Meetings
are often necessary evils but this one I am eager to attend. I sit at an expansive table with Bill
Allison, my friend and co-founder of the Book Hunters Club of Houston in, appropriately,
the Founder’s Room at the Grolier Club, New York City. The room is well-paneled and solidly-booked
with shelves of bibliographic publications.
Certainly the ghosts of great bookmen of the past are in attendance as
well. We are seated with approximately
fifteen trustees of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS). It is their annual meeting and our club is
being officially accepted into the organization. Bookish congeniality fills the air and also
curiosity at the two Texans who have saddled up for the ride. Being newbies, Bill and I remain fairly
quiet as the meeting progresses.
Incoming FABS president, Michael Thompson of Boreas Fine Art in
Evanston, Illinois, sits to my right.
Much to my surprise, he suggests a FABS trip to Texas for 2017. (One of the primary FABS benefits being an
annual book trip to a host city.) This
is not a spur of the moment idea but something he’s been thinking about long
before the meeting. “We’ve never taken a
trip to Texas before,” he says.
I casually suggest that I could
provide input for such a trip and would be glad to help, as in assist, informally.
Murmurs of delight echo in the chamber.
Information comes fast and heavy after that—planning, past trips,
etc. By the time the meeting is over, I
appear to be a co-chair of the venture: new guy with apparent enthusiasm thrown into
the fire. It will be fun, I say to
myself and Bill.
