Warmly Inscribed: The New England Forger and Other Book Tales

by Lawrence Goldstone and Nancy Goldstone

Book Overview

The authors of two previous well-received volumes on book collecting now regale their many fans with fascinating facts and fables about famous libraries and infamous forgers. "The Goldstones, a husband-and-wife book book collecting/writing team, follow two previous memoirs about their occupational adventures with this entertaining offering . . . The Goldstones writes with flair and humor . . . an undemanding and fun read for bibliophiles, whether...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031226268X
• ISBN13: 9780312262686
• Release Date: June 2001
• Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
• Length: 215 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

A Pleasant read

I always enjoy the Goldstones' book travelogues. Perfect for the beach or whenever you need a light and enjoybable read.

Great for book lovers

This pair write tales for bibliophiles, and this is their third book-about-books, featuring every aspect of the bibliouniverse, including: collecting, libraries, book fairs, catalogue and Internet trading, rare book dealers, independent booksellers, readers, and writers. In this volume, we meet Ken Anderson, the `New England Forger' who specialized in Pound, Yeats, and Eliot signed volumes before he was caught; we visit the Library of Congress, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Reading Room of the British Museum, and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale. The two highly likable writers/readers/collectors, sometimes with daughter Emily in tow, warmly open their lives to their readers who, like them, get excited by books and appreciate the connections with people across time and place, with all their idiosyncrasies and passions. The Goldstone's books are not-to-be-missed gems.

A charming book about books and collecting

Authors Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone are also book collectors and, in "Warmly Inscribed," they share their experiences in the used, rare and antiquarian book world. The tales are charming and anecdotal, filled with their love of books, and come across very conversationally, as if you were chatting with them over coffee instead of reading their adventures in a book. Also, it makes that particular world seem less stuffy and very accessible to everyone.Each chapter shares a small bit of the vast world of books and booklore, from the first chapter that deals with the immense colleciton of the Library of Congress (as well as their lovable eight-year-old daughter Emily and a missing teddy bear) to the true story of the New England forger Ken Anderson who created quite a to-do with the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Plus, they give much of the history of books, bookfairs, and even a glimpse into the life of writer Max Beerbohm.This is a wonderful book to read, whether you're into book collecting or not.

The Goldstones are Back!

The third of the Goldstones' collecting books (after Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World and Slightly Chipped*: *Footnotes in Booklore) is just as charming and whimsical--and educational--as the first two. The Goldstones are a delightful couple with a warm writing style that is easy to read and keeps you coming back.Apart from the title of the book, which seems to have no relation to its contents, I have only one complaint: the central story of the New England forger goes on for too long. I was kept interested throughout, but I felt that it could have ended sooner. Other than that, this is a terrific, quick read, and if you are fans of books and collecting you will not be disappointed.

Would be perfect, except...

"Warmly Inscribed" (Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone) is the third book by the Goldstones chronicling their experiences in the world of used and rare books. Just as "Slightly Chipped" was not quite as good as "Used and Rare", so "Warmly Inscribed" is just slightly more off the mark than either of the other two.Which is not to say that it is not good.What I loved most about "Used and Rare" was discovering the book trade along with the Goldstones - from the purchase of the first book (how to get a nice cheap hardcover edition of War and Peace) via falling for the temptation to spend way more that is sensible on a nice Dickens to starting to feel that they are finding their feet in this sometimes confusing trade.In "Slightly Chipped" the focus shifted slightly from the Goldstones own experience to anecdotes of other people's adventures, and what they told us of themselves was more to do with book-signings and related events than with book-hunting along dusty shelves. Though still enjoyable, I could not but feel that part of the fun had gone out of the telling. In "Warmly Inscribed" this shift away from actual book-hunting continues. A major part of the book is taken up with the history of the "New England Forger" - an interesting story, and certainly an instructive one for those of us interested in signed books, but from a secondary source. And a lot of the primary source stories have more to do with viewing books in libraries than with hunting for a copy for oneself.As I said, this doesn't make it a bad book. The Goldstones are writing what is probably the most enjoyable series of books for bibliophiles at the moment. Their style is informal and very personal, and even events that are retold through several people gain a sort of immediacy. Their description of the Library of Congress certainly makes me want to visit the place more thananything else I've read about it.I do miss the bookstore stories, though. There are so relatively few books written about the actual buying and collecting of used and rare books from a personal point of view - there are manuals like "The ABC for Book Collectors", but so few "look what I found!" stories. I wish the next book would return to this viewpoint.(Actually, what I really want to see is a "The Goldstones discover Hay-on-Wye, Wales" - now _that_ would be good!)