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This past Fall I spoke with John Townsend of Town's End Books in Deep River, Connecticut. John is affectionately known to his friends as a computer geek and is an integral member of The Book Seminar held each August in Colorado Springs.
With Christmas approaching I thought this was a good time to introduce this event to our readers in case some of you are looking for a gift to give or receive that is both useful and enjoyable.
The Book Seminar is in its 25th year and is tailored for booksellers, librarians, and collectors of varying degrees of expertise and knowledge. Lectures, discussions, demonstrations, and workshops provide access to traditional methods as well as Internet bookselling. You'll find the curriculum addresses the antiquarian and OP market; Internet selling; the antiquarian book dealer; the used book shop; mail-order selling; the auction market; references for bibliographic description; care and preservation of antiquarian books; pricing and appraisals; collecting and acquiring rare and OP materials for librarians and dealers; compiling catalogs and online descriptions; technology for the book trade; establishing and maintaining a book business; and tax and accounting problems.
The date set for this year's seminar is August 8 - 13, 2004, on the campus of the Colorado College. The tuition is $1095 with a $100 discount for applying before June 1. Price reductions are also offered to repeat attendees and multiple registrations from a single company. This cost includes instructional materials, receptions, and off-site transportation. Dorm rooms are provided for $230 per person and apartment suites are available for $405 per person. Motels and B&B's are plentiful within 1.5 miles of the campus, but you must provide your own transportation.
The faculty includes James Canary, head of Special Collections Conservation at the University of Indiana and proprietor of Cold Mountain Bindery; Michael Ginsberg, former president of the ABAA and owner of Michael Ginsberg Books in Sharon MA; Mary Francis Ciletti who owns Hooked on Books in Colorado Springs; Edwin Glaser another former president of the ABAA and owner of Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books in Napa, CA; Lois Harvey who specializes in bookstore consultation, appraisals, book fairs, and co-owner of West Side Books; Jennifer Larson, a librarian and bookseller who is an associate in Jeffrey H. Marks Rare Books; Jeffrey Marks a practicing attorney and bookseller; John Townsend a bookseller and Internet technology specialist.
According to Jennifer Larson, the Book Seminar is grounded in both traditional methods for researching and describing books as well as use of the Internet. "I think that the seminar can provide some balance to the increasing reliance on the Internet," explaining that sellers need to be able to adequately describe their own materials without relying on work done by others. Reliance on strangers negates any pretense for scholarship and will handicap sales.
But introducing newcomers to traditional methods is only half the task. Larson laments that older booksellers can sometimes be Luddites when it comes to the computer. The seminar is designed to bridge the disparity between the two camps, and that's where John the-computer-geek Townsend comes in.
Townsend has been offering what he calls an "intense course" for the past three years. "I took the course 6 years ago and I thought it was the most valuable course I took." This includes all he took in grad school and while working in the corporate world. "I set a goal to be on the faculty," he laughed. He estimates that his classes are made up of 65 - 75% booksellers, 15 - 20% librarians, and the rest collectors. All have "a pretty strong conversant level in books."
Now, if the seminar seems too rich for a Christmas gift, keep it in mind for a vacation. Not since the gold rush have you been able to head west, enjoy the beautiful terrain, and take away something of everlasting value.
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