Finding Books in the Olden Days

Sometimes it takes a few decades to read a book. I can’t recall which of my books holds the title for longest time between purchase and reading, but The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino was at least 20 years, and The Cunning Little Vixen illustrated by Maurice Sendak was closer to 30. When I opened my copy of The Curse of Lono by Hunter S Thompson and illustrated by Ralph Steadman, which I had read many years ago, a business card fell out:

Isn’t that one of the joys of old books? Finding receipts, train and movie tickets, and other makeshift bookmarks of previous owners? Certainly better than finding scribbles, highlights, and notes, in my opinion. An inscription or an ex libris at the beginning is all right, but I don’t like markups on the text. That’s too personal.

I think I discovered BookSearch in the classified ads of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, and he helped me find a few of the rarer Harlan Ellison titles, and the spoof novel I, Libertine! ghost-written by Theodore Sturgeon for Jean Shepherd, as a gag for his long running late night radio show. Shepherd talked listeners into asking so many bookstores to order the nonexistent book that it was briefly included on the NY Times bestseller list, so they went forward and created it! All I remember is that the rakish hero had a nervous tic of curling his upper lip when afraid, which his enemies took as “smiling in the face of sure death,” and that got him out of most of his duels and battles. It’s an amusing relic, and I sold mine long ago.

That’s how we found old books in the old days. BookSearch wasn’t always the best source; he was expensive. And he led me to finding the Montclair Book Center, which was once one of New Jersey’s better used bookstores. It’s deteriorated lately, and I prefer Second Time Books in Mount Laurel. They move a lot more books, and often purchase collections and estates to rummage through for treasures.

On the early days of the Internet, the Usenet newsgroups were a good source for buying and selling books, and oddly enough we sent checks through the mail to faceless nerds. I know, I was one of those nerds! But there’s nothing like browsing a good old bookshop that has a well-curated collection of fine books, and also the cheapo tables of lesser-known titles, where often, the real treasures are found. What are your favorite bookshop finds? One of mine was the novelization of the Clint Eastwood orangutan movie, Every Which Way But Loose. That film also spawned a theme song by none other than Eddie Rabbitt!

Here's an obituary for the man behind BookSearch, Thornton Ege. He seems to have led a full life. We spoke on the phone a few times, and I’m grateful for the Ellison paperbacks that be found for me.