Years ago, the Goldstones fled high-paying jobs in Manhattan to live and write in the Berkshires. Enough of an overachieving spark remained to ignite a contest when the search for inexpensive birthday gifts began. While Lawrence settled for a bath brush, Nancy tracked down a ten-dollar copy of War and Peace, and the couple's love affair with book collecting was born. What started as a last resort on the quest for a cheap gift soon became an addiction. The Goldstones found themselves visiting every rare-book store between Boston and Manhattan, spending ever increasing amounts of money on first editions, leather-bound classics, and out-of-print volumes. Along the way, they gained an education in books - and in people - that we can all savor.

Precious old books found in unlikely places, from the family that avoided foreclosure through a book in their attic to a copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle in a local fundraiser.