Bagging rare books

If you're in the market for a copy of Chase Salman Osborn's "Madagascar: Land of the Man-Eating Tree," Madlyn Blom can help.

The obscure geography book on the island country off Africa's southeastern coast – written in 1924 – is just one of thousands of unique, out-of-print collectible books lining shelves in the Old Bag Lady Books inventory.

From her Fort Duquesna home, Blom specializes in finding books most of her customers would rather keep preserved rather than on a coffee table.

Since 1991, Blom, a former home health care worker from Grand Rapids, Mich., has scoured estate sales, auctions, books stores, antique shops and even flea markets looking for bound collections of obscure, rare or just forgotten writings.

"I had just gotten married, I was stressed out from working at a domestic violence shelter and I said, 'I really don't want to do that again,'" she said. "My husband, Bob, asked what I wanted to do and I always wanted a bookstore, so this is it."

Blom, who originally opened her book business in Holland, Mich., first moved the business to St. Augustine. Five years later, in 2001, it moved with her to Punta Gorda, so she could be near her mother. There, most of her stock were on sale in an antique mall, both of which were destroyed in Hurricane Charlie.

Since moving to Sun City Center in March, Blom has bought or sold nearly 5,000 books, with about 1,000 sold online.

Among the books Blom has found was a 1948 copy of "American Harness Racing" by John Hervey at a Sarasota flea market. She ended up selling the book she paid $10 for to the president of the American Harness Racing Association for $300.

"I couldn't find where a copy had sold since the 1970s," she said. "I knew nothing about the book. I bought it because I liked the looks of it. I had no clue what it was worth."

Blom found the copy of "Madagascar" among a box of other books in a 2010 auction in Venice. When she opened it, she noted it was signed by the author and had a detailed map inside.

"It's on a topic that you're not going to find in Barnes & Noble. It is instructional, it is illustrated. I bought it for $25, I'm asking $175," she said.

Blom said she spends most of her workdays putting books into a database and listing them on professional rare book selling sites such as Alibris.com, ChooseBooks.com and Biblio.com, as well as Amazon.com.

Among Blom's most popular sellers are auto manuals, military unit histories and black Americana.

Serena Wyckoff, owner of Copperfish Books LLC in Port Charlotte, said Blom's experience in finding rare books has made her renowned among rare book sellers.

"She's been doing it for years. She knows what a good book to get is and what isn't. She has a real keen eye, for sure," she said.

Among the books Blom sells are ones that wouldn't normally be found in a particular genre. For example, "Narrative of Suffering and Defeat of the North-Western Army Under General Winchester," by A. G. Hodges, printed in 1842, is for sale for $167 due to its regional context.

Some of Blom's customers said they've found books through Old Bag Lady that they've spent years trying to find elsewhere.

Narges Ahmadi of Cape Coral said she had gone through myriad booksellers trying to find a copy of an autobiography by Ignacio Jan Paderewski, a concert pianist and composer who was a Polish pianist, composer and the second Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland. She said Blom was able to find it in a matter of months.

"She's really easy to work with and she really has a lot of unique books. She knows what she's doing and has a lot of experience and knowledge," she said.

Blom said she likes the challenge of finding diamonds in the rough in the rare book business and hopes to continue doing it for years to come.

"I plan to do this indefinitely. It's a fun and rewarding. A lot of these books, the longer someone keeps them, the more valuable they become," she said.

For information, email oldbaglady@verizon.net or call (239) 222-2949.