From Publishers Weekly
The Goldstones, a husband-and-wife book collecting/writing team, follow two previous memoirs about their occupational adventures (Used and Rare, 1997; Slightly Chipped, 1999) with this entertaining offering. The title chapter recounts the saga of John Anderson, a Connecticut book dealer and forger, who inscribed many rare books with false signatures and then sold them to dealers and collectors. He was finally discovered when a copy of Passages from the Letters of John Butler Yeats, with forged signatures of Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats, that he offered for sale was questioned by experts at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Through informed descriptions of the twists and turns this case took, the authors illuminate the conflicts within the world of the Antiquarian Bookseller's Association of America. The Goldstones write with flair and humor, exemplified by an account of a book meeting in Florida where they were invited to speak. On the way, Lawrence's front tooth broke in half, and, unable to find a dentist on Saturday, he glued the piece back on and successfully performed. Included also is a description of a trip they took with their daughter to the Library of Congress, a critical look at selling rare books online and anecdotes about book fairs and bookstores where the Goldstones continue to search for treasure. This is an undemanding and fun read for bibliophiles, whether antiquarian collectors or not. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
The Goldstones (Used and Rare) have written another account of their love of and search for old books, again taking as their clever title a cataloging term used by booksellers. The text moves at a breezy pace, allowing readers to share vicariously the Goldstones' research, purchases, and various jaunts, including a personal tour of the rare books collection at the Library of Congress and a behind-the-scenes look at the Folger Shakespeare Library. After attending an event at the British Museum's Round Library in 1999 (to see if the protagonist of Max Beerbohm's "Enoch Soames" would show up from 1897 to look for his name in the catalog), the authors ponder Beerbohm's life and times and study his papers at Yale's Beinecke Library. Turning more serious, they investigate the ramifications of Kenneth Anderson's forgeries in the late 1990s, which are seen at large book fairs even today. Aside from this entry, the most serious chapter is devoted to what buying and selling online has come to mean to book commerce. An entertaining yet substantial read for young and old alike, though one is left wondering what Mrs. Goldstone reads and purchases (the text is written in a single voice). Highly recommended. Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L. Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The Goldstones, authors of Used and Rare (1997) and Slightly Chipped (1999), are fast becoming the Helene Hanff of the U.S. But unlike Charing Cross Road, the American rare book world is as expansive as the continent itself. Among the many fine essays in this volume, the authors give the reader a magnificent tour of the Library of Congress (where the rotunda surpasses the Capitol's in splendor) and of the Folger Shakespeare Library that serves as the next best thing to visiting there. In the centerpiece of the book, a chapter entitled "The New England Forger," the Goldstones offer a riveting whodunit. This essay chronicles the deceptions of Kenneth Anderson, who inserted forged signatures of such writers as Eliot, Hemingway, and Yeats into old copies of their books, thereby inflating the books' value. The Goldstones write about a rarefied world in an accessible way--a world that, if Nicholson Baker in Double Fold [BKL F 15 01] is to be listened to, could vanish in a generation. Let's hope we get a few more volumes from this team first. Allen Weakland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Book Description
The authors of two previous well-received volumes on book collecting now regale their many fans with fascinating facts and fables about famous libraries and infamous forgers. "The Goldstones, a husband-and-wife book book collecting/writing team, follow two previous memoirs about their occupational adventures with this entertaining offering . . . The Goldstones writes with flair and humor . . . an undemanding and fun read for bibliophiles, whether antiquarian collectors or not."-Publishers Weekly on Warmly Inscribed.
About the Author
Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone live with their daughter in Westport, Connecticut.
Warmly Inscribed: The New England Forger and Other Book Tales FROM OUR EDITORS
Bibliophiles Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone serve up another fascinating account of the world of rare and collectible books, this time offering glimpses of several renowned book collections -- including the Folger Library and the Library of Congress -- and revealing the more sordid side of the book-collecting world with their account of the famous John Anderson forgery scandal.
FROM THE PUBLISHER
The Charming Husband-and-Wife writing team who brought us Used and Rare and Slightly Chipped is back with another delightfully whimsical foray into the world of books and book collecting. This time around. Larry and Nancy Goldstone, accompanied by their wise and witty eight-year-old daughter, Emily, treat their readers to a fabulous personal tour of the Library of Congress ("114,000,000 books, so little time"). They also entertain us with unorthodox behind-the-scenes looks at the Folger Library and the Beinecke, Yale University's Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Forgeries, famous and otherwise; feature largely among the tidbits of arcane booklore that the Goldstones share with their readers this time around. The clever detective work that led to the uncovering of the infamous New England forger is recounted in all its fascinating detail, as is the case of the murderous Mormon. Fans of The Antiques Roadshow will find here an amusing bibliographic counterpart. For example, curious book catalogue offerings include a wall calendar ("The Many Uses of Milk") that Michael Ondaatje used in 1974 to jot down his family's routine appointments. The asking price--$250!
Intended for those readers who already know a lot about books but want to learn more, Warmly Inscribed is the perfect gift for the book lover in your life (who just may turn out to be you).
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
The Goldstones, a husband-and-wife book collecting/writing team, follow two previous memoirs about their occupational adventures (Used and Rare, 1997; Slightly Chipped, 1999) with this entertaining offering. The title chapter recounts the saga of John Anderson, a Connecticut book dealer and forger, who inscribed many rare books with false signatures and then sold them to dealers and collectors. He was finally discovered when a copy of Passages from the Letters of John Butler Yeats, with forged signatures of Ezra Pound and William Butler Yeats, that he offered for sale was questioned by experts at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. Through informed descriptions of the twists and turns this case took, the authors illuminate the conflicts within the world of the Antiquarian Bookseller's Association of America. The Goldstones write with flair and humor, exemplified by an account of a book meeting in Florida where they were invited to speak. On the way, Lawrence's front tooth broke in half, and, unable to find a dentist on Saturday, he glued the piece back on and successfully performed. Included also is a description of a trip they took with their daughter to the Library of Congress, a critical look at selling rare books online and anecdotes about book fairs and bookstores where the Goldstones continue to search for treasure. This is an undemanding and fun read for bibliophiles, whether antiquarian collectors or not. (June) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Library Journal
The Goldstones (Used and Rare) have written another account of their love of and search for old books, again taking as their clever title a cataloging term used by booksellers. The text moves at a breezy pace, allowing readers to share vicariously the Goldstones' research, purchases, and various jaunts, including a personal tour of the rare books collection at the Library of Congress and a behind-the-scenes look at the Folger Shakespeare Library. After attending an event at the British Museum's Round Library in 1999 (to see if the protagonist of Max Beerbohm's "Enoch Soames" would show up from 1897 to look for his name in the catalog), the authors ponder Beerbohm's life and times and study his papers at Yale's Beinecke Library. Turning more serious, they investigate the ramifications of Kenneth Anderson's forgeries in the late 1990s, which are seen at large book fairs even today. Aside from this entry, the most serious chapter is devoted to what buying and selling online has come to mean to book commerce. An entertaining yet substantial read for young and old alike, though one is left wondering what Mrs. Goldstone reads and purchases (the text is written in a single voice). Highly recommended. Joseph Hewgley, Nashville P.L. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Miscellaneous adventures in the book trade, some exciting, most not. The Goldstones, husband-and-wife antiquarian booksellers well known for writing books about books (Slightly Chipped, 1999, etc.), have apparently never experienced a book-related incident that has somehow not made it into the pages of one or another of their memoirs. This collection includes, for instance, anecdotes about a chipped tooth and the wonders of super glue, sparsely attended book signings, the long memory of Southerners when it comes to the Civil War, the perils of buying books online, the contents of Thomas Jefferson's personal library and of the Library of Congress's Rare Books Room, and the notations on highly collectible novelist Michael Ondaatje's 1974 wall calendar. A few of these anecdotes are meaningful and of interest to bibliophiles and literary scholars alike; most, however, are not—especially when they're seasoned with such pabulum as "when your book is rejected, so is a piece of your soul." A sad failure of storytelling comes with their longish account of the strange career of one Ken Anderson, who transformed an autodidact's love for the literary modernists into a briefly thriving career manufacturing and selling the forged autographs of Ernest Hemingway, William Butler Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and Ezra Pound—a story that could have taken wings if written by the likes of Nicholas Basbanes or Alberto Manguel, but falls flat on the page in the Goldstones' hands. The best moments come sporadically, in the form of data that will send collectors scurrying to their libraries to see whether they have a first American edition of Cold Mountain (worth a few hundred dollars) or a first UK edition ofthe inaugural volume in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (worth something like $30,000). That inspiration aside, Warmly Inscribed doesn't amount to much.
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