When
I chose the name Alcuin back in 1979, it was with a sense that this man whose
vast learning accompanied by his commitment to God had integrated faith with
scholarship. His obsession with books and building up libraries began in York
and in 778 was transferred to Charlemagne's Palace School at Aachen. His
development of the Carolingian minuscule is at the center of the
proliferation of manuscript transmission. In my university studies with its emphasis on medieval and
renaissance studies, his name along with Lorenzo Valla's [the scholar who
exposed the Donation of Constantine as a forgery] were a large part of my
obsession along with the era of Erasmus, Luther, and Calvin.Until 1970, my collection [many would prefer the term accumulation] represented serious reading in a variety of subjects. I already had a BA in History with an emphasis on Early Modern Europe with graduate work in renaissance and reformation studies. But when I met Herb Caplan, the founder of Argus Books in Sacramento, my discovery of the variety of books including incunables alongside obscure ephemera inflamed my imagination. I made my way from the University of California at Davis to the Berkeley campus where now I obtained an MLS with an emphasis on the History of the Book under the tutelage of Robert Harlan. Eventually, I became a librarian and earned my MA in Western History with my thesis, "Books, Booksellers and Libraries in the Sacramento Gold Rush, 1849-1862" being published in parts over a three year period in AB Bookman's Weekly in the annual Western Americana issues. After also acquiring a Master of Divinity degree, I moved from small catalogs and sales to universities to an open store in Phoenix which was established in 1990. Since 2003 I have been located in Scottsdale, Arizona in the city's old town area.
We have a serious selection of rare, scholarly and limited editions with important ephemera in a variety of fields. Besides online searching of an inventory of over 7,000 items, we are happy to help you locate items that may be of interest from your phone or e-mail inquiries. All inquires are answered promptly.
