Through the Flames and Down the Rabbit Hole: A (Possible) Tale of Survival from Lindmark's Book Shop
Introducing one of our latest acquisitions: the first trade edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland illustrated by Arthur Rackham, purchased, as per its easily recognisable blind bookstamp, from Poughkeepsie's famous Lindmark's Bookshop. An example surviving the ruins of a quarellsome period that ended in one of the most notorious book burnings of the last century.
The story of Poughkeepsie's notorious Lindmark's Book Shop
The book's FFEP features a small, bookseller's blind stamp to lower-right corner: "Bought from Lindmark's Book Shop: Poughkeepsie, New York". This is a fascinatingly gripping story about 72-year-old choleric bookshop owner John Lindmark who, after having dedicated his entire life to the trade, blatantly turned down New York's State offer to buy his building and move his books, and begrudgingly allowed the Court to order in 1963 that his book collection (valued at over $1m at the time) be placed on the street outside his bookshop building and offered to passers by. Within days, the books - having been exposed to the elements - had significantly reduced in number, some taken by passers by, some scattered through the streets, and many dampened beyond repair. City officials eventually burned the remainder.
What about the provenance of this title?
Unfailingly, one cannot not sit and wonder... Did this special edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland come from a customer who walked among the famed 14 miles worth of shelves in Lindmark's store before the store's demise? Did it get "rescued" by a lucky passer-by when the books were piled high outside the 120-year-old building that had housed Lindmark's over 300,000 books for more than 30 years?
No matter what one chooses to believe, it is fascinating, albeit slightly sad, to know some of this book's special history as one in the bookshop of devoted book collector, bookshop owner and rather famous (and granted, perhaps a tad crotchety) John Lindmark from Poughkeepsie. A wonderful addition to the library of the inquisitive book collector who loves this timeless story of folly, identity, and curiosity.
About this first trade edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, as illustrated by Arthur Rackham
Featuring 13 beautiful colour plates with captioned tissue guards, and 14 black-and-white line drawings, this is a title very rarely found in this lovely condition, with a little external wear and fading to spine and towards hinges, and only an inscription and bookseller's stamp to FFEP. A clean copy with bright gilt stamping to front and clean, largely unblemished pages, and a copy set apart not only by its wonderful condition, but also by its interesting provenance.
We learned and borrowed photos with thanks from:
Pougkeepsie Public Library District, 'No Longer Standing: Buildings of Poughkeepsie – Gone But Not Forgotten: Lindmark’s Bookstore', by Shannon Butler.