Excitement builds and work mounts as we move into the final weeks of preparations for the book fair. Last night we attended a board meeting to iron out all the details and gauge “the State of the Union.” I spent most of yesterday calling vendors and trying to find “hooks” with which to snag newspapers willing to run stories about them and their participation in the fair. It used to be much easier to do this, but as I may have mentioned, newspapers are shrinking while demand for space remains high. So far, one is looking like a go and I did an interview with a new shop I’m rather crazy about, so that should be fun and maybe even easy to pitch with a press release. I also landed a feature story about us – which makes me a little uncomfortable because this isn’t about us – but I am the only dealer from Medina and the local paper gave us a green light ONLY if the story featured a bookseller. I’m not writing it – the incomparable Judy Totts is doing those honors. If I could pick any working journalist in the whole state of Ohio to write this it would be Judy. So while I’m a little weird with it, I’m also excited to see what she will do. To understand this you have know that Judy was a former poet laureate of the state of Ohio and has won the Paul Laurence Dunbar Award, as well as many prizes for newspaper features.
You’d think, given all the stuff clamoring for my attention, I’d have the sense to stay home today (and not be blogging), but -- well, you know how that goes. I never seem to know when to say no.This morning we ran over to a small sale we’d avoided for two years and went back to last month. I knew there wasn’t a chance I’d be carrying out bags of awesome books as we once did there, but hope springs eternal. Of course hope met its match in the first five seconds and was roundly KO’d. I bought a couple insignificant titles for the mall (which better pick up soon because the weekend’s storm clobbered our sales) and loaded up probably fifteen nice nautical books for the store. For me it was pretty much a waste of time, but I have only myself to blame for that.
The big thing I need to do today is a chore I loathe and detest – buying needed items for the fair. Why I put this stuff off is beyond comprehension, but there you have it and now it’s like one giant order-fest from multiple vendors. I have to get cellophane bags for the ephemera from U-line; more mylar covers from Brodart and a couple scalpels (I meant SPATULAS! -- good grief!) because I can’t find either of mine and am going nuts without them; Japanese paper from Talas to repair a map I maybe shouldn’t touch, but am going to because I truly think I can do it; a pound of book deodorizer fro m Godsey's so I can bring a wonderful Cleveland ephemera item I got the last time I visited the singing auctioneer; and a musical mechanism from a musical mechanism store which I have to RE-find online because I didn’t have the sense God gave a gnat to stop and place the order when I found it initially.
I know you’re probably wondering why need a musical mechanism. Well, last spring I bought at auction the gorgeous 19th century photograph album featured in the photo at the top. The base is a music box which contains the original mechanism except that it’s been overwound and Eric couldn’t fix it. So what I want to do is get a new one and then package the old one so the buyer can have both. It’s also about half full of photographs, primarily of children – but not the same children. As you can see, there's a piece of ugly tape in the corner of one picture, but that too, will be fixed before the fair. Enjoy the cute pictures of some of the little people below. With any luck they all grew up to be old people.
Meanwhile I'll get down the stack of catalogs, figure out what I need, pick up the phone, and -- FINALLY-- face the music! .
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