Nabokov's Butterfly: And Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books [Paperback]

Rick Gekoski (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 22, 2006

A first edition of Ulysses sold for $460,000 in auction at Christie's in 2002. The price might have upset the union chief, convicted gangster, and major-league James Joyce book collector Dennis Silverman, who had sold his copy, signed and inscribed by the author, for a mere $135,000 ten years earlier. Great books attract all kinds and come to fascinating destinies of their own, as Nabokov's Butterfly amply demonstrates. Here, noted author and rare book dealer Rick Gekoski — whose vocation led to the BBC radio series titled Rare Books, Rare People, — profiles twenty editions of major books that have passed through his hands and made publishing history, as they have become the legends of rare book collectors. Sued by J. D. Salinger, harassed by Harold Pinter, berated by Ted Hughes who unloaded his personal and passionately inscribed copy of Sylvia Plath's The Colossus, Gekoski is a convivial participant in these histories, including his sale of Mr. Tolkien's college gown. He recalls one day purchasing from Graham Greene his first edition of Lolita, with Nabokov's signature drawing of a butterfly inside, and on the next day he sold it to Elton John's lyricist at a $10,000 profit.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Rick Gekoski became a book runner while working on his PhD in English at Oxford. In the 1980s he left his lectureship at the University of Warwick to become a full-time, full-fledged rare book dealer—a vocation that led to a series of radio programs for the BBC titled Rare Books, Rare People.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1 edition (June 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786716541
• ISBN-13: 978-0786716548
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bibliophile's Delight, April 5, 2005

By 

John D. Cofield - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nabokov's Butterfly: And Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books (Hardcover)

Nabokov's Butterfly is a short but delightful book about some of Rick Gekoski's most memorable moments as a rare book dealer and collector. I particularly enjoyed the segments where Gekoski describes his personal friendships and contacts with some of the authors. I was amazed at some of the prices he has received for some books, and interested to see how authors go in and out of fashion, so that someone no one bothered to collect twenty years ago can suddenly become highly collectable and extremely expensive. (And enormously profitable to those far sighted enough to collect them ahead of time!)

This book is about both the love of book collecting and the art of selling them. While personally I doubt I could ever bear to sell some of the volumes Gekoski deals with if I were lucky enough to have them in my possession, I enjoyed this glimpse into what has obviously been a fascinating career.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not your typical "bookseller-with-stories" book!, October 12, 2004

By 

R. M. Roberts (Springfield, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Nabokov's Butterfly: And Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books (Hardcover)

Rick Gekoski's book is much better than similar titles in the "let me tell you about the great books I've found" genre. Unlike David Meyer's *Memoirs of a Book Snake* or John Baxter's *A Pound of Paper*, which lean toward autobiography, Gekoski focuses primarily on the twenty books at hand. Each chapter details the publishing history of a classic (*Ulysses*, *The Catcher in the Rye*, *Lord of the Flies*, *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, *The Hobbit*, etc.), including the politics, frustrations, and joys involved in bringing a text to life. Gekoski does provide the occasional book hunter's tale, but keeps his eye on the book at hand and restrains from self-promotion. I did not keep the books mentioned above, but will happily place this book on my shelf next to two of my favorites: Robert Wilson's <em>Modern Book Collecting* and Nicholas Basbanes's *Among the Gently Mad*. A fun and educational read!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bibliophiles enjoy..., February 2, 2005

By 

[e-mail] (Toronto, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nabokov's Butterfly: And Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books (Hardcover)

Having just started a course in Rare Books and Manuscripts, I picked up this book on a whim and am happy to report that it is a great read for anyone interested in the goings-on of book dealers and collectors. This book is especially for anyone who takes interest in contemporary authors (the accounts of J.D. Salinger, Graham Greene, Salman Rushdie etc., are fascinating!). It's a book for people who are interested in the details of the book as an object itself -what makes an edition unique or valuable-, and might interest anyone who thinks they may have some old, valuable books sitting around in their basements. Gegoski is a skilled storyteller, it's one of the fastest reads I've done in a long time. I'd definitely read a second volume if he has any more stories to share in the future...