There's a Reason for Everything

Charlie Everitt, in his classic book about the trade, Adventures of a Treasure Hunter, (required reading for anyone with a love for old books and American history) claimed that he took a vacation from book selling every year and went off fishing with his wife. He said that while he was on vacation he never thought about books, not even for a moment.

In my younger days as a book dealer I found that hard to believe. I never stopped thinking about books. Family vacations were just excuses for book scouting trips. But as I got older I discovered that it was beneficial to take a break every once in a while.

Last Monday the wife and I headed up to our place in Cape Breton for a short vacation, but of course stopped in Halifax so I could look for books. There are two places I shop regularly, and these guys have often paid for my vacations, and then some. But this time both told me they hadn’t bought much since June when I was last there.

One fellow was leaving town to visit relatives, and the other fellow said, “I haven’t bought a thing in your line since you were last here.”

“Does that mean I’d be wasting my time if I looked around?”

“You could look around, but you wouldn’t see anything except what you saw last time. Why don’t you and your wife just go off and enjoy your vacation?”

I was a little surprised to hear myself replying, “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all.”

So my wife and I got a nice hotel down by the water,

Halifax PM

Had dinner at a Brazilian restaurant, walked around town in the warm evening, and watched TV until we fell asleep. The next morning

Halifax AM

we drove up to Cape Breton, and I spent a wonderful week not thinking about books, just like my idol, Charlie Everitt.


That’s why there’s no blog entry this week.

Next week – “Sleepless in Seattle” and other musings from the Seattle Book Fair where Ten Pound Island Book Co. will have a corner booth. Stop by and say hello!