PORTLAND, Maine — Even after decades as a dealer in rare and antiquarian books, Ken Gloss—proprietor of the Brattle Book Shop in Boston and guest appraiser on the PBS series “Antiques Roadshow”—still loves the thrill of the hunt. When a book comes into his hands with no fanfare and turns out to be something special, he lights up.
Gloss thinks back to the time a museum called and asked him to appraise an item that it was going to lend to another institution. Yes, he said, on one condition: He wouldn’t do the appraisal remotely. He wanted to hold the item in his own hands. The object was “a four-page, handwritten account of Paul Revere’s ride—by Paul Revere,” Gloss says. “So you’re sitting there holding something that Paul Revere wrote up a week after [his ride].”
Keep in mind that when Gloss goes to work each day he deals in rare books and documents often worth thousands, maybe tens of thousands of dollars. But put the right item in his hands and he too becomes a fanboy. “When you hold something that Thomas Jefferson or George Washington or Albert Einstein owned,” he says, “you still have a chill go up your spine.”
At noon on Thursday, December 3, Gloss will give a Zoom presentation for Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick. He’ll talk about books (including some with Maine connections), take questions, and even do some free verbal appraisals. For more information, click on the library link listed above.