Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books
Brattle Book Shop
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Brattlecast #236 - Books Outside
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…
Brattlecast #235 - Book Buys A-Z
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…
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…
Brattlecast #233 - Maps and Time
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…
Brattlecast #232 - Almanacs
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’…
Brattlecast #231 - Brattle Snow Days
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.…
Brattlecast #230 - A Presidential Collection
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…
Brattlecast #229 - Special Interests
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…
Brattlecast #228 - Real Photo Postcards
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…
Brattlecast #227 - A Typical Brattle Week
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…
Brattlecast #226 - Storage Units
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…
Brattlecast #225 - The New Hampshire Trip
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…
Brattlecast #224 - The Kenyan Library
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,…
Brattlecast #223 - So You Want to Own a Book Store
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…
Brattlecast #222 - The Gift of Books
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…
Brattlecast #221 - The Toughest to Shed
It’s a common enough predicament that entire self-help books have been written about it: being emotionally terrorized by a piece of household clutter. The hardest items to part with aren’t usually…
Brattlecast #220 - Books About Computers
Want to feel old? People are collecting vintage books about computers. These futuristic-feeling technologies have become such an ubiquitous part of our daily lives that it can feel counterintuitive…
Brattlecast #219 - Car Catalogs
Today we’re taking a look at the golden age of the American automobile, via a collection of car catalogs from the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s. Full of slick illustrations and arty photographs (it was a…
Brattlecast #218 - Robert Frost Inscriptions
In this episode we’re talking about some recent finds that have a lot to tell us about the rare book business. We got a call about some early Robert Frost editions, which are nice but overall more…
Brattlecast #217 - CBS Saturday Morning
Today we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at our recent appearance on CBS Saturday Morning. Host Dana Jabcobson toured the shop, interviewed Ken, and flipped through some of our favorite…
Frequently Asked Questions
Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books has published 100 episodes since October 2022, covering topics in Arts, History.
Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 14m.
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