Rare Books for Sale!

Hey! I have books for sale! As always, there are books I take in trade which are coming in daily. Check out the store or stop in and say "hi!" if you already have.

I have a rare book called When We Dead Awaken: A Dramatic Epilogue in Three Acts by Henrik Ibsen, copyrighted 1900, published by Herbert S. Stone & Company, Chicago, IL., translated by William Archer. It is a small hardback, aproximately4 1/4" x 7" and is part of The Green Tree Library Series. The owner's name is inscribed in the front cover, but otherwise a Good copy. Beautiful green with gold gilded lettering, top gilted, printed by R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company, Lakeside Press, Chicago, IL. price: $250.00

I have what I consider another little gem, It is called Keep America Singing, "published by the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America, Inc. to preserve the flavor, traditions, and some principal records of progress during the Society's first ten years...in order to encourage further progress and preservation." ( from from page) Dec, 1948. It is an ex-library copy marked "Salvage". There is moderate edgeware bt a very clean, tight copy overall. Price:$25.00


"In the beginning of a change,
the patriot is a scarce and brave man,
hated and scorned.
When his cause succeeds however,
the timid join him,
for then it costs nothing to be a patriot."
-Mark Twain

C'est Moi!!!!

http://drakezeke.com/Podcast/102908%20823.mp3
If you want to hear my interview with Drake and Zeke on 98.1 The Max this morning , you can go to this link and listen. If you have ever been interviewed on the radio, well, you would have been more prepared than I was! This was a first for me and was pretty fun. Everyone was really nice and although I was pretty nervous, I think it went well. Drake and Zeke were really funny and as cool in person as they are on the air. Plus, they got free books out of the deal; is that the real reason they had me on? Hmmmm... I am so glad that they did have me on- the fact that these two Memphis Icons included me in their show really was an honor! Take care, ya'll and have a great day!

P.S. If the aformentioned link doesn't work, you made need to follow these instructions from the DrakeZeke.com website:
"To download, please RIGHT CLICK each audio file and select"save target as" in Internet Explorer, or "Save Link As" in Firefox.The files are named in this manner "month-day-year-time."The most current date will always be at the top left."

P.P.S. To my family and friends, thanks for all the support - I really needed and appreciated it. This is all new territory for me and I am grateful for all the help I can get!



I shut my eyes in order to see.
-Paul Gauguin

Jupiter: Sinful or Not?

Jupiter, not wanting man's life
to be wholly gloomy and grim,
has bestowed far more passion
than reason.
-Desiderius Erasmus

That which is not reasonable is sinful.
-Someone I Remember Not

Crazy busy up here today, having restructed things a bit. My customers now have a comfortable spots in which to sit and I have many books to shelve. I am a little nervous about the radio interview tomorrow, but overall think it will be fun.
Take care, all, and congratulations on moving into the new house, Michael. Call your sister every now and then!!

Clear Your Schedule on Wednesday October 29, 2008 from 8:10 - 8:25 a.m.!!

Drake and Zeke, of 98.1 The Max, have graciously invited me to be a guest on their show on Wednesaday, October 9, 2008 from 8:10 - 8:25. I am so excited - I can't wait! You can listen live at http://www.981themax.com/. Drake and Zeke also have their own webisite at http://drakezeke.com/. If you tune in, you will get to hear me go on and on and on and on and on about the bookstore! What fun!


Wednesday October 29, 2008 8:10- 8:25 a.m.
98.1 The Max (WXMX)
Mornings With Drake and Zeke


A sincere belief that anything is
will make it so.
-William Blake

The mind is its own pace and itself, can make
a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
-John Milton

**Imagination Creates Reality**

Books, books, books, books, books, books, books! My Lord, do I have a lot of books. Let me rephrase that - Holy Crap, there are so many books up here!! People are trading books daily up here and we are overflowing with the written word! Ideas, knowledge, pictures, lessons about life and the best way to live it, political opinions from the left, from the right and some from outer space - these things are at my feet, on my shelves and almost bursting through the front door!! For the love of God, help me to get out from underneath all these! I promise, you won't regret it and remember, if you were to purchase a book and found it boring or just inappropriate for your needs, bring it back and we will do a trade for something better. Also, be sure to let me know if here are things you are looking for- I cannot promise a find, but I can promise a diligent search.

One supreme fact which I have discovered
is that it is not willpower,
but fantasy-imagination which creates.
Imagination is the creative force.
Imagination creates reality.
-Richard Wagner

The Volumes It Did Speak!!

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/oct/18/it-speaks-volumes

So, my last post was Friday, October 17, the day before this wonderful article about the store was in the Commercial Appeal. Mr James Dowd, the reporter who wrote the piece, did such a great job in writing the piece that people came in droves, absolute droves. People kept buying things I have been wondering why I still had, books I knew people would like, which were priced right and were really good books, but which had sat on my shelves for so long. A lot of people know about the store now, which is really amazing. Drake and Zeke, of 98.1 The Max, whom most people are well aware are voracious readers, a fact of which I was totally unaware but am glad to know, have invited me on their show, so more and more readers are finding out about The English Major. It is brilliant, not to say that I am, but the experience of so many people doing business here is awesome. A little mind blowing, but awesome.

I have just gotten back from two days at The Documentary Film Festival in Hot Springs, AR which was also stunning, but it means I have little time for my blogue. More later!

The True University

The true University of these days
is a collection of books.
-Thomas Carlyle

I have this beautiful book called Journeys Through Bookland - A New and Original Plan for Reading Applied to the World's Best Literature for Children by Charles H. Sylvester originally copyrighted in 1909, though this is a first edition printed in 1955. It is $4.50, in great shape, no dj and some of the writers included are Robert Burns, Lord Byron, Edgar Allen Poe and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. As far as reading, writing and arithmetic go, it strikes me that this book would take care of the reading part of a kid's education for the better part of a couple of years. Oh, and it smells good. Though not technically part of the accepted vernacular for describing books, this book smells wonderful!

**** Change of Hours : As I still have my full-time job as a carriage driver ( carriagetoursofmemphis.com ), I have realized that it is necessary for me to close earlier on Friday and Saturdays, so instead of six, I will be closing at five, which, of course, means five-ish.
Hours of Operation:
Tuesdays - Thursdays, Eleven to Six
Fridays and Saturday, Eleven to five
Sundays, Noon - Five

As per usual, I have many new books in the store as the trading part of the book business at the Bookstore is great! Come on by!

Truth, Justice and The American Way

No position in life can be secure,
and no achievement can be permanent
unless built upon truth and justice.
-Napoleon Hill

An aim in life is the fortune worth finding;
And it is not to be found in foriegn lands,
But in the heart itself.
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Every failure will teach you a lesson that you need to learn
if you will keep you eyes and ears open and
be willing to be taught.
Every adversity is usually a blessing in disguise.
Without reverses and temporary defeat,
you would never know the sort of metal of which you are made.
-Napoleon Hill

W.H. Auden

In Brueghel's "Icarus," for instance, how everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the ploughman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure; the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly on.
-W.H. Auden

Books For Sale!

Well, I don't have time to list the books I wanted to in the depth I wanted to, so I thought I would do the brief version. I figure these books don't have to be described as completely as they would if I was selling them online and mailing them. You can come and check them out at the store!!

**King Edward VII and His Court - First Edition, @1930, published by E.P. Dutton and Company Inc.- $15

**The Bedside Book of Famous American Stories - Edited by Angus Burell and Bennett Cerf, @1936, published by Random House, - $10

**Mathematics For Everyman by Egmont Colerus, @1958, Emerson Books, Inc.-$8

**The Greek Treasure by Irving Stone, @1975, Doubleday. This copy is signed by the author and has no dustjacket -$10

**Lieutenant Carey's Luck by Lieutenant Lounsberry, @1899, Street and Smith - $22

**Arms and The Woman by Harold MacGrath, @1899 by Doubleday and S.S. McClure - $10

Lots of Changes at The English Major Bookstore!!
*Tons of New Arrivals
*A paperback section that is alphabatized
*All modern fiction books are alphabatized
*A New Section Tentatively Called Earthen Pleasures (?) - books on hiking ( in many, many places all around the World), on the Earth, on the environment
*I got a haircut!

To my wonderful litle brother, Michael, reading this all the way out there in Denver, tell your adorable zygote to keep on dancing and that Aunt Karin says hi and your wife as well! I love and miss you both - thanks for reading my bahlouge!!

Also, Local Folks, the story on the store is going to be in The Commercial Appeal hopefully within a week, so be looking for me!! (and Fritz!)

I Love Ya'll!!

After my last blog entry, everything else seems like a step down. Everyone told me I had to have pictures of my store , that I just had to have them, and while I am glad to have them and to have posted them, they kind of set the bar pretty high for forthcoming blogs. Y'now, this is my first blog and as such, I don't really know all the unspoken rules of blogging so, for now, I can kind of make up my own. Plus, I don't really think very many people are reading this as no one ever comments and yet I know one or two people are, in fact, reading my bahlog. Having said all that, I don't have much to blahblahblog about, so I thought I might mention some books.

The English Major is opened on Sundays, remember! Before the books, though, I did want to mention that the store has been open just three and a half months and is, therefore, not quite a Fortune 500 company yet. In spite of that highly odd fact, I wanted my customers to know that ya'll are everything I thought you would be. I am enjoying the store and my role in it so much. When this whole thing began, almost a year ago, I had an idea in my head what it would be like to own a used bookstore. It has far surpassed what I thought it might be like - it is awesome! Talking to people who love to read and who read such a variety of things is such a blessing, for lack of a better word. It is awesome. Thanks, everyone, for including me in your literary endeavors!!


Some wonderful books I have:

*Pride's Lions by Morgan Llywelyn ( @ 1996, First Edition, $5)

*Killing Time in Buffalo by Edgar Award -winning Author Deidre S. Laiken. This book is " a story of suspense and the search for self that sets an increasingly mysterious and menacing series of events against the hazy, hypnotic background of America in 1967 - an era when the scent of marijuana smoke pervaded the air and life seemed at once innocent and suddenly strange." (from the front flap) Hmmmm, sounds intriguing. This is also a first edition, @ 1990 and is a whopping $5.

*I have this wonderful book about Isadora Duncan called Isadora Duncan and Her World (@ 1993, first edition) This book is 192 pages with eight pages of color prints in the back. The book is split into three categories Lyrical (1877-1903), Dramatic(1903-1913) and Heroic (1913-1927)and has tons of black and white photographs of her in her life. About Isador from the forward: "Isadora was a wild voluptuary, a true revolutionary. She flouted every tradition. She was the law-giver Mosaic in her endeavor. She tried to enforce a new code of human behavior and was out-spoken as few people have ever been. She alone and unhelped changed the direction of her entire art.... But for on foot of film exists of this great dancing, of our greatest original, and the pictures in this book - many never before made public - are therefore important." -From the foreword by Agnes de Mille.It is a beautiful book and is just $20.



Life is the root, Art is the flower.
-Isadora Duncan