Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2004 Issue
Literature and Filmscripts From<br>The William Reese Company
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Item 47 is the Memoirs of Col. Arial Bragg. Written by Himself. It's a good thing he wrote them. No one else was going to. This 1846 book is probably the only thing standing between its author and total obscurity. Bragg evidently did all right for himself in the Massachusetts shoe industry, and he even added some poems to his biography. However, Bragg had disappeared from history, just as the New England shoe manufacturing industry has disappeared, a victim to "outsourcing" long before that term was invented. However, Joyce Appleby resurrected the forgotten Bragg in her 2000 work "Inheriting the Revolution." It is a book about those who succeeded the American "founding fathers," taken from the biographies of ordinary citizens. One of the ironies she points out is that Bragg was able to be successful living in the freedoms those founders had given him because much of his business came from selling shoes for slaves in the south. You can find a copy of Appleby's book on the major bookselling websites, but Bragg's book is quite rare. $100.
For those with an interest in very conservative politics, item 258 is Alpaca Revisited by H.L. Hunt. Hunt was a wealthy Dallas oilman who used his money to dabble in many other things, particularly right-wing politics. He produced the radio program "Life Line" back when conservative politics and AM radio had little in common. And if his political values were conservative, his lifestyle was not always so. He fathered fourteen children with three women, two of which were his wives (at the same time). A couple of those children would use his wealth in an attempt to control the world's silver in 1980, which would send the price of that metal to astronomical heights before crashing back down, taking much of the Hunt brothers' fortune with it. This book is Hunt's view of Utopia, a view not likely to be shared by everyone. $45.
Another Utopian book is King Gillette's The Human Drift, from 1894. Gillette did more than write about these societies, but attempted to create such a community. He also found time to start the American Safety Razor Company. While his Utopian ideals have generally been forgotten by time, the business, which now carries his name, "Gillette," lives on. The Super Bowl champions play in Gillette Stadium. That's at least a small slice of Utopia for New Englanders. Item 587. $300.
Item 410 is Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, published in 1955. This was a scandalous book then controversial movie about this too young, young lady. Today, it would probably be a movie for the Disney Channel with Lolita as the role model. $3,500.
Item 9 is The Book of Archery, Being the Complete History and Practice of the Art...and an Account of the Existing Toxophilite Societies, by George Agar. This book will be of interest to anyone who knows the meaning of "toxophilite." I'm not one of them. In fact, this word is so obscure that not even the spell check of the enormously powerful Microsoft Corporation recognizes it. They think it's a misspelling. Webster knows better. You might think it has something to do with poisons, but this is a "toxo" not a "toxi" word. Actually, you can easily infer its meaning from the context of this title, that it pertains to archery. Save it in your vocabular quiver ("vocabular" is another word Microsoft doesn't recognize). $400.
The William Reese Company website is located at www.reeseco.com, and their phone number is 203-789-8081.
