We like the way Theodor Seuss Geisel put it: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” By now, we suppose, Dr. Seuss’s sentiment is almost a cliche. Still, there’s a fundamental truth here.
Other brilliant minds put it in their own ways. Roald Dahl said: “I have a passion for teaching kids to become readers, to become comfortable with a book, not daunted. Books shouldn’t be daunting, they should be funny, exciting and wonderful; and learning to be a reader gives a terrific advantage.”
Anyone who has read Matilda or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach surely will agree.
Katherine Patterson puts it quite another way.
She says, “It is not enough to simply teach children to read; we have to give them something worth reading. Something that will stretch their imaginations – something that will help them make sense of their own lives and encourage them to reach out toward people whose lives are quite different from their own.”
She surely did that in Bridge to Terabithia, her 1977 children’s novel about two children who create their own magical forest kingdom in their imaginations.
Anyone in search of children’s books won’t be disappointed at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search of the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
Our guest is Bryan Young of Grayshelf Books in Tomball, Texas. He is
making a return visit to Rare Book Cafe.
Bryan and his wife Kelly specialize in modern first editions as well as
science fiction and horror. They will exhibit at the Florida Antiquarian
Book Fair in March.
Bryan also is a large animal veterinarian. He services race horses in
the region of Sam Houston Race Park northwest of Houston.
In this episode, Bryan discusses some of the amazing book treasures he’s
bringing to the Florida book fair, including a pristine first edition
of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939), a signed first edition
of The Exorcist (1971), a copy of Moby Dick (1930) with illustrations by
Rockwell Kent, and a first edition of Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable
Feast (1964), which was published posthumously.
Richard Mori (the road warrior) reveals he’s now snowbirding in Florida
(as he does every year) and discusses some recent finds, including a
beautiful copy of Pollyanna (1913), the first of the popular novel
series by Eleanor Porter. Richard notes with pride that Porter is from
New Hampshire (his neck of the woods.)
Richard and co-host Lee Linn will exhibit at the Florida show in March.
A SPECIAL REQUEST:
Please SHARE this program with your book loving
friends. If this is the first time you've watched Rare Book Cafe, let us
know what you think in the comments. If you're a regular watcher, tell
us in the comments how often and what you enjoy about the show.
Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on
a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers.
Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscripts in Amherst,
Massachusetts, and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian
Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair
in the southeastern United States.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair
will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St.
Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
**************
Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
**************
Rare Book Cafe is a gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and
collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the
world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It
is truly the book lovers' rendezvous.
Join us on our Facebook group
Book Lovers’ Rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe
The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Also as a podcast on YouTube Music
#rarebooks
Avid readers know the truth of western writer Louis L’Amour’s statement. There’s no getting around it: books affect your life, especially if they seem to speak directly to you.
Fans or would-be fans of L’Amour have plenty to choose from. He wrote 100 novels, 250 short stories, and a whole series of books about the Sackett family, who emigrated from East Angelia, England, to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee.
L’Amour is best known for his westerns (frontier stories, he called them). He even wrote stories for Hopalong Cassidy Western Magazine, a short-lived publication produced to capitalize on the Hopalong television program in the 1950s. Those didn’t appear under his name and he denied writing them for most of his life.
There also are novels by him under the names of Tex Burns and Jim Mayo.
He was a favorite of western star John Wayne, whose producer (Robert Fellows) bought the film rights to a short story L’Amour had published in Collier’s magazine in 1952. It became the basis for Wayne’s 1953 film Hondo. Of course, there were other short stories and novels that became films as well.
There’s so much more L’Amour to discover. As you can see, you could easily get wrapped up in the whole Louis L’Amour mystique for eons. And we hope you will! ;-D
We hope you’ll come and explore the possibilities at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search of the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
Rare Book Cafe co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn engage in a
discussion about the importance of the work of abolitionist writer
Harriet Beecher Stowe as Ed visits her home in Hartford, Connecticut.
Stowe is best remembered for her bestseller Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(1851-1852), though she was quite a prolific writer who produced 30
books in her lifetime.
Uncle Tom’s Cabin was not only a bestseller, it was highly influential
in turning readers away from support of enslaving African Americans and
others but also energizing anti-slavery movements in both the United
States and Great Britain.
You can learn more about the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center here:
https://www.harrietbeecherstowecenter.org/
A SPECIAL REQUEST: Please SHARE this program with your book loving
friends. If this is the first time you've watched Rare Book Cafe, let us
know what you think in the comments. If you're a regular watcher, tell
us in the comments how often and what you enjoy about the show.
Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on
a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscripts in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian
Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair
in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair
will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St.
Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
**************
Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
**************
Rare Book Cafe is a gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and
collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the
world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It
is truly the book lovers' rendezvous.
Join us on our Facebook group
Book Lovers’ Rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe
The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
We know the fellow in the image is not Ernest Hemingway and we’re pretty sure it’s not Santiago, the fisherman hero of The Old Man and the Sea. He IS a fisherman and he appears to be on his way to his favorite fishing grounds. When it’s time to pull in the nets, though, we guess he’ll have to come back to the book later. Clearly he’s discovered himself a treasure in Hemingway’s book.
By the time Ernest Hemingway published The Old Man and the Sea (1952), it had been a dozen years since he had had a widely acclaimed novel. That was For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940).
There had been Across the River and Into the Trees (1950) but that had a lukewarm reception, though it was at the top of The New York Times bestseller list briefly.
It took Hemingway about six weeks to write The Old Man and the Sea, when he finally got to it. He’d heard the basic story some 15 to 20 years before from a fishing guide he knew in Cuba. He first wrote about the tale of an old man who battles a giant marlin in an article for Esquire magazine in 1936.
He sent the draft for the novella around to this publisher and his agent, and to close friends and relatives. He got very positive responses. Originally, he had mind for it to be part of a “sea trilogy” but it soon became clear the novella could stand on its own.
Hemingway’s friend and agent, Leland Hayward, got the editorial board at LIFE magazine interested and Hemingway agreed to let LIFE publish it two weeks before Scribner’s published it in book form.
Heminway’s work went on to be on The New York Times bestseller list for six months. It received the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and there was special mention of it when Hemingway won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954.
You can still find copies of LIFE magazine issue of September 1, 1952 at book fairs and with booksellers. You can also find copies of first editions as well as later printings of The Old Man and the Sea. No promises that there will be any at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March but it’s highly likely. Other Hemingway works are also likely to be found at the book fair.
Come and explore the treasures that abound at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
The backstory for this quotation offers an entrée into a world that ought to prove a delight to any book lover.
It never appeared in any of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels. Instead, it’s part of Beloved Infidel: The Education of a Woman (1957), a memoir by famed Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham. In the book, she recounts her three-and-a-half year romance with the novelist when he lived in Hollywood and was trying to write for MGM.
Their attraction was immediate. At some point in the relationship, Sheilah revealed her impoverished and undereducated past, including time in an East End of London orphanage. Scott undertook to broaden her education.
Sheilah also writes about that episode of her life in College of One (1967). These are but two of eight autobiographical works in which she tells the story of her journey to becoming a top syndicated Hollywood writer, more widely distributed than her two closest rivals, Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper. Sheilah dominated Hollywood reporting for decades.
But there’s more. Sheilah’s daughter, grew up to be Wendy W. Fairey, who earned a doctorate at Columbia University and taught English literature and creative writing for years at Brooklyn College. She wrote One of the Family (1992) about growing in Hollywood and her discovery that she was the child of her mother and British philosopher A.J. Ayer. She also wrote Full House (2002), a collection of related stories.
And that doesn’t even touch on the relationship of Scott and his wife Zelda, who was institutionalized while Scott was in Hollywood.
A lot to work with there.
We hope you’ll come and explore the possibilities at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Omar Khayyam was another one of those fellows who was just brilliant in so many different subjects. The other day we were discussing the 17th century French philosopher Rene Decartes. Brilliant in math, science, and philosophy.
So now we consider Omar Khayyam, the 13th century Persian thinker and writer. He, too, was brilliant in so many different subjects. He contributed the knowledge base of certain parts of algebra and geometry and the development of the solar calendar based on his observations as an astronomer.
And still, somehow, he found time to express himself beautifully as a poet. Some scholars think that Omar wrote poetry as an amusement and a respite from his work as an astronomer and mathematician. His poetry shows up in various accounts in Persian history.
Of course, credit for the book The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam rightly goes to 19th century English poet Edward FitzGerald, who translated Omar’s work into English. FitzGerald published numerous editions of the Rubaiyat, and made significant changes in some of them. Furthermore, much of the poetry is simply a very loose translation of what Omar originally wrote.
Case in point, the quotation in the image is from the fifth edition, which was publish posthumously. It is probably the most familiar. However, the verse in the first edition is somewhat different, though offering the same sentiment.
You could get quite caught up in learning the history of this iconic volume. Suffice it to suggest that there probably will be copies of the Rubaiyat at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.
There will be booksellers of a wide variety of subjects. So, if your interest lies in poetry, history, or most any other subject, you probably won’t want to miss the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search of the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
To say that Franz Kafka’s writing is bizarre is to miss the point. It was bizarre, yes, but with an astounding precision and detail as to raise it to high literary achievement. Critics consider him to be a major figure in 20th century literature.
His novella, The Metamorphosis, was first published in 1915, first as a story in a literary magazine and then as a book. It deals with a traveling salesman who wakes up to find himself transformed into an insect, and his efforts to consider the consequences of his situation and to cope with it.
The absurd and surrealistic difficulties facing Kafka's protagonists have been interpreted as commentary on bureaucratic and socio-economic oppression facing people in the modern world.
Franz Kafka died in 1924 at age 40. He never knew the fame his work would eventually achieve. Had it not been for his lifelong friend, Max Brod, who became a journalist, author, and composer, much of Kafka’s work might never have been published. Kafka told his friend he wanted his work destroyed. Brod ignored him and had his work published after his death.
Kafka wrote in German, and his work wasn’t published in English until 1930. Scottish novelists and translators Edwin and Willa Muir were responsible for early translations of Kafka’s major works, including The Metamorphosis, The Castle, and The Trial. Over the decades, Kafka’s work has been retranslated and republished many times.
And he continues to intrigue readers and scholars in the 21st century. To say that there’s more to Franz Kafka than meets the eye may be an understatement. We’re intrigued by his quotation about books. Suffice to say there undoubtedly will be some Kafka and so much more available at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.
We hope we’ll see you at the book fair on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
“Her name was Joyce Dugan, and at four o'clock on this February afternoon she had no remote thought that within the hour before closing time she was about to commit an act that would instigate a chain of murders.”
So begins a pulp novel by Fredric Brown, a prolific science fiction and mystery writer who sold his first stories to American pulp magazines in 1936. His first mystery novel, The Fabulous Clipjoint (1947) was the beginning of a series of seven detective novels, featuring teenager Ed Hunter and his uncle Ambrose, who is a carnival sideshow operator.
Oh, and by the way, the quotation at the beginning is the first line of a 1954 novel His Name Was Death. The title comes from the biblical book of Revelations.
Fredric Brown wrote hundreds of novels and magazine stories, including mysteries, science fiction and fantasy.
Many other popular writers began in pulp novels and magazines. After all, it’s a genre that began in the late 1890s. Some writers who come to mind are Dashiell Hammett (The Thin Man and The Maltese Falcon), Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the Apes), Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep, Farewell, My Lovely, The Lady in the Lake, The Long Goodbye) and James M. Cain (Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, and The Postman Always Rings Twice).
If this intrigues you at all, we think the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair might just be an event you won’t want to miss. It’s happening on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
There will be antiquarian booksellers galore, including some who are undoubtedly knowledgeable about pulp fiction.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search of the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at Florida antiquarianbookfair.com
That the 17th century philosopher Rene Descartes would utter the quotation attributed to him about “a conversation with the finest minds” is hardly surprising, considering the virtual discussions he must have had with his predecessors.
He disagreed vehemently with some of those finest minds, and proceeded to say so in his own books.
Besides being brilliant in science and math, he was particularly strong minded about philosophy. Indeed, he’s credited with originating modern philosophy, and many of his books are still studied today.
We present his thoughts on reading good books because they reflect our own view, and we think, naturally, that the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is a wonderful place to connect with the finest minds of past centuries.
We hope you agree, and we hope we’ll see you at the book fair on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search for the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com.
We think it’s entirely appropriate to imagine that Anne of Green Gables, the delightful, redheaded heroine of early 20th century children’s literature, might be prowling the aisles at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.
After all, Anne Shirley was an imaginative and mostly happy girl with a gift of gab who brought a certain brightness to the lives of the people in her small Canadian coastal town.
We like to think she’d be checking to see how many copies of the 1908 children’s novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery she could find. And, of course, sharing with everyone tales of what she had been up to more recently — well, since the novel ended.
One thing that certainly would delight Anne with an E is the vast collection of not only children’s books, but books of all kinds on every subject imaginable, not to mention maps, fine art prints, and all sorts of ephemera. We imagine her striking up conversations with booksellers all over The Coliseum, and making plans to keep in touch.
You can satisfy your curiosity about whether Anne makes it to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair by joining us on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
We’ll be on the lookout for Anne, and we hope you will be, too.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com. Just search for the 2025 book fair. You also can visit our website at floridaantiquasrianbookfair.com.
MICHAEL SLICKER, chairman of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, invites book lovers to join us for the 42nd annual event at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. Tickets are available at Eventbrite.com and will be available at the Box Office (cash only). Please visit our website.
Be sure to visit Rare Book Cafe, our internet streamed program about antiquarian books and related subjects. You can find us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.
Subscribe to Book Lovers’ Paradise Magazine (IT’S FREE!): Here’s a link to the latest issue: It is by collectors for collectors, and it is produced in paradise for book lovers everywhere.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is the oldest and largest antiquarian book fair in the Southeastern United States, and one of the largest in the nation.
Jane Austen published Pride and Prejudice in 1813. More than 200 years later, it’s still a favorite among discerning readers. Will there be a copy at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March?
We can’t guarantee it, of course. The myriad booksellers who exhibit at the book fair make the choices of what they bring to the book fair. But it’s highly likely you’ll find a copy or make a connection with someone who has the same passionate interest in Jane Austen and her contemporaries.
We thought it appropriate that our avid reader have a copy of Pride and Prejudice as she enjoys a glass of wine at the beach at the end of the day. It captures the allure of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, doesn’t it? And it’s why we say it’s a Book Lovers’ Paradise.
St. Petersburg. It’s a destination. The Sunshine City in the Sunshine State. The beach close by. Many of our fairgoers who don’t already live here turn the occasion of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair as a reason for a vacation. Believe us. We understand completely.
This is another in our series of images highlighting the fascinating and varied selection of printed material you’ll find at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair on Saturday and Sunday, March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg.
Of course, there's much more to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair than the ever-popular Jane Austen. Keep an eye out for more in the weeks leading up to the book fair.
In this episode, the discussion is focused on the just-concluded Books in Boston Shadow Show and the upcoming Florida Antiquarian Book Fair.
Co-host Ed Markiewicz, fresh from the Books in Boston Shadow Show, congratulates Richard Mori, one of the organizers of Books in Boston, on a terrific show. Richard said there was good attendance, and Ed attested to having a successful show.
Meanwhile, co-host Lee Linn, who exhibited at Boston last year and had a mishap that resulted in a broken leg and a broken arm, said she missed being at Boston and said she intends to be there next year. The discussion continues with fond memories of the Boston show and of shows past in Florida, which is in its 42nd year.
Both Lee and Richard have exhibited at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair for years. They hoped to convince Ed that he should be there, too. Alas, Ed revealed that he will be out of the country in March, traveling in Europe. Perhaps Ed will share video of his European adventures for upcoming episodes of Rare Book Cafe.
A SPECIAL REQUEST: Please SHARE this program with your book loving friends. If this is the first time you've watched Rare Book Cafe, let us know what you think in the comments. If you're a regular watcher, tell us in the comments how often and what you enjoy about the show.
Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscripts in Amherst, Massachusetts, and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia. Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
IN HONOR OF VETERANS DAY, here’s the next installment of our images leading up to the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair in March.
Here we have a book lover so fascinated with the history of World War I that a transformation takes place as he reads. We’re showing it visually but avid readers are familiar with the phenomenon. We get so caught up in the subject at hand that everything else melts away.
As seen here, it’s as if a giant picture window has opened up and thrust our reader right into the world he’s reading about.
We thought it appropriate to feature this image on the observance of Veterans Day, which marks the end of World War I on November 11, 1918. Though the Treaty of Versailles wasn’t signed until the following June, fighting had already ended.
As followers of the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair know, our theme for 2025 is Discover Your Treasure. We’ve gone into detail elsewhere about our salute to the swashbuckling history of our region. If you missed it, be sure to read our blog.
Meanwhile, as longtime visitors to the book fair know, there will be a wide variety of offerings on every subject imaginable. Leading up to opening day on Saturday, March 1, we’ll highlight some of the topics we’ll see at the book fair, so stay tuned.
We hope you’re going to be as excited as we are about the 2025 Florida Antiquarian Book Fair. We wanted to be sure to tell you that tickets are now available at Eventbrite.com. So you can be among the first to get them.
As you probably know by now, the theme for the book fair is Discover Your Treasure. We think it’s a perfect theme for our book fair for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, if you’re a fan of the annual book fair, you already know that it is, indeed, a place to discover your book or paper treasure — in almost any genre.
This is the 42nd year of the book fair, and over the decades book lovers have discovered some of the most wonderful treasures to add to their collections. If this is your first time, you’re going to find out what our returning patrons already know — if you love books (and other vintage paper items) this is the place for you.
Booksellers annually come from all over the country — and sometimes from overseas — with some of the most amazing items that are certain to thrill anyone who is open to literary discovery.
So there’s that.
But there’s another reason Discover Your Treasure is so appropriate for us. It’s our salute to our heritage. Many people know that hundreds of years ago, when piracy on the high seas was at its zenith, Florida was a favorite hiding place for buccaneers and their booty.
The natural coves and bays along Florida’s sparsely populated coastline were perfect for the privateers’ purposes. Sometimes, even in modern times, pieces of eight have been known to wash up on our beaches.
Of course, Tampa Bay’s NFL football team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the annual Gasparilla celebration also help keep the heritage alive. We’ll be talking about all that later on but for now suffice it to say that you’re in for a treat if you’re a book lover (of course you are) because the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair is, indeed, the place to Discover Your Treasure.
There’s a code in the graphic at the top but if you’d rather use a simple link, here it is. Get your tickets early. We’ll have more exciting highlights leading up to the book fair. TICKETS LINK TO EVENTBRITE.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn chat with Carol Mobley, who runs the Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair, which will be August 17-18 in Castle Rock, CO.
The show features antiquarian booksellers not only from Colorado but also from all across the country. They’re offering a wide variety of used and rare books as well as ephemera at all price points.
Ed and Lee also discuss the latest issue of Book Lovers’ Paradise Magazine, which is now available and includes an article by Carol about collecting kitchen appliance ephemera.
A SPECIAL REQUEST: Please SHARE this program with your book loving friends. If this is the first time you've watched Rare Book Cafe, let us know what you think in the comments. If you're a regular watcher, tell us in the comments how often and what you enjoy about the show.
Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscript and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever. Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to soon the used and rare book trade.”
**************
Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
**************
Rare Book Cafe is a gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous. Join us on our Facebook group Book Lovers’ Rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe
The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Co-host Ed Markiewicz takes us on a visit to the site of The Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut. Photography isn’t allowed in the house but Ed manages a look inside the museum, which contains manuscripts and published volumes of Twain’s books.
Co-host Lee Linn also has visited the house, and in this episode she offers some commentary about the experience.
Ed and Lee also mention their favorite Mark Twain books, which include A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884).
They discuss a new, related volume, James (2024), by Percival Everett, which is on the short list to be considered for Pulitzer Prize. Everett’s book reimagines the Huckleberry Finn story from the point of view of Jim, the enslaved man who sets on the Mississippi River adventure with Huck.
As it happened, on the evening of the day Ed visited, Mr. Everett was to be a guest of The Mark Twain House & Museum for a live streamed program. You can watch a recording of that program in the comments section.
A SPECIAL REQUEST: Please SHARE this program with your book loving friends. If this is the first time you've watched Rare Book Cafe, let us know what you think in the comments. If you're a regular watcher, tell us in the comments how often and what you enjoy about the show.
Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscript and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States.
The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever. Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to soon the used and rare book trade.”
**************
Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
**************
Rare Book Cafe is a gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous. Join us on our Facebook group Book Lovers’ Rendezvous.
Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
Rare Book Cafe
The Book Lovers' Rendezvous™
YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
Also as a podcast on YouTube Music
It's Pride month, and with the help of Atlanta booksellers Libby Ware and Charlene Ball, co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn visit the oldest feminist bookstore in the country. It’s Charis Books and More and it’s on Candler Street in Decatur, Georgia, across from the campus of Agnes Scott College.
Lee and Ed visit with co-owner Sara Luce Look, who has been a part of Charis Books for 30 years. Sara gives a tour of the fascinating store and a little of its history, including its origins in a section of Atlanta known as Little Five Points.
Libby and Charlene, owners of Toadlily Books, are annual exhibitors at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair and frequent visitors to Rare Book Cafe.
They also are authors. Charlene’s book, Dark Lady: a Novel of Emilia Bassano Lanyer, was published in 2017. Libby’s book, Lum, was published in 2020.
The two collaborated on two murder mysteries, Murder at the Estate Sale (2020) and Murder at the Book Fair (2023), both under the pseudonym Lily Charles.
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Our Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK series offers short programs, usually on a single topic. Watch for more in the series.
Co-hosts Ed Markiewicz and Lee Linn are veteran antiquarian booksellers. Ed owns Montgomery Rare Books & Manuscript and Lee owns The Ridge Books in Calhoun, Georgia.
Rare Book Cafe COFFEE BREAK is made possible by the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair, the oldest and largest rare, used, and collectible book fair in the southeastern United States. The Florida Antiquarian Book Fair will be presented March 1-2, 2025 at The Coliseum in downtown St. Petersburg. More information at floridaantiquarianbookfair.com
The program also is made possible by Biblio.com, a website featuring used, rare, and out-of-print books from independent booksellers. Biblio is celebrating 20 years of serving book lovers. It’s better than ever. Biblio spotlights “the core of our business model: the independent booksellers who bring their expertise, enthusiasm, and professionalism to soon the used and rare book trade.”
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Music by Kevin MacLeod Hyperfun Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Rare Book Cafe is a gathering of collectors and lovers of old, rare, and collectible books. It is a virtual cafe, accessible anywhere in the world, where the subjects are priceless and the conversation is free. It is truly the book lovers' rendezvous. Join us on our Facebook group Book Lovers’ Rendezvous. Rare Book Cafe is based in Florida.
