The only place to find them

by Kelly Pickerill

Emily just returned from the Winter Institute book conference in D.C. and brought me a gift from one of the bookstores there: an old Yale Shakespeare copy of The Tempest. The book itself isn’t extremely rare or valuable or anything, but it has character, and best of all, it is small. I had been wanting to read the play again because of the Julie Taymor film that’s coming out soon, and all I had was a complete works that I was not about to put in my bag. I was in the play as a young high schooler — this was me:

I know, we had great costuming for a community theatre, right? Reading the play again brought back many great memories and faces that I hadn’t thought of in a long time.

There’s something about an old book that’s so different from a new — worn in, well worn, but not worn out. The “old books” at Lemuria are what I like to think of as vintage; they’ve been weathering the passage of time, getting better (read: more valuable) as they grow older. The best books at Lemuria are our signed first editions, rare and special books that you can’t find just anywhere, those books that are important because of more than just their content. I love seeking out these unique books. One of my favorite things to do while I’m traveling is to browse independent bookstores, those places, like Lemuria, where you can find first editions and old books.

Books I’ve happened upon at other bookshops:

A 1963 edition of Herman Melville’s Typee, illustrated and in a slipcase, found in a bookstore in Champaign, Illinois

A dustjacketless first edition of Clock Without Hands by Carson McCullers found on my most recent trip to Chicago