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Rating: 
Summary: Half satisfying.
Review: Although I envy these wonderful women and think it is great they were given an opportunity to tell there unique story, it was not balanced. Book dealing the over covered and their incredible friendship was just barely shared. The power of one "true" friend is something I would have enjoyed reading about.
Rating: 
Summary: Loving books and each other
Review: For everyone loving books, history and detectives this book is a great pleasure to read. With great enthusiasm Leona & Madeleine write about their lives and the books which they bought and sold. It makes one jealous of times when rare books could still be found under piles of dust instead of being sold for fortunes. So stop reading the reviews and start reading this book now.
Rating:
Summary: Loving books and each other
Review: For everyone loving books, history and detectives this book is a great pleasure to read. With great enthusiasm Leona & Madeleine write about their lives and the books which they bought and sold. It makes one jealous of times when rare books could still be found under piles of dust instead of being sold for fortunes. So stop reading the reviews and start reading this book now.
Rating: 
Summary: Old Books, Rare Friends are marvelous.
Review: Given to me as a birthday present on a misty Northwest beach,the whimsical allure of these charmingly self-possessed women residingin one of the toughest cities in the world, drew me into its first pages even as the rest of my party sat around on logs, barbecuing fine local viands & feeding the camp dogs. From their student years, surviving the Depression & WWII; to studying & getting published through the exciting times of starting a company & their book-hunting jaunts to musty basements in faraway places this is a lively, lovely duet by two voices weaving a deeply evocative memoir...
Rating:
Summary: An enchanting and thrilling saga
Review: I didn't expect to be so enthralled by this fast moving and engrossing joint autobiography by original thinkers and literary sleuths/feminists who were drawn together by a devotion to literature, the printed word, and a thirst for adventure. I expected to be interested, and was rewarded with a page turner that I was reluctant to put down. The dedication with which the authors pursued lost works of the printers' art, and unravelled conundrums of history make marvellous reading. If you love literature, as I suspect most Amazon book customers do, than you'll enjoy this most unusual duo.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and delightful lives
Review: The two elderly women, who are pictured on the book jacket of Old Books, Rare Friends, are both prolific writers who have also been
active in the antiquarian book trade for fifty
years. They are true friends, who grew to love
and respect each other as they grew in their
knowledge of old books and in their abilities to
find them. They wrote this book together, but
retained their separate identities by each
writing her own story until their stories became
the same. Thus we get Leona's history from
childhood until her dramatic failure to win her
Doctorate from Columbia, and Mady's story
through her Masters degree and first biography
of the early feminist, Margaret Fuller.
p
At this point, the two have met and realize that
they share a love of books and a lack of interest
in marriage, although both have been courted
by many. They are both devoted to their
families, but Mady gives Leona the necessary
nudge that forces her to hang out her "shingle"
as "Leona Rostenberg-Rare Books". Both
women show a rare independence of spirit and
interest and because they each write with
verve and enthusiasm, all this personal history
reads like a good novel.
p
Now the business is launched and the rest of
the book is happily spent recounting their
sleuthing adventures in old book stores in
Europe and American, founding and enjoying
the American Association of Antiquarian
Booksellers and generally having a wonderful
time supplying books to universities and
collectors. They make is sound very easy to
find a sixteenth century book that no one
recognizes, buy it for $2.90 and then sell their
find for $900 and be praised for the effort. Of
course it is not simple and their knowledge of
history as well as books is impressive .
This is a book that any reader or collector of modern or antiquarian books will relish.
Rating:
Summary: Book Lovers Take Notice!
Review: The two elderly women, who are pictured on the book jacket of Old Books, Rare Friends, are both prolific writers who have also been
active in the antiquarian book trade for fifty
years. They are true friends, who grew to love
and respect each other as they grew in their
knowledge of old books and in their abilities to
find them. They wrote this book together, but
retained their separate identities by each
writing her own story until their stories became the same. Thus we get Leona's history from childhood until her dramatic failure to win her Doctorate from Columbia, and Mady's story through her Masters degree and first biography of the early feminist, Margaret Fuller.
p
At this point, the two have met and realize that they share a love of books and a lack of interest in marriage, although both have been courted by many. They are both devoted to their families, but Mady gives Leona the necessary
nudge that forces her to hang out her "shingle"
as "Leona Rostenberg-Rare Books". Both
women show a rare independence of spirit and
interest and because they each write with verve and enthusiasm, all this personal history
reads like a good novel. p
Now the business is launched and the rest of the book is happily spent recounting their
sleuthing adventures in old book stores in Europe and American, founding and enjoying the American Association of Antiquarian Booksellers and generally having a wonderful
time supplying books to universities and collectors. They make is sound very easy to find a sixteenth century book that no one recognizes, buy it for $2.90 and then sell their find for $900 and be praised for the effort. Of
course it is not simple and their knowledge of history as well as books is impressive . This is a book that any reader or collector of modern or antiquarian books will relish.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and delightful lives
Review: Those who love books and the history of the written word have benefitted from these devoted "literary sleuths" who not only devoted themselves to located lost treasures, but who pioneered the rights of women in academe. A story of how devotede friends could pool their talents to rescue lost arts and discover the literary secrets of groundbreaking authors. A suprisingly exciting read.
Rating:
Summary: Unusual and delightful lives
Review: Those who love books and the history of the written word have benefitted from these devoted "literary sleuths" who not only devoted themselves to located lost treasures, but who pioneered the rights of women in academe. A story of how devotede friends could pool their talents to rescue lost arts and discover the literary secrets of groundbreaking authors. A suprisingly exciting read.
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