Books are packed and I'm more or less ready to go...

Well, one set of books are off to SF and another is packed in the van ready for the trip tomorrow. My six year old son is joining me to assist. He asked me the other day if he was going to be wearing a tie at the book fair and I said, "Probably"...to which he replied, "then could it be a bow-tie, they are so cool!" I will be hunting for a bow tie (that will fit a six year old) over the next day or so...pictures will follow.

I've posted .pdf catalogues on the site if you would like to take a look at what I will have at both shows (very different catalogues). I recommend right-clicking and downloading them as they are about 4megs each. Enjoy.

Shall be lifted -- Nevermore

...and yet, it shall be celebrated today. Happy publishing birthday to Poe's, The Raven, published today in 1845 by the New York Evening Mirror [to be read, if one is so inclined, in its entirety at House of Usher]. It was Poe's more or less "breakthrough" hit and offered him reasonable fame and demand for the last few years of his life (he died in 1849).

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore,
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door —
Only this, and nothing more."

I guess I know what I'll be reading to my wife before bed this evening...

Arrest in thefts from NY State Library

NYTimes is reporting on a history buff who discovered items he knew to be institutionalized on ebay and assisted authorities in catching the thief. Daniel D. Lorello, who worked at the New York State Library Archives for 29 years, admitted to stealing 300-400 items in 2007 alone...and he began stealing material back in 2002. Apparently much/most of it was minor material and was sold either to local dealers or on ebay.

The local dealers who bought from him will undoubtedly do their best to assist in returning material to the Library. Ebay, of course, doesn't care at all if items sold through them are stolen or not.

Books are off to SF

Well, they are off. 13 big black boxes (8 of mine and 5 of Don's)...just shy of 1000 pounds. Shipping books across the country makes me twitchy. I'll sleep again when they arrive safely.

On the plus side, I know every single book that has been shipped and will have catalogues available for attendees. This is doubly nice, as I will have the catalogue of the SF books at the NJ fair this weekend and the NJ books at SF.

I'm off to finish packing for this weekend.

Slightly delayed news, Thomas Jefferson joins LibraryThing

As noted in this announcement, a group of sixteen members of LibraryThing recently completed uploading Thomas Jefferson's all 4,889 books of his library *and* 187 of his reviews of his various books. If you are a LibraryThing member, you can see how much of your collection you share with TJ. Apparently they are planning to add other libraries of significance.

I think this is really interesting and look forward to seeing how it evolves. With luck, it will make it easier to add some of my older tomes...

No bookish connection, just a great speech...

After nearly eight years of a leader who can not speak in complete sentences (or pronounce simple words), I am sorely tempted to support Obomerama simply because listening to him speak does not set my teeth on edge. This was a great speech. If you have not listened to it, here is what a politician *should* be able to do...speak well, clearly and on point.

Chaos at W#@$ette leads to a new blog and...

our first foray into web advertising. I have enjoyed and followed Wonkette (sorry, no link, still annoyed) from the early days when it was, you know, still Ana Marie Cox's baby. She basically sold it/moved on and it became part of Gawker Media's clot of blogs.

'ette was notable for its *very* snarky and "insider" DC/politico news. Funny, on point and on pulse with a serious love of the loathsome nature of DC and its resident political sleazebags and their minions. You know, the way news should be...

Anyway, they blew through a fair number of writers post-Ana (all male...at 'ette...urgh). Then the frequent poster, Anonymous Lobbyist, came "out" and revealed herself as Megan Carpentier and let us know that she had quite the lobbying gig and would be full time at 'ette. I had dropped back to check it about once every two days or so until Megan began writing...'ette was back. Sharp, funny, profane and just "back". Hell, Megan literally waterboarded a co-worker for our pleasure and amusement...and then destroyed the tape (luckily, there was a secret camera).

I was back to checking it at least twice a day and clicking through on many/most of the posts (i.e. generating money for the site). Then Ken Layne "came back" to 'ette and, in short order, fired the only 'ette at 'ette (it was not a gender thing, apparently, but a style thing....Megan wanted 'ette to be 'ette and Ken apparently wants it to be back in the "snooze" period). There was much gnashing of teeth (notably here) and much outpouring of support for Megan.

About two days ago or so, Megan, Greg Wasserstrom (also recently axed at 'ette) and Hunter Walker (of Gridskipper) founded a new snarky political blog, Cynics' Party ("Exposing hypocrisy, Espousing Profanity since January 24, 2008."). They are off to a great start from a content standpoint...but the off the blocks GoogleAds monetizing resulted in a horrifying amount of Ann Coulter (care, don't say it out loud or an angle looses its wings) and Newt Gingrich newsletter appeals (clearly a deep and disturbing flaw in AdWords).

Late yesterday they redesigned in a way the pushed AdWords "down" the page and added their own support ads. In support of their new venture (and in response to their *very* competitive pricing), I decided to run a wee banner ad on the site. It is our first online buy. How knows, with a bit of luck, it will drawn a new client or two...hope springs...er...eternal. Best of luck to Megan, Greg and Hunter.

Pelican cases, revisited...

I am nearly packed for the SF show. I picked up another five Pelican cases from our friends at CaseClub. One more carry on (1510) and four more of the bigger shipping boxes (1620). We now have 8 of the big ones and two carry-ons. This should be a good number for a full booth as half booth worked really well with half the cases. Hope springs eternal.

I know I have ranted about these before, but much is worth repeating. If you are in need of cases, I can not recommend them highly enough. They are *far* better priced than ATA cases, are water *proof* (the 1620s are guaranteed to float in salt water with 150 pounds in them), corrosion and dust proof, unbreakable and come with an lifetime guarantee ("You break it, we replace it. Forever"). Much research led us to CaseClub...not the prettiest web site, but the best prices and a discount if you order multiples. Tell them I sent you...I have, by my rough estimate, sould about two dozen cases for them. I'm hoping to prove to Pelican, et al, that booksellers are an under-recognized market segment.

Also: The stained glass above was made by Suzanne's aunt and, while difficult to discern in this image, is really very lovely. At the floor you can see my new 1850ish guillotine paper cutter.

The glory of pulp...

It has been too long since I have been over at Hangfire's blog and clearly a bad oversight on my part. He has just posted a great review of wonderfully horrible pulp covers. This gem is captioned:

First Hoke Jackson's Orgy Days (Nightstand NB1903) featuring topless, high-heeled rock climbers on their way to the sex chalet.

It may just be me, but I think the world needs more topless high-heeled rock climbers...and cute little cape sex chalets.

Don't miss the Detroit textbook warehouse (of death) image post, either...I highly recommend opting for the "slide show" viewing option with Mozart's, Requiem playing in the background.

Well-known indy afro-centric chain to close...

One of the nations largest black-owned bookstores, Karibu is closing. When I first saw the headline, I thought I would be posting about the death of another indy due to market pressures or...more interestingly (if unlikely)...perhaps on how success of mainstreaming ethnocentric publishing has undermined the need for such ethno-focused shops.

For better or worse, the cause is much more banal. Apparently, the owner's of the shop could not agree with the direction of the company nor come to agreement as to who to unwind ownership in a way that allowed it to go forward. It will be interesting to see if something rises from the proverbial ashes.

I offer you what may well be the greatest alarm clock ever...

It is call the SnūzNLūz. Basically, it is a WiFi/WPA clock radio. The hook is that as part of the set-up you enter banking info and then pick a group you *really* LOATH and you pick the amount of money you want to donate (in $10 increments).

When your alarm goes off, you either get up...or hit the Snooze button. However, once you have it set up, any time you hit the snooze button, you donate money to someone you hate. How wonderful is that. From their marketing material:

Common Usage Suggestions!
Are you a butcher? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to PETA
Are you a republican? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the ACLU!
Are you a land developer? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the Wilderness Society!
Enjoy your freedom? (Blue state version) Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the GOP. or
Enjoy your freedom? (Red state version) Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to MoveOn.Org
Are you a hippie? Set your SnūzNLūz to donate to the American Coal Foundation.

It is *way* too good an idea. I wonder if I can hack it such that ones I give as gifts are preconfigured to donates their funds to...er...me. It is even pretty good if you "give" to companies you actually like. I wonder if the ABAA would like to get a donation every time certain booksellers decided to sleep in... I know what I am getting my family at the next cycle of gift-giving holidays....

Packing for two shows...

It has been an interesting few days. I've reprinted all of my slips (I print a catalogue description for each book I bring to a show). I realized that I had at least two (and I am reasonably certain, three) iterations and I thought it would be nice to get them all the same (font, size, layout, etc). This takes time, but is reasonably brainless...which is very nice, as I have needed brainless work of late.

Packing is an entirely different matter. I am doing the NJ Antiquarian Fair on Feb 1-2 and the San Fransisco Book Fair on Feb. 9-10. Logistically, this means packing for both fairs pretty much...er...now. The SF books need to be shipped at the beginning of next week and the NJ books go with me on Thursday of next week. I probably should have paid attention to these dates when signing up *wry smile*. I have to small Pelican carry-on bags and small and sexy bits will go to NJ and SF...but I am otherwise having to vette what goes to which show.

It has been interesting, as I am being much more "thoughtful" about what goes where as I usually am. I usually take the "this is a sexy/fun/interesting/unusual book, I'll take it" appraoch. Now I am trying to be a bit more cogent in my approach as to what goes were...I am deliberately not bringing many art/architecture to the west coast (coated clay paper weighs a great deal, etc) and paying a bit more attention to "east coast/west coast" flavoring. The ultimate result appears to be that I'm adding quite a bit of "new" material to the corpus of both show piles. That, and I am doing way more work preparing for these two shows than I should be....

On the upside, this process has also allowed me to code material going to shows in such as way that I can print show catalogues as take-aways for clients and potential clients. That, alone, pretty much justifies the work. Back to the cutting....

A recurring rant re show endings...

I know I am young (relativistically), idealistic (at least in part) and foolish (in too many ways to count)...however, I think it is flat out *wrong* to start packing up a booth before a show ends. Above and beyond the fact that virtually all the show contracts we sign state that we will not pack up before the show ends (and thus those that do so are in breach of contract) and far more importantly, it just seems rude and discourteous to customers of the show. I think nearly a quarter of those at the fair this weekend began packing up half and hour before the show ended and half or so were packing within the last 10 or 15 minutes.

The promoter was taking money from customers within the last half-hour...admittedly, poorly planned by the customers. Even if you have had a bad show, are grumpy or any number of other things, what does packing up early actually gain you...sitting in line, waiting to get in? Getting out a few minutes faster?...and at what cost? Our last sale of the show came at 5:04 and was north of $1K...a sale that would not have happened if I was in the midst of packing with my booth full of boxes.

Personally, I like taking my time packing up. I chat with some of the other more relaxed dealers, pack everything carefully away and by the time I am actually ready to get the car, there is no line or waiting (admittedly, we tend to be within the last handful to get packed up...). There just doesn't seem to be any reason to rush packing...especially not at the expense of the customers.

Sorry (sort of) for the rant. But really, you pay money for the opportunity to be at a show, show your wares, meet clients and buy books...it makes not sense at all to undermine the last few minutes and, potentially, leave a bad impression with those clients (potential or otherwise) who are there to the end. I'm going to go write a thank you note to the gentleman who spent a fair bit of money with me in the final moments of the fair...because he could.

Day Two and heading home...

Well, we are back in Portland. The show wrapped up at 5pm, we were out of there at about 8pm and were home by 230am. If we had brains, we would have spent another night, but I think we both wanted "this"...that being, waking up at home and having a Sunday to unwind and do show follow-up. It was a great weekend.

We had a very nice and relaxing morning. The show did not start until 11am, so we were able to sleep in a bit and have a nice breakfast courtesy of the Giraffe. We wandered over just before the show opened. There was a small group waiting to get in (a very tiny throng *g*).

While there was never a big "crowd" on Saturday, there was was a very steady stream of interested and engaged visitors who were actually buying books. The buying at the show was also really quite good. I picked up an as new copy of the signed limited edition of Ginsberg's, Planet News (very nice, given my pending journey to SF) and the nicest copy I've seen of the vellum edition of Golden Cockerel's, Hero and Leander and a number of other really nice bits of this and that.

Interestingly, Maine dealers were the most highly represented (per capita) at the fair...hell, there were as many dealers from Portland (3) as there were from Brooklyn. In addition to us, Maine was represented by: Rabelais Books; James Arsenault & Co.; and Edward Pollack Rare Books and Fine Press. It is pretty neat that out of about 60 or so dealers from around the country, 4 were from our wee strange state.

Breakdown went smoothly. Once again, the Giraffe was wonderful. Truly, the "value" in being able to call over, as we were finishing up the packing, and asking for the car to be brought around is just too good. I went out the back of the Armory, picked up the car, pulled forward 30 feet and into the venue. Too easy.

We had dinner at a great little Greek diner in CT (very good gyro for me and chicken souvlaki for Suz). Our weekend of nice surprises was capped off in MA when I pulled in to a rest stop on Rt 90 to get a large coffee only to find that their "system was down" and they could not, you know, function at all (make food, take money, etc.). The nice young manager apologized and gave me a large black coffee and refused to take anything for it. Hotel upgrades, great booth location *and* free coffee...pretty much a perfect storm.

We are unwinding today, doing my show follow-up (notes to clients and the like) and beginning to look ahead to our next shows. We pulled all our descriptive slips from all our books at this show, because I am going to reprint all of them on slightly different paper and a slightly different layout...more importantly, I'll have all the books at a given show "grouped" so that I can produce printed catalogues of what I have with me. I have had a number of people ask me for such a list and I think I have figured out how to make it work with relative ease. We have a few weeks to prepare for the next pair. We will be at the NJ Antiquarian Book Fair Feb. 1 and 2nd and then the San Fransisco Book, Print and Paper Fair the following weekend...and then the Greenwich Village Book Fair about two weeks later. It is going to be a chaotic few weeks.

Set up, day one...a great day winds down...

Well, we left Tarrytown early this morning in pouring rain. The drive in was a bit slow, but relatively uneventful. We made it into the city to to our breakfast at the Harvard Club. It was great fun, wonderful people. A good time was held by all.

We made it over to the Armory at 10 am. We have, in the past, had to wait in line two right turns down the proverbial line. This morning, apparently the really early people were let is a bit early and we quite literally drove up and right into the elevator (one of the wonderful aspects of this fair is that you quite literally pull onto the floor of the hall, quite wonderful on narrow streets and bad weather). This was the first surprisingly nice event of the day.

It was immediately followed by our next pleasant surprise. When we were given our booth assignment, we discovered that we were the first booth in row (701, if you will be there on Saturday). It is very nice to be pretty much the first thing one sees when someone comes in...more importantly, it let me put our glass display cases up front and the table at the end of one table...very nice, from a display standpoint (sorry for the quality of the image, one of the downsides of the venue is that lighting it...er...marginal (at best) [N.B. image would not load, too tired to debug, will be added later]). The booth came together reasonably quickly and looks rather nice.

After unloading the van, you have to move it out of the hall. We stay across the road at the Hotel Giraffe. You drive out, run the block and pull into the Valet parking. I hate driving in NY. I hate parking in NY *much* more. The "value" in the ability to drop the car off "across the lane" an barely be put into words. That the hotel is just wonderful is a big plus, too. Our third lovely treat of the morning came thanks to the Giraffe. I dropped the car off and went in to check in, expecting (at 10:30am) to have to leave my stuff off and actually bring things up to the room later. However, when I checked in, I was told that we had been upgraded. We have a lovely corner suite. I am sitting in the living room, watching the news and finishing up dinner (don't ask, embarassingly unhealthy). We have two very nice rooms, a bathroom larger than many NY hotel rooms, etc. I really can not recommend this hotel more highly.

The show started promptly at 5pm (and ran until 9pm). Traffic seemed pretty brisk. We had several nice sales (always a nice way to start a fair). I found a few really nice buys. Overall, just a great day on all fronts.

The show opens tomorrow at 11am and runs until 5pm. With luck, we will be packed up (after a great day), and be out by 7pm. We have not quite decided if we are going to drive all the way home tomorrow or not. I think we will likely try to do so...but play it by ear. Hypothetically, there is a Comfort Inn right next to Reins Deli in CT. We shall see.... Here's to tomorrow being a good a day as today.

Outside NY for the 25th Street Armory...

We have trekked down to our "staging area" *laughing* outside NY for the 25th Street Armory Show this weekend. We are staying at the Marriott in Tarrytown (which used to be the site of the Westchester Antiquarian Book Fair). This hotel is great for several reasons, parking is free, it is a quick run into the city, it is generally very nice and, best of all, the General Manager is a serious bookman.

Tomorrow we run in early for a breakfast at the Harvard Club and then to setup at 10am at the Armory (25th and Lexington). We will be staying at the Hotel Giraffe right next door the other armory. While it is a great hotel on basically all fronts, the fact that I can pull out of the Armory after dropping off my stuff, run the block and leave my car with the valet at the hotel makes it...for those few moments...the greatest place on earth.

Hope to see some of you tomorrow or Saturday. More to follow.

A pop-up "Books of Lights" [working, even]

This might be the coolest and geekiest bookish light I've seen in a very long time. I think I want one of each.

I am very happy that there are people in the world who wake up and say, "a working pop-up lamp book is a great idea". The world needs more of them.

Please feel free to post/email re other seriously geeky bookish items out there.

Making one's own vaccum tubes...

This is not book related. It is, however, simply beautiful and I can't recommend highly enough that you take the 15 minutes or so to watch it. Turn your speakers up and enjoy.