September 20, 2025
Things started out slowly at Printed Page today. I had the first hour or so to myself, which never portends a successful Saturday. Then, when customers finally started drifting in, I failed to satisfy any of the following requests for…
…books about the Kennedy assassination’s links to Indonesia
…pre-1900 books on herbal remedies
…”old new age books on spells and incantations.”
…First editions of books by P.G. Wodehouse
Toward lunchtime, things got busy, but not so busy that I wasn’t able to have some interesting conversations. One guy told me that he had mountaineering books to sell. He said he’d climbed all the Fourteeners in Colorado and had once worked as a guide on Mt. Everest. (He hated the work, but it was the only way he could get to the summit.) He knew that guy who climbed El Capitan freestyle, and how lucky he was it didn’t rain — or he didn’t get a bee sting. He was a fascinating guy, friendly and voluble.
I shared my adventures climbing a step ladder to replace a track light bulb.
Anyway, he came to sell books, so I told him to go ahead and bring them in. He started up the stairs with a box, this accomplished mountain climber, and stumbled on a step. Involuntarily, I chortled.
I need to work on being a better person.