AbeBooks' Reading Copy

In the latest AbeBooks podcast, we interview bookseller and author Michael Vinson about his new book, which describes the life and misadventures of Texas rare book dealer Johnny Jenkins during the 1970s and 1980s. Surrounded by gambling debts and with the authorities breathing down his neck over two suspicious fires, Jenkins was found dead in […]

Roberto Serrini, an editor and filmmaker, and Peter Boggia, a motorcycle mechanic, are two friends from Queens with a shared love of books and food, particularly authentic Italian cuisine. Inspired by a series of rare cardboard-bound, handwritten cookbooks published in 1976 by a small Italian publisher called Edizone Il Vespro, Roberto and Peter have made […]

Collector, bookseller and activist Lisa Unger Baskin amassed a vast collection of books, printed material and other objects dedicated to showing women in work over the centuries. It features more than 11,000 rare books, and thousands of manuscripts, journals, ephemera, and artifacts, including Virginia Woolf’s writing desk. In 2015, Lisa placed her collection with Duke […]

Floodland by Marcus Sedgwick Marcus Sedgwick’s debut novel from 2000 is bizarrely out-of-print. This fantasy story, aimed at young adults, imagines a future where England is covered by water and the city of Norwich is now an island. Zoe has been left behind and struggles to survive amid the chaos. This piece of environmental fiction […]

An oak tobacco box carved from the wood of the Brontës’ Haworth Church in Yorkshire has sold for $1,500 via AbeBooks.com. From 1820 until 1861, the Reverend Patrick Brontë occupied the parsonage at Haworth. His six children, including the novelists Charlotte, Emily, and Anne, grew up in the shadow of the old church. Although the […]

Michael Ciancone’s day job is working as a NASA engineer. He serves as the safety and mission assurance lead on the European Service Module of the Orion Program, which is designed to take astronauts to the Moon and bring them home again. In his spare time, he collects books about rockets and spaceflight. Michael’s collection […]

Doris Moskowitz is the owner of Moe’s Books in Berkeley, California. With four floors of books, Moe’s has been a bookselling institution since the 1960s when Berkeley was at the heart of America’s free speech movement and the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations. We discuss her father, Moe, who founded the store, her mom, Barbara, cigars, hippies, […]

The Movable Book Society was established in 1993 after a librarian from Rutgers University called Ann R. Montanaro published a book called Pop-up and Movable Books: A Bibliography. The positive feedback convinced Anne that there was enough interest from collectors to found a society about Movable Books. The society is a non-profit organization that provides […]

Fame is foolish and fleeting, and so will the human race go down the tube if we can’t find a way to stop nuclear war, toxic chemicals, and other foolish things. I hope your sons learn, though, that there is joy in struggle – and Who knows? We may yet overcome – Pete Seeger. See […]