The Bookshelf of Willie Sutton

Dated 2/19/1952, probably International News Photo.

Yard Sale Tales

I had been selling books for just about a year, and was on a scouting trip. After a long unsuccessful, very hot morning of yard sales my last stop was one with a lot of cardboard boxes filled with books. Her price, 25 cents for the hardbacks, 10 cents for the paperbacks. So I settled in. I picked and chose quite a few and then browsed the paperbacks, composed largely of science fiction. Some were quite old and all were in fine condition, and I picked up a few. I didn’t know much about SF and thought the only good book was a hardback (oops) and went home.

Going through the paperbacks I opened a copy of Star Wars and checked the title page and almost feel over—yes, signed “May the Force be with you” by George Lucas, in fine unread condition. Not bad for a 10 cent investment, and the hardbacks were clean, most near fine to fine, and well, I wish I bought the whole lot.

Sharon Heimann operates E Ridge Fine Books out of Lake Elsinore, CA and can be contacted at http://www.eridgebooks.com.

Happy Hits

Isn’t the internet wonderful?

Received a call from a customer who told me that he’d just visited a London bookshop. He was in search of a book, a biography of an English punter and racing identity. Imagine his surprise when the bookseller told him that the only available copy on the internet was our copy in Dromana, Australia! My client lives in Melbourne, a little over an hour away from Dromana. He was most anxious that we hold the book until his return from the other side of the world. We were happy to oblige.

The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, usually just called the “Iditarod,” is an annual sled dog race in Alaska, where mushers and teams of typically 16 dogs race through freezing wilderness for about 10 days. I sent a book on the Iditarod Race to a customer in far Northern Queensland, our tropical Gulf Country. It is a remote area with crocodile infested swamps and jungle. Any roads are four wheel drive-only tracks impassable during the wet season and isolated from any major towns or settlements. Apart from its tough terrain and living conditions, it has nothing much else in common with Alaska’s arctic terrain. I can’t help wondering why anyone living in that part of Australia would want to read about training dogs to race through the frozen wilderness. We all have our dreams I suppose.

Bronwyn Smith operates Dromanabooks out of Dromana, Australia and can be contacted at http://www.dromanabooks.com.au.

[And shortly after this your editor sent the following cookbooklet to Anula in the Northern Territory of Australia. Small world.]