• Book expert to speak, appraise items Oct. 15 in Gardner

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Brattle Book Store proprietor Ken Gloss will speak on and appraise rare books and documents Oct. 15 at the Gardner Museum. Submitted Photo
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  By Eric Stanway Correspondent

  
  Posted Oct. 9, 2015 at 6:00 AM
  
  
  

  GARDNER - Someone finds an old book or document around the house. Someone decides to have it appraised, whereupon it turns out to be something astronomically valuable. Then there are tales of shoppers going through flea markets, yard sales or an old barn, where they stumble across a treasure trove.

  If you happen to have such an ancient artifact, you can discover just how much it is worth at the Gardner Museum, 28 Pearl St. at 6 p.m. Oct. 15, when it will host noted bibliophile Ken Gloss, proprietor of the Brattle Book Shop in Boston. Mr. Gloss will be speaking on the history of valuable literature and will give free verbal appraisals of books and items presented by the audience.

  Founded in 1825, the Brattle Book Shop has been in the hands of the Gloss family since 1949, Mr. Gloss' father, George Gloss, served the community for many years before passing the business to his son.

  “This is pretty exciting, because it’s the first time I’ve had a talk at the Gardner Museum,” Mr. Gloss said. “Basically, when I do these talks, they follow the same path - that is, I talk about old books and some of the things that have recently come into our possession. I have also discovered some interesting connections to Gardner over the years. For instance, I went to a house in Gloucester a few years ago and discovered some beautiful paintings by Walter Harrison Cady.”

  Walter Harrison Cady was a Gardner native who grew up in the area. His father, a town selectman and owner of a local general store, encouraged his son’s art skills. In time, he entered an apprenticeship with a local painter, Parker Perkins. He sold his first published artwork in 1894, and then created the Peter Rabbit comic strip, which he wrote and drew for 28 years.
  

  Mr. Gloss said other connections have come his way over the years, with surprising results.

  “Another story I recall about Gardner is from one of our customers, a guy by the name of Harry Hornblower,” he said, referring to the founder of Plimoth Plantation. “His family had a lot to do with the furniture factories and businesses in this town, and he told me that one of his relatives actually built the giant chair in town.”

  Although his audience's are often hungering for a big value for their items, Mr. Gloss says that often isn’t the case.

  “We always get the gamut of documents, from old books to documents and even letters,” he said. “These are things that you would never expect to see, that the families have been hanging onto for years and years. Surprisingly, when I tell people their books aren’t worth anything, they’re sometimes thrilled. Basically, I’ve given them permission to be released from the property. It’s a situation where they’ve held onto these things for generations and just don’t know what to do with them. When I tell them of the item’s true worth, they realize that they can just give it to the grandchildren, donate it to the local library or actually read it, since they don’t have to be so careful about damaging the book. So, really, it’s a question of extremes; people are really happy when they find out they have a genuinely valuable item, and relieved when they discover they can dispose of it with a clear conscience.”

  Occasionally, though, a genuinely staggering item does come across Mr. Gloss’ desk.

  “The most valuable book I acquired was ‘The North American Indian,’ published in 1906 by Edward S. Curtis,” he said. “The book was made up of 40 volumes, 22 of which were just large photographs of American Indians in the west at the turn of the 19th century. Individual photographs from this book sell for thousands of dollars. When I had this book, many years ago, it was worth about $120,000. Now its worth is about $2,500,000.

  “I was doing one of these talks when a lady came in with a box full of papers,” Mr. Gloss said. “She said these had been in the attic of her house for years and years. Well, when we went through it, we found a few nice things, worth a few hundred dollars apiece. Then, I came upon one particular document. I opened it, and discovered it was a copy of the Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t the first edition, but one that had been transcribed a couple of weeks later. As it turned out, the paper was worth about three quarters of a million dollars. This document had been sitting in her attic since the days of the Revolution. Really, this was totally out of the blue. She had no idea that it was in the box.”

  Admission is $3, and free to members of the museum. For more information, call (978) 632-3277.