How to spend a great day (or two) in the Northampton area (before a book fair)

Stage Three of my epic fall journey began as soon as I arrived back in Portland. Having survived, barely, the Seattle to Maryland trip, I spent a few days doing things in the MD area and visiting my in-laws. Fun was had by all. We left on Thursday, arriving back in Portland at about 430pm or so.Lucretia picked us up at the airport and brought us to the house where we unloaded, I gazed longingly at my bed while repacking and then we (just LB and I, The Suz had conflicting obligations) were off to the Northampton area for the weekend.

The principle reason for the journey is the annual MARIAB book fair in Northampton. That said, it was the invitation to attend the opening of The Clark exhibit of "Raven and Crow" (Manet/Poe & Baskin/Hughes) and stay with Lisa and Lucretia that forced me to forgo my own bed (and other plans) for another weekend away. Friday saw us spend most of the day at the Clark. It is a small and wonderful exhibit at a gem of a museum in the middle of pretty much no where [N.B. the founders of The Clark sited it (in the early 1950s) where it is found because it was the least likely to be nuked there]. We spend the late afternoon and evening at the house/shop of Second Life Books...great conversation, great books and (later) a nice Indian dinner together.

We woke at a reasonable hour on Saturday and had a nice breakfast (Lucretia brought down some smoked salmon and I sautéed some with onion and eggs...the other highpoint being Lisa's insanely good blueberry jam). I had a tour of the print shop and studio in the morning and then we hit the road. After a quick stop at an antique shop, we visited Michael Kuch (Double Elephant Press) in his newly build print shop. We had a very nice visit, most of which revolved around him pandering to my desire to look at his simply exceptional work (including his newest and his next). Images of his books do not come close to doing them justice. I am really looking forward to seeing more (and seeing what he does over the next few years and decades).

We left Michael and his family (and Hosie and several of his) to explore Troubadour Books. TB is a general stock shop...but with genuine flair, taste, and quality. It is rather well organized, the books are in generally great condition and the subject matter is legion. I picked up interesting things from erotica to drug culture, photographic monographs to fine press missives-the crowning item, discovered after I'd already cashed out once, being a simply wonderful 1930 alphabet block print volume, each plate signed by the artist/printer. There are many great shops in the Northampton area...but do not miss Troubadour if you are out this way.

Lucretia and I came back around 6pm and spent the next two hours (before dinner) looking at several Gehenna Press books. We then joined Lisa, Hosie, John Waite, Jim Arsenault, and a few others for a great dinner at The Great Wall in Florence. We started with two Peking Ducks and went from there. I'm told that they have two menus: one that is for the unadventurous, the other for those who want more authentic fare....ask for the white menu.

We arrived back at the house around 10 or so and stayed up until about 2am looking at more books. There are so many books. So many truly great books. I want to write about the books...but I can't. I need to think about them more first. Maybe later...if I can find the context.

One thing, as an example: I absolutely love Leonard's exceptional Moko Maki. Tonight I explored a unique set of the images, each printed on vellum. Remarkable.

Book fair tomorrow. More books. A wonderful weekend emerging.