WW2 | Remembering V-E Day

Charlie Miner, Jr. at the Vero Beach, Fla. Veterans
Memorial. Photo by JT Marlin.

Amsterdam, Holland, May 3, 2018 –The East Hampton Star just published my "Guest Words" on the death of Charlie Miner and the ending of the war in Europe, 73 years ago this coming week. 

I plan to attend the May 4 Remembrance Day in Overveen, for the ending of the Nazi Occupation of Holland. 

This Occupation took the lives of many of my Dutch-born mother's relatives, who fought against Hitler in the military or in the Resistance. Her brother Willem was piloting a Halifax III for the RAF when he was shot down over Laval, France during the week of D-Day in June 1944.

Army Major and pediatrician Dr Robert Wack wrote a book focusing on Willem. It is called Time Bomber and it is published by Boissevain Books.

BOOK FAIR | Selling Books, East Hampton, N.Y.

John Tepper Marlin (seated, L) of Boissevain Books tells the premise
of Princess Josephine and the Rainbow Dragon, its first new 2016
 book. Bill Henderson (seated, R) of Pushcart Press readies his pitch.

May 21, 2016–Boissevain Books partnered with Pushcart Press to staff a table at a Springs Community Presbyterian Church fair.

The books were arrayed based on the age groups to which they are targeted, from youngest to oldest:

• At far left, books for youngest children (e.g., Pamela Walks the Dog, Little Old Bear, Patsy and the Pup).
• Next, books for somewhat older children (Princess Josephine and the Rainbow Dragon, Andries, King Oberon's Forest).
• Then young adult books  (e.g., Penengro, The Borrowed House).
• Finally, books for adults (e.g., Time Bomber, The Box House, A Meaning for Danny).

The books-for-sale table was the only one at the fair, which was primarily made up of sellers of second-hand items.

The advantage of being a unique part of such a fair is that there was no other competition from book sellers. The disadvantage is that buyers were self-selected to be looking for second-hand items, and were not always in the frame of mind to buy a book.

It was a useful experiment. Both of us sold a decent number of books, but I think Bill and I are disposed to looking next time to join a fair that is explicitly identified as a book fair.

Other Boissevain Books news:
The Borrowed House will be coming out soon in a new edition.

EAST HAMPTON | Bois Books at Children's Fair 2014

Featured Book: Little Old
Bear, by Hilda van Stockum

Boissevain Books LLC - which was originally created by her children to keep alive the books of Hilda van Stockum - will be represented at the East Hampton Library Children's Fair in the afternoon, 2:30 to 5:30 pm, of August 10, 2014.

Little Old Bear, by Hilda van Stockum, is the featured book. It will be read out to any children stopping by the table by the author's son,  John Tepper Marlin - or possibly daughter, Brigid Marlin, who illustrated one of Hilda van Stockum's books, King Oberon's Forest.

The Boissevain Books team has been involved in bringing a Harvard singing group, the Din & Tonics, to the Children's Fair at 4 pm.

I described the last one, a year ago, here. There were 2,500 children and their families visiting the fair.

I will be reading out Little Old Bear to anyone who will listen, in the book area under one of the tents. It takes me less than five minutes to read it out. Little Old Bear was written by my mother and I try to keep it in print by reading it out. It's a great story that appeals to young and old (the bear, after all, is old and is blind when you first meet him) and I never get tired of reading it out.

The book authors are arranged alphabetically, so the van Stockum table is likely to be close to the end of the line, by the cash register.