Looming Book Sales APRIL 17-19

It's that time of the year again. I've received my postcard in the mail to remind me of the 9th Annual Booksale APRIL 17-19 supporting of the Friends of the UCO Library. If you remember last year, I went and had a good time, including (but not limited to) finding a chocolate chip in the spine of a book. It's so cheap to join, you should go. After all, if Walter Benjamin taught us anything, it's books can be anywhere. It will also be a chance to take in their exhibit Books that Change Lives now on display.

The UCO sale will be Friday-Sunday, 12pm - 8pm, each day. Friday is Friends Only, but you can join for as little as $5. I will certainly be there.

That same weekend, there is another book sale in Yukon, OK, west of the OKC metro. The sale is held by the Mabel C. Fry Library, but it will be at the YMAC building at 6th and Oak. YMAC being the Yukon Museum and Art Center, which is the converted old Central School building. A peek at Google Maps, it looks like it is on the NW corner of that intersection.

It will only be held on APRIL 17-18, Friday 9am - 7pm and Saturday 9am - 3pm. Since I didn't know much about it, and had not been to this sale before, I called them. The librarian I spoke to said that the friends group has hosted the sale for at least the 8 years she's been there, except last year. So, they have two years worth of booksale books to unload, and this year in particular the books have "been flowing in". A bonus, there is no cost to attend the sale, even on Friday.

In Bibliophiles of Oklahoma news, we have scheduled our April meeting for the 23rd. Email me for time and place.

.

Cross Border Raid for Books

Every bibliophile wants to hunt at Larry McMurtry's Booked Up in Archer City, Texas. At least you should. It was my pleasure to organize such a trip for the toddling Bibliophiles of Oklahoma back in January.

If you've not heard of Booked Up, it is a world class book mine in an unlikely place. McMurtry has bought and sold books for decades. Sure, he's a Pulitzer Prize/ Oscar winning writer, but in interviews and his recent memoir Books , he's just another bibliophile bookseller. McMurtry's purpose relocating to his ancestral home was to establish an American book town (without a festival, which, “is the last thing I want”, according McMurtry). A fantastic interview spelling out his motivations and ideas on Nigel Beale's Biblio File is here.
For most book collectors, Archer City may as well be on the moon, but for we few book lovers shouting in the hinterlands, it is our Shangri La. We don't have a Strand, a Powell's, or a CODEX book fair. Having journeyed to Booked Up a few times before, I served as the bibliosherpa, along with Lynn Wienck of Chisholm Trail Bookstore, who is more familiar with the environs of the Red River country.

For the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, this was our most well attended event, so we will certainly go again, perhaps in early autumn. North Texas can be merciless in the summer. For our trip, at the end of January, the weather was pleasant, though crisp. It looks chilly in the photos, right? All of our members found additions for their collections. Not too hard when a dozen ravenous bibliophiles decend on 400-500,000 quality books. Everyone also saw items that surprised them. For me, it was a very nice (bargain!) copy of The Great Gatsby for my Modern Library collection. The Mrs. was surprised how such a large number of books could be so well organized, well lit and clean. Her one complaint was that the 10' shelves were too tall for her. An example is below. This is where I spent more than half my day, the Books About Books section. Yes, nearly that entire run visible, all 10' high, are babs.

When it comes to surprises, you don't have to take my word for it. John C. Roberts, a member of the esteemed Caxton Club of Chicago, published a fantastic article in the January issue of the Caxtonian about his own southern sojourn from Chicago. Even this more established collector of modern firsts found surprises.

There are a few practical considerations weighing a trip to Booked Up.

You won't go there "passing through" to somewhere else. For many collectors, Archer City can be a destination. Really.
Virtually none of the inventory, which is hand selected by McMurtry for quality, is online. None.
Perhaps as many as 500,000 books, no junk. None.
Wear layers. There is little/no heating or air-conditioning in the four buildings, and north Texas can have erratic weather. The buildings are a little spread out.
According to the signs posted about, books are organized Erratically/ Impressionistically/ Whimsically/ Open to Interpretation. Moby Dick could be in American Fiction, Animals, Nautical, Fishing & Hunting, Travel, etc.
As of this writing, they still accept major credit cards and cash.
If you go with a group, bring water and synchronize watches. Cell service is spotty at best.

For those of you who went, leave a comment below to make everyone jealous to go with us next time!

Undercover Adventures

.

Can you hear it? The buzz, the excitement building? The rustling of brown paper grocery bags being counted by Metro FOL volunteers? We're a short couple weeks out from the 30th annual Friends of the Metro Libraries book sale. The fun begins for FOL members on Friday, February 20th. For the rest of you mere, unwashed, "avid readers", the sale will continue Saturday and Sunday. Knowing me, I'll be going all three days. This is the biggest sale in Oklahoma. One of my favorite booksellers come all the way from Nebraska to attend! So, if you can make your way to the Fair Grounds in Oklahoma City, you shouldn't be disappointed.

Since I neglected to set the date for the next Bibliophiles of Oklahoma meeting at our last meeting, I'm invoking Section 3 of the Samuel Beckett Clause, aka "Should we wait for Godot?". The answer, of course, is that our next meeting will be Saturday evening, after the FOL sale. The sale only runs until 5:30 pm on Saturday, so it's only logical. Mostly, because I'll be hungry then. Stay tuned to your communiques for location.


.

Bibliophiles on Facebook

I for one have resisted putting my mug onto facebook. For one, if I want to keep in touch with people, I will. I don't relish the idea of people from Auld Lang Syne chatting me up online. It's so something my little sister enjoys, which of course means it should be avoided so as not to appear immature.

However, one of the more astute members of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma has pointed out that it may behoove us to create a group to spread the good word about BoOK. Three days after creating the Facebook group Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, we already have 13 members signed on, and most of these are folks who I've not heard from. Good news! Now lets see how many want to go to Archer City!

Bibliophile Field Trip

.

Saturday, January 24th. Booked Up in Archer City, Texas.

Depart OKC at 7am,

Legendary bookstore owned by writer Larry McMurtry. If you think you'll get a chance to sit down with the Pulitzer and Oscar winning author and shoot the breeze, don't bet on it. You won't even find any of his books in his bookstore. Seeing himself at the shop is a rarity.

The real prize in a visit to Booked Up is the book selection. Spread out through 4 large buildings is one of the best selections of used and antique books in the western US. Of the 500,000 books, you won't find trash. That is the most impressive thing. Not only the sheer quantity of books

offered, but the quality. Every book seems carefully selected based on subject, condition, scarcity, etc. Every time I've been, I found something truly unexpected. Don't expect throw-away pricing. Prices are fair considering the books available, condition, etc. Booked Up is one of *the* bookstores for pilgrimage for the true bibliophile.

.

Bibliophiles of OK Nov/Dec. Meeting

.
It's been a while since I've posted an update on the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma. This is a collectors' group myself and a few other hearty souls have started. We meet monthly for informal meetings and some light-hearted bibliobanter. New people are always welcome. Our average number per meeting is staying pretty constant at 4-6, but the faces change frequently. Still hoping to get the numbers up. A more focused campaign next year may yield results. We'll see.

As Nov. and Dec. have big holidays at the end of the month, we'll go ahead and do a combined Nov/Dec. meeting on Thursday, Dec. 4th at Belle Isle Brewery. We typically have a table reserved for us under the name Washington Irving.

On the agenda this month:
Show and Tell:
Approve donation of Washington Irving volume to Emily Dickinson personal library project: Replinish the Shelves.


.

Oklahoma ACRL Shout Out

.
A big thank you to the Oklahoma chapter of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL). For those of you linking in from there, hello! I am the chairman of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma and if you are interested in joining us for a meeting leave a comment or shoot me an email and we'll get you taken care of! All you need is a love of books.
.

Road to Monticello Review

.

What a week! Busy, but also very good. Well, true friend of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, Kevin J. Hayes's new book The Road to Monticello got a nice long review in the New York Sun this last week by Adam Kirsch. I mean to post a link to it then, but the holiday got in the way. So, read the review then go pick up a copy.

"The Jefferson we get to know in these pages, rather, is the voracious reader and book collector, the happy victim of what he called 'bibliomanie.'"

.

Victory! Success! Super-Duper.

.


Wonderful. Amazing. Very Interesting. And they weren't talking about our digs. We actually didn't meet in the big house, but in the carriage house 'round back, which is still very nice, and actually better fitted for hosting these sort of events.

These were the words of folks who came out for the lecture by Dr. Kevin J. Hayes on the library of Patrick Henry. Dr. Hayes discussed what he had found about the patriot's library, and what his library can tell us about the personality of this enigmatic founding father. His findings will be published this fall in The Mind of a Patriot: Patrick Henry and the World of Ideas, from the University of Virginia Press. I don't want to give away the ending...

I was a little disappointed in the number of people, but we certainly did not lack enthusiasm and curiosity. Four of our regular members were there, one had an excused absence: being in another time zone half the summer. The others, unexcused. But, all told, we had double the bodies than we've had at any other meeting. And everyone was well behaved. I think everyone asked a question during Q & A, and no one threw anything or yelled obscenities. We also managed a couple of people who are interested in becoming full fledged members, which is wonderful. And FREE!

I had asked Mrs. Exile to buy some cookies for us at the store... she rolled her eyes and we wound up with homemade shortbread, pretty cupcakes and a fresh fruit spread to put a fancy downtown hotel's Sunday brunch buffet to shame. I put out cups, forgot to print the intro-bio of our speaker (managed to print it on some labels in the offices of our hosts), and almost forgot the drawing. Our winner Dr. LB (a *real* Dr. and wife of BoOK member Dr. RB) won the drawing and selected an old color catalog of maps going back to 17th century.

Putting on the event I learned a lot. We've not hosted one of these special scholarly nights before. I'm hoping to do these quarterly, with our regular casual meetings monthly. The presenter and content of our first one certainly set a high standard. I hope these will be hallmarks of our organization and our events.

One thing I learned, is that I did submit our (FREE) event to the different public radio stations in the area. That was helpful, as it was posted to their respective websites and they did play PSAs announcing our event. Well, one did for sure, as I heard it. I posted the event to other Community Calendar of Events type websites, including LibraryThing Local. However, LT only shows 50 LT users in a 25 mile radius of me. I live in Oklahoma City. Not exactly a low-population place.

I sent out multiple emails to the membership list I have. I did get one regret due to gas prices.

The most effective thing though was calling people and personally inviting them. If I got face-to-face with someone they came. Next time, we may need to set up a calling tree. Yikes. People hate those. But it works.

Also effective, folks who had read about the event right here on the blog.

I did manage to get a copy of Dr. Hayes's new book fresh off the press, The Road to Monticello, from Oxford University Press. I've only had time to dip into it over the weekend, and so far so good. The reviews have been positive, as expected. Here's a review from the Boston Globet his weekend of Road to Monticello.

So, to Dr. Hayes, a HUGE thank you for giving our night its guts. Thank you to our kind hosts at the Overholser Mansion.


The envelope? No reason. I just like the man reading. 1907, from Albert Britnell, the Largest Bookstore in Canada.


.

Bibliophiles of Oklahoma Report

No. 6 with carved angel face
Originally uploaded by ◄Kentigern►

.
Meeting 2: We're growing! We had 6 in attendance! For those who missed the last after-action report, that is double what we had last time. At this rate, every human in Oklahoma will belong in about a year and a half! That is certainly exciting. If dues were only $1, we'd have a budget of over $3M! Three million dollars would buy a lot of book fun. Well, not for 3 million people though.

As long as I'm dishing out some reality, I'm also not being wholly honest. The 6 attendees includes my wife who just got off work and needed a bite. But it's not like she's a book *hater*, so she counts too.

The original 3 were joined by two more members. M collects modern firsts. From our chat I would classify him as a late-stage protocollector. Our other new member, JB, is a life long collector who collects books related to his record collection and antique audio equipment. He is perhaps an early-stage protocollector.

One thing I have learned trying to start a collector's society is that many people are reluctant to refer to themselves as collectors. Why is that? It seems some believe book collectors have to spend thousands of dollars on every leather-bound purchase. Some collectors do, but for most of us, that just isn't the case. I've started referring to people who accumulate books along with a general idea or nucleus as protocollectors. Can you tell I once pursued archaeology as a career? Perhaps I need to work up a scale, or evolutionary chart of progression... hmmmm. Stay tuned.

The meeting was fun and even a little productive. We hashed out some ideas to promote BoOK and also set dates for future meetings. So, if you'd care to join us, check out the website for details. The next two meetings will be 4/24 and 5/22, 7-9 pm. Those times are -ish.

.

Inauguration Day for BoOK

.
First, thank you to everyone who sent well-wishes and positive vibes for the inaugural meeting of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma. We had a wonderful first meeting. We could have used some better luck though. By Thursday morning, we had 7 or 8 coming "for sure" and 3 or 4 "I'll try or maybe". So, potentially up to 12. I expected six and thought that was realistic. We actually only had... three. Including me. At the end of last week, an official flu epidemic was in its last throes in Oklahoma. That knocked out 2. After that, our luck ran downhill.

If three of anything is a collection, then three bibliophiles can make a society. You, dear reader, know my interests. I won't bore you with more on that. The two other first members of BoOK are fascinating gents. Dr. RB collects books on archaeology related to his specialty. A born collector and one of the good guys. Dr. KH insists he is not a collector (RB argued "If you have a room just for books in your house, you're a collector") but has written 22 books with the latest due soon from Oxford Univ. Press. It is a literary biography of Thomas Jefferson. I wonder if I can score a review copy (hint, hint)? He has also published bibliographies of the libraries of two major American figures. We passed a wonderful evening with loads of bookly talk. No, bookly is not a word, but I'm not too uppity to use it. At one point I relished hearing "Now, did the 1787 Paris edition have the map...?" Amongst us, we had the answer. Well, the bibliographer did. Beautiful. I supplied the evening's show-and-tell, but I may hold it in reserve and re-run it when we have more people. It is an object that has stumped me and the rest of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma. Both of them.

So, come see this thing, and meet some delightful people, and me. Our next meeting will be 7 pm, Thursday March 27th. I appreciate it if you let me know if you can come, so we can plan ahead (chairs, tables, etc.), but it's OK to just show up!

Photo found on flickr: Uploaded on July 9, 2006 by zen.

Bibliophiles of Oklahoma

.
TOMORROW NIGHT!!

The Inaugural Meeting of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma. Huzzah! I'm an excited dork and huzzah is what we say. If you think you waited too long to get the secret location and secret password to join us, you have not. You can still email me (it's in my profile) and get the info. If meeting me is not enough, I've heard from several interesting people I can't wait to meet who will be attending. For those only able to join us in spirit and well-wishes, I'll provide an after action report later this week. Got a lot on the docket.

Book Sale on the Horizen

To the best of my knowledge, the biggest local booksale is coming fast! I'm already excited, eyeing my calendar for time I can sneak away from work and slink out to the Oklahoma City fair grounds.

I officially dropped the ball on re-uping my membership in the Metro Library Friends group. I'll have to get down to the sale early Friday afternoon to renew and get my tickets for the Friends sale Friday evening. That is really the key to getting the first semi-public whack at the books. Friday night is when all the dealers come out. Last year was nice. People were mostly well behaved. There were a lot of pros in the ranks and several ISBN (I sell by numbers) sellers as well. Prices were good, people were nice, the event was well organized. What else could a bibliophile hope for? I love a good book sale.

Last year I tried to figure out how to attract local bibliophiles to a book collecting club. Since I knew no one then, I made up these little slips of paper with my email on the front and a little blurb on the back and the url for the little website I threw together. I would toss these little slips on the tables, especially in the better books room of the sale. I'd also stick them inside the front cover of books I had looked at but passed on. About one quarter of all books at the sale are in the better books area, so it's huge.

Did it work? No. But, it wasn't a total loss. I did get a spike in traffic on the little website. Over the course of a few months I would take some of the slips of paper to book stores in the area and do the same.

This year I've put this one together and will try and print some up. On the back would be a short blurb and the url. I'm also using this on Flickr, posting it around hoping to drum up some interest. What do you think?

For those who want to know, the inaugural meeting of the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma will take place Thursday, March 13th 2008. Please contact me for time and place. All you need is a love of books.