In the first book of my new Dangerous Type mystery
series you’ll meet Clare Henry and her grandfather, Chester. Chester opened his
shop, The Rescued Word, back in the 1950s. Along with repairing typewriters,
Chester had a vision: he wanted to save all kinds of words, including those in
books. He decided to learn how to repair books, bring them back to their
original glory. This included mastering how to reprint badly damaged and
unsalvageable pages.
Back in the 1950s there were no personal computers that might help with this
task. Besides, it would have gone against Chester’s ways to use something like a
computer to repair an old book. He wanted his own printing press, and he wanted
one of the best. Of course, owning an original Gutenberg press would have been
out of reach, so he decided to build his own – a perfect Gutenberg replica.
A quick look back in time - clay tablets were probably the first books. From
there, books took on many different forms with their pages being made of things
like papyrus, bone, wood, silk, and parchment. Paper was invented in China
around the first century A.D. For a time during the dark ages, silent monks
would copy books. They weren’t allowed to correct their own mistakes (some
historians believe this is because they were illiterate, and couldn’t read what
they were copying) which is why the amount of errors grew as more manuscripts
were copied.
The first moveable type printing presses appeared in Asia almost a thousand
years ago with ceramic type (letters). It was Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith,
who created the first press in the West for the Roman Empire around the year
1440. Gutenberg used metallic types and adapted screw presses to create his
printing system. He created his own hand mold into which the liquid metal would
be poured to create the type as it cooled and hardened. This was the beginning
of the mechanization of bookmaking which led to the mass production of books in
Europe. The world was changed. In fact, in the early 1600s English philosopher
Frances Bacon said that printing was one of the three inventions that changed
the world. Incidentally, the other two were gun powder and the compass.
They don’t pour their own molds at The Rescued Word, but with their typeface
collections, they can reproduce almost any page from any book ever printed.
Inside The Rescued Word, visitors and customers from all over the world can also
have their old typewriters brought back to life, or find fine papers and writing
instruments. There’s no sort of word that Chester and Clare can’t save.
We hope to see you there.
Thanks for letting me post today, and see you in the bookstores.
Paige Shelton was born in Nevada, Missouri, but wasn’t there long.
After a childhood full of many moves, and high school and college in Des
Moines, Iowa, she landed in Salt Lake City, Utah. There she met and married her
husband, had a son, and worked at a variety of advertising-like jobs.
She can’t remember a time when she didn’t want to be a writer and loves every
moment she spends with her characters and their mysterious ways.
The New York Times bestselling author of the Farmers’ Market
Mysteries and the Country Cooking School Mysteries introduces readers to Star
City, Utah, and a little shop called the Rescued Word...
Star City is
known for its slopes and its powder. But nestled in the valley of this ski
resort town is a side street full of shops that specialize in the simple charms
of earlier eras. One of those shops is the Rescued Word, where Chester Henry and
his adult granddaughter Clare lovingly repair old typewriters and restore old
books. Who ever thought their quaint store would hold the key to some modern-day
trouble?
When a stranger to town demands they turn over an antique
Underwood typewriter they’re repairing for a customer, Clare fears she
may need to be rescued. A call to the police scares the man off, but later Clare
finds his dead body in the back alley. What about a dusty old typewriter could
possibly be worth killing for?
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