Newsletter Was on Undocumented Hemingway Issue Points
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The ABN E WSLETTEA AR VOLUME EIGHTEEN, NUMBER 1 ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS' ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA WINTER 2007 INSIDE: J. Howard Woolmer Reflects on his Life in the Trade ...............................PAGE 3 In Memoriam: Two Suggestions for abaa.org: Betsy Trace Stock Exclusivity and Dealing Betsy Trace, owner of Timothy Trace Booksellers, ABAA member since 1950, died at her home on October 2, 2006. with the Devil(s) Betsy, born Elizabeth Kling on either November 11 or 12, 1914 (Betsy said no by Dan Gregory ABAA itself is in the process of becom- one ever really knew... although if you Recently the ABAA Discuss list was the ing marginalized. In the pre-Internet age didnʼt call her on the 11th and waited forum for a series of questions about the the ABAA and its members held sway until the 12th, sheʼd be terribly upset at future of the ABAAʼs Internet presence, over the U.S. market for antiquarian your having forgotten her birthday!), was and the future of the search engine on bookselling. ABAA members continue born into a world of books, culture, litera- the ABAA website. Reaching a major- to dominate the high end of the market ture and art. Her father was a doctor in ity satisfaction with regard to the ABAA using traditional sales venues such as the Bronx; her mother, Bertha Kling, was website, and the search engine in par- book fairs, catalogs, and direct quotes to a published Yiddish poet. Their home was ticular, has been a perpetual headache for established customers. But for the buy- always filled with Yiddish writers and the association for over a decade. There ing and selling of middle and low-end artists. She grew up in an atmosphere that is no reason to believe this issue will be antiquarian books, sold in great quantity embraced and fostered a knowledge and satisfactorily resolved any time soon, at continued on page 8 love of books and art. least in the eyes of the entire member- A cousin, Joe Kling, owned a book- ship. Part of the problem stems shop in Greenwich Village. He was also from the variables which might a publisher and editor of little magazines. comprise “member satisfac- It was through this connection that Betsy tion” about www.abaa.org. became friends with Julie Man Ray, R.B. Roughly broken down they (Ronnie) Kitaj, and so many other artists would be: site appearance, site and poets. These people were friends functionality, and bottom-line throughout her life. The stories she told sales results. Both appearance of them (some printable, some not!) were and functionality certainly always fascinating. contribute to sales, but they are Betsy was a graduate of Hunter Col- less important to sales than site lege and when she began her life with her traffic and marketing. If mem- husband, Timothy Trace, embarked on a bers want to sell more books long career as an antiquarian book dealer. through the ABAA website, Betsy and Tim loved rare, important and more book buyers have to visit scholarly books, but their natural ac- it. quisitiveness, wonderful taste, and love While the Internet has, on the of beauty led them into dealing in early whole, increased overall sales English and American antiques as well. for those members who use A delighted Bob Fleck accepts a plaque com- Still, they were antiquarian booksell- it as a sales venue, within the memorating his service as ILAB President at the ers first and foremost. They exhibited Presidents' Meeting in New Castle this Fall. on-line bookselling world the continued on page 11 California International Antiquarian Book Fair February 16-18, 2007 ILAB Book Fairs Book lovers and collectors can find the world’s finest stocks of rare and antiquarian books, manuscripts and related materials priced 2007 from a few dollars to hundreds of thousands. The selection avail- able includes early printed books and manuscripts, illustrated books, January 26-28 fine bindings, early American and European literature, modern first Stuttgart, Germany (VDA) editions, children’s books, maps, autographs, ephemera, and anti- Haus des Württemergischen quarian books on history, science, law, architecture, economics, Kunstverein gastronomy, wine and scores of other fields. February 16-18 Hours Friday 3pm-9pm San Francisco, CA (ILAB) Saturday 11am-7pm Concourse Exhibition Center Sunday 11am-5pm March 23 & 24 Location Edinburgh, Scotland (ABA) Concourse Exhibition Center The Ballroom, Assembly 635 Eighth Street (at Brannan) Rooms San Francisco, CA USA April 19-22 Tickets New York, NY (ILAB) Friday: $15 (good for three days) Saturday, Sunday: $10 Park Avenue Armory For more info, visit sfbookfair.com April 26-29 Phone: 415.962.2500 Paris, France (SLAM) Grand Palais This Issue's Contributors June 7-9 London, UK (ABA) Judy Cohen has been a member since 1983. Located in New Paltz, New York, Olympia Exhibition Centre she is the proprietor of J.M. Cohen Rare Books. She specializes in books on Decorative Arts, Fashion, and Design. October 25-27 Amsterdam, The Netherlands Dan Gregory is an Associate Member of the ABAA and works for Between the Covers Rare Books, Inc. in Merchantville, New Jersey. He has served on the (NVvA) Internet Committee on two separate occasions. His most recent contribution to Passenger Terminal the Newsletter was on Undocumented Hemingway Issue Points. November 16-18 Gordon Hollis has been a member of the ABAA since 1984 and was Committee Boston, MA (ILAB) Chair of the 39th California International Antiquarian Book Fair in 2006. He is the proprietor of Golden Legend, Inc. in Beverley Hills, California. Hynes Convention Center J. Howard Woolmer is a long-time member of the ABAA. He is the propri- For a calendar including non-ILAB book fairs, visit www.abaa.org etor of J.H. Woolmer Rare Books in Revere, Pennsylvania, specializing in Irish Literature, Manuscripts & Letters, and Modern First Editions. 2 Chasing the Irish – A Memoir of Sorts by J. Howard Woolmer usual fate of a middle child but my par- way, shortly before the beginning of the I come from a very modest background. ents were very kind and treated us well. second world war in September 1939 my My father, a Londoner from a relatively We were raised during the depression father found employment as a construc- large family, emigrated to Montreal in when work was very scarce; I remember tion superintendent and worked steadily 1908 or thereabouts. He always claimed that one year my fatherʼs entire earnings until his retirement in his late sixties. that heʼd seen Queen Victoria in his amounted to eighty-nine dollars. But my When we were children there was youth which was quite possible I suppose mother had had a good job as a secretary little money for entertainment and my but it might also have been more a wish before her marriage and, hailing from father would often take us three boys for than a reality. He left school at an early Scotland, had learned to save as a young walks on Saturday afternoons and weʼd age to learn a trade, as was the usual path girl. We were also fortunate in that my invariably end up in a shop selling used for the son of a working class family in maternal grandfather had built a two- books. We could browse for long periods those days, and after a long apprentice- storey brick house when he arrived in of time there and it didnʼt cost anything ship became a bricklayer. Bricklaying Montreal that my mother inherited when and occasionally weʼd even buy a book. was one of the more socially respectable her parents died. So we had a place to We knew nothing about first editions, of trades at that time and he never tired of live. We used the upstairs flat as our own course, and had probably never heard the telling us that Winston Churchill counted and rented the one downstairs, although term. My father had a good voice and had bricklaying as one of his hobbies, al- we rarely collected any rent as my mother read to us from an early age, Sherlock though Churchill never had to make his wasnʼt about to evict anyone for the Holmes stories were a favorite, and I sup- living with his hands. My father was also simple reason that they had been unable pose that my love of books owes much a very accomplished amateur artist, paint- to find employment. As a matter of fact I to these early visits and to my fatherʼs ing with oils, and after serving in France remember that all during the depression reading to us. during the first world war, he studied we would have visits from old ladies who In 1945 when I was sixteen years with a well known Canadian artist, John would invariably drop in at dinner time. of age I changed the date on my birth Young Johnstone, rather than using his I remember a Miss Walsh who always certificate so that I would appear to credits for a formal education. I still have wore a heavy green velvet dress and be seventeen and joined the Canadian a lovely painting by Johnstone that the used to write poems and send them to merchant marine, much to the disappoint- artist gave to my father. members of the royal family. It was only ment of my parents. My older brother, My parents had three sons; I was the later that I discovered that my mother had Grant, had joined the Norwegian mer- middle child, the one who had to run all been paying the rent of these old ladies the messages and do all the chores.