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Ad Rates / Articles / Classified Ads / Editorial / Home / Links / Showtime   Antiques and Collectibles Articles   Follow the arrows to other stories Regional Collecting in North America   By Ted Currie I initially began collecting regionally published histories because of my “up-close” and very personal association with a printing press. I was so close in fact, I could slap the printing foreman on the back, smell the ink, watch the shifting, rolling, thunderous marvel of technology slam down plate against paper, and then witness a page of the book appear out of apparent thin air.   Like a wide-eyed kid at the carnival side-show, I stood there in awe as the rhythmic old contraption printed out the pages of the latest book written by a local historian.   “Want to get your head torn off,” asked the foreman of the gawker hovering precariously close to the mechanism of the press. “See that line on the floor,” he asked gruffly. “Why yes, yes I do,” I responded, expecting to be beckoned a step closer to get a better look.”   “Well, if you put your nose over that line Ted, you’ll be going over to the hospital with what’s left of it in a bag!” “Nuff said,” was my response in hasty retreat back to a safe distance of observance.   My first reporting gig was with The Herald-Gazette Press, in Bracebridge, Ontario, a successful newspaper and local book publishing company operated for decades by the Boyer family. I arrived on the scene at the transitional stage, in 1979, when the old type-setting era was being toppled into obscurity by ever-changing computer innovation.   I remember jumping into the dumpster to rescue a few pieces of old lead type to show my kids if, by happenstance, they ever wanted to know just how long dear old dad had been “in print.”   The Herald-Gazette didn’t produce thousands of titles during its company history, but our press was well known for high quality materials, top notch workmanship and durable bindings.   As newspaper office staff, (reporters often had to cover the front desk at lunch hour) we often sold these titles of local history from the counter-top display. Our Associate Editor at the time, Robert J. Boyer, and his family, had written numerous histories themselves, so I read them first. I had a close relationship with Mr. Boyer and he offered many impromptu lectures about local history and the importance of record keeping, to assist (family and community) researchers down the road.   I can remember people getting quite perturbed because we had sold out of a particular title, but very few of the books were reprinted back then, unless a customer was ready to re-invest.   As a book collector-dealer by profession, this issue of supply and demand has become an end-all in my trade. What happened at The Herald-Gazette Press can be paralleled to what was being published at small community newspaper presses, and commercial printers, all over North America.   Regional titles were being published in small numbers that were adequate at the time but obviously not enough to meet a renewed interest today. Thus there has been a huge increase in the price of these out of print gems on the antiquarian and out-of-print book market.   A Good Town Grew Here, written by Robert Boyer as part of a town centennial project in 1975, was still in ample supply up until 1981, and I sold enough of them from the front counter to be an expert on post publication interest. I believe we sold them for under $20. In 1991, I was selling the same book, in excellent condition, for $100 each and it got to a point in 1992 that I couldn't buy more, even at auction, for less than $125.   There was a cooling-off period as demand shifted to newly published histories that by the 1990 to 2000 period had flooded the market. Mr. Boyer’s book is still valued at between $50 to $75, in good condition. The value of the book is tied, in Mr. Boyer’s case, to the fact there is so much information contained within; a researcher would have to use five our six sources otherwise to get the same information.   My early foray into Muskoka print collectables led me onto many other regional antiques and memorabilia. I have been buying and selling regional histories in Muskoka since the early 1990’s and have appraised numerous collections for local museums, as well as having built from “book one,” many private regional libraries for new clients.   From the experience I garnered from working for The Herald-Gazette, I broadened my interest to any type of limited printing “local” histories, from districts across North America, because of the same print-run knowledge I picked up from the Bracebridge publisher. The rule was “print for the time, and not one day beyond.”   Competition for these often scarce and important histories, penned by the earliest community historians, has driven up the price considerably in this new century. What was considered “vanity press” productions, books financed by respective authors, have become hot items among hobby and family historians, libraries, national, provincial and local archives, and amongst descendants of those mentioned in the pages of these humbly produced local histories.   What began as a simple book collecting interest, generated into a much more aggressive ambition to gather all varieties of local Muskoka memorabilia, from print materials, to crocks and dining ware, displaying the name of a local business enterprise, for example, or in the case of dinner plates, the name of a Muskoka Lakes steamship, such as the Sagamo and R.M.S. Segwun (the restored, still operating steamship in Gravenhurst).   The interest in Muskoka’s former boat building industry is huge, and if you should be fortunate enough to find a Ditchburn hulk, a name plate or invoice carrying the Ditchburn name, well, you’re not likely to have a problem attaining a profit should you wish to sell.   I have collected and sold everything from autographs of well known Muskokans, to a bench that once graced the steamship Sagamo. Collecting Muskoka resort memorabilia is enjoying enormous interest today and a simple Bigwin Inn plate from the Lake of Bays resort can sell for more than a hundred dollars depending on condition.   Of course, with any up side to a collecting trend there is wild speculation, so it will take some time to find the “new normal” of “prices paid,” something local appraisers have to pay attention to, in order to get a handle on valuations for clients.   In the next column in the Wayback Times, I would like to provide a clearer glimpse of this regional surge of collector interest in local history, and profile why, for example, this has occurred in Muskoka, more actively than in some parallel vacation region communities.   The Currie family of Birch Hollow, Muskoka, wish to extend good wishes to readers for an ongoing prosperous and happy New Year. Ted Currie is a freelance writer-historian living in Gravenhurst, Ontario, where he and his wife Suzanne operate Birch Hollow Antiques, an e-commerce enterprise specializing in old books, historic documents and art. If you are interested in provincial environmental matters, you can “blog-on” to Ted Currie’s new editorial mission to preserve the forests and wetlands of Muskoka at http://thenatureofmuskoka.blogspot.com/   Other articles by Ted Currie   Regional book collecting Book sleuthing Books at auction Christmas traditions         Return to top of page   This Is Livin' Publishing © 2007 581 8th Line West, RR1 Hastings, ON, K0L 1Y0 Phone/Fax: 705-696-1833   webmaster