Progress

Stage One in the grand scheme of opening a used bookstore is mostly complete. I have filled out forms, found more forms to fill out, and followed it up with another form. You humans certainly like your paperwork! I've set up the business bank account and I've done some preliminary scouting for a potential place to set up shop in the real world. Right now it's calculate finances and find a proper supplier of tea.

In other news I found a first edition of Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke the other day. It was unbelievably cheap which should have been my first warning. Upon closer inspection I discovered a few things - 1) Technically it wasn't first edition. It was published the same year and is still worth a considerable amount, but because it lacks anything to the contrary it's actually a book club edition. (I purchased this book without its dust jacket which would have made identification much easier. 2) It smells like smoke. Like it was on the bookshelf of a chain smoker for fifty years. (49 years technically, it was published 1973). So now I get to try out my rusty paper preservation skills. There's a way of getting rid of the smokey smell involving cat litter. It apparently works primarily best with a single specific brand of cat litter. Most new brands don't use the same chemicals to control odor. Who knew I'd be nostalgic for toxic environmentally unfriendly chemicals? It might take some searching, so for now we've got the Clarke book sitting in quarantine. A shame, it really is in good condition otherwise speaking.

For now, back to contemplating tea.