John Locke, a Columbia architecture grad, has set up a little conceptual experiment which he is calling the Department of Urban Betterment whose chief duty is to covert old pay phone boxes into tiny libraries.
Apparently he's set up two booths so far and had limited success. Apparently the first booth had all its books lifted, and then the shelves stolen within a few days. The second booth faired a bit better with pedestrians both taking and leaving books for while, but eventually it suffered the same fate as the first. Locke plans to continue his experiments but in future booths he wants to add some simple instructions to help show pedestrians the intended use.
Personally I love it, and I think that with a little education it could be a great addition to some neighbourhoods. Full interview with Locke available here
I have a bit of a PSA today, one of our readers emailed us to let us know that they are involved with a school fundraising project this weekend just outside Washington D.C. Bethesda–Chevy Chase High School is hosting an annual book sale over 20,000 used books to raise funds to support various programs run by the Parent-Teacher-Student Association which include Extracurricular clubs, after-school tutoring, student publications and other quality endevaours.
All hardbacks are $3, paperbacks are $2 and on Sunday you can pick up a full bag of books for $10. The sale runs Saturday March 26th from 10am-4pm and Sunday March 27th from 10am-2pm.
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School is located at 4301 East-West Hwy. in Bethesda. Free parking is available at the school; it is also accessible by Metro Red line, Bethesda stop.
If anyone makes it to the sale drop us a comment and let us know how it went.
It appears that Edward Tufte's personal library is going to be going under the hammer on December 2nd via Christie's. The auction catalogue is available online and viewings have been arranged for the week prior to the sale. There will be some amazing items in this auction and a must see for any serious science and maths collectors.
This weeks Essay in the NY Times Book Review struck a chord with me, in it the author talks about his youth when he would go to a yearly church book sale and stock up on cheap paperbacks to get him though the year. This is exactly what I do every year with a local charity book sale sponsored by our local daily newspaper. Each year I go and pick up a bag full of books to help limp my reading habit though the year on budget, but there are always extras. This year I picked up the entire Foundation series to go along with a number of other gems that I have sitting in my to be read pile. Apparently I am not alone, the author also had many, many, extras. So many extras that he is still reading his selections thirty years on As the author looks back at his youthful self I see my future self in his words, I foresee the day that I too will be forced to institute "the First Law of Literary Thermodynamics, otherwise known as the conservation of
libraries. No book can come into our household without another book leaving it." I dread that day, I better get reading.
 Steven Gertz has posted a very nice article at BookPatrol on the rather amazing collection of Hefner material I spent several weeks cataloguing. Steven focuses on one elements, Hefner's brilliant cartoon. Hefner, as a young man, wanted to be a cartoonist (and did the early cartoons for Playboy).
During high school, Hugh would take notes on what his friends were wearing during the day so that he could sketch them accurately in the evening for his remarkable "School Daze" (approx. 33 volumes that are part of his private collection). Jane told me that she and her female friends would check School Daze to find out which of their boyfriends were fooling around behind their backs as Hugh would document *everything*. The cartoons in this collection are the only copies I know of that are not in Hefner's personal library.
I knew very little about Hefner before cataloguing this collection. 60 years of personal correspondence later, I have to admit that I am amazed by the man.
 The Baxter Society is very pleased to announce that Mark Dimunation will be speaking at our March 10th meeting. Mark is Chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress. His talk is titled: Good, Bad, and Indifferent, Old, New, and Worthless: Thomas Jefferson and the Mind of the Eighteenth Century Collector.
The Baxter Society is Maine's only bibliophilic group, open to all those with an interest, passion, and/or love of books.
On a personal note (and as Program Chair for The Baxter), I can not tell you how excited I am that Mark agreed to come speak. I want to thank the many restaurants in town for their efforts in drawing Mark to town (and the NYC Times, too). With luck, we'll do some damage at eateries about town.
While I'm blathering about such things, I should also mention that in April, Bill and Vicky Stewart of Vamp & Tramp will be speaking and in May, Tom Horrocks of Harvard's Houghton Library will wrap out the year.
Finally, a teaser for next fall: while at the LA ABAA book fair, Michael Suarez, the newly appointed Director of Rare Book School, agreed to speak at a fall date to be determined.
I am, needless to say, going to retire from the Program Committee...I am not certain I can really improve on my recent run...
 Well, we have made it safely...our books made it safely and all is well. We arrived on Tuesday and had the afternoon to have a wonderful late lunch at House of Nanking. I was lucky, several years ago, to have the person who first recommended it tell me to ignore the menu completely and ask that the chef just send out little things (the functional equiv. of dim sum). They ask how hungry you are (very) and they send out the right amount. We also discovered that they have a newly opened sister restaurant (see below). I also picked up three new books...woohoo.
Wed. Suzanne worked while I, too, worked...however, her work involved phone calls and reports and cogent mental efforts, whereas my work involved going out to North Berkeley and visiting one of the few truly great experiential shops in the US. It is difficult to say how much I  love Serendipity Books, Peter B. and the nature and spirit of the shop. I found a few things and took home something that has hung in the shop as long as I can remember...more on this at some point in the distant future.
We had a very nice dinner Wed. night at Miss Siagon with Brad and Jeniffer (of The Book Shop). The food was good, the company was better. We went back to the hotel (our strange and pleasing little literary themed inn down the road from the hall)...I catalogued for a bit but mostly rested up.
We were at the hall at 8am. I left at about 5pm. To be fair, I kibitzed a fair bit and even did a bit of shopping. Thee booth looks pretty good...amazing what having nice books to show will do for a booth . It is always amazing what comes out of the woodwork at fairs. Strong contingent of UK booksellers, all of whom will head down to LA next weekend. Really just a great group. It is shaping up to be a good show...now we just need humans to come wanting to buy books.
A pretty big group of us (10) all traipsed over to Fang, the recently opened "sister restaurant" to House of Nanking. We were able to do the same thing...that is, ask the chef to bring out surprises for us and he did a remarkable job. All told, about 13 dishes were brought out (including some alternatives for the two vegetarians in the party). The two standouts for me were the "duck bun appetizer" (think peking duck slider...very interesting and wonderfully flavorful) and the "Lettuce Beef" (no lettuce, wickedly good). I had a nice unfiltered sake. We finished with a complimentary little desert and a chinese liqueur that was a lovely, simple finish.
I've a few new slips to clip and then to sleep. Show opens at 10am. Come join us if you can.
Why I Take Good Care of My Macintosh
By Gary Snyder Because it broods under its hood like a perched falcon, Because it jumps like a skittish horse and sometimes throws me, Because it is poky when cold, Because plastic is a sad, strong material that is charming to rodents, Because it is flighty, Because my mind flies into it through my fingers, Because it leaps forward and backward, is an endless sniffer and searcher, Because its keys click like hail on a boulder, And it winks when it goes out, And puts word-heaps in hoards for me, dozens of pockets of gold under boulders in streambeds, identical seedpods strong on a vine, or it stores bins of bolts; And I lose them and find them, Because whole worlds of writing can be boldly laid out and then highlighted and vanish in a flash at “delete,” so it teaches of impermanence and pain; And because my computer and me are both brief in this world, both foolish, and we have earthly fates, Because I have let it move in with me right inside the tent, And it goes with me out every morning; We fill up our baskets, get back home, Feel rich, relax, I throw it a scrap and it hums. [Copyright Gary Snyder, used by permission]
 Curious Pages is dedicated to recommending inappropriate books for kids. Their selections are wonderful, as are their images. I promise you will waste a good part of your day and, most likely, add it to your rss feed. It is my favorite recently discovered blog.
 Can anyone truly doubt that had the technology existed, James Joyce would have written Ulysses as an illustrated web comic?
I didn't think so... To our great relief, Robert Berry has done a brilliant job adapting Joyce's tome to web-comic form at Ulyesses, "seen". It is worth every minute you spend with it.
There is a well-known curse, "may you live in interesting times". For the rare book world, times have seldom been more interesting (and here I speak only of the book trade, though the worlds of librarians, archivists, curators, etc have been similarly afflicted). The book trade has seen the death of book arbitrage, regional scarcity, and several of our beloved journals/institutions...we have seen a radical shift in the previously rather caste system of dealers and the emergence of a vast class of hobbyist "dealers"...we are in the midst of a radical shift from how the trade used to function to a newer-if not better, different-state of being (e.g. open shops dropping off droves, print catalogues becoming less common, the emergence of other venues for data transfer, etc).
At the same time, there are some really interesting elements emerging. As we seem to be losing one of the *critical* venues for the transfer of bibliophilic passion...the open shop...other venues finally seem to be emerging. The lose of the open shop has been worrying me a great deal for, as one who hopes to be wandering the stacks for many decades, I've been worried where the next generation (or two...or three) will be bitten by the biblio-bug. The primary petri dish has historically been open shops...you could go and hang out...handle books...talk with the owner(s) and similarly afflicted. You had a place you could *be* where you could handle books, listen, and learn. The loss of open shops has meant, in a real way, the loss of one of the primary gateway drugs that hook those so inclined and lead to more sophisticated distractions.
We are finally beginning to see some interesting and potentially important alternatives. As social networking sites have come into their own, we are seeing vibrant bibliophilic communities emerge. Facebook has dozens and dozen of Pages and Groups dedicated to authors, specific books, broad genres, periods, booksellers, printing, binding, etc. ( Lux Mentis can be found here). Twitter has vibrant communities of librarians, booksellers, book lovers and, well, any number of other interest areas ( Lux Mentis can be found here). Even "business networking" focused LinkedIn has interesting bibliophilic groups emerging ( I can be found here). There is also the rather brilliant LibraryThing, a social networking site for booklovers where, among other things, you can post your collections, find others with similar interests and engage in any number of other distractions (I can be found here).
As one who spends a lot of time thinking about and exploring how to find/reach/engage the next generation of collector, I've spent a lot of time exploring these venues and am beginning to be pleased with what I'm finding. I've had dozens of "first contacts" by young (in the collecting arch, if not chronologically) collectors, asking interesting, engaged and/or curiosity questions and established collectors/clients tell me how much they enjoy the sense of community and ease of contact.
Several years ago, I had the pleasure of leveraging modern technology in an interesting way in the sale of a collection of Sommerset Maughan photographs. Not long ago, I'd have had to pack them off to the California dealer who I knew had a sophisticated collector of such material and then wait for him to be available and view the collection. Instead, she and I had an iSight based video conference...I held up each of the 110 photos, she did a screen capture of each one and threw them up on a unique webpage of thumbnail images. She then emailed her client a note saying she had so
From the brilliant HP Lovecraft Society, please enjoy a favorite of mine, "Little Rare Book Room" (Lyrics by Sean Branney and Andrew Leman, based on 'Little Drummer Boy,' written in 1958 by Katherine Davis, Henry Onorati, and Harry Simeone):
Come, they called me
The special book room
The rarest books to see
Librarian's tomb
Kept under lock and key
In terrible gloom
To save man's sanity,
It's pointless, we're doomed, thoroughly doomed, utterly doomed.
Necronomicon
The first I exhumed
From the book room.
Book of Eibon
So frightfully old
Vermis Mysteriis
A sight to behold
The Monstres and Their Kynde
With edges of gold
Could make me lose my mind
All covered with mold, fungus and mold, poisonous mold.
Kitab al Azif
Its horrors untold.
Still I am bold.
King in Yellow
Left me feeling glum
The Ponape Scriptures
I'd stay away from
And then The Golden Bough
My brain had gone numb
I read them all out loud
Well that was quite dumb, terribly dumb, fatally dumb.
Freed the Great Old Ones
Mankind will succumb.
What have I done?
 As many of you likely know, the letters on a Linotype machine are organized according to frequency, thus "ETAOIN SHRDLU" are the first two vertical columns at the left side of the keyboard. This famed nonsense term is the title of Frederic Brown's short story about a sentient Linotype machine, first published in Unknown Worlds (1942). Several years ago, I tracked own a copy of Unknown Worlds, because this story was one of the very few that blends spec fiction and the world of letterpress. Imagine my surprise and pleasure when Ivy Derderian decided to bring these two worlds together with her brilliant reprinting of Brown's tale.
This is Ivy's first book, printed at Wolfe Editions. Her execution is simply brilliant. Printed in Linotype Bonodi Book (created on an Intertype, the Linotype's successor), she printed it in the style of the 1940's pulps, including period adverts. From the prospectus: “Frederic Brown’s entertaining short story about a sentient Linotype, titled Etaoin Shrdlu, was originally published in 1942 in the magazine Unknown Worlds. While Mr. Brown was well known for his science fiction short stories and novels as well as his award-winning detective fiction, it is clear that he knew his way around a Linotype and a print shop.Ivy Derderian, with the help of Wolfe Editions, announces a new publication of Etaoin Shrdlu, designed in the manner of pulp magazines of the 1940’s. The text type is Linotype Bodoni Book, titles were set in Ludlow Ultra Modern. Text is printed on acid free Dur-o-tone Aged Newsprint, cover is acid free St. Armand Colours. The two engravings used are from a 1923 issue of The Linotype Bulletin.” There is a nice review of the book and quick interview with Ivy here. It is nice to see a great biblio-centric speculative fiction story reproduced as a fine press piece. It has been printed in an edition of 40 copies. Email me if you would like one (or more). Perfect for the holidays if you have a bookish sci-fi lover in your life.
I just stumbled over this cool blog posting which features some amazing bookshelves, here are a few of my favorites. The Platzhalter Expanding Bookshelf... because a real bibliophile never has enough space
 The Inverted Bookshelf The Bookmarkshelf  
and my personal favorite which brings a whole new meaning to bedtime reading 
I just stumbled over this cool blog posting which features some amazing bookshelves, here are a few of my favorites.
The Platzhalter Expanding Bookshelf... because a real bibliophile never has enough space
The Inverted Bookshelf The Bookmarkshelf
and my personal favorite which brings a whole new meaning to bedtime reading
 I'm pleased to announce the debut of the "2010 Fine Books Compedium & Bookseller Directory":
This delightful guide to fine books features writing from Nicholas Basbanes, Scott Brown, Erica Olsen, Derek Hayes, Ian McKay, and many others. Stories include coverage of the Grolier Club conference on the future of the book trade; million dollar books; magazine collecting; collecting in Norway; fine maps; fine presses; and much more.
Also included is the 2010 Gift Guide for the book minded and the 2010 Bookseller Resource Guide, a listing of more than 700 bookstores and book-related institutions worldwide. As most of you know, FB&C ceased their usual print issues and went digital only about a year ago. They have, quite brilliantly, decided to issue an annual print volume that will put most of the annual digital content into ink on paper in a lovely, shelvable, volume. I encourage you to reward this decision by purchasing a copy.
I offer for your amusement and enjoyment two great new(ish) blogs. The first is
The Green Hand - Specializing in horror, mystery, and esoterica...best of all, just across the lane from Nancy. We're heading to a nice biblio-density level here on the West End. In Michelle's own words: Hello everyone! It's official -- The Green Hand bookshop has secured its new shopfront space at 661 Congress Street, across Longfellow Square from our friend Nancy at Cunningham Books, and across the street from our compatriots in cultural intrigue, The Fun Box Monster Emporium and Coast City Comics.
Not only will we strive to provide a pleasant atmosphere and an ever-intriguing book selection, but also we are bringing into the fold the inimitable Loren Coleman's own International Cryptozoology Museum. The other is the quite excellent foodie blog, " Portland Food Coma". It is not your usual food blog. Irreverent, debauched and...well...sometimes patently offensive (you are warned re the bacon cross tattoo-and/or the horror below it). All this notwithstanding, perhaps because of it, it is one of the great reads on and about food. Enjoy.
 We started the day at the MARIAB Northampton Book. I arrived at just about 10 am and the place was pleasingly busy. There were a good number of dealers present...pretty much the same as past years...with some fresh blood stepping into a handful of empty slots.
I saw a handful of things I'd have liked to secure, but few things that really jumped out at me. this was, most likely, the result of too much buying in the days previous and possibly my lack of sleep. I did manage to see a number of the dealers I really look forward to seeing at this fair.
 Lisa found a few interesting things. I caught up with Forest Proper and others and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I had a number of people ask why I was not doing this fair...I told them the truth: that I just can't bring myself to do fairs where I spend more time setting up my booth than the fair is open (my issue, not the fair's). On the other hand, I had a nice compliment in that one dealer told me that someone had asked if I was at the showl. As an added bonus, I had a quick nice chat with Thurston Moore (founder of Sonic Youth and, pleasingly, a collector).
We left the fair in mid-afternoon and ran a few errands and picked up a very quick bite to eat. The errands gave me a chance ot stop in at Raven Used books. Interesting shop...a lot of new material, very aggressively price.
We then headed over to Art Larson's wonderful Horton Tank Graphics. Three of the images are from Art's. The first  is an amazing type case...both for its overall size and condition, but also as it came with complete sets of early woodblock type.
Art showed us his various presses (one included tot he side). It is pretty wonderful to think that some of Leonard Baskin's greatest books came off these press.
We spent a bit of time talking about printing and coloring techniques and Art showed us some raw pigment used to create some of the wonderful colors that come off his presses. Show here are Azure and Malachite in raw form. Very cool. Art also gave us a tour of Wild Carrot Press (downstairs).
After that Lucretia and I went back to the house and regrouped for a few minutes (might have looked at a few books. We joined Lisa for dinner at the Great  Wall (remember, White Menu for the Good Stuff). We headed back to the house and settled in for the night. More books. This time, Lisa took me (us) on a whirlwind tour that touched bindings (publishers and fine), girl books, early books and just wonderful things in interesting stories. Lisa is everything I love in a passionate book lover--she can pull any book of the shelf (and there are 10s of thousands) and tell you what the book is, where she bought it and why it is special. It would be impossible to avoid becoming excited looking at books with her...even were they were not exceptional examples (or associations, etc). It is a simply remarkable collection in many different ways.
It is late and we have to be on the road reasonably early to get back to Portland. More to follow as I begin to be able to process this adventure... 
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In my current job I’ve become somewhat fascinated with what could easily be considered the key tool in a librarian’s toolbelt: Reader’s Advisory. Patron asks you to recommend a book based on a set of preferences and you knock it out of the park. That’s our job and we do it well. Booksellers do it too, don’t get me wrong, but we have the advantage of an extensive backlist of out-of-print titles at our fingertips. It’s taken a little while, but recently I noticed that a LOT of folks are getting in on the Reader’s Advisory game. Companies like Bookish, Zoobean, SelectReads, certainly, and now? An actual publishing company itself. The Penguin Hotline is pretty much what it sounds like: A publishing house doing RA. Says their site, “Tell us as much as you’d like about the reader you’re buying for this holiday season and our expert staffers will find you just the right books. You’ll get personalized recommendations from real Penguins! Every request is handled individually by one of our in-house editors, marketers, designers, salespeople, publicists, and more.” And they actually do. What all this says to me is that libraries need to double down on their RA skills. Take some tips from Multnomah County’s My Librarian site for starters. That idea is crazy good. We could all learn a thing or two from it.
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Love the birds and flowers!
“One of the most amusing books in the world.” Now THERE’S a blurb! I think I need to add more birds and flowers to my book…
Will the awards be live-streamed this year? Thanks.
Thanks for the link to Monica’s article. Like most (if not all) of Monica’s writing, it was thoughtful and lovely and spot-on.
Also, the bird or flower photos – great! I’m trying to think of a way to weave this into a lesson…
So many great links, thank you! On an unrelated topic, I’ve noticed lately that when readers get to the last page of a picture book they frequently turn the page to see if there is more to be read. It seems rather anti-climactic to reach the end of a book and not realize it’s the end. Really ruins the punch line, so to speak. I would like the words THE END to come back in vogue for picture books, anyone else have thoughts on this?
But of course! I can’t find the link now (they may not have it up yet) but will keep you informed accordingly.