Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: bookstores (Page 105 of 107)

Reading in the bookstore?

Any number of people have told me how they’d love to have a bookstore – or work in one – because they love to read.

Here’s a bit o’ unsolicited advice: If you love to read, find a position as a night security officer or toll-booth change attendant. The only reading I’ve been able to squeeze in is my dose of news in the morning, courtesy of the screen on the computer.

Maybe if the business was in its twentieth year of operation, with every imaginable system fully implemented and every book in its proper place, there might be time to dip into a chapter now and then.

The bathrooms got scrubbed on my day off. The floor out front needed it, too. Dishes and cooking utensils were washed Monday morning, part of the prepping to get the Bistro operation lined out.

As an added feature in the new location, there is a conference table at the back of the store to accommodate out-of-office meetings and such. I sat down in one of the chairs and it wobbled like Jello. They’re pretty new chairs, but needed tightening up. An Allen wrench and twenty minutes later, the nearly dozen wooden chairs are secured and stable.

Now it’s nearly mid-afternoon.

There are two bags of books on the table in front of me that require checking in. I just finished creating a new Special Order form to replace the one that must have been lost in the harddrive crash and recovery.

Science and technology books are sideways on the shelves, waiting to be organized, along with several other subsections. The kids books are a disaster awaiting a presidential declaration.

I could list all the things on the to-do list, but I just don’t have the time to do that right now.

At least I can cross – Update the Website – off the list.

Busy weekend, but back to work.

It was certainly nothing fancy. A little braized beef tips with onions and peppers over egg noodles, with some veggies and bread on the side.

Nothing fancy, but it was from the heart before it came out of the kitchen.

Mother’s Day 2012.

I’m fortunate to have been able to prepare a little something for my mother, my sister, and my wife – on the occasion of that busy dining-out holiday. We four constituted the entire crowd at McHuston’s on Sunday, which is just as well. Except for a small ‘to-go’ box, everything that was cooked was gone.

As a test run for the Irish Bistro, I discovered a couple of things right off the bat. The kitchen performs just fine – particularly that three-compartment sink where Fab and I washed up the dishes and pots afterwards. Wash, Rinse, Sanitize.

Another lesson: it is a rather long walk from the kitchen in the back to the tables in the front of the store. Not really important unless you’re trying to manage a tray of drinking glasses filled close enough to the top to be worrisome. No spills though, thank goodness.

The delivery is scheduled for later this week to install more of the kitchen equipment, which will bring us a little closer to being able to offer lunchtime fare. Nothing is finalized, but I’m still hoping to have a fairly diverse menu with offerings such as Irish Stew, Shepherd’s Pie, Potato Soup, and a sandwich or two as regular items. Maybe a soup o’ the day mixed in, and a couple of plated dishes as well. I’m working on an Irish slow roast somewhat similar to what was whipped up for Mom’s Day, and a couple of others that are rattling around in the idea phase.

I’m also pleased to report that the Rooster Days weekend worked out remarkably better than at our former location. Once the parade was over, it turned into a regular day of business, with considerable more traffic than the typical Saturday. Except for the first couple of years, Rooster Days marked a rare weekend off, since the parking lot spaces were sold by the landlord and store customers were effectively barricaded from entry.

Between Roosters and Moms it made for an eventful weekend.

Almost a relief to have Monday roll back around…

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.

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