Day One at MARIAB in Boston...

We arrived around 8am and left a hair after 7pm. I have reasonably comfortable shoes. There are no such things as "reasonably comfortable shoes" after 8 (or, you know, 11) hours standing on a concrete floor. My feet are extremely displeased. We have another 10 or so hours tomorrow. Urgh.

Now that my whining is out of the way, Day 1 was a pleasant successes. We were busy steadily throughout the day. The day started out a bit slow, but Joyce stopped by early with the nice news that cars were lined up in the lots to get in...well, nice to know there were people waiting to get in...less so for those waiting in cars. There was not a lot of time when there were not at least one or two people in the booth and a fair amount of the time when there were 3-5. Even better, it was a genuinely engaged and happy crowd. It was really a rather fun day.

Did I mention it was 11 hours long. On a concrete floor. After 8 hours during set up. On same concrete floor.

I am pleased (and flattered) to say that I had a client stop in and tell me that my newsletter to clients about this event triggered her and her son to fly down from Midcoast Maine to spend the weekend. I can honestly say I am fond of all of my clients...but some also just make me happy to do what I do.

Of added note: My son and assistant joined me at this fair...all 11 hours. Granted, he spent much of it playing on his GameBoy or reading, but he was cheerful and charming all day...above and beyond the call (particularly toward the end). As if being well-behaved under arduous circumstances was not cause enough for celebration, at the very end of the day, he mustered the extra bit of charm to achieve his first "hand sale". As documented in the two images to the side, he first approached the husband with one of "his" miniature books, chatting him up about having a wee Shakespeare that can travel. The husband then called his wife over. As evidenced in the second image, my young assistant then read through the wee volume and closed to deal. It was his very first sale. He is *far* too pleased with himself. Have I mentioned I love my clients.

It was a good day. I hope tomorrow is as much fun. Did I mention it will be another 10ish hours on the concrete floor (the last two or so packing up).

Set up and ready in Boston...

Some people can set up a booth at a book fair in a hour or less. I am not one of them. Today, I managed to take approximately EIGHT hours to set up. While I did kibitz a bit and took a short break for lunch, setup took pretty much from 10:30 to 6:30.

The booth, however, looks pretty good. I've included images that show both "sides" and two close-ups. One of our display case with some wonderful work by a fine binder and a book artist I am working with (more on both shortly).

We ended up requesting an additional 6 foot table because our booth (a double (which inexplicably only meant one extra table)) was so wide that it seemed like it would work well...and did. We have a lot of large illustrated material and it is letting us show these pieces "open".

The last image is of the top shelf of the Rockwell Kent section. It came out unusually presentable and I wanted to capture it before I forgot (or, god forbid, someone buys something). The Architectonics (center frame with the spectacular pub. binding (and DJ)) is one of my all time favorite items. A gem regardless, this is inscribed by Rockwell Kent with the sub-line, "My first job as an illustrator." I had a lovely first trade of Moby Dick to go with the Lakeside Press edition, but it has found another home...

Setup continues tomorrow morning at 7am and the show opens in earnest tomorrow at 10am and runs until 7pm. On Sunday it is open from 10am to 5pm. Then, of course, we've the pleasure of packing up. I am increasingly convinced that shows of less than 2 days don't make a great deal of sense for us. There are, of course, exceptions...but by an large, the longer a show is open, the happier I am...

Packing should be a treat as well. We are staying over on Sunday so I can meet with some clients on Monday, so there will be no rush. However, I think we are going to pack with the idea that we will *not* have to unpack everything before the NY show April 20-21 (nice, at two days, but I am looking forward to joining the ABAA picking up an extra day or so.

I'll try to update as the weekend unfolds. Please stop by if you are in Boston. The usual blueberry jam offer is open to the first non-dealer who stops by and mentions the blog. Happy book-hunting, where-ever you are.

Time joins Newsweek in keeping America stupid...

Well, Newsweek treated its US readers as morons twice last year (here and here), now Time joins its competition in "protecting" us from...well...you know, real news. I don't know about you, but I am not certain if I am insulted these NEWS journals view the US "market" as preferring a protracted advertisement for Leibowitz's retrospective to "real news" or if I just feel sorry for our society that "news" has, to all extent and purposes, become lost to our "lowest common denominator" cultural morass.

Sadly, I have been getting most of my day-to-day "news" from foreign sources for the last several years (one of the better side effects of the emergence of the web). CNN, et al have effectively been relegated to the equivalent of an alternative to a poorly scripted "reality" show...which seems to be the niche they are seeking to fill. I have this vague memory of R. Murdoch under oath before Congress stating that Fox "News" had "no obligation" to tell the truth in their reporting...that they were an entertainment corp (I have not citation for this and lack the time to find it...but the memory is reasonably clear (it...er...annoyed me *a lot*)).

I'm going back to preparing for the Boston book fair this weekend. More shortly on this front.

Bookstore Tea...

The following recipe comes from the cookbook Food to Die For: A Book of Funeral Food,
Tips and Tales (2004, Old City Cemetery/Southern Memorial
Association, Lynchburg, VA) in 2004.

Bookstore Tea
Gary Fox made the following punch for parties at The Bookstore in
Lynchburg during the 10 years of the store's existence. People who taste
this tea always want the recipe-

1 Quart of strong-brewed tea
1.5 cups of sugar
1 quart of orange juice
1 cup of lemon juice
1 quart of ginger ale

Dissolve sugar in the hot tea. Add the remaining ingredients. If making
ahead, add the ginger ale just before serving. Serves 24.

I'm a tea lover and a bit of a tea totaler, as it were, so this sounds great...but one could add something of the CH3CH2OHish nature.

Thanks to Forrest Proper of Joslin Hall fame, for the recipe.

RTFM...or is that RTFS...

This has been about for a little bit, but deserves all the eyeballs it can get. Scrolls, of course, have that very complex rolling aspect.

451 degrees isn't so nice for human flesh, either

Thanks to TiL for reminding me that today in 1556, Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake for being "a bit too Protestant" (arguably a balancing by Bloody Mary for Henry VIII's execution of Thomas More for being a bit too Catholic). One of the "Oxford Martyrs" (the other's being Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley), Cranmer was "saved for last", as his recantation was more sought after by Mary. He was, you may recall, the author of The Book of Common Prayer.

The Oxford Martyrs are, at this point, perhaps most widely remembered because Ray Bradbury quoted the last words of Latimer in Fahrenheit 451:

Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

I would like to think that while I stood on a pyre with a bag of gunpowder hung around my neck, I would have the wherewithal to say something that exceptional. Sadly, I doubt I'd be able to get it out over the whimpering and keening.

Shop(ish) open...

Well, we have begun a wee experiment. We have a collection of "stock" books...generally things we purchased at auction (typically mix lot-ish) or at sales...that are nice, but don't lend themselves to online or show sales and do not generally fit our collection development work. We have been trying to figure out something to do with them that makes sense and might help spread our brand in a positive.

A well-respected group shop in the area, Cabot Mills Antiques had a small space open. The quality of the shop was well established in my mind as Jim Arsenault, one of my more favorite dealers here in Maine, has had a presence there for several years. Thus, we dicided last week to roll the dice on the funny little space (basically between two large glass cases. There is just enough room, as you can see, for one shelf and a wee corner shelf...with the bonus of a big wooden post suitable for hanging plates and the like. We "moved in" on Friday, shelving what you see here. We had one sale over the weekend that has covered the first month, so that's a nice start. We are committed to try it for three months. We shall see.

Happy Death Day to HP Lovecraft.

I am a Lovecraft fan. Lovecraft, who died unexpectedly, early and, most unfortunately, never knowing the power of what he created, died effectively penniless and convinced he was a failure. His first book (A Shunned House) had been printed, but not published when he died. As a result, though there are MANY letters by him (he was a prolific letter writer, as many as 20 letters a day) there is only ONE copy of an inscribed book...a set of loose signatures of Shunned House (shown here).

I will not rant about HPL (others do it so well). I will simply state that he died far too young (46) and thank him for creating a genre. I can not recommend reading his cannon highly enough (or early enough, I give Baby's First Mythos as shower gifts (thanks Nate)). I'll leave you to reflect on his passing with the opening paragraph of "The Call of Cthulu".

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 deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.

Books meeting and parties in Portland...

The last two evening have been great fun to be bookishly inclined in Portland, ME. On Tuesday, Longfellow Books (Portland's gem of an indy book store) sponsored a reading by Kevin Shay of his first novel, The End as I Know It: A Novel of Millennial Anxiety. The reading was also sponsored by Portland's own Library Thing. Best yet, following the reading, all were welcomed to Library Thing's offices for wine and munchies (including a really wonderful crab dip). The highpoint of the evening for me was, while chatting with Tim Spalding (LTs founder), hearing him state, "While I am not a book collector..." This from A) the founder of a site dedicated to cataloging private collections of books; b) a UofMich. graduate student in classics (Greek and Latin) whose several barrister cases are filled with volumes that make the eyes of the vast majority of avid readers glaze over and/or whimper and; C) who has stacks of books *in his kitchen*. I completely understand what he *meant* by the statement...but it is far too much fun to take it completely out of context .

As if that were not enough fun for one week, tonight was the monthly meeting of the Baxter Society, Maine's premier (and only) bibliophilic society. The speak was Dan Posnansky, a noted Sherlock Holmes collector and founder of the Friends of Irene Adler (the first of the BSIish groups that admitted women). His presentation was wonderful. He brought some items of exceptional rarity... In addition to bringing the near legendary copy of Sign of the Four inscribed by Doyle to Eugene Field with a brilliant quatrain damning the pirate publisher to hang on his main-yard, he also brought the only known inscribed copy of the first Holmes tale in print....oh, and several letters from FDR and Truman to BSI. Dan is also the husband of the noted bookdealer (and past president of the ABAA) Priscilla Juvelis.

It was just a great evening. While I have a great time being left alone to catalogue books, going out, now and again, is really quite nice .

Heritage in transition...

The bookworld back channel is abuzz with word that Heritage Books is in transition. My very cursory search for information indicates that a foreign businessman, in an effort to acquire a block or so of Beverly Hills real estate, offered the owners, Lou included, something on the order of a 20% premium over appraised value. In this case, one can assume it was +/-$10MM, that is, a tidy retirement sum, if one were so inclined.

It appears that Lou will continue working with a handful of clients and it appears Ben, et al, will keep the heritage of Heritage running, though where and in what form remains to be seen. Heritage, founded in 1963 by Louis and Benjamin Weinstein, is...well...Heritage Book Shop. This is either going to have major implications for the rare book world...or it won't. I'm guessing the will find new and lovely digs and keep being being Heritage. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

Disease Mongering Engine...

as they say, "YOU can invent diseases, too!" The name says it all. It is bookish and relevant as I am about to embark on treatise on Booksellers with CDDSWF.

Compulsive Dysmorphic Depersonalization Syndrome With Flashbacks (CDDSWF)
CDDSWF is found in people with involuntary behavioral urges whose main phenomenological feature is extreme unhappiness with a dissociative view of self, complicated by sudden intrusions of traumatic memories.

A good day for libraries...

TiL offers: "On this day in 1901 Andrew Carnegie offered New York City $5.2 million for the construction of 65 branch libraries. Of the 56.5 million given by Carnegie for over 2500 libraries in a dozen countries, this was his largest single grant, part of a wider attempt to gainsay those who attacked his "Gospel of Wealth" and to live up to his famous dictum: 'The man who dies thus rich, dies disgraced.'"

With luck, some of our current crop of hyper-moneyed will decide they need to do something to cement their legacy (Gates and Buffet notwithstanding).

[S]ex Libris...

Thanks to my friend Nancy for the heads up on the nonist's post Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut.

A clever post (title here stolen) focuses on "the full-frontal objectification of the library itself. Oh yeah." A wonderful collection of images from Candida Höfer's book, "Libraries."

To the right is Trinity College Library, Dublin. It is almost enough to make me go back to school.

The Pefect Storm...

No, not that reasonably good sea story or slightly less good Clooney vehicle. A *REAL* perfect storm. Two of my favorite humans on earth, Ze Frank and Jonathan Coulton are together on a recent episode of Ze's exceptional vlog The Show.

Ze is, in my not remotely humble opinion, one of the sharpest, funniest and most creative forces currently wandering the planet. Jonathan is among the darkest, wittiest and most wonderfully twisted singer/songwriters the software coding world has ever produced [we played Skullcrusher Mountain and Mandelbrot Set at our wedding reception].

I'm going back to bed. This day can not get better...

A burning issue...a hot marketing ploy....

Publisher's Weekly is running an interesting article on the marketing campaign behind Brock Clarke's novel, An Arsonist's Guide to Writers Homes in New England (due in September). It began, apparently, with a letter sent to book review editors and their ken:

on paper decorated with roses and butterflies addresses a Mr. Pulsifer, and implores him to "burn down Edith Wharton's house." The note, signed "Sincerely, Beatrice Hutchins, Lenox, MA," makes no mention of a book, publisher or publicity effort, nor that Pulsifer and Hutchins are characters from a novel.

There will apparently be two more letters, threatening the homes of two other New England authors leading up to the delivery of the galley's for review.

In light of Boston's ridiculous overreaction to Comedy Centrals' LiteBrite ad campaign, I am certain this will catch flack. That said, I think it is brilliant, engaging and effective. It has already garnered a great deal more press than would otherwise be warranted for a book more than 6 months from release (and not involving a character named Potter).

I will send a jar of wild Maine blueberry jam to anyone who sends me one of these letters...something really special if you send all three (with a bonus for the galley). I look forward to its release.

Thanks to Jerry Blaz for the heads up on this...

Stopping by Woods...

On a Snowy Evening first saw print today in 1923 in The New Republic.

…The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

It was included in New Hampshire, published by Henry Holt (also 1923). On May 11, 1924, New Hampshire won the Pulitzer Prize. As it happens, I have a lovely copy of it, signed by Frost in 1923, and would love to have it go on this anniversary:

Frost, Robert; Lankes, JJ. New Hampshire. New York: Henry Holt, 1923. First Trade Edition. Light shelf/edge wear (focused at head, heel and tips). top tips through, two tiny spots of fraying at head and heel, hint of age toning at text block edges, inscribed by author on ffep, else tight, bright and unmarred. Halfbound, green cloth spine, dark green paper boards, gilt lettering and decorative elements, inlaid gold paper label, black ink lettering, tan mottled endpages, frontispiece. 8vo. 113pp. Illus. (b/w plates). Hardcover. Very Good. No DJ. (3544) $1,750.00

Arguably Frost's most significant book and winner of his first Pulitzer Prize. This volume contains such notable poems as "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and "Fire and Ice." (See, Crane A6). Inscribed by the author on ffep, "Robert Frost, Amherst, December 1923." Overall, a rather handsome volume.

Bookswim, Netflix for books....

Bookswim is set to roll out in the first quarter of 2007 (which would suggest the end of this month). They promise a catalogue of 80,000 volumes, free shipping in both directions and no late fees...and if you fall in love with your tome, you can purchase it outright. It is, effectively, Netflix for books (with a bonus purchase option).

They are currently offering "free membership" for signing up before the public release. One can also, it appears, buy into them. I am not certain I would invest in them, but the concept is interesting and certainly could have value and a place in the proverbial marketplace.

I have a hard time making the numbers work in my head (and refuse to spend the time/effort to put pen to paper). I with them the best...I'm willing to support anything that puts more books in more peoples hands. I'll be watching.

Thanks to Wonkette for the heads up of the COO interview.

UPDATE:
Anirvan of BookFinder fame forwarded the following list of related sites/services. It would appear that there is, in fact, a viable business model. Thinking about all this also reminded me of the granddaddy of all such things, BookCrossing. I have "released" a number of books to the wild and had far too much fun watching them travel (I've had several travel more broadly than I...very sad).

"NetFlix for books" service
BooksFree
Bookswim

Person-to-person book sharing sites include:
BookMooch
PaperBackSwap
FrugalReader
BookIns
TitleTrader
SwapSimple
WhatsOnMyBookshelf
SwapThing
AmericasBookshelf

Llareggub, my homeland...

Sorry for my lull of late, it is good to be busy. Less so to be so busy that one lacks the time to rant a bit now and then. Dylan Thomas has always been a favorite in my home, due largely to my grandfather. Today, in 1954, Under Milk Wood was published (posthumously). In it he caps his lifelong ambivalence toward Wales ("Land of my fathers. My fathers can keep it") by focusing the action in "Llareggub".

This word, "bugger-all" backwards, holds a valued place in the lexicon of my family. My 5 year old can use it correctly in a sentence. Thanks to TiL for the reminder.