I’m over due for a posting here! But my bird hunting passion (wild turkeys in
this case) has been highly indulged over the last 6 weeks and it is now time to
get back to book hunting. But what a
superb time spent sitting quietly in the woods at dawn for so many
mornings. Even when there are no encounters
with the wily turkey, one gets to see so much of nature by sitting stock still
for extended period and just watching. A
bit of a spiritual renewal for me over that time and some reconnecting with
good friends!
In March, before I started my extended run at chasing the
turkeys, I was up in Boise for a few days for a Board Meeting and North American
Rendezvous gathering for the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, a group for whom I
serve on the national Board of Directors.
I went up early so that I might check out the area used booksellers and
it was a proved a good plan!
My first day of looking I hit two great stores in the old
town of Nampa, a community about 20 miles or so west of Boise. Pearson’s Twice Sold Tales and the Yesteryear
Shoppe are located on the same block, just a couple of stores apart in Nampa’s
old town section. A colorful area full
of character, this old town section had many interesting shops aside from these
two but being a man on a mission, I held firm to my purpose and saved all those
other non-book stores for another day.
Pearson’s Twice Sold tales is a very well organized and well
stocked used book seller. They had an
excellent selection of natural history books, including several in my library
now, but did not have any that were on my radar, or any that were not but that
I discovered and could not live without!
But since they buy actively, it is a store to check back into the next
time I am in the vicinity.
Pearson's Twice Sold Tales with my trusty road warrior Prius in front!
The Yesteryear Shoppe was a wonderful old musty store with
ton of books in every nook and cranny.
The shelves had lots of books, there were boxes of books on the aisles
that were waiting to be placed on shelves and in some places just piles of
books in bins that were not yet organized or shelved.
They have an excellent rare book section and have many well
know classics among the cases. They had a
voluminous natural history/nature section and while perusing through them, I
found one of those books I was not looking for but knew I had to added to my
collection. Funny how that seems to
happen often! It was a mint copy with an
outstanding dust jacket in mylar of James B. Trefethen’s An American Crusade for Wildlife.
In this book of wildlife restoration history, he covers the decline of
many iconic American species like the bison, the beaver, large carnivores and
many other species and the long road of awakening to conservation and their
recovery to healthy sustainable populations.
I had, from time to time, previously seen this book in my wanderings but
never in anywhere near this fine of condition.
So home it went!
Over the next couple of days, I worked around meetings and
events and managed to make it to two stores in Boise. The first was Rainbow Books, a smaller store
that had largely paperback books but still a fair collection of hardbound. They did have a small nature/outdoors section
and while searching through the books, I came upon a most serendipitous find! A copy of a book I did not even know existed,
Backtracking By Foot, Canoe, and Subaru
Along the Lewis and Clark Trail.
What made this of note for me personally is that it was written my
friend and the Co-Chair of Board of Directors for the Backcountry Hunters and
Anglers, Ben Long. Knowing I would be
sitting at the table with the author the next morning, I jumped on it! Of course when I saw Ben the next morning, I had to make a joke about finding
it in some box at a garage sale before I let on that I had really found it at a
legitimate used bookseller! A fine
inscription on the frontispiece by my buddy Ben and this one too was ready to
come home to the shelves at Casa Jay.
Unbeknownst to me, the store I had unwittingly saved for last
in my visit to area used booksellers turn out to be one of those “once in a while”
gold mines! Located in downtown Boise, Trip Taylor Bookseller was tucked away among several high rise motels and office centers. But once inside and going through the stacks
in the natural history section I found the score of a book that I have been
looking to collect for several years!
Spying the copy of Marybeth Lorbiecki’s A Fierce Green Fire, I pulled it off the shelf and said, apparently
a bit vociferously, “Ah ha!”, much to the amusement of the lady who was tending
the store. When she looked at me and
smiled I said “This alone would have made my trip to Boise worthwhile!” I’ve found this wonderful biography of my
personal conservation muse Aldo Leopold several times before but only in trade
paper, something I don’t get for my personal collection. Only the first edition of this tome was done
in hardbound and now it was in my hands!
Continuing to look through the shelves, I came across a fine
and clean copy of Henry Thoreau’s The Maine
Woods. I’m not as big of a Thoreau fan as many are but what the heck, it
was only 8 bucks and it is certainly a worthy addition to any natural history
library so it too went into my happy hands.
Looking through the nature section further, I came across
yet another book that I was not looking for but knew the minute I saw it that was
coming home to live at my house. Teaching A Stone to Talk: Expeditions and
Encounters is by the very gifted and popular American natural history
writer Annie Dillard. Many are familiar
with her great classic Pilgrim at Tinker
Creek. I knew nothing of this book
but having read Pilgrim at Tinker Creek,
I was confident it would be an excellent read and addition to my collection.
So my hand were filling with books but I kept going through
the selections and lo and behold what to my wandering eyes did appear but a fine
trade paper copy of Aldo Leopold’s extraordinary classic, A Sand County Almanac. I
unabashedly refer to this book as the greatest conservation book ever written
and when I find good used copies for a fair price in my travels, I pick them up
so I can gift them later and share the timeless conservation wisdom it holds with
others. It is a great pleasure for an
old wildlifer and classic natural history literature fan to give this fine book
to someone who I know will also find it extraordinary. I’ve handed out perhaps 20 during my days of
collecting and will continue to do so as long as I live.
So there you have the fine used book sellers of the greater
Boise area. Some fine store worth your
time! If I ended up with six books, just
think how many you might find! Get after
it people!
Pearson's Twice Sold Tales: 1215 1st St. So. Nampa ID (208)467-3329 www.twicesoldtalesnampa.com Hours: Mon-Sat 10:30-6
Yesteryear Shoppe: 1211 1st St. So. Nampa, ID (208)467-3581 www.yesteryearshoppe.com Hours: Mon-Sat 11-5:30
Rainbow Books: 1310 West State St. Boise, ID (208) 336-2230 http://www.rainbowbooksidaho.com Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30
Trip Taylor Bookseller: 210 N. 10th St. Boise, ID (208)344-3311 taylorbooks@earthlink.net Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6
Pearson's Twice Sold Tales: 1215 1st St. So. Nampa ID (208)467-3329 www.twicesoldtalesnampa.com Hours: Mon-Sat 10:30-6
Yesteryear Shoppe: 1211 1st St. So. Nampa, ID (208)467-3581 www.yesteryearshoppe.com Hours: Mon-Sat 11-5:30
Rainbow Books: 1310 West State St. Boise, ID (208) 336-2230 http://www.rainbowbooksidaho.com Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30
Trip Taylor Bookseller: 210 N. 10th St. Boise, ID (208)344-3311 taylorbooks@earthlink.net Hours: Mon-Sat 10-6