Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Out of the Blue -- A Book for a Baby Boy


After yesterday’s E-bay Encounter today is like a warm breeze blowing in off Lake Erie. It’s the ferry ride to Put-in Bay, the boats moored at the dock, the Butterfly House where flying jewels land on Papa’s head and make our little grandson laugh. Today is the kind of day every bookseller needs, a day filled with gratitude, humility, and the joy of doing what you most love to do.

As is the case with most of life’s small pleasures, this one turned up out of the blue (I love that phrase “out of the blue”). It all began with a phone call from a guy wanting to know if I could possibly be the person who’d sold him an Edwardian photograph several years ago. After thirteen years as a bookseller, the odds of me being able to isolate one cabinet photo out of the thousands and thousands of items I’ve shipped are slim to not-a-prayer. But something in the recesses of my brain went “click!” and without hesitation I remembered not only the buyer, but the photo of the little girl in velvet leaning against a tree wearing an enormous hat and clutching a bouquet of flowers. Amazing!

What’s also amazing is that the caller and I connected again as though we had just hung up an hour ago. Part of the reason why I remembered him is the fact that I had TALKED to him, something online selling doesn’t provide nearly enough opportunities to do now that most sites process credit cards for you, instead of allowing you to run your own business and do it for yourself. But we won’t go there today because I am determined to eke every bit of pleasure out of this event I possibly can -- no negativity allowed.

So then. The reason my caller had combed the internet for my phone number is a decidedly new and traditionally un-masculine dilemma. It seems he has been invited to a baby shower and has to produce a favorite book from his childhood as a gift. Like me, he loves vintage, so nothing slick, shiny, and new will do. But there's an additional problem – he didn't grow up with books, so he doesn’t have a favorite. Immediately I thought of The Story of the Sandman, but I wanted to choose the perfect thing for this new little boy-to-be, so I sat down on the floor and paged through books – Wally Piper’s Bumper Book, My Picture Book of Songs, The Red Fairy Book, the wee Cubby Bear books, The Children of Friendly Town, The Cheerful Cherub. But in the end The Story of the Sandman seemed, as the smallest bear’s bed had seemed to Goldilocks – “just right.” So I snapped some pictures of it and sent them along with the promise that if he didn’t like it I would try again.

Zing! Back came an ecstatic response -- he loved it. I love it too and I also love the opportunity to be part of the fun. So I asked if maybe he’d like some vintage gift wrap for it. I have a cache of paper from the 50’s, as well as some wonderful old ribbon( they don’t MAKE ribbon this nice these days) and I even have a blank gift card trimmed out in baby-boy-blue – no charge of course for any of it. I’d be happy to wrap it too, but I can’t because he needs to write an inscription inside. But I can send the pieces-parts in the package and he can wrap it himself, or get someone else to do it. He thought that sounded like a great plan, but there was just one more problem – what do you write as an inscription? That can be tough if you didn’t get books as gifts when you were a child, but it’s a snap to solve. I will compose several, send them along, and he can choose one, copy it into the book, and be good to go. And that is exactly what’s going to happen.

I tell you this small story for several reasons. With internet booksellers multiplying like bunnies these days it’s a rare gift to be remembered this way. It’s also deeply pleasing to me to solve someone's problem, make a fun event special, and connect in a real way with a customer in cyberspace. But there’s another reason I relate it and that’s this – in a Big-Box world the independent bookstore can be like buried treasure. Find the right one and shopping is a pleasure again. BE the right one and wonders happen, seemingly out of the blue.

No comments: