By Mike Stucka
Staff writer
July 11, 2008 12:52 am TOPSFIELD — The second time Elizabeth A. Coughlin learned her ABCs, it took her about a year. Coughlin, a freelance photographer and Topsfield native, partnered with Topsfield Grange No. 184 to create what may have been the town's fastest-selling book, when a second print run sold out earlier this month — after only being around for two weeks. The book, "The Topsfield Massachusetts ABC Book," isn't about to crack the best-seller list on Amazon.com any time soon. The second print run was just 30 copies, with another printing not planned until this fall, so copies could wind up under Christmas trees. Still, it was an unexpected success for a book intended to highlight the town. Coughlin said one woman bought a half-dozen copies as graduation gifts that remember Topsfield's uniqueness. While the ABCs are normally taught to children, Topsfield's book features beautiful glossy pages and is more like a coffee-table book. Coughlin said she had to revisit spots over and over again until she got just the right photo, with lighting and parked cars being her worst enemies. One photo, on the other hand, was almost an accident: She got the letter "J" for the jumping fawn she discovered in her backyard, which escaped two minutes after she found it. She returned to the Topsfield Fair grounds three times to capture the letter F. Most of the ABC book is made up of everyday scenes from Topsfield. She'd taken pictures of two churches for the letter C before her father told her the town only has four churches, anyway; she went back out to do it right. While most alphabet books are aimed toward the toddler set, the Grange book is geared toward anyone who loves Topsfield, including adults. "It's more for the townspeople, because the book was dedicated to the town," she said. The first print run, of just six copies, put books in the town's two school libraries and in the public library. The second printing put another copy in the public library, so one copy can now be checked out and the other held in reserve. Margaret MacKenney, secretary for Topsfield Grange No. 184, said the book has surpassed their dreams. The second printing even raised several hundred dollars for the Heifer Project, which buys livestock for farmers in developing countries. The book itself honors the town and raises awareness of the Grange's 118-year involvement with Topsfield, MacKenney said. Coughlin said she struggled with a few letters — Z became the ZIP code on the outside of the post office, and she had to muddle through X with a picture and caption of a railroad crossing. "X was hard," she said. "I don't even know if I did it right." Others were easier, like her favorite shot of the town's gazebo, showing Q for the quaint Town Common or R for the 1817 Revere Bell that rings in the Congregational Church of Topsfield. "I say to my father-in-law — I'm his only daughter-in-law — 'I'm your favorite,'" she said. "This book is like that." Coughlin has posted some of the pictures from the book on her Web site, www.eacphoto.com.
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