Booth 887 at Rags to Riches Antique Center and Flea Mall

08/03/2026

04/11/2026

Did you know? Among all the signers of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson read and owned the most books.📚

He declared books to be “necessary of life.” (He also said the same thing about w**e, scented hair powder, and…“sallad” oil?) A self-described bibliomaniac, Jefferson had a voracious appetite for reading from his youth. He relied heavily on his books as his chief source of inspiration and practical knowledge, and strongly believed in the importance of reading and education in building an informed citizenry for the nation. Jefferson helped form the nation’s first congressional library in 1802 while president of the United States, and his Monticello library later became the foundation for today’s Library of Congress when he sold his books in 1815 to replace the collection destroyed during the War of 1812.

Before his death on July 4, 1826, he also curated the University of Virginia’s first library collection.

04/07/2026

04/07/2026

Added in the past few days: 166 books and paper items covering numerous genres.

02/15/2026

The anecdote about students writing to Rudyard Kipling plays on his reputation as one of the most celebrated and well-paid writers of the late Victorian era. By the 1890s, after successes like The Jungle Book and his widely read journalism in India and Britain, Kipling commanded unusually high fees from magazines and newspapers eager for his vivid imperial stories and sharp prose.

Tales of his earnings circulated widely in literary circles, often exaggerated, and the story of cheeky undergraduates from Oxford University sending him coins became a popular illustration of both his fame and his dry wit.

Historians generally regard the episode as apocryphal, part of the broader tradition of humorous literary legends attached to famous authors.

Payments by the word were indeed common in journalism at the time, but the figure of “10 shillings per word” is almost certainly inflated to emphasize Kipling’s perceived value and mastery of concise expression.

02/11/2026