Houston is a good place to work and to enjoy our great selection of places to eat out. But, this time of year it is so hot as to make even the natives want to get out of town.

So hopefully we will get some cooler weather when we are in Brimfield and Cape Cod.

Posted in Uncategorized

Austin Bookshow was well attended even if some of us new sellers were back in the back.


Rocco like to help me get ready!

Sam Houston and the Eclipse Mare

Eclipse was a famous English thoroughbred racehorse.  After his racing career he was a sought after stud, siring 344 winners. He was named Eclipse because he was foaled during the solar eclipse of April 1, 1764.

This document is an interesting Texas connection. It is a receipt for the sale of a mare said to be in the Eclipse line. Signed with Sam Houston’s bold “I Am Houston” signature. A great display piece.

As a collector I dealt with book dealers of all types. Several of them have been instrumental to my development as a book person, sharing their knowledge and expertise. J. Frank Dobie, who always denied he was a book collector (since he acquired his books to conduct research for his writing, rather than as objects, as it were) captured this idea more eloquently than I can in his essay “The First Bookseller to Enrich My Life.” (about Elijah Leroy Shettles)

Al Lowman, another great Bookman, played on this Dobie essay when writing about Frank’s cousin Dudley in his piece “Remembering Dudley Dobie: The first bookseller to enrich my life and empty my pockets.”  That title alone made me smile. What a satisfying feeling to have empty pockets as a result of getting a bunch of treasured books!

The late, great Ray Walton was the first bookseller with whom I developed a serious relationship.  We met at a book show in Houston when I bought a New Mexico book and took his card. (Remember the huge book shows in Houston, when you needed six hours to see all their booths? )

He had a Dobie pamphlet in his booth that I did not buy, and of course had non-buyers remorse after the show.  So I got really brave and called Ray to arrange to come and see him when I was in Austin. He had spread out for me not only the one Dobie item I was looking for, but a wealth of treasures I had only dreamed of ever seeing.  The start of a beautiful friendship.

One of my favorite authors and personalities is J. Frank Dobie. So I will be posting about him from time to time. Born in 1888 in South Texas he did not always conform to modern politically correct ideas. But for his time he was quite progressive, so much so that he often got into disputes with the conservative powers that ran Texas and UT.

For a number of years he taught a course at the University of Texas called Life and Literature of the Southwest. When other English professors sniffed that there was no literature in the Southwest, he replied that there sure as heck was life.

Dobie is also known for his bibliography of southwestern books Guide to Life and Literature of the Southwest. One thing most of the books Dobie liked had in common was that they were bursting with life. If Dobie recommended a book you can be sure it will be a good read, and not dry and academic.