McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: main street (Page 101 of 104)

Killer Queen.

February 13, 2013 /

Sunshine. Blue skies. Looking down the sidewalk, I see a number of my merchant neighbors with their doors propped open, enjoying the scant breeze. I don’t mind the cliché about the weather in Oklahoma, you know – the one that advises those who don’t like the weather here to just wait a minute. It’s refreshing – in every sense of the word – to have a rainy, dreary day that was topped off with a brief snowfall followed by such a bright day that it might be the meteorological opposite of its predecessor.

So nice outside, it compelled me to grab the spray bottle and wash the front door glass. So nice outside, it called for a new snapshot of the storefront. It’s a regular play-hooky day, but I better stay put for those book emergencies that pop up of an afternoon.

Since I was here instead of playing outdoors, I was able to field a question:

Nice lady: How does this work?

Me, holding a book: This front part opens, revealing the words inside, fresh and ready for reading.

I’m kidding. A lot of folks wonder about the mechanics of a used book store and things like trade credit. The nice lady had come across a tag inside one of the books that stated: Not available for Trade Credit.

Unlike some used book stores, most books here at the shop go out as a result of a cash or credit card transaction. I have a few trade accounts, although not too many. My selling rationale is pretty simple: If I pay cash for a book, I have to sell it for cash. The light company won’t take used books to settle the monthly utility bill. And there it is.

There is a great selection of the inventory available for those who bring in used books, and there are no policies here that are etched in stone.

Some feature selections – those books propped up on easels or displayed in the cases in the front of the shop – are also reserved for non-trade transactions. Some are new, unread copies. Others are harder-to-find, collectible, or specialty items. The set in the image is an example. The volumes are beautifully bound and kept, with ornate gilt embossing.

The set is edited by Ellery Queen, but of course they weren’t really. There wasn’t really an Ellery Queen. Two cousins from Brooklyn made up the character and then used the persona as a penname to write detective stories. Keep up here: the character Ellery Queen is a mystery writer and editor. In the stories. In real life, the Ellery Queen on the spine of the books was the pseudonym of Daniel Nathan and his cousin Manford Lepofsky.

You can see why they chose to write under a different name.

In this ten volume set, the fictional editor has selected classic detective stories from different eras and a range of authors and set them off in a fine-binding affair that certainly stands out in a bookcase.
Great stories. Fantastic price.

No mystery about that.

McHuston Booksellers & Irish Bistro: in the Rose District
122 South Main Street, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

My clone at work? Doubtful.

February 9, 2013 /

I could work half as hard or do twice as much if not for doing things twice that I have already done once.

Here in the shop is a big, big book with no price at all. Nada. It needs a little information, so off I go to Google. Imagine my surprise when an exact listing comes up for this volume from 1855. Usually, an exact match is more difficult.

Imagine my further surprise when I see the listing is from a bookstore in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. McHuston Booksellers.

Ooops.

Here is some work come back for a second go-round. You can click on the image for a better look at a pre-Civil War binding.

On the bright side, it does save me the time and effort of investigating the antique book, trying to compare market values and coming up with a price. Boom. There it is, right in the internet listing.

And the photo is already taken!

Having practiced my Roman numerals, I correctly determined that the book was published in 1854, but the heavy leather binding states 1855 – again, something I worked out a second time. It was listed that way in the original listing. I guess there is nothing left to do but put a price card in it, and return it to the shelf.

The Life of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and the Lives of the Apostles and Evangelists
Date Published: 1854 (Binding states 1855)
Description: By Rev. John Fleetwood, D.D.; Published by Blackie and Son; London. Elaborate illustrated full leather heavy binding with raised bands. Front hinge beginning at lower edge. Water staining throughout. First signature is loose but holding, causing curling and closed tears at page edges. Gilt edges still present at top and bottom. Impressive Blackie and Son reprint of 1837 original, bound with the Lives of the Most Eminent Fathers and Martyrs by William Cave; and A History of the Christian Church by Rev. Thomas Sims M.A. Numerous illustrative lithographic plates.

The Rev. John Fleetwood, who authored the greater part of this three-in-one volume, was a Scottish theologian and biblical critic, but is obscure enough that he doesn’t have a Wikipedia listing.

Although his fame and heritage have been lost to time, his hefty tome survives him well – even if my memory doesn’t.

Scribner. Another Tulsa ghost.

February 4, 2013 / / 0 Comments

Before the American Civil War, in 1850, Isaac Baker died. His business partner paid off the estate and repainted the sign out front to read – Charles Scribner Company.

He published books.

After the war, the company began publishing a magazine, and then another – in that grand age of monthly editions. Later, his sons joined the firm, and at the father’s death the company was renamed Charles Scribner’s Sons. Over time, it became simply – Scribner.

When an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel was published, it bore the Scribner imprint. Same with Hemingway. Scribner managed to corral a number of influential writers like Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Wolfe, and Edith Wharton. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings won a Pulitzer for The Yearling, published by Scribner.

Stephen King didn’t win any Putlitzers, but won over a legion of readers during his contract years with Scribner with works like Dreamcatcher and Under the Dome, the latter soon-to-be-released as a film adaptation.

The name Scribner survives, in a fashion. The imprint is now owned by former rival Simon & Schuster, which was in turn acquired by CBS Corporation. During its heyday, Scribner operated a chain of bookstores anchored by its flagship location on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

The store was a marvel to behold, evoking a grandeur reflecting the lofty position held by books and authors at the time. 597 Fifth Avenue was built expressly for the housing of Scribner’s Bookstore. A glass front stopped passersby, who peered through to take in the two story interior complete with a mezzanine, an architectural masterpiece done up in a Beaux Arts style exterior. There was a vaulted ceiling and sunlight filtered in through clerestory windows.

At its demise in 1988, the New York Times treated the news as an obituary: SCRIBNER BOOK STORE, 75, TO CLOSE NEXT MONTH. A descendent of the founder lamented the occasion, but by then his paycheck was backed by Macmillan publishing which acquired Scribner four years earlier.

”A chapter of history is about to close,” said Charles Scribner 3rd at the time. No longer strictly Scribner, Charles the Third served as a vice president at Macmillan.

The Scribner stores were eventually acquired by Barnes and Noble following the breakup of the Scribner publishing and retail divisions. The Utica Square Scribners book store in Tulsa lingered past the millennium, but I could find no obit in the Tulsa World archives. A book signing was hosted there in 2001 – the final mention I found – although relics exist, like the bookmark tucked into a recent acquisition.

A bit like viewing gravestones, they underscore the often-fleeting nature of success. Makes me appreciate even more the opportunity I have to serve as a proprietor in a similar establishment – even if we’re on the economic endangered species list.

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