About 30 years ago, on my daughter’s 4th birthday my friendship with Barry Moser began in Dallas, Texas. Being a new dad and not wanting to be away from Saramel, I took her to the bookseller market. A cocktail party for Barry was in our hotel, so off we went. The tuxedo clad Moser and Saramel in her yellow dress hit it off, Barry signed Alice prints for Saramel that night and they have hung in her room ever since.

Barry and I maintained our friendship and in a few years he came South for his Wizard of Oz. Barry was all into One Writer’s Beginnings, so we went to visit Eudora for an afternoon beverage of old weller. The result was the illustrated edition of The Robber Bridegroom, which Lemuria opened nationally.

A few years later, after reading Willie Morris’s Baseball Prayer, Barry collaborated with Willie on a book. The result was the special A Prayer for the Opening of the Little League Season. My 11-year-old team was the subject of the illustrations as Barry hung out at the ball fields, taking photos to influence his paintings. Barry gave the original art to Lemuria and it still hangs in OZ-our children’s room.

Through the years Barry has given Lemuria much art that hangs in our store including a self-portrait in a Lemuria t-shirt. Barry also graciously dedicated his children’s book illustrations for Appalachia to Lemuria: A Voice in the Wilderness.

A celebrated Moser event was when his master work The Holy Bible came out. We chose the trade edition for our First Editions Club. The limited edition in two volumes is the most beautiful book we have in our inventory for sale.

So to say that Barry is our pal seems too slight, for he is truly a Lemurian. He loves our store and we all love Barry and his work. Lemuria is excited to have him hanging around and signing books this weekend.

And we must not forget, he absconded one of Lemuria’s pretty booksellers, Emily, to be his wife and became a Yankee bookseller at Odyssey Bookshop in Massachusetts. Emily will be hanging around too, once again selling books for Lemuria.

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Old friends and new ones come to meet and visit with this special couple who love to talk, share and live books as an integral part of their lives.

 

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