It's a documentary on the antiquarian and rare book trade, primarily focused on New York City. In addition, it included conversations with a number of book collectors, including modern collectors, including a woman who is preserving material from the 1990s on Hip-Hop.
The rise, but plateauing, in the percentage of rare book dealers who are women is also discussed, as is the much-predicted demise of books and reading in general. Many of the dealers fit the stereotype of eccentric older white men, but some others do not.
As I watched, I reflected on my personal history of collecting books, mainly in the narrow field of Mennonitica. My day job was in a Mennonite Library and Archives, where I touched many books that I knew I could never own. But I still tried; getting up to over 3,000 books before retirement and downsizing required an adjustment in my sights. But I still recalled the delight of getting a signed copy of a book by a "famous" Mennonite, e.g., Harold Bender, or a surviving book jacket of a Mennonite history I had never seen before, or a signed copy of one of the earliest "Mennonite" novels, "Flamethrowers," by Gorden Friesen.
Anyone who has been a book collector at some point in their life will enjoy this wide-ranging documentary.
The rise, but plateauing, in the percentage of rare book dealers who are women is also discussed, as is the much-predicted demise of books and reading in general. Many of the dealers fit the stereotype of eccentric older white men, but some others do not.
As I watched, I reflected on my personal history of collecting books, mainly in the narrow field of Mennonitica. My day job was in a Mennonite Library and Archives, where I touched many books that I knew I could never own. But I still tried; getting up to over 3,000 books before retirement and downsizing required an adjustment in my sights. But I still recalled the delight of getting a signed copy of a book by a "famous" Mennonite, e.g., Harold Bender, or a surviving book jacket of a Mennonite history I had never seen before, or a signed copy of one of the earliest "Mennonite" novels, "Flamethrowers," by Gorden Friesen.
Anyone who has been a book collector at some point in their life will enjoy this wide-ranging documentary.