Collecting, Auctions, and the Book Trade

Abstract

Every public talk has an assigned name and a secret name—just as T. S. Eliot’s cats all had secret names. The secret title of this talk is: “The Rare Book Community: 1 Nun, 2 Jakes, and the Reign of Terry.”

Let’s start with the Nun. She was Mother Katharine Drexel, the second American-born saint. When her banker father died in 1885, she inherited about $5 million, which would be about $80 million today. She became a nun, and by 1891 she had founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. By the time of her . . .