A warm and edifying memoir by two extraordinary women. To bibliophiles, persons who love to read, and those who enjoy seeing women triumph in a male-dominated milieu, I cannot recommend highly enough this book. (And the books they handled, my god the books!)

2 feisty New York ladies on the European antique book hunts in the 1920s mostly. A delight to read, ( )

This was a very interesting account of the literary sleuthing lives of two remarkable women. Underlying their mutual love of old and rare books was so much knowledge of world history, literature, languages and art that I was often more impressed by their ability to know what they had discovered than by the treasure itself. Imagine picking up a 16th century volume of sermons by Martin Luther, seeing the woodcut portrait on the title page, and having the mental historical resources to suspect that this might be the earliest portrait of Luther in existence.
In addition to being internationally respected collectors and sellers of antiquarian books, the authors were both prolific writers. Rostenberg and Stern each had their own areas of specialization, but they also often collaborated on books about their trade in general, and their own experiences in it in particular. Leona Rostenberg researched and wrote throughout her life on the history of publishing and printing. Madeleine Stern became widely known as an authority on the literary "double life" of Louisa May Alcott, editing several collections of Alcott's so-called "blood and thunder" pot-boiler stories, which she tracked down in their original publications in an endeavor quite worthy of Sherlock Holmes.
February 2009 ( )

I wanted to read this book as extension of my study of Louisa May Alcott. I expected the discovery of Alcott's sensational stories to have a bigger place in the book. I had read Madeleine Stern's biography of LMC. Most other LMC biographies are at least partially based on hers.

Leona and Madeleine switch off telling their story. At times I got confused about who did what. After they start their book business most of the stories are about how they found certain obscure rare books. In the beginning I was fascinated, but after a while it sounded all the same. It struck me that they found most rare books by simply remembering a small, to the layman insignificant, fact. How these two women must have studied to know enough to get the Fingerspitzen gefuhl (sensitive fingertips= intuition) they talk about. I really admired them. I also had never thought that there was a feminist slant to rare books, but there obviously is.

I enjoyed reading most of the book, but lost interest in the last quarter of it. ( )

This book promised more than it delivered. It was written by two women who had been friends since girlhood in the early 1900's. Now in their 80's, they began their dual memoir by describing (in alternating chapters) their families, their childhood, and how they met. The reader learns how they became interested in the rare book business, and how that business operated then and now. In addition to the many rare books uncovered in dusty bookshops, attics, and barns, one of them discovers that the highly respected children's author Louisa May Alcott wrote lurid "blood and thunder" novels under a pen name.

Why was I disappointed in this memoir, and why did it take so long to finish reading? I can't really put my finger on "why" unless it was their pedestrian writing style. About a quarter of the way through it began to drag, but every so often the story would pick up when they described their bargain finds (I love discovering treasure in thrift shops and at garage sales). It was enough to keep me reading and hoping for improvement, and then I felt obligated to finish it because these two women had written it with the best of intentions. Ironically, I found this like-new copy in a thrift shop for $2.50. It was autographed by both authors, and included a bookmark advertising their book. ( )

Great book. Enjoyed there adventures in the book world. ( )

A biography of two real characters! I would never have imagined that I would find a book about two old ladies who I had never heard of so unputdownable. I enjoyed this book about books so much that I started searching out the author's other books and found not all of them so well written or enjoyable as this one. I couldn't even slog through the first chapter of [b:The Life of Margaret Fuller: A Revised, Second Edition|2330119|The Life of Margaret Fuller A Revised, Second Edition (Contributions in Women's Studies)|Madeleine B. Stern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266736738s/2330119.jpg|2336683]. ( )

A biography of two real characters! I would never have imagined that I would find a book about two old ladies who I had never heard of so unputdownable. I enjoyed this book about books so much that I started searching out the author's other books and found not all of them so well written or enjoyable as this one. I couldn't even slog through the first chapter of [b:The Life of Margaret Fuller: A Revised, Second Edition|2330119|The Life of Margaret Fuller A Revised, Second Edition (Contributions in Women's Studies)|Madeleine B. Stern|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1266736738s/2330119.jpg|2336683]. ( )

This was a somewhat dry but sweet look at a lasting platonic (as both ladies point out!) friendship based on their love of books and scholarly pursuits. Madeleine and Leona take turns telling their story about their life in books.

Madeleine Stern was a teacher and author who loved doing research for the biographies she wrote. She had heard some rumors about Louisa May Alcott when she was working on a book about her. With a little detective work, she discovered that Alcott followed in the footsteps of her heroine Jo March and wrote some "blood and thunder" tales that helped pay the bills. This was my favorite part of the book as the mystery unfolded: "...Louisa May Alcott had indeed produced a corpus of deviational narratives. She might have hidden the details of her double literary life, but she had scattered through her letters and her journals and even in Little Women itself a plethora of clues. I needed to don my deerstalker, take up my magnifying glass, and embark on the hunt." (117)

Leona Rostenberg had her own literary adventure when she discovered the serialized installments of Charles Dickens' Master Humphrey's Clock scattered around a barn when she was looking for books to sell in her fledgling rare books business. She bought these mouse-chewed papers for sixty cents at the auction she was attending.

Madeleine was growing tired of teaching and decided to join her best friend in the antiquarian book store. They spent much of their time traveling around to find books, including a poignant journey to post-war Europe. They thrived in each other's company pursuing their passion for books. This was an enlightening joint autobiography and one that most bibliophiles would enjoy reading. ( )

Two members of the Greatest Generation recall their lives with books and each other. Leona Rostenberg and Madeline Stern seem to have embodied the idea of the Antiquarian book dealer. Knowledgeable, intensely inquisitive, and in love with books not for their investment value but for their significance to history and society, both women write about their academic and book discoveries with a contagious sort of excitement. You can tell as you read that these women loved their jobs, and what's not to love about discovering a goldmine of pseudonymous wild tales from the author of Little Women, or coming across one of the earliest volumes of Americana to ever exist in a British catalog for a fraction of its value?

The world as it was when Rostenberg and Stern were hitting eureka after eureka in the postwar attics of Europe are long gone, but as long as there are people like Leona Rostenberg and Madeline Stern in the world, the love of books and discovery will never die. ( )

As a novice book collector myself (modern first editions; frowned upon by these authors as "too easy" to collect), I was excited to receive and read this book. It is an elegant story of 2 women who lived outside of and beyond the expectations of upper middle class young women in the 1930's and beyond. They defied convention and became highly educated women and chose a life of book writing, collecting and selling, along with "literary sleuthing" to make connections between antiquarian books and moments and key figures in history. Thanks to their sleuthing we also know much more about Louisa May Alcott's "scandalous" stories published anonymously or pseudonomously.

I found most of the book to be enjoyable but did skim the final chapters that were highly detailed descriptions of books bought and sold. Still quite an enjoyable book. ( )

Co-autobiographies. Thier lives as book dealers, writers, researchers; their finds and methods of sleuthing amongst books and authors. Louisa May Alcott's secret writings. ( )

“Old Books, Rare Friends” is the story of two remarkable women who became antiquarian booksellers and experts but most of all, who became and stayed true friends for their entire lives. I fell head over heels in love with these two through the course of this autobiography/memoir which took each from their early childhoods through their halcyon days as their rare book business expanded and grew, and finally to old age with their curiosity and enthusiasm as fresh as when they were young.

Leona Rostenberg charted her own course through her doctoral studies, refusing to follow the path urged upon her by her thesis supervisor (who sabotaged her, in the end). She felt the influence of early printers had shaped the society of their respective eras and set out to prove it, researching in Strasbourg before the Second World War. This research would provide the basis for a profound knowledge of printing houses, the books they produced and the authors they fostered. Leona was possessed of that instinct dubbed “Finger-Spitzengefül”, a kind of tingling in the fingers which tells you that you are about to discover something rare and wonderful.

Madeleine Stern became a biographer (her first about Margaret Fuller) with a propensity for detailed and painstaking research. She discovered that Louisa May Alcott had had a secret life as a writer of “blood and thunder” novels which paid her and enabled her to provide support for her family. She succeeded in getting a Guggenheim fellowship so that she could research Alcott on a full-time basis and eventually broke through the secret identity to reveal Alcott’s alternative pen name, astonishing the academic world which had previously overlooked the clues. With their eye for detail and their Sherlockian instincts, they were perfect candidates to become expert at finding rare and difficult to find books.

Their deep love for each other informs every page of this book, making their work and explorations a joy. Hardworking, energetic, extraordinarily intelligent and perceptive, these two appear to have left the book lovers’ world a better place for their having been here. A charming book by two delightful characters. How I wish I could have known them! ( )

The "Holmes & Watson" of the rare book business describe their upbringing, education, and start of their rare book business. Chronicles their book-buying trips to Europe, as well as their
separate and joint careers as both researchers and writers. A life-long friendship of two wonderful ladies. ( )