A great voice of reason (and sarcasm) is silenced...

Molly Ivins is dead. I am going to sulk for a day or two....and uproot a shrub in her memory.

Yet another reason to be cautious with Ebay...

TimeOnline has a rather lengthy article on the practice of shill bidding on ebay. Shill bidding is when a seller (and/or the seller's buddies) bids on their own merchandise. It is happening, apparently, increasingly often...and is made harder to detect by ebay's recent move to "conceal" the identity of bidders when the bids go above a certain point. The punchline, of course, is that ebay has absolutely no impetus to actually stop this practice as they profit from it. For every potential buyer (like me) that either reduces or stops using the site, there are plenty of others who either do not know or do not care...

ASW Rosenbach said (paraphrased), "If you want to avoid fraud, deal with a reputable bookdealer." (Books and Bidders, 1926). This is not to say that there are not some excellent dealers who sell on ebay. Hugh Hollowell, for example, is a great advocate of the venue...I only wish his method/style of selling was the dominant form. There are good dealers selling there...and there are certainly books to be found...but caveat emptor has never been so true. While I loved ebay during its first year or two...the signal to noise ratio long ago became so skewed I approach any transaction there with a very skeptical eye. Now we can add shill bidding to the list of things to fret about...

Changing text while on-press...the creation of variants/states

Thomas', Great Books and Book Collectors offers up another gem. Most are aware that "points" that distinguish a first state from a second (or third) often revolve around a caught misspelling or other typographical error. Seldom, however, is it the result of the author's change of heart regarding a substantiative bit of text.

There was an early and interesting example of the later, however, in James Boswell's renowned, "Life of Johnson." Apparently a handful of the first editions contain the following passage, "swiftly suppressed":

Sunday, 10 October 1779. I mentioned to him a dispute between a friend of mine and his lady, concerning conjugal infidelity, which my friend had maintained was by no means so bad in her husband, as in the wife. JOHNSON. 'Your friend was in the right, Sir. . . . Wise married women don't trouble themselves about infidelity in their husbands, they detest a mistress, but don't mind a whore. My wife told me I might lye with as many women as I pleased, provided I loved her alone'

Boswell had second thoughts about the prudence of the passaged while it was on on-press and called for it to be struck. Perhaps his wife read the manuscript and offered a more compelling authority...

Fun trivia fact of the day...

So you want to reproduce an incunabula bible and you find yourself wondering, "Just how many sheep will I need to secure to supply me with the vellum needed?" (This is the sort of query that keeps the PETA people up at night.) The short answer is, 210 to 225 sheep. I ran across this tidbit in Alan Thomas' wonderful, Great Books and Book Collectors, but found this for those of you insist on immediate gratification.

I am guessing that the monks ate a great deal of mutton.

Quick show update...NY is such fun in that slightly masochistic way...

Well, Books at the 25th Street Armory is done for another year. It was a good show, reasonably well attended and there were some great buys to be had. We stayed at one of my very favorite hotels, The Hotel Giraffe. It is literally across the street from the Armory. Though not the least expensive date in town, the "value" of being able to pull out after unloading the van, circling the block and dropping the car off with the valet is worth at least $100 to me (probably more).

We stayed with my sister in Guilford, CT, the night before the show and ended up making it into the city a bit early as traffic was favorable. We made it in at about 845 and we able to pull right in (you drive into the armory itself, up a car elevator)...this was great for us as I take an inordinately long time setting up our booth. As it was, I was actually DONE with enough time to go over the hotel and get changed AND have a leisurely lunch. Unthinkable.

As if this was not enough of a treat, I had the pleasure of being located next to Bibi Mohamed of Imperial Fine Books. Bibi attends many book fairs largely to buy fine leather and this was one such fair. As a result, she asked if I would be able/willing to use two of her tables. It was really a godsend, as I have a lot of folio woodblock and print volumes and her offer allowed me to display a number of volumes in a manner I would not have had the space to do otherwise (e.g. Masereel's, Remember and the Dore illustrated edition of Tennyson's, Vivian. It was really a wonderful turn of events. She is, btw, going to be at the Palm Beach Fine Art and Antique show in early February, if you happen to be down that way.

I was across the way from Lame Duck Books, which was also a treat. He brought a remarkable collection of fine books, photos and the like...simply wonderful material.

It was also a great show as we sold more to "normal humans" than to other dealers *laughing*. At many shows, most and sometimes all sales are to other dealers...it was very nice to have a show where most sales were to collectors. It was a pretty good show from a sales standpoing...and I'm expecting another handful of sales in the next few days related to the show. It was also a great show for buying...I picked up a number of nice items for several of my clients.

Thanks to all who stopped by and congrats to he who "won" the blueberry jam for being the first to mention the blog in the booth. I look forward to the next show(s)...Boston in March definitely...and *possibly* NY in February...I'll keep you posted. [N.B. Joyce insisted on images, so I've included one of the booth from the front (S. King mss. on the left) and a snap of "The Annex" with Masereel's, Remember open in lower right (thanks, again, to Bibi). No broad "show" shots...I'll try to do that in the future.]

Bookfair and general news...

Just a quick update on the business front, partially snipped from our recent newsletter (email if you would like to be on the mailing list). Of particular note, we recently acquired a very unusual Stephen King item, one of five unedited manuscripts of the book, IT, along with a some significant, related correspondence.

I have just completed cataloguing an exceptional collection of woodcut material including significant material from Rockwell Kent, Lynd Ward and Frans Masereel. This collection adds nicely to the collection of illustrated juvenilia we acquired several months ago. The catalogue of all this illustrated material is complete, email if you would like a copy.

Also, and for your near-term book browsing pleasure, we will be found at Books at the 25th Street Armory book fair on January 26 and 27th. It is a great location and should be a fun show. We will be bringing a collection of material focused on the illustrated page but will, as always, be bringing a broad selection of material...something to tickle nearly any fancy. Please let us know if there is anything you would specifically like us to bring and we shall do so.

Looking forward a bit, we will be at the Boston Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair (sponsored by MARIAB) from March 31 through April 1 and the Portland Book, Print and Paper Show in Portland, ME on June 10th. We hope to see you at any and all.

A quick toast to the toaster...and happy b-day EAP

It is Jan. 19th, Edgar Allan Poe's birthday. As many will know, Poe died in 1849 and starting in 1949, on this day, an unknown gentleman has left a half filled bottle of cognac and three roses at his grave. There have been few variations, though one occurred in 1993 when he also left a note stating "The torch will be passed." A later note indicated that the original Toaster passed-away in 1998 and the duty has fallen to a son. More here.

Revenge of unintended consequences...it is so book...

A jargon watch pundits (brief or long) have pointed out that "book" is the new "cool". Now many of us already knew this to be true...but it is now breaking into the "normal" world. Well, maybe not normal, it is breaking into the T9 world. T9, for those who do not know, stands for "Text on 9 Keys"...that is, typing alpha on the numeric keyboard of a cell phone.

Apparently, "2665" is the T9 for "cool"....however, it is also "book" *and* comes up first in the predictive dictionaries most phones include. As a result, many people who are really book use book for book because it saves one keystroke. Technology is so book!

House built around books...the way it should be...

NYT has a great story about the renovation a Boston book dealer's renovation project...a multi-story home built around a virtual (and literal) tower of books. Of course, my first thought was that there is a great deal more surface area around in the inside exterior wall...like a very small Dyson's Sphere...an around a column up the center.

New cards, great son...

I have found a cost effective way to produce the second iteration of my business cards...child labor!!!

Phase One:
Here is my son, Eli, working hard on the project. In the first, he is working on the front of the card, printing it on this amazing five color offset press.

He is clearly very proud, if a bit embarrassed, at how good the outcome appears to be. We decided to print this "Second Edition" on a slightly heavier stock, about 110 pounds and in a slightly "toothy" natural white. Eli was very interested to learn that this sheet was printed "eight up", which is to say, there are eight images of the card front. Eli then cut all the sheets at the midline to create four up sheets, which were needed for Phase Two.

Phase Two:
Next we find Eli working hard at the Lineotype machine...though we actually used a different hot type machine to make the type for the back of the cards. Eli, again showing his innate genius for design and lily-gilding, suggested that rather than printing the rear of the card offset, as we did the first time, we should hand letterpress the back. He thought it would have a slightly older, more sophisticated look and feel this way. How could we disagree. Eli learned some useful information...molten lead is *really* hot...even cool lead should not be played with (nor should it be eaten).

He took these lessons to heart and set to work creating the type and the plate for our sphinx logo. Then it was off to the presses (so to speak). In the last image, he can be seen before his trusty Heidelberg press. This was not, of course, the press we used for the cards, but it was Eli's favorite and he asked to be shot in front of it.

All in all, Eli did a wonderful job and the cards will be ready for the New York Show next week.

Speaking of which, we will be in NY next week for the Books at the 25th Street Armory show. The event runs two days, Jan. 26 and 27. It is going to be a great event with some really wonderful dealer and a one of my more favorite locations (in part, because I *love* The Giraffe). Anyone who comes gets a fresh new letter-pressed business card.

We will be bringing some exceptional material with a focus on illustrated and illustrated juvenilia...with a focus on Kent, Ward, Masereel and Rackham. Eli, unfortunately, will not be able to join us. Having done such a nice job on the cards, I think he will be spending the weekend doing repairs to the basement. Children are wonderful. Hope to see you in NY.

Slightly more fun than watching paint dry...

For those with little else to do, WordCat has a "Watch WorldCat Grow" page, refreshed every 8 seconds, where you can sit and watch, in slightly delayed real time, WorldCat grow. As if that was not cool enough, it also displays the most recent title added. The excitement is almost palpable.

Clearly, what is really needed is a desktop widget that displays this...if I had any time at all, I'd code it myself. I'll send a jar of Maine Blueberry Jam to the first person who builds such a widget.

Slightly more fun than watching paint dry...

For those with little else to do, WordCat has a "Watch WorldCat Grow" page, refreshed every 8 seconds, where you can sit and watch, in slightly delayed real time, WorldCat grow. As if that was not cool enough, it also displays the most recent title added. The excitement is almost palpable.

Clearly, what is really needed is a desktop widget that displays this...if I had any time at all, I'd code it myself. I'll send a jar of Maine Blueberry Jam to the first person who builds such a widget.

New book on the theft (and history) of Dr. Zhivago...

In brief:

CIA and British Intelligence agents forced a passenger plane to land in Malta in 1957, to go on board and steal the manuscript of the banned Russian novel ‘Dr Zhivago’, which was subsequently published and awarded a Nobel Prize.

Great story....will have to read the proverbial book.

Book Art of Richard Minsky...for sale on Ebay...

Richard Minsky has written the proverbial book about American Decorated Publishers' Bindings 1872-1929. It appears, at first blush to be an exceptional work and I look forward to getting a copy...all the more because he purchased at least one volume from me that is included in the catalogue raisonne. What would be better than owning a copy of this book, you ask?

Well, it appears that Mr. Minsky is selling the collection around which the book is written. More interestingly, he is using Ebay to do it. The opening bid, not yet made, is $45,000 for 500 Near Fine or Fine American Decorated Publishers' Bindings. The lot includes copy No. 1 of the Deluxe Edition of the catalog, and also copy No. 1 of the Limited Edition. It is, needless to say, a remarkable collection...it will be an interesting one to watch.

But for a label, that early Pollock would have been mine...

Forrest, the ghost behind Joslin Hall Rare Books (and crafter of, I suggest, the best catalogue entries currently being printed) offered up this wonderful piece today. The story is from the August, 2006 issue of Maine Antiques Digest (and I am embarrassed to admit that I missed it when published). In (very) brief: the US government is somewhat aggressively pursuing WPA program art pieces. Their position is that these art pieces (focused on painting and prints here, but probably extends to photographs, etc.) where paid for by the Feds and they own them, as put here:

“…There is much that needs to be made public about this…There are at least 10,000 WPA easel paintings missing. And the WPA artists and their work were treated shabbily by any standards when the project came to a close. Many works were unceremoniously dumped or otherwise mistreated, and some may have found their way back to the artists.”

According to the article, the distinguishing artifact appears to be a wee label reading something like, "Federal Works Progress Administration, Pennsylvania". In the case discussed, one labeled painting was seized while another, by a WPA artist and of the "right" period...but lacking the label...was not. Expect to find similar labels in various gallery waste bins.

Interestingly, a large number of these works appear to have been legally transferred by the government:

“In late 1943, a Long Island junk dealer paid a government warehouse in Flushing, Queens [New York], four cents a pound for bales of canvas that he planned on reselling as insulation for hot water pipes—until he noticed that the canvas was painted on. It turned out that the bales contained a ton of paintings from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Federal Arts Project, two New Deal programs that had employed artists as part of the Roosevelt administration’s much broader effort to cut the 25% unemployment rate of the Great Depression. The now-defunct programs had required artists to turn in one piece a month as a condition of employment, but with World War II going on, the paintings, minus their frames, were declared surplus property.

It is an interesting and complex issues. One one hand, if the government made a very bad sale (say, several tens of millions of dollars worth of art for, you know, a liquidation price of $50/ton), then they should just have to suck it up and deal. Frankly, from a legal standpoint, they had the "stronger" negotiating position in the sale and errors should be "read against them." That said, they are the government and have the annoying ability to change the rules as they see fit. There has been some litigation...but none that seems determinative. This will, I wager, change. Certainly worth keeping an eye on this one as well...

Stealing books is bad...but really...

So here is the story in brief: a woman leaving a public library in Anderson County, SC sets off the alarm. The security guard chases the woman who is now running to her car. He *claims* the car's bumper brushed his leg as she pulled out. Regardless, he fired his handgun into her door.

She left the scene and it is unclear whether she is bleeding somewhere, clutching her ill-gotten book to her chest. The library director has asked that the guard not return as, "no one should be hurt over a missing library book."

Several thoughts pop to mind (in no particular order): First, I had already felt that Smiley got off easy, now I think he got off *really* easy; Second, what the hell was this guard thinking shooting at anyone over a book; and Third, I have to admit a sort of low level respect for anyone willing to get shot to possess a coveted book (sarcasm here...please don't bother emailing me...if you are going to email me nasty notes, have it be for "oh, they have libraries in SC?!?").

I hope they catch her (and arrest the guard, too) and it turns out that the book was at least "worthy" of getting shot over...it would be extremely sad to have been shot at for, say a Nicholas Sparks or John Grisham. This, of course, begs the question, "What book would you be willing to be shot at to possess?" None really leap to mind for me (though I might take a small caliber round in a non-vital area for a pristine copy of the asbestos edition of Fahrenheit 451). It is interesting, actually, while I love *many* books and covet more than I care to admit...I really don't care a great deal about "possessing" them. I rather like having them for a little bit...and then finding someone else who will covet them. I suppose this is a good trait for one whose livelihood revolves around actually selling lovely things.

Anyway, I look forward to following this story as it evolves. I will update if and when the need arises.

And now for a non-book, totally tech moment...

Well, MacWorld was today and Apple announced several new products...but only one really matters to me. I want an iPhone (go here for a great review and MANY pictures). I want it NOW. I want to sleep with it under my pillow. I want to rub it, ever so softly, against my cheek. I want to gaze lovingly at it. I long for it. I covet it. I crave it.

I love Apple for many reasons. I love them most of all for occasionally bringing something to market that genuinely makes me covet a bit of hardware. It is, as one would expect, a stunningly beautiful, simple and elegant device. I can not wait to explore the UI. I can not wait to have a phone that has built in WiFi, so I can get my email/web access *without* paying for the overpriced data service from my carrier. I can not wait.

Oh, and there is a new settop box, AppleTV that looks really slick and several other new/improved toys.....but, oh my, have you seen the iPhone *wistful sigh*. It will be shipping in June. That gives me 5 and a half months or so to really loathe my current phone...all its inadequacies...its poor design (both aesthetic and UI). It's lack of a 4 (or 8)gig drive. It is going to be a long few months.

Home libraries in mainstream press

BusinessWeek has just run a great article very close to my heart (thank you for the half dozen or so friends/clients who forwarded me copies). "Beyond the Bookself" is about the growth of private/personal libraries. The article is focused heavily on the nature/design of the rooms themselves and they quote Scott Brown (Fine Books) and Susan Benne (ABAA), but the overarching message is my mantra: A private library is the most significant thing most of us will ever build. Admittedly, most of what I do is library/collection development...so I am biased. Do not miss the link to the related pictures (or just click).

I clearly do not go to the right auctions...

The fine folks at Fine Books called my attention to a rather amazing bit of video. Apparently, at an auction of Irish historical material at Adam's, protesters disrupted the proceedings claiming that the material belonged in institutions. While the private/public ownership of documents of historical merit is an interesting (and long running) issue, I must admit my first reaction was just being pleased to see young people "engaged" enough to A) be thinking about the "loss" of cultural history and B) knowing what/where the auction house was (ok, just a little sarcastic). Well worth a watch.

I don't even know where to start...

President Bush claimed new powers today to search US mail without a warrant. In a "signing statement" he executed while signing the postal overhaul bill on December 20, he basically undermined a substantial aspect of the bill itself. His signing statement directly contradicts the part of the bill that explicitly reinforces protections of first-class mail from searches without a court's approval. My grandmother *often* told me that if I didn't have anything productive to say, perhaps I shouldn't say anything at all...while I often ignore these sage words, what could I really say about this that would not result in a long rant.

That said, please see what the ABA's, "Blue-Ribbon Task Force" said about these statements (in brief: that they are an affront to and undermine separations of powers).

One of the all time great opening lines (and paragraphs)

I have been rereading the Lovecraft canon and just absorbed Call of Cthulhu. I realized two things: first off, it has one of the truly great opening sentences and/or first full paragraphs; secondly, for better or worse, I realized I know it from memory:

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a dark new age.

I'm thinking of doing a broadside of this with a local letterpress artist, with a nice graphic of some sort. We shall see. Feel free to post your favorite below.

So much for fun in the stacks....

According to this Wired article, one byproduct of Chicago State University's nearly $40MM library reno is that students will no longer be allowed in the stacks. All shelving and pulling of books will be done by robotic "pickers". This is a technology that has been evolving rapidly in warehouse settings and has the potential to be efficient and, at least in theory, cost effective.

Generally, the stacks can be closer and higher (potentially several stories). Better yet, if implemented as is seen in major warehouse projects, books can be shelved "dynamically"...that is, books checked out more often would be in prime/fast locations and The Starr Report would be in some dank corner. Better yet, the system can learn as it goes...refining its algorithms and becoming more efficient.

On the other hand, please read: Why Things Bite Back: Technology and the Revenge of Unintended Consequences (Edward Tenner, 2004). I suggest this may also result in the modern grocery store phenomena...if/when there is a power/technology failure, no one can function any longer. You literally can not make purchases at a grocery these days when their "system" is down...forget the fact that no one can make change...nothing has prices on it anymore. Good for tweaking pricing for arbitrary and capricious reasons...problematic otherwise. I predict many major libraries will follow this path as well...and will be utterly useless whenever there is a "failure".

Technology is such fun.