Rare Book Monthly
Articles - December - 2002 Issue
Conversing with Mr. Americana: Talking Books With Bill Reese
Bill Reese at recent Boston Book Fair
the floor, giving the impression of controlled chaos) and we start what will turn out to be our very lengthy conversation. A selective paraphrase of this conversation follows. AT stands for this reporter; BR of course stands for Bill Reese. And so we begin.
His Life and Work:
AT: You are one of the most revered Americana dealers in the rare book business and have been for some time. Can you tell our readers how and why you started in the rare books business? Please tell us something of your personal as well as your professional background, if you will.
BR: As a child, I was always interested in American history. As I read books, I came to realize at a young age that there were source books that were not readily available in libraries. I started by looking for these books, especially at the Smith College book sales that the college used to conduct. As a child I was also strongly interested in works by John James Audubon. My dad had a few of them and he also was fascinated by these prints. Somehow between these two interests, I realized at an early age that there was such a thing as antiquarian book and print dealers. I started going to The Old Print Shop in New York City and to Sessler’s in Philadelphia and hanging out there. If there was a turning point for me it was when I was twelve. It was during the Christmas holidays and I didn’t want to get hauled around from department store to department store. Instead my parents took me to Sessler’s and the woman who ran it, Mabel Zahn, told my folks they could leave me there and she’d look after me. This must have been in 1967 or so. Mabel Zahn took out a $55,000 Audubon portfolio and spent an hour going through it sheet by sheet with me.
Another phase of my interest in rare books emerged when I was in college. I went to Yale [where he was an American History major], and the decisive thing was that I thought that the Beinecke Library was the best rare book library in the world. Since there weren’t many undergraduates at that time who showed an interest in rare books, the curators sort of took me under their wings. Through them I then met many leading figures in the rare book world, including Peter Decker and Donald Gallup.
I started visiting Peter Decker in New York City. He had run a shop on 57th Street in New York but was retired then. I learned a tremendous amount from Peter, but at that time was somewhat conflicted: I had gone to school with academic aspirations and the intention of going on to graduate school in American History. But I found myself getting more and more drawn in by the rare book business. I talked often with Peter about getting into the rare book business.
