MWBH Newsletter: September, 2001

Vol. 7, No. 2

Since our last board meeting there have been several developments about which I would like to inform our members:

Chuck Kroon has kindly offered to serve as MWBH Book Fair Chair/Liaison for the fall Chicago MWBH Book Fair. Sue Holbert has accepted our offer to serve as MWBH Book Fair Manager for the fall fair. Chuck, Sue, and Joycelyn have reviewed three locations identified as possible MWBH book fair venues. Unfortunately, none of these sites is large enough for our purposes.

Chris Rohe has been actively involved in pulling together information and people regarding the book thefts suffered at our Chicago area book fairs, and also by Chicago area book shops. He has spoken with the ABAA security person, among others, and is in the process of setting up a meeting with the theft victims and law enforcement personnel in attendance.

Larry Dingman has done an outstanding job again this year with the Minnesota Book Fair. Many thanks for his efforts!

We are in the process of trying to establish specific dates and locations for our Chicago area MWBH book fairs for 2002, 2003, and 2004. Loyola may be able to afford us the same weekend each year (probably the first Sunday in May) for the spring fairs. DePaul is building a new multi-purpose facility (to be completed in 2002) and believes it can accommodate us for the same weekend each year (probably the third Sunday in October) for our fall shows. This would space out our Chicago area fairs to about 6 months apart. Neither of these weekends conflict with any other regional book fairs, nor Mother’s Day, nor holidays, nor graduation, nor sporting events, etc. We hope to be able to pin these down in the near future so we build the stability we need for our fairs, allow us to do better planning and longer range advertising, work to increase attendance, etc. We are excited about these prospects for our future Chicago area events.

Hank Zuchowski
President, Midwest Bookhunters

Have you visited the Midwest Bookhunter’s web site lately? Check it out at www.midwestbookhunters.org. We intend to publish in-depth articles on online bookselling, and explore the various aspects of using the Internet as part of your bookselling business. These will appear on an occasional basis, with the first article coming soon. Look for them under the Members only section. [They have been added there now.]

Bookselling on the Internet has been around for several years, but has changed considerably over that time. Bibliofind disappeared, Ebay constantly adds new fees, Amazon keeps re-arranging their pages, Abe booksAbe books adds new cross-selling programs, and Interloc/Alibris changes their business model every year. Who has time to keep up?

By making these articles available on the web site, the information would be available to every member and will allow for some discussion through the Members Forum. This would add another reason to visit the MWBH web site on a regular basis. Some topics to be discussed include:

• the existing used book web sites,
• auction tips, tricks, cautions, and fraud,
• using e-mail as part of your business.
• electronic payment methods
  

We would like to use these articles as a way to build upon the common knowledge of the members in Midwest Bookhunters, and as a way to share that knowledge. Your real competition is the thousands of dealers listing books on the book web sites, the millions on E-bay, and the amateurs on half.com.

We gladly welcome comments and suggestions. Contact Darlene & Charles Spohrer at autumnleavesbooks@att.net. Thanks.

"WOMEN BUILDING CHICAGO 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary," has recently been released by the University of Indiana Press. The result of ten years of research and writing, this 1088 page path-breaking reference includes individual biographies of more than 400 women. Each entry is followed by a comprehensive bibliography of resources.

Edited by Rima Lunin Schultz, Adele Hast, and a team of scholars, this book is a significant resource in Chicago history and a valuable aid to anyone who collects or sells Chicago books. The project was sponsored by the Chicago Area Women’s History Conference and the Center for Research and Gender at the University of Illinois Chicago campus and was funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Our own Phyllis Tholin is one of the scholars who contributed to this important reference.

The book sells for $75.00 and is available from the Indiana University Press. (www.indiana.edu/~iupress, or 1-800-842-6796)

Some updates and changes have been made at the MWBH web site, http://www.midwestbookhunters.org, and more will be coming soon. We now have a Members Only Forum. It will provide a place where you can discuss matters of interest specifically about Midwest Bookhunters, or about bookselling in general. Instructions for accessing it are located on the Members Only area. To reach the Members Only area go to the Newsletters index page, and follow the links. You will be prompted to enter passwords. For now they are still the same as they have been. They are case sensitive. [If you do not know the passwords, please contact info@midwestbookhunters.org.

If you have any ideas for content or for links which we might post in either the public or private area of the web site, let us know, and the web site committee can review them.

Enclosed in this mailing is a page containing various sizes of membership logos you might use on your business materials if you wish. We hope to have a downloadable version, usable as a web site link, available soon. It will be found in the Members Only area, [when ready.]

The MWBH database for the online Membership Directory has been updated, and should now reflect the same information which is in the current print version of the directory. New members who may have joined (paid dues) since the publication of the directory this spring, have also been added to that online database

Please go to the web site and review your directory listing for accuracy. Be sure, especially, to check your e-mail address, and your web site listing to be certain that they are current, and that the links work. Some of the newer member listings may not yet be in alphabetical order...[that has since been corrected and they should be now.] To search the directory, put your business name or proprietor name into the proper search field, click on the search button toward the bottom of the form, and your entry should appear.

Submit corrections in writing, by e-mail to info@midwestbookhunters.org, or by regular mail to MWBH, 1759 Rosehill Dr., Chicago, IL 60660. Anything on line can be changed, but corrections to the printed booklet will have to wait until the next publication date. If you need additional copies of the Membership Directories to distribute in your open shop, contact me to make arrangements.

Send general questions about MWBH or about the web site to info@midwestbookhunters.org. Or call 773-989-2200.

Joycelyn Merchant
MWBH Coordinator

I want to convey to all of the members of Midwest Bookhunters my most sincere thanks for the generous contribution made by the organization to HospiceCare of Madison in Lee’s name. The local hospice staff and volunteers were such a wonderful source of support for Lee and our family during his illness and I am very grateful that Midwest Bookhunters chose to commemorate Lee with this gift to HospiceCare.

For those who might be interested in what is happening with Knollwood Books, I am selling the business to several different individuals. An amateur astronomer in the Milwaukee area will carry on the name but will sell only astronomy books, mostly through the Internet. The space books have found a good home with a NASA historian who will sell those on the Internet and at Space gatherings in the Houston area. The rest of the books are being sold at my shop at deep discounts, so that I can vacate my building before the end of August. ( I have lost my lease). I will be moving to Wilmington, NC, to be close to a daughter and her growing family.

Lee and I thoroughly enjoyed our nine years as a part of Midwest Bookhunters, thanks to the wonderful members. I will miss you all.

Thanks again for your support and friendship.

Peggy Price

Daniel L. Koehler has written Midwest Bookhunters to let us know that he has purchased Knollwood Books from Peggy Price. The address of the business is W248 S7040 Sugar Maple Drive, Waukesha, WI 53189

Daytime phone is: 262-798-6628; e-mail is books@wi.rr.com. He prefers being contacted by phone or e-mail. Best time to phone is between 9 and 5 weekdays.

Dear Sir or Madam:

Thank you for your gift to the Richard S. Barnes Memorial Fund for the Charles Deering McCormick Library of Special Collections. Your interest in contributing to the fund attests to the impact he had on so many people.

We have been pleased with the response of his family and friends in creating a fund that memorializes him in such a lasting way.

On behalf of the Library I extend my best wishes and, once again, my thanks.</p>

Sincerely,
Harrie M. Hughes
Director
Library Development

Although not listed in the current printed version of the MWBH directory, Brian Burhoe wants his Midwest Bookhunter colleagues to know that his business, The Old Bookseller, is alive and well.

“Apparently everyone thought I had gone out of business,” he writes, when in fact, after he closed the store in Oak Park, IL, he relocated to Frankfort, IL. The business is now located in The Trolley Barn, 11 S. White St., Frankfort, IL 60423. The phone is 815-464-1120. E-mail is JEB811@aol.com. They are open seven days a week. Brian W. Burhoe and Charles J. Shields are partners of the business. Postal correspondence should be sent to: Brian W. Burhoe, 325 E. Nebraska St., Frankfort, L 60423. The correct information for The Old Bookseller is also listed on the MWBH web site.

In a recent move from Oak Park, IL Armchair Books — proprietor, Larry Leonard — has relocated in nearby Forest Park, IL at 7440 Harrison, zip 60130. Armchair Books’ exodus leaves Oak Park almost bereft of open shop used bookstores - Tom O’Brien is rumored to have lost his lease; whether he relocates somewhere else in Oak Park, moves, or becomes internet only, is not known at this juncture.

Other fairly recent relocations include: Autumn Leaves Books to 17813 Chappel Ave, Lansing, IL 60438; Arch Books, to P. O. Box140864, Irving, TX 75014-0864; Dorothy Meyer - Bookseller, to 1112 Towne Ave., Batavia, IL 60510; James M. Babcock, to Dogwood Plaza Annex, Box 6, 605 State Hwy 165, Branson, MO 65616; Terrace Horticultural Books, to 503 Saint Clair Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102-2858.
Check the MWBH web site for the most recent updates.

A Mr. Hugh Bartlett contacted us to report a book stolen from his father’s house in Aurora, Illinois sometime in late May/early June of this year. The short title of the book is "Medicina Statica," the 1712 edition, translated into English by John Quincy. It bears the signatures of Josiah Bartlett, the second signer of the Declaration of Independence, and the date 1761 on the second front free endpaper; and the signature of Ezra Bartlett and the date 1796 on the title page. Any MWBH member being offered the book for sale or having information regarding the book’s whereabouts should contact Hugh at 510-482-2785.

MWBH Board Minutes and Financial Reports will be found in the Members only area.

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