It’s the first book ever printed, and still the most commonly printed book in the world: today we’re talking about the Bible. Because there are so many copies out there, older Bibles command a wide range of prices—from nicely bound Victorian volumes with mostly sentimental value to the famous Gutenberg Bible, a single page of which can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. There are also pre-printing press Bibles, worth millions but historically priceless, as well as copies that collectors want because they belonged to famous figures like JFK or Elvis. We’ll even talk about where old Bibles go to retire (because nobody wants to just throw them out).
Brattlecast #175 - The A. Lincoln Story
In today’s episode we’re talking about past appraisal customers who ended up being dramatically, confidently, and sometimes abrasively wrong about their signed books. Anyone can look at an inscribed title page and get excited—you want to believe that your book’s former owner was that A. Lincoln, and not just a Lincoln. This is why booksellers and appraisers have to be cautious, do their research, and consult with colleagues, especially when it comes to big, thrilling items. Occasionally your appraisee’s belief in their impossible inscription will persist in the face of pretty compelling evidence—that the signed book in question was printed decades after the death of United States President Abraham Lincoln, for example—and they’ll storm out or hang up on you, hopefully to seek a second opinion. Learn more about the shop’s least likely finds on this farcical new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #171 - Edward Rowe Snow
In today’s episode we talk about Edward Rowe Snow, friend of the shop, local character, and author of more than 40 books on coastal New England. A natural storyteller, Snow wrote about shipwrecks, ghosts, and pirates in a lively, anecdotal tone that matched his gregarious personality. He signed his works with charming nautical sketches, joking that it was rarer to find an unsigned copy. In addition to his literary accomplishments, he served a long career as “The Flying Santa,” annually hiring a twin-engine plane from which he airdropped bundles of simple Christmas gifts—including Brattle Bookshop books—to isolated lighthouse keepers and their families. Join us for a seasonal #brattlecast on New England legends, and a legacy of giving that continues to this day.
Brattlecast #154 - Golden Leaves of Friendship
Today in the studio we have an 1852 copy of The Oasis: or, Golden Leaves of Friendship, edited by N.L. Ferguson. The Oasis is part of a whole genre of 19th century gift books: illustrated anthologies of poetry, essays, and short fiction with titles like The Keepsake, Forget-Me-Not, and The Book of Beauty. Published annually before the holiday season, they were intended to be given as presents, often with a handwritten inscription from gifter to giftee. Gift books were frequently criticized and parodied—even during the Victorian era—for their hackneyed sentimentality and shallow moralism, and were arguably valued more for their ornamental bindings than their literary content. However, for collectors today, the inscriptions themselves—written by long-dead ordinary people, husband to wife or parent to child—convey a timeless tenderness.
Brattlecast #121 - The Shakespeare Pages
In 2020 a complete copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio sold at auction for almost 10 million dollars, a world-record price for any work of literature. Unfortunately we do not have that First Folio in the studio with us today, but we do have one single, original page from each of the Four Folios; a little Shakespearean variety pack. These pages were collected from defective copies of the Folios and assembled into a leaf book, with an original introductory essay by Edwin Elliott Willoughby. Only 73 of these leaf books were published by the Grabhorn Press in 1935. In this episode we’ll talk about these particular four pages, leaf books in general, and the persistent mysteries surrounding Shakespeare’s life and works.