Putting some Gloss on old, rare books

By Jeanne FederPrint Story | Email Story
Kenneth Gloss with a few of his treasures. (Submitted Photo)
PITTSFIELD — Most people don’t find forgotten letters from Thomas Jefferson stuffed in an old notebook in the attic, and they might not know what to do with it if they did. The first step could be to take the letter to a professional — someone who could, with one glance, give pretty good odds on the authenticity of the find — someone like antiquarian book dealer Kenneth Gloss. If this scenario sounds familiar to fans of the popular Antiques Roadshow on PBS, it is with good reason: Gloss has been a guest appraiser on that show and many others on radio and TV over the years. The dealer and owner of Boston’s Brattle Book Shop is taking his own show on the road and will offer free verbal appraisals to those who bring in their own treasured volumes following his upcoming lecture at the Berkshire Athenaeum. The lecture, “Treasures in Your Attic: Old and Rare Books,” which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 27. Gloss, a member and past president of the New England Antiquarian Booksellers Association, has also served on the advisory boards of the USS Constitution Museum and the Boston Public Library. He will bring several interesting books, magazines and ephemera, such as a 1912 World Series Scorecard, a sales brochure for the Titanic and old LIFE magazines (he owns the complete set). An arcane profession like antiquarian book dealer might conjure up an image of a somewhat removed, possibly hermit-like personage, who relates best to esoteric pursuits, happily detached from the day-to-day. But Gloss believes he is very down-to-earth and worldly about the family enterprise he took over from his dad. “I got a degree in chemistry in 1973, and after spending a summer at a chemical corporation, went to work with my dad,” he said during an interview last week. “I always liked the book aspect, but it was a challenge working with my father — I used to get fired two-three times a week in the beginning.” Gloss learned both the book business and the fine art of working with family, taking over the firm when his father died in 1985. Brattle Book Shop has been on West Street in Boston since 1959 and became such an institution there that, following a fire in 1980 (the store burned down and there was minimal insurance), then-Mayor Kevin White helped buy new books; the community contributed, and Gloss was able to rent a new store down the street. Brattle Books carries everything from a rare, limited and signed Hart Crane volume (with images by Walker Evans) to outside tables with books for one dollar. Gloss’ stories about his business experiences and clients would make a fascinating book in themselves. “Edward Bernaise, a marketing pioneer who coined the name, ‘Public Relations,’ and was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, taught me: ‘you move the emotional element,’” he said. As he shared his stories, it was clear the book dealer took that lesson to heart. “I walked into a home [on an oceanfront, 100-acre estate] in Manchester, N.H., and saw four Gilbert Stuarts hanging on the wall. It turned out the owner was a direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson, and the paintings remained in the family since they were painted by Stuart,” he said. According to Gloss, unearthing treasures is one of the joys of the book business. “In another instance, I visited a man who was ‘cleaning out his house.’ I picked up a 40-year-old notebook and found original letters saved in it from Jefferson and Madison dealing with the War of 1812. In one, Jefferson described ‘how to deal with traitors and terrorists.’ One woman had a letter from JRR Tolkien to his public relations representative at Houghton-Mifflin, answering detailed questions for the public about his book “The Lord of the Rings.” The letter answers a lot of questions fans ask to this day.” When queried about his weirdest experience, the dealer is quick to answer: “That would be the vial of dirt from ground zero in Los Alamos [the nuclear test site in New Mexico]. The caller said he had documentation proving it was authentic, and I told him I didn’t doubt it but said emphatically, ‘Don’t bring it in!’” Great stories or not, Gloss knows his trade is a business. “The smartest move I’ve made was that I bought our building in downtown Boston 20 years ago. It is near the Boston Opera House and the new Ritz Carleton,” he said. And the dealer has seen changes in his business, especially with the advent of online sales. “The Internet has made a huge difference in the reference area,” he said. “In the last five years, we’ve had one call for encyclopedias. I have a friend who is a judge who tells me that online services have replaced the need for large legal libraries. He has a great collection of books in his chambers, but the research is done online. The Internet has brought prices down dramatically. It has put many mid-level specialty dealers out of business, while people who deal in really rare books are doing fine. Many academic libraries that used to buy books in advance for future needs now use the Internet as their warehouse, waiting until the last minute to buy books for professors’ use.” Gloss said Brattle Books continues to do well by “specializing in not specializing” and carrying every kind of book. The lectures and travels that he does alone and with his wife, Joyce Kosofsky (who also works at the store), are interesting and a good marketing tool. Whether it’s their trips to Omaha, Neb., or Bismarck, North Dakota for the “Antiques Roadshow” (which does not allow appraisers to solicit clients directly) or weekend drives to lectures in Pittsfield, here in Berkshire County, eventually calls come in from people they meet on the road, he said — sometimes a week later, other times even five years after the fact. “Inevitably, people love to hear what their family treasures are worth, and they like to live vicariously, watching over my shoulder when I appraise the finds of friends and neighbors,” Gloss said. So, on Jan. 27, it couldn’t hurt to bring in that dusty old volume from the shelf in the guest bedroom, especially when the appraiser has some entertaining yarns of his own to tell.
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Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant. 

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building. 

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu. 

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building. 

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.  

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns. 

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot. 

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use. 

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