Today we’re talking about another surprising Brattle find: a fairly nondescript album that turned out to contain photos of prominent 1800s abolitionists. The collection includes small, sepia-toned portraits of Charles Sumner, Phillips Brooks, and even Sojourner Truth. We’ll also discuss other historical photos that have arrived at the shop, and the way that studio photography democratized image-making during the Civil War era, offering life-like portraits for a fraction of the cost of a commissioned painting. It all comes into focus on a flashy new #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #125 - Cemetery Collections
Not many people go to the graveyard to buy books, but not many people are Ken Gloss. He stopped by Boston’s Forest Hills Cemetery the other day to pick up a collection of works by some of the cemetery’s permanent residents: Anne Sexton, E. E. Cummings, Eugene O'Neill, and William Lloyd Garrison. Inspired by Mount. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Forest Hills is a garden cemetery, a lavishly landscaped, park-like setting, built to provide not only a resting place for the dead but a surprisingly pleasant place for the living to bird-watch, stroll, or simply reflect. In addition to its illustrious occupants and sylvan setting, Forest Hills boasts memorial sculptures by Daniel Chester French, Martin Milmore, Thomas Ball, and many others. Join us today as we talk tombs, tomes, books, and bones on a hauntingly interesting #brattlecast.
Brattlecast #89 - Virtual Book Fairs
The Boston Antiquarian Book Fair is going online! Visit www.abaa.org/vbf this Thursday the 12th through Saturday the 14th to browse items from over 150 booksellers (including the Brattle), or to attend one of the six free virtual seminars. We’ll be replenishing our stock throughout the fair so be sure to check back often. Of course we miss seeing our colleagues and customers in person, but we’ll be together again at the Hynes Convention Center someday, and until then we’re happy to answer any questions, book fair or otherwise, at info@brattlebookshop.com.