Most recently, we received a visit from our local public television, WNIT, and their awesome program Outdoor Elements. Host Evie Kirkwood, who also serves as the director of our county park system, brought a film crew to tape a segment for the program which will air in Feburary 2009.

We walked our distribution center for about an hour, exploring all of the ways in which our little company in the corn fields has really embraced its sustainbility focused mission. From waste recycling to our co-op garden to our committment to reuse just about everything that we come in contact with (including our shelving and furniture), there was plenty into which to sink our teeth. I’m actually curious to see what will air during the short, 10-minute segment, given that we must have filmed more than 45 minutes worth! I’ll be sure to update you when the segment is available.

1. We ♥ Books. Respect the book. Read often and help others to do the same.
2. Flabbergast our Customers. Seek out opportunities to make a difference with value, service, and selection.
3. Invest well. Waste not. Choose wisely; consider the return on your efforts and the impact in your actions. Reuse, reuse, reuse… Then reduce and recycle.
4. Lead the movement. Take a stand; share your enthusiasm and build momentum through human connections.
5. Speak through action. Put your ideas to work; play to win but never fear failure.
6. Be passionate. Wear your heart on your sleeve; stand up for what your believe.
7. Pursue growth through learning. Challenge yourself; make a point to try new things.
8. Be genuine. Keep it real; be honest with others and true to your quirktastic self.
9. Embrace change. Adapt to circumstances; help others find ways to succeed in our evolving world.
10. Respect our team. Be humble; welcome diversity and recognize that shared success is the only kind that matters.

To get things started, the Antiquarian, Rare, and Collectible Books Team performed an original composition by cataloguer Carol Devorkin entitled “I Am ARC”…

a story told from the perspective of the many books we are privileged to handle each and every day. I thought that I’d share it with the extended BWB Family and invite you to join us in ♥ing books.

I Am ARC

Come…

Walk my aisles

See what I am.

I was born 100, 200, even 300 years ago.

From lands near, and lands far away.

I came from Paris, London, and Berlin…

I came from the East and the West.

New York, Chicago, San Francisco.

The North and the South,

The Arctic and the tropics.

Craftsmen shaped me

With hand made papers and stitched bindings.

I am robed in cloth and leather.

I may be tattered and torn

But I am true to my word.

Other hands have held me

Touching my every page

Other eyes have read my every word.

Presently, I am here

Waiting for the time to tell my story again.

I have seen crusades and coronations,

And I have known heroes and fools.

Wonder and awe, good, and evil.

I’ve traveled by boat, train, and plane.

A horse took me through the Grand Canyon

Rocket ships took me to the moon and the stars

I’ve roamed the earth where dinosaurs and Neanderthals lives,

And I have theories on evolution, science, and space.

I know where Moses, Jesus, and Buddha walked

And what they said.

I’ve traveled through deserts, sailed the oceans.

Climbed Mount Everest, crossed the mighty Mississippi.

I’ve survived the Great Chicago Fire and the sinking of the Titanic.

I came to America on a slave ship

Lived on a plantation, and had a master.

Or, I was the master.

I fought with Union Blue and Confederate Grey

I was there when Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address

And when he was shot.

I stood at the Alamo.

I watched the Indians walk the Trail of Tears.

I came to Ellis Island

To begin a new life

To escape the Holocaust.

I Rushed for Gold and suffered the Great Depression.

I built the railroad and the Brooklyn Bridge.

I am a letter from the Birmingham jail.

I am Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks.

I went to war-

In Europe, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf.

Call me Pancho Villa, Che Guevara, Teddy Roosevelt.

Call me Mr. President, Madame Curie, or Albert Einstein.

Mozart, Beethoven.

Shelley or Poe.

I am good people, and I am bad,

I have saved lives, taken lives.

You will love me or hate me

But you will know who I am and what I stand for.

I am Mother Nature.

Let me show you my creations.

Bears and lions, puppies and ducks.

Trees, flowers, rocks and soils.

I guide Doctors and lawyers, showing them what I have learned.

I have met people famous and infamous

Been places few have seen.

I build cars and rockets, fuels, and fabrics.

I have documented the past, sometimes accurately, sometimes with jaundice.

I am recording the present, and mapping the future.

Here I am, come see me.

Treat me gently so that I may continue to tell my story

For generations to come.

- Carol Devorkin

When I was a young child, I recall an oft-heard response from my mother: “I’ll believe it when I see it.” While she was mostly referring to my empty promises to clean up my room, practice the piano, or finish my homework, I usually find myself expressing that same sentiment when one of our ARC team members describes the latest ‘find’. Sure enough, once I see it, I am in awe.

We’ve taken that adage to heart and, for the last 8 months, have been putting a number of finer items up for public inspection on eBay. I know, I know, eBay?! It wasn’t until I obtained some obscure items for my personal collection of ecclesiastical history on eBay that I really became a believer. There are lots of advantages to eBay: a plethora of images, unlimited text descriptions, an open forum for Q&A, not to mention lots of exposure for obscure items and open-market competition. We’ve found such great success there that we have hired a full-time ARC Specialist with a focus on the eBay market.

So far, ARC’s presence on the eBay marketplace has connected a collector of antique Chinese drawings with an extensive collection of rare facsimiles. It has found a home for a hand-made collection of Walt Whitman photographs and a volume of plates from medieval Gospel books. And, it significantly augmented the collection of one researcher with the addition of facsimiles of the Washington Manuscript of the Minor Prophets in the Freer Collection and the Berlin Fragment of the Book of Genesis to his private collection. And, lest you think that all that we offer is from dusty and little known nooks of libraries, we’ve also been known to list limited edition prints of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, along with collectable editions of Popular Mechanics, TIME, and Harper’s Monthly – ok, ok, and a few MAD magazines and comic books as well.

While we will continue to list our entire ARC collection on BetterWorld.com – now more than 60,000 items – be sure to visit our eBay auctions and store where you will find some of the more interesting items that just have to been seen to be appreciated.

In my hands I held a first U.S. edition, first printing (stated G-T) of Time Must Have a Stop, Huxley’s 1944 dystopia. Huxley is, of course, more widely known as the author of Brave New World, the first of a series of rather famous novels which would appear in the mid-20th century, depicting the future downfall of society. It would be followed by Orwell’s 1984 in 1949 and Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in 1953. It is fairly unremarkable as far as first editions go; it is one of Huxley’s later works and is in less than mint condition. Nevertheless, this volume has captivated my attention for the last few days.

As I began to thumb through it, I discovered a number of ephemeron between the leaves: a New York Times clipping of a ‘study’ of James Joyce dated 22 December 1957, the front and rear flaps of the missing dust jacket, and pages 509-512 of C. Rolo’s omnibus of Huxley’s work, The World of Aldous Huxley. Perhaps most interesting, though, is a post card addressed to one J. Richard Stafford of Elyria, Ohio, from none other than Aldous Huxley. “Thank you,” Huxley writes in his own hand, “for your friendly letter. I can’t answer your Questions [sic.] about Pound, as I know too little of his work. Aldous Huxley.” The stationery bears the name of Aldous L. Huxley, Wrightwood , California . Huxley has marked through Wrightwood and written above it: “3276 Deronda , LA 28” (now 90068 – there’s a neat ‘street view’ on Google™ Maps).

 I cannot describe how captivating I found this volume. I began to examine each page of the volume, looking for notes, doodles, anything to tell me more about this Mr. Stafford. Was he a familiar of Huxley’s? of Pound’s? Was he a scholar? Was he simply drawing parallels between the work of the two men? Alas, I have found nothing, though not for lack of trying. The postmark of the card is not completely visible; I can only make out December. The rate for a postcard, however, was 2-cents, so it was likely after January 1952 when that new rate took effect (it had been 1-cent since 1898!). There is, at present, a home at the address to which Huxley addressed the card, but I have not been able to reach anyone there, though it is not as if estates were retained in families as in days gone by. But, I digress. Enough!

This short journey of mine to explore the life-history of this particular book – its various relics and hagiography – and its presumed owner, Mr. Stafford, as well as the latter’s relationship with Huxley, has consumed my days of late. It is as if this particular volume is on its own pilgrimage, from owner to owner, from shelf to shelf, giving witness not only to itself but to those with whom it has come into contact. I, on the other hand, am more like a spectator than a pilgrim. Yet, without we spectators, who were somehow foreseen like Waugh’s builders of Brideshead, these pilgrims would fall victim to a fate too horrible to imagine. It is their journey that we share and, in doing so, share in those of one another. I am happy to have been along its way and to have shared in its journey.

I’m a book lover (alias: hoarder; scientific name: bibliophile). I enjoy looking at books: holding them, flipping pages, separating un-cut periodical pages, etc. I am hard pressed to read anything on the screen. I find it so difficult to have any kind of interaction with a screen. Anything sent to me in this way is printed out at first opportunity (on the back of scrap paper, of course).

In some ways, the work that I do at Better World Books suits me perfectly. I get to hold some of the gems that all of you send to us each day: a first edition Roll, Jordan, Roll; a second printing Bell Jar; an autographed, first edition Zane Grey. The list goes on. I wonder how much a signed, “first download” copy of J.K. Rowling’s latest is going for these days?

So, no, e-readers are not bad for companies like ours. In fact, perhaps they might even help us out. Recent chatter has suggested that Google’s book scanning project has increased demand for paper copies of books by a measurable amount. It would seem that folks have more access to and awareness of books that they would like to have: to hold, to read, to treasure. I’d say the same will likely come of the e-reader: how else can one feel the same sense of accomplishment other than by turning pages?

No, physical books will never be replaced. Libraries, bookstores, and living rooms; they will always be a place where humanity can go to explore the thoughts of others as well as their own.

When my friend and I finally reached the opera house, we were exhausted. Waiting for the overture, I thought aloud: “I suppose that we could have purchased a recording from iTunes or gone to one of The Met’s Hi-Def Broadcasts and saved ourselves the trip here.” As we heard Violetta’s opening lines, performed that night by Renee Fleming, that idea seemed to fade into the distance. It was definitely worth the trip.

(Above: Geraldine Farrar as Violetta in La Traviata.)