Rare Books, Living Languages, and a Lifetime of Study
My relationship with books did not begin as a business. It began as a way of living.
I learned how to read seriously at boarding school, in an environment where books were not simply assigned and discarded, but lived with day after day. Reading was slow, demanding, and often multilingual. Texts were not approached as content to be consumed, but as objects and ideas that required attention, re reading, and conversation. That experience shaped how I still approach books today. I do not believe reading should be rushed. Books open themselves only with patience, curiosity, and care.
That foundation carried me to Columbia University, where I studied comparative literature and began to understand how texts speak to one another across languages, cultures, and centuries. Reading Dante beside Cervantes, or French symbolists alongside Latin American modernists, taught me that no book exists in isolation. Every text is part of a much larger conversation, shaped by history, politics, belief systems, and the material conditions of its creation.
I later continued my studies at the University of Cambridge, where my focus deepened on European, Latin American, and classical traditions. There, close reading was not just encouraged but expected. Every word mattered. Margins mattered. Editions mattered. Who printed a text, where it was printed, and how it circulated were as important as what it said. That attention to material history planted the seeds for my later interest in rare books and early printed works.
After completing my studies, I taught literature in Asia. Working with students reading across multiple languages reinforced something I had already learned through experience. Reading well is a skill, and it transfers. Whether the text is medieval Latin, seventeenth century French, Golden Age Spanish, or an early printed map, the same principles apply. Context matters. Precision matters. History matters. Language is never neutral, and neither are the objects that carry it.
Alongside this academic life, I began building my own collection. What started as personal study slowly became serious collecting. Rare books, early prints, cartography, and works tied to intellectual and scientific history. I learned the trade the same way collectors have for centuries. Through correspondence. Through relationships. Through mistakes.
I overpaid early on. I misunderstood cultural norms. I misread catalog descriptions. I learned, sometimes painfully, how differently the rare book trade operates from country to country. A conversation with a French dealer does not follow the same rhythm as one with a Spanish bookseller. What is considered polite, what is negotiable, and what is not varies widely. Language matters not just for reading books, but for navigating the human relationships around them.
Over time, those mistakes became education. I learned how to read a catalogue entry critically. How to ask the right questions about condition and provenance. How to recognize when something is fairly priced and when it is not. How to approach European dealers with respect for their traditions while still advocating for oneself as a collector. I learned that trust in this world is built slowly, through consistency, knowledge, and seriousness of intent.
That lived experience is what I now offer to others.
Through Biblio Sonora and my consultancy work, I help collectors, researchers, and institutions navigate the world of rare books and early prints with greater confidence. I assist with acquisitions, research, language interpretation, and communication with European dealers. My goal is simple. To help others avoid the costly mistakes I made, to bridge linguistic and cultural gaps, and to make the world of rare books more accessible without diminishing its depth or integrity.
Books have always been my way of understanding the world. This work is an extension of that same practice. Slowing down. Paying attention. And treating the past with the care it deserves.
What I Do and How I Can Help
I work with collectors, researchers, writers, and institutions who are looking for more than a simple transaction. My work is grounded in scholarship, languages, and access to material that often remains out of sight.
Reading and Research Across Languages
If you are working in French, Spanish, Latin, Italian, or other European languages, I can help you read with confidence and depth. This includes guided reading and interpretation, historical and literary context, and translation that accounts for cultural meaning rather than word for word substitution.
Rare Book and Print Sourcing
I help locate rare books, early prints, and specialized material that rarely appears through standard online marketplaces. This involves identifying the correct editions and states, assessing condition and binding, and helping clients avoid common and costly mistakes in the rare book trade.
Collection Development and Focus
Whether you are starting a library or refining an existing one, I help shape collections with clarity and purpose. This can mean developing a thematic or geographic focus, building around a period or author, or making acquisitions that strengthen a collection intellectually and over time.
Dealer Communication and Negotiation
Many important works are never listed in English. I regularly communicate with international dealers in their native languages to request additional details, clarify bibliographic questions, negotiate terms, and navigate the practical realities of buying across borders.
Bespoke Research
For scholars, writers, and collectors, I also offer focused research services. This can include tracing obscure editions, locating sources tied to a specific historical question, or assembling bibliographies and source lists for long term projects.
A Human Approach to Old Books
At its core, this work is about continuity. It is about keeping knowledge alive by placing it in the right hands. I do not treat books as trophies or commodities alone. I see them as conversations that stretch across centuries.
Whether you are trying to read more deeply in another language, locate a rare volume, or build a collection with real intellectual integrity, I bring a lifetime of study, teaching, and collecting to that process.
Books shape how we think. My work exists to help them continue doing exactly that.
