Life in Paris With George Cruikshank

by Stephen J. Gertz

In 1821, journalist Pierce Egan published Life in London or, the Day and Night Scenes of Jerry Hawthorn, esq., and his elegant friend, Corinthian Tom, accompanied by Bob Logic, the Oxonian, in their rambles and Sprees through the Metropolis, illustrated by the Cruikshank brothers, George and Robert.

It was an immediate, wild success. It's characters, Tom and Jerry, entered British pop-culture, spawning a French translation, six plays, and then traveled to America to begin a Tom and Jerry craze in the U.S. (Hanna-Barbera's popular animated cartoon series Tom & Jerry, cat v. mouse, harkens back to the original characters but has nothing to do with them).

In 1822, to capitalize on the success of Life in London, journalist David Carey published Life in Paris; Comprising the Rambles, Sprees, and Amours, of Dick Wildfire, or Corinthian Celebrity, and his Bang-up Companions, Squire Jenkins and Captain O'Shuffleton; with the Whimsical Adventures of the Halibut Family; Including Sketches of a Variety of other Eccentric Characters in the French Metropolis.

It, too was a Cruikshank-illustrated book but only by  George, and, as  Life in London, was originally issued in monthly parts. The frontispiece is similar to that created for Life in London. Life in Paris is one of the best of the many imitations of Egan's classic. Cruikshank contributed twenty-one hand-colored aquatint plates (including the engraved title) and twenty-two wood-engraved text vignettes.

Born in Scotland, author David Carey (1782-1824) worked for Edinburgh publisher, Archibald Constable, before moving to London and establishing himself as a journalist and poet; his first poem, An Elegy Written on the Death of a Friend, appeared in 1798 when he was sixteen years old.

Between 1803 and his death at age forty-two, he published eighteen books, primarily collections of his poetry. From 1809-1811 he was editor of The Poetical Magazine, published by Rudolph Ackermann as, according to Tooley (English Books With Color Plates), a vehicle to absorb all the poems submitted to the publisher's Repository of Arts for consideration. A year after publishing Life in Paris he returned to Scotland. In the year afterward, in 1824, he died of consumption.

Of the immortal George Cruikshank (1792-1878), little need be added here. Caricaturist and book illustrator, he was praised as the 'modern Hogarth" during his career, and his illustrations for books by Dickens and many other authors earned him an international reputation.

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[CRUIKSHANK, George, Illustrator]. CAREY, David. Life in Paris; Comprising the Rambles, Sprees, and Amours, of Dick Wildfire, or Corinthian Celebrity, and his Bang-up Companions, Squire Jenkins and Captain O'Shuffleton; with the Whimsical Adventures of the Halibut Family; Including Sketches of a Variety of other Eccentric Characters in the French Metropolis. Embellished with Twenty-One Coloured Plates representing Scenes from Real Life, designed and engraved by Mr. George Cruikshank. Enriched also with Twenty-Two Engravings on Wood, drawn by the same Artist, and executed by Mr. White. London: Printed for John Fairburn... sold by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, [et al.], 1822.

First edition, Royal [Large Paper] Edition. Octavo (9 15/16 x  6 1/4 inches; 252 x 161mm.). xxiv, 489, [3 blank] pp. 4 pp. publishers advertisements (5 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches; 146 x 95 mm.).Twenty-one hand-colored aquatint plates (including engraved title) and twenty-two wood-engraved vignettes in text. Text and plates watermarked J. Whatman 1822. Bound without the directions to the binder leaf. Of the two cancels which were supplied with the final issue in parts, both (pp. 143-4  and pp. 335-6) have been inserted in this copy, in place of the original leaves.

Original pictorial boards. The front cover lettered in black and with five woodcut scenes printed in black "Dressing; Polishing; The Round of Pleasure; Dancing; Gaming", the back cover with five more woodcut scenes printed in black "Luxury; Labour; Amusement; Frippery; Finery". The spine lettered in black "Life in Paris / by David Carey / Royal Edition / Price £1. 11s. 6d. / 1822" and with two more woodcut scenes also printed in black. All edges uncut.

An extremely scarce, unrecorded edition. The woodcut illustrations on the boards are completely different than those of the small-paper copies cited by Abbey and Cohn. In fact, Abbey refers to the large-paper copies as measuring 8 7/8 x 5 11/16 inches, whereas this copy is a full one inch taller and half an inch wider, and so it is unclear whether Abbey had actually seen a Large Paper Copy in the original boards.

Abbey, Travel, 112. Cohn 109. Tooley 129.
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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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An Anti-Valentine's Day Card To Huffington Post's Book Section

by Stephen J. Gertz

On February 10, 2012, the day that the largest rare book fair on Earth opened - one of the most significant book events in the world with 200 antiquarian booksellers from around the globe congregating to exhibit the best rare and antiquarian books on the planet - what was on the Huffington Post's Book Page?

Love Me Not - 7 Books You Realy Shouldn't Get For Your Valentine

9 Books That Cause Irrational Phobias

What Is The Vampire Novel of the Century?

Harry Potter and Voidemort Play Plead The Fifth On 'Watch What Happens Live'

JFK's Other Women: 7 Alleged Mistresses

'Game Of Thrones' Season 2 First Look

Funny: Lincoln's Intern Finally Comes Clean About Affair

New Book: Simple Ways To Stop Doing Dumb  Things With Money

New Lemony Snicket Series Begins This Fall

Disturbing Trend Found In New Children's Books

Why EBooks Don't Mean The Death Of Print

Protecting Your Bright Ideas From Literary Scavengers

Watch: Sophie Blackall Illustrates Missed Connections

New Book: Why Sinning Is Good For You

'Twilight Director Says Script 'Sucked'

Which Book Received The Meanest Review Of The Year

12 Lies That Politicians Tell About Jobs

Author: My Book Was Banned In My Country

New Book: Unexpected Ways To Find Your Ancestors

And Your Favorite Dickens Character Is?

Why You've Learned More Languages Than You Think

'Other Press' Wins Nerdiest Superbowl Wager Ever

Why Creative Writing Classes Don't Work

Amy Adams To Help Adapt Steve Martin's Book, 'Object Of Beauty'

The Real Cost Of Library Cuts

Book Roundup: 5 Reasons To Love Madonna 

Not a word, a whisper, a who, what, when, or where about the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair. Yes, it did not take place in Ulan Bator, Patagonia, Mozambique, or Outer Mongolia. It was held in Pasadena, CA, just a few miles out of downtown Los Angeles, one of the nation's major markets and the world's great cities.

It wasn't a secret. It was all over the media in Southern California. The Los Angeles Times featured a story about it on the front page of their Calendar section covering the arts and entertainment. Local radio and television coverage was solid. Even the Hollywood Reporter devoted a full-page to report on it, detailing all the stars that collect rare books and how the California International Antiquarian Book Fair is their mecca.

It's not as if the Huffington Post didn't have a head's-up. I have been an occasional blogger for Huff Post for  a couple of years; a post about the book fair sat in my queue for five days prior to the book fair's opening.  After a few days of nothing, I dropped a note to Huff Post's Blogteam inquiring about it. Would it run? No response at all.

Booktryst's piece on the Fair ran on Monday, February 6th. If Huff Post somehow missed the post in my queue, they would have seen it on Booktryst; we have been on major media's radar since the site debuted, in May, 2010, otherwise they would not have welcomed the cross-posting arrangement soon afterward. And Booktryst's coverage was a page one story on Google News - Rare Books for the entire week leading up to the Fair's premiere. 

The Fair's publicist made direct contact with Huff Post. There was no shortage of alerts.

Now, I am surely disappointed that they didn't run my piece about it. But I am even more disappointed - and rather shocked - that they didn't cover the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair at all, by anyone, nada, ziltch, nicht, bubkus. One of the most important book stories in the U.S., a major international cultural event, and one of the book world's most anticipated happenings was completely ignored.

But Coked Up Stimulus Monkeys was not; big news on Huff Post's book page.

They did, however, cover a major non-event in the world of rare books: "Watch: The 'Pawn Stars' Appraise A Signed Copy of Edward VIII's Memoirs." It was a signal event for Huff Post, signaling that the 'Pawn Stars' are now another Huff Post novelty-entertainment hook passing for hard book news. The 'Pawn Stars' seem like nice guys but they do not know a damned thing about rare books, or, at least, not enough to provide an informed professional appraisal. It isn't enough to go online to research. You actually have to have deep experience to know how to truly appraise a rare book.

People want to know how expensive a rare book is; the higher the price, the more attractive the story.  A copy of Audubon's Birds of America sold last month for $7.9 million last month.  That got Huff Post's attention. The California International Antiquarian Book Fair certainly had a big ticket volume to crow about: A scarce, hand-colored copy of Rudimentum Novitiorum, published in 1475, the first history of the world in print and the first printed book to contain maps. Asking price: $1,150,000. (It sold). Not too shabby. That eye-opening fact was certainly not buried in any pre-Fair coverage.

The many charms of Arianna Huffington cannot mask the sense that the editorial policy of Huff Post appears to be based upon the promiscuous use of "click-bait" tabloid headers for book stories of dubious newsworthiness and significance, often as thin as rice paper but no where near as durable. "Click-bait"  - luring readers to a story with a grabby pop-headline that may or may not accurately represent content - is not a journalistic crime; it has been going on since the dawn of newspapers. But it is rarely used more egregiously than on Huff Post.

And that is, ultimately, the problem with their policy, which appears to be based upon generating as many pages and page-views as possible with little regard for the quality of stories. Or, it seems, their importance.

Shame on the Huffington Post's Book Section. On this Valentine's Day, the love affair is over.

I am not expressing sour grapes. The 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair was not my story. It was the book world's story, and Huff Post betrayed the world it is supposed to serve. Room, apparently, had to be made for Top Ten Celebrity Rehab Moments, a story about a new novel, the book Gutenberg had in the back of his mind when he imagined movable type but after bleeding with leeches was drained of the vile humour and, purged of sin, printed the Bible instead.

That must have been one hell of an editorial meeting. Perhaps a little bloodletting at Huff Post might cure the sick patient.

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DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed on Booktryst are solely its own, and do not represent those of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), with which I am associated.

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Rudimentum Novitiorum Sells For $1,150,000 At California International Antiquarian Book Fair

by Stephen J. Gertz

Map of the Holy Land, from Rudimentum Novitiorum, 1475.

A scarce, contemporaneously hand-colored copy of Rudimentum Novitiorum, the first printed history of the world, published in 1475, and the first printed book to feature maps, sold for $1,150,000 at the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair this past weekend in Pasadena, CA, as did "The World's Worst Copy of Gatsby," a first edition, first printing train wreck  with a significant remnant of the $175,000 dust jacket pasted within, for $500. Some thought it was worth twice that, a true silk purse stitched from a sow's ear.

That those sales occurred within the Fair's opening hours was a harbinger of good things to come. While walking recon on Friday night I observed invoices being written and written often, eye music that continued throughout the weekend and calmed this anxious heart. Following the economy, the last few years have been rough on the rare book trade. "It is not the end. Nor is it the beginning of the end. But it is the end of the beginning." A new day is dawning. It's Morning in Booktown. Suddenly, it's Spring. Optimism cliches are beginning to flower.

But let's not get carried away. The sunny psychosis can cloud judgment. There were dealers who did not do as well as hoped.  Yet every single bookseller had a great time.  And, to be sure, no hope no life. We each need to be a little psychotic to get through it.

Attendance for this California International Antiquarian Book Fair was the best since 2004*. Of particular note was the large number of young people seen walking the aisles. Those wondering through despairing whether a younger generation would become book collectors should take heart. They are, perhaps, in the embryonic stage of the passion, looking around, seeing what's what, but will, the book gods willing, grow into neonates and further develop as their interest matures and budget allows.

Each of the special programs - Library of Congress Director of Rare Books and Special Collections, Mark Dimunation, on Thomas Jefferson's book collection (the cornerstone of the LOC);  Personal Stories of Noted Collectors, a panel featuring academy-Award-winning producer, Tony Bill, Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, renowned gemologist Mary Murphy, and moderated by L.A. Times columnist and Southern California TV/radio personality, Patt Morrison; the always popular Rare Books 101; and Discovery Day, where the old books from the attic are examined by a panel of experts to see if there's a reason for hope - was standing-room only.

Everyone was extremely pleased with the new venue. The Pasadena Convention Center - spacious and well-lit, with all the amenities dealers could hope for to make life easy for them - will remain, for the forseeable future, the California International Antiquarian Book Fair's home when in Southern California (it alternates annually with San Francisco).

As for book lovers and collectors - they were over the moon. And why not? The best rare books exhibited by the best rare booksellers in the world, the opportunity to see and hold historic volumes, the books that have given meaning to our lives, the old books with engaging and compelling back-stories that beg to be on your bookshelf, from the stunning beauty and often scathing satire of eighteenth and nineteenth century hand-colored engraved illustration albums through a pristine copy of J.D. Ballard's scarce Why I Want To Fuck Ronald Reagan, and everything in between and centuries before, the wonderful ones you didn't know about, all under one roof - it's a book lover's three-day weekend in Disneyland, an E-ticket ride.

If you love to read, and appreciate art, craft, and the test of time as a measure of what's true from what's false, have an aversion to the artificial, a preference for content in the form that has yet to be improved upon, from the sacred to the profane and in the big middle, rare books are truly the coolest collectible. And when the California International Antiquarian Book Fair is in town, the cool gets red hot.
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* For SoCal.
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The California International Antiquarian Book Fair is sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of  America.

Visit the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair website.

Stop by the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair's Facebook and Twitter. pages. Fair updates continue.
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The Art of Japanese Hair Comb Patterns (Kushi Hinagata)

by Stephen J. Gertz

Sometime post-1905, an anonymous gentleman in Japan, wishing to preserve his collection of rice-paper rubbings of setsu kushi hinagata (patterns of miniature combs),  took three issues of Japan Art Society Reports from the 37th Year of the Meiji (1905), mounted the rubbings on each page,  had the issues bound together, crossed out the original titles and provided one in black ink.

Each page has two rubbed patterns, each pattern with upper and lower views of each comb, and the rubbings are remarkably sharp with even small details very  clear. The fact that the  patterns on the original combs had been so delicately carved is testament to the artistry brought to bear by their creators.

The resulting unique scrapbook features over 500 charcoal rubbings of miniature Japanese combs and hairpins (koagi).

The art of Japanese hair decoration, or kushi, dates back hundreds of years and has rich and varied heritage. As with much Eastern art it served to "beautify items of everyday use, to make the commonplace extraordinary [and] to tell of the life and status of the wearers, who were geisha, courtesans, court ladies, and housewives" (Daruma 35, vol. 9, No. 3, Summer 2002). And, indeed, this work is a testament to the beautiful and elegant diversity of this Japanese decorative art.

It's a curious, attractive and visually arresting book, one with clear aesthetic merit given the obsessive care and attention necessary to compile such a volume. As such, it's a valuable historical, cultural, and artistic record as well as an object that, as much as its subject, renders the commonplace extraordinary, and takes its place along side of Katsushika Hokusai's classic three-volume Imayo Kushi Hinagata (1823) as a key reference.

Traditional comb shapes are half moon, horseshoe, and square. The combs were often worn in concert with koagi (hair pins) in classical Japanese hairdressing.

Sakura (cherry blossoms), ume (Japanese plums), chrysanthemums, and peonies are typically employed patterns.

"Women have always adorned themselves but perhaps none so subtly as the Japanese. You can reproduce the old hairstyles seen in painting and sculpture but their hair ornaments remind us of the coiffures on which they were worn. In other words, hair ornaments are tangible souvenirs of ancient hairstyles.

 

"Hair ornaments were not mere accessories to feminine coiffure and attire. In keeping with the Japanese urge to beautify items of everyday use, to make the commonplace extraordinary, they were turned into artistic objects mirroring cultural and and social history. They tell of the life and status of their wearers, who were geisha, courtesans, court ladies, and housewives.

"They give a glimpse of the exceptional beauty of Japanese art..." (Ibid. Daruma). 

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.
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When Charles Dickens Met Hans Christian Andersen: The Nightmare Visit

by Stephen J. Gertz

In June 1847, Hans Christian Andersen, who had won acclaim throughout Europe and America for his childrens stories, visited England for the first time. The great Dane earned triumphal social success during his summer in  London as the guest of  Countess Blessington, who attracted the cream of Europe's intelligentsia to her soirees. It was at one such gathering that Andersen was introduced to Charles Dickens, whom he greatly admired.

On July 30, 1847 Dickens, who reciprocated Andersen's admiration, paid a call on him at his lodgings. Andersen, however, was not present and so Dickens left the small parcel containing twelve presentation copies of his books as gifts accompanied with a note.

Of those twelve presentation copies, four were bequeathed to the Royal Library, Copenhagen, and seven were later sent to auction. Of those seven auctioned copies, only five have been accounted for: at Dickens' House, London; the Free Library in Philadelphia; a copy ultimately presented in 1956 to the Andersen Museum, Odense; the Webster Currie copy; and that at Sotheby's sale LN8412, lot 111. Only nine of the twelve copies are thus recorded. A few years ago I handled one of those three "lost" copies, a second edition of Pictures From Italy (1846).

"On his first visit to England in 1847, Hans Christian Andersen was overjoyed to make the acquaintance of 'the greatest writer of our time,' Charles Dickens. During the ten years following his return to Denmark, a friendly correspondence developed and culminated in his returning to England to spend five weeks as Dickens' guest at Gadshill. The visit was a failure and Dickens soon afterward broke off the correspondence" (Ford. George H. (Review of) Hans Andersen and Charles Dickens by Elias Bredsdorff. Nineteenth-Century Fiction, Vol 12, No. 2 [Sept. 1957], p. 166).

Of Anderson's visit Dickens wrote, "…whenever he got to London, he got into wild entanglements of Cabs and Sherry, and never seemed to get out of them again until he came back here, and cut out paper into all sorts of patterns, and gathered the strangest little nosegays in the woods. His unintelligible vocabulary was marvelous" (Dickens, letter to William Jerdan, July 21, 1857).

The Danish Man Who Came To Dinner was supposed to stay with Dickens and his family for only two weeks. Though a genial host, Dickens dropped hints for Andersen to end his stay; they were, apparently, too subtle. The patience of the Dickens children was strained to the limit and daughter Kate would later recall that Andersen "was a bony bore, and stayed on and on" (Storey, Gladys. Dickens and Daughter. London, 1939). Andersen thoroughly enjoyed his visit, oblivious to the effect his extended holiday was having on his hosts. After he finally left, Dickens wrote on the mirror in the guestroom: “Hans Andersen slept in this room for five weeks — which seemed to the family AGES!” Clueless, Andersen never quite understood why Dickens afterward ceased to answer his letters.

Though the story may be apocryphal, it is said that "the bony bore" provided Dickens with the physical model for the obsequious Uriah Heep, the sharply limned character in David Copperfield, with, perhaps, a few of Andersen's personality traits added to the "very 'umble man."

The comic quality of Andersen's social awkwardness and  ineptitude provide the underlying significance of his work and the reason why his stories have endured and will remain classics. His earliest examples (Thumbelina, The Emperor's New Clothes, etc.), like those of the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, though quite successful and bringing him fame, were interpretations of regional folk tales. His major contribution to world literature was to come with his second collection of stories, Nye Eventyre (New Fairly Tales) which were wholly original creations. In these stories, which include The Ugly Duckling, The Nightingale, The Red Shoes, The Snow Queen, The Little Match Girl, etc., the protagonists begin as sad, awkward, lonely characters adrift in a strange, often cruel world for which they are ill-equipped but, who, by story's end have overcome their circumstances and become misfit heroes, their hopes and yearnings fulfilled. Andersen had identified a universal archetype and it was him. Even more to the point, he was amongst the first writers who might be considered modern insofar as using the arc his personal life and psychological history as the basis for his characters.

It's interesting that Dickens, whose circumstances in childhood shaped his fiction, and Andersen, whose childhood informed his writing, were, at arm's length completely simpatico, but when drawn into close quarters for any length of time drove, at least Charles Dickens, nuts. Dickens, I imagine, preferred that his characters remain on the page and not come to actual life and wear out their welcome by showing up on his doorstep for an  interminable - and unendurable - stay, ala Sheridan Whiteside, who came to dinner and never left but at least was entertaining while terrorizing his hosts, "And now, will you all now leave quietly, or must I ask Miss Cutler to pass among you with a baseball bat?," a sentiment I suspect Dickens may have had success with had he directly expressed it to Andersen.

See: Dal, Eric, Nogle flere boger fra H.C. Andersen boghylde, in Andersenania 1992. Letters of Charles Dickens, Volume 8. Sotheby's Sale LN8412, Lot 111.

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DICKENS, Charles. Pictures From Italy. The Vignette Illustrations on Wood, by Samuel Palmer. London: Published for the Author, by Bradbury & Evans, 1846. Second edition. Presentation Copy, inscribed by Dickens on the half-title in ink: "Hans Christian Anderson / From His friend and admirer / Charles Dickens / London Jul. 1847." Octavo. [8], 269, [1], [2, ads] pp.

Nineteenth-century full red crushed levant morocco  by F. Bedford (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in). Covers with gilt triple fillet border, spine decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, board edges ruled in gilt, turn-ins decoratively tooled in gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut.  Housed in a full dark green morocco pull-off box.

Cf. Smith II, 7. Cf. Eckel p. 126-127.

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Images courtesy of David Brass Rare Books, with our thanks.

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The above is freely adapted from a post I wrote for DBRB in 2008.
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Charles Dickens on Booktryst:

Slumming with Charles Dickens: New York Library Relives his American Tours.

Charles Dickens' Model for the Modern Rehab Facility.

Charles Dickens' Deluxe Dental Tool is Top Pick at Bonhams.

Victorian Advertisements in Charles Dickens' Serial Novels.

Beyond A Christmas Carol: Charles Dickens' Other Holiday Treats.

The Woman Who Infuriated Dickens.

All Points Bulletin: A "Pure" Pickwick Papers.
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A Not-So-Great Gatsby

Today's guest blogger is Howard Prouty of ReadInk.

by Howard Prouty

A first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 masterpiece The Great Gatsby, with its original dust jacket, meets anybody’s definition of a big-ticket item.   Copies today (and there ain’t many) run in the neighborhood of $125,000 to $200,000, depending on the condition of the jacket.  Nice neighborhood.

Courtesy of Peter Harrington Rare Books.

The price-points on Gatsby illustrate what all collectors and dealers in modern first editions know: It’s the Jacket, Stupid.  Copies of the most desirable books “in jacket” are often priced ten (or more) times higher than their naked counterparts -- and many vintage modern firsts, especially pre-WWII titles, are difficult-to-impossible to find today with their original jackets in non-tattered condition.  It’s small supply-vs.-big demand, and the resulting prices would choke your horse, if you could still afford a horse.

But take Gatsby’s gorgeous, Francis Cugat-designed paper wraparound out of the equation, and things cool down considerably: several quite decent (i.e. not falling-apart) copies of the first edition sans jacket are available for a mere $1,200 to $1,500.  It’s not rocket science: the jacket is rare, but the book is not.  The first printing of Gatsby, after all, produced a quite respectable 20,870 copies, of which many thousands are no doubt still extant.  Like this one, for instance - still extant, but practically on life-support:

Now, make no mistake: this is a gen-u-wine first edition of The Great Gatsby.  It meets all the textual points (“sick in tired” and the rest of it).  But it’s also an utter horror, having been degraded over its lifetime into a condition that you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy’s bankbook.  Like Keith Richards, when you gaze upon it you just have to shake your head and marvel that it’s still kicking around at all.

O Gatsby, poor Gatsby!  How many things are wrong with thee?  Let me count the ways:

For starters, it was once book #32395 in the “Readers’ Library” (i.e., rental library) of a major Los Angeles department store - the Broadway, at 4th & Hill Streets - a fact boldly advertised by that lavender-colored printed label plastered onto its front cover.   (The little swastikas at the corner are a nice decorative touch, albeit a little jarring to the modern post-Hitler eye.)

Also, the book is damn close to falling apart, thanks to careless (or maybe just excessive) handling by the dozens (hundreds?) of people through whose occasionally grubby mitts it passed, for who knows how long before the store decided to retire it.  The binding is shot, the corners are mashed and frayed, the gilt lettering on the spine has worn away, a couple of pages have come loose, the edges of the pages are soiled and dog-eared, and worst of all (at least from a bibliographic p.o.v.), the title page is completely gone.

And there’s yet another goddamn label in the thing, a really big one that covers most of the front pastedown endpaper, and lays out all the rules and procedures of the Broadway’s book-rental operation:

 This tells us perhaps the saddest news of all about this sad, sad book, the greatest indignity visited upon this particular copy and, by extension, its author (in capital letters and underlined, no less): THIS IS A ONE-CENT-A-DAY BOOK.  That’s right, folks: in the judgment of some department-store “librarian,” The Great Gatsby, one of our country’s great literary treasures, didn’t even qualify as a Two-Cent-a-Day Book.  We can only hope that Scott Fitzgerald himself never wandered into the Broadway’s Renters’ Library, while Zelda (or maybe Sheilah Graham) was downstairs buying a pair of nylons or something, to observe the value that one of L.A.’s finest retail establishments had placed on his masterpiece.  That could drive you to drink, for sure.

I mean, seriously: how pathetic can one copy of one Great Book possibly be?

And yet, and yet...There is one more thing:

Let me quickly extrapolate an interesting number, based on that relatively el cheapo $125K copy of Gatsby mentioned above.  If the book itself in that instance (in “Very Good to Fine” condition, per its seller) is worth, say, $5,000, then that would value the dust jacket itself at $120,000.  (Such are the vagaries of the marketplace that this could all change tomorrow -- for one thing, if somebody buys that copy, then the bargain-basement price abruptly becomes $190,000 - but for purposes of demonstration, bear with me.)  The complete jacket measures about 17-1/4 x 7-1/2 inches - that’s 125 square inches of paper, printed on one side only, worth about $960 per square inch.  Now hold that thought, as we turn our attention back to our poor, trashed-up, ex-rental library copy of Gatsby.

Because still another imprecation was visited upon this miserable book, a not-uncommon rental-library procedure of the day: affixed to the front endpaper is a printed blurb about it, helpfully informing the prospective renter-reader that “Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate -- a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period - which reveals a hero like no other...[etc.].”  Then, as now, you see, the best way to get a quick fix on what a book was about, and a sense of whether it would be worth your time and money, would be to quickly skim the blurb...on the jacket. The dust jacket...

 Hey!  Holy Cow! That’s exactly where the rental-library people got that blurb - clipped it right out of the rear panel of the dust jacket.  That’s right: it’s a nice big piece of that $120,000 dust jacket! A 4-1/4-inch by 6-1/8-inch piece, to be exact - wow, now I do need my calculator!  Oh my gosh, that’s a full 20.8% of the original jacket!  Let’s see now, $120,000 times .208 equals...$24,960! Yowzah!  Jackpot!  And if somebody snaps that $125K copy up (lessee, $185,000 times .208...!!!!)

Well, not exactly.  Even a dope such as myself, who’s only been in the book trade for about as long as Fitzgerald had left to live, post-Gatsby (hmmm...) - and has never been lucky enough to have a real Gatsby pass through his hands - knows that ain’t how it works.  It’s hardly even kosher to call this a “partial jacket,” so far, far away from its original, desirable, collectible condition has it been carried by its cumulative hands of fate.  And banish any thoughts of “restoration.” Nothing short of resurrection would bring this one back.  So all that stuff about square inches, doing the math, etc.? Just kidding!

This is all the more painful because right smack in the middle of that clipped-out-and-glued-down blurb is the incontrovertible evidence that this 20.8% was, in fact, once part of an original first edition Gatsby jacket.  Just as the book’s text conforms to all known points, so too does the blurb copy display the one thing that readily identifies a first-issue jacket: the capital “J” over-printed on the lower-case “j’ in “jay Gatsby.”  If this is the most famous and iconic dust jacket in literary history (and it is), then that is undoubtedly the most famous dust jacket typo of all time.

So what we have here is that most maudit of all things in the rare book universe: an uncollectable copy of a highly collectable book.   One hears it (and says it) over and over and over again: condition, condition, condition.  You’ll understand this if you’ve ever watched a serious collector (or dealer) pick up a book, turn it over and around and upside down, hold it close to their face and squint at it... and then say something along the lines of “yeah, it’s pretty nice, but too bad about that little smudge at the bottom of page 57 [or slight fading of the spine, or itsy-bitsy tear at the bottom of the rear jacket panel, or whatever].”

On your better books, the consequences of such minor blemishes can often be measured in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.  Although this might seem silly to the uninitiated, I assure you it’s nothing to be sneezed at - but if you must sneeze, for God’s sake turn your head away from the book!

So as a bookseller, what am I to do with this poor, put-upon first edition of The Great Gatsby, which might just be The Worst Copy in the World?  To sell it, I have to price it -- but what justifies a price (any price) for a book that, by any reasonable standard pegged to its physical condition, should’ve been trashed years ago?  Truth be told, if it hadn’t been a Gatsby I’d have probably done just that myself.  But it is. 

OK, I admit it: I’m a romantic.  In fact, when I hold this book in my hands, I can’t help but think of Scott and Zelda themselves: beautiful, charmed, talented . . . yet ultimately brought to ruin by illness, drink, disillusionment and failure.  Although Fitzgerald’s place as a titan of American literature now seems secure, as does the stature of Gatsby itself as both a (some would say the) Great American Novel and an absolute superstar in the rare-book world, none of this was the case during his lifetime.

The book’s initial sales were tepid, and in retrospect it seems startlingly clear that his career had already peaked.  His remaining decade and a half was essentially a long downward spiral, during which his creative wellspring was inexorably smothered by financial worries, Zelda’s mental health issues, booze and Hollywood.  He completed just one more novel after Gatsby - 1934's Tender is the Night - and by the time he drank himself to death in California, at age forty-four in 1940, all his major work was out of print and his reputation was in the cellar.  The public, to the extent that they still thought about him at all, had mostly written him off as a has-been.  (Posthumously, of course, he’s done much better.)

So because of all that, it’s easy for me to find reasons to love this particular copy of a book I love anyway, in spite of -- or maybe because of -- the very fact that it’s been so ill-treated by everybody else.  For instance, I love how, with the loose binding and missing title page, the book falls open directly to the dedication page, which reads “Once again, to Zelda.”  I also love that one of those long-ago readers was moved to mark this particular passage on page 134, with a simple pencil line in the margin:

But mostly, I guess, I just groove to the whole metaphorical weltschmerz of the poor thing -- so achingly evocative of the lack of respect and appreciation that hounded its author for too much of his too-short life.  

And finally, I find it sublimely heartbreaking that this wonderful, moving work - this towering achievement of American literature - could ever have been just another One-Cent-a-Day Book.
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If you find yourself anywhere near Pasadena this weekend, and would like to pay your respects to this Not-So-Great Gatsby, please come by my booth (#505) at the 45th  California International Antiquarian Book Fair.  I’ll be giving it pride of place, highlighted and headlined as “The Worst Copy in the World.”  And because I am, after all, a bookseller, there’ll be a price-tag on it, too, if you want to take it home with you.  Don’t mind me, though, if I shed a little tear as it walks out of my life.
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All images, except where noted otherwise, are courtesy of ReadInk, with our thanks; a special thank you to Howard Prouty for this delightful contribution (SJG).

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Of related interest:

In Paris With Scott, Zelda, Kiki, Ernest, Gertrude, Etc., and George Barbier.

F. Scott Fitzgerald at Princeton.

The 45th California Antiquarian Book Fair Comes to Pasadena.
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The 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair Comes to Pasadena

by Stephen J. Gertz

200 members of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) from around the globe will exhibit their  wares at the largest rare and antiquarian book fair in the world this coming weekend, February 10-12, at the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair, held in the new Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.

The  fair provides book lovers and collectors with the opportunity to see, learn about and purchase the finest in rare and valuable books, manuscripts, autographs, graphics, prints, maps, photographs and more. There are books to satisfy almost every conceivable interest and within every budget.

It's Destination: Pasadena to enjoy the Book Fair and the city's many cultural attractions and great restaurants. And to discover books, prints and ephemera you weren't aware of, from all over the world, all under one roof. That's still the primary purpose of Book Fairs, which began in Franfkort, Germany in the sixteenth century. They continue to be critical to book lovers and collectors in the 21st century. The Internet is great if you know what you're looking for but does not provide the opportunity for book-hunting adventure, serendipitous encounters, and social interaction with booksellers and fellow collectors from around the globe. The California International Antiquarian Book Fair is action-central.

For those whose budget has vast breathing room, a copy of Lucas Brandis' Rudimentum Novitiorum (Handbook for Beginners), the first chronicle of the world, based upon medieval theology and the first work to contain printed maps, is being offered by Daniel Crouch Rare Books of London. Published in Lubeck in 1475 and now a great rarity in the marketplace, the asking price is $1,150,000. Want a leaf from the Gutenberg Bible? $85,000.

On the lower end of the scale, Vagabond Books is offering a post-production script for Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, signed by Kubrick, Stephen King, Jack Nicholson, and Shelley Duvall for $750. And there are many other desirable items for less.

“It’s impossible to walk through the aisles of the Book Fair without being wowed by the visual beauty and cultural significance of the volumes on display,” said Michael R. Thompson, Book Fair Chair of the Southern California Chapter of the ABAA, which organizes the event.  “First time visitors are amazed that they can browse, touch and even go home with items that they imagine could only be found in a museum or special collections library.”

The Fair's theme is A Love Affair With Books: Personal Stories of Noted Collectors, featuring a colorful, wide-ranging exhibit that examines the avid pursuits of rare book collectors past and present -- from legendary library builders such as Henry Huntington and William Andrews Clark to contemporary Southern California book lovers like actress Sarah Michelle Gellar and Academy Award-winning producer Tony Bill.

On Saturday, February 11 from 3PM - 4PM, a panel discussion will be held, A Love Affair with Books, featuring L.A. Times film critic Kenneth Turan, Tony Bill, respected gemologist Mary Murphy, and moderated by Los Angeles Times Columnist, author and TV/radio personality Patt Morrison.

Just prior to that, from 1:00 – 2:00 PM,  the Bibliographical Society of America sponsors Thomas Jefferson's Legacy:  Building the Rare Book Collections at the Library of Congress  a talk by Library of Congress Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division Mark Dimunation.

On Sunday, February 12,  Book Collecting 101, a panel with leading booksellers Katy Carter, Brad Johnson and Carol Sandberg, explores the basics of starting, building and protecting your collection. Held from 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM, Q&A follows.

Always a favorite, Discovery Day, on Sunday 1:30- 3:00 PM, warmly invites Book Fair attendees to present up to three items to experts for free examination and appraisal.

Also on Sunday, February 12, from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. Do You Need An Appraisal?, a panel with experts Samuel Hessel and Sheryl Jaeger, will discuss whether or not your collection should be appraised for sale, estate, or tax purposes.

The California International Antiquarian Book Fair is one of the world's great book events. If you love books be good to yourself and attend.

See you there.

WHEN: Friday, February 10 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Saturday, February 11 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 12 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

WHERE: Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street, Pasadena, CA.

ADMISSION: Friday tickets are $25 and provide three-day admission; proceeds benefit the Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Tickets Saturday or Sunday tickets are $15 and include return entry throughout the remainder of the Book Fair.  All tickets also include admission to the Huntington.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: visit labookfair.com or call 800-454-6401. Connect with the Book Fair through its pages on Twitter and  Facebook.

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Full disclosure: I am the current Chairman of the Southern California Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, the Book Fair's host.

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Results of the 45th California International Antiquarian Book Fair here.

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