Richard Ford's T-shirt, Going Once, Twice…

Over the years, booksellers have found many unique ways to put money in their cash registers, but the latest from Ruminator Books in Saint Paul, Minnesota, has reaped national attention and sent authors and friends of the bookstore rummaging through their homes. Ruminator is hosting an "Author Artifact Auction" from November 15 - 19, and writers across the country are digging through their basements and bookshelves for pens, t-shirts, signed books, broadsides, and other authorial paraphernalia to contribute to it.

Ruminator Books in St. Paul, Minnesota

Ruminator's David Unowsky told BTW that Ruminator is holding the auction because the store needed to "start raising money for various reasons," but also to "celebrate the bookstore's relationship with authors." He added, "It'll be terrific attention for us … it will reemphasize the relationship between independent bookstores and authors."

Authors are demonstrating their appreciation with a generous originality. Russell Banks donated a letter written to him by Jonathan Safran Foer on a piano scroll of "It Don't Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing." Paul Auster's giving away his broken reading glasses. A butterfly pin from Julia Alavarez. A drawing of a cuttlefish from Oliver Sacks. Richard Ford's t-shirt. And the Romanian flag that inspired The Hole in the Flag: A Romanian Exile's Story of Return and Revolution (William Morrow) is being given by Andrei Codrescu.

Unowsky said that authors weren't the only ones contributing. Customers and friends are also donating author artifacts, including a first edition of Watership Down. "It's great fun," said Unowsky. "It's emotionally satisfying to hear from authors and customers, and that they are giving something of value to help us out."

The auction will be held online and will be accessible through a link on Ruminator's Web site, ruminator.booksense.com. Items will be available for viewing on November 3. Unowsky said that the Ruminator will most likely conduct the auction through a Web site such as E-bay, since the expected volume of bidders and visitors to the site is so large. --Karen Schechner