The Glen Thrasher Collection

As much as we like to think that Glen Thrasher's claim to fame is as the longest-serving bookseller in A Cappella history, the truth is that Glen had established himself well before he came to work here as an important figure in Atlanta's 1980s underground. As a tastemaker, promoter, and performer, Glen made the scene, literally and figuratively. He chronicled all of his varied interests in his infamous, and now scarce and collectible, zine, "Lowlife." 

"Lowlife" was featured in the book "High Weirdness by Mail: A Directory of the Fringe: Mad Prophets, Crackpots, Kooks & True Visionaries." Whether or not Glen ever fit all of that subtitle's descriptors, they do at least serve as a fair introduction to his impressive and unique book collection, which we are now proud to offer for sale. 

By the time Glen came to work at A Cappella in the 90s, his book collecting tastes had coalesced around Modernist, mostly British, writers, revolutionary political and artistic movements, and whatever else his fertile mind found interesting. He had started building his collection before then, but it grew beyond what he could house during his decades as one of our primary buyers.

Health and other issues reduced Glen's hours here in recent years, but during the pandemic, releasing his collection back into the world has proven to be energizing, and he has again become our staff iron man, arriving every single morning before sunrise to revisit and lovingly catalog his collection. Many have sold, but even though the catalog numbers around 1000 items, there are still many more to add. 

Among these volumes, you'll see an ample selection of the expected works by and criticism of his favorite authors: Beckett (the subject of his Master's thesis), Borges, Joyce and Nabokov, and more surprising obsessions, like P.G. Wodehouse and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." A number of Glen's favorites are largely forgotten avant-garde figures like Ivy Compton-Burnett, Ronald Firbank, Henry Green, Rayner Heppenstall, and B.S. Johnson. You'll also notice his infatuation with brilliant families like the radical Cockburns (Claud, Patrick, Alexander) and the aristocratic Lehmanns (John, Rosamund, et al.) and Sitwells. 

Of course, there's a lot of material on jazz, punk rock, 60s counterculture, some very tasty selections in film, art, and photography, and, generally speaking, an incredibly wide range of very smart books in almost every category. 

Shop the full inventory here or click the image below.