In an antiquarian book shop I am surrounded by history. Many of the books are on Australian history and at the moment we even have an illuminated manuscript from c1390. I love looking through old books. Trying to picture what it would have been like. Today I got to experience this in a different way.

A short elderly man pushed his way through the doors and with a thick European ancient announced that he use to live in our shop. He meandered around the shop informing us that he knew the layout well. He popped his head around the corner and then said “But in those days, we had no electricity.” Paul asked him when he lived here. “1957” he said.

He had such delight on his face as he reminisced and he giggled as he told me that on Saturday nights his parents would lock him inside. “That wouldn’t keep me in. I would just sneak out the windows.”

NINE LEAVES OF A MEDIEVAL ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT
Paris [circa 1390] 18pp. 11x15cm. Handwritten and illuminated manuscript on vellum.  A very good copy; the vellum on page seven was repaired before the manuscript was commence. Tantalizingly attractive. Four pages with an intricate gilt thorn-leaf pattern. 9 pages with a simple colour leaf pattern. 4 large (17x14mm) illuminated and illustrated initials including one initial with illustration of dragon like beast others with floral pattern. 66 smaller(8x6mm) illustrated and illuminated initials. A beautiful and very skillful work; decorated brightly with gilt, ultramarine, vermillion, white lead and rusty red. These eighteen enchanting pages are from a 1390 Book of Hours from the Totenoffizium (Office of the dead). $5000 AUD  

Better World Book Trip

Paul Drake head of the Antiquarian Books section at Better World Books

I was lucky enough to meet Paul Drake, who at the time was manager of the Antiquarian book section at Better World Books. One of the things that Better World Books does is buys large collections from libraries. They send some of these books to reading programs around the world and then sell the rest on the internet. A percentage of the profits made from these sales go to funding theses reading programs.

It is a massive operation. They have pallet loads of books, fork lifts to move them around and a large faction to sort, sell and mail the books. An eye opening experience.

Paul in his office.

This place is amazing it holds over 2 million books.

They do everything big here!

Packing department

Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar

I was flicking through a friend’s images on facebook and was immediately reminded about where I was this time last year. Paul sent me to America to further my education with books.

It started at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar where book minded people go to learn more about these extraordinary objects. It was a unique and memorable experience which helped me develop my knowledge about books and bookselling.

I will not bore people with the details but the seminars began with a stimulating speech about book collecting by Mark Dimunation (Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division for the Library of Congress) and ended with an inspiring talk about ethics by Rob Rulon-Miller (bookseller).

A star-studded cast of American book people including Daniel DeSimone (Curator of the Rosenwald Collection at the Library of Congress), Tom Congalton (Between the Covers), Librarian Steven Smith (University of Texas) Ken Royal Johnson (Royal Books -ex-FBI agent turned modern first specialist), and Greg Gibson (Ten Pound Island Book Co.)

At high point in Colorado Springs. Me on top of Pikes Peak 14,000 feet after a 21km hike through the mountains.

It's not all hard work

It is not all hard work being a bookseller. In March, Paul sent me to Japan for a book fair. It was a scary and wonderful experience. I was terrified that I didn’t speak any Japanese and the fact that I was going alone, but Japan is a breath-takingly beautiful, superbly run and filled with some very lovely and helpful people.


The book fair itself was well organised, hosting some of the oldest and most prestigious book firms in the world, showing astonishing illustrated Japanese books and scrolls; an eye opening experience.

My most memorable moment was when Josh Carey from Bondi Books took me along to dinner with his Japanese book seller friends. Bondi Books is located in Tokyo, but Josh is originally from Australia and use to live around the corner from the Cornstalk Bookshop. He is a young bookseller, as were his friends; a nice change. One of the booksellers knew about an exclusive restaurant and leading us into the back streets of Tokyo, seeming to get us lost.

We make our way through the back door of a large building and squeeze into a rickety elevator. When the doors open we file through into a small space with a large heavy metal door. Someone knocks, and just like in a movie a metal window slides open. They have a quick discussion and then we are let in. The interior is dark and atmospheric and smells delightful.

Through a haze of smoke, we ate Teppanyaki and drank beer and chatted. I discovered through broken English and the kind translation of Josh that I was amongst an 8th and 13th generation book sellers. They spoke about their experiences during big earthquakes, fires that ravaged the city and epic wars. They told of books lost forever and those treasures hidden away from these perils. They boasted about big sales and their most precious books. But their proudest moments, the things that made them happiest of all, were their children and their wives or husbands. And in this technologically advanced era, they did not pull out folded photographs out of their wallets they pulled out their phones.

I tighten the laces on my sneakers. The grass is wet under my feet. The air is cold, mist blankets the park. At this moment I don’t have to think, just let the world pass me by. Two cute dogs play under the large spanning branches of a fig tree. A mother accompanies her son and daughter to school. Their bags packed and blue uniforms on. I think the little ones shirt is inside out and back to front. :) Business men in suits race to the station. This is a moment of bliss in what will become a very busy day. Between managing staff in the shop, organizing the boss and the people in our Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair, I wonder how I ever sell a book.

Let's skip forward to lunch time. The Cornstalk Bookshop is full with people. They have roamed the streets and then through the front doors. There is a warm buzz; people want to find a book. It must be the weather. It is fresh outside and the skies are grey. It’s perfect reading weather. I spoon mouthfuls of my lunch into my mouth as I chat to customers. The books you want are in the back room. Pacific books are upstairs. The phone has been running off the hook today. Lights are flashing at me. Do you have this book? Yes, I'll pop it in the post today. Do you buy books? Yes. When do you want us to visit you?

Somehow, lunch gets finished but now the ebay staff are looking at me anxiously as I help another customer. Olivia and Wei Jing are so conscientious. I smile at them - and give them a quick look 'just wait a second'. I hand the customer a couple of books and then find a few books for the ebay girls.

Now where was I? Ah... fixing the web site; patience is a skill and shortcuts don’t exist. It’s finicky work, where one letter or punctuation can bring down a page.... I just got an email from our computer technician. You have one comma in the wrong place. haha I can fix that!

Now, who can I sell a book to?

What is it really like to work in a bookshop?

When people find out that I work at the Cornstalk Bookshop I see a blank look fall across their face as their mind wanders. They are picturing themselves sitting down in a cosy chair, legs curled underneath them with their favourite book in their lap sipping hot tea occasionally looking up as a customer walks in. Once their imagination settles down they look up and say “Oh, how wonderful! I wish I worked at a bookshop.”

To begin, I don’t drink tea, I drink coffee. It provides me with the necessary kick to get me through the busy day. While I sit down often, I’m not reading a book, I’m in front of the computer cataloguing books or renovating the web site. And when I’m not sitting down, which is about half the time, I take photographs of books, or am lifting heavy boxes of books up and down stairs. This book shop is in a constant state of flux.

Paul is always buying books. There is rarely a day that something new hasn’t been placed on my table for me to catalogue. I never complain unless I can’t see over the pile to help customers as they walk through the door. Sometimes this happens.

After a wonderfully relaxing Easter Break I walked into the shop only to find that Paul had been shopping. Not unusual but this time he had gone overboard. He had filled the whole bottom floor (four rooms!) with boxes of books piled higher than my head with a narrow pathway leading through to the back. At first I had a moment of glee - look at all these books I get to rummage through and then after a split second I thought, look at all these books I have to go through. How long is this going to take?

"You can never have too many books; you can only have too little space." Paul Feain

After a few weeks, Paul and I had been through every single one. It was a really lovely collection of ancient history books. Roman and Egyptian classic writings sprinkled with glossy coffee-table books filled with pages of pyramids, mummies and other artefacts. I got lost in Tutankhamen’s world and was a little sad when it was over.

CARTER, Howard. THE TOMB OF TUT.ANKH.AMEN: Discovered bythe late Earl of Carnarvon and Howard Carter. London, Cassell and Company. 1923 and 1927 both first editions. 231 & 277pp. 17 x 24 cms. Original cloth. Volume one is clean and tight with the gilt lettering and front cover design all bright. Volume two has a small bump to the front cover and a very small tear top the top of the spine (about 3 mms or one tenth of an inch). Still very good copies. Rare to find in first edition and in this condition. A third volume was issued in 1933 and this is not here. $2000

Introducing the Cornstalk Gang

Paul Feain is the founder and proprietor of the Cornstalk Bookshop. He is one of those lucky few who has been able to make a living and travel the world from something he loves - BOOKS. He has been in business for over 30 years. He is a member of ANZAAB (The Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers) and also ILAB (The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers). He has been on the committees of both organisations and at present is the General Secretary of ILAB. He is also one of the founding members of the Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair. He loves buying and selling books, listening to Slim Dusty watching AFL and running marathons (yes that's right!).

Gabrielle Feain, Paul's wife and in joint ownership of the Cornstalk Bookshop. She is the hardest working team member; making sure that the business runs smoothly. In her spare time she enjoys babysitting her grandchild Lachlan.

Wei Jing is in charge of our ebay store amongst other things. A very efficient, hard working and intelligent woman who can speak Cantonese, Mandarin as well as English. A blessing. 

Kresta is a bright, outgoing and conscientious. She is a student at Sydney University studying Literature and will most likely greet you on the weekend. She also helps out with our ebay store.

Emily is our resident graphic designer. She is gifted in all things 2D and helps out with a range of things throughout the business including ebay and the Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair. She studies graphic design at the University of Technology in Sydney. 

Olivia is our youngest team member at 15. She still goes to school and comes to help out a couple of afternoons a week. My nickname for her is "Genius prodigy child". She is good at everything including cataloguing books and ebay. 

Claire has is studying Australian Literature at univeristy. She has been with us for many years and helps out with lots of things including ebay. 

At that's me, Ellie Aroney. I help manage everyone, update the web site and organise the Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair.  Everyone on the team loves books for one reason or another. For me it is the simplistic nature of their design. The form that we see today has change very little since their invention. They are a beautiful objects that are wonderful to hold. You can flick through glossy pictures or read the stories within and to be taken to another place or time.