John Dunning - The Bookmans Promise

The Bookman'sPromise

A CLIFF JANEWAY NOVEL

JohnDunning

CONTENTS:

Alsoby John Dunning fiction

Two OClock, Eastern Wartime

The Bookmans Wake

Booked to Die

Deadline

Denver

Looking for Ginger North The HollandSuggestions

NONFICTION

On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time RadioTune in Yesterday

SCRIBNER

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New York, NY 10020

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidentseither are products of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, isentirely coincidental.

Copyright 2004 by John Dunning

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or inpart in any form.

Scribner and design are trademarks of Macmillan Library Reference USA,Inc., used under license by Simon & Schuster, the publisher of this work.

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Text set in Sabon Manufactured in the United States of America

13579 10 8642

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Dunning, John, 1942-The bookmans promise: a Cliff Janewaynovel/John Dunning.

p. cm.

1. Janeway, Cliff (Fictitious character)Fiction.

2. Burton, Richard Francis, Sir, 1821-1890FirsteditionsFiction.

3. Booksellers and booksellingFiction. 4. AntiquarianbooksellersFiction.

5. Ex-police officersFiction. 6. Denver (Colo.)Fiction. I.Title.

PS3554.U494B655 2004

813.54dc21

2003054273

ISBN 0-7432-4992-5

ToPat McGuire,

forlong friendship, timely brainstorming, and other mysterious reasons

The mansaid, Welcome to Book Beat, Mr. Janeway and this was how it began.

We were sitting in a Boston studio before the entire invisible listeningaudience of National Public Radio. I was here against my better judgment, andmy first words into the microphone, Just dont call me an experton anything, staked out the conditions under which I had become such anunlikely guest. Saying it now into the microphone had a calming effect, but themans polite laugh again left me exposed on both flanks. Not only was Ian expert, his laugh implied, I was a modest one. His opening remarks deepenedmy discomfort.

Tonightwe are departing from our usual talk about current books. As many of you know,our guest was to have been Allen Gleason, author of the surprising literarybestseller, Roses for Adessa. Unfortunately, Mr. Gleason suffered aheart attack last week in New York, and I know all of you join me in wishinghim a speedy recovery.

In his absence we are lucky to have Mr. Cliff Janeway, who cameto Boston just this week to buy a very special book. And I should add that thisis a show, despite its spontaneous scheduling, that I have long wanted to do. Asfascinating as the world of new books can often be, the world of older books,of valuable first editions and treasures recently out of print, has a growingcharm for many of our listeners. Mr. Janeway, I wonder if you would answer abasic question before we dive deeper into this world. What makes a valuablebook valuable?

This was how it began: with a simple, innocent question and a few quickanswers. We talked for a while about things I love best, and the man was sogood that we soon seemed like two old bookscout hunkered down together after afriendly hunt. I talked of supply and demand, of classics and genres and modernfirst editions: why certain first editions by Edgar Rice Burroughs are worthmore than most Mark Twains, and how crazy the hunt can get. I told him aboutthe world I now lived in, and it was easy to avoid the world Id comefrom. This was a book show, not a police lineup, and I was an antiquarianbookseller, not a cop.

I understand you live in Denver, Colorado.

When Im hiding out from the law, thats where Ihide.

Again the polite laugh. You say youre no expert, but youwere featured this week in a very bookish article in The Boston Globe.

Thatguy had nothing better to do. Hes a book freak and the paper was havingwhat they call a slow news day.

The two of you met at a book auction, I believe. Tell us aboutthat.

I had come here to buy a book. We got to talking and the nextthing I knew, I was being interviewed.

What book did you come to buy?

Pilgrimageto Medina and Mecca by Richard Burton.

The explorer, not the actor.

We shared a knowing laugh, then he said, What is it about thisbook that made you fly all the way from Denver to buy it? And to payhow much was it?ifyou dont mind my asking

Auction prices were public knowledge, so there was no use being coy. Isaid, Twenty-nine thousand five hundred, and gave up whatevermodesty I might have had. Only an expert pays that much money for a book. Or afool.

I might have told him that there were probably dozens of dealers in theUnited States whose knowledge of Burton ran deeper than mine. I could have saidyes, I had studied Burton intensely for two months, but two months in the booktrade or in any scholarly pursuit is no time at all. I should have explainedthat I had bought the book with Indian money, but then Id need toexplain that concept and the rest of the hour would have been shot talkingabout me.

Instead I talked about Burton, master linguist, soldier, towering figureof nineteenth-century letters and adventure. I watched the clock as I talkedand I gave him the shortest-possible version of Burtons incredible life.I couldnt begin to touch even the high spots in the time we had left.

Youve brought this book with you tonight.

We let the audience imagine it as I noisily unwrapped the three volumesin front of the microphone. My host got up from his side of the table and camearound to look while I gave the audience a brief description of the books, withemphasis on the original blue cloth binding lettered in brilliant gilt andtheir unbelievably pristine condition.

The man said, They look almost new.

Yeah, I said lovingly.

I understand theres something special about them, otherthan their unusual freshness.

I opened volume one and he sighed. Aaahh, its signed bythe author. Would you read that for us, please?

ToCharles Warren, I read: A grand companionand the best kind of friend. Our worlds are far apart and we may never see eachother again, but the time we shared will be treasured forever. Richard RBurton. Its dated January 15,1861.

Any idea who this Warren fellow was?

Not a clue. Hes not mentioned in any of the Burtonbiographies.

You would agree, though, that thats an unusually intimateinscription.

I did agree, but I was no expert. The man said, So we have amystery here as well as a valuable book, and it all began then. Itsroots went back to another time, when Richard Francis Burton met his greatestadmirer and then set off on a secret journey, deep into the troubled American South.Because of that trip a friend of mine died. An old woman found peace, a goodman lost everything, and I rediscovered myself on my continuing journey acrossthe timeless, infinite world of books.

If I wanted tobe arbitrary, I could say it began anywhere. That radio show moved it out ofthe dim past to here and now, but Burtons story had been there forever,waiting for me to find it.