Winter 2010
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Contents Page 1 |
Contents Page 2 |
Other Issues: | Autumn 2007 | Winter 2008 | Spring 2008 | Summer 2008 | Autumn 2008 | Winter 2009 | Spring 2009 | Summer 2009 | Autumn 2009 |
Articles from this issue:
From 'twitchers' to history lovers, we're at the collectors' heart of antiquarian book life in Virginia.
O
ne day a woman stopped into Rick Stoutamyer's bookshop in Middleburg.She carried with her the first edition of A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781 in the Southern Provinces of North America written by Colonel Banastre Tarleton -- one of the most infamous British officers of the Revolutionary War.The book recounted America's War for Independence from Tarleton's point of view, which naturally differed from the villainous way he was depicted in the 2000 movie, The Patriot.Stoutamyer saw that the book contained illustrated maps with hand-colored troop positions, and they were in fine condition. "The book had been living on a covered porch for years," he recalls, "but I knew it wouldn't be long before it would find a more comfortable place to rest." He later sold it for $5,000 to a private collector with a passion for rare books on Colonial American history. Read more... |
Skip the Mall. The best's in the 'burg
W
hen the editors of this wonderful publication invited me to write about Middleburg, my immediate response was: are you absolutely, positively sure you want a piece about ...shopping?I confess. I'm a lightweight.But at least I know my limitations: fifteen thousand on Visa, ten thousand on MasterCard.Of course there are no restrictions on my Amex, but that's just because my husband cut up my card. It's true, I could talk about the wonderful places to eat, and the pretty, quaint streets. Read more... |
It's more than money, even more than a uniquely beautiful and historic place. It's a way of life and a state of mind.
M
iddleburg? What a silly name? In the middle of what? The middle of nowhere?Not really nowhere, but somewhere vaguely on the jurisdictional boundary between Loudoun and Fauquier Counties. How could such a pedestrian name, so bland as to be meaningless, sound so...? So evocative…so magical…so rich? If there is one single placename that has come to connote the affluent home and lifestyle of the landed gentry, it must be Middleburg: instantly recognizable, with a knowing nod, not just in Virginia or even just the East Coast but around the world. But Middleburg is not snotty in the ways one might imagine.Rather, it is snotty in a perverse, arrogantly shabby kind of way.So it is that a Safeway checkout bagman can be on first-name familiarity with the rich and powerful.Or the rich and powerful might dress to look like the homeless.Or an escapee from Washington, D.C., scandal and political intrigue can open and run a successful boutique. People with the means to live anywhere in the world decide to live where? Why, Middleburg, of course! Read more in our Winter 2010 issue.. Read more... |