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Rumor has it these are Neil Gaiman's bookshelves:




Everybody all together now: "Mmmmmm........"

Currently I have a writer's crush on Neil Gaiman. His Graveyard Book is a little masterpiece. (And the audio version, narrated by the author, will give you goosebumps.)

This picture just proves to me that it's not how many books you have, it's how you store them.

Apparently there' s a Shelfari group devoted to Neil Gaiman's Bookshelves , "where everyone can chat about ... anything related to Mr. Gaiman’s shelves."

So I know it's a cool photo and all, but chatting about it? That sounds a bit, um...obsessive.

Spring has really arrived in Melbourne today and Ned and I have had a lovely day. It makes me happy and so does reading lots of lovely blogs this week talking about children’s books.

Jennifer from Minor Details, one of my very favourite blogs has today posted about one of her latest projects which is a room for Cookie mag using inspiration from The Incredible Book Eating Boy by Oliver Jeffers - one of the bestest picture books EVER. I can’t wait to see what she has created.  

Also check out these other wonderful blogs talking about their love of Irishman (he was born in Western Australia though) Oliver Jeffers work; here, and here and check out the handsome man himself here. His website is also very special.

Jeffers has a new book called The Great Paper Caper due this November in Australia, that will be on the Christmas list. I love the funny lumber jack bear on the jacket.

I love illustration and was very excited to find a blog called Artista, Irisz is an illustrator from Hungary who’s art is just pure joy.

Found via the stylish Tutus and Turtles also this week was a fabulous Thing One and Thing Two themed baby shower for a mother having twins. See pictures at Stem and Hostess with the Mostess.

And finally swissmiss wrote about gorgeous new bookshelves from Dwell Studio - love them.

Last week Chelsea left a lovely comment about a photo of Ned and his bookshelves. She asked to see some long shots of the shelves which by the way are from Ikea (Expedit). We have one large one and a small one in Ned’s room and another large in our living room, all in white. Because we live in a unit we don’t have a lot of room but I have found these shelves really handy for ALL our books (although I still have boxes full in the garage) and also great because they are really deep so you can also display your trinkets.

Please excuse the photography, here are some shots from Ned’s room…

Charlie, sans Lola who is visiting a friend…

Horton Hears a Who…

So many books, so little time…

I like to display some favorite books standing so they are more like an artwork…

One of the other great things about these shelves is that there is plenty of room to display things on top…

Ned also has books on the shelves in our living room, it’s where we keep the up to the minute favorites and Ned loves sorting through them everyday. That’s when they end up like this…

Ned’s dad just commented tonight after he had shelved everything that Ned loves to look at them all neatly lined up and then he systematically chooses the ones he wants off again.

If you want to see a really cool use of the Expedit have a look at this post on Ohdeedoh and then you can follow the links to Super*Junk’s Flickr Stream.

Further to Katie’s post on the Moomin fabric which is divine, I have to share my favorite fabric which I bought off ebay when Ned was born. It is Little Prince fabric but the Japanese Little Prince not the French one! I didn’t even know there was a Japanese version until I saw this fabric and fell in love with it. I have stretched it over an artist’s canvas and it hangs over Ned’s cot.

I have searched for more but never found it. Maybe someone out there knows where to get more?

And here is a shot of Ned, the little bookworm, in his room perusing his bookshelf while his dad took photos of the fabric for the blog.

Mounting the bookshelves has begun. The included images show the very first spacer/strapping mounted (the excitement is almost palpable) and the first foundation box in place. These will bring the cases up 9 inches off the ground to the lower box. There will be a shallow shelf (1 inch thick and about 4-5 inches deep) before the upper shelf box.

The bottom boxes are designed for folios and the like, the upper for various smaller tomes. The fascia boards are going to be 1 inch thick, to support the SIX FOOT glass doors that will eventually cover the upper shelves (with matching smaller ones below). We will be rebuilding the mantle as well (which is currently a "modern" (and ugly) 1950s rebuild). It will eventually tie the two spans of shelves together *and* have a shelf integrated into it for 12mo and smaller volumes (the fireplace is non-functional).

Finally, there will be an 8 inch stepped crown. This will come "out" from the shelves so we can sink lights in the crown that will wash each section of the bookshelves. It should be nice if and when it is ever completed.

I spent a bit of the morning at the shop of the woodworker doing this project. As you may recall, we have a friend renting our first floor who, as the fates would have it, is also a wildly talented woodworker and artist (in wood and other material)...pictures of some of his other work should follow. As I've said previously, he does amazing things with wood...our shelves are basically a weekend project. The strapping in the first image is a good example of why working with Brian is such fun.

With any rational carpenter, any strapping like this would be picked up from a lumber yard as Grade C (structurally sound, but not necessarily pretty). Just before we left the shop, Brian remembered we would need some strapping/spacers to bring the shelves off the wall. He went over the the racks of rough boards (6 to 24 inches wide, 1+ to 3 inches thick...he buys lumber "by the tree") and picked a nice 8 foot poplar board. We then ran it through the planer a few times to bring it to 1 inch thick and then the joiner to true the sides...then ripped it into 2.5 inch wide boards. Maybe it is just me...but it was so much more pleasing experientially than going to Home Despot and picking up crappy strapping.

The other images show: a laser line showing where the top of the "shelf" between the upper and lower shelf boxes will be (laser levels are extremely cool); the first foundation "box"; one of the lower cases on said first foundation (please picture fascia boards and baseboard molding).

Progress is being made. Updates to follow.

Freshome has a droolworthy list of thirty creative bookshelf designs. Astute librarians may look at a few and say “but those are totally impractical!” and you’re right, they are.

A nifty architectural mashup of stairs and bookshelves, made all the more excellent by the vague but noticable color-affinities of the books that are shelved. [thanks lydia]

So shortly after my last post I set out for Serendipity Book in Berkley. The shop is legendary, as its owner, Peter B. Howard. One of the things I was looking forward to on this trip out, and part of the reason I came out early was to be able to spend time at this shop. Six hours later, I can attest that it was one of the very best days I've I had in a long time and that I only just scratched the surface (I did not even get upstairs at all.

The definition of serendipity is the art of finding something while seeking something else. I suggest it is impossible to enter Peter B.'s shop seeking X and not finding wonderful copies of A, G, Q, V and Z. There are just so many books...great books, unique association copies, you name it...that you simply can't process it. I arrives shortly before noontime and do not think I left until around 6pm or so. I spent the first hour or so just wandering around the labyrinth-like rooms and sub-rooms, trying to make some sort of sense of where to start and how to proceed. Ultimately, I started and the front and worked back (to the back of the front room....argh).

A quick description of the pictures might help. The first is taken at the front doors looking in, diagonally across the front room (in the shot, r to l, are Joe Maynard, David Bergman and Peter B. (seated)). The next image is looking at the front wall from about the middle of the room [N.B. the white space above the windows is at 8 or 9 feetish...and then there is another five vertical feet of books...I have not idea what is up there, but I want to know...]. The next is looking down the main side room, brown bags filled with amazing things, you carefully go down through bits of this and that and suddenly happen upon something remarkable...serendipity, indeed [N.B. at the right side you can see one of the two sets of sliding shelves allowing Peter B. to keep far too many good books on site]. Finally, though hard to see, is the two volume set of The Key to Serendipity [Vol. 1, How to Buy Books from Peter B. Howard and Vol. 2, How to Find Books in Spite of Peter B. Howard]. Every shop should require at least one book to understand its working and nuances....some obviously might need two...or more.

It took a great deal of self control, but I managed to only leave with a half dozen books. The range of what I took home gives a great micro-glance of the shop. Item 1: a wonderful little collection of hand-colored erotic plates of the The Seven Deadly Sins; Item 2: a lovely copy of a Nonesuch Press volume that is very hard to find in nice condition; Item 3: a 1803 imprint of Astle's The Origin and Progress of Writing in the remains of its original binding (and with all its fabulous plates present). Just a ridiculously diverse group of serendipitously found books.

To top off a lovely day, I managed not to have to ride the BART back as Craig Harris (Bridge of Dreams) was in the shop for most of the afternoon and offered to drive me (and my new friends) back to the hotel. We were joined my Suzanne (who had been working in the hotel all day) and went out for a nice dinner of Greek food. Yum.

Set-up is tomorrow, starting at 9am. I'll keep you posted.

A husband and wife pair of engineers had 3500 books and no shelving or organizational scheme. The solution is explored, in detail, at their blog Hackito Ergo Sum. It is a sound plan and they seem happy. All is well.

Interestingly, the "geek factor" of it was enough to get it posted on Slashdot (N.B. the couple hosts their blog on their own hardware and he wisely posted it immediately to /. to avoid having the hordes of /.ers crash his system. The posts there are a riot. My personal favorite:

Oh, painful memory (Score:5, Funny)

...of my ex-daughter-in-law, who decided to surprise me for my birthday by reorganizing my (3500) books:

By height.

So here are some images of the front room for
comparison...the "before", as it were. The images cover the two walls that will be covered with bookcases. There will be shelves on both sides of the chimney and the chimney itself will be covered with wood paneling to tie it all together (we will also be covering the cheesy "rebuilt" bricks in tile...the best solution we could come up with short of rebuilding it.

We will be shelving over the radiator with a reflector and fan integrated into the design. That wall, once finished, should be quite lovely and will be the first thing one sees when they walk in.

The back wall (facing the bay window, the corner of which can be seen in the first image), will also be covered with shelving...running over the doors. My favorite part is that there will be a very narrow case running up between the two doors...basically wide enough for two or three books per shelf.

Built into the "end" of the of the case at the far left (just beyond the closet door) will be a ladder (to reach the top of the 11 foot shelves). My understanding is that there will be a "notch" at the end of the shelf at the wall so that the ladder can be held in place when not in use.

The "boxes" have been built and are being lacquered. We decided to paint them in the booth because it allows us to lacquer them...same color we intended, but *much* harder...it should hold up pretty much forever. We will be spraying the shelves, too...but then I will hand paint the trim fore-edge.

We have begun the painting the room...which is great because it gives that sense that something is actually happening. We are using Pratt & Lambert paints: Wolf (25-20) for the walls, Manchester (29-27) for the trim and shelves and Half-Tone (29-25) for the inside of the boxes. If you are *really* interested, you can "Launch Color Visualizer", choose "Explore our Colors" and type in the color code in the "Quick Search" field. In short, the walls will be a dark grey/clay, the trim a light grey and the inside of the boxes a sort of pewter. It should be quite striking in the end...or horrid. Time will tell.

Brian has moved in already and the rest of the floor is now filled with bubinga furniture. Brian is particularly fond of this wood and uses it a fair amount. I'll put up an image of the coffee table that will be in the front sometime soon. Amazing. More to follow as images/events require.

So our tenant moved out on rather short notice. Our hope was that she would not get married off for another year or so and that Lux Mentis would take over the rent on the 1200 square foot space (we live in a row house with a rental unit on the first floor). Our fiscal conservatism is such that we just don't want to stretch inflict that kind of overhead on the business until it can absorb it with relative ease. So just when we are at wits end about what to do, good things fall into place.

We have a very good friend who happens to be an artisan woodworker. For those of you who have seen my booths at shows, Brian designed the strange little table that it held together under tension without traditional fastens (mind you, in about an hour from concept to execution). Brian owns Opus One Studio...making wildly beautiful and wildly expensive furniture for individuals, institutions and museums (think $12K barstools (a set of six), a 15 foot long, 6 foot wide oval table that can split apart lengthwise (so a bartender can work in the middle) and remain stable, etc.). You can see one fun example here. The last line remains the same. Unlisted number. No sign. Work into the indefinite future.

So, while kvetching about needing to find someone for the apartment while not *really* wanting one...or wanting one with some flexibility, Brian says, "hey, I need a place to stay". Long and short, Brian is moving in downstairs, into the back 3/4 of the apartment. The front room will be "shared". Best yet, he is going to be designing and installing 11 foot tall bookshelves along two walls of the front room. They will, apparently, be stepped back at 50ish inches (so folios can be shelved down low) and will eventually have 6 foot tall narrow glass doors for the top shelves.

Brian stops by this evening to get some measurements and talk about design options. That's when he off-handedly says says that he's ordered plywood from a Russian disty. Apparently, they make some thicknesses that are very difficult to secure otherwise *and* comes in 5x7 sheets (rather than the traditional 4x8). I'm not certain why 5x7 is better for this project, but I am certain there is a reason and that the results will be fun.

Speaking of bookshelves, these, these and these are interesting...not exactly my cup of tea (not enough volume)...but the aesthetic is interesting.

"Before" pictures will go up shortly and I will, undoubtedly, post updates about the project. Rent and ridiculously well made furniture...reality tossed us lemons, and we apparently are making Lemonchello martinis.

IN the days when furniture was defined as “that which may be carried about,” the natural bookcase was a chest with a strong lock. These chests, packed with precious manuscripts, followed the prince or noble from one castle to another, and were even carried after him into camp. Before the invention of printing, when twenty or thirty books formed an exceptionally large library, and many great personages were content with the possession of one volume, such ambulant bookcases were sufficient for the requirements of the most eager bibliophile.

I enjoyed Henry Petroski’s treatise on book shelving called The Book on the Book Shelf. I am also enjoying Edith Wharton’s 1897 chapter on a smilar topic. [thanks will!]

Two snappy chairs.

- reading and thinking (and putting your feet up)
- reading and thinking and moving

And now for something completely different.

Brotherhood 2.0 is (are?) talking about books and bookshelves. I think I'm going to have to start a one book in, one book out rule. John Green says "buy another bookshelf"... he makes it sound so, so easy.

Here is the table with the books to read from the library; plus some of my own that I want to read soon.










This is the bookshelf in the bedroom. It's a mix of read books/ to be read books, but I own all of them. Most of the TBR are on the bottom shelf.













This is the table holding the TBR Graphic Novels. And magazines.










Actually, I've read one about half of these.










This is the workspace next to my desk.










One of the living room bookcases. Note it is full. I've read about half of them.










Bookcase by my computer. A mix of read books and reference type books.













Bottom shelves of the larger bookcases; these, along with the piles, are mostly review copies. (Hey, I just got back from ALA!)










This is the bookshelf that has Cheetah's and Peter Parker's books.










These are some of the boxes that have the books that are in storage.