In 1859 Charles Darwin published one of the most influential, and controversial, books ever written: The Origin of the Species. Twelve years later, his follow up, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he applied his theory of evolution to human reproduction, would prove to be equally shocking and transformative. We’ll take a look at a first edition copy of The Descent of Man, explore some of the questionable ideas it would launch, and trace the evolution of these naturalist classics as they were published in hundreds of different editions from the 1800s to the present day.
Brattlecast #86 - The Boy Soldier
The ROTC was phased out of many high schools and colleges during the Vietnam War, but is making a comeback today, for better or worse. We’ll take a look at the history of this controversial organization by way of a book that predates it: The Boy Soldier, a textbook of infantry tactics for school children, first published in 1863 and available now at the Brattle Book Shop. Plus, we’ll take a look behind the scenes, at this process of determining a price for an extremely rare book like this one, which can be harder to research than other sought after but relatively more common works.
Brattlecast #85 - Brattle on the MTA
Boston’s MBTA—iconic, idiosyncratic, and frequently vexing—features the oldest subway system in the United States, and probably the only one to have inspired a hit folk song about its fare hikes. Today we’ll take a look at MBTA ephemera, a big box of which has just arrived in the shop, and at train-related collecting in general. Collectors seek out antique subway signs, lovely frameable maps, evocative timetables of the vanished bus lines of their youth, and much more. Plus we’ll ask, in a time of looming climate change and increased social unrest around fare evasion, should public transportation be free?
Brattlecast #84 - Facsimiles
Today we’re talking facsimiles: Why the real, original Declaration of Independence doesn’t look like it was printed on crinkly, pirate treasure map-style brown paper! The early work that Edgar Allan Poe hated so much that he tried to destroy, but only succeeded in making the surviving copies all the more monetarily (but not poetically) valuable! The publishing house creating such beautiful facsimile editions of modern literature that people started using them to do dust jacket fraud! The advances in printing technology that have recently made it possible to forge an entire book! And why, sometimes, the hardest thing about spotting a fake is letting its owner down easy.
Brattlecast #83 - New Arrivals
Today we’ll be discussing some exciting new arrivals at the shop, as well as some possible future arrivals on the horizon. There’s an inscription from Henry Thoreau to his sister in an otherwise unremarkable volume of poetry, a first edition of The Journals of Lewis and Clark, with its rare map intact, and (hopefully, maybe!) a first edition of Catcher in the Rye. Ken also recounts some of the small daily pleasures of his working life: the undiminished thrill of handling historical documents, the fun of training new employees and reuniting with former employees from decades past, and the adventure of making an appointment to look at books in a house featuring odors, hoarding, and darkness.