Unless you come from the Midwest or from Amherst, Massachusetts., the name Eugene Field may not instantly ring a bell. However, you probably know some of the works of this poet and newspaper columnist best remembered for his sentimental pieces for children and about childhood (although he also translated Horace and wrote an erotic story …
Dr. Rosenbach became famous for selling the best books at the highest prices, but how does one amass a great collection when one doesn’t have the money to play the game? The clever but unscrupulous protagonist of Dr. R’s first book,The Unpublishable Memoirs, has a simple solution: clever cons and sly stealing. The Unpublishable Memoirs …
Most of us are probably familiar with Maya Angelou’s famous autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. But did you know that the title came from a nineteenth-century poem by the African-American poet Paul Laurence Dunbar? It is from his poem “Sympathy,” published in the 1899 collection Lyrics of the Hearthside. Its final verse …
Today marks the 195th anniversary of the sinking of the whaleship Essex, which was famously “stove by a whale” on November 20, 1820. I’m a bit of a maritime history junkie, so I’ve made reference to the story before, but with a major movie about the wreck opening in December, it seemed that it could …
Dr. Rosenbach’s book-dealing prowess not only earned him an extensive clientele, an amazing personal collection, and the chance to publish about his exploits, but his widespread fame also gave him a star turn as the victim in a 1930 murder mystery. The Yorkshire Moorland Mystery (a.k.a The Yorkshire Moorland Murder) by J.S. Fletcher revolves around …