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Interview With An Old Bookie

very nice young man called the other day asking if he Bookshop and Ken as Callahan and Company Booksellers in New
could interview me for a class project on local businesses. Hampshire. I just got Ken’s 358th catalog!
AI said sure, of course. Happy to help, and maybe get some By 1983, my second location in Easton was sold and I was tired of
free publicity. having landlord trouble. I was able to buy my current location in
He came in a couple of hours later and as it turned out, he was a Trappe on Rt. 50, which was perfect for me. Many small businesses
customer who had some familiarity with the Unicorn Bookshop. close because they can’t afford the rent increases, so it’s best if you can
First off, he asked me about the name, but then it seems just about be your own landlord if you have an open shop.
everyone asks about that. Sadly, the name is nothing mysterious or I run a general shop with a little bit of everything with a collectors
even interesting. My former partner, and still friend, Ken Callahan, room with some rare and collectible items.
somehow decided on Unicorn probably because at that time (1975) I enjoy the interaction with the public and have met many, many
there was a unicorn craze and it seemed like unicorns were everywhere, interesting people over the years
so naming it after a unicorn seemed like a safe bet as almost and made some great friends. I
everyone likes unicorns. don’t think I have the discipline
Although I think Ken was that one needs to just catalogs
pushing for “Rhinoceros although I have done a few cata-
Bookshop,” for reasons I don’t logs over the years on interesting
remember, I think Ken’s wife collections that I have purchased.
Diane, settled on Unicorn. One of the things that fasci-
Plus, unicorn is easier to spell nate me about old books is that
and they aren’t known for their no matter how long you have
bad tempers. been doing this, you can never
Ken had read an article in see every book or know every
Lifestyle magazine about how to subject, so at least for me, it is
start a second-hand bookshop never boring. I just never
that he found so interesting that know what might come in the
he insisted that I read it, too. I door, literally.
liked it and he said, “Let’s start a The oldest book I’ve had
bookshop” and I answered the was an Italian religious book
fateful word, “Okay!” Like either printed in 1575. The paper
one of us had the slightest idea of they used then is beautiful and
what we were doing, but at least we naturally acid-free.
were both readers, so we did have a Why, in just the last couple
passing familiarity with books. of weeks, I purchased an
We sent away for book dealer’s Could this be Jim’s oldest book published in 1575? While this Editor doesn’t illustrated book on human
catalogs which of course in the know, here is an example from the 1500s. This is from The Book of anatomy printed in London
1970s, were printed on paper as the Confraternity of the Holy Name of Jesus, in Italian and Latin, in 1756, bought a small collec-
there was no internet yet. We read illuminated manuscript on vellum, published in Genoa, Italy, between tion of books on hawking and
1500 and the 1580s. This sold at Christie’s for $7,797 in 2018.
the catalogs to see what was selling falconry from a 97-year-old
and what prices were and we started attending local auctions that often woman, who among other things, had kept groundhog meat in her
sold books in lots. Also, we sometimes traveled to Baltimore to attend refrigerator to feed her falcon.
Harris Book Auctions to see, and sometimes buy, books for resale. And last but not least, I was asked to be part of someone’s class
We stored the books in my mom’s barn until we got enough to stock a project. So, to use a regional Eastern Shore of Maryland-ism, complete
store and found a second-floor location in Easton, Maryland that we with a double negative, “you don’t never know!” yet something else that
could afford. We built shelves out of old barn wood (some of the old never would have happened to me if I had had a real job and wasn’t
oak siding we used was so hard and dense that we had to drill a hole running a second-hand and antiquarian bookshop which, if I make it
before we could drive a nail into it). to June 2, will be 48 years
We opened on June 2, 1975, and the rest is history, in a manner of
speaking. We were careful and happily didn’t do anything too stupid James Dawson has owned and operated the Unicorn Bookshop
and gradually learned the business as we gathered experience on the old in Trappe, MD since 1975, when he decided that it would be
book biz. more fun to buy and sell old books and maps than to get a
Actually, our business soon developed into two businesses as “real” job. For a born collector like Jim, having a shop just
might be another excuse to buy more books. He has about
Ken was developing a mail-order catalog for his hunting, fishing, and 30,000 second hand and rare books on the shelves, and just
natural history business where he could work from home, while I about all subjects are represented. He can be contacted at P.O.
preferred running an open bookshop. So we amicably split in 1978 and Box 154; Trappe, MD 21673; 410-476-3838;
amazingly both of us are still in the business; me as the Unicorn unicornbookshopMD@gmail.com; ww.unicornbookshop.com

44 Journal of Antiques and Collectibles