Bauman Rare Books / First Editions, Signed and Inscribed Rare Book Dealers in New York, Las Vegas and Philadelphia

Our Staff

Eric PEDERSEN | Bookseller Eric Pedersen hails from the Midwest, where he studied 20th Century American History in college and 20th Century American Literature in graduate school. He began his bookselling life at Bauman Rare Books’ Las Vegas gallery in 2008 and currently works in the gallery in New York City. Other than Ben Franklin’s Autobiography (which he didn’t finish), he can’t remember the last book he read written before 1900. As those who know him are (sometimes painfully) aware, he does not need a reason to start talking about William Gaddis, Thomas Pynchon, Something Happened, Ernest Hemingway, Revolutionary Road, Cormac McCarthy, David Foster Wallace, or Kurt Vonnegut, and so on… Recent favorites are Lauren Groff and Colson Whitehead.

DAVID CUNNINGHAM | BOOKSELLER David holds Master Degrees in History and Library Science. After living overseas for a few years, he joined Bauman Books in 2001. Some of his favorite authors include Jorge Luis Borges, Leo Perutz, and Robert Aickman. When not in the gallery, he enjoys travelling and spending time with his family. He can be found most evenings reading books as diverse as the Decameron to Conan the Barbarian. He shares with Borges the hope that Paradise will be a kind of library - or more to the point, an enormous ramshackle used bookstore stuffed full of serendipitous discoveries.

ALLISON MACINTOSH | BOOKSELLER A graduate of NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, Allison holds a Master of Arts in Art history and Archeology. She specializes in Classical and Renaissance history and literature, but her interests are ever-changing. With an undergraduate degree in Classics from Trinity College in Hartford, CT, Allison has excavated ancient sites in the Middle East and studied extensively in Italy. She traces her love of literature to the escapades of Nancy Drew, but she grew to revere the authors and historians of antiquity, and to adore the witty and romantic novels of Jane Austen. Since joining Bauman Rare Books in the fall of 2016, Allison is committed to learning everything left in-between.

Leah Shoer | Bookseller Leah joined Bauman Rare Books in 2017 after graduating with a B.A. from New York University. She majored in English Literature, with a concentration in Irish Literature — finding herself particularly drawn to the ingenuity of James Joyce’s novels and the lyricism of Yeats’ poetry. She studied the great English classics during her semester at the University of Edinburgh, but continued on to read widely in American Literature, supplemented by the great works by political and economic philosophers of the 18th and 19th centuries. If you were to inquire after her favorite book, she couldn’t possibly answer, the list is too long—but Middlemarch and Blood Meridian are definitely on it.

Zachary Hyde | Bookseller Zac joined Bauman in early 2019 after completing his Masters in Medieval Literature and Languages at the University of York in the UK. A Medievalist, he is sure to love almost any book relating to Norse mythology or Arthurian legend. In bookstores he usually finds himself gravitating towards writers inspired by the Middle Ages, like John Gardner, T. H. White, and J. R. R. Tolkien. As a South Carolinian, he is also drawn to writers of the American South, especially Flannery O’Connor. When not reading, researching, or discussing books, he enjoys writing, frequenting his favorite coffee shops, and traveling with his lovely wife, Amelia.

ANN DROURR | OFFICE MANAGER Ann has been with Bauman Rare Books since 1996, serving as the Office Manager, as well as a bookseller. She studied History and Accounting at Fordham University. Ann is actively involved with charities promoting lung cancer research and awareness, and spends her leisure time traveling, reading and doing needlework.

STEVE MOOSBRUGGER | INVENTORY DIRECTOR Stephen Moosbrugger joined the firm at the turn of the last century and since then has assumed a range of central duties in the company’s Philadelphia headquarters. He devotes his working hours managing inventory, coordinating the IT Department, and assisting with new acquisitions. Steve was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. At Penn State University he studied American history, a subject that still is his favorite area of collecting. He is married to Kathy, a reproductive biologist at the University of Pennsylvania, with whom he has three children. In his off hours, he serves as a youth baseball coach and is president of the Fairmount Soccer Association, central Philadelphia’s largest youth soccer club.

ERNEST HILBERT | BUYER Ernest Hilbert holds advanced degrees from Oxford, where he completed a doctorate in the Department of English Language and Literature in 2000. He joined the firm in 2003 and serves as a senior specialist at Bauman Rare Books headquarters in the city of Philadelphia, where he lives with his wife, Lynn Makowsky, the Keeper of the Mediterranean Section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthopology. He is the author of the poetry collections Sixty Sonnets, All of You on the Good Earth, Caligulan—selected as winner of the 2017 Poets’ Prize—and Last One Out. His fifth book, Storm Swimmer, was selected by Rowan Ricardo Phillips as the winner of the 2022 Vassar Miller Prize and appeared in 2023. He lives in Philadelphia where he works as a rare book dealer. He has written about books for The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and Fine Books and Collections. His poem “Mars Ultor” was included in Best American Poetry, and his poems appear in Yale Review, American Poetry Review, BOMB, Harvard Review, Hudson Review, The New Republic, and the American Scholar. In 2023 he was awarded the Meringoff Writing Award for Poetry from the Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers.

MIKE NIKLAUS | HEAD OF CATALOGUING Michael Niklaus has been with Bauman Rare Books since 2000. At Swarthmore College and the University of Michigan, his studies focused on antebellum American literature and culture.

NIAMH O’CONNELL | PHOTOGRAPHER Niamh is chief photographer at Bauman Rare Books since joining the company in 2005. When not behind a camera, Niamh enjoys Horse Riding, hanging with her dogs and her many and varied artistic endeavors.

PATRICK | BOOKSELLER Patrick first bought and sold rare books as a child, acquiring and then liquidating an impressive comic book collection. Entering manhood, he sold books and book-related merchandise at B. Dalton Booksellers and Waldenbooks (both now defunct). He earned a B.A., an M.A., and began work on his Ph.D., all in the field of Literature. He has worked at Bauman Rare Books since 2006.

ANDY HALLMAN | SENIOR CATALOGUER Andy is a senior cataloguer, editor, and writer, and has developed, managed, written and edited print and e-mail catalogues, printed promotional materials, advertising campaigns for print and online, and content for the website. He holds a B.A. in English from Harvard University, and came to BRB in 2000 after nearly a decade in advertising. He coaches the 2001 Boys soccer team at Fairmount Soccer Association, and is a weekend warrior with Bella Vista FC. He lives in South Philly.