[Rarebooks] FS: IAN JACKSON'S WHIMSICAL CELEBRATIONS OF PETER HOWARD AND SERENDIPITY BOOKS

[Norman Kane]

Ian Jackson first came to my attention as the issuer of some of the most interesting and genuinely intellectual book catalogs in memory (not to mention the occasional and outrageous bargain !) Later when I met him I marveled at the aplomb by which he descended the ladder (from the attic where the books were kept) with one swoosh without his feet ever touching the rungs: physically as well as mentally agile, I thought.  As he absorbed the Serendipity ethos, these remarkable productions were the result. (In a 1999 article in “Artisans and Merchants” Ian is described, rightly, as a “Berkeley antiquarian, wit, and true man-of-letters.”  The article has a fine photo of Peter at work – see  http://sheilanewbery.wordpress.com/category/artisans-merchants/ )

AN ANTIQUARIAN ALMANAC. 1 of 200 numbered copies.  Original wrappers, with flyer, T.L.S., and Inscription, “To Norman with the last notes of the Author”, Sept., ‘96. The letter discusses with much irreverence and cockeyed typography the success of this jeu d’esprit: “Peter sold the booklet for $10 (paid me 5) but, mark of the master-salesman that he is, stuck the 20 flyers that I gave him into 20 copies and sold the lot at $45 (!) apiece ... People were going round the fair getting the subjects to autograph. Widespread demand for further  installments ...”  There is a certain wicked clarity in some of the rhymes: “Louis Weinstein / Just loves to write the dollar sign: / For him it really puts the icing / On pricing” or “What stimulates Jennifer Larson / Even more than a whiff of arson / Is the slow ritual torture / Of a Texas forger.”  The accompanying artwork includes a few original portraits: the one of Eric Korn is particularly good.

A DEN OF BOOK-JACKALS.  Berkeley, 1997. 1 of 250 copies.  Orig. wrappers. This one is alphabetical rather than  calendrical. It begins with “W. Graham Arader / (Bibliography at its nadir) / Lives by a simple rule of thumb: / The parts are always greater than their sum.” (This is illustrated by a Victorian gentleman sitting amid a sea of dismembered books.) Another example: “Jo Ann Reisler, / Children aren’t made out of ‘sugar and spice’ – they’re / Vermin, with filthy little paws: /  And people talk of child-protection laws!” And one more: “Jeffrey Thomas / Signed a pre-nuptial promise / To be out of the house at least from ten to four – / Hence the bookstore.” I should mention the superclever and erudite commentary that accompanies each pillory. 

THE KEY TO SERENDIPITY.VOLUME ONE. HOW TO BUY BOOKS FROM PETER B. HOWARD.   Berkeley, 1999.  Inscribed. Orig. wrappers.  “A few old customers do exist, who have never thought in terms of ‘serendipidous numbers' and yet are able to predict  Mr. Howard’s adjusted prices to within a dollar or so. This is   because they have entered unconsciously chameleonically, and perhaps dangerously, into his personal modes of thought. They have lost something of their individuality. Their doom is to hang about the shop, like dead souls, engaged in futile mechanical banter with the proprietor.”   I look at the caricatures of Peter in this booklet with sad amusement.  

THE KEY TO SERENDIPITY., VOLUME TWO. HOW TO FIND BOOKS IN SPITE OF PETER B. HOWARD. Berkeley, 2000. Orig. wrappers. Laid in is an “Addendum” and a printed letter (signed & inscribed) “I have no fear that this volume will be misunderstood by those who are actually acquainted with Peter Howard and Serendipity Books. They will recognize that he is one of the very few figures in the book-trade about whom such a volume as this could be published. Those who do not know the shop will have a very difficult time imagining it. And if they do not know Peter Howard, they may well feel that they too will someday attract my historical attentions. Any timid recipient of the book may therefore consider this inserted note  to double as a certificate of perpetual immunity.” This is by far the weightier of these tomes in terms of pages, considering in depth and with perplexed good cheer the seemingly quixotic, idiosyncratic arrangement of the books in Serendipity.  

RANJITSINHJI’S 9,000 ELEPHANTS VISIT SERENDIPITY BOOKS.  Berkeley,1996. Illustrated throughout.   (Written for Ian’s 5-year-old son, but not without some appositivity.)

The 5 for $ 250.00 ($ 200.00 to the trade) + $ 5.00 postage

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