Florida, Boo Bou, Mitch Kaplan, Michael Dirda…
We got a cat. Named her Boo Bou. She was afraid of her own shadow when we got her. Still is. Why Boo Bou and not Boo Boo? Because Caroline is French and I’m English/Canadian.
We wanted to get away over Christmas 2019 ( yes, this is a retrospective) and keep the cat with us. So we decided we’d drive instead of fly down South. Twenty six hours to Florida from Montreal with the cat. That’s twenty six hours Boo Bou spent under the driver’s seat. She didn’t eat, drink, pee, or move the whole time.
Decent view, all things considered
We stopped about half way down, at this conference hotel (Sheraton I think it was) that took animals. I’d arranged for some books to be mailed there. I figure I saved myself at least a hundred bucks doing this. One has to pay north of US$25 to ship one book up to Canada these days. It’s ridiculous when you consider that mailing the same item within the States, over a greater distance, costs $3.99. Canada Post is currently hemorrhaging public money. Consumers are getting shafted. It’s time to merge it with the U.S. Postal Service. But, back to our story.
It seems like everybody I’ve been interested in lately has died young. Robert Glasgow (1875-1922) for instance. He was an extremely impressive Canadian publisher, responsible for producing, among other successful sets of volumes, Canada and its Provinces (1914-17).
Four of Twenty-Three, full-leather.
I recently bought this 23-volume set from Liam McGahern in Ottawa, which, by the way, isn’t just any set. There were several published for different markets (education, library, export). This is the full-leather, no-expense-spared Author’s edition. They’re magnificent. Hand-made paper. Lavish illustrations and photographic reproductions. A joy to hold, admire, and yes, read. A monumental achievement. Ian Wilson calls it ‘the trans-continental railway of Canadian culture.’ Glasgow went on to publish a similar set for the United States with Yale University and was in the process of producing a film version when he died.
E.K. Brown (1905-1951) was one of Canada’s best commentators on Canadian literature. Not surprisingly, he spent most of his career teaching in America. At the hotel I picked up a pristine copy of his GG Award-winning criticism, On Canadian Poetry
- the revised edition printed in October, 1944; plus Letters in Canada 1937, one of a series of annual surveys of Canadian poetry Brown wrote (they appeared in the U of T Quarterly) over the course of ten years starting in 1936; his Matthew Arnold: A Study in Conflict, and a pile of other titles.
The first thing Boo did when we hit the hotel was to run straight under the bed. That evening we visited the hotel bar and I had my first of many Palomas (tequila and grapefruit juice). Next morning we got stuck in traffic rounding D.C. and ate at this disgusting grits and butter-type BBQ place in South Carolina. In Jacksonville we smuggled Boo into the hotel to avoid paying its outrageous animal accommodation fee. Next day we drove the final leg down to Hollywood, Fla. where we’d rented an Airbnb, stopping in to eat along the way at this fine dining establishment.
The place we’d rented smelled like mold and only had one window, looking off the kitchenette. The bathroom was tiny, and the door wouldn’t close. But you know what. I had this
which somehow took the edge off. The beach was close by, and so was the liquor store. So I bought these, adding to my collection. Unbelievably, they were on sale.
My goal was to achieve the kind of relaxed, on-going low-level rum punch buzz one tends to enjoy at Caribbean holiday resorts. This, I’d say, was successfully accomplished.
First day, I dropped Caroline off at the beach and headed for the neighbourhood used bookstore. Had a nice chat with the owner,
bought a biography of Paul Robeson for $5, and a copy of Truman Capote’s short story collection Music for Chameleons, in preparation for this conversation I subsequently had with novelist David Gilmour
Next day it was over a bit farther, quite a few long blocks away - which I must admit I flew along, as I’m wont to do when we rent a car, and I’m alone in it. Must say I was most impressed when I saw that The Old Florida Bookshop had its own labelled parking spots
Quite a surprise to open the door and walk into what really was another world.
The store had a very pleasant, soft-spoken owner
and a great books-on-books section stacked two volumes deep. Here’s
just a
(listen to my conversation with Krista Halverson about the Shakespeare and Company bookstore - conducted at the shop in Paris - here:)
small sampling
of what was on offer.
The other highlight of our Florida trip was my interview with Mitch Kaplan, proprietor of Books & Books, a chain of independent bookshops in Miami.
Mitch is perhaps best known for creating the Miami Book Fair, the largest community book festival in the United States and a model for others across the country. He’s also a books-into-movies producer, notably of The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society.
Last time we were in Coral Gables, where the Books & Books flagship shop is located, there was a little antiquarian bookshop on the adjacent street corner. Of course, this time round, it was no longer there. Mitch and I had scheduled our interview for early evening. We settled at a table in his shop’s inner courtyard restaurant and I began plying him with questions formulated with the aid of famed 18th century bookseller James Lackington’s memoir (yes I own an early edition. In fact it contains a signature of his on page 71. Whether he penned [penciled actually] it is up for debate - very short debate I’d say. Highly unlikely it’s his…but then again).
The interview went well. We had a good rapport right off the bat, which is always a good sign. Good rapport, good interview. I thought at least. You be the judge:
A shared love of books virtually guarantees a good connection. We talked about the keys to successful bookselling, and Mitch’s experience with Guernsey. I spent a year on the island of Sark when I was a kid, so talk of anything to do with the Channel Islands always interests me. After our conversation Mitch treated me to dinner in the courtyard, then I walked the store, admiring its great selection of books
and
As I was walking back to the car I glanced across the street at a cinema. Little Women was playing.
On the way home to Montreal we stopped in Washington where I was fortunate enough to interview Michael Dirda. His column has appeared in the Washington Post for years. His criticism transcends the work of others’, in my opinion, because it so frequently adopts a books on books angle. The breadth of his reading is extraordinary, and his knowledge of books and their contents, profound. As I say, I feel fortunate to have been able to talk with him. Listen here to our conversation:
The morning of, I’d set up a breakfast meeting with my friend Mark Samuels Lasner and his partner Margaret, at Kramers Bookstore. There’s a brasserie-type restaurant in the back. I arrived early, so I decided to circle Dupont Circle until I found Second Story Books.
Too early unfortunately to check out the stacks. Years ago I bought some signed Martin Amis firsts here, from the infamous Comstock collection they were.
I strolled back to Kramers and browsed their progressive section
then made my way through to the the restaurant. We had a good breakfast during which Mark told me about his Kelmscott Chaucer 125th Anniversary project. It’s coming up in June, 2021. I’d interviewed Mark years ago down in Tampa as it turns out, about collecting The Bodley Head. There’s a new interview coming up during which we talk about Mark’s amazing collection of works by the Pre-Raphaelites and their circle, extending through the 1890s. It’s housed at the University of Delaware. I visited it a few years ago. Got a personal tour!
Mark and Michael know each other so, after they’d exchanged pleasantries at the restaurant, Michael and I made our way back to my hotel for our interview. Afterwards we visited a local used bookstore and browsed it for a bit.
I wish we’d been able to spend more time together. This video An American Bookman in England features Michael ‘booking’ with some friends. It’ll give you a sense of what it’s like to hang out with him.
Then it was back to the hotel, and back on up to the frozen North, with Boo Bou. Under the driver’s seat.
