Ephemera

SPD Catalogs

The poet Jeanetta Jones Miller, then director of Serendipity Books Distribution (SBD), took me on as her assistant sometime in 1977. This was shortly after the organization separated financially from its founders, Peter Howard, of Serendipity Books, and Jack Shoemaker, later of Sand Dollar Books, in Berkeley. Though the finances were separate, at that time SBD was still something of an adjunct to Serendipity, a once legendary source for rare 20thC literature and ephemera, sharing its name, a book wrapper, and a funky warehouse space across the joint peacock-infested back courtyard that connected our two storefronts at 1790 and 1784 Shattuck Avenue.

 I was hired to pull orders, type invoices, and, for a short time, to wrap books for shipping. Later, Miller asked me to help seek out new presses to add to our inventory,  at which point my title changed to acquisitions manager—with responsibility for putting together our seasonal mail-order catalogs. I don't remember exactly when I started doing the covers for these—whether it was before or after Miller left the organization (and I fell into the director role). I do remember it was always a hoot.

 The gallery that follows shows some of the surviving covers made under my aegis (drawn or collaged by me). Of the many catalogs produced for the organization over its 50 years (both before and after my time), this is just a tiny sample of those produced between 1983 when I took over as director and 1989 when I moved on.