Notable institutional collections of grimoires and other texts include the Cornell University Library, the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic in Boscastle, UK, and The Ritman Library, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam, Holland.

 “A lot of times,” Chidester concludes, “things get lost because they were made outside the conventional way of thinking. It is invaluable to learn why they were discarded; and what they can tell us about the world as it was and is.”

Sirrakos decided to apply for The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair Prize because “everyone said it was a really good starting point.”

 “Everything Guthrie wrote is on horrible paper; it’s fragile and brittle,” Blalack explains. She works to prevent “the overuse of the materials or the misuse of materials.”

Photo: Woody Guthrie

One of the most important lessons imparted by the faculty is that bibliography—the study of a book as an object--is a critical tool in the arsenal of any bookseller. 

As missionaries and settlers colonized Hawaii, however, surfing declined in popularity, mainly owing to Victorian social mores and Western religious attitudes.

He called Brooklyn home long before it was chic to do so.

Rare first edition, Leaves of Grass. Photo courtesy of Whitmore Rare Books