December 2011 –

well – summer ran & winter’s on deck – big dent in woodpile already – few carloads hauled from backyard to curbside & upstairs to side porch – short walk to woodstove – tightened up a bit for another year – life somewhat compressed to proximity – comfy chair, dining table & desk with laptop all within 10” – plenty of windows for bit
of solar gain – papermania & 214 saw summer out – visit from hurricane Irene in September – little impact on montague, but across the river in Shelburne falls & not so far north in Wilmington Vermont there was disastrous flooding – mariab meeting moved from Shelburne falls to grey matter in Hadley – headed to Allentown first week of October – zach turned 27 on oct 6, met him in new Brunswick for dinner after allentown – hosted family here on Columbus day for food & apple picking at dole orchard – pioneer valley book & ephemera fair in Northampton went well – full slate of dealers & strong attendance – winter fired major warning shot late October – foot of snow took down trees all around – montague lost power for 48 hours – many nearby towns waited a week – Halloween was not usual – took a booth at boston book print & ephemera fair at the castle in mid-november – had not done that show in years – strong crowd & treated me well & even strolled to the hynes for the abaa show after setup & saw more friendly faces – westwood branch of masi family hosted thanksgiving – zach was with mom’s clan in Ithaca – brought zach & edie to nephew’s wedding following Sunday at willowdale estate in topsfield – hello December – garden bout done except for some hardy collards – canned few dozen quarts of tomatoes, freezer full of corn, beans, pesto, modest crop of winter squashes & apples in cold storage, few peppers still in the fridge – stew season –
kale soup, chili, Mediterranean stew – zach nailed 3 rotations in orthopedic surgery then set up camp at Monmouth medical center in new jersey for 4 less strenuous rotations bout a block from the beach – ran in Philadelphia marathon for second time – has applied for residencies in orthopedic surgery & is available for interviews –
mariab meets Monday in Sudbury – managed to fill slate for election of officers to take over next year – renewals go out soon – usual unusual here – large lot of cookery from tracy law, oldtime seller from upstate ny – he’s in nursing home, stock being sold by lots – moved ‘beverages’ to separate category – few other new headings – hope you find something – gotta get this to eagle & then see about
wreaths & other seasonal considerations & yes, next catalog – undoubtedly my last offering of the year, and it was not a bad year, so let me take the opportunity to thank all for your time & patronage & wish you festive & fulfilling holidays & a fine year
ahead . . .

at your service –
peter

Click here to see a list of some items we will feature at our booth.

Sunday, October 16, Smith Vocational School, Northampton, Massachusetts, 10 am - 4 pm.

Peter L. Masi – books and some sixty-plus (in more ways than one) colleagues will display & hope to displace some of your discretionary funds, fine, old, rare, unusual, antiquarian, vintage, whatever books, pamphlets, broadsides, photographs, postcards, autographs, posters, prints, manuscripts, you get the picture. You’re invited!

Check website for coupon for $1 off admission.

at your service –

well – this file last modified 4/6/2011 – lilacs have bloomed & browned – daffodils too – day away from summer solstice – furnace off, dehumidifiers on – 2 cords of wood stacked for next winter, 2 more await – basic new England weather platter with a tendency towards more rain than usual – stretch of may days in nineties then sixties in day & forties at nite – tornado hit half hour south of here – springfield, Wilbraham, monson – tilled the garden in april & got few things planted – peas, spinach, beets, greens – still facing seriously depleted soil issues & town won’t provide combination for lock on the cable – been hauling in buck-a-bucket compost from umass – has not provided the desired nutritional boost – poor germination & lackluster growth – pushed ahead & put tomatoes & peppers in memorial day weekend – they just sat there then started to yellow – feller at Hadley garden center said fertilize – been putting on some fishy concoction & holding my nose & crossing my fingers – Amherst plot bout 80 percent planted now – potatoes looking happiest – onions ok, arugula ok – collards & corn coming along – meanwhile talked to neighbor bout planting in her back yard where former tenant had a vegetable garden – new project – just what i need – got the tiller – figgered would put in beans, squashes, brassicas which have not survived recent insect attacks in Amherst – choicest spots claimed by chris & current tenant – remaining soil bit shallow here & muddy there but we pressed ahead – so did local very hungry woodchuck – tried trap & girls tried gun – finally put up 200’ of fence – beans & squash now coming along there – put in many brassica seedlings – dozen eggplant starts discovered by hungry flea beetles – tossed those & replanted in Amherst – zach just finished year 3 at ducom – takes some major national exam this week then dad will visit & help him break camp in manayunk prefatory to year 4 which begins in july after brief break here – series of 4-week hospital rounds, mostly in orthopedic surgery, his intended specialty – Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Carolina, new jersey, &c – mariab met at museum of printing history in north andover in april – tour with curator frank romano, lunch & business – easter with masis in Amesbury – Allentown paper show then on to mariab sponsored boston book & paper exposition – it went well – promoter did a fine job – good publicity, nice lineup of talks & exhibits, over eighty dealers (not average age, tho that was high too), bout 750 in attendance – will be on may 5 next year – posted notice of catalog 212 on facebook which prompted invitation from former new England bookseller jim hinck to post on his favored search site vialibri which prompted college buddy, it whiz & host all things acoustic on Alabama public radio Jeremy butler to handhold me through creating wordpress blog website – peterlmasibooks.wordpress.com – visitors welcome & thanks to helpers – this will be there soon – shared my experience with edie b who now has wordpress site for her owl pen books & achieved some enviable exposure recently from the itinerant traveler in the Washington post – heavy traffic from dc to Greenwich ny – basic mixed bag here – stock from recent shows & auctions & passed-over piles from other recent cataloging binges – still plenty about for several more – plus recent deaccession from American textile history museum – hope you find something – thanks for reading – gotta get pdfs to eagle, finish planting garden, move enough boxes of books out of zach’s room for visit – Elizabeth auction tonite . . .

at your service –

peter

www.allentownpapershow.com

www.bookandpaperexpo.com

We hope to see you there!

(If you have trouble viewing the Catalog PDF in Internet Explorer, please right click this link and choose “Save Target As” to download the PDF.)

Peter L. Masi - books Catalog 212 April 2011

well – the snow’s about gone, wreaths taken down, town hall repaired – crocus in bloom & daffodils poked through, lilacs budded – must be a new season – skis put away, warm clothes still out – used up the firewood in February – burned a few broken pallets – jogging & biking when it’s not raining – baked soda bread & boiled corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, onion, carrots for march 17 – working on the pesto from the freezer – contemplating garden strategy for this year – zach finished 12 weeks of surgery in pittsburg & is now back in Philadelphia for 12 weeks of general medicine – surgery is where he wants to be – attended cowboy-theme Washington county literary society annual meeting with edie, gave 1 minute biography of annie Oakley – mariab met at international paper museum in brookline in February – had a tour with curator Elaine koretsky, lunch, meeting – attended fourth annual adopt-abook evening at American antiquarian society in Worcester – noshed, schmoozed, listened to some enthusiastic curators, adopted some orphans – easter’s late this year, so Allentown paper show will be april 30 & may 1 & then the following Saturday, may 7, mariab sponsors the boston book & paper exposition & sale at shriners auditorium in Wilmington – www.bookandpaperexpo.com – promoted by marvin getman who’s been doing an admirable job of lining up special exhibits & interesting bookish talks to help get publicity – it should be a great show – please come! - another unusual offering here – more new subject headings – books from 2 local music professors – david reck, who retired from Amherst college – had classical training but was inspired by trip to india & learned to play veena, taught world music – books on india, Sanskrit, sri lanka, &c – late Emanuel Rudolph, university of Massachusetts professor – interested in English glees & catches – filled out with more material from hagley, purchases from papermania, recent auctions, discards from nearby college – some interesting material – hope you find something to take home – thanks for reading –