Visiting Eden

…the public gardens of northern california. I sold this book today on Amazon.com. It was my own personal copy that I have had since shortly after it was published, by Chronicle Books, San Francisco. It is a delightful book, the photos reminding me of the gardens that I have visited, as well as begging me to check out those I haven’t yet seen.

I was able to sell my copy without too many tears shed, as I now have the copy that I sent my mother before I purchased my own, along with the letter that I enclosed with the book. When my sisters went through my mother’s house, after her death last June, they found the book and put it with the items that they were saving for me. Now I will think of Mom every time I see the book.

Another book that I retrieved from my mother’s house was the copy of Collecting Rhinestone & Colored Jewelry by Maryanne Dolan that I mailed to her. I worked with Maryanne on the book, and we took many pieces of the early signed costume jewelry that I had in my show inventory to a photographer to do the beautiful photos necessary for publication. Maryanne did not live to see this Fourth Edition published, but she had listed me as number two under Acknowledgements. I thought that the book would not be published, but one day a mutual friend of ours came to tell me that the beautiful book had indeed been published, and “Guess who’s name is second on the list.”

I went to Barnes and Noble and asked for a copy. When it was handed to me, the tears started flowing. Maryanne had indeed been a good friend, spending time sitting in my booth at shows, checking out the jewelry, chatting with customers, and also purchasing items for some of the other books she was working on, such as American Medallion Silver. Needless to say, the book created considerable interest in the jewelry that I was selling at the antique shows, and many customers wanted to buy the jewelry, as well as a copy of the book showing the piece. I sold many copies, reordering several times from the publisher, and was also asked to autograph some of the copies.