A warm and edifying memoir by two extraordinary women. To bibliophiles, persons who love to read, and those who enjoy seeing women triumph in a male-dominated milieu, I cannot recommend highly enough this book. (And the books they handled, my god the books!)

2 feisty New York ladies on the European antique book hunts in the 1920s mostly. A delight to read, ( )

This was a very interesting account of the literary sleuthing lives of two remarkable women. Underlying their mutual love of old and rare books was so much knowledge of world history, literature, languages and art that I was often more impressed by their ability to know what they had discovered than by the treasure itself. Imagine picking up a 16th century volume of sermons by Martin Luther, seeing the woodcut portrait on the title page, and having the mental historical resources to suspect that this might be the earliest portrait of Luther in existence.
In addition to being internationally respected collectors and sellers of antiquarian books, the authors were both prolific writers. Rostenberg and Stern each had their own areas of specialization, but they also often collaborated on books about their trade in general, and their own experiences in it in particular. Leona Rostenberg researched and wrote throughout her life on the history of publishing and printing. Madeleine Stern became widely known as an authority on the literary "double life" of Louisa May Alcott, editing several collections of Alcott's so-called "blood and thunder" pot-boiler stories, which she tracked down in their original publications in an endeavor quite worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
February 2009 ( )

I wanted to read this book as extension of my study of Louisa May Alcott. I expected the discovery of Alcott's sensational stories to have a bigger place in the book. I had read Madeleine Stern's biography of LMC. Most other LMC biographies are at least partially based on hers.

Leona and Madeleine switch off telling their story. At times I got confused about who did what. After they start their book business most of the stories are about how they found certain obscure rare books. In the beginning I was fascinated, but after a while it sounded all the same. It struck me that they found most rare books by simply remembering a small, to the layman insignificant, fact. How these two women must have studied to know enough to get the Fingerspitzen gefuhl (sensitive fingertips= intuition) they talk about. I really admired them. I also had never thought that there was a feminist slant to rare books, but there obviously is.

I enjoyed reading most of the book, but lost interest in the last quarter of it. ( )

This book promised more than it delivered. It was written by two women who had been friends since girlhood in the early 1900's. Now in their 80's, they began their dual memoir by describing (in alternating chapters) their families, their childhood, and how they met. The reader learns how they became interested in the rare book business, and how that business operated then and now. In addition to the many rare books uncovered in dusty bookshops, attics, and barns, one of them discovers that the highly respected children's author Louisa May Alcott wrote lurid "blood and thunder" novels under a pen name.

Why was I disappointed in this memoir, and why did it take so long to finish reading? I can't really put my finger on "why" unless it was their pedestrian writing style. About a quarter of the way through it began to drag, but every so often the story would pick up when they described their bargain finds (I love discovering treasure in thrift shops and at garage sales). It was enough to keep me reading and hoping for improvement, and then I felt obligated to finish it because these two women had written it with the best of intentions. Ironically, I found this like-new copy in a thrift shop for $2.50. It was autographed by both authors, and included a bookmark advertising their book. ( )