Books: A Memoir
The moral among antiquarian booksellers, according to Larry McMurtry鈥檚 new Books: A Memoir, is that you can鈥檛 know everything. Pricing errors are bound to happen, like the day McMurtry bought a book for $250, sold it the next day for $750, and then watched it sell a few months later for $8,000. The book turned out to be a rare, censored edition that had passed through the libraries of two important collectors 鈥� a Russian prince and a 鈥渃reepy Parisian鈥� 鈥� and contained the unusual photographic bookplate of the latter.
Such tales fill McMurtry鈥檚 50 years as a book dealer. He鈥檚 handled hundreds of thousands of books yet recalls even the tiniest details.
After growing up in a 鈥渂ookless鈥� house in Texas, McMurtry began writing, then buying and selling books. The book trade has long been his central passion and his own library now contains 28,000 volumes of books he鈥檚 still reading.
In this memoir he recounts the thrill of finding, buying, researching, selling, and sometimes just holding many of these books. He keeps tabs on the 鈥渟ilent migration鈥� of books, and brings to life the dealers and buyers who鈥檝e owned them. One dealer insisted buyers view his collection through binoculars. Another kept his best books hidden in paper bags in dark corners and would unscrew light bulbs to discourage casual browsers. When McMurtry acquired the shop he immediately screwed in lights and uncovered valuable tomes.
McMurtry and his partner, Marcia Carter, opened a bookshop in Washington, D.C., in the 1970s,. Eventually they moved to Houston and finally settled 鈥� along with their current stock of 300,000 books 鈥� in McMurtry鈥檚 hometown, Archer City, Texas. They鈥檙e still buying and selling.
It鈥檚 hard to imagine McMurtry having time for another pursuit; he鈥檚 written 28 novels (鈥淟onesome Dove,鈥� 鈥淭erms of Endearment鈥�), and 30 screenplays (including 鈥�Brokeback Mountain.鈥�) He still writes 10 pages a day, 鈥渋gnoring holidays and weekends,鈥� yet considers himself a book man first, writer second.
He has no plans to retire. 鈥淭he things there are to know about a given book,鈥� he writes, 鈥渁bsorb the attention of the best dealers for a lifetime.鈥�
Elizabeth Brown is a freelance writer in Hillsborough, N.C.
