On August 24, 1869, an unsigned editorial appeared in the Buffalo Express. Written by none other than Mark Twain, the short piece defended Harriet Beecher Stowe, who had recently published a scandalous exposé on George Gordon, Lord Byron. Twain defended Stowe not once, but seven times, illustrating his intense interest in Stowe's literary career.
"I would never have been a novelist without working as a psychologist...it was a great education in human nature." -Jonathan Kellerman
How does a bookseller become a decorated general in the United States Army? General John Ellis Wool did exactly that, distinguishing himself in three consecutive wars: the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War, and the American Civil War. By the time he began service in the Civil War, General Wool was already 77 years old.
On July 26, 1942, legendary author William Faulkner started a five-month stint as a screenwriter for Warner Brothers. By this time Faulkner had already made a name for himself as a prominent literary figure, thanks to The Sound and the Fury (1929), Light in August (1932), and Absalom, Absalom! (1936). But Faulkner had yet to attain any financial stability from his writing, so he turned to screenwriting to generate additional income. He penned two screenplays: To Have and Have Not (based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway); and The Big Sleep (based on the eponymous Raymond Chandler novel). Both movies starred Humphrey Bogart and met with critical acclaim.
Born on July 21, 1899, Ernest Hemingway distinguished himself as a journalist and fiction writer. A winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize, he's considered a legendary author of the twentieth century. Also known as "Papa," Hemingway earned a reputation as a "man's man." He loved hunting, drinking, and women. But there's much more to Hemingway than you might think!
Canadian author Alice Munro, born July 10, 1931, won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature as "master of the contemporary short story." Indeed, she is widely acclaimed for transforming the way short stories are written today.
On March 4, 1681, William Penn was granted a large swath of land southwest of New Jersey. He named it "Sylvania," (Latin for "woods"), and King Charles renamed it Pennsylvania in honor of Penn's father. Within three years, Pennsylvania had its first printing press. The first American publication may have been printed in Massachusetts in 1639, but Philadelphia soon emerged as a major publishing center. By the time the Liberty Bell rang on July 8, 1776, the city was already a bustling center of both politics and printing.
The short answer not only is yes, you can. It is, yes you should. Of course you've also heard that condition is everything, so how can you maintain your book's condition and still enjoy reading it? Both should be achievable objectives.
Even if you're brand new to the world of antiquarian books, you've undoubtedly noticed that first editions are the trade's gold standard. Indeed, first editions often fetch much higher prices than later editions, even if the books seem exactly the same to the untrained collector. But as you build your rare book collection, you can't afford not to collect first editions.
On June 10, 1936, Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind was published. The novel vaunted Mitchell to celebrity status, especially after it was adapted for the silver screen in 1939. Mitchell is now one of the most famous authors of Southern literature, a popular focus for collectors fascinated with the history and culture of the region. Though Mitchell was hardly a prolific author, she's in the company of many illustrious figures who often figure into Southern literature collections or are the focus of single-author collections.
