by Jeffrey A. Rothermel Captain's Log August 15-16, 2026 Seminole Valley Farm Museum One weekend a year, I close my environmentally controlled and comfortable showroom and travel north to the humid and misty riverbanks of the Cedar Rapids. This was my fifth year of selling books from a tent in harmony with mother nature and her occasional outbursts. Why dare the misfortune of damaged paper from moisture? Believe it or not... nothing better than a rainy outdoor weekend of a

Jeffrey A. Rothermel April 29, 2026 Captain's Log: The WW2 Honorable Discharge Certificate for the Army of the United States An interesting leaf of ephemera recently entered the bookstore. It was a piece of paper printed on both sides in 1945. The front side of the document contained the bottom line. It was a certificate stating Private First Class Hesseltine "is hereby Honorably Discharged from the military service of the United States of America... 22 October 1945." The

Bookselling in a snowstorm. Nine inches of snow fell in Iowa City, Iowa on small business Saturday. The storm disrupted in person book browsing on Small Business Saturday, but not internet book orders that continued to surge.

Wise book dragons enjoy flirting with the dangers of collecting but avoid being consumed by their treasures.

Bookstores deal in obvious secrets. Cookbooks [food & drink] along with sci-fi/fantasy are some of the books that people hunt and trade.

The Captain buys used and rare books by appointment only. Please give him a call at: (319) 351-3166.

Book browsing in Mainz Germany. The birthplace of the Gutenberg Bible. A story of terrain over time.

The 14-month process of selling eight antiquarian Bibles. Determining when to buy and sell and a vintage book. Solving Mystery.

WWII Remembered 2023: Midwest reenactors browse Captain's Book Shoppe military history.

By Jeffrey A. Rothermel August 25, 2022 Secret rooms were things I read about in Hardy Boy novels as a kid. I spent my youthful summers reading the pseudo-reality adventures by the numerous ghost writers known as Franklin W. Dixon. Later in my life, secret rooms were places we looked for and searched during counter-insurgency operations while serving in the U.S. Army. Today, as a bookdealer my packed schedule had nothing on it about the Hardy Boys and secret rooms. Today,