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CATALOGUE
NO. 85
DAVID MASON BOOKS
Fine and Rare Books
CATALOGUE NO. 85
SCHOOL
DAYS:
A
Selection of Books & School Related Artifacts
Part 1
TELEGRAPHIC
CODEWORD: "algebra" meaning, Please send from
Catalogue No.85 the
following items No.______________."
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EMAIL: dmbooks@allstream.net
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TERMS: All items in this catalogue are in good to fine condition
unless otherwise stated, and may be returned within 5 days
of receipt for any reason. Prices
are net and postage is extra.
Usual terms are extended to
libraries and institutions.
Prices are given in
Canadian. American clients will be
billed in U.S. dollars.
GST will be added to
Canadian orders.
Saturaday by appointment or chance
Closed
Sunday
ITEMS NUMBERS ON COVERS 150 and 329
New Location:
David Mason
Books
366 Adelaide
Street West,
M5V 2A2
SCHOOL DAYS
An Introduction
Getting on for 40 years ago I
began my apprenticeship in the book trade with Joseph Patrick Books. Joseph
Patrick, then one of the two most eminent dealers in Canada, specialized in
Canadiana, of which I was appallingly ignorant. Like most Canadians of my
generation, I spent several boring school years repeatedly memorizing a few
explorers' names and listening to incessant repeats of the key events of 1759
without any discussion of what they meant. So I had almost everything to learn.
Eventually I discovered Pierre Berton who quickly disabused me of the notion
that Canadian history was boring, which led to further reading which taught me
something of Canadian history.
One day early on at Joseph
Patrick's I spied a book I did know well. It was the Canadian Speller
issued by W. J. Gage for the
Ontario Schools and I recognized it instantly. Like thousands and
thousands of other Ontario
kids it had been issued to me in Grade One and had been my introduction to the
English language and, more importantly, to reading. Seeing this book aroused so
many memories I asked my boss how much it might cost, hoping I might own a
memento. I expected it to be prohibitively expensive, but to my astonishment he
told me that such books were not only not expensive, but were ludicrously cheap
because no one seemed to want them. He than gave me that copy. OISE (Ontario
Institute for Studies in Education) had a collection, he said, although we
never saw any evidence that they ever bought one, and places like the Toronto
Public Library would buy earlier ones because of the imprint but otherwise they
were unsaleable. Teachers occasionally wandered in
looking for earlier texts but usually retreated in horror at anything priced
over $1.50. So it was a dead area. Bookselling economics being based not so
much on supply, as demand, such attitudes effectively banished schoolbooks of
every sort to the garbage bins.
For 25 years I would spout
the defensive mantra of all booksellers when faced with purchasing these books;
"School books are worthless; no one wants them." But always I watched
for them and over the years I saw them less and less in the places people like
me haunt in search of the "missing book" the overlooked treasures
that educated eyes transform into hard cash, or personal pleasure. Over the
years a more compelling characteristic of this class of books became apparent;
their usually abysmal condition. After all, generations of school children
opened them daily, laboriously studying them, mostly with a mixture of
resentment and contempt. We manhandled them and we mutilated them, colouring
the pictures, writing our names many times in them on any available white area,
signing not only every one of our given names, but our complete address, which
included not only our city, but the province, country, continent, hemisphere
and, not taking any chances, adding "Earth, Galaxy, Universe" just in
case some alien somewhere found it and wanted to return it to us. And, of
course, blank pages would usually contain a heart with the initials of the girl
we were secretly smitten with that year. All in all, we usually did our best to
ruin them.
Finally about 15 years ago I
came upon a book whose cover was beautifully designed and was in perfect
condition. It was $5.00 and I couldn't resist it. So, as usual, to justify it's
purchase I decided to build a catalogue, thereby beginning yet another of the
multitude of collections which have afforded me so much fun over the years.