Some of our blog readers, First Editions Club members and those who might be considering joining our club may be confused as to why The One is our choice for First Editions Club July 2012. Now I believe is a good time to share our club’s purpose and to discuss how we make a concentrated and serious effort to do our best work in choosing these books. With our First Editions Club choice our bookstore expresses its individuality. With this choice Lemuria shows its commitment to real books and author visits all for our community of readers.
Our choices for First Editions Club represent what we perceive to be the most outstanding work that we have the opportunity to work on each month. We try to find first novels or books by undiscovered authors, old Lemuria favorites and what we consider to be the best books published. We balance our choices considering our ability to attract the author or publisher to present this book to highlight in our local community.
Since August 1993, with our first selection of Willie Morris’s New York Days, we’ve been committed to excellence.
The other four books that first season were by William Styron, James Dickey, Elmore Leonard and Lawrence Block. This is a hell of a banner to live up to and we have tried to live up to that precedent of quality. Above Left: Willie Morris signing Homecomings with Bill Dunlap.
Our first criteria is a Lemuria bookseller must believe in the importance of the book. Even at times, the bookseller must sell other booksellers on the reason why this choice is important to our community. The choice is not always easy because travel and author tour plans are decided in advance of the release date.
Our second requirement is that the physical author must visit our physical bookstore to sign and read from the physical book. Publishers are always wanting us to pick for you previously signed copies but so far we have held fast. We believe that for Lemuria to choose an author and their book our local community deserves the respect of an appearance by the physical author. By the author reading at Lemuria, the experience of making your reading selection a more human experience. Pictured Left: William Styron signing Sophie’s Choice at Lemuria in the Highland Village location.
Back to James Brown, in January I started reading The One. I went to work to bring R. J. Smith to Jackson for this literary biography. The publisher was unresponsive. Out of the blue, a phone call came from R. J. stating “I’m coming to Lemuria if I have to pay my own way.” Of course the unresponsive publisher had already distributed first editions and later printings were all they had available. So we hustled about and found enough firsts to go to work for R. J.
By our choice of R. J.’s The One you may ask, “I thought this was a literary club?” It is and this is a literary book. The One is built upon extensive research through a literary presentation. Simply, R. J. got it right and shared his work to us his readers. And that is the same criteria we look for in our fiction choices. You can’t ignore quality in any form of presentation. And quality is what our First Editions Club is all about.
One other thing, Lemuria always tries to pick books that will go into later printings. As printings grow, so does the readership demand. As the book becomes successful so does the demand for that signed first edition. Usually more demand and success lead to increased purchase value. I predict The One will be on many best of 2012 lists at year’s end. Pictured Right: Lee King, who worked for James Brown from the age of 17, gives one of the most convincing endorsements for a book I’ve heard in a long time!
My hope is that this blog represents the seriousness in choosing our First Editions Club books. We also want our readers to consider how much James Brown has influenced our contemporary culture. His impact on music is paramount. Brown bridged the gap from the Chitlin’ Circuit to soul music to funk and I believe rap. Smith’s book opens the door to those who think this master musician is a radio relic. The One gives the reader a clearer understanding of how modern music became what it is today.
Zita is shipping out The One this week and in-store pick-ups are ready to go!
If you’re not already a member of our First Editions Club, you can read a little more about it on our website and see the history of the club since 1993. If you have any questions, please call us! 800/601.366.7619
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