Topeka Sale, Lloyd Zimmer Books and Maps, and K-State Ultimate Frisbee Tournament

This past weekend, before attending the library booksale in Topeka, I had a chance to visit Lloyd Zimmer's shop in Topeka (117 SW 6th Ave). It was the first time I had the chance to meet Lloyd in person, after several short phone conversations, and I immediately felt welcomed at the store. After introducing myself as a fellow bookseller, he led me into the back room and cleared a spot for me on his comfortable leather chair. We compared a few anecdotes of selling on the Internet, and he shared some of his experiences with other area booksellers and running an open storefront.

Lloyd has the type of store I would be proud to call home one day. It is a real bibliophile's den, complete with a large selection of maps and prints that line the walls, it is covered wall to wall with shelving and quality titles, the most prized of which are closest to Lloyd's office. I have run across his listings on Abebooks many times, and have always noticed them for their professional and straightforward descriptions. Lloyd is one of the foremost experts on Kansas History, and his inventory reflects that. You can view his catalogues via Abe or his website, which is located here: http://www.ksbiblio.com/ He also runs several Ebay auctions under the username "ksbiblio", and is currently auctioning an original wet plate photograph of Wild Bill Hickock.

After conversing with Lloyd for almost an hour, and browsing the shop for at least another (Americana, Medicine, Psychology, and anything related to Kansas are the specialties) I realized I was running out of time before the sale, and scrambled to make a purchase. I ended up buying 3 bibliographies, which should prove to be invaluable over time in my own pursuits of dealing with Kansas History and Authors. The books I bought (and have already perused with a tremendous amount of book-nerd enthusiasm) are:

1. Dary, David. Kanzana 1854-1900. A Selected Bibliography of Books, Pamphlets and Ephemera of Kansas. Lawrence, KS: Allen Books, 1986. First Edition. 8vo. Cloth - Hard Cover. Signed by Author. Near Fine/No Jacket. ISBN: 0935868259. Number 38 of a limited edition of 250 copies numbered and signed by the author; 294 pages; Very small circular residue where a sticker has been removed from blank front end page.

2. Adams, Ramon F. The Rampaging Herd: A Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets on Men and Events in the Cattle Industry. 1982. John T. Zubal of Cleveland.

3. Socolofsky, Homer E. and Virgil W. Dean. Kansas History: An Annotated Bibliography. 1992. Greenwood Press.

Visit the shop if you are in Topeka, or the website if you cannot, you are sure to find something of interest and you will not be disappointed with the professionalism and service of Lloyd Zimmer, bookseller and gentleman.


I did end up making it to the Topeka Library sale just in time, and purchased several choice books which I have already listed:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/Lowest-Cost-Books__W0QQfclZ4QQfrppZ30QQfrtsZ0QQfsooZ2QQfsopZ2QQsaselZ48539879QQsofpZ0

The rest of the weekend was spent at an ultimate frisbee tournament in Manhattan, Kansas, home of Kansas State University. The Wichita State University WUShux team finished in 3rd place out of 10 teams, and had our friend Tom not waited until the last minute on Sunday to show up, who knows what kind of damage we could have done. We played most of our games with 8 players (you need 7 to field a team) and put on an impressive showing, going 4-0 the first day and 2-1 the second, with victories over McPherson, K-State White, Northern Colorado, K-State Salina and Nebraska. Our only loss was a heartbreaking 12-11 defeat to K-State Brown in the semifinals. Everyone on the team made a significant contribution, including 3 players who were playing their first tournament with us: Ben #1 (our French ladies' man, working at Spirit Aerosystems and originally from Toulouse), Ben #2 (also known as Beyonce, or brother of the fiance), and Beth (who joined our team as a last minute and invaluable addition, outplaying most of the guys she was matched up against).

Here is our team photo from Sunday afternoon:



I'm already getting ready for my next weekend journey to Lawrence for another booksale and the River City Reading Festival. Thankfully there is no frisbee tournament this time, as I am still sore from last weekend.