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"Book collecting panel set for Friday morning"

By Jack Bales (PF-258)
Convention Host

Last fall I was emailing Carol Nackenoff and Scott Chase about a proposed panel discussion on book collecting for the 2024 convention. In one of his thoughtful emails, Scott proposed the excellent title, “Book Collecting: Then (Before the Internet), Now, and in the Future.” The participants in this event will be Porter Blakemore, Michael Dirda, Keith Thompson, and Peter Walther. It will be moderated by Jeff Looney.

Porter Blakemore is a retired professor of history at the University of Mary Washington. He taught classes in military history, European diplomatic history, the history of Germany, and two seminars, “Nazi Germany” and “The Great War.” Porter took students to Europe on 22 occasions, with 21 of them for his popular class, “European Capitals.” He and I have talked about books and book collecting for many years, and I have seen his extensive library. Besides his fine assortment of classic history volumes, I recall his books by John D. MacDonald (author of the Travis McGee series), C.S. Forester and a rare signed 1948 book by Ansel Adams, with nice dust jacket, which he found for a nominal cost in a used bookstore.

Past Horatio Alger Society President Jeff Looney is editor of The Papers of Thomas Jefferson: Retirement Series. An article in the Washington Post, published in 2013, observes that “from his office down the hill from Monticello, Jefferson’s estate near Charlottesville, Virginia, Looney wrestles with letters full of wit, hypocrisy and humanity. When Looney is done, he wants readers hundreds of years from now to have ‘pretty close to the ultimate took kit’ for understanding Jefferson.” I’ve had several opportunities to view Jeff’s fine collection of series books – many with gorgeous dust jackets. His Ralph Henry Barbour collection is indeed staggering, as are his books by Stephen W. Meader and Percy Keese Fitzhugh.

During one of the conventions I hosted, Keith Thompson showed me some of his early correspondence with Alger book collectors, some of which dated back to the 1950s. He told me recently that he started reading the author’s books when he was about 10 years old, selecting volumes from a box of New York Book Company editions that had belonged to his father’s brother. In 1948, Keith enrolled in the University of California at Davis. He walked into his first book store in San Francisco, where he bought Algers from a shelf of Donohues, Burts, and other editions. “I’ve been collecting ever since,” Keith said, “almost entirely in brick-and-mortar shops.”

Peter Walther is recognized as a leading authority on William T. Adams, who wrote numerous books for boys under the pseudonym of Oliver Optic. Peter was the keynote speaker at the 2014 convention in Annapolis, in which he discussed the working relationship between Alger and Adams. He writes that “classical music has always defined me. As a practicing musician and lover of opera, I have seen and done much in those respective fields. Also literature of course, especially popular literature. I also love mysteries (especially Golden Age mysteries and Historical Whodunnits) as well as the works of James Fenimore Cooper.” He adds that “the first Alger I ever read was Try and Trust, a New York Book Company edition I picked up on August 18, 1962, and probably read it that next week on a family vacation to Maine.”

Michael Dirda is the well-known weekly book columnist for the Washington Post, as well as a contributor to numerous other periodicals. His books include a memoir, five collections of essays, and a volume about Arthur Conan Doyle. In 1993 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for criticism. In one of his recent articles, he writes that “Books don’t just furnish a room. A personal library is a reflection of who you are and who you want to be, of what you value and what you desire, of how much you know and how much more you’d like to know. Digital texts are all well and good, but books on shelves are a presence in your life. As such, they become a part of your day-to-day existence, reminding you, chastising you, calling to you. Plus, book collecting is, hands down, the greatest pastime in the world.”

I couldn't’t agree more, and I’m sure all convention attendees will enjoy this lively panel discussion on Friday morning during “The Fredericksburg Fourth,” in Fredericksburg, Virginia, from Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, May 5, 2024.