Back in December Hedwig of As Cool as a Fruitstand (great title for a blog) asked me where I got all my pictures for my Cinema Still Life feature. I said that I got some from the internet but mainly, I prefer to go with photo books in the hopes of getting pictures up that others haven't seen online before. The only requirements are a scanner and a great secondhand bookstore. Since I've talked about books recently due to a tag from Sheila and her great blog, The Sheila Variations, I've decided to sing the praises of secondhand bookstores for just a moment.
There's one about ten minutes from my house that's just fantastic. It's in the basement of one of the Montgomery County libraries here in Maryland. Books are donated by the truckload and of course, old library books that don't get checked out regularly make their way down as well. Just recently I went out and stocked up on three more photo books, pictured at the top of this post. The one on the left covers Jean Harlow's career, the one in the middle is all about Hitchcock and the one at the end, Spencer Tracy.
Each is filled with wonderful photos. Here's a couple of pages from the Spencer Tracy book.
Each page has high quality glossy photos from almost every film Spence ever did as well as great personal and behind the scenes photos from his life and career. I can hardly wait to start scanning. But here's the best part about secondhand bookstores - the price. Here's a closeup of the Hitch book.
That's right, 50 cents (and the MC stands for "Montgomery County", not McDonalds). The other two were a buck fifty each. Some books there cost as much as two whole dollars. And when you start building up too many (we brought home about 15 new books on our last visit) you simply grab a box, load it with books you're done with and donate them to the store so others can dole out 50 cents for their copy. It's recycling at its finest.
So go down to the nearest secondhand bookstore and start grabbing some books. If you're in Maryland, check out the ones in the county libraries for the biggest selection and the best prices. One of the great things about the prices is you can explore new areas of interest. For instance, I'm excited about several books there on Oceanography (sea life, shipwrecks, old lore). Why? Well, it looks interesting enough and at 50 cents to a dollar a pop if they bore me I'll just donate them back. But let's face it, if I'm in a Borders or a Barnes and Noble and I see an Oceanography book that might be interesting (or could be dreadfully boring) I'm not going to risk the thirty dollars - I have a family to support. But 50 cents? What the hell. And the amount of out-of-print books available is simply amazing.
So expect some great Harlow, Hitch and Tracy pics in the future. And now I'm all set for Spencer's birthday on April 5th. And trust me, with the new ones I bring home each week, I could keep Cinema Still Life going for the next 100 years.
