How did you get started?
We were both collectors from the days we had to hide from our various parents by reading with flashlights after lights were out! Forty years later, after meeting in Morgantown, West Virginia, we started to buy collections and wholesale them, by subject, while we were professors in West Virginia schools. When our large old house threatened to collapse from the weight of the books and we had only an alley through the living room, we knew that something had to give. It was Barbara's teaching job. We opened our first store using the collections stored in the house on July 24, 1980. By 1985 we knew we wanted to move to warmer climes, so we started a long hunt for the perfect location for our antiquarian bookstore and our hedonistic bodies (warm-water ocean and no snow). Luckily, we found heaven on earth in beautiful St. Augustine, Florida. We opened our showroom here in October 1988 and have been in paradise ever since. If you weren't selling books, what would you be doing?
Over 20 years ago, we decided being booksellers was a great occupation for our retirement years. However, it became much more fun than teaching, so we didn't wait till then. Neither of us can possibly imagine any other career at this time, though we might like to play a little more bridge. Name 5 people, living or dead, you would invite to a dinner party.
Harvey: Einstein, my mother (Rosalind), Judas, Hendrik Van Loon, Barbara.
Barbara: Mrs. E.D.E.N. Southworth, Gene Stratton Porter, Ernest Holmes, Ellie Smeal, and Lillian Waugh. What children's fiction character should rule our country?
Harvey: Peter of the wolf fame. He's brave, enlists assistance, acts, and knows how to behave.
Barbara: Dr. Doolittle. He has great empathy with animals of the world and could transfer it to people. Contact Barbara Nailler and Harvey Wolf:
Wolf's Head Books, Inc.
48 San Marco Avenue
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Phone: 904-824-9357
Fax: 904-824-2212
E-mail: wolfhead@aug.com
Specialties: Military, Regional Americana, Florida History/Fiction, Juveniles, Signed Books, Letters, Documents and Ephemera |
Operating from St. Augustine, Florida, Wolf's Head Books is owned by Harvey Wolf and Barbara Nailler. Harvey, a former West Point cadet says he was "rudely kicked out, for cause -- boy were they right." He has worked as a scientist in the aerospace industry and as a professor before settling on the book industry. Barbara, no slouch herself, is also a former professor and a metalhead at heart, favoring the likes of Led Zepplin, Black Sabbath, and UFO.
Tales You Won't Believe
The Hidden Hand
The Alexandria Quartet
