Entertaining and informative, 03 Dec 2008
First Sentence: We came to book collecting because our birthdays fall eight days apart.

[Dust Jacket] Years ago, the Goldstones fled high-paying jobs in Manhattan to live and write in the Berkshires. Enough of an overachieving spark remained to ignite a contest when the search for inexpensive birthday gifts began. While Lawrence settled for a bath brush, Nancy tracked down a ten-dollar copy of "War and Peace," and the couple's love affair with book collecting was born.

For those who love the combination of books, history and collecting, this is a delight. Although there is a tone of being dismissive toward other people, and the phonetic spelling of speech from a New Zealand dealer was annoying, there was much that was good about this book. There were times I found myself laughing out loud. Being set in locations I know quite well also made it fun for me. The best part was the instructive, informative information about book collecting woven into the story and I did find myself taking notes.


Rare Find, 13 Nov 2007
If you love buying, reading and then admiring the books on your shelves, you'll love this book. If you've never been to a second-hand book dealer's shop, you soon will. It's compulsive reading, then compulsive spending!


Gentle Madness, light, very light, 29 Oct 2002
The book I refer to in the title is, "A Gentle Madness" by Nicholas A. Basbanes. If you are not yet prepared to spend the time the 638-page Basbanes book requires, this short story may be amusing.

The book is generally well written, and at times quite funny. Unfortunately there is an arrogance that pervades the book that is as misplaced as it is mean spirited. Perhaps the Authors felt the need to compensate for their neophyte status as book collectors, by making sport of those who truly know books.

Book collecting is complex, and can be extremely expensive for the newcomer. There are several useful pieces of information the Authors learn and share, but it is too often accompanied by their observations about the people and the bookstores they patronize. The learning curve on collecting is a long one, and the dealers who take their time to instruct the novice are more prevalent than you might imagine, and it's been my experience that they ask for nothing in return. Many booksellers just love books, the fact they part with them on occasion through a sale is often almost painful for them.

So do note from this book how not to deal with people, how not to take advantage of their time and their willingness to share it, and then exploit the experience for your own profit. A book collector would never have written in the manner they chose.

This is the result of research done for a book that was written over a cup of coffee, maybe two.

Delightful and entertaining read!, 09 May 1999
This book was an adorable memoir!! Well written, humorous, and even dropped facts about antiquarian book collecting.

Delicious!, 13 Apr 1999
The word "delightful" is much over-used but I can't think of a better word to describe "Used and Rare" by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. Wait a minute, I can - "moving", "witty", "informative", "affectionate" and "a pleasure" are some other words I could use to describe this marvellous (there's another one!) book. It's comforting to discover that the eccentricities and foibles of book dealers, book collectors and assorted other bibliomaniacs aren't an exclusively Australian phenomenon, and the authors' dead-on phonetic rendering of a Trans-Tasman/New Zealand accent frequently brought a smile to this Aussie reader's face.

Who would have guessed an innocent search for an inexpensive edition of War and Peace could lead to an all-consuming obsession? Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's romance with rare books arose from just such a search and led them to a world they had never encountered before: the world of antiquarian books. They quickly found themselves infatuated with this quaint and curious world and scoured the East Coast of America in search of first editions and rare books. This search, and the curious people they met along the way, is chronicled in their book Used and Rare. Their second book, Slightly Chipped, continues this exploration, taking us on tours of book fairs, libraries and auctions. No longer the wide-eyed innocents, the Goldstones delve a little deeper into the book world, exploring facets such as fine printing and literary movements, pour over Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. Both the avid bibliophile and the casual reader will find things to enjoy in Slightly Chipped. For the collector, the Goldstones' discussion of the Internet's impact on collecting is illuminating and their look at the hypermodern market is positively eye-opening (Never heard of hypermoderns? They are collectible books recently published. A first edition of Sue Grafton's A is for Alibi sold for $1,250 in 1998. Better check your shelves). For the casual reader, Slightly Chipped is as warm and engaging as Used and Rare; though the Goldstones have become sophisticated book collectors, there is still plenty of the ingenuous surprise and delight that made Used and Rare such a joy to read. They balance out the serious aspects of book collecting with a liberal peppering of literary anecdotes ranging from William Morris's tyrannical leadership of the Kelmscott Press to the sexual proclivities of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, keeping the tone light and the pace lively. All this packed into one volume makes Slightly Chipped a rare treat for book lovers of all types. --Perry Atterberry

Entertaining and informative, 03 Dec 2008
First Sentence: We came to book collecting because our birthdays fall eight days apart.

[Dust Jacket] Years ago, the Goldstones fled high-paying jobs in Manhattan to live and write in the Berkshires. Enough of an overachieving spark remained to ignite a contest when the search for inexpensive birthday gifts began. While Lawrence settled for a bath brush, Nancy tracked down a ten-dollar copy of "War and Peace," and the couple's love affair with book collecting was born.

For those who love the combination of books, history and collecting, this is a delight. Although there is a tone of being dismissive toward other people, and the phonetic spelling of speech from a New Zealand dealer was annoying, there was much that was good about this book. There were times I found myself laughing out loud. Being set in locations I know quite well also made it fun for me. The best part was the instructive, informative information about book collecting woven into the story and I did find myself taking notes.


Rare Find, 13 Nov 2007
If you love buying, reading and then admiring the books on your shelves, you'll love this book. If you've never been to a second-hand book dealer's shop, you soon will. It's compulsive reading, then compulsive spending!


Gentle Madness, light, very light, 29 Oct 2002
The book I refer to in the title is, "A Gentle Madness" by Nicholas A. Basbanes. If you are not yet prepared to spend the time the 638-page Basbanes book requires, this short story may be amusing.

The book is generally well written, and at times quite funny. Unfortunately there is an arrogance that pervades the book that is as misplaced as it is mean spirited. Perhaps the Authors felt the need to compensate for their neophyte status as book collectors, by making sport of those who truly know books.

Book collecting is complex, and can be extremely expensive for the newcomer. There are several useful pieces of information the Authors learn and share, but it is too often accompanied by their observations about the people and the bookstores they patronize. The learning curve on collecting is a long one, and the dealers who take their time to instruct the novice are more prevalent than you might imagine, and it's been my experience that they ask for nothing in return. Many booksellers just love books, the fact they part with them on occasion through a sale is often almost painful for them.

So do note from this book how not to deal with people, how not to take advantage of their time and their willingness to share it, and then exploit the experience for your own profit. A book collector would never have written in the manner they chose.

This is the result of research done for a book that was written over a cup of coffee, maybe two.

Delightful and entertaining read!, 09 May 1999
This book was an adorable memoir!! Well written, humorous, and even dropped facts about antiquarian book collecting.

Delicious!, 13 Apr 1999
The word "delightful" is much over-used but I can't think of a better word to describe "Used and Rare" by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone. Wait a minute, I can - "moving", "witty", "informative", "affectionate" and "a pleasure" are some other words I could use to describe this marvellous (there's another one!) book. It's comforting to discover that the eccentricities and foibles of book dealers, book collectors and assorted other bibliomaniacs aren't an exclusively Australian phenomenon, and the authors' dead-on phonetic rendering of a Trans-Tasman/New Zealand accent frequently brought a smile to this Aussie reader's face.

Strike Two, 29 Oct 2002
"Slightly Chipped", by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone is the second offering on what is supposed to be their continuing exploration of the world of book collecting. However, just as in their first book, "Used And Rare", the topic of books serves to provide these people with a continuous stream of targets for abuse. Please do not take to heart their description of what it is like to collect books nor of what type of people you will likely encounter while doing so.

To give you an idea of how far this book routinely strays from the alleged topic, what follows are direct quotes. The first takes place at a gathering at a library amongst a small group who are present to learn about very rare books. Any one of the volumes could be the subject of an entire book, but books are just a tangent in this brief and shallow memoir. While they do not hesitate to name the person they describe, and also list his occupation, I offer just a fragment out of the respect for privacy they show no concern for. "He was the kind of person whom Hollywood casts as the computer junkie who uses the Internet to lure young women to his apartment for.................." This is what they choose to describe as books from nearly a millennia ago are passed around the table. A book by William Morris is part of the evening's discussion. Mr. Morris produced some of the most prized limited editions of the late 19th Century. Here, that is almost a footnote when compared to his personal life, which rambles on for pages.

These people cannot even visit a bookstore that I know well, without adding this bit of irrelevant mean-spirited commentary on Torrington CT. ".thus providing the grimness and depressedness of Torrington for that much longer". Canton is described as, "hardly a town at all", and they quiz the owner on why he is located in such a difficult location. Our authors have moved to Fairfield CT. since their last book, an area that allows them to name drop the famous and wealthy, one of whom had to change homes because the light at The Yacht Club shone into his bedroom. What any of this has to do with books is beyond me.

Collecting books is a wonderful hobby. Shop owners generally will spend vast amounts of time, sharing their knowledge and love of books. I have been present when booksellers have taken a personal check for several thousand dollars on the final day of a show, from a person they never met, hours before they were to fly across the Atlantic to their shop in England. As a group, book collectors and dealers are wonderful people who share what Author Nicholas Basbanes has called, "A Gentle Madness". The authors do not enjoy this state of mind, rather, like the title of this book what rests upon their shoulders may be slightly chipped, however a large portion remains firmly in place.

A humorous insight into book collecting, 17 Aug 1999
I loved this book - most unexpected because I know nothing about book collecting. The 'real-time' and unpretentious approach to the story telling by the authors of their 'adventures' really works well. I also greatly appreciated the 'aside' stories - Bloomsbury, the 'duk' and 'duches', Cudjo, Rosenbach, etc. - I would never had known about some of these. I especially liked the apparent 'closeness' of the authors in their endeavors. One word of advice for the authors, however - although your 'review' of the West Street Grill was interesting, stick to books - I'm a Bob Evans type guy myself. I'm looking forward to reading "Used and Rare" and "Slightly Chipped II".

Good, but..., 24 Jul 1999
I had somewhat mixed feelings about this one. On one hand, I enjoyed the authors' sense of humor, modesty and easygoing, engaging writing style. (As with Used and Rare however, one must adjust to the unusual first person plural narrative, in which every quote is uttered by both of them and which yields such sentences as "We turned the book over in our hands.") On the other hand, it seemed as if there wasn't quite enough material to fill an entire book, which may have caused the authors to go off on a number of looonnnggg tangents/sidebars. Some of these I enjoyed, but others I found very dull (such as the Bloomsbury material, the stuff about Cudjo, and the biography of William Morris). I also thought that the opening of the book showed a bit of false humility, since, despite their disappointment in not easily finding Used and Rare in the Boston bookstores, the book obviously sold well enough to warrant their publisher's OK for a second volume on the same material. All in all though, a good book.

A captivating and charming read., 06 Jul 1999
Much like their first book, Used & Rare, Slightly Chipped is another foray into the wonderful world of book collecting. The authors have a wonderful and charming voice that makes readers want to not only go out book-buying with them but also to dinner.

I THINK IT IS GREAT! What are people expecting?, 27 Jun 1999
This is a great little book about the Goldstone's personal explorations into the book world and the people they meet there. Their descriptions of the people they meet, the Duke and Duchess, book dealers and their shops, fairs, auctions, etc., are exactly in keeping with the tone of the first book and I enjoyed it quite as much. One of the things that impressed me the most was the thoughts, pro, con, and speculative, about the internet and where it may or may not be going and possible ramifications of this. It is important, but nobody can truly answer that question yet. I loved it. I use the internet (obviously). I live in small town USA and love books, but cannot always get my hands on them without long distances and elaborate plans. Bibliofind is worth a lot to me all on its own. Helpful or not, I just enjoyed reading the book. It wouldn't even be the same without the menus. The mood is all part of the book. I can't wait for the next one.