Brattlecast #225 - The New Hampshire Trip

At the recent Boston Book Fair we were delighted to meet with some brattlecast listeners, who told us they’d like to hear more about day-to-day life at the shop. It’s a great idea, so today we’re kicking off a short series on our average workdays—not the spectacular finds or the times when the building catches fire, but the stories in between. 

We’ll start with an account of a pretty normal book buy that didn’t work out quite the way we would have hoped. It’s something that comes up more and more in the internet age: people with collections to sell will do their own research, see copies of their books languishing online at fantastical prices, and come away with an inflated sense of their value. In these awkward situations, it’s difficult to make a reasonable offer without seeming like you’re lowballing, and sometimes it’s simpler just to walk away (or, in this case, drive three hours back to Boston away). Stay tuned for the rest of our day-in-the-life series, and as always, if you have ideas for future episodes, reach out to info@brattlebookshop.com.

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.

Brattlecast #66 - Surprises Beyond Books

On this episode Ken talks about the broad range of surprises that he’s experienced while book buying, apart from the books themselves. In his line of work, one day you’re drinking from Thomas Jefferson’s coffee service, and the next day you’re fumigating your work truck of fleas. The house that you’re visiting could contain a handful of Turner watercolors, or a roomful of live ammunition. It’s all part of the fun - as long as you don’t get blown up!


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