A photo inscribed by Harry Houdini is among Brattle Book Shop proprietor Kenneth Gloss’ favorite finds.

By Kenneth Gloss

In all my years in the book business, I have made some pretty interesting trades. However, none of those deals can compare to one memorable swap made by my father – he once bought a baby with a book!

My father used to frequent the used-book bins at the Salvation Army. He’d get there early in the morning scouting for treasures in the bins on the loading dock. One morning, he got lucky. In the bottom of a bin, he found a hand-written diary by a prospector who had journeyed West during the Goldrush days. The man had taken a ship from Boston to Panama, crossed that country on foot and then went up the coast to San Francisco. The diary chronicled every aspect of mining for gold, from the over-priced ten-dollar shovels to the lack of gold available.

At that time, my sister had just been born and my parents didn’t have any health insurance. My father sold the Goldrush diary for $500, paid the hospital bill with his profit and then picked up my mother and newborn sister. A baby for a book – a pretty good trade, if you ask me.

The Hardest to Part With

People often ask me if I have a hard time selling the books that I acquire. Because I am surrounded by books all day, I don’t have any urges to start collecting myself. I also look at this as a business – if I kept every book I liked, it would be impossible to pay the rent, heat, wages, etc. However, I do come across the occasional book that is hard to forget.

Several years ago, I purchased North American Indians by Edward Curtis. I was captivated by the 720 photographs of the Indians, all taken as they were leaving their homelands and being forced into reservations. I took it home for the weekend and my wife and I spent hours, examining it page by page. On Monday morning, I brought it back in to sell. It was a $100,000 book, a little too pricey to keep. For me, it was a pleasure just to have had those hours with that book enjoying it at my own pace, before handing it on to be enjoyed by someone else.

One thing that I did buy for myself was an inscribed photograph of Harry Houdini. I had gone to an estate in Newton to buy a lot of a 1000 books. On the wall, I noticed a photograph, signed by Houdini with the words, “My brain is the key that sets me free.” It took two hours of negotiating before I finally left that house with Houdini’s picture under my arm.

Treasures Everywhere

Sometimes I liken my job to Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island – everyday is an adventure and I never know what I might discover! And that for a book dealer, is the fun part. Hunting for those elusive treasures, whether it’s at a flea market or a book fair, is what makes this business challenging and exciting. Every day brings another opportunity and another deal.

A rare copy of “The Purple Shamrock,” a biography of former Boston Mayor Curley.

One memorable book I came across was a diary by a Union soldier in the Civil War. Handwritten, the journal described life in camp, the battles, the people. One passage told how the soldier had spent part of a day playing baseball. During the game, he got hit by a ball in the leg. “I received more injuries in that game than I have in two years of battle,” he wrote while recuperating.

I enjoy finding handwritten notes and letters because they give a real insight into the people who existed hundreds of years ago. I remember a series of letters written by James Michael Curley, then mayor of Boston, in 1933 to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR had apparently offered Curley the ambassadorship to Poland, which Curley promptly turned down. “With Germany and Russia on either side, you shouldn’t send your worst enemy there,” he wrote.

Years later, when he was in prison for mail fraud, he wrote letters home to his wife. Apparently Curley never forgot the actions of the people at the Capitol. “Many of the four-legged creatures in my cell have more honor than the two-legged creatures in Washington,” he wrote.

One politician that Curley might have enjoyed conversing with was John F. Kennedy. The late President had inscribed a copy of his book Profiles in Courage with a humorous, self-effacing remark: “His courage is far better than his profile.”

Those are the types of finds that bring history to life, making the people on the pages real to all who open the book.

Trying it Yourself

The number one job requirement to be a successful used and rare book dealer is knowledge. You need to study the collectors’ magazines and pay attention at book fairs and nowadays keeping abreast of what’s on the Internet. The annual Antiquarian Book Fair in Boston (held in the fall each year) is a great place to see a variety of books and ephemera, ranging from a few dollars to several thousand dollars. You get exposed to different styles and items, increasing your general knowledge and subsequent buying abilities.

Specializing in one area, usually one that interests you, gives you an edge in buying. If you only deal in books on horticulture, for instance, you will know that field better than anyone else and be able to make more knowledgeable purchases.

Don’t agonize over every purchase, either. The people I know who have been collecting for 10 or 20 years never look back at something they paid too much for. The only regrets they have are the books that they didn’t buy – the ones that got away.

Keep in mind that book dealers are a great source of information. Most of us got into this business because we love it. Consequently, we love to talk “shop” and are glad to share our knowledge. If you ask a book dealer a question, it’s usually not a problem getting an answer. Getting them to stop answering is the difficult part.

Kenneth Gloss is the proprietor of the Brattle Book Shop in Boston – one of America’s largest and oldest continuously operated bookshops. 2014 is the 65th year of Gloss family ownership. Ken has appeared on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow and numerous other media on many occasions. For further information about scheduling a lecture, info about open talks or getting books appraised visit their helpful website at www.brattlebookshop.com. You may call toll-free to 800-447-9595 or visit the shop at 9 West Street in the Downtown Crossing section of Boston.