Brattlecast #234 - A Long Wait

This week we’re talking about one of the shop’s longest book buys—a deal that took over thirty years to seal. In the late ‘70s Ken was called out to a local library, where he made a bid on some really excellent books. They said that the board of trustees would have to think about it. Decades passed, babies grew up, pant silhouettes changed, and the library called to check in every five or ten years. Ken would find the collection—Gutenberg Bible pages, illuminated manuscripts, Audubon folios, etc.—stored in a slightly worse location almost every time he visited. Ultimately, in the 2010s, when the library was really, really ready to sell, we cut a check for almost a million dollars and rescued the books from a janitor’s closet, next to the cleaning supplies. Ken shares his tips for summoning patience in frustrating situations on this long-overdue new #brattlecast.