An interview with Shamrock Books

Biblio checks in with Shamrock Books to learn more about their book business, collecting interests and more! To view and shop their inventory, click here.

When did you get started in bookselling?

!982 - at that time through the old "AB Book Collector's magazine"

What drew you to bookselling?

What else but an inherent love of books - and a need to supplement my income.

Did you have any mentors in becoming a bookseller?

I did not. An occasional thought shared with other dealer's did provide ideas for creating more sales.

What are your specialties as a dealer?

Books on the Old West and unintentionally, over the course of so many years, Children's Books.

What's the most amazing book you've ever sold?

"Gone With The Wind' SANS d/J. 750.00 Perhaps amazing only in the sense that it was procured by a chance stop at a sale that wasn't on my list that day.

What is your favorite part of being a bookseller?

The inimitable satisfaction of the "Hunt"...the "Find"...and the subsequent admiration of family, friends and colleagues.

Do you have an open storefront or have you in the past?

From day one - business proceeded from a cluttered desk in a corner of a room in my house

If so, do/did you have any bookstore pets?

Question is mute - but if I had opened a storefront...a cat would be an appropriate companion.

What is the funniest / strangest / scariest thing that ever happened in your store?

Not applicable.

What is your favorite bookshop (other than your own)?

For the past thirty-five years - until it's closing and retirement, "The Book Inn" ,Lubbock, Texas

What do you personally like to read? Collect?

Writers with a flair for beautiful prose, ie., Joseph Conrad or sardonic humor, Dorothy Parker.

What's your favorite book you personally own? Would you sell it, if the price were right?

Sorry - I find my only solace in the pages of Roget's International Thesaurus

What one book would you buy if price were no object?

"The Great Gatsby" (For the prestige - not admiration for the author's talents.)

If you were stranded on a desert island and could bring three books, what would they be?

Oxford Dictionary - Complete One volume Edition of the Works of William Shakespeare - Complete Sherlock Holmes