Jane Marcet wasn’t a chemist. She wasn’t a physicist or a biologist or an astronomer – but she probably made a bigger contribution to science than anyone else in the 19th century. So why do none of us know her name? Guest Miranda Garno Nesler explains what made Jane Marcet’s contributions...
We had the good fortune of connecting with Miranda Garno Nesler and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Miranda Garno, is there a quote or affirmation that’s meaningful to you?
“Without documents, no history. Without history, no memory. Without memory, no greatness.” These are the words of Mary Ritter Beard, an...
Our Bright Young Booksellers series continues today with Miranda Garno Nesler, Director of Women's Literature and History at Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena. [Proprietor Dan Whitmore was himself an entry in our Bright Young Booksellers series back in 2011 when he was just getting started.]
Read More of Book Club:What to read in 2020 based on the books you loved in 2019
In my hands I held a copy of “Les Fleurs du Mal,” by Charles Baudelaire, certainly one of the most famous books of French poetry. And it was not just a copy, it was a first edition, signed by Baudelaire himself, with an inscription thanking the recipient for his patience...
There is a certain indescribable but instantly recognizable aura surrounding an independent bookstore. It’s even stronger when you step inside a shop that sells rare and antique books—the energy in the room feels charged. It...
TOMES features a look at 25 artist books from the 1970s and 1980s, emphasizing the works’ poetic and emotional message.
These unique works challenge the notion of the book beyond its conventional definitions. As vehicles for exploration in the realms of fantasy, personal, collective, past and present, artist books continue...
Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena feels almost like a library, there’s dark wood furniture, leather couches and Midcentury Modern accents throughout the space. But the real treasures are on the shelves.
Stowed away behind glass cabinet doors, the shelves display a number of rare pieces, including first edition, signed copies...
Read More of By Her Own Hand showcases rare books and manuscripts by women
May 18, Saturday, 3-4 p.m., Vroman’s Bookstore, courtyard
Great independent bookstores deserve our admiration—and our money. They host readings with famous and up-and-coming authors, provide a space to meet and discuss ideas, and fiercely reflect the soul of the communities they serve. Join booksellers from Vroman’s Bookstore, Skylight Books, Flintridge...
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Read More of Dan Whitmore | 212 | A Collectors Guide to Rare Books
There are countless books at the annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, of course, but also ephemera of all kinds: posters, pamphlets, calendars, playing cards. The price tags can be eye-popping — by the end of a stroll around the fair, $2,500 for a beautiful old deck of cards...
Read More of At a Rare Book Fair, the Prices Are Steep but the Lore Is Free
Rockwell Kent was on my mind owing to our new spring issue’s feature story about the time when Rockwell Kent, Rex Stout, and Egmont Arens teamed up to publish Casanova’s memoir in the states, where it was still banned. So I was perhaps pre-disposed to notice Ken Lopez’s display of a Rockwell Kent...
Visitors to the Park Avenue Armory‘s Wade Thompson Drill Hall this weekend found the vast space transformed into a veritable cabinet of curiosities thanks to the arrival of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair.
The fair, which marked its 59th anniversary this year, brings together bibliophiles, scholars and browsers...
Read More of TREASURES OF THE NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOK FAIR
We interviewed Annie Locke Scherer '08, Mackenzie Sikora '13, and Dan Whitmore '99, to learn more about the rewards and challenges of their work, as well as how they are willing to help mentor and support fellow Panthers. Connect with Annie, Mackenzie, Dan, and nearly 400 other alumni on the PolyConnect...
At Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena, wooden cabinets line the walls, displaying books that you may have only dreamed about.
“You’ll get to see and touch and interact with material that you wouldn’t be able to find anywhere, other than a museum or a library or a major private collection,”...
Read More of Yes, there’s a rare book shop in that Old Pasadena storefront
Every year, the arrival of the Armory Show sets New York City buzzing with satellite fairs, art parties, events, and more. Among the shows not to miss is the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, a celebration where bibliophiles and avid collectors can browse a vast selection of rare books, photographs, maps...
Read More of 8 Treasures at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair
A lightly worn copy of the National Woman Suffrage Association’s 1876 Declaration of Rights of the Women of the United States is for sale ($37,500) through Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena, Calif. No one knows which original owner may have folded it in her purse for safekeeping; a handful of other examples...
How is a bibliophile made? How is it that a seemingly reasonable person decides to surround himself/herself with books, beautiful books that clutter whatever space is available as though it’s reasonable to hoard books because of, what really? That books might vanish...
Many books are rare—but according to Dan Whitmore, owner of Whitmore’s Rare Books in Pasadena, that doesn’t necessarily make them valuable. So how does a lawyer-turned-book dealer decide what to carry in his shop?
“Whitmore Rare Books has been focused on exceptional copies of the literary high spots since...
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Recently, a new trend has emerged, with the five ABAA members below opening new stores or significantly expanding their existing ones.
Whitmore Rare Books (Pasadena, CA)
Whitmore Rare Books recently moved from a second-floor walk-up space to a ground-level showroom on a much more heavily trafficked street in...
… gallery or boutique that has the exact thing you must have that you didn’t know you needed — perhaps a special first edition or a signed Harry Potter book from Whitmore Rare Books. “We provide a world-class inventory or rare books and manuscripts at our Old Pasadena location,…
Written 10 years before the book that defined the Beat Generation, appeal for a $25 sub is now on sale in California for $22,500
He may have been the godfather of the Beat Generation, a self-styled crazy hobo mystic who hit the US’s highways looking for himself, but Jack Kerouac wasn’t above...
Read More of Jack Kerouac letter to mother recounts ‘On the Road’ adventures
Today we’d like to introduce you to Miranda Garno Nesler.
Miranda Garno, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I was always a reader; there was no better place to be than a bookstore or library, no...
Read More of Meet Miranda Garno Nesler of Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena
Beyond teaching us how to produce an impressive coq au vin or how to pair the right wine with the right oyster, culinary books and manuscripts provide insight into the economic, political, and educational factors that have shaped communities over time. By considering a series of antique European and American...
Read More of Cooking with Books: A Buffet of Old & Rare Culinary Texts
Rare book dealers sometimes appear as characters in movies and novels -- but what do they really do? Dan Whitmore and Miranda Garno Nesler of Whitmore Rare Books open the pages on the work of dealers, revealing that the narrative contained within a book is only part of the story...
After four years as an assistant professor of Shakespeare studies, Miranda Garno Nesler left the tenure track and leveraged her advanced degree to participate in a wide variety of fields. At this event, she speaks to graduate students about how her work as an art critic, a collection development manager...
Read More of What Can Rare Books Teach Us About Career Narratives?
What could be more mysterious than a book? Even the authors sometimes don’t know where one comes from.
USC professor Percival Everett has written 30 of them, and he told an audience in the new Open Book series of the Pasadena Literary Alliance Wednesday night that all he recalls of...
Steps from the crowds of holiday shoppers streaming into Forever 21 and the Apple Store in Pasadena, in a second-floor walk-up, a trove of unique offerings waits for book lovers with very special gift lists.
At Whitmore Rare Books, which specializes in literary first editions and antiquarian books, Dan Whitmore...
Read More of The book-lover's gift of a lifetime: rare books
Today we’d like to introduce you to Dan Whitmore.
Dan, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I founded Whitmore Rare Books in 2010, after a short stint in big law and a lifetime of voracious reading. I’ve been a collector for...
Read More of Meet Dan Whitmore of Whitmore Rare Books in Pasadena
It's hard to Dan Whitmore L'08 to pick his favorite sale as a rare books dealer.
But when pressed, he'll tell you about his biggest transaction - copy number six of one hundred signed copies of James Joyce's Ulysses, which netted $125,000 - or the sale of a signed, first...
Dan Whitmore is a book dealer in southern California. He is 35 and never experienced the halcyon days of bookselling two decades ago. He was in high school then and would go on to Middlebury College for his undergraduate degree and then the University of Pennsylvania for a degree in...
Antiquarian book collector and dealer, Dan Whitmore, isn't your average rare bookseller. As a young, dashing 30-something, he brings a novel approach on what it really takes to make it in his field.
Story by Sara Smola // Photo by MOWRY
It is often said that all of literature can be derived from only seven stories. If that’s true, then the seeds of Dan Whitmore’s dream business—a rare- book dealership based out of his California home—can be traced back to one of the oldest stories, found in the Bible: sibling rivalry.
In the dark economic times of 2009, Dan Whitmore decided to give up being a lawyer in downtown Los Angeles to sell antiquarian books. "People in the firm thought I was nuts," he says.
Read More of Younger book dealers are diving into the antiquarian trade
You can almost always find a corresponding book to someone’s interests – with a little help from our friends at Whitmore Rare Books. Whitmore is a luxury rare book specialist that works as a sort of book concierge helping you find whatever you’re looking for whether it’s an exact title...
This month we received our first catalogue from Whitmore Rare Books of Pasadena, California. Whitmore Rare Books is operated by Dan Whitmore, one of many in the trade who made the transition from collector to bookseller. It explains why booksellers generally appreciate the goods they sell in ways not often...
Read More of Exceptional Literary Works from Whitmore Rare Books
I am a reader. I loved reading literature from an early age and realized during college, that I didn’t have the time to read all the books that I wanted to. As a result, I focused on the classics, although from several different genres: Russian, Victorian, Modern, Children’s, etc. While...
When I visited the Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Fair two weeks ago (recap here), I met young bookseller Daniel Whitmore of Whitmore Rare Books, Pasadena, CA. I was glad to see his very elegantly produced color catalogue in an age when many booksellers have done away with printed catalogues...