Under Cover : In the Heart of Hollywood, a Book Lover’s Paradise

‘I offered this one to a gentleman I’ve sold some old Bibles to,” Gene Blum says, bringing out from behind the counter a 14th-Century prayer book, handwritten in medieval Dutch. “It’s my rarest book. He told me that he’d have to confer with someone before deciding, and at first I thought he meant a broker or an attorney. But he meant the Lord. He must not have gotten an affirmative answer, because I haven’t heard back from him.” Blum, owner of the 37-year-old Cherokee Book Shop, says he sees all kinds, especially at his location--6607 Hollywood Blvd., right across the street from Frederick’s of Hollywood. A transient wanders in to check out the comfortable, incongruous shop with its Oriental rugs and old oak cabinets; Blum gently steers him out again. But most browsers are book lovers like Paul Carroll, who came in to buy the suede-covered copy of “Friendship,” by Henry David Thoreau, that he had discovered there the day before. “I’ve been thinking about it all night,” he said. “I had to have it.”

Most sales are made to savvy collectors looking for particular items. One of Blum’s best customers is singer Michael Jackson, who favors rare, beautifully illustrated fairy tales and children’s books. The singer never visits the shop; when Blum gets a book that he thinks Jackson will like, he takes it over to the house, or one of Jackson’s aides picks it up.

The first rare book that Blum ever sold would have interested the rock star. An English professor came in with a copy of “Peter Pan” illustrated by Arthur Rackham, best known for his illustrations of children’s books such as “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” It was Rackham’s book, signed by him, with 16 pages of original sketches. The man wanted $600. Blum’s father--who started the shop but never ventured into rare books--wouldn’t consider it.

“Are you out of your mind?” he said. “I begged and argued until he finally conceded,” Blum remembers. “About two weeks later, I sold it to a dealer in Chicago for $1,350. It’d be worth $15,000 to $20,000 today.”

Between customers, Blum tells stories--of the woman who spent $6,000 on occult books, of supplying books for the set of “Rosemary’s Baby.”

But the rare-book business, he says, isn’t what it once was. “We used to see four or five complete libraries a week; now we’re pleased if it’s one or two annually.” To compensate, book dealers help one another. “If I don’t have something when someone calls, I’ll refer them. My colleagues reciprocate.”

The telephone rings, and Blum is off again, this time to search for a rare copy of “Treasure Island.”