rsc

jwg and I were in New York City this week, and while walking around in the Village to kill a little time after we arrived on Wednesday, we went into the Oscar Wilde Bookshop (since being outside for long periods wasn't a good idea any time this week). We browsed around for quite a while, noting various new and old things, including a stack of hardbound copies of Lives of the Circus Animals, Christopher Bram's latest novel. We both like Bram's stuff, but we weren't really going to buy anything, and we simply don't buy hardcover books except for special occasions, especially when we're travelling (since they have to be carried).

After a while, we were about ready to leave, when we noticed that a man who had just come in and chatted a bit with the woman in charge (proprietor? manager?) was signing books, and when we turned to look we saw that he was in fact signing the Christopher Bram books. The WIC, noticing our interest, said, "Wouldn't you like a signed first edition?" and then, as we were wavering, "How about an inscribed first edition?" and we decided, what the hell, why not. So he asked our names, and checked to make sure that John was spelled with an H, and wrote a brief inscription ("To John and Robert, Happy New Year, all the best") in what was at that point the last copy in the stack.

As the WIC was ringing up the sale, John said to her, "That's a good way to sell books -- get some random stranger to come in and start signing them." Bram seemed amused at this idea, and when I suggested that we look at the author photograph to see if it was really the same person, he took off his glasses and struck a pose. (I decided it probably really was him.)

As we were leaving, the WIC turned to Bram and said, "You ready to start on the Edmund Whites now?"