Inscription from the author's grandmother on the book

Real books, made of paper and ink. From real stores, made of bricks and mortar: Nicola’s Books. Common Language. Crazy Wisdom. Falling Water. There are real treasures at Dawn Treader, Motte & Bailey, West Side Book Shop and the other used bookstores in our area. Yes, yes, Amazon is easy and “cheaper.” But at the local Barnes and Noble or Borders stores, you might find a neighbor behind the sales desk, or in the aisles.

Among the great bargains to be found at used bookstores are the deals you get when you reach for an interesting title and discover an inscription on the flyleaf. Two stories in one!

Dawn Treader Book Shop is great for this kind of hunt – especially its children’s section, which has a wonderful collection of old books hidden here and there amid the piles of multicolored, ‘80s-era paperback dross. Age adds charm and mystery to many of the inscriptions, which are more often than not written in fountain pen with the elegant sweep of fine and intent penmanship.

And people had great names back in the day: To Alver & Daffield, Christmas 1928, Grandma J. – “Don Sturdy In the Tombs of Gold,” by Victor Appleton. Or Petter from Willet, Christmas 1930. – “The Last Dragon,” by Dan Totheroh.

Inscriptions for adults are often more pointed:

To my beloved – just for dreamin’ – Lee, 1942. – “Vagabond House,” by Don Blanding

To Frank, the man with the medieval mind. Charles, May 1992, Ann Arbor – “The Making of the Middle Ages,” by R.W. Southern

Christmas ’78: To make you a better “pitcher-taker!” Richard & Anna – “On Photography,” by Susan Sontag

On the upper left of the flyleaf of a Grosset & Dunlap edition of “Grimm’s Fairy Tales,” To John + Sara Wolferd. From Aunt Anne Herron, Christmas 1945 is penned with a flourish in violet ink. There’s more at the bottom right corner of the page: For happy hours. And still more, this time in ballpoint, smack-dab in the center in a rounded hand: Passed down to Chantel.

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Some inscriptions aren’t as interesting as the books they’re in: “From Avery to Neil. 1916.” – “The Boy Allies at Liege,” by Clair W. Hayes, copyright 1915.

Maybe in 1915, or at least in America in 1915, the Great War could still be marketed as a glorious adventure – “the greatest war in all history,” as Hayes ends the book. He produced a series that saw “The Boy Allies” (18-year-old Hal Paine and his chum Chester Crawford) “In the Trenches,” “With the Cossacks” and “On the Firing Line; or Twelve Days’ Battle on the Marne.” You don’t need a hundred years’ hindsight (four years were more than enough) to cringe at the very idea of stories like these. Hey, why not “The Bobbsey Twins at Passchendaele?” (“This mud is jolly!” chuckled Freddie with a playful shake of his matted yellow curls. “Look there!” cried dark-eyed Bert. “Let’s join that fellow in the swimming hole! He’s waving us over!”)

Presumably Neil was too young to join up even by 1917, and saw his combat in the pages of this very strange book. Did his age keep him out of combat in the “greater” war that followed? Did he ever feel disappointment at “missing out”? At what age did he fully appreciate his double stroke of luck?

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Inscriptions from my grandmother started early in my life: Happy Birthday From Grams, With Love 1961 – “Custard the Dragon,” by Ogden Nash, and Love From Grams, Christmas 1961 – “Custard the Dragon and the Wicked Knight,” by Ogden Nash.

Did she want us to call her “Grams?” We called her Grandma Sylvia. She raised three kids by herself during the Depression and didn’t have much money later, either, but she never let Christmas or the birthdays of her seven grandchildren pass without a gift. Sometimes she’d send a check. (Money!) We’d carefully endorse it over to our banker – Dad – and he’d hand out the cash.

Last summer I discovered one of Grandma Sylvia’s checks in my father’s desk – a check for three dollars. I think of the pleasure my decently pensioned mother has taken in showering her two grandchildren with Christmas gifts. And how, in the spring of 1961, Grandma Sylvia bought a pair of “Custard the Dragon” books, wrapped up one for the third birthday of her then-only granddaughter, and put the other away until December.

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Sometimes an inscription doubles as a literary review. My Everyman’s Library edition of Thoreau’s “Walden” is inscribed by my oldest friend. We met in seventh grade when we thought we had little in common, and have spent 40 years discovering to our joy – and, sometimes, sorrow – how much we share. Her simple inscription, a farewell as I left home for college, reads “Domenica – from Lisa, August 1976.” It makes me laugh because I remember her assessment of Thoreau and of me, deep in my Transcendentalist period the summer before senior year: “What are you, crazy? Thoreau was a lazy-ass loser. He needed to shut up and get a job.”

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“May 1981 – To Ann – our first grandchild – We hope you will enjoy these poems as much as we have – Your Benton grandparents.”

This note appears in a copy Robert Louis Stevenson’s “A Child’s Garden of Verses” that I found in the children’s section at Dawn Treader. I have copy of my own – it was a wedding shower gift. It is inscribed on the page where the poem “At the Seaside” appears:

“Always remember

And never forget:

Don’t be afraid

To get your feet wet.

You can put your shoes in my clothes dryer anytime.

Love, Cathy”

My cousin Cathy taught me how to read. My primer was a copy of “A Child’s Garden of Verses.” Cathy was also my first best friend, and among the many reasons I adored her was because she, my much older cousin (five years!) had chosen me as her companion; we grew up around the block from each other.

The shoes? We were under a standing order from our mothers not to play near The Creek – rarely more than The Trickle back then, but still. So early one morning Cathy and I walked across the neighborhood park to play near The Creek. And, inevitably, I fell in. The Trickle barely covered my 6-year-old ankles, but still. Cathy was a quick thinker (another reason I adored her). Squish-squash-squish, I followed her back to her house, where my aunt and uncle miraculously slept through the clunkity-bang of my red PF Flyers taking a spin in their dryer.

Cathy died more than a decade ago. The Creek is much deeper now. And every time I visit my mother in the house I grew up in, I take a walk across the neighborhood park. If I ever fall in, I guess I’m on my own.

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For my nephew’s 9th birthday, I gave him copies of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (and many thanks to the clerk at Nicola’s who led me right to the editions designed for young readers). I kept my inscriptions simple: To Frankie, Happy Birthday 2010, Love, Aunt Domenica. Maybe he’ll read Tom Sawyer sooner and Huck later. Like the Benton grandparents, I so hope he will enjoy them as much as I have.

A title on my list this Christmas is Patti Smith’s “Just Kids.” The rock musician’s memoir of the boho New York years spent with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe won this year’s National Book Award for nonfiction. In her acceptance speech earlier this month, she said: “Please, no matter how we advance technologically, please don’t abandon the book – there is nothing in our material world more beautiful than the book.”

Make a note of that.

About the writer: Domenica Trevor is a voracious reader who lives in Ann Arbor and has been known to write on many things, including books.

A selection of books from West Side Book Shop. This first American edition of "Moby Dick" (the green book, next to its blue leather case) is priced at $45,000.

This month, The Chronicle is highlighting Ann Arbor area businesses where you might find just what you need for people on your holiday gift-giving list. Our reports are meant as a sampling, and we urge readers and business owners to add their own favorite spots in the comments section.

Today, we take a look at some of the local shops that sell rare and used books.

West Side Book Shop

Many of the items in this shop are older than the building at 113 W. Liberty, a structure from the 1880s where West Side Book Shop is housed. Collectors regularly visit, but proprietor Jay Platt and Doug Price – who sells vintage maps and photographs in the store – have worked to make this a top-to-bottom bookshop. Their selection is aimed to appeal to even the most casual used-book buyer.

One of their strengths is an encyclopedic knowledge of both literature and non-fiction. The Chronicle was trying to recall the name of a book by Wendell Berry, and off the top of their heads, Platt and Price were able to reel off at least a dozen of his titles. They can give you guidance on virtually any topic, from children’s books to North Pole exploration. Platt is an expert on this topic, which is especially useful during the holiday season, we’d guess.

At the store you’ll also find well-preserved maps of the southeast Michigan area from the 1800s, including some of the University of Michigan. Unique photographs are also part of the mix, like a large 1904 portrait of Native American Indian Chief Garfield-Jicarilla, from a series taken by Edward Curtis.

Platt is also carrying a first American edition copy of “Moby Dick,” published in 1851. Herman Melville is said to have liked this particular edition, which he apparently described as “very much like a whale.” You’ll have to throw down $45,000 to take this book home with you.

Platt and Price say they can help you make a selection for much less, of course – Price says if your budget is closer to $50, you can walk out with four or five books.

Address: 113 W. Liberty

Hours: Monday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.; Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, noon-5 p.m.

Phone: 734.995.1891

Garrett Scott outside his shop, which is located off of Packard behind Morgan & York. Off camera is the shop's fairy door (what – you thought they were only downtown?)

Garrett Scott, Bookseller

Tucked behind Morgan & York on Packard, Garrett Scott’s shop is the kind of place where he’ll fix you a cup of tea to knock the chill off a wintry day. Or at least that’s what he offered The Chronicle when we stopped by recently. On his website, Scott describes his store this way: “The inventory is available for viewing by chance or appointment, under central Washtenaw County’s most semi-pleasant conditions for the casual browser of uncommon 19th century material.”

Here you’ll find the first novel published in Ann Arbor – “East West,” by Daphne Giles ($225). The book had its first printing in New York, then Giles brought the stereotype plates with her when she moved to this area. She had the second edition printed here in 1855. (She was blind, by the way – that’s the kind of interesting factoid you might learn by talking to Garrett Scott.)

He’s also selling the 1902 collection of short stories titled, “Ann Arbor Tales” by Karl Edwin Harriman, with the distinctive block M on its back cover ($50). And if you’re interested in “fringe” religion and 19th century religious thought, this is the place for you.

He does carry some newer work – the instructional pamphlet “Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop” by Reginald Bakeley might prove useful for some. It costs $4.

Address: 1924 Packard Road

Hours: By chance or by appointment. It’s best to call first.

Phone: 734.741.8605

Jeffrey Pickell, proprietor of Kaleidoscope.

Kaleidoscope Books & Collectibles

Jeffrey Pickell’s shop brings to mind an organized version of your great aunt’s attic, if it were well-lit and included a tour guide – and if your great aunt had eclectic tastes.

There are vintage toys and old wooden card catalog drawers filled with all manner of greeting cards from the past century – including, of course, Christmas cards.

But we’re talking rare and used books today, and you’ll find plenty of those, too, whether you’re looking for pulp fiction, science fiction, children’s books, University of Michigan yearbooks and memorabilia, or something else entirely.

A selection of Kaleidoscope's pulp fiction.

The shop’s vintage comics range from $3 to $100, and Pickell’s sizable collection of pulp fiction – also known as Good Girl Art – includes books as cheap as $1 to some costing several hundred dollars. A copy of “Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict” by William Lee (a pen name used by William S. Burroughs) goes for $1,500.

Pickell is almost always behind the counter, and can tell you just about anything you’d care to know about the books and other items in his shop.

Address: 200 N. Fourth Ave. (corner of Fourth & Ann, former location of Wooden Spoon Books)

Hours: Monday-Wednesday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Thursday-Saturday, 10 a.m-8 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.

Phone: 734.995.9887

Other suggestions? If you’ve found cool gift ideas for people with an interest in rare or used books, please share them with Chronicle readers in the comments section below.