Book finds in Maryland

Two weeks ago I drove up to Maryland for the weekend to see friends, and this time, to do a little bookhunting.

Friday night, I went with my friend Suzy to listen to live music and indulge in tasty Southern Maryland crab balls.

Saturday morning, I drove down 235 to an antique store in Lexington Park, The Grapevine. I fell in love with this little antique corner chair and bought it for the bookshop. I picked up a few books, too.

After lunch with another friend, I went a used book store in the old part of Leonardtown. As I wandered through aisles and around corners in Fenwick's, I kept thinking there was only one more room, but then there would be a doorway and another room. I like bookstores like that.

Fenwick St. Used Books

They have a whole bookshelf of Star Trek.   :-)

I introduced myself to the owner, Joe, as a new bookseller and he was very kind. He runs the "Old book store" e-mail list for brick-and-mortar booksellers. He answered my questions and mentioned websites and names that have recently become familiar, from the bibliophile list or in my bookselling research.

As we were talking, I noticed the high, ebony, mirrored bar behind the counter. Joe told me that his place had been a bar for many years! He had covered the tile floor with carpet and had shelves built. The small room in the back, the fantasy and sci-fi room, had once been the ladies' room.

After that pleasant visit, I stopped by Staples and picked up a shelf that had been out of stock back home. Then I went to a "new books" store in California, Md. that's going out of business. Bay Books has been an independent shop here for 23 years. 'Hard to believe, since I remember when they first opened!

I wasn't sure I wanted to buy new books, because now I can get a discount from distributors and also because I'm not sure if they're still new books after you buy them from a store. But when I saw that Bay Books was already offering 50% off, I decided to risk buying some.

I had just about decided that I wasn't going to introduce myself, when I saw a sign indicating that the shelves were for sale. I just had to ask about them, and the clerk quickly introduced me to the owner. The shelves were reasonable — not super cheap, but a good value — but I told the owner I just didn't have a way to transport them to N.C. He took my name and number and wished me luck.

The owner of Bay Books had previously offered the store — shelves, inventory, everything — for sale at a very reasonable price, but with no takers they proceeded to liquidation, just like the Borders back home.

I spent the rest of the weekend with friends, food, my former church, more friends and more food. By Monday's departure, the car was filled with books and furniture for the new bookshop.

A Wee Opening at Tannery Books

The past two weeks have been absolutely crazy as I prepared to open my new bookstore, Tannery Books, and volunteered with church events that included missionaries visiting from far away. Of course, I didn't plan all that to happen at the same time! Very little went according to my ideal schedule — my counter didn't arrive until two nights ago, the floor wasn't finished until about two weeks ago, the sign had some delays and didn't go up until yesterday... I still don't have a digital version of my logo. On the positive side, I've been blessed over and over. Family members did the professional work (at a good rate for me and some business for them), and people gave me some books and furniture.

A week and a half ago: I can put the shelves in!

This past week: Sorting and pricing books

Irish tea and "biscuits"

People kept asking me, when is the grand opening? With all the doubt and waiting for the basics before I could bring in the books, I couldn't guarantee anything grand. So I told them it would be a "Wee Opening," in keeping with March's Irish theme.


With all the chaos, I was up until 4:30am this morning pricing books and cleaning up. I still hadn't cleaned the new counter (a large glass display case that has been stored in a garage for some time) and I hadn't even started pricing the antique books. One goal I really wanted to meet, but didn't, was to have some flyers to hand out with basic information like store hours and trade-in policies. But people didn't seem to mind. I started an e-mail list and said I would send them information later.

My counter/display case — future home for antique books

People stopped by all day to browse, chat and wish me well. A few bought books, and one friend brought me a trunkload of books as a donation. It was a great opening day!

Tannery Books — Opening day!

A Bookstore Blessing

I've been meaning all week to share some bookish news about my trip to Maryland, but not only was I trying to get the shop ready, I was also helping to prepare for Mid-Year Gathering for North Carolina Yearly Meeting (Quakers), held this past weekend. As part of that gathering, we had missionaries in town from Kenya, Mexico, Alabama and Jamaica. It was invigorating.

Today I planned to take our pastor from Mexico out to lunch. I've been to the meeting in Matamoros a couple of times and wanted to share just a little of the hospitality that he and his family always offer us. I asked him and another friend to meet me at the bookshop, where I figured I would be working. They arrived before me, though, and I unlocked the door to show them my new business. There were books stacked on the floor, boxes strewn about, empty shelves, and the strong smell of new carpet (have I mentioned that we're opening in four days?).

Pastor Jorge stopped just inside the door. He told me and the other friend that he wanted to pray for me and my business. We held hands and he prayed, in Spanish, asking the Lord to bring people and business and to bless the place. I was deeply moved.

Just wanted to share that.

Genealogy check-in — Dinah English

I've been so busy with the book store (opening in a few weeks!) that I haven't spent much time with genealogy or writing. A few weeks ago I wrote two good pages of Joshua's story. (If you're new to this blog, I'm writing a historical novel about my Quaker ancestors in Ireland, to be as factual as possible, like Roots. Joshua is the final generation, the one who emigrates to America, and I've had a hard time imagining his story, which has a lot of genealogical holes in it.)

I tried two other mornings to write, and didn't get down a word. Maybe I need to get back in the habit of writing more often, but that's hard to do when juggling several part-time jobs, physical therapy and church events.

I did have one break-through, not through my own efforts, but from a fellow genealogist. He got my e-mail from a bulletin board (yes, genealogists still use online bulletin boards to find each other) and asked for some information about the English family. He gave me Dinah English's birth year, another piece of the English family puzzle.

Dinah's birth date was strangely missing from all of the Quaker records of Moate, County Westmeath, Ireland. For fictional purposes I had made her the oldest child of Thomas English. I use a lot of educated guesses in my novel; I figured, why would a younger child hide her age? My new informant confirms that she was indeed the oldest child.

I also had a theory in my head that she wouldn't admit to her age not because she was vain, but because she was born "too early"; her parents were only 18 when they got married in England (young by later Quaker standards), and I think it was common among 17th century people to have to get married, if you know what I mean. I didn't include that in the book (yet) because it might not be the case, and I'm not out to dishonor my ancestors, just tell their story. But the theory is possible. Thomas and Ann were married in 1630, and now I know that Dinah was born in 1630.

As a first-generation Quaker and the wife of the village landlord, I think Dinah was embarrassed and hid her birth date to protect her parents' reputation.

A Bookish Weekend

I've really been blessed with friends offering to give me books for my bookshop, especially a few who decided it was time to clean out.

I drove out into the countryside Friday to one friend's house and she gave me stacks of books, old and new. When I saw this one, I told her it wasn't going to be for sale:

Back to Basics has instructions for everything from building an adobe house to tanning hides.







Of course, I like the section on spinning. I don't know if I'll ever have time to learn to spin, but I like the idea of it and I have to stop and watch every spinner I see.

We had a nice visit and she also showed me some of her books that she's keeping — some with family signatures in them, genealogy books and an old family Bible.

Saturday, I went to the High Point Library book sale. Actually, I went twice — in the morning to buy old books and anything that looked special, and again in the afternoon for the bag sale. I was the first in line for the bag sale and I got to chat with an acquaintance as we waited for the happy chaos. The two trips sent me home to the bookshop with nearly a hundred books, total.

I know, collectors would turn up their noses at these ex-library editions, but I'm building a bookstore from scratch and trying to get a good variety. And the prices were good, with large art books priced the same as any other hardback. I recently bought Joyce Godsey's Book Repair for Booksellers. Before the shop opens, I'm going to have to study it and learn how to take off all the extra library stickers to make the books look a little nicer.

I chose mostly nonfiction, because I knew another friend was planning to bring me a lot of fiction Saturday afternoon. But as I was about to check out at the library sale, I quickly scanned the fiction shelves and saw The Peaceable Kingdom by Jan de Hartog. I never expected to see that on the discount shelves! While I'm working on the variety books first, I eventually want to specialize in Quaker books, genealogy and local history. I already have a fine copy of The Peaceable Kingdom in my personal collection, and now I have one to offer at the bookstore, too.

My friend BookishMiss and her mom brought boxes and boxes of books and got a peek at the shop's progress, including the new floor.

Through a weekend of generosity and good deals, I probably added about 300 books to my inventory. Now I just need shelves to put them on...

Building a Bookshop — From the floor up

I spent every week night this past week painting the bookstore. I tried to pick out colors and painted sample splotches on the walls, but I didn't like any of them. I found more paint in the closet and decided to go with the original colors. I had liked the paint scheme that was already there, but there were so many holes in the wall and some bare spots of wallboard that I had to paint the whole thing. I had enough of every color except the brown. I went to Lowe's and had them match the paint — well, it didn't match, exactly, but that'll be my storage area in the back of the building.  ;-)

Friday, the carpet went in. I was glad I didn't have to wait 'til next week (and that's why I worked so hard to get the painting done), because nothing else can go in until there's a floor to put it on. Check it out!

The carpet's not as gray as this picture makes it look. It's actually a Berber with brown and a lot of other colors in it.

Earlier in the week I got phone and internet hooked up. As soon as I take my laptop over and set things up, we'll have wi-fi.

I stand in the store and look around and think, this is getting real. I'm actually going to have a book store!

The Annual Beth-David Book Sale

I've been so busy getting my bookshop ready, plus family and church events, that I haven't written yet about the Beth-David Annual Book Sale. This was the second year I went to the Saturday night event, which includes wine and cheese, as well as a gym full of books! But this year didn't include a snowstorm, so the gym was packed with a lot of other people besides us.

The Beth-David sale has a great variety, but there were only a few items on the "old and rare" table. I came home with just one box and put several things back, thinking I might come back Monday (discount day), but that didn't work out.

I was still excited to be there surrounded by so many books, but I felt different this year, looking at everything through the eyes of a real bookseller. I have to think about resale value, now. But I still have so much to learn.

I don't know if they're worth much, but I picked up these old paperbacks, several with original prices in "cents."

My box included some first editions of popular 1980s fiction and this Book of Trades (I wrote a previous post about another book of trades). I'm not familiar with reprints; this brand new, unread book with bright white pages is a reprint of an old book with lots of illustrations and historical information. 

The book on the right, Liberty and the News, is admittedly not in great condition, but as a sometime journalist, I couldn't resist. And the way a quote is pasted onto the cover is intriguing.



I also couldn't resist a couple of books about books, including this one on Yiddish literature...











... and one about a famous library cat.

I've been wanting to read Dewey — this book is for me!