Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

At one of America's oldest bookshops, there are just as many stories to be told outside the pages as in them. Join bookseller Kenneth Gloss and co-host Jordan Rich as they share entertaining conversations and histories surrounding Boston's favorite spot for bibliophiles.

Listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify

In this episode we’re talking about some recent finds that have a lot to tell us about the rare book business. We got a call about some early Robert Frost editions, which are nice but overall more people are selling items like this than buying them these days. The volumes are signed by the author, which is good but not especially rare: Frost was a generous, gregarious person, happy to sign copies of his books for friends, students, and fans. Along with the signatures he wrote out entire stanzas of poems that would be published in later collections, which is great: we have a winner!

Listen to learn more about the kinds of inscriptions that collectors value most, and, if there’s a podcast topic that you’d find valuable, feel free to reach out to us at info@brattlebookshop.com.

Today we’re discussing recent news about Covid-19’s impact on the Strand bookstore. The New York City institution received an outpouring of support after its owner, Nancy Bass Wyden, took to social media, detailing the 93-year-old store’s dire financial situation and asking the public for help. The Strand’s story has a happy ending, but many others have not been so lucky: according to the American Booksellers Association, more than one independent bookshop has closed for good each week since the start of the pandemic in March. We’ll talk about why this crisis is especially hard on smaller book stores, many of which rely on city foot traffic and in-store events, and have already been weakened by years of competition with online giants like Amazon. While the Brattle isn’t going anywhere, it functions best as part of a thriving community of fellow booksellers, the diminishment of which is a real loss to literary culture and to the fabrics of our cities and towns.