Books About Bookselling: Under Cover

Under Cover: Death Stalks the Book Dealer, by F. J. Manasek. Norwich, VT: Museum Street Press, 1997.

Twelve tales of the intrigue, murder, and mayhem that infect the rare book world (sounds like the last book show I did), the title page says. Brief passages follow.

The Oxford Club

“I worked hard to build my English cover and gradually became accepted as ‘that rich American bookdealer.’ They never learned whose money it really was.”

The Corner Piece

“Look, asshole, there’s a dead body here. Go fetch the promoter.”

The Deaccessioning of Reiji Sato

“The book fair boredom got worse, festering like some carbuncle twixt the buttocks of the mind.”

The Great Ohio Book Fair

“’Sorry, Lo Ban, but you know that booths are assigned by impartial lottery. You got the single booth behind the men’s room again. It’s a very fair system, Lo Ban.’”

The Unpleasantness at the Amsterdam Book Fair

“Suddenly I noticed it. A faint trace of white powder. Sort of like a light dusting of flour trapped by the nicks and gouges the ages had given to the leather binding. But much more recent.”

Pale Horse

“The only thing I could tell for certain about Reiner was that he didn’t know much about maps. He selected, despite my well-meaning advice, two hideous specimens.”

Back Seat Blues

“The town constable was there within a few minutes; state police a little later. The owner was indeed under the pile of Geographics, his head still had the hatchet stuck in it.”

Fragmented Nobles

“They looked like Gutenbergs to me and a quickly sneaked look through a magnifying glass convinced me they were not from the reprint facsimile edition. At sixty bucks for the pair, the downside risk was about right.”

The Book of Death

“’Look at this, Manasek.’ Lo Ban pointed out one of the back free end pages. ‘Look at this! A list of names! These are the surnames of known witches and sorcerers and warlocks in Germany in 1500!’”

Dead Bookspeak

“Amanda was in Lo Ban’s booth. Maria flew in from Madrid and was one of the ‘sales associates’ in my booth. Veronica was located in Jeff Mancevice’s booth next to mine. Two of our other friends had been planted in booths near the exits. And we were all armed with .25 automatics.”

The Mayan Atlas Mystery

“The dealers there were getting pissed at me and were about to say something snide about the number of candies I was eating. At least they were trying to think of something snide, but they had not wit enough to be snide.”

Snake

“When Snake became slender enough, he would be able to wriggle between the bars separating him from the convict and feed. After eating, Snake could not fit between the bars, and so was imprisoned in the former convict’s room. Meanwhile, if the town had another convicted prisoner, he would be placed in the now-vacant room and maintained until Snake was slender enough to repeat the process, each time alternating cage rooms.”

Shawn Purcell operates Balopticon Books & Ephemera and can be contacted at http://www.balopticon.com.