Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: book store (Page 103 of 104)

Treasure in them thar boxes!

You may have heard that the traveling Antiques Roadshow program on PBS discovered its most valuable treasure to date during its stop in Tulsa. Surprising, to most everybody, was the collection of Chinese-carved rhinoceros horn cups valued at one to one-point-five million dollars.

As appraiser Lark Mason noted, “You never know what is going to turn up.”

How true that is.

While not on the scale of the horn-cups in value, a rarely seen book is currently resting in the inventory at McHuston Booksellers.

The volume has had a bit of abuse in its lifetime, but copies of the 1932 first edition of “The Store” by author T. S. Stribling are amazingly hard to come by. It is true that among the millions of books published since Gutenberg perfected his printing machine, there are rarer titles. Some are so scarce that they have been completely lost to history, with not a single copy remaining.

The difference is, almost all of those books came and went without much discussion and a great many found their final resting spot in a public landfill.

Mr. Stribling won the Pulitzer Prize in 1933 for his work, and given that there are collectors who specialize in first edition copies of prize-winners, it makes this book a minor treasure.

For the person trying to put together a set of Pulitzer Winners who is missing this title, there are but a handful offered for sale anywhere.

Lo and Behold!

One of them is in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.

It is a bit fragile these days, but still represents a nice find.

Oh, and if you’re curious about the value… it is priced under a thousand – which is the going rate for another listed online, a book in better shape but not a true first edition.

You just never know what will turn up.

Trash and treasures in moving boxes.

It’s Sunday afternoon, over a month after getting the keys to the new building, and I’m still moving boxes. It is a humid day and I’m already feeling the need to wring myself out.

Today’s focus is getting the antique Sony Vaio and its younger but equally slow brother connected to the primitive store network. It isn’t so much a network as it is three computers strung together in a desperate attempt to preserve the data that exists separately on each machine. Programs and such.

I did transfer the customer database over to the laptop and have been using it since switching the Open sign on last week. The older machines give me a spot to save a backup copy. No ‘cloud’ storage here yet.

Baby steps.

Moving is a colossal pain, but it presents the opportunity to review the life-long collection of what-nots that are being dragged around over the course of a lifetime. As I tend to save rather than ditch them, I’ve assembled a pretty large collection of precious junk.

There have been times I have wondered whether it would be better to send some of these things off to the dustbin, but then I run across something that is worth a smile and a couple of memories. You can click on the image for a close up look at that Gladstein Plumbers infield. We were a mighty foursome. I’m the third from the left in my pre-beard days, back when caps did not signify receding hairlines.

That was the same year I got selected to play on a McAlester Boys Club all-star team for a game in Fort Smith, and during the opening warm-ups tripped on the raised infield turf and took a throw from the catcher on the forehead.

Knocked me out cold.

It also bumped me right out of the ballgame, thus ending my all-star career without so much as an at-bat.

I did take home a nice trophy, in the form of an egg-sized lump just below my hairline.

Needless to say, that was centuries ago, back when Charles Dickens was covering sports and the typewriter had yet to replace the quill and inkwell. In fact, I believe the sport of baseball had just been invented. Actually, looking at the photo credit, I noticed the name of Steve Lalli, whose younger brother Jim was a classmate of mine at St. John’s school in McAlester and quite the artist. I didn’t recall Steve being so much older that he would have a job at the newspaper, but perhaps he was a prodigy in the field of reporting. I was no prodigy in the infield of baseball, but I loved to play.

Maybe that’s why I have the clipping in a cardboard box. Who knows? It is, no doubt, the perfect time to rid myself of all the other papers and flotsam filling this particular carton.

But of course, I’ve closed the lid back up on it and taken it up to the loft for safe storage – for who knows what reason.

As to the store’s progress: Books are being sold, folks are wandering in everyday, and the kitchen equipment is still being assembled for the rollout of the bistro. Hopefully it will be in the next couple of weeks.

As for me, it’s back to the boxes and reconnecting the computers, feeling just a little older at having seen how long ago my sports prime actually was.

And those books go where?

So many projects to tackle and complete! I’ve managed a lot of tackling, but not so much completing… Here’s the late April update:

There are still a few more boxes with books to be unpacked and shelved. The majority are in place – although not necessarily the correct one. From the front counter I can spot piles of books stashed in the General Vicinity section, to be moved to the Right Spot later.

About a third of the shelves are sporting tags that indicate what books are in that section. I hope to be forgiven for hand-lettering the signs, but the little printing machine ones have such an industrial appearance. Maybe the lettering will get finished this afternoon.

The images in today’s episode are to illustrate that I’ve actually gotten a couple of framed items on the walls. Three, actually. I’m hoping that they’ll also serve to dampen a little of the sound that continues to bounce around. There was a distinct echo in the building before I moved anything in, and the shelving itself did little to reduce the reverb effect. Adding the books has absorbed most of the reflected sound, but the front of the store can use a little extra baffling.

The Open sign is plugged in and flashing in the front window.

Not that anyone has missed the Grand Opening, or the ReOpening. That elusive date is the subject of most questions. When I was delivering boxes regularly though the day, the front door was locked during excursions to the storage unit. With most of the boxes inside the store, I’ve been spending more time among the shelves and have left the front door unlocked.

I’ve been pleased to see some regular customers (with a great thanks to the ladies at Hairs To Ya beauty salon next to the old location for letting people know where to find the new spot). Some books have been sold and traded. Some browsing has been accomplished. I hope you’ll come in soon to check it out!

As to the official opening, I figure it can’t be too Grand if I don’t even have the store name on the awning yet, or if the interior arranging is not yet finished. I was hoping to have every little thing in its place and then throw open the front door with a shout.

That hasn’t proven to be practical.

So, rather than keep folks out until such a time as I consider the place sufficiently completed, I’m going with the term I’ve heard used and invoking the Soft Opening privilege. That allows me to conduct some business while I’m still working out the details.

When the Tulsa Health Department inspectors came through this week for the final formal inspection of the on-premise kitchen facility, they agreed to the idea. When I have the rest of the supplies in, I’ll be able to fire up the coffee maker, and as soon as I get the commercial-grade refrigerator installed I can roll out the menu and serve up your soup.

For now, it’s back to the labeling and the wall work…

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