Chuck Whiting is an Internet bookseller residing in the Houston area, whose writing background (in pre-blogging days) includes writing and editing Life Sciences material for NASA as well as software documentation for medical and Web site administration software startups. In the following interview, we discuss his interest in book-related ephemera or what Chuck calls "Bibliophemera".
Ephemera: Tell me about your interest in book-related ephemera. I'm especially interested in your term for these materials. I've referred to them in the past as "fly aways" but I like your lingo better.
Whiting: I have collected various types of ephemera over the years before I even knew what ephemera was. I'm a collector by nature and a bookseller by profession, so it was probably just a matter of time before all things biblio caught my collecting eye. I became interested in book-related ephemera, or what I call bibliophemera, a few years ago when I found an old letter in a book I had purchased for resale. I got the idea to collect and write about the artifacts people left behind in books. That idea intersected with a search on the Internet one day for a bookseller biography I was interested in. My search results produced an old bookseller's billhead for sale. I was intrigued, bought it, and that was the spark that ignited my passion for collecting this type of ephemera. Now my passion for books has extended to ephemera related to books—their previous owners, publishers, printers, etc. These items have come to include billheads, letterheads, trade cards, book shop trade labels, bookmarks, handbills, calendars. I think that's about all, but I'm sure something else will pop up I haven't thought of. Early in my collecting, I came across an auction for a dinner menu from a turn-of-the-century bookseller's dinner in London, I believe it was. I didn't win that auction, but it made me realize that there are some pretty unusual and unique pieces out there to hunt for. I had collected a smattering of ephemera, going back to the 80s, but the bookish angle is very recent with me.
Ephemera: I really like the term you've coined. And, bookish ephemera is certainly a cool area of concentration. I once found a bubble gum wrapper inside a book that I wrote about here. I'm curious how you've turned that interest into a blog. What have you discovered blogging about ephemera?
Whiting: I've discovered interesting history, uncovering past lives and ways of life. I've gotten insight into how folks in my profession operated long ago. Most importantly, I think, it has broadened my knowledge of bookselling and ancillary industries. Research on the pieces I collect often veers off into a number of different subjects that I wouldn't have learned about otherwise. You might say I'm collecting knowledge as well—a commodity you can never get enough of.
ephemera: What challenges or obstacles do you encounter as a blogger?
Whiting: One challenge that comes immediately to mind is time. Material and ideas for blog entries are plentiful for researching and writing about, but finding the time to do so is always a challenge. This probably dovetails with another challenge I have in knowing when to quit writing. I tend to want to write too much, do more research, find new angles. I often have to edit out passages and pare down my entries. Some entries require not much more than a blurb, but other subjects get so interesting the more I dig into them, that it's easy to get away from the main focus of the entry—that element of the piece that first grabbed my attention and made me want to write about it. Running my business requires a lot of time, but I try to sneak away for a break now and then to do some fun research on bibliophemera. And actually that kind of research feeds right back into my business of selling books. You could make a strong case for the two being mutually beneficial.
ephemera: What are some of your favorite posts?
Whiting: I don't have that many posts so it's hard to select favorites. In a few weeks, Bibliophemera will only have been around one year. But a few posts that stick out have to do with the more unique pieces I've found and written about. They would include a 1901 calendar for Boston bookseller W.F. Tenney and an 1890s Christmas handbill for the publisher Dutton. I only have that one bookseller calendar so it stands out in my collection. Since blogging about the Dutton handbill a few weeks ago, I've acquired another handbill, which I'll be writing about soon. But the handbills, along with the calendar, are still pretty unique among the more common billheads, letterheads, bookplates, and other ephemera easier to come by. A late 1800s announcement card from bookseller Delos M. Wood, of Cooperstown, New York, is special to me also because I found it not long after a visit to Cooperstown, the Baseball Hall of Fame and one of the old book shops. The continuity of those two things in the history of that town made an impression on me, as did the 19th century bookseller's card announcing his takeover of the book shop from his partner. He wanted to assure the customers that the business would continue. I saw first-hand that bookselling, in one name or another, continues more than a hundred years later in that idyllic little village.
ephemera: What are your future plans for the blog? How do you see it evolving?
Whiting: More of the same, but I do want to seek out and write about more unusual pieces of ephemera. I'd also like to see this blog evolve into a good resource for anyone interested in this little corner of the ephemera universe. I will probably also venture outside of writing about only those things that are in my collection. If I find something of great interest in another collection, why not, with permission, feature that as well? And finally, as the blog grows, I'd like to organize it in a way to be more useful, such as creating subject or category indexes, pages, or links. I have to learn more about blogging capabilities and features to figure out new ways of improving what I've got.
ephemera: Thank you, Chuck.
