THE WHOLE WORLD. BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS ON MANY SUBJECTS. CATALOGUE 128.

Austin: The Jenkins Co. Book. Very Good. Soft cover. 1980, 4to, no pagination, about 400pp, contains almost twelve hundred items. Wrps. VG. A very impressive catalogue from the glory days of one of the outstanding Americana booksellers at the time. Before the computer age, many beginning booksellers learned a great deal about their profession by leafing through catalogues such as these. Another bookseller had spent his money buying the items, and now was describing them bibliographically to us, and telling us why they were valuable. It was like being in the book business, but without the risk. To me, there's still something special about sitting in front of one's fireplace on a wintry evening, liquid refreshment at hand, leisurely paging through a great catalogue from years past, remembering the books one has handled over the years, having one's memory jogged as to a certain point here and there, and, of course, wishing there was some way one could own every book in the catalogue..