The Land of Little Rainby Mary Austin

For 1st time visitors I recently acquired a library - This posting is the first of many concerning it.

My slogan for this blog is "Digging a Little Deeper" and that is one thing I find myself doing as I prepare to list a book for auction on eBay.

Book collectors most often look for books that are in the best condition and closest to a first edition in the genre they collect. If they cannot afford a pristine first edition they may settle for a more handled and used first or second edition.

Sometimes they just buy a book to read it...

So what happens when you find a collectable book that was produced in more than one printing without having 'First Edition' stamped right on it? Just the copyright date and thats it. Nothing about first, second or third printing. Just one date.

I found one such book by Mary Austin. Land Of Little Rain. Dated 1903. A classic book on life and resources in the Owens Valley of California at the turn of the last century. Quite a good read which is why it has been reprinted so many times. I have another copy that is illustrated with Ansel Adams photographs. Much newer than the copy I'm writing about now.

Oftentimes I will list a book like this as "First Edition Assumed, Not Stated"

BUT ("There's always a big BUT" - PeeWee Herman)

My copy has only two colors printed on the cover and while researching it's value I found a "First Edition" with four colors on the front.

- - - HMMMM - - -

So I dug a little deeper - Was their's a "True First Edition" or mine?

I found that there was a second printing a few months after the first using the single date with a few subtle differences. The cover color, position of the words on the half title page & the gathering of the first set of colated pages. - So why is it my copy does not match either the first or second printing? It is like a hybrid.

Could it have been a pre-production copy? Either before or after the actual first or second printing? Perhaps the publisher was looking for ways to cut costs (Two colors on cover as opposed to four) and produced this book as a prototype. I don't know yet but I'm going to "Dig a Little Deeper" to try to find out.

Of course it is important to book collectors that they know what they are buying and it is important to my conscience that I not misrepresent something. Besides, I need to make sure that this copy I have is valued properly so I don't get cheated.

That's the last thing I want...


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Life at home...

Scenario - Husband at computer reseaching on a book he has at hand. Wife comes in followed by The Cat Who Loves Her and they both sit at her computer on the other side of the wall of books. Cat, as usual demands her attention. We talk a bit as she opens up her email program....

Wifeypoo: "Something's wrong."

Me: "What?"

Wifeypoo: "Everything on my screen keeps flashing."

Me: Huh? - (Looks over at flashing email on screen) - "Try moving the sidebar up and...

The cat is sitting on your keyboard."

Wiferypoo: "Oh." - (Moves cat, waits a bit as commands the cat instigated settle down) "No wonder..."

prying1 sez: Sometimes they want commiseration. Other times they need an answer. Lord let me know how to tell the difference.

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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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Where is prying1? He has a new life... Not to mention he has books

OK! It has been a few weeks since I've posted. I've been pretty busy. This is because of work and church and I bought A LIBRARY. Not just a run of the mill Library but one owned by a man that loved books just because they were books. - Just like me...

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- Those of you who know me are used to religious/political postings. That is going to change a bit. I'll still occasionally get my digs in on idiots like Polosi and Harry Reed (and those who vote for them), just not as much. I'll still extol the benefits of meeting and knowing the Living God on a personal level. I'm going to be centering this blog on books. - There are many political blogs out there who are able to cover the issues much better than I. Trust me, I'm not changing my politics. Just the direction of my postings.
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Dion O'Donnol, printer, poet and all around nice guy passed away at the tender age of 95 last February. I was fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time to acquire his library. Since he lived so long and his friends passed before him he had collected the personal libraries of at least two of his friends. So besides the books he collected during his life I now own the books of at least 2 other personal libraries. I'm sure there is more than two but that is all that could be verified by his kids.

This makes a total of 4 Personal Libraries counting my own!

Lotta Books

The boxes above are all filled with books that have been packed for the move.

In the picture above there are three 4 foot books shelves empty. On the left side behind the stack of boxes. - These are (were) two double rows of 12 feet long by 8 feet high of book shelves. - Thats 24 feet! (I worked that one out by myself!) - Behind that are more bookshelves and a wall of boxes of books. To the right is a wall of shelves that extends another 8 feet. - This is just a portion because there are/were more inside Dion's house.

"What?" you ask, "Will you do with so many books?"

"Well!" I answer, "I hope to sell some on eBay and through Amazon. - Plus I'm going to set up my own website where I can list and catalog bunches of them. (Do books come in bunches? - I'll have to research that...)

What I really hope to do is find good homes for them where they will be appreciated.

That is, the books I do not want to keep for my Own Personal Library.

Today I Googled, "setting up your personal library" (with Quotes) and got three hits. - Not one of them addressed my need. So I changed 'your' to 'a', that is, "setting up a personal library" and got nine hits. - Again not one addressed my problem...

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Well. I'll be doing a bit of research and figuring out what rules of engagement will work best for me with the space I have and I'll be blogging on it.

One good thing from this is that I'm going to be cleaning out my garage which is something that I've wanted to do but never 'made time' to do.

This blog will be changing a bit. More of it will be dedicated to books and such as opposed to the political shenanigans of our politicians. For example L.A.'s mayor who is a jerk. Many more issues are covered by others and I'll link to them occasionally. The Dead Sea Scrolls issue for example is covered by Charles Gadda here and here.

I'll be posting on some treasures I've found and giving heads up on what I'll be listing online.

I'll be giving some reviews of books long out of print. Amazing how many poets Google doesn't even register. Some for good reason no doubt. - Included will be some classics and even more little known and forgotten books. - Poetry, History, Novels, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's, Lost and Forgotten Authors, Book Trivia and Book Edition Mysteries. -

I'll try to keep the posts entertaining. - Wish me luck.

- I'll be using the tag "Book" for future postings on BOOKS... -

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Write in Cary Cartter for President in 2008
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- "I'm Thinking of the "O" Word..." -