Llareggub revealed...

So who knew? The National LIbrary of Wales has a sketch map, in Dylan Thomas' hand, of his famed Llareggub. LLareggub is the name of the town on Thomas' Under Milk Wood. It is also "bugger all" backwards (while sounding suitably Welsh). It is likely to be the name of my next cat.

Sloane's 9 Tips To Surviving The Depression As A Rare Bookseller

Offered without comment. Thanks SG.

Schrödinger's Laptop...

Ahhhh, quantum mechanics, how I love you...how much fun and joy have you brought me in airport security lines, the DMV and/or the caffeine induced haze of a 48 hour wake-cycle. The Copenhagen interpretation battling Many World/Relative State and my old nemisis, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle at the core...

So my wonderful, brilliant and sometimes rather

frightening wife has waited SEVEN years to purchase a new computer. Her old 15 inch PowerBook has slogged along, more or less working...but getting longer and longer in the tooth. 6 months ago or so, the trackpad stopped working, but that was not enough to push her over the edge, she simply plugged in an optical mouse and kept working. She was waiting. Waiting for the next better machine. Waiting for a great deal. Waiting for her current machine to completely fail. Wait until she felt flush. Waiting until it *had* to be replaced. 

After SEVEN years, she finally did it. Apple released the new uni-body MacBookPro. With much careful research, she found the best place to purchase it (price + rebates + misc. free bits of crap + various ephemeral pros and cons). She ordered a very nice new pink sleeve to house it (from one of the only makers who provide "drop data" regarding their cases). She tracked it every few hours from the warehouse in the midwest on its journey to our home. And then it arrived.

We opened the big packing box. We opened the inner protective box. We *gazed upon* the laptop box itself....but did not break the seal. Back into the inner protective box it went (complete with the replacement of its little padded corner protectors). And now we wait.

If it were me, the inner box would have been torn asunder. It *might* have survived, but only if the tape were easier to cut than tearing the box apart. It would have been plugged in immediately. I'd have found one of the various firewire cables I have kicking about...restarted my laptop in target disk mode (basically a drive waiting to be mounted) and then, giddy with anticipation and techno-lust, I'd have started the transfer...sucking the brains of my old machine out of the old and into the new. Like blowing code into PROM. The birth of a new machine. AHHHHHhhhhhh....

Suzanne is not me (thankfully). She wants to enjoy every element of the "experience" of this new bit of hardware that is now hers. She wants to be calm and unhurried and relaxed when she opens the box. She wants the experiential elements to be as well crafted and beautiful as the design of the hardware. So the new machine remains BOXED. Right there. In the corner. We brought it up to my parents house, where we are for Thanksgiving and the weekend. It is still too busy... She is thinking that she will open it Friday. Or maybe Saturday. 

OH MY GOD!!!!!

New hardware. Right there. Within reach. Listen carefully. You can here it calling. come to me...open me...plug me in...turn me on...let me do the same for you...I'm all yours now...customize me...make me your one and only....

It is really too much to bear... 

Which brings us back to Schrödinger and this thought problem. So we have a sealed box...and in this box there might be a brand-new MacBookPro...or there might be a carp...the state of the contents of the box are unknown and thus must exist in both states simultaneously...Laptop/Carp...Carp/Laptop. Is it a laptop? Or is it a carp? Heisenberg tells us that we can not know the state without destroying the problem, it is all just probabilities. 

And so the box sits. Taunting us (well, ok, just taunting me). Its contents unknown. Laptop. Carp. Carp. Laptop. In one world, we'll open the box to find the cold dead eyes of a reasonably ugly fish. In another, there will be a shiny, brand-new bit of hardware waiting to be warmed for the first time. The suspense is killing me.

I love my wife. A lot. Sometimes, however, she scares me....

"L'Enfer" [Hell] on display at Bibliothque Nationale [Addendum - alas, a year ago...]

Bibliothque Nationale [Paris] displayed their collection of erotica and pornography, built over 170 years and "forbidden" from access generally. It is referred to officially as "L'Enfer" [Hell]...which I think is wonderful.

The "Enfer" section of the Bibliothque Nationale books and prints and photographs purchased, confiscated or donated over almost two centuries is believed to be one of the largest and richest collections of pornographic and erotic materials in the world. The Vatican's secret stash is said to be even larger but that, presumably, will never be opened to the public.

How strong can this stuff be? Given what appears daily on the internet, on cable TV, or in the pages of the Daily Sport, is it possible to be shocked by exquisite, but explicit, 17th-century porn?

The answer is, yes. The exhibition is an eye-opener: a quietly and intelligently displayed but garish cornucopia of sadism, masochism, bestialism, scatology, bums, tits and staring genitalia. It is also a fascinating, and sometimes beautiful, expedition through the dark, winding corridors of the human psyche.

It has just been pointed out that I payed no attention to a minor issue...that of the exhibition dates. This exhibit ran from Dec. 2007 through March 2008. I am relieved as I no longer need to ponder at all a jaunt overseas. Sadly, it appears they did not print a catalogue. Bah...

[N.B. Bib. Nat. has a great collection of "Virtual Exhibitions"...well worth a look.]

NÉ ABAA Holiday gathering...

Last night was the N.E. Chapter of the ABAA holiday dinner. In attendance was John Rutter (Ars Libri), Ken Gloss and Joyce Kosofsky (Brattle Books), Joe and Susan Phillips (Commonwealth Books), Chuck Vilnis and Helen Kelly (Boston Book Company), Barry Scott (and his wife whose name, I am embarassed to admit, I can not recall), Tom Boss, John Waite and Suzanne Hamlin and your humble blogger (Lux Mentis).

The dinner was at Oceana in Boston. The food was very good, the service was inexplicably slow...and would have been annoying had we not been having such fun chatting (and drinking). We were there from about 6 to nearly 1030pm. The lobster bisque was particularly good. The company, however, made the evening. The cost of the dinner was very reasonable and was donated entirely to the ABAA's Benevolent Fund... It is always nice when you can spend time with friends, eat well and feel like you are doing something useful. We would like to thank the NE Chapter for sponsoring such a nice evening (and for picking up the proverbial tab).

EU's huge new [digital] library crashes hours after opening...

The BBC is reporting that the massive digital "library", Europeana, crashed shortly after its launch. This is interesting in several ways. First off, it is a nice hat tip to traditional libraries...while they occasionally burn, they do not crash. More importantly, it is a testament to the interest (at least in Europe) in cultural, literary and artistic history.

The site was built to be reasonably robust...able to support several million hits per hour. It is reported that before it went down, they were consistently running 10MM hph. I tried to poke about earlier and figured they were getting pounded...turns out I was right. They will be back in December...on much more robust hardware. I'll be there...

From the BBC report:

The Europeana website was attracting more than 10 million hits an hour - more than double the number which had been anticipated.

The site includes paintings, photos, films, books, maps and manuscripts from 1,000 museums, national libraries and archives across Europe.

It is expected to reopen in December after technological improvements.

From an AP article:

The Web site collected some 3 million artifacts — including books, maps, paintings and videos — from some of Europe's top museums, such as the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It will be available in 23 languages including English, French, German and Spanish.

Multi-millionaire arrested for stealing from the British Library...

The DailyMail has good article on the recent arrest of Farhad Hakimzadeh, a wealthy London collector. He apparently was tipping unique sheets into his own copies of various tomes and/or just stockpiling the leaves. It appears he cut leaves from at least 150 books from special collections at the British Library. Authorities found "hundreds of pages" at his home.

His crime(s) came to light only after another reader at the BL notified staff that pages appeared to have been cut out. I'm not even going to rant about this. I'm tired and have things to do.

Question: Is it "better" that he was doing this for some personal/misplaced intent to "improve" his personal collection vs. doing it to sell on the secondary market? The psychology is definitely different.

Who Knew - I'm a Mechanic...

Typeanlyzer apparently "reads" your blog and tells you your "type". I'm "The Mechanics":

The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generelly prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.

The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.

Hmmmm....bookselling=driving race cars?!?! Seems silly. I'm going back to my game of blindfolded lawn darts. [Thanks to Wonkette].

Oh, wait, it occurs to me that one could drop *others'" blogs in. Let's see:

Brian Cassidy - "The Doers":

The active and play-ful type. They are especially attuned to people and things around them and often full of energy, talking, joking and engaging in physical out-door activities.

The Doers are happiest with action-filled work which craves their full attention and focus. They might be very impulsive and more keen on starting something new than following it through. They might have a problem with sitting still or remaining inactive for any period of time.

Joyce Godsey, grand dame of Bibliophile Bullpen - another "Doer" [see above]

JBD of Philobilos fame - The Duty Fulfillers:

The responsible and hardworking type. They are especially attuned to the details of life and are careful about getting the facts right. Conservative by nature they are often reluctant to take any risks whatsoever.

The Duty Fulfillers are happy to be let alone and to be able to work int heir own pace. They know what they have to do and how to do it.

Forrest Proper over at FoggyGates - The Preformers [Also falling here is Jeanne Jarzombek aka Book Prowler AND Chris Lowenstein aka Book Hunter's Holiday]

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

OK...that is all the time I have for this frivolity. The real question is, what type are *you*? Well, that and, "does it actually mean anything and do we care..."...

[Updated to correct BP vs BHH confusion...my punishment for typing faster than I think...interesting that it was Performers, just the same...]

Where are *you* in the Dewey Decimal System???

Just when you thought the Dewey Decimal system couldn't get any cooler, spacefem.com provides a means to catalogue yourself. Let the fun begin...

Ian J. Kahn's Dewey Decimal Section:

020 Library & information sciences

Ian J. Kahn's birthday: 5/3/1967 = 53+1967 = 2020


Class:
000 Computer Science, Information & General Works


Contains:
Encyclopedias, magazines, journals and books with quotations.



What it says about you:
You are very informative and up to date. You're working on living in the here and now, not the past. You go through a lot of changes. When you make a decision you can be very sure of yourself, maybe even stubborn, but your friends appreciate your honesty and resolve.

Find your Dewey Decimal Section at Spacefem.com

Just in case

Yet another reason to be fond of Brattle

The bookfair saw Brattle Bookshop selling Heritage/OakKnoll bibliographies for $5 each. I'm pretty certain most of these were $75 or so...and the Pforzheimer about $300...when new. All are on my reference shelf for $40. Best deal at the fair...
[Addendum: I have it on good authority that if you would like one or more of these bibliographies, Brattle would be happy to extend the same offer...you can't miss on this deal...]

Enjoy your recent Fine Books & Collections...it is the last hardcopy...

I have just had it confirmed that the Nov/Dec issue of Fine Books and Collections Magazine is the last hard copy issue. Starting Jan, 2009, they are going "digital only". Perhaps this should not be a surprise, US News and the Christian Science Monitor have both recently gone digital only. However, they are both "news" venues...and as such, the web (and push delivery and all sorts of other techish things) lends itself to their content. Personally, I think the world of Fine Books and Collection does *not* lend itself to digital only.

I *want* hard copies, nicely organized, on my shelf. I *want* to be able to go back to old issues when I run across something that I know they wrote about. I *want* the content in my home, all the time. I am *so* pleased that our last ad in the magazine was a "celebration" of our first ABAA show. I want to be able to keep that...to show it to the boys...and their boys and girls in many years.

Most of all, I *want* to be able to keep and control the data. I want to be able to get a back issue if I loan one out and it does not return. I want the archive. I trust that FB&C will keep "back" content and have it searchable and all that great stuff. HOWEVER, they will only do so as long as they exist...or choose to do so...and/or as long as their hardware does not catastrphically fail. I am uncomforatable with the risk of losing data (and that is what the textblock is) that I value with no ability to do anything about it... Urgh.

That said, it is not my business and I am confident that Webb and his team are making the decision after careful consideration and contemplation. Webb has indicated that they have triple the number of readers online as they do for the print edition. I don't doubt that...though I know several of the clients I can directly trace back to FB&C are significantly "anti-tech"...no email, not computer...and we will lose them in this switch.

On the other hand, it does reach deeper and broader with very minor incremental costs. It certainly does have interesting options and opportunities. Push tech that could put new content onto my iPhone, auction calanders dynamically updated, integration with Facebook, dynamic content and "community" elements that might more deeply engage subscribers, interesting ways-from an advert standpoint- to reach new customers, etc.

I think it will be interesting and I hope it will be good. I will miss the paper though. Paper is good. Paper is real. Paper lasts. We shall just have to wait to see how long this medium lasts...

Day Three, pack out and home...First ABAA show is done

Sunday was great. While we had great traffic and interest on Saturday, it was quite soft on the sales side. Sunday balanced things out rather nicely. We had a number of people who had been in on Sat. come back and pick things up and several "new" folk. Very interesting. On the other hand, I did have someone ask me to set something aside for them and then not return...all sorts of naughty client points assessed for that...

Packing up was its usually torturous exercise. It actually went really well. Fran, et al, offered to stay and help (which was very kind), but packing...like setting up...is a pretty personal thing . They wrapped up about 45-60 mins more quickly than us...but we were still out of there by 715ish.

It was great doing the double booth with Kelmscott. It makes such a nice "open" and inviting space. Especially nice with them as our stock works so nicely together and they are just great fun to hang out with for several days. We will be doing the same open double booth with Brian Cassidy and are looking forward to that a great deal. For NY, unfortunately, I don't think we will be able to do so this time around, and will probably be doing a standard U booth unless something surprising happens. We shall see.

It is nice to have our "first" ABAA fair under our proverbial belts. The fair itself was wonderfully well run. I thought traffic was strong. Sales could have been better, but given current conditions, I am not complaining at all. We were warmly welcomed by other members and real humans as well. It was really just a great experience. Thank you to everyone who stopped by...double thanks to those who purchased from us. Hope to see you again in SF and/or NY.

Can you be *too* relaxed???

Note the tongue sticking out. Morpheus in the land of dreams...

You know there is trouble brewing when...

Terry Bellanger, my dad (Richard Kahn) and Dan Posnansky. Quite a
crew... Made my day.

Day Two Boston ABAA and boar at the Duck...

We started early at the shadow show. Saw a reasonable number of interesting/sexy things. Managed to only buy one thing...but what a thing. Very cool, large collection of signed silkscreened posters and supporting text, bound in wooden boards covered in lead (because it is just not enough to be really big and bulky, one must also be really heavy)...all wrapped in black rubber. Very interesting, very cool. Bought it with another, which was nice in several way. Now to see what we can do with it...

The fair opened at noon. My parents drove down from mid-coast, which was really nice. They had fun going about and reconnecting with old friends. I saw a number of friends and clients. Another day of very strong, engaged interest. Soft sales, but I've heard this from many...as I've said before, the fairs are really about getting the brand out, meeting new people and waving the proverbial flag. Also met someone who may well be my new best friend...and that is always nice ...

We spent the evening with a friend from Delaware and John and all at Lame Duck and the Gallery. John kept the bar high (and well tended). The food was great, roast boar and suckling pig with nice supporting dishes. The art was interesting, the people were great. Have to admit that I spent most of the evening downstairs as it was much cooler down there and I have becoming increasingly heat adverse...

To bed now. Chapter member breakfast tomorrow morning before the fair and then another 5 hours before breakdown and home. There is a reasonable chance I will not be able to post again tomorrow...depends on how sentient I am when we get back to Portland. It might be Monday. Great fair thus far...

Mid-day on day two...

Good traffic. Engaged crowd. So far so good.

A bit of coolness from the castle...

Pen for scale. Most interesting find at the shadow show is a big bound
collection of prints. Bound in lead (if you are going to be big, shoot
also for heavy) and wrapped in numbered rubber. Picked it up with
another so we could share the load <g>. More images to follow.

Castle

Not a bad building for books...

Castle Show in the morn

Great location.

Day one at the Boston ABAA 2008 fair...

It has been a 13++ hour day, so this shall be short and I am beyond tired. Set-up started at 8am and we got the infrastructure up quickly across the back of the double booth we are sharing with Kelmscott Books. We ran our shelves and shelf-spans across the entire back of the booth (three 8 foot tables) and strung our lights across the back. It all tied together really well...

Due to reasons that will not be explored here, catering was taken care of by Au Bon Pain...coffee and pastries in the morning and very yummy boxed lunches for...well...lunch. They even threw in a really nice cup of soup. I know there were a lot of moving parts in making the food work and I think the results were absolutely first rate. Not only was the food great, but the people tending to it and assisting were very pleasant and helpful. It was very nice.

The booth looked great at opening. Our two booths "fit" really well and it really came off looking like one very huge booth full of good, strange, wonderful, sexy, significant and/or just plain fabulous booth. I think Fran and Co. are similarly pleased (at least I hope so...).

Show opened at 5pm with a good long line at the door and it really stayed strong and steady until the closing at 9pm. We had some good sales and some very strong interest in some of our more interesting/complex/signficant items...which is very nice. We'll just have to wait and see what comes from all the interest. Best of all, we had some great "stickiness"...many very engaged visitors, asking great questions and really interested and engaged in all they were seeing. It is so much fun to see so many bibliophiles in one place.

Tomorrow should be another long day. We start at 9am over at the shadow show being held at The Castle. Then our show starts at 12pm and runs until 7pm (if I promised you passes, they are at Will Call). After the fair tomorrow, we will be going over to Lame Duck Books to enjoy John's hospitality (roast boar is again on the menu...it should be a treats, more to follow). I'll try to post another update when I manage to drag myself home tomorrow...hope springs eternal...

On very slightly related matters, Apple has been kind enough to move their flagship Boston store across the street from the Hynes. It is three stories, very pretty and when we were leaving the show, they had a live band playing up on the third floor. Too much fun...

and we're off...

Good line at the door. Seems to be a good, active and engaged crowd.
Should be a fun evening.

Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair - This Weekend

The small sign out front let's you know you can get a car wash while
you browse books. Can life get better?

Pretty much ready to go...

Right on the cusp of too much stuff...but all is looking good.

In process...

About 4 hours into set-up. First sale under the belt...we shall see
how things evolve...

And set-up begins

One last "before"...

Before...

Boxes dropped off. Set-up starts at 8am.

Boston ABAA book fair weekend has begun...

Sorry for my delay in posting...it has been a wildly chaotic few weeks, culminating in this very weekend. I have spent the last five days "elder sitting", at a 700+ lot auction (requiring serious preview time), running the bi-annual MABA meeting, coordinating/attending this month's Baxter Society meeting and...you know...preparing and packing for my very first ABAA book fair. It has been a very chaotic week or so. To top it off, I seem to be fighting off a cold (successfully, thus far).

I managed to get some last minute additions catalogued and ready for the fair. My personal favorite is a copy of the Robert Frank/Zero Mostel "Zero Mostel Reads a Book" fabulously inscribed by Mostel. We left at a reasonable hour this morning and arrived at the hotel around 1pm. They "upgraded" us at check out to a very large room with all the bells and whistles. Proscrastination occasionally pays off. I only bothered to book a room about a week ago or so...We are at a Sheraton with a pool, free wireless and what appears to be a good on-sight Japanese grill/sushi restaurant for $74/night....now with a nice huge room. It could be worse for a few nights stay...

Am off momentarily to visit with some clients and then to drop off my boxes, et al at the Hynes Center. Set-up starts tomorrow morning...fair starts in the late afternoon. This is the first real bellweather fair...I hope it goes well. We shall see.

Belated All Hallow's Eve Gift - The Raven as read by

Vincent Price... I met him once, when I was quite young and he was very old. He was very, very nice and very, very funny.

Having a knotty time [geek moment warning]

Science News has a very interesting article on some major developments in Knot Theory. In Unknotting Knot Theory, Julie Rehmeyer sums up the issue(s) rather well:

Mathematicians have been puzzling over that question for a century or two, and the main thing they’ve discovered is that the question is really, really hard. In the last decade, though, they’ve developed some powerful new tools inspired by physics that have pried a few answers from the universe’s clutches. Even more exciting is that the new tools seem to be the tip of a much larger theory that mathematicians are just beginning to uncover. That larger mathematical theory, if it exists, may help crack some of the hardest mathematical questions there are, questions about the mathematical structure of the three- and four-dimensional space where we live.

I will admit that I am a bit of a math geek. That said, at the core of what has been happening is some fascinating work by Peter Ozsváth (Columbia U.) and Zoltán Szabó (Princeton U. - Go Tigers) developed an invariant called knot Floer homology. Drawn from techniques used in symplectic geometry, a branch of geometry with close ties to physics, it appears to be opening some very cool new areas. For example, regarding the knot shown above:

Until recently, no one could prove that there's no way to untangle this knot by crossing the strands through one another just once. Knot Floer homology finally provided a proof.

Dance of Death

Nice cover. Happy Day of the Dead.

Green Porn from Isabella Rossellini

Isabella Rossellini is an interesting woman. The daughter of Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini, she is an actress/writer/director herself, an author (Some of Me; Looking at Me, and In the name of the Father, the Daughter and the Holy Spirits: Remembering Roberto Rossellini) and generally, just a bright, beautiful and wonderfully strange human.

She is also, most recently, a porno star...not just any porn, bug/invertebrate porn. She has done a series of short films for/with the Sundance Film Festival called Green Porno. It is a collection of 8 short videos in which she dresses as and acts out the sex life of an: Earthworm; Dragonfly; Bee; Firefly; Snail; Spider; Fly, and Praying Mantis. It is quite amazing. Enjoy.