ALL ARTICLES

Like so many of my IOBA brethren, my online virtual store began life as a bricks and mortar establishment. High in the Colorado ski country, Wolf Moon Books operated on Main Street in picturesque Frisco. I began my bookselling adventure in 1997 when I purchased “Frisco Books” from my then-neighbor, Peter Brindamour. I was a lawyer-turned-novelist at the time and Peter had offered to host my very first book signing. We became friends and I told him to call me first if he ever

Excerpts from recent online book descriptions: – Very Good + in god DJ. [A book on John Baptist de La Salle.] – Slight sunfade to spine end, background color only not the words. It has faded to a light purple color and looks good still with red lettering (not faded). – A spill stain on the cover dose no damage to the rest of book. – Book is pretty nice, the dj is kind of ratty. – So much beaurocratic Bla-bla that I can’t figure who the actual publisher is. – Page 533 has chip

While on a mid-week visit to Antietam last April I noticed another guy touring the nearly deserted battlefield. He looked about my age and was dressed in the uniform of a musician from the Union Army. He noticed by the lettering on my van that I was a bookseller. He came over, introduced himself, and we started talking. His name was Steve Bartel, a graphic art designer, writer and drummer from Los Angeles. He was a reenactor who portrayed a “sheepskin fiddler” (drummer), and

Book Culture (formerly Labyrinth Books) 536 West 112th Street, New York, NY http://www.bookculture.com

I don’t mean to sound insensitive with the following account, but things like this happen in the world of house calls. My son was along on this one, to speed the work, for company, and you never know…he might consider this for a career some day. If there was a slim flicker of hope there, this visit may have snuffed it out. It was an old green and white house on a quiet outskirt city street, perched way up high with a long black iron railing along two flights of steps that wer

Original glossy newspaper file photo, measures 8” by 10”, rubber stamp on reverse reads, “Photographic Illustrations by Nick Lazarnick, 230 Park Ave., N.Y.,” pencil inscription on reverse reads “Harry Hansen about 1956,” Composition Room markings indicate size and placement in an unknown newspaper. As booksellers we are drawn to book backdrops, appearances of books in movies, etc. Before I had the calling I used to go to a book-lined bar in northern New Jersey called The Libr

Softcover music books can be surprisingly valuable, so I attended what was billed as a 1950s music store stock auction one nice Sunday not long ago. It turned out to be more of an accordion auction. Over 140 of them, in fact, all laid out on long tables. The mother-of-pearl of all accordion auctions. Some old ones, flat black with yellowing keys, but mostly somewhat newer, shiny black, red, blue, and white, small and big, starters and fancy models, mostly Italian-made. My gue

Flitted out of an old book and now slipped into the bottom corner of my monitor.