June 30^th, 2016 and July 1^st, 2016

STRANGE SHORE: Carlisle, Cumbria and Keswick, Cumbria

SUNDRY LAND: United Kingdom

WANDERING WAY: Bookcase (in Carlisle) and Keswick Bookshop (in Keswick, duh)

Best Loot – Bond

As a super-nerd…or let’s be nice and say, “a cultural aficionado,” I collect. No, I don’t collect vintage Duran Duran LPs, Magic Cards, or Limited Edition Frodo figurines. I collect books. Lots and lots of books. I’d be the first to admit that my book-buying is compulsive. As soon as I awake in the morn, I sift through my inbox to find the recommendations of Amazon, LitHub, and the NYTimes Book Review (my most egregious enablers), and I calculate exactly how long I can resist. The coveted book glows golden, and then it begins to whisper like “The One Ring.” By then, I’m a goner, scrambling around a cave, luring hobbits to their deaths, and hunching over with a bad cough…gollum. It’s sad, really.

Given that the impulse is irresistible, I’ve devised a rather nifty trick for touring strange and sundry cities. When in doubt, I simply visit all the bookstores in town. Bookstores are wonderful places after all – they tend to be located in hip, bustling neighborhoods where smart people convene, and they are full of books. Plus, more often than not, they peddle coffee and tea, too. When venturing to parts unknown, it’s essential to stay well caffeinated. Keep your eyes peeled, and you’re less likely to get hit by one of those funky cars driving on the left.

So drum roll, please. I would like to introduce BOOKCASE! It’s called Bookcase, but it’s actually nirvana on earth. Here are some photographs to lull you into a receptive frame of mind so you might fully appreciate the tale of my most recent acquisition. 

Look at all the books! Now, Bookcase is a used bookstore, and its neighbor Bookends sells new books. Together, these twin stars share a café named “Cakes and Ale,” which borrows its name from a great W. Somerset Maugham novel, which in turn borrowed the phrase from “Twelfth Night.” Not enough people appreciate Maugham or venerate Shakespeare, but this is not a failing of the residents of fair Carlisle. Cumbrians rule.

So far, so good. Here it gets interesting: as any compulsive book-buyer knows, it’s essential not to look for something particular at a used bookstore. One must look with an open mind to see what’s available. To use an analogy (why not?), buying a new book is a bit like making a reservation at a well-reviewed restaurant for dinner at 8pm; in contrast, buying a used book is like walking down the street, reading the menus of several establishments, and picking the one with delicious aromas wafting out its doorway. You may go hungry, or you may have the best meal of your life. Which is to say, used bookstores require patience, faith, and a willingness to look. But what bounty can be found!

My appreciation for Bookcase swelled as I rifled through its impressive collection of Folio Society Editions – now, these beauties typically cost around $20-$50. They’re not rare, precisely, but they are printed in limited editions. Ergo, a Folio Society Edition (from 1979, for instance) becomes more and more difficult to find as the years roll by. Bookcase had an entire bookcase (natch) of Folio Society Editions, and all of the single volumes were priced (quite reasonably) at £15. That’s when I had a critical realization: “Wait a minute…are all the books priced £15?” The answer was yes…unless the book was in bad condition, in which case it was priced even lower. At that moment, I put down my head and had a real look around the store.

Wanna know what I found?

After much searching, I noticed that Bookcase happened to have SIX first-editions of different novels in Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. That’s right. Six, and they weren’t displayed in a special case or anything. They were just filed under “F” in the general fiction section. As a true nerd, er…cultural aficionado, I happened to know from a recent visit to the New York Antiquarian Book Fair that a first-edition of a James Bond novel in good condition goes for $1000 or more.

With shaking hands, I peeked under the intact dust cover of this 1958 edition of Dr. No, and do you know what I found? £15. All six novels were priced at £15.

I didn’t know quite what to do, but my first thought was that I must’ve made some sort of mistake. Alone on Bookcase’s second floor, I searched the Internet for confirmation: yes, the first edition of Dr. No was printed in 1958; yes, the cover and title page in my hands matched those pictured on the sites of legitimate rare booksellers; yes, it looked the right age; yes, I’d recalled the price correctly. Here’s a read-out of the going prices of a gently-used 1958 Dr. No:

£193 (lowest)

£386

£425

£525

£675

£734

£772

£825

£927 (highest for an edition in non-pristine form)

So basically, I was holding an edition worth somewhere between $254 and $1,223 (even after the British Pound Sterling dropped after the BREXIT), and Bookcase was selling it for $19.80.

I faced an ethical conundrum: Should I take all six, resell them, and make bank like a bandit? Should I just buy Dr. No for my personal collection? Or should I tell the proprietor he was sitting on a goldmine? Hmmm.

By my reckoning, if the proprietor can’t be bothered to research the market value of his wares, then he doesn’t deserve to make the cash. (Some might find this reasoning cold, but I’d recommend reading the works of one Adam Smith if you don’t like it.) However, it also seemed somewhat unethical (and a red flag) to grab all six at once. In the end, I decided to buy Dr. No, which had been recently recommended as a good read. I left the others behind and called it a day, a good day.

Although my more mercenary readers may disagree, I feel this plan has a few perks:

1. I don’t feel terrible about ripping off a nice old guy running a used bookstore in lovely Carlisle.

2. I am leaving behind a pot of gold for another well-read soul.

3. I am encouraging people to keep reading “Strange and Sundry” – what other travelogue blog leaves Easter Eggs worth $1000s for its devoted readers?

After paying for Dr. No and a lovely Folio Society edition about Venice, I had a nice chat with the proprietor who was tickled to have a visiting American in his shop. (As I've said before, Carlisle doesn’t attract the tourists it so richly deserves.) When I told him that I was writing a travelogue, he asked me to mention Bookcase. I promised him that I would.

Seriously, if you want to buy rare books, visit Cumbria.

Favorite Loot – Mab

So, what tops that? Well, it’s a matter of opinion, I suppose. My edition of Dr. No is worth far more money than the beautiful book that I discovered at the Keswick Bookshop on the following afternoon. It’s a matter of love, however. I just love this 1901 edition of Queen Mab’s Fairy Realm, with original illustrations by one of my absolute favorites, Arthur Rackham.

For those who know Rackham, you probably know him through his famous 1907 illustrations to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, (http://www.artpassions.net/rackham/aliceinwonderland.html):

Now, my 1901 edition of Queen Mab’s Fairy Realm is so rare that you won’t even find it listed on Rackham’s Wikipedia page. It is a multi-authored work, and it only includes three original illustrations by Rackham. Nonetheless, one is this glorious illustration:

I paid one-third of the average auction estimate (ha!) for Queen Mab’s Fairy Realm – another steal. In terms of pure finance however, there’s no doubt Dr. No is the better investment. As my good friend Megan Gleason once pointed out: a piece of art is only worth what you can sell it for. As it seems likely that actors like Daniel Craig (or Idris Elba or Tom Hiddleston) will continue playing James Bond rather than the delightful Arthur Rackham (in some fabulous biopic that only exists in my imagination), future buyers are more likely to put down the cash for “Dr. No” and not “Queen Mab’s Fairy Realm.” 

Still, it's only my personal book collection we’re discussing, and book buying isn’t really about the numbers. It’s about the love…and the gollum-esque whisper in the night.