The Strangest Bookstore Find Ever Aka How Did I End Up With a Personal Item of Angelina Jolie?

I'm a writer and a bibliophile. My husband and I have upwards of 10,000 books in our collection. Every few months, we do our "rounds." We visit the local used bookstores and see if they got anything new in. We only do it every few months, because usually the stock is pretty stagnant, and we walk out disappointed.

Last week, we visited one of the used bookstores on our "rounds." We volunteer for a non-profit global poverty organization called RESULTS, so when I saw a first edition of Jeffrey Sachs "The End of Poverty," I snapped it up. I did notice that it was signed and inscribed by Sachs, but I didn't think much of it. That was an added bonus, but not a big deal, as modern author signatures are not that rare.

Later that day, I was reading a book when my husband walked in the room with "The End of Poverty" and told me "I wasn't going to believe this." I made a few guesses as to what he was talking about. Did one of our friends from RESULTS happen to be pictured in the book? That's when he handed me the book and told me to look again at the signature and inscription. It was signed "to Angelina," and it was thanking her for "her efforts for the world's poor and dispossessed." There were lots of Angelinas in the world. But it wasn't just any Angelina, the book was the personal copy of Angelina Jolie.

To make the story even stranger, tucked inside the book was a piece of stationary from the office of Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. There was a signed note to Angelina from the Senator that said he hoped she would enjoy the enclosed. But stranger yet were the two candid, original photographs tucked inside. Pictured in photo one was Angelina Jolie with Senator Leahy and in photo two Angelina Jolie with Senator Leahy's wife Marcelle. The photos were taken in early 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. So, not only had we found Angelina Jolie's copy of "The End of Poverty", we had found a note to her from Senator Leahy AND two original, candid photographs of her at an important world event.

But many questions remain. How did these personal items of Angelina Jolie end up in a used bookstore in Atlanta, GA? It seems very unlikely she would give the book away, as Jeffrey Sachs is a friend of hers and the photos are originals of her. If she didn't give it away, did she lose it? If so, how? And in Atlanta? The whole thing is a great big mystery and certainly this is the weirdest thing I've ever found in my used bookstore adventures.

So, Angelina, if you're out there, and you come across this post, I want you to know that I have your book and photographs. I'm sure you want them back, so just let me know, and I will return them. And since we do volunteer for the same causes, I'm going to throw it out there--it'd be really cool to meet you.

; - )

Another Jesse James Book

Another rare, early hardback on Jesse James.

"The James Brothers": Illustrated

This is an early hardcover with gilt front design. Hard to come by.

First Edition "Dwellers in the Mirage" by A. Merritt

This is a first edition (1932) in DJ of A. Merritt's "Dwellers in the Mirage." It's highly collectible for the rare art deco pulp art dust jacket, and of course, Merritt is a notable fantasy/horror author. The look is quite Egyptian and hearkens to the Egyptian Revival movement of that period.

First American Edition of Bram Stoker's "Dracula"

From our rare book collection, a first USA edition of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" from 1899 by Doubleday & McClure. It was originally published in the U.K. in 1897 by Archibald Constable & Co. but the US edition features much better art than the plain yellow covers and red text of the UK edition. Dracula's castle high on a mountain with bats flying overhead just shout vampire! The relevance and importance of this title is pretty obvious, so I won't give a big history lesson here. For that, I send you to Wikipedia.

Think the price of this has gone up with the appearance of teeny bopper vampire lovers? Eh, probably not. I didn't read THAT book, but I have seen THAT movie. Yeah, pretty much no reason to think fans of this would be fans of "Dracula" based on the movie.

Charlie Chan Carries On

Another excellent Mach Tey illustrated photoplay.

More Fun Than a Barrel of Monkeys

"Murders in the Rue Morgue" photoplay edition. Love the Mach Tey dust jacket art. Outstanding as usual. I'm the sure the collectibility on this one is raised by the presence of an ape on the cover.

A Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall

These are all hardcover Cold War era books that deal with practical tips to survive a nuclear war. In the post Cold War era, they seem rather kitschy, but it's hard for me to accurately judge the psyche of that era, as I wasn't even alive. I'm sure the threat felt very real even though it never materialized. You could argue there's always some real "threat" of it, both yesterday and today. Now all I need to add to these is a vintage Fall Out Shelter sign. I see them on old buildings, and I've always wanted one.

One of the Most Hateful Books Ever Published (Interior Illustration Now Added)

Because I don't want there to be any confusion regarding how I feel about racist ephemera, I'm going to repost one of my earlier posts to accompany this post. The book shown above is from the turn-of-the-century. It was published by American Book & Bible House and is a religious tract justifying racism. What you find on the inside of the book is just as horrifying as the outside of the book. It is rife with illustrations that argue that African Americans are not human beings. I will later amend this post to include examples of those illustrations. Below is my previous discussion of racist memorabilia:

A lot of people want to pretend things like this were never published, that racist ephemera was never made, that the Klu Klux Klan doesn't exist. eBay, in fact, forbids the listing of most historical items related to the KKK and other racist ephemera.

In 2000, eBay was told by victims' rights groups that these items should not be allowed, because they carry violent and painful memories. I can understand why they take this position. The atrocities committed were horrible, and those items do carry violent and painful memories. However, I think it's important that these pieces of history be preserved. They are a reminder of the atrocities that occurred not too far in the distant past. They remind us of how people that are decent in most aspects of their lives, can be so monstrous to fellow human beings. We shouldn't forget this. We need to remember.

I've never been able to visit it but in Big Rapids, MI, at Ferris State University, there is a museum that preserves these types of artifacts. It is called the "Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia." On its website, the curator Dr. David Pilgrim provides another reason why preservation of these objects is important-- it opens discussion and allows us to deconstruct the taboo. To speak about the unspeakable. We can ask questions and understand racism and everything associated with it. We can understand its history and confront it. Forgetting about it and pushing it into the past will not make it go away.

Of course, people could potentially collect this material, because they are hateful. However, I think those people would be intolerant and hateful, regardless of whether they could purchase racist, or otherwise prejudiced, historical material.

So, I post this piece for the reasons above. I will post similar pieces in the future. It's more comfortable not to talk about these pieces or display them. But, comfort doesn't beget progress.

NOTE: As of 09/14/09, I have added an interior illustration pic and a scanned page from the actual text of this book. These pieces demonstrate the alleged Biblical arguments for the publisher's and author's racist beliefs.

"The Curse of the Drink" Or How I Learned Alcohol is Evil Incarnate

I like to drink vodka from time to time, and when I drink, I drink a lot. What I learned from "The Curse of the Drink: Or Stories of Hell's Commerce" is that I am one majorly messed up gal. Alcohol, if you didn't know, "covers the land with idleness, misery, and crime." So.... there could be a grain of truth in any crazy accusation. I'm sure alcohol is responsible for its fair share of idleness, misery, and crime. But, I'm cursed? C'mon. I swear these early 20th century fear-monger tracts would have gotten a lot farther if they weren't so gosh durn over-the-top. This particular tome is a thick one (over 500 pages) from 1909. I also love how every vice is characterized as a "traffic." Enjoy it in all its silly, fear-mongering glory.

Bringing Out the Dead

Pictured is an assortment of spirit photography related books to accompany the previous post. Spirit photography was part of a greater movement known as "spiritualism." The spiritualists believed in "God," but they also believed that spirits in the afterlife can communicate with the living through mediums, seances, and a variety of other methods. Spiritualism thrived from the 1840's to the 1920's. One method of communication was said to be spirit slate writing. Spirit slate writing occurs when a medium gathers people in a seance, and they provide spirits with chalk and a piece of slate. It was alleged that the spirit could directly communicate by writing upon the board. Another method is spirit rapping. This occurs when a medium gathers people in a seance, and spirits supposedly communicate with the gatherers by knocking on the table. They ask the spirit questions, and one knock might me "no" and two might mean "yes" for example. The Fox Sisters of New York were a famous group of mediums who would hold seances, and "spirit rapping" would supposedly occur. It was later revealed that the Fox Sisters were cracking their knuckles to make the rapping sound. The other book pictured is by Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle was a major proponent and defender of spirit photography, which continued to be popular despite Mumler's trial and all the hoop-la. He truly wanted to believe that spirit photography was legitimate, and he wrote the book pictured in order to defend it.

Wild Life Under the Equator

There's not much to say about this book, except that it features one kick-ass gilt cover of some kind of ravenous "animal." And I use that term loosely, because this furry friend looks more like Big Foot than any animal I know. Or the abominable snowman from the old Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer holiday special. This book was purchased at an antique store somewhere in Michigan during a long road trip. Had to have it. Circa 1886. Authored by a famous French explorer.

Fighting the Fly Peril

So, I've shown a variety of "perils" of the past on this blog. The fear-mongering culture of the past encouraged people to abhor the "red menace," "white slavery peril," and the "yellow menace", just to name a few. Now, I bring you another peril...dah, dah, dum! The "fly peril"! What is the fly peril? Remembering the unclean conditions of the past, particularly in Dickensian times, I suppose the fly peril was a legitimate concern. This book could have been a tool to educate people about diseases that can spread as a result of filthy conditions. We have to remember that people of that time didn't have the same hygiene practices we have today. So, I'll let this "peril" slide... it seems like one of the few that people legitimately should have been concerned about.