Is it really so hard to pack a book well...

I received four books just now from four different dealers. All were wrapped in paper (one in plastic), one was then wrapped in bubble-wrap and packed well in a box. The other three were in envelopes (two padded, one plain). The least expensive was $75. 3 of 4 dealers were "established" dealers. I just don't get it.

I guess I understand packing a reading copy with a minimal amount care/effort, but when a book is worth a reasonable amount, it is just unacceptable (can you tell that 2 of the 4 poorly packed volumes were damaged as a result).

I guess I understand a bit better why we get so many "I can't believe how nicely packed my book was..." emails from people

I love Tim Burton. I think he is one of the most creative, intriguing and funny "creators" currently spitting out work (in film, anim. shorts, print, etc.). He and David Lynch have brought far too much pleasure to my life over the years. I have a wonderful item from Burton, "A Stainboy Christmas" (it can be found here at 10) This is a small book that he produced around 2000, when he had just created "Stainboy" as an experiment in streaming media (Stainboy is a super hero whose only super power is the ability to create stains. The wee book was, as I understand it, Burton's holiday card to friends in either 1999 or 2000. In it, he gets a new uniform, crisp and white, for Christmas...which almost instantly becomes soiled and brown again. Merry Christmas. [there is an image that I will upload as soon as blogger is willing to do so]

Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay

Last night we enjoyed a remarkable entertaining dinner. I was invited by one of the founders of the Friends of Irene Adler chapter of the Baker Street Irregulars to their annual roast goose dinner. FIA started at Harvard University nearly 40 years ago, in no small part to provide a venue for women to be involved in the Sherlockian world (at the time, the other Boston club, the Speckled Band, was exclusively male). For a nice look at such organizations, see sherlockian.net. The meal was great, several courses built around roast goose with chestnut stuffing and finishing off with a wonderful trifle.

The theme of the dinner revolved around the music of the Sherlockian canon. There was a paper presented (very funny) and an exceptional piano performance of several short Chopin pieces. This was part of the ongoing attempt to identify the piece of music Holmes was referring to when he said, “What’s that little thing of Chopin’s she plays so magnificently: Tra-la-la-lira-lira-lay.” (Study in Scarlet) There as also a quiz with questions along the lines of, “I have a box for ‘Les Huguenots.’ Have you heard the De Reszkes?” (Identify speaker and story). Needless to say, I did poorly on this.

It is very fun to know that such interesting and wonderfully diverse people gather to celebrate and revel in their shared passion with the Sherlockian canon. A great time was had by all.

Some scholiasm of bibliodisia...

I have just come into possession of a remarkable letter. It is a type written letter from Christopher Morely with great autograph marginalia in Morely’s hand. It is, to all extent and circumstances, an unknown letter…all the more remarkable as it speaks at length of William Osler and Doyle’s Holmes. It includes Morely’s recollections and reflections Osler and his passing (who he “was lucky enough to know a little as a boy at Oxford”).

There are paragraphs that bring a tear to the eye and others that make one laugh out loud. It is truly outstanding. I can not decide if I should annotate and publish it or sell it to someone who desires to do the same. For now, I just want to reread it over an over again.

I offer you one of the more surreal sentences, classic Morely, “I still seriously count on something even larger than a book-jacket from yr sensitive & sinewy hand; some scholiasm of bibliodisia, some Calamities & Quarrels of Collectors, some Noctes Atomianae, some basketful of keen-colored fungus as Pearsall Smith suggested.”

It is an “important letter,” but more than that…or rather, part of that importance…is that it is so personal, so heartfelt and so introspective. OK, I admit it, I have not been so intrigued and excited by a single item in a very long time. I really love what I do.

radical militant librarians make the world a safer place...

My mother, a librarian, was a major part of a piece by Larry Abramson on the Patriot Act controversy called "The Secret Court of Terror Investigations." NPR seemed so amused by this concept that they actually repeated it at the end of the piece, and noted actual emails are online if one needs to verify the the threat these librarian's pose to society's fabric.

Here's the relevant excerpt...

Agents are particularly frustrated that they cannot get approval to use Section 215 of the Patriot Act, called the "library provision" by Patriot Act critics because it could be used to search library or any other business records.

One FBI e-mail from 2003 complains that the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) "should be embarrassed that the FBI has used this valuable tool to fight terrorism exactly ZERO times.
...
The inability of FBI investigators to use this seemingly effective tool has had a direct and clearly adverse impact on our terrorism cases. While radical militant librarians kick us around [emphasis added], true terrorists benefit from OIPR's failure to let us use the tools given to us.

I have never been more proud of my mother.

As I have quoted innumerable times when discussing this affront to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Benjamin Franklin)

I wonder how it will turn out...

I was clearly doomed from a very young age. This is me, at about 6 months, apparently reading the New England Journal of Medicine. While I absolutely endorse reading to children from infancy on, I think my father may well have been pushing me too hard *laughing*. Ah, well…clearly proof one is never too young start with a good book (or a good article on Clonal Outbreak of a Virulent Strain of Clostridium difficile).

Happy Holidays in the mail...

Whew...I have just finished writing a short card to everyone (in the US) who purchased a book from us over the last year or so wishing all Happy Holidays and a book-filled New Year. (There are times when I really wish I had actually paid attention to hand-writing classes in grade school. I use a fountain pen because I had a hypothesis that it might make me be a little more careful with my writing...a theory proven true. Yet my handwriting is still rather sad.) I had fun doing it and, in today’s email and voice mail laden life, I am hoping my little hand-written notes will be well received.

Which reminds me...is it just me or is someone (not mentioning names) making a non-issue about the whole x-mas vs holidays into some bizarre “them vs us” battle. Personally, I grew up celebrating both Chanukah and Christmas and there is also Kwanza (which I don’t really understand, but then again, Ash Wednesday is in the same league, etc.). “Happy Holidays” is pleasingly inclusive. I think if companies and/or the government wants to take the most inclusive tack and use “Happy Holidays” or “Celebrate the Holidays,” etc., they should be applauded for attempting to be inclusive of all and, equally importantly (though not necessarily synonymously), non-exclusionary of anyone’s predilection.

Personally, I think this is another great example of “the worst [being] filled with passionate intensity” and of the majority failing to “control” the message. From the NYTimes, “…American Family Association… is organizing phone and e-mail campaigns against several retail chains for omitting explicit references to Christmas from their store displays or holiday fliers. The group has specifically urged a boycott of Target stores, accusing them of repeatedly using the word 'holiday' instead."

I think Target should be rewarded for their inclusive manner and those who refuse to wish everyone Happy Holidays should be boycotted for their discriminatory and/or racist pandering to Christians. It the defenders of Christmas want a pick a valid fight, how about opposing its decline into little more than an exercise in conspicuous consumption. Then again, I probably just think about this stuff too much. It is also, probably, a nice example of the media’s desire to find a “conflict” in an otherwise rather tediously joyous time of year.

Happy Holidays to all, and to all a book-filled New Year.

The Annotated Sherlock Holmes...

If you like Holmes, do yourself a great favor and pick yourself up a copy of The Annotated Sherlock Holmes. I am nearly through the “original” by William Baring-Gould and there is a “new” edition in three volumes, as seen here and here. The stories are great fun...but the annotations are exceptional. It is sort of like a college course in Holmes with a professor how knows *way* too much about the background of the stories and likes to share such information in all too deep detail. Really, really fun.

Horrible fire and an unknown loss...

A fire next to the storage facilities where many of the treasures of the nation's oldest lending library has resulted in signficant damage and possible loss. The great irony is that the material had been moved from Newport's Redwood Library and Athenaeum (founded in 1747) while a $6.2MM renovation is underway. The only silver lining is that the damage is nearly all water (and not fire)...most have been frozen and they will be restored...I hope they are successful in their fundraising. My thougths, for what it is worth, is with them all. Losses like these make my stomach drop out.

Joy of cataloguing...

I think I have mentioned this before, but I really love cataloguing books. There is something so intellectually pleasing about sitting with a big stack (or several boxes…or *shudder* dozens of boxes) of books and examining each on, researching it and drafting a good catalogue entry. It is *really* fun…every now and then a great bit of ephemera appears, some wonderful bit of provenance information is discovered and with nearly every single one, you learn something new and, with hope, interesting. Ok, I admit, I am a bit of a freak and far too easily amused…but I do love what I do (and how many others can say *that*).