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Old Books in the Old World: Reminiscences of Book Buying Abroad
This is a charming account of postwar book buying abroad by the "Holmes and Watson" of antiquarian books.
After the war, Americans went abroad for European culture, food and art, but Rostenberg & Stern, the Grand Dames of the antiquarian bookselling world, went to Europe to buy old books. Old Books in the Old World glows with the details of their book-buying trips abroad between 1947 and 1957. Filled with tales of steamships, cobblestone streets and dusty rare bookshops, this illustrated journal draws from original diaries and letters and contemporary recollections.
Full of history and bookish tales, this personal insight into postwar Europe and the antiquarian book-selling scene will be of interest both to the seasoned bibliophile and to the casual reader.
After the war, Americans went abroad for European culture, food and art, but Rostenberg & Stern, the Grand Dames of the antiquarian bookselling world, went to Europe to buy old books. Old Books in the Old World glows with the details of their book-buying trips abroad between 1947 and 1957. Filled with tales of steamships, cobblestone streets and dusty rare bookshops, this illustrated journal draws from original diaries and letters and contemporary recollections.
Full of history and bookish tales, this personal insight into postwar Europe and the antiquarian book-selling scene will be of interest both to the seasoned bibliophile and to the casual reader.
- GenresBooks About Books
Hardcover
First published May 1, 1996
42 people want to read
About the author
Leona Rostenberg
34 books3 followersLeona Rostenberg was born in the Bronx on December 28, 1908, to Dr. Adolph and Louisa D. Rostenberg. Her father was a dermatologist. She met Ms. Stern in 1930 while she was a senior at New York University and Ms. Stern was a freshman at Barnard.
Ms. Stern lent Ms. Rostenberg $1,000 to start her rare-book business and eventually joined her as partner. They lived first in Ms. Rostenberg's family house in the Bronx, and then in Manhattan.
The discovery in 1942 of the works by Alcott, all written before she gained fame as the author of "Little Women," brought a moment of detective-work thrill for Ms. Rostenberg and her partner and forever altered Alcott scholarship.
A past president of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, Ms. Rostenberg wrote numerous books herself: scholarly works on printing history, and memoirs written with Ms. Stern that twinned their love of literary sleuthing with reminiscences of their life together.
Ms. Stern lent Ms. Rostenberg $1,000 to start her rare-book business and eventually joined her as partner. They lived first in Ms. Rostenberg's family house in the Bronx, and then in Manhattan.
The discovery in 1942 of the works by Alcott, all written before she gained fame as the author of "Little Women," brought a moment of detective-work thrill for Ms. Rostenberg and her partner and forever altered Alcott scholarship.
A past president of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, Ms. Rostenberg wrote numerous books herself: scholarly works on printing history, and memoirs written with Ms. Stern that twinned their love of literary sleuthing with reminiscences of their life together.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 25, 2012
When I designed this book it was one of the most challenging interior designs I had ever done. The book consists of journal entries from the authors' travels on book-buying expeditions to Europe interwoven with contemporary reflections on those events. It's a small format hardcover with small illustrations added, but the challenge of maintaining coherence throughout the dual-text streams made the project memorable.
The jacket shows some early experiments in transparency, as I was actively studying Photoshop at the time.
The jacket shows some early experiments in transparency, as I was actively studying Photoshop at the time.
Read
August 4, 2009A fun read in journal style of two dogged lesbians searching for valuable books and incunabuli in Europe just following WWII. Excitable and nearly giggly entries about groovy and awe-inspiring book finds that none of us book collectors will ever find in our own lifetimes (sob).
May 21, 2023
I am an apprentice bookbinder and this was on a pile of books my teacher had left on the work table. I had just finished Annie Tremmel Wilcox' book, and decided that delving into the world of antiquarian book buying might be interesting. Little did I know!
This book begins in 1947 when Leona Rosenberg and her business partner, Madeleine Stern, board the Veendam for England where they experienced post-war London and environs. For each year, the nearly daily journal or letters of each are distilled to give us a synopsis of how they spent the day and what treasures they unearthed. There then follows a "Retrospect," in which they further elucidate the events and the particular books they found. Sometimes they tell where a book landed - as with the Folger, or Harvard, or the Newberry, or a private collector.
Thus it continues through 1957, and their first visits to Paris, Switzerland and Italy, as well. Notably, they steered clear of Germany.
Their descriptions of the booksellers, how they survived the war, and how their community of booksellers drew together to help one another is quite interesting. Unsurprisingly, many of the firms they dealt with were run by Jews, and they do not stint in telling some very hair-raising stories.
Rostenberg and Stern grow old together, but deny being a couple. Rather, as feminists, they seem to follow the kind of deep friendship of other feminists who reject marriage and the limitations it placed on women in their day. Rostenberg was born in 1908 and Stern in 1912. This gives one a clue as to their ages at the time their began the European trips to acquire stock for their business.
The writing is delightful if, like me, you enjoy needing a dictionary from time to time. Their journal entries are breezy and, in many cases, rather irreverent. Their descriptions of themselves as fusspots when it came to post-war London and the miserable food. They "schmoozed and tead" their way along, making names for themselves as intelligent and good to deal with. They built a very sterling reputation, and also very meaningful friendships.
The focus of their book-buying was political history, printing history and feminism that dated from the first printed books through the 17th Century. They grudgingly went into the 18th, but only if it offered something truly extraordinary. I learned, for example, that they happily collected pamphlets because they offered on the ground glimpses into what would have been current events at the time they were printed. In this way, they deepened their understanding of the patchwork quilt that was Europe.
I enjoyed their writing so much that I combed the used book market (of course!) for their other three books about their partnership and business.
While there isn't a lot of discussion about bindings, I suspect they knew a thing or two, and am hoping for more about that in the other books.
Read this. It's just a lot of fun getting a peek into how those trips produced books that wound up all over the United States!
This book begins in 1947 when Leona Rosenberg and her business partner, Madeleine Stern, board the Veendam for England where they experienced post-war London and environs. For each year, the nearly daily journal or letters of each are distilled to give us a synopsis of how they spent the day and what treasures they unearthed. There then follows a "Retrospect," in which they further elucidate the events and the particular books they found. Sometimes they tell where a book landed - as with the Folger, or Harvard, or the Newberry, or a private collector.
Thus it continues through 1957, and their first visits to Paris, Switzerland and Italy, as well. Notably, they steered clear of Germany.
Their descriptions of the booksellers, how they survived the war, and how their community of booksellers drew together to help one another is quite interesting. Unsurprisingly, many of the firms they dealt with were run by Jews, and they do not stint in telling some very hair-raising stories.
Rostenberg and Stern grow old together, but deny being a couple. Rather, as feminists, they seem to follow the kind of deep friendship of other feminists who reject marriage and the limitations it placed on women in their day. Rostenberg was born in 1908 and Stern in 1912. This gives one a clue as to their ages at the time their began the European trips to acquire stock for their business.
The writing is delightful if, like me, you enjoy needing a dictionary from time to time. Their journal entries are breezy and, in many cases, rather irreverent. Their descriptions of themselves as fusspots when it came to post-war London and the miserable food. They "schmoozed and tead" their way along, making names for themselves as intelligent and good to deal with. They built a very sterling reputation, and also very meaningful friendships.
The focus of their book-buying was political history, printing history and feminism that dated from the first printed books through the 17th Century. They grudgingly went into the 18th, but only if it offered something truly extraordinary. I learned, for example, that they happily collected pamphlets because they offered on the ground glimpses into what would have been current events at the time they were printed. In this way, they deepened their understanding of the patchwork quilt that was Europe.
I enjoyed their writing so much that I combed the used book market (of course!) for their other three books about their partnership and business.
While there isn't a lot of discussion about bindings, I suspect they knew a thing or two, and am hoping for more about that in the other books.
Read this. It's just a lot of fun getting a peek into how those trips produced books that wound up all over the United States!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews