Episode 101: Rebecca Romney

"the professional enthusiasm which carried my companion" [SIGN]

When your interview guest says that she was hooked on Sherlock Holmes based on the line "I confess that I covet your skull," you know it's going to be a fun and unusual discussion.

Even more fun is the fact that Rebecca Romney is an extraordinarily well read and well informed Sherlockian, partially owing to the fact that she is also a rare book dealer. Professionally, she works with Honey and Wax Booksellers, but you may recall her from one of her appearances on Pawn Stars, where she was the rare books expert.

Rebecca shares her journey, which goes from a youth filled with books to a degree in linguistics and classics, teaching English in Japan and launching Bauman Rare Books' Las Vegas gallery in 2007. Along the way, we discover other Sherlockians that Rebecca has met, the finer points of bookselling (and training to become one), and the magic of having conversations about books with people.

The conversation ranges from Ronald A. Knox to Burgess Meredith, Christopher Morley to Richard Altick. Will it include the legendary Chumley? You'll have to listen in to find out.

Rebecca and her husband J.P. Romney host the podcast Biblioclast and they have just completed a book called Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History, which will be published by Harper Collins in early 2017.

And perhaps there's an Easter egg somewhere as well...

We thank Mary Miller for her ongoing and generous support of our program on Patreon. And we thank the many listeners to turned out to support us for our 100th show with one-time PayPal contributions.

Notes

1:37 Welcome and intro

5:52 Sponsor: Wessex Press (The Sherlock Holmes Reference Library)

7:20 Welcoming Rebecca Romney

9:39 Getting Sherlock Holmes into her skull

12:23 Sibling battles led to the path of book collecting

17:05 How does one become a rare book dealer, anyway?

26:25 Meeting a Sherlockian for the first time

33:12 "The Skeptic's Guide to Sherlock Holmes" - from the Winter 2015 BSI

38:09 Sponsor: The Baker Street Journal (eBSJ)

40:16 Rebecca's podcast: Biblioclast

43:32 A new book: Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History

46:55 The most expensive Sherlockian book sold by Rebecca

50:22 Buyer's remorse in a Las Vegas bookshop

53:24 Collectors who view themselves as risky investors

58:24 Advice from a bookseller - channeling Christopher Morley

1:03:52 Sponsor: Sherlock Holmes Brand Rare Book Replicas

1:04:51 Wrap-up and announcements

Sponsors

This episode includes our two longtime sponsors and we thank them. Please support our sponsors by visiting their sites:

• The Wessex Press, featuring the Sherlock Holmes Reference Library.
• The Baker Street Journal, where you can find an electronic archive of the BSJ from 1946-2011 in the eBSJ.

Would you care to become a sponsor? You can find more information here.

Download [Save As] | File size 33.5 MB, 1:10:57

Links:

• Jimmy Stewart reads "A Dog Named Beau"
• The classic film Harvey
• The Scholar Adventurers by Richard Altick
• ABC for Book Collectors
• Jerry Margolin on Episode 16
• Rebecca Romney's website
• Honey and Wax Booksellers
• Biblioclast Podcast
• Printer's Error: Irreverent Stories from Book History
• Leave us a rating or review on iTunes by going here
• The I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere Patreon page
• The IHOSE listener survey

Many more links, articles and images are available in our Flipboard magazine at ihose.co/flipsherlock, as well as on the The Sherlock Holmes Community on Google+ (with over 3,700 members), as well as through our accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Tumblr.

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