by:
Goldstone, Lawrence
Goldstone, Nancy

Publisher:
Thomas Dunne Books
Published:May 1, 1999
ISBN:0312205872
Format:Hardcover
Pages:213

Description: Amazon.com
Who would have guessed that an innocent search for an inexpensive edition of War and Peace could lead to an all-consuming obsession? Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's romance with rare books arose from just such a search and led them to a world they had never encountered before: the world of antiquarian books. They quickly found themselves infatuated with this quaint and curious world, and scoured the East Coast in search of first editions and rare books. This search, and the curious people they met along the way, is chronicled in their book Used and Rare. Their second book, Slightly Chipped, continues this exploration, taking us on tours of book fairs, libraries, and auctions. No longer the wide-eyed innocents, the Goldstones delve a little deeper into the book world: they explore facets such as fine printing and literary movements, pour over Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula, and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. (Never heard of hypermoderns? They are collectible books recently published. A first edition of Sue Grafton's A Is for Alibi sold for $1,250 in 1998. Better check your shelves.)

Both the avid bibliophile and the casual reader will find things to enjoy in Slightly Chipped. For the collector, the Goldstones' discussion of the Internet's impact on collecting is illuminating, and their look at the hypermodern market is positively eye-opening. Plus, visits to such places as the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia and the Pequot Library in Connecticut will get any bibliophile's salivary glands going. For the casual reader, Slightly Chipped is as warm and engaging as Used and Rare; although the Goldstones have become sophisticated book collectors, there is still plenty of the ingenuous surprise and delight that made Used and Rare such a joy to read. They balance out the serious aspects of book collecting with a liberal peppering of literary anecdotes, ranging from William Morris's tyrannical leadership of the Kelmscott Press to the sexual proclivities of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, keeping the tone light and the pace lively. All this packed into one volume makes Slightly Chipped a rare treat for book lovers of all types. --Perry Atterberry

Product Description:
More than a sequel, Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore is a companion piece for Used and Rare. Slightly Chipped details the warm and witty story of Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone's further explorations into the curious world of books. In Slightly Chipped, the Goldstones get hooked on the writings, correspondence and couplings of the Bloomsbury group; they track down Bram Stoker's earliest notes for Dracula; they put in a bid at a glamorous Sotheby's auction; they try out book collecting on the Internet; and they are introduced to hyper-moderns. Slightly Chipped is filled with the same anecdotes, esoterica and fun facts about the world of book collecting that so charmed readers of Used and Rare. The Goldstones have discovered new places to buy rare tomes and new eccentric personalities along the way, all presented in a style that Kirkus Reviews has called "evocative, compassionate and frequently hilarious."