"...I've just ordered some special plywood from Russia..."

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.

Stephen King recommends waterboarding for Jenna Bush

Gilbert Cruz of Time Magazine interviewed Stephen King recently. In it, King suggests that Time should name Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan "person(s) of the year". His point, of course, being that most/all of the mainstream media appear more inclined to follow Spears' underwear choices (or the lack thereof) than, you know, all those annoying serious and dreary "actual news" events happening about the country and world.

I am inclined to agree with him about the decline of our focus and arguable forfeiture of cultural legacy:

We've switched from a culture that was interested in manufacturing, economics, politics — trying to play a serious part in the world — to a culture that's really entertainment-based. I mean, I know people who can tell you who won the last four seasons on American Idol and they don't know who their f------ Representatives are.

He also had some reasonably clear thoughts about how GWB might most easily get his head around the issue of waterboarding:

So I said something to the Nightline guy about waterboarding, and if the Bush administration didn't think it was torture, they ought to do some personal investigation. Someone in the Bush family should actually be waterboarded so they could report on it to George. I said, I didn't think he would do it, but I suggested Jenna be waterboarded and then she could talk about whether or not she thought it was torture.

It's not every day that a reasonably mainstream literary figure suggests waterboarding the president's daughter. Personally, I tend to believe one should not advocate a practice that one has not (or can not) personally experienced. I'll avoid the obvious issues, but I've always found it interesting that after the Maine legislature passed the "Maine Law" requiring that no Maine prisoner could be executed without the personal order of the governor, not a signal execution took place for 27 years. Apparently talking about the merits of the death penalty differed from the responsibility of actually ordering another's death.

More and more, we seem to have a great number of people who hold opinions/positions passionately and/or dogmatically with little or no...you know...thought/study/facts/contemplation supporting those positions. Mainstream media feeds into this in a significant way. There was a time, until relatively recently, when the "news", in its various forms, strived to educate on major issues and events. In recent years, if it is not prurient and/or sensational, it is not worth reporting...hell, one of the owners of one of the major news networks testified before congress that his network was not required to tell the truth, that it was, effectively, an entertainment network.

Personally, I'm with Stephen King, I'd like to see some high level discussions about the balance between real news and fake news. Then again, any coverage of such an undertaking would undoubtedly be preempted by another Spears' panty event. I'm going back to cataloguing...annoyes me much less...too much ranting makes me restless...

Sunday in Boston with some very pretty books...

ABAA fairs are great fun (all the more so when/if I get to show there, of course). Almost no place else can you find the breadth and depth of material you can see at any given ABAA fair. As with all fairs, it also is an opportunity to see your friends, acquaintances and others...the ABAA fairs are, in part, fun because so many of the EU dealers come over. It was great to see Christian Jonkers, who is just a great book dealer and a genuinely nice human. Pom Harrington was there and brought with him one of my favorite bookman (and crazy person) on earth, Adam Blakeney (Adam, for the love of all that is holy, please just send the Monnier material).

My friend, Bryan Bilby (Appledore Books) had a wonderful booth location and some genuinely stunning material. Another friend of mine, Fran Durako (The Kelmscott Bookshop), was there at her first ABAA show, having been admitted in the last cycle. Her booth was lovely and her stock, as always, covetous. It was also Susan Weiser Liebegott's (Enchanted Books) first show and she, too, had just lovely material.

We also attended, with Priscilla Juvelis, the seminar on the Art of the Book. It was a panel discussion on book arts and artist books with James Reid-Cunningham (Chief Conservator of the Boston Athenaeum), Ruth Rogers (Special Collections Librarian at Wellesley College), Nancy Leavitt (book artist). It was very interesting and attending it with one of the real experts in the field was very fun.

Overall, it was a great day. I picked up some really nice things for clients and/or stock, learned new things and had a lot of fun. What more can you ask for...

The after-party was a boar...

...in the best possible sense. John Wronoski hosted his annual cocktail/dinner party at his shop/gallery space, Lame Duck Books/Pierre Merand Gallery. The main course revolved around the whole wild boar and suckling pig...with far too many other options and sides (and a wee bit of beer, wine, champagne...just a touch).

The boar was hunted for the event (preserve raised) and was extremely good (great taste, subtly gamy) and there were a half dozen options on barbecue sause(s).

The attendees were an interesting and diverse crowd with nearly all engaged in various conversations (between bits). I had a great conversation with Joseph Phillips of Commonwealth Books and Edward Pollack was his always charming self.

It was a great party and a perfect end to a great day.

A great day in Boston...

We woke up far too early and made it to the fair around 715 or so. I went in and finished up setting up the booth while Suz fulfilled an absolutely critical mission of finding some really good coffee (double espresso in a large cup filled with black coffee (depending on whom you talk to, a depth charge, red eye or a shot in the dark)).

We had signed up for a booth and a half, but there was a problem with the space and I was asked if I would mind having the booth I had the first two years (single) and they would try to get me an "extra" table to make the "half"...and managed to do it. So I had a booth on the end and the "annex" against the wall (images show the annex and the booth from two angles).

The Show started promptly at nine...with was seemed like a really nice, large crowd waiting to pounce. As is typical with this show (and most shadow shows), most of those waiting for the gates to open are dealers at "the big show" shopping for stock...with the English dealers heavily represented.

The day started a bit slowly for us with a lot of looking and some genuine interest, but that was about it. That changed mid-morning. Sales were strong and we had great "stickiness"...good conversations and interest. As is typical with this fair, after about noon, it was quite...plenty of people about and action still happening, but calm relative to the chaos of the first few hours. David Bergman (who always has wonderful things, particularly nice natural history material) and Suz left for a bit to get Chinese (or, in the case, Vietnamese) food for lunch for a bunch of people. It was very, very good...and much needed.

Joyce, recently re-vehiclularized, made the journey into town and we had a nice chat (or chats) about books things. We saw a lot of our old friends...always fun.

Buying continued to be very good. I picked up a handful of additional items for various clients and it is always nice to be able to do so. There were some really wonderful items at the show in many areas. I heard the same thing from several others, that is, good buying and strong sales. Just like it should be...

Tomorrow we will spend the day at Hynes Center. With luck, I can return the favor and find some good things to purchase...in between chatting. I really love these fairs, you get to meet and/or catch up with dealers from all over and you get to see books that you just don't see all in one place anywhere else. More to follow tomorrow.

I like bookdealers...

We are in Boston, have spent about 5 hours setting up and are nearly done...an hour or two tomorrow and we will be ready for the opening bell. I could probably have finished up, but I spent a fair bit of time chatting, catching up and even picking up a fun and naughty book (in a black rubber DJ, with a zipper, more or this to follow).

I like book dealers. I like book fairs for the new books and new customers and sales and all that good stuff...but really, I like book fairs because I get to see all sort of people I only ever really get to see at the fairs. We talk and joke and kvetch and look at books and learn things from each other. It is a really good time.

Pictures and a summary to follow...ABAA on Sunday. Oh, and I like bookdealers...they're fun.

Colossus cracking codes after a 60 year break..

Colossus, one of the first "modern" digital computers is once again cracking codes at Bletchley Park in the UK. BBC reports today that after a 14 year rebuilding project, it is online and codebreaking...competeing with modern machines (for fun). It took so long to rebuild because after the war all 10 machines were broken up to protect their working secrets.

Colossus played an extremely important roll during WWII, particularly during the build up and after D-Day. It is widely believed that Colossus and the other efforts at Bletchley shortened the war in Europe by at least 18 months.

It is worth noting that Colossus, with its 2000 or so VALVES and truck-sized bulk cracks codes at about the same pace as a "virtual Colossus" running on a Pentium 2 laptop....oh, and it is just orders of magnitude cooler.

See Codebreakers, The Inside Story of Bletchley Park for a good history (and read).

Would a name, by any other...

One last Simon related bit. At dinner he told a story of one British Lord's message to another British Lord. He very charmingly asked his wife if it was all right to tell it.

I do not remember, at the moment, what led to the story, but I think it had to do with propriety and its nuances. As can be seen in the image, Lord Kerr (Amb. to Russia, 1943) wrote Lord Pembroke the following message:

My Dear Reggie,

In these dark days man tends to look for little shafts of light that spill from Heaven. My days are probably darker than yours, and I need, my God I do, all the light I can get. But I am a decent fellow, and I do not want to be mean and selfish about what little brightness is shed upon me from time to time. So I propose to share with you a tiny flash that has illuminated my sombre life and tell you that God has given me a new Turkish colleague whose card tells me that he is called Mustapha Kunt.

We all feel like that, Reggie, now and then, especially when Spring is upon us, but few of us would care to put it on our cards. It takes a Turk to do that.

Sir Archibald Clerk Kerr

H.M. Ambassador

He quoted the message from memory and I will not forget it for a very long time. [N.B. I really apologize for the subject of this post...but not enough to change it.]

Anatomy of a perfect evening...

When you have spent a week or so doing little but cataloguing books, prepping for the Boston show(s) and a myriad of other minor/major tasks and are basically basically frazzled to the point of blathering, taking a few hours off to have dinner and hear a presentation might not leap to mind as the best way to spend one's time (sleep, for instance, would be a very good idea). It was, however, the best evening I have had in a very long time. Simon Winchester (of Professor and the Madman, A Crack in the Edge of the World, The Chart that Changed the World and many others) was the speaker at the Baxter Society this evening and we had a lovely dinner before the event.

The dinner before the presentation was at Ciaola's in Portland's West End. The food was wonderful and our charming little private room was very nice. The company was outstanding. Among the group of 12, we had the author and wife, the owner of one of Maine's great fine press shops, the head of the Maine Historical Society's Library, a medical historian, a vinophile, a book artist, and others...it was a great group. Great stories, great conversation and just a great time.

Simon spoke on his soon-to-be-published biographical work on the life of Joseph Needham. I will not go into details of the man's life...but his life is a remarkable story and I can not wait to read Simon's new book The Man Who Loved China: Joseph Needham and the Making of a Masterpiece (ARCs in Dec with a Jan release). Suffice it to say, he was a chain smoking Cambridge educated scientist, communist, serial philanderer nudist who created one of the truly great works of the 20th century. His book, Science and Civilization in China, was originally proposed as a single volume 6-800 page work. As it turned out, the first volume was published in 1954...the 17th volume in 1995 at Needham's death and is now at 24 volumes (using his notes and/or structure). It is, apparently, the longest book ever published and it quite literally changed the West's conception and perception of China at nearly all levels. The "Needham Question" remains at the core of figuring what happened with China in the "modern" age and what/or what may happen going forward...

This was the first time Simon spoke about this work in public and he read the entire prologue to set the stage. In addition to the tales about and around Needham, he told some wonderful stories that arose during/from his adventures in researching this book. For example: Having copies of Needham's diaries (he was meticulous diary keeper), Simon quite literally followed in Needham's footsteps on many of his journeys.

He told of following his route to one of the remote university cities, quite literally on the far side of the Gobi Desert...while en route and quite literally in the middle of nowhere and with no traffic about, he broke down with an oil leak. When his temporary repair of chewing gum only worked for about 5 miles, he was dead at the side of the road. Quite worried about his prospects, he turned on his cell phone, hoping that there might be the hint of a signal...only to discover that China has apparently built towers pretty much everywhere...not only did he have solid coverage, he had data and was able, at the side of the road, in the middle of the Gobi Desert, in the dead of night, to google his hotel, get a number and call them [N.B. this annoys me a great deal, as there are at least 3 *major* dead spots between Portland and Tentants Harbor, Maine (and no coverage at all in TH....but high speed data in the Gobi]. After a brief description of his situation, he was told by the hotel clerk (500 miles away) to put his flashers on and go to sleep and to look for lights in 5 hours. 5 hours later, he saw two sets of lights, a tow-truck for the car and a vehicle for him...complete with noodles and beer. Just remarkable.

As many of you may know, he had written about 14 books *before* Professor and the Madman (The Surgeon of Crowthorne if you have a British edition). These books, in his words, "went from the publisher directly to the remainder tables". While not entirely true, it was clearly his breakthrough work...but do track down some of those early, easy as most have been republished in recent years. I strongly recommend, The River at the Center of the World: A Journey Up the Yangtze, and Back in Chinese Time.

I'll stop here. I could rave about his presentation for hours. Do not miss an opportunity to hear Simon speak, it is hard to think of a way to spend one's time more pleasingly.

[photo shows Simon Winchester, his wife Setsuko (in back) and Dr. Harold Osher (per Simon, "Ahhh, the Map Chap"]

Boston book fairs, etc.

Just a quick reminder (in the midst of my packing and usual chaos) that the two Boston shows are this coming weekend. We will be at the Boston Book, Paper and Ephemera Show at the Radisson on November 17th from 9am to 4pm. This is, of course, also the weekend of the ABAA's Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Hynes Convention Center from Nov. 16-18.

We hope to see some of you there. I'll be blogging about both during/after the event(s).

"...so much trash belonging to the worst school of Bedlam literature."

Happy Birthday Moby Dick. Today in 1851, the US saw the first edition of Moby Dick and it was received as nicely as it had the previous month in the UK. It appears the critics might have been wrong...or at least that no one else cared what they thought...either way, its a whale of a book. I've read it twice, once back in HS in, as I recall, a sort of trade paper edition and more recently the Random House trade ed. of the Kent illustrated (I managed not to read either of the Lakeside copies I've had recently). Though many years passed between the readings, I am quite certain the "experience" of reading the book was greatly improved by the Kent illustrations. [thanks to TiL for the reminder]

Does Sothey's downgrade bode poorly for the book trade...

Arguably, it is sad when a $270 million dollar sale is considered a "failure". Then again, the estimates for the sale were $400-550 million...so it is all relative. Personally, I was surprised "The Fields" didn't sell...I just really like the backstory that it was the painting hanging over van Gogh's bed as he lay dying.

The interesting issue is that the Street has treated it as a bellwether of a chilling at the high end of the market and other blurbs relate it to the softening of the real estate and broader market. This is all well and good...my question, because it effects me, is whether we will be seeing a hit in the book market and at what level.

Rising gas prices and the softening economy has, arguably, begun hitting the lower end of the market as people are feeling tighter about discretionary money. It appears the high end of the market is becoming cautionary as well. It will be interesting to see how the big fairs perform over the next several months.

N.B. Sotheby's has been on the short end of the analysts' lists before and has proven them wrong...it will be fun to watch, regards.