The Antiquarium: This Omaha fixture will relocate

The Encounter magazine
By Maureen O’Halloran Clark
March/April 2007

The Antiquarium, an Omaha fixture for 37 years, will be relocating 70 miles south to Brownville, Nebraska. Tom Rudloff, who is the co-owner with his sister Judy, anticipates that the move will not be complete until September. The Antiquarium is located in the Old Market on Harney, between 12th and 13th streets.

Every nook and cranny, even the rafters, is crammed with secondhand books. Some are recently published while the older and more valuable ones are kept in its Rare Book Room. Rudloff chose the name “Antiquarium” after returning from a trip to Germany. The German word “antiquariat” means secondhand bookstore and the English word “antiquarian” is that which relates to antiques or antiquities, especially rare and old books.

Inside the Rare Book Room there are a number of fascinating publications. One shelf is labeled “Local History.” Among other materials, it has a special edition of the Omaha Bee newspaper entitled “The Track of the Tornado: Easter Sunday March 1913,” as well as several books by Nebraskan authors Mari Sandoz, John Neihardt and Willa Cather. Across from that shelf is a Time magazine from 1931 with Willa Cather on the cover. Another section of shelves is devoted to children’s books, including two copies of “A Child’s Garden of Verses,” by Robert Louis Stevenson, printed in 1923 and 1924.

Rudloff is particularly proud of a ten-volume set, published in 1902, of the complete writings of Walt Whitman. He explains that the set not only has all of the volumes but it has the original oil cloth covers with the boards underneath in perfect shape. He says that he has never found another set like it and therefore has priced it at $12,000. He also offers “Gulliver’s Travels,” printed in 1862, for $350 and the English edition of “Stories From Hans Andersen,” printed in 1912, for $250. Over 300 of the Antiquarium’s books can be seen on its Web site, antiquarium4books.bravehost.com, through its eBay link.

Rudloff makes the point that being old does not necessarily make a book valuable. “The only people who think old is valuable are the people who have an old book in their hands and want to sell it. I have yet to find someone who bought a book just because it was old.” In addition, he points out that being a first edition does not make a book valuable either. Every book has a first edition and there are books that aren’t any good.

He tells the story of an attorney who consulted him and one of his colleagues about books from an estate. The two went through a shelf of 16th century books and pointed out one that they recognized as valuable. It did in fact sell for $15,000. Though the other books were also offered for auction, no one bought them. The attorney gave the remaining 16th century books to his book-dealer colleague who then tried unsuccessfully to sell them for $7.50. He finally lowered the price to $4.50 and still had trouble selling them.

The Antiquarium also sells economical classics and more contemporary books. During our interview, a young woman bought “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” for $2. She commented, “This was a lucky find. I was just going to buy this at Borders for $20.” A number of other regular customers seemed to be drawn in as much by Rudloff’s friendly salutations and quips as by his books. One man commented after forgetting another customer’s name, “I couldn’t remember his name to save my life.” Rudloff responded, “Well lucky it wasn’t a matter of that.”

Several other people came in with specific requests. Each time, without consulting a card index, Rudloff took them to a specific shelf and pointed to several titles. This seemed like an incredible feat since he estimates there are 100,000 books. As one looks around, that estimate is not hard to believe. One man was doing research about a murder in Chicago that happened in the 1930’s. Rudloff walked to his “True Crimes” section and offered several possibilities. Then he walked to his “Illinois” section.

The store’s bookshelves are labeled. A sampling of the labels include “cookbooks,” “antiques & collectibles,” “children’s books,” “Native American,” “Trains,” “Eisenhower,” “Truman,” “pocketsize paperbacks,” and even “books about books.”

When asked about his interest in books he says that he has always been a reader and always has had an interest in the “whole gamut of intellectual endeavor.” He remembers having a clubhouse in his garage in the 3rd or 4th grade. There they lined up orange crates for the bookshelves of a makeshift library. That was his first collection of books.

It wasn’t until much later that he got into the business of selling books. In 1968, Duchesne College closed, giving some of its books to Duchesne Academy. The rest were offered for sale. Rudloff and his sister were there and had selected massive stacks of books to buy. Mother McMenamy noticed the stacks and assumed that they intended to resell them. She then asked them to sell the remaining books and offered them a commission. They agreed and began selling the books from their mother’s backyard.

When the sale could no longer continue because of the onset of winter, again their garage became filled with books. Looking for a buyer for their “collection,” they approached the owner of Books and Magazine Unlimited at 1210 Farnam. Rudloff laughed, “It kind of boomeranged on us.” The owner wasn’t interested in buying their books but instead offered to sell his business to them. So in 1969, the Rudloffs bought the business and moved their books into the shop. Then in 1974, in order to make way for the Gene Leahy Mall, it relocated to its current building on Harney.

A tour of the Antiquarium reveals that two rooms on the top floor have exhibits of local artists’ works, predominately those of Bill Farmer. Rudloff explained that in 1979 he became aware that Bill Farmer’s artwork was deteriorating due to poor storage conditions. He offered Farmer the second story to display his art. He added, “One of the factors for moving was to continue to carry the Farmer works to future generations.” In Brownville, he plans to integrate the books and art displays throughout the entire schoolhouse he is remodeling.

A plaque on the wall at the front of the store has a poem by Emily Dickinson.

There is no frigate like a book
To take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.
This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears a human soul!

If a book is a frugal chariot, then a secondhand book is a frugal chariot indeed! In April, May, and June, Antiquarium’s patrons will have the bittersweet opportunity to stack frugality upon frugality during its moving-out-of-Omaha sale. After the sale, they will miss this Old Market shop and its proprietor with his quick-witted and scholarly banter. Rudloff himself reflects, “It has been a great 37 years in Omaha. I wish there was enough business in used books that lots of people could have the same happiness that I have had.”

Article text © copyright 2007 Maureen O'Halloran Clark