is what happened. So I had breakfast, took a leisurely drive to Bracebridge, got to the sale in time to be about 10th in the line-up outside. I was about twenty minutes early. The line-up got pretty big for a church fundraiser, and there were several dealers ahead of me. I admit it. I was there for investment and profit, not for reading material. So when it came time to let us in, the Minister showed up at the now open door, slapping Dave Brown on the back, thanking him for his contribution to the church event. The son-of-a-gun couldn't slap the Minister back, because he had a huge box of old books in his arms at the time. The bastard! "Good morning Ted," he said as he passed. "Sorry I missed breakfast. I had work to do. I left some books for you." Yea, well, that didn't happen unless he meant Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books. But he taught me about how wily you have to be, should you decided to play in the big leagues.

I have many other Dave Brown stories to fascinate you, some involving side arms and estate sales in the United States. There's a lot of money in rare books. I'll take you on a field trip, with the legendary Mr. Brown, in an upcoming blog. If you think I was kidding about the antique and collectible business being exciting…….and a wee bit dangerous, these stories will set you straight. Maybe even make you a convert to the antique profession…….if you're not there already. Tomb raiding? Just short of…..

Books With Provenance Are More Valuable Than Those Without

SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BOOKS ARE VALUABLE, BUT IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT THE MONEY

IT'S THE INTIMATE CONNECTION, OF OWNING A BOOK WITH ENHANCED PROVENANCE; WHICH SOMETIMES HAS A FUNNY STORY ATTACHED

     I ONCE OWNED, FOR WHAT ONLY TUR NED OUT TO BE A COUPLE OF WEEKS, A TEXT WRITTEN AS A CHRONICLE OF A MINNESOTA DIVISION, OF THE FEDERAL ARMY, IN THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR. IT WAS SIGNED BY A MEMBER OF A SOLDIER'S FAMILY, IDENTIFIED IN THE BOOK. I HAD, AND SOLD, A BOOK SIGNED BY ACTOR, JAMES MASON. IT DIDN'T LAST LONG. IT WASN'T ALL THAT LONG AGO, I SOLD A BOOK, WRITTEN BY CANADIAN AUTHOR, ROBERTSON DAVIES. WHAT WAS ODD ABOUT THIS BOOK, WAS THAT THE AUTHOR, ASKED TO SIGN THE TITLE PAGE, BY THE PURCHASER, ACTUALLY CROSSED OUT HIS PRINTED NAME, BELOW THE TITLE OF THE STORY, THEN IMPRINTED HIS SIGNATURE DIRECTLY BENEATH. I WAS TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY HE DID THIS, WHEN I CAME UPON A SECOND BOOK AT THE SALE, DONE EXACTLY THE SAME WAY. SO I BOUGHT THEM BOTH.

    I HAVE QUITE A FEW SIGNED "VINYL CAFE" BOOKS, BY CBC STORY-TELLER, STUART MCLEAN, AND AN EQUAL NUMBER BY MY OLD FRIEND, WAYLAND "BUSTER" DREW, FORMERLY OF BRACEBRIDGE, WHO WROTE BOOKS SUCH AS "SUPERIOR; THE HAUNTED SHORE," WITH PHOTOGRAPHER, BRUCE LITTELJOHN, "BROWN'S WEIR," WHICH HE CO-WROTE WITH HIS WIFE, GWEN, AND SOFT COVER BOOKS INCLUDING "HALFWAY MAN," AND "WILLOW," WHICH HE WROTE INTO BOOK FORM, FROM THE MOVIE SCRIPT, OF THE SAME NAME. HE WAS ANOTHER OF MY AUTHOR FRIENDS, WHO GAVE ME A HUGE BOOST IN CONFIDENCE, BY OFFERING IMPORTANT CRITIQUES THAT I STILL ADHERE-TO TODAY. I HAVE A COUPLE OF SIGNED AND INSCRIBED CANADIAN HERITAGE BOOKS, PUBLISHED BY HISTORIAN CHARLIE HUMBER, AS PART OF A SPECIAL SERIES, THAT OFFERED WELL RESEARCHED, BIOGRAPHICAL ARCHIVES, WITH TITLES SUCH AS "LOYAL SHE REMAINS." I GOT TO KNOW CHARLIE FROM MY DAYS AS EDITOR, OF THE MUSKOKA LAKES-GEORGIAN BAY BEACON, WHERE CHARLIE AND HIS FAMILY HAD A COTTAGE. THROUGH THE YEARS AND MANY OTHER CONNECTIONS WITH HISTORIAN FRIENDS OF MINE, I SHARED A LOT OF HERITAGE CHATS WITH THE GOOD MR. HUMBER. ONE OF MY MOST IMPORTANT OF THESE CANADIAN HERITAGE BOOKS, IS THE BIOGRAPHY SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BY ARCHIVIST, HUGH MACMILLAN, TITLED, "ADVENTURES OF A PAPER SLEUTH," WHICH I HAVE REFERRED TO MANY TIMES IN THESE BLOGS. HUGH GAVE MANY IMPORTANT INSIGHTS ABOUT COLLECTING CANADA'S PAPER HERITAGE. IT WAS HUGH WHO PUSHED ME TO WRITE THE BIOGRAPHY OF OUR MUTUAL BOOK COLLECTING FRIEND, DAVE BROWN, OF HAMILTON; OF WHICH I FOLLOWED THROUGH, AND SOLD EVERY COPY PRODUCED. THESE ARE JUST A FEW OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS, AND ONES THAT WERE MEMORABLE IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, OVER A LONG PERIOD OF COLLECTING BOOKS AND OLD PAPER. I KEEP THE ONES THAT HAVE BEEN PERSONALLY INSCRIBED TO SUZANNE AND I, AS REMINDERS OF JUST HOW MANY FRIENDS WE'VE HAD IN THE AUTHOR-COMMUNITY; AND HOW MANY HAVE SAT DOWN TO DINNER WITH US, SO WILLING TO SHARE THEIR AMAZING STORIES. THE BOOKS OF COURSE, HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INVESTMENT VALUE, CONSIDERING THEIR PROVENANCE. BUT THE STORIES SUZANNE AND I HAVE, SHARING EVENING CHATS WITH HUGH MACMILLAN, AND DAVE BROWN, ARE JUST PRECIOUS. I WISH YOU COULD HAVE BEEN THERE.

     WHEN I BO0K-HUNT, I DO LOOK FOR SIGNED COPIES, BECAUSE IN MY SHOP, THEY HAVE BECOME QUITE AN ATTRACTION. THESE AREN'T THE ONLY BOOKS I BUY, BUT I MUST ADMIT THEY DO FASCINATE ME. IT'S VERY SELDOM THAT I LEAVE AN AUTOGRAPHED COPY BEHIND, AT A BOOK SALE, OR THRIFT SHOP. OBVIOUSLY, THE REPUTATION OF THE AUTHOR, PLAYS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE EQUATION. THE BIGGER THE REPUTATION, THE LARGER THE INVESTMENT VALUE OF THE BOOK. THEN THERE ARE THE SENTIMENTAL FAVORITES, LIKE PAUL RIMSTEAD'S "COCKTAILS AND JOCKSTRAPS." I'VE GOT A HALF DOZEN OF THOSE, BECAUSE HE WAS MY FAVORITE NEWSPAPER COLUMNIST.

     SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BOOKS HAVE ALWAYS FASCINATED ME. YOU PROBABLY FIGURED THIS OUT, FROM PREVIOUS BLOGS, AND YESTERDAY'S OVERVIEW OF GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON'S BIOGRAPHY, WHICH WE BELIEVE, WAS SIGNED BY A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER UNDER HIS COMMAND. IF YOU MISSED YESTERDAY'S BLOG, YOU CAN ARCHIVE BACK IF YOU WISH. FOR TWENTY YEARS, I'VE BEEN ACCUMULATING SIGNED AND INSCRIBED BOOKS, BUT NOT JUST FOR EXTREME PROFIT. THAT'S A BONUS, BUT I JUST LIKE BUYING AND SELLING BOOKS WITH PROVENANCE; I HAPPEN TO THINK IT'S NEAT TO HAVE A BOOK THAT WAS IN THE HANDS OF THE AUTHOR, EVEN FOR A SHORT TIME, WHO THEN APPLIED HIS SIGNATURE, AND POSSIBLY A LITTLE MESSAGE. A REAL JEWELL? THE BOOK WRITTEN ABOUT "THE BAND," ENTITLED "ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE" SIGNED BY ITS MEMBERS. WE SOLD THAT ONLINE FOR AROUND THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS. TODAY IT'S PROBABLY CLOSER TO FOUR HUNDRED, IN GOOD CONDITION.

     SIGNED BOOKS, WITH AUTHOR INSCRIPTIONS, SEEM MORE FULFILLING AND EXCITING, TO ME, AND TRUTH BE KNOWN, I LIKE READING THESE EDITIONS MORE THAN THE SAME BOOK, WITHOUT AN AUTHOR'S PERSONAL IMPRINT. SO I WILL TURN DOWN A LOT OF GOOD BOOKS, THAT WOULD NORMALLY CATCH MY ATTENTION, TO BUY A MORE EXPENSIVE SIGNED COPY, OF A BOOK HAVING SOMEWHAT LESSER SIGNIFICANCE. THIS MAY SEEM WILDLY CRAZY, BUT WHEN YOU HAVE MANY HUNDREDS OF SIGNED EDITIONS, AND IT'S WHAT YOU DEEM IMPORTANT TO YOUR COLLECTING INTERESTS, IT DOES MAKE PERFECT SENSE. I'VE EXTENDED THIS INTO PHOTOGRAPHS AND JUST ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE THAT HAS BEEN SIGNED. FOR QUITE A FEW OF MY SIGNED ARTICLES, THERE ARE STORIES ATTACHED. IN SOME CASES, IT'S THE REASON THE BOOK HAS TO BE PASSED DOWN TO FAMILY MEMBERS, AND NOT OFFERED FOR SALE IN THE SHOP. IN THE NEWSPAPER BUSINESS, I KNEW QUITE A FEW AUTHORS, AND OFTEN DID REVIEWS WHEN THEIR BOOKS WERE PUBLISHED. SO I WAS GIVEN QUITE A FEW SIGNED COPIES FOR MY COLLECTION. VERY FEW OF THESE HAVE GONE UP IN VALUE, EXCEPT WHAT THEY MEAN TO OUR FAMILY, AS LITERARY KEEPSAKES.

     FOR EXAMPLE, I WANTED TO BUY A NEW BOOK THAT WAS BEING RELEASED BY CANADIAN ART EXPERT, DAVID SILCOX, AT THE DAVID MIRVISH BOOK SHOP IN TORONTO, QUITE A FEW YEARS AGO. THIS WOULD BE THE SECOND BOOK, BY SILCOX, THAT I OBTAINED, THANKS TO HIS BROTHER KEN, AN OLD FRIEND OF MINE FROM BRACEBRIDGE. KEN AND I WERE CANOE PARTNERS YEARS AGO, AND BECAUSE OF MY INTEREST IN CANADIAN ART, I WAS ALWAYS NATTERING AT HIM, ABOUT WHAT DAVID WAS UP TO, IN TERMS OF HIS RESEARCH. DAVID HAS DONE SOME AMAZING WRITING WORK ON SUCH ARTISTS AS TOM THOMSON, DAVID MILNE, THE GROUP OF SEVEN, AND CHRISTOPHER PRATT. I THINK HIS LANDMARK BOOK WAS "TOM THOMSON; THE SILENCE AND THE STORM," WHICH HE CO-WROTE WITH CANADIAN ARTIST, HAROLD TOWN. I HAVE TWO COPIES IN MY THOMSON COLLECTION. KEN USED TO GO DOWN TO THE BOOK SIGNINGS, AND I COULD CON HIM INTO BUYING ME SIGNED AND INSCRIBED COPIES. ALWAYS A KIND ASSOCIATE, KEN WOULD RETURN WITH A NICE FRESH COPY, ALWAYS HAVING DAVID'S INSCRIPTION WHICH MEANT A LOT TO ME. THE LAST BOOK, ON THE GROUP OF SEVEN, GOT EXPENSIVE FOR KEN, WHEN IN THE PROCESS OF GETTING HIS BROTHER TO SIGN MY COPY, THE CITY OF TORONTO TOWED HIS CAR AWAY, FROM IN FRONT OF THE STORE. OOPS. EVERY TIME I LOOK AT IT, I THINK ABOUT THAT OCCASION, AND IT ALWAYS GIVES ME A CHUCKLE; THE SNICKER I COULD NEVER LET LOOSE IN FRONT OF KEN, BECAUSE THE TOWING CHARGE, AND IMPOUNDING, POSSIBLY COST HIM A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS. KEN AND I HAD A SUBDUED LAUGH ABOUT THE WHOLE AFFAIR. I PAID HIM FOR THE BOOK, AND HE SAID, WELL, "THERE'S THE MOST EXPENSIVE BOOK I EVER BOUGHT," IN PART, REFERRING TO THE COST INCURRED PARKING IN THE WRONG PLACE. HE DID POINT OUT, THAT HE READ THROUGH IT FIRST, BEFORE HANDING IT OVER. FAIR ENOUGH.

     ANOTHER ONE OF MY IMPORTANT KEEPSAKES, IS THE AUTOGRAPHED COPY OF THE EDDY SHACK BIOGRAPHY, BY WELL KNOWN SPORTS WRITER, ROSS BREWITT. (I STILL READ HIS COLUMNS EVERY WEEK) ROSS AND I HAD BECOME GOOD FRIENDS, AFTER I MET HIM ONE SNOWY WINTER NIGHT, IN DOWNTOWN BRACEBRIDGE, WHERE HE WAS RELEASING HIS LATEST BOOK. I THINK IT WAS BEING HELD AT "READERS' WORLD," NEAR THE DOWNTOWN TRAFFIC LIGHTS ON MANITOBA STREET. THIS WAS BACK IN THE MID 1990'S. I DID A REVIEW OF THE BOOK FOR A COUPLE OF LOCAL PUBLICATIONS, AND I KNOW QUITE A FEW MATES WHO PICKED UP COPIES AS A RESULT. ONE OF THE BOOKS, THAT I GOT AUTOGRAPHED, WAS "THE LAST MINUTE OF PLAY," AND I LIKED IT SO MUCH, THAT I BOUGHT COPIES FOR MY FATHER AND SUZANNE'S DAD AS BIRTHDAY PRESENTS. OVER MANY NAGGING CONVERSATIONS, ROSS AND I HAD FOR YEARS AFTER, I ALSO SUGGESTED THAT HE CONSIDER FINISHING A BIOGRAPHY, THAT TORONTO SUN COLUMNIST, PAUL RIMSTEAD HAD BEEN WORKING ON, SHORTLY BEFORE HIS DEATH. RIMMER HAD SERIOUSLY CONTEMPLATED WRITING A BIOGRAPHY OF FORMER TORONTO MAPLE LEAF, EDDY "CLEAR THE TRACK" SHACK, AS THEY WERE CLOSE FRIENDS. BREWITT, IN MY OPINION, HAD A SIMILAR PERSPECTIVE ON SPORTS AND LIFE, AND I FOUND MANY PARALLELS IN STYLE BETWEEN HIM AND RIMSTEAD. SO I JUST SUGGESTED IT WOULD BE AN IDEA, IF HE WAS LOOKING FOR A NEW BOOK PROJECT, TO CONSIDER TALKING TO EDDY, TO SEE IF THERE WAS ANY INTEREST. I DON'T THINK I'VE BEEN HAPPIER, IN MY WORLD OF BOOKS, THAN WHEN I FOUND OUT ROSS AND EDDY, (THEY HAD KNOWN EACH OTHER FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE THIS) HAD AGREED TO WORK TOGETHER, TO PUBLISH A LONG OVERDUE BIOGRAPHY. THE NIGHT OF THE BOOK SIGNING, ROSS INVITED ME TO TORONTO TO ENJOY THE FESTIVITIES (ANY TIME YOU'RE WITH EDDY, IT'S A MEMORABLE OCCASION), BUT IT JUST HAPPENED TO BE ONE OF THE BIGGEST SNOW EVENTS OF THE SEASON. AS I WAS DRIVING A CAR THAT WEIGHED THE SAME AS A GOLF BAG AND CART, IT DIDN'T TAKE ME MORE THAN A FEW MILES, TO FIGURE OUT I WAS GOING TO DIE IN THIS STORM, IF I WENT ANY FURTHER. BUT I GOT A COPY OF THE BOOK ANYWAY, AND I'VE ALREADY GIVEN IT TO SON ROBERT, AS A LITTLE HEIRLOOM IN ADVANCE. I THINK RIMSTEAD WOULD HAVE BEEN PLEASED BY THE OUTCOME OF THE BOOK, HONORING HIS OLD PAL EDDY SHACK.

     ONE OF MY MOST COVETED BOOKS, IS A SOFTCOVER EDITION, OF JOHN ROBERT COLOMBO'S "EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES - PERSONAL ACCOUNTS OF THE PARANORMAL IN CANADA." MY FRIEND JOHN, A REVERED PARANORMAL RESEARCHER, KNOWN AS CANADA'S "MASTER HUNTER GATHERER OF STORIES," SENT ME THE BOOK, INSCRIBED TO SUZANNE AND I, FROM "RUTH AND JOHN, FOR BEDSIDE READING." AS I'VE NOTED PREVIOUSLY, I WROTE A PIECE FOR ONE OF JOHN'S BOOKS, MANY YEARS AGO NOW, INVOLVING MY PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES IN THE FORMER MCGIBBON HOUSE, IN BRACEBRIDGE. HE HAD READ THE FULL PAGE FEATURE, I HAD WRITTEN AND PUBLISHED, IN THE HERALD-GAZETTE, WHICH I DECIDED TO RE-PRINT SEVERAL WEEKS AGO IN THIS BLOG. MINE WASN'T A BIG CONTRIBUTION FOR JOHN, BUT IT DID INITIATE A FRIENDSHIP, THAT INSPIRED ME TO BEGIN WRITING ABOUT MUSKOKA AND ALGONQUIN GHOSTS, IN THE LATE 1990'S. JOHN SUGGESTED I COMMENCE SUCH A PROJECT, AS THERE WAS A MARKET FOR THIS MATERIAL. HE EVEN PENNED THAT POIGNANT ADVICE IN ANOTHER TINY-FORMAT BOOK HE SENT ME, ON UFO SIGHTINGS IN CANADA. AS I NOTED IN AN EARLIER BLOG, JOHN EVEN WENT AS FAR, AS WRITING AN OPENING COLUMN, FOR A LENGTHY MUSKOKA GHOST SERIES, I PUT TOGETHER, FOR BOB BOYER, SENIOR EDITOR OF THE MUSKOKA SUN; AND IT BECAME ONE OF THE BEST READ SERIES I'D EVER WRITTEN. MOST FOLKS, INTERESTED IN THE SPIRIT-KIND, WHO HAVE READ ABOUT CANADIAN PARANORMAL ACTIVITIES, KNOW THE NAME JOHN ROBERT COLOMBO, AS AN AUTHORITY ON THE SUBJECT. HAVING HIS SUPPORT HAS MEANT A LOT TO ME, OVER ALL THE YEARS SINCE, AND BELIEVE ME, I NEVER WRITE ANYTHING TODAY, ON GHOSTS OR "EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIENCES," THAT I DON'T USE JOHN'S WORK AS A SECURE FOUNDATION TO BUILD UPON. HIS STANDARD OF RESEARCH IS OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, AND I HAVE READ HIS BOOKS SO MANY TIMES, THEY OBVIOUSLY ARE GETTING A LITTLE DOG-EARRED. I HOPE HE TAKES THIS AS A COMPLIMENT, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW IT'S INTENDED. AS I PLAN TO WRITE MUCH MORE ABOUT LOCAL GHOSTS AND HAUNTINGS, I WILL CONTINUE TO USE RECALL HIS WORK FOR INSPIRATION. HE HAS SAVED SO MUCH SOCIAL / CULTURAL FOLK LORE AND FIRST HAND STORIES, THAT HIS WORK HAS BECOME AN ENTIRE WING OF CANADIAN HISTORICAL ARCHIVES. THANKS JOHN.

     ANOTHER OF MY FAVORITE AUTHORS, IS WILSON MACDONALD, ONE OF CANADA'S FINE POETS, FROM EARLIER IN THE 1900'S; A NAME MANY TODAY WON'T RECOGNIZE. NOW THAT IS A SHAME. MACDONALD, IN COMPANY OF OTHER WELL KNOWN CANADIAN WRITER / POETS, DURING THE 1920'S AND 30'S, SUCH AS BLISS CARMEN, AND SIR CHARLES G.D. ROBERTS, WERE YEARLY PARTICIPANTS AT THE MUSKOKA ASSEMBLY, FOR AUTHORS AND PHILOSOPHERS, HELD ON TOBIN'S ISLAND, LAKE ROSSEAU, NEAR THE VILLAGE OF WINDERMERE. MACDONALD WAS A FREQUENT GUEST AT A COTTAGE ON THE LAKE, KNOWN WELL BY MY WIFE'S FAMILY, AND I, BY ASSOCIATION, WITH LOTS OF RESOURCES, WROTE ANOTHER LENGTHY NEWSPAPER SERIES ON THE CANADIAN POET, PUBLISHED IN THE MUSKOKA SUN; PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF THE POEMS HE WROTE ABOUT SUMMERS IN OUR DISTRICT. OVER TIME, SUZANNE AND I BEGAN BUYING SOME OF HIS BOOKS OF POETRY, OF WHICH NINETY-NINE PERCENT ARE SIGNED AND INSCRIBED. NOT JUST WHAT WE PURCHASED. MACDONALD DID NOT, AS A RULE, SELL HIS PUBLISHED POETRY THROUGH BOOK STORES. HE SOLD THEM WHEREVER HE WAS GIVING A RECITAL, AND THAT MEANT, HE WOULD SIT AT A TABLE, AND PERSONALLY INSCRIBE THE BOOKS HE WAS SELLING. IF THERE WASN'T A LONG LINE-UP, HE WOULD EVEN SIT THERE AND PEN INTERESTING DESIGNS TO ACCOMPANY THE INSCRIPTION, EVEN TO THE POINT OF ILLUMINATING LETTERS, EVEN IN THE POETRY, IF THAT'S WHAT YOU LIKED. THE RARITY, AS FAR AS WILSON MACDONALD BOOKS, IS TO FIND ONE THAT ISN'T SIGNED OR INSCRIBED. THEY ARE FEW AND FAR BETWEEN. HE WAS A GENEROUS MAN, AND HE LOVED TO VISIT SCHOOL CHILDREN ESPECIALLY, AND AT ONE TIME, HE WAS HUGELY OCCUPIED MAKING THE ROUNDS OF CANADIAN SCHOOLS, TO READ HIS POETRY. THE BOOK PICTURED ABOVE, WAS ACQUIRED BY NORMA CROCKFORD, (NORMA BUSTARD), ON OCTOBER 21ST, 1940. SHE KINDLY LOANED ME THE BOOK WHEN I WAS WORKING ON AN UPDATED FEATURE ON THE POET, BACK IN 2000. SUZANNE AND I HAVE MOST OF HIS BOOKS IN OUR COLLECTION, AND WE ARE ESPECIALLY FOUND OF "OUT OF THE WILDERNESS," BECAUSE IT CONTAINS SEVERAL IMPORTANT MUSKOKA POEMS, WRITTEN WHILE HE WAS PART OF THE MUSKOKA ASSEMBLY OF WRITERS. HE WAS A DELIGHTFUL MAN, ACCORDING TO ALL WHO KNEW HIM. WE ARE ALSO FORTUNATE TO OWN A 78 RPM RECORDING OF ONE OF HIS RECITALS.

     SOME OF MY OTHER SIGNED COPIES, FOUND IN NORMAL FLEA MARKET, YARD SALE, THRIFT STORE RAMBLES, INCLUDE BOOKS BY CANADIAN AUTHOR, TIMOTHY FINDLEY, MAX BRAITHWAITE (WHO WROTE FROM A COTTAGE ON BRANDY LAKE, NEAR PORT CARLING), W.O. MITCHELL, MORDECAI RICHLER, AND A.J. CASSON, OF THE CANADIAN GROUP OF SEVEN, MARGARET ATWOOD, AND MIKE FILEY, ONE OF TORONTO'S WELL RESPECTED HISTORIANS. I LIKE THE WORK OF THESE AUTHORS, WITHOUT THEIR BOOKS HAVING TO BE SIGNED FIRST; BUT, WITHOUT SHAME, I HAVE TO ADMIT, A SPECIAL INTEREST, KNOWING THESE FINE FOLKS HELD THE BOOKS IN THEIR HANDS, WHILE SIGNING AND INSCRIBING THEM. IT'S THE WAY, YOU MIGHT SAY, I'VE MORPHED PERSONALLY, AS A BIBLIOPHILE / COLLECTOR, IN OVER THIRTY YEARS OF BURYING MYSELF IN THE PRINTED WORD.

ON THE ANTIQUE AND COLLECTABLE TRAIL

ALWAYS LOOK IN BOOKS FOR THAT LITTLE EXTRA

     I just wanted to share a little "hunt and gather" discovery today, made during a little travel-time adventure, down the road just "a smidgeon more than a tad." When I talk with budding collectors, still a little green, in the industry they have taken an interest, the first lesson I offer them, is the sage advice that was passed on to me, when I was starting out……"Never resign yourself to the hearsay of others, that the treasure is all gone." You just have to keep plugging along, as they say, and find the internal fortitude to carry on the antique hustle. And yes, it does pay off. I think it was Punch Imlach, of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who lived by the motto, "The price of success is hard work," or something like this. Well I think it was Punch who said it, and if he did, it was at a time when the Leafs were Stanley Cup contenders and winners. It doesn't really matter who said it. The point is, it is a workable strategy, that pays dividends. I've employed this ethic for as long as I've been in the antique profession. I quit looking for stuff when there is nothing left to dig through, excavate, pull out of attics, or haul out of either the water or the embrace of mother earth.

     The point is, finding antique and collectable treasures isn't easy, but it's definitely a reward for expending the effort…… to pursue, hunt down, what is rumored, to be in short supply. Nonsense. It's plentiful out there, like the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain." There are gumdrops everywhere, if you are truly interested in finding them. The problem for many antique hunters I know, of the younger generation especially, is that they give up way too soon, and sooth their weary mind and body by stating with confidence…."There's just nothing out there." Well sir, you all know what this means to a scrounger like me? There's more left for me to find. Consider today's little gem, which I consider a nine out of ten……a ten actually being a signed painting, by well known Canadian artist, Charles Comfort. I will get this one day.

     In a favorite antique shop, we haunt in the southern climes, I was on my way out of the shop, contented with our find of yet another, mint condition Singer "feather-weight" sewing machine, that Suzanne uses for specialized craft and quilting projects, and for an outstanding price. These units can sell for upwards of three hundred and fifty dollars. In fact, we saw one, not too long ago, at a local charity shop for this amount. These are working machines, so we aren't as concerned about profit margins, as these will both be earning their keep, as Suzanne develops new projects for using her collection of vintage fabrics. She collects old fabric from sales all around the region, to be used for quilt repair and other restoration jobs. For you information, the Singer we purchased today was obtained for about one hundred and sixty bucks. There is no problem getting a fifty percent profit on this outstanding, well built machine.

     As I passed the book shelf, one more time, before heading out the shop door, (I always check twice, as an obsessive quality and quantity), I spotted a biography, in the Canadian artist series, Number 2, on "Charles Comfort," one of my favorite national artists. This particular 1976 hardcover release (with dustjacket), was published by Gage, of Canada, and was prepared by Margaret Gray, Margaret Rand and Lois Steen. I have a parallel book on A.J. Casson, (two in fact), signed by the artist. The note included in this book on Charles Comfort will explain the Casson book. The inside cover page, was inscribed as follows: "Autographed expressly for Phil Ambrose with kindest regards, Charles Fraser Comfort." While this is a nice inscription with provenance, it was the sheet of paper included with the book, that makes this text far more significant. I'm afraid this was missed by the book seller. It's what we look for, out on the hunt. The "sleepers."The note reads as follows:

     "Your order for the A.J. Casson Book will be filled as soon as possible. About the middle of February Dr. Casson fell and broke his right wrist. Hopefully he will be able to sign the books in another month of so." It is signed "C.A.G. Matthews" and dated March Ist, 1977. The significance of this note, outside of the fact it reveals an injury sustained by Casson, one of the Group of Seven artists (who replaced Frank "Franz" Johnson), is that it is a letter from the head of one of Canada's best known commercial printers, especially as relates to art……"Sampson and Matthews, of Canada," widely respected by the art community throughout many decades of the 1900's. This is a substantial find, and for an original eighteen dollar investment, will have a market value of about $150, with this provenance included. The book is in excellent condition.  Two great finds, in an associate's antique shop. Add to this, a great buy on a 1950's standing ashtray, with an elaborate glass base, and brass carrying handle, plus a half dozen important cookbooks for our ever-growing collection, and I would say it was a really good day out on the hustings. And we enjoyed our usual date with New York Fries on Highway II, which has become somewhat of a tradition in the past twelve years, of hunting and gathering in that general direction.

     The antique business is always full of exceptions, and amazing adventures. You have to put in the work to pull in the benefits. There are lots of benefits. You know I wouldn't lie about this.

     Thanks so much for joining me today. It's always nice to have you along for the ride. Lots more antique adventures to come. I've saved up some of my best stories for the coming months.

     In tomorrow's blog, I'd like to offer a more in-depth and revealing biography, about the wild (if not crazy) challenge we have entered into, to create a unique and high quality cook book reference collection, which as a business will be known as "Suzanne Currie's Cookery Nookery," because we like strange names…..to match our own eccentricities. This will be the most significant challenge we have ever faced in the antique trade, and we've got two months to prepare for its July Ist opening, in our present shop in uptown Gravenhurst. It will coincide with Suzanne's one year retirement from teaching at the end of June. I'm legendary for challenging our family with enormous, virtually impossible projects, but this one is the king…..and with any kingdom making, there are lots of precarious moats to fall into, for both the collector and investor. We are having a good time hunting for old and rare cookbooks, and of course, handwritten recipes, of which we have a large inventory at present…..certainly good enough to start our reference collection (and sales) with……as a base to build upon. We have already had folks offering us vintage cookbook collections for free, in memory of their kin, knowing it will be used and shared by foodies in general, in the coming years. Now this is exciting….and one adventure after another. Every day presents a new challenge and a new discovery. It's never been a better time for us, to be in the middle of this dynamic, historic, storied profession…..than now. And we're enjoying every minute. We hope you will share this with us…..because that's what will make it the best it can be. See you again soon.