Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

To modern eyes, the Victorians displayed a number of toxic traits—not least of which was a penchant for poisoning themselves. After a long day of applying lead-based cosmetics and eating adulterated bread, a person of the 1800s might kick back under the indoor gas lamp with a brilliant green book bound in arsenic-dyed cloth. A sickening number of these volumes are still in circulation today—posing...

In today’s episode, we pivot away from books and shake things up by talking about Ken’s own personal collection of over 250 snowdomes. He and his wife, Joyce, have been picking up the snowdomes as souvenirs for years—on family vacations and while they're traveling for Antiques Roadshow. We’ll discuss their criteria for what makes a good dome (glass vs. plastic, snow vs. glitter) and about new chal...

Today we’re looking at two classic American magazines: TIME and LIFE. Published weekly for most of the 20th century, these sister periodicals offer complementary perspectives on the biggest stories of the era, with LIFE’s vivid photojournalism bringing immediacy and emotional resonance to TIME’s in-depth reporting. They’ve always been popular items at the shop, but while past collectors sought out...

This week, we’re unwrapping (not literally) a little piece of local journalistic history: one of 150,000 condoms distributed by The Boston Phoenix. In 1987, the alternative weekly published an issue that included a condom—donated by Trojan—and a guide to safer sex with every newspaper. They intended to raise awareness of the burgeoning AIDS crisis, and to court some controversy at a time when cont...

When you visit a different stranger’s home almost every day of your working life, you end up having a lot of interesting experiences—some incredibly elevated, and others rather harrowing. On today’s episode, we’re going over some of those highs and lows from Ken’s decades in book buying, from palatial estates filled with priceless antiques to hoarding situations infested with fleas. We never know...

Ken’s a busy guy—we’re lucky he can even make time for this podcast. In today’s episode, he’ll break down one of his typically action-packed weeks, from early morning chores and laborious book buys to photo shoots at the shop and high-end appraisals. We say at the Brattle that Ken only works half-days: from 5 a.m. until 5 p.m. Make some room in your schedule to learn more about the demands and rew...

Today we’re flipping through some fresh arrivals to the shop: issues of Ebony magazine from the 1970s. In print from 1945 to 2019 (and still published online), Ebony documented mid-century Black life in the United States with the same upbeat and aspirational tone that mainstream magazines once reserved for white America. From glossy fashion spreads and celebrity profiles to coverage of politics, c...

The Brattle has been in Ken’s family since 1949—before GPS, electronic mail, or even the podcast. In today’s episode, we discuss how modern tools have changed our daily routines at the shop, from appraising collections and setting up appointments to navigating the roads of New England. One piece of communication technology that hasn’t changed? The books themselves. They still deliver information a...

Astute Brattlecast listeners may have already noticed this, but Ken really loves to tell a good story. Did you know you can see him speak in person as well? Today’s episode is about Ken’s lectures: informative, entertaining presentations drawn from his decades in the book business and delivered at venues throughout New England. These talks are always followed by a Q&A with the audience and a l...

Our shop has seen many love stories over the years—some fiction, others nonfiction. In today’s episode, we reminisce about the handful of presumably still-happy couples who’ve gotten married or engaged at the Brattle. It may be an unconventional venue, but people love books, and we love love. It’s an honor to serve as the setting for such special memories—plus, a small wedding ceremony makes shopp...

This week we’re taking a look at one of the shop’s most distinctive features: our outdoor sale lot. Open year-round in extreme New England weather, the lot presents some unique operational challenges for the Brattle crew (not many booksellers have to worry about their customers getting frostbite, or about sudden summer thunderstorms decimating their sale sections). It’s a fun, photogenic space tha...

As a secondhand book shop, the thing that really drives our business isn’t selling books—it’s buying them. That’s why we venture out almost every day—to houses, libraries, and storage units throughout New England—searching for good books and the occasional treasure. In today’s episode, we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at our book buying process, from receiving phone calls and making appointme...

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 year...

Before the implementation of standardized time zones in the United States, every town pretty much decided what time it was on their own. This wasn’t that big of a deal when you had to walk everywhere, but it created some major problems as communication and transportation got faster in the 19th century: imagine creating an accurate train schedule when the time of day is slightly different at every...

The Farmers’ Almanac will publish its last edition this year, ending a run that began in 1818. So how will we know when to plant our crops going forward? Don’t worry: there’s still the Old Farmers’ Almanac, which is now functionally the Only Farmers’ Almanac. Today we’re talking about the once-crowded landscape of American almanac publishing and flipping through a few examples from the late sevent...

It’s been an exceptionally rough winter, so we thought we’d talk about what a big snow day looks like at the Brattle. Picture downtown Boston, quiet streets blanketed with feet of newly fallen snow. Almost everyone is staying home today—except for plow drivers and the Brattle staff. Are we having a cozy time in there? Not really. This is where selling books outdoors becomes a feat of endurance: we...

Today we’re talking about a particularly exciting appraisal: a volume of presidential autographs containing original documents signed by every American president from George Washington through Richard Nixon, with accompanying portraits. How do you even put a price on an item like this? Slowly and carefully. Complete collections of presidential signatures have been compiled before, so our evaluatio...

At the shop we encounter a wide range of book collectors—people with specialized and sometimes eccentric fields of interest, from esoteric wellness trends to pre-revolutionary Cuba. But how do these passions develop in the first place? In this episode, Ken draws on his own developing interest in Kenyan history to describe a self-reinforcing cycle: curiosity is sparked, reading follows, knowledge d...

This week we’re talking about real photo postcards. In 1903, Kodak released a camera that allowed people to print postcards from photographs they took themselves. Portable, easy to use, and relatively inexpensive, the postcard camera democratized—and deformalized—visual communication in many of the same ways that social media would 100 years later. Unlike mass-produced postcards, which tend to sho...

In this episode, we round out our day-in-the-life series by talking you through an average work week at the shop. This particular week’s treasure hunt took us on a tour of New England, from Concord and Cambridge to Maine and the Berkshires, and even into the chambers of a former federal judge. But it’s not really about the destination or the journey—it’s about the books we bought along the way: a...

In this episode, we continue our day-in-the-life series with the story of another relatively normal but less-than-perfect book buy. It’s a stumbling block that we run into fairly often: folks trying to sell books that they’re not emotionally prepared to part with. In this case we looked at the collection, made an offer, and waited about five years until its owner was ready to let go. In a classic...

At the recent Boston Book Fair we were delighted to meet with some brattlecast listeners, who told us they’d like to hear more about day-to-day life at the shop. It’s a great idea, so today we’re kicking off a short series on our average workdays—not the spectacular finds or the times when the building catches fire, but the stories in between.  We’ll start with an account of a pretty normal b...

Today we’re talking about Ken’s recent visit to the McMillan Memorial Library in Nairobi, Kenya. The McMillan’s ongoing restoration is the subject of a recent documentary, How to Build a Library , which explores the space’s troubled colonial past and its rebirth as a vibrant, inclusive cultural hub following years of neglect. This inspiring transformation is led by writer Wanjiru Koinange and publ...

To many people, owning a small book shop seems like a dream job—it’s right up there with the cute neighborhood restaurant and the cozy Vermont inn. Unfortunately, like these other idealized occupations, the reality is usually a lot of hard work and uncertain remuneration. We’re often asked for advice about opening a book store, which is somewhat ironic since Ken’s father started the Brattle with l...

With the holidays on the horizon, we thought it would be a good time to talk about gift giving. A rare or secondhand book can make a great gift—if it’s chosen thoughtfully (otherwise you run the risk of seeming like you’ve wrapped a random volume from your own shelves). Before you start shopping, it helps to get clear on what you’d like to give: think about your budget, the recipient’s interests,...