Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore [Paperback]

Lawrence Goldstone (Author), Nancy Goldstone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2000

More than a sequel, Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore is a companion piece for Used and Rare. A delight for the general reader and book collector alike, it details the Goldstones' further explorations into the curious world of book collecting. In Slightly Chipped, they get hooked on the correspondence and couplings of Bloomsbury; they track down Bram Stoker's earliest notes for Dracula; and they are introduced to hyper-moderns. Slightly Chipped is filled with all of the anecdotes and esoterica about the world of book collecting that charmed readers of Used and Rare.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who would have guessed that an innocent search for an inexpensive edition of War and Peace could lead to an all-consuming obsession? Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's romance with rare books arose from just such a search and led them to a world they had never encountered before: the world of antiquarian books. They quickly found themselves infatuated with this quaint and curious world, and scoured the East Coast in search of first editions and rare books. This search, and the curious people they met along the way, is chronicled in their book Used and Rare. Their second book, Slightly Chipped, continues this exploration, taking us on tours of book fairs, libraries, and auctions. No longer the wide-eyed innocents, the Goldstones delve a little deeper into the book world: they explore facets such as fine printing and literary movements, pour over Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula, and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. (Never heard of hypermoderns? They are collectible books recently published. A first edition of Sue Grafton's A Is for Alibi sold for $1,250 in 1998. Better check your shelves.)

Both the avid bibliophile and the casual reader will find things to enjoy in Slightly Chipped. For the collector, the Goldstones' discussion of the Internet's impact on collecting is illuminating, and their look at the hypermodern market is positively eye-opening. Plus, visits to such places as the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia and the Pequot Library in Connecticut will get any bibliophile's salivary glands going. For the casual reader, Slightly Chipped is as warm and engaging as Used and Rare; although the Goldstones have become sophisticated book collectors, there is still plenty of the ingenuous surprise and delight that made Used and Rare such a joy to read. They balance out the serious aspects of book collecting with a liberal peppering of literary anecdotes, ranging from William Morris's tyrannical leadership of the Kelmscott Press to the sexual proclivities of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, keeping the tone light and the pace lively. All this packed into one volume makes Slightly Chipped a rare treat for book lovers of all types. --Perry Atterberry --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Having introduced a friend to the pricey pleasures of book collecting, the GoldstonesAnovelists and book collectors whose bibliomaniacal exploits were first chronicled in Used and Rare (1998)Astumble on a copy of the Virginia Woolf-Lytton Strachey letters and find themselves in a polite standoff: "you take it," say the Goldstones; "no, no, you saw it first," says the friend. Seeing an opening, the acquisitive urge wins out over politesse, and the Goldstones, to their friend's chagrin, find themselves "quickly snatching up the book and putting it in our stack." So goes a typically amusing and self-deprecating anecdote in their second collaborative effort. Less of a how-to than Used and Rare, this book is a trove of tart observations for those in the know. In many chapters, the authors begin with an anecdote about visiting a shop, fair or library. Then, filling in the background of a particularly intriguing volume, they fade into an informative digression on Bloomsbury bedroom hopping or the biography of A.S.W. RosenbachApossibly the century's most important book dealer. They also investigate the wildly high prices for first editions of recent mysteries, skewer the Edgar Awards, cover a Sotheby's auction and explore the workings of book dealers on the Internet, a medium that they contend could lead to the death of book collecting. But they lighten even this doomsaying by introducing, among other offbeat characters, a disgruntled dealer who claims that B&N is stockpiling used books to drive independent used-book dealers out of business. The Goldstones can rest content that they've done their part to keep their venerable pursuit alive.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (May 5, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312263953
• ISBN-13: 978-0312263959
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,628,383 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not quite as good as the previous one...., May 10, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore (Hardcover)

I was so excited to see a new Goldstone book about book collecting out. I loved "Used and Rare" and reread it several times (and I'm not a rereader). While "Slightly Chipped" is quite good, and I would recommend it to book lovers, it doesn't quite have the excitement and thrill of discovery conveyed in "Used and Rare". There are some long digressions (one about Bloomsbury, one about mystery novels, one about the Southeby's auction of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's stuff) and less on the thrill of hunting down books and the excitement of discovering something new. There are also fewer descriptions of the eccentric book dealers (maybe the Goldstones have become wary of offending their booksellers?). It's a good book, an enjoyable book, but I just don't think it's quite as good or enjoyable as "Used and Rare".

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Strike Two, February 8, 2002

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore (Paperback)

"Slightly Chipped", by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone is the second offering on what is supposed to be their continuing exploration of the world of book collecting. However, just as in their first book, "Used And Rare", the topic of books serves to provide these people with a continuous stream of targets for abuse. Please do not take to heart their description of what it is like to collect books nor of what type of people you will likely encounter while doing so.

To give you an idea of how far this book routinely strays from the alleged topic, what follows are direct quotes. The first takes place at a gathering at a library amongst a small group who are present to learn about very rare books. Any one of the volumes could be the subject of an entire book, but books are just a tangent in this brief and shallow memoir. While they do not hesitate to name the person they describe, and also list his occupation, I offer just a fragment out of the respect for privacy they show no concern for. "He was the kind of person whom Hollywood casts as the computer junkie who uses the Internet to lure young women to his apartment for.................." This is what they choose to describe as books from nearly a millennia ago are passed around the table. A book by William Morris is part of the evening's discussion. Mr. Morris produced some of the most prized limited editions of the late 19th Century. Here, that is almost a footnote when compared to his personal life, which rambles on for pages.

These people cannot even visit a bookstore that I know well, without adding this bit of irrelevant mean-spirited commentary on Torrington CT. ".thus providing the grimness and depressedness of Torrington for that much longer". Canton is described as, "hardly a town at all", and they quiz the owner on why he is located in such a difficult location. Our authors have moved to Fairfield CT. since their last book, an area that allows them to name drop the famous and wealthy, one of whom had to change homes because the light at The Yacht Club shone into his bedroom. What any of this has to do with books is beyond me.

Collecting books is a wonderful hobby. Shop owners generally will spend vast amounts of time, sharing their knowledge and love of books. I have been present when booksellers have taken a personal check for several thousand dollars on the final day of a show, from a person they never met, hours before they were to fly across the Atlantic to their shop in England. As a group, book collectors and dealers are wonderful people who share what Author Nicholas Basbanes has called, "A Gentle Madness". The authors do not enjoy this state of mind, rather, like the title of this book what rests upon their shoulders may be slightly chipped, however a large portion remains firmly in place.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars More than slightly chipped. Not worth a footnote., November 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Slightly Chipped: Footnotes in Booklore (Hardcover)

The content of this book has little to do with book collecting and more with attempts at name-dropping. Unfortunately, Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone come off as pretentious and boring. They spend a considerable amount of time discussing what people wear and how much they spend on dinner, but very little time talking about... books. After reading both their books (checked out from the library), I can only conclude that they have learned very little about the book world and they remain book-collector-wannabes.

The entire book is nothing more than an over-inflated magazine article possibly suitable for publication in Reader's Digest or maybe GRIT magazine. It would have been much better if they had actually written more about booklore and books and less about wardrobe and how much money they have or how they might scam a free meal. The book is full of pretense and sadly lacking in interesting content. I hope the Goldstones aren't this annoying in person.