Brattlecast: A Firsthand Look at Secondhand Books

He's received a postcard from the South Pole, gotten into an absurd exchange with a member of Monty Python, and worked in close quarters with live grenades: it's all just another day on the job for Kenneth Gloss, proprietor of the Brattle Bookshop! On this explosive brattlecast Ken talks about the wonderful weirdos and strange situations that have enlivened his years in the bookselling business.

On this day in 1942 tragedy came to Boston in the form of the deadliest nightclub fire in history. The Cocoanut Grove's intentional lack of exits and extremely flammable Polynesian decor doomed 492 people, injured hundreds more, and changed the way we think about doors forever. Ken kindles our interest with a fascinating and scary personal scrap book of the fire and its aftermath in this blazing hot episode of #brattlecast.

The story of our outdoor sale lot's evolution from a few small stands in front of the shop to one of the most photographed places in Boston. Learn all about the perks and pitfalls of selling books outside, all year round, in notoriously variable weather.

In this episode Ken shows off a bound volume of Harper's Weekly from 1863, and flipping through it with him is like peering into a fascinating time capsule from the Civil War era. Harper's employed some of the best journalists, artists, and photographers of the time, and in its pages eye-witness battlefield reportage and sentimental woodcut illustrations of homesick soldiers share space with advertisements for dubious health tonics and prosthetic limbs.

Today we've got an 1800's sailing log and a Civil War journal, both containing surprising passages which take them from standard to spectacular. Also, some tips on what to do with any handwritten material you'd like to get appraised. An episode to write home about!

Ken discusses a copy of The Big Book, inscribed by Alcoholics Anonymous founder Bill Wilson. It's one of the most influential books of the 20th Century, and the unfortunate social stigma associated with it makes certain editions particularly rare. Learn all about it, one Brattlecast at a time.

In the mid 1800's a gristly murder case shocked Brahmin Boston and became a media sensation. Ken's got all the gory details and associated collectible ephemera on this episode of Brattlecast.

He was elected mayor of Boston four times, he went to jail for mail fraud, and he zinged President Franklin D. Roosevelt real bad! He's local legend James Michael Curley, and Ken's got his personal letters!

In the Brattle criminal justice system, book based offenses are considered especially heinous. Listen as Ken recounts some book related crimes and scams, from a failed Gutenberg Bible heist at Harvard to his shop's own literate sale lot shoplifters. These are their stories.

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A glimpse of Ken's fun and surprising personal collections: eclectic bathroom decor, cookbooks about cannibalism, jazz photographs, and a signed Houdini photo that, while technically for sale, he's doing his best not to allow to escape.