Audio Interview with Kenneth Gloss, Proprietor, Brattle Book Shop, Boston, by Nigel Beale.
The Brattle Book Shop was founded in the Cornhill section of Boston in 1825 and has been in the hands of the Gloss Family since 1949. Over the years George and his son Kenneth built this shop into one of the largest in the United States.
Housed in a three-story building in the heart of downtown Boston, The Brattle Book Shop carries an impressive stock of over 250,000 books, maps, prints, postcards and ephemeral items in all subjects. In addition to its general used and out-of-print stock, it also maintains an inventory of antiquarian collectibles, first editions and fine leather bindings.
Photo of Ken Gloss © by Jared Charney
Best known to those outside the greater Boston area as a book appraiser on the Antique Roadshow TV program, Kenneth talks to me here about how to appraise the value of a book, the importance of experience and dealer reputation, reasons why books are appraised, never saying ‘no’ instantly, the misspelling of was and saw in Huckleberry Finn, always checking for signatures, the advantages of owning versus renting, the convenience of on-line buying and how it affects book shops, poorly made dust jackets, ebbs and flows of values as determined by the life cycles of book owners, the Great Gatsby annotated by T. S. Eliot in his own hand, and the danger Google Book Search poses to rare book dealers.
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