When deciding who to interview for The Biblio File podcast I largely go with “best practitioners” who I admire. Steven Temple (1947-2023) was one of the antiquarian book dealers I admired the most. His appreciation and knowledge of the books that constitute Canadian literature and his dedication to documenting their unique characteristics was unparalleled.
He was one of the very first used/antiquarian booksellers I interviewed for podcast. This creaky old conversation deals specifically with what Steven did in his day-to-day work. We cover a range of activities, including identifying issue points, and how he went about discovering his “little secrets;” competition, and how he tended, quite reasonably, to withhold little-known details when listing books online; about the red and blue cloth boards on early editions of Who Has Seen the Wind, about Morley Callaghan, and Ernest Hemingway; fox-hunting books and the buying opportunity they present; William Morris; collecting with the heart; the joy of investigating the books you own...
Fast forward about ten years and I’m with Steven again this time at his home in Welland, Ontario. He’d moved his business down to the “rust belt” from his former haunt at the corner of Queen and Spadina in Toronto. Got a nice shot of him on his porch (above). Here we examine more closely his penchant for finding lost Canadian literature (mostly online by this time); the pleasure he took in researching, identifying and tracking down obscure Canadian literary titles; his enthusiasm for exploring new, different collecting paths; and the thrill he experienced discovering, locating and making hitherto unknown Canadian books available to those smart enough to recognize their value.
We finish off by “un-leaning” a cocked book and bantering a bit about some of the titles I’d brought in for Steve to have a look at.
R.I.P..
R.I.P. Steven Temple, the "best" CanLit Antiquarian Bookseller