Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Tasha Tudor [Starling Burgess] - 8/28/15-6/18/08

This following is making the rounds on various bookish listserv groups:
It is with great sadness that we must tell you Tasha Tudor, 92, passed away in her Vermont home on June 18, 2008 surrounded by family and friends.
We thank you for supporting Tasha Tudor's lifestyle and artwork during her long career. We hope that Tasha's message of 'taking joy' in all that one does will be remembered as we pass through this difficult time together.

-The Tudor Family

The gloom of the world is but a shadow; behind it, yet, within our reach, is joy. Take Joy.
Fra Giovanni
A wonderful illustrator, writer and generally lovely human. I know what I will be reading the boys later this afternoon. [This and the image lead to the Tasha Tudor website.]

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Science, theology and stupidity running amok in LA...

Apparently, everything is Louisiana is going so well that the Senate and House can waste time, money and...you know...their children's intellectual future on yet another "let's teach creationism as if it were a scientific theory" bill. The republican governor (interestingly, a Hindu turned Catholic), is expected to sign the bill into law. The ACLU and an untold number of other rational organizations will then attempt to save LA from its own stupidity.

I know I have ranted about ID before (see, e.g., here, here or here) and will do my best to avoid doing so again. But. Errr. Ahhh. SERIOUSLY! What the hell is going through these people's collective heads? This is a state whose students score 44th and 46th nationally in Reading and Math, 50th in Advance Placement exams, and is second highest in the nation for the number of children living below the poverty line. Yet rather than spend time/money/effort trying to dig its schools...and students...out of the mire, they spend their time trying to further muddying their already murky educational waters. Twits.

England, rather recently, issued new guidelines to teachers on creationism and ID. They included a wonderful passage on what makes and does not make a "scientific theory":
The use of the word 'theory' can mislead those not familiar with science as a subject discipline because it is different from the everyday meaning of being little more than a 'hunch'. In science the meaning is much less tentative and indicates that there is a substantial amount of supporting evidence, underpinned by principles and explanations accepted by the international scientific community...Creationism and intelligent design are sometimes claimed to be scientific theories. This is not the case as they have no underpinning scientific principles, or explanations, and are not accepted by the science community as a whole.
There is something about the very carefully premediated effort to repackage/promote theology as a scientific construct that I just find wildly offensive...to both theology *and* science. I am have too much to do to rail about this today...and it annoys me too much. Please see the "About FSM" et seq. for an enjoyable analysis of the logic flaws and do not miss the Open Letter to the Kansas School Board. Admittedly, I am fond of sarcasm...it is so much more pleasant than screaming and whacking people with boards...

Also, though published some time ago in the renowned scholarly source, The Onion, please also see "Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory".

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Thursday, March 27, 2008

Weather modification for fun and pleasure...

Admittedly, this is not really bookish...but it is amazing *and* I promise that at least on book *will be* published about it, so it is "proto-bookish":

MIT Review has a short, yet amazing, article on China's plans for weather modification to see that no rain falls on their 91,000 seat open air stadium. Last year China purchased an IBM p575 supercomputer. This wee bit of hardware is capable of executing 9.8 trillion floating point operations per second. They are using it to model an area of 44,000 square kilometers (17,000 sq. miles) and it is apparently accurate enough to generate hourly forecasts for *each kilometer*. They then use silver iodide, dry ice and a liquid nitrogen based coolant shot/dropped from field artillery and planes. From the article:
Unsurprisingly, therefore, China's national weather-engineering program is also the world's largest, with approximately 1,500 weather modification professionals directing 30 aircraft and their crews, as well as 37,000 part-time workers--mostly peasant farmers--who are on call to blast away at clouds with 7,113 anti-aircraft guns and 4,991 rocket launchers.
Personally, I find the very idea of "controlling" weather intellectually pleasing...admittedly, it will likely lead to some catastrophic disaster...but, after all, a civilization can only last so long. Really, mixing supercomputers, interesting chemicals, anti-aircraft artillery and rocket launchers...I challenge you name something more fun than that.

On the bookish front, it is worth noting that the origin of weather control began in 1946 in the labs of General Electric discovered that silver iodide could create crystals around which cloud moisture would condense and form rain...on of the lead scientists in this work was Bernard Vonnegut, the brother of the late Kurt Vonnegut). Work hard enough, and there is always a book angle...

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Thursday, March 13, 2008

Happy Pi Day....

At 1:59 tomorrow will be the Pi-iest. 3.14159.

Eat some pi, bisect a circle...run amok.

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Sunday, February 17, 2008

Pretty big news for strange little me...

I just received official word that I was voted into the ABAA (and, thus, ILAB) at the meeting during the ABAA fair in LA. I am, needless to say, pretty excited and pleased by this.

I am in the midst of recovering from plague, and this news has made my day (admittedly, it also would have made my day were I well, but it is especially nice to get really good news when feeling punky). I think I am going to make a nice pot of tea and bask in (or wallow in, as the case may be) my warm, fuzzy feelings.

I would like to thank my sponsors: Priscilla Juvelis (primary), Dennis Melhouse and Jim Logan. I truly appreciate their support, encouragement and mentor-ship. It has meant (and will continue to mean) a great deal to me personally and professionally. I will do my best not to make them regret their support *laughing*.

Congradulations to the two other new members voted in at the LA meeting: John Kuenzig and Joseph Bray. Bully for us all!

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Thursday, February 14, 2008

Annoyed by stupidity today.... [Warning: Rant]

We have Congress about to cave on yet another fear-mongering attack on privacy and on the Constitution (and a simultaneous broadening/gutting of FISA), Bernanke is poised to cut rates yet again in an attempt to stave off a recession and the House has approved contempt citations against Bush minions amid teeth gnashing...but what is getting the most focus by the press: Jane Fonda said the word "Cunt" on the Today show.

Fonda, 70, is part of the the 10th Anniversary performance of "The Vagina Monologues." She is reading a monologue *titled* "Cunt" and said the name of the piece on air. That the piece revolves around de-mystification of its subject matter and female empowerment and getting *beyond* pejorative linguistic associations appears to have been COMPLETELY LOST on Meredith and the Today Show folks. They issued a public "apology" for the "remark" and people have been blathering about it ever since.

Mind you, according to that fount of knowledge Wikipedia
the Vagina Monologues has been translated into 45 different languages and performed in over 119 countries. Celebrities who have starred in the play include: Jane Fonda, Whoopi Goldberg, Idina Menzel, Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon and Oprah Winfrey. Ensler [the author] was awarded the Obie Award in 1996 for ‘Best New Play’ and in 1999 was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship Award in Playwriting. She has also received the Berrilla-Kerr Award for Playwriting, the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Solo Performance, and the Jury Award for Theater at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival.
What the hell is going on in this country when no one apologizes for the ongoing rape of our Constitution over the last 7 years or so but public apologies are required for stating the title of a monologue. No one seems to be apologizing for fiscal mis-management that my great-grandchildren will still be dealing with...but people are prostrating themselves to make amends for the "damage" done by a word. Truly, this country is doomed if we can't do any better than this in vetting the wheat from the chaff as to what actually MATTERS in this country.

[Mind you, it is an offensive word and one that I generally avoid. However, it is the nature of its burden and weighted meaning that *gives* it such power in this context....the irony of the apology is sadly rich...]

ADDENDUM: Apparently, this catastrophic embarrassment to the core of the American ideal has also fallen to the wayside... While it is clear that "dirty words" trump government sponsored torture, recessions, undermining the 4th Amendment and nearly all other minor issues....*nothing* beats a mass shooting at a college. The US media pigs will be feeding at NIU's trough for days. I guess I should be thankful that international news streams are so easy to follow these days (CNN's front page is focused on the shooting with supporting tales of a 10 year old who shot his sister over chips and Valentine's Day "moolah"....BBC's lead story is "
Bush defends US record on Darfur" and Hezbollah's current threat to Israel, etc....you know, news). It is really bloody sad that the best source for news *about* this country come from *outside* this country....except of course for the violent or prurient, that we do better than anyone. I'm going to bed, maybe it will be better tomorrow....or at least I'll be less annoyed.

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Saturday, January 26, 2008

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.

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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.

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

A lasting legacy...Here's to Harold Alfond

After I'm dead, I'd rather have people ask why I have no monument than why I have one.
- Cato the Elder
Harold Alfond, the founder of Dexter Shoe Co., passed away last month at 93. During his life, he gave away about $100 Million. It has just be announced that he spent his final months planning for a much grander legacy. Called the Harold Alfond College Challenge, his plan is to see that *every* child born in Maine receives a $500 contribution to start a college fund.

I love Maine. We have more than one program that promotes reading for the young (and old) including the brilliant Raising Readers program that sees that every child gets books of their very own when the go home from the hospital and after every wellchild doctors visit. The Maine Laptop Initiative sees that every Maine 7th and 8th Grader gets their own iBook for school. Now we have a first of its kind program (in size/scope) to see that every child has money put away for their college. The blueberries and lobster isn't too bad, either.

Harold Alfond managed to do something that very few people ever manage to achieve...create something that will do "good"...indefinitely. Remarkable. I wonder when someone will build a monument to him.

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Art by writer's...well, art other than the written word...

John, of the Duck fame, recently emailed me about an exhibition he is hosting at the shop/gallery. The focus of the exhibit is of artwork created by those best known as writers. I've chatted with John about the event and it sounds like it is going to be an amazing show. I am posting the press release as it was sent:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Writer's Brush
An Exhibition of Art by Writers

15 December 2007 through 15 January 2007
Opening Reception 15 December 6-10 (or longer if we can stand it):

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased (neigh unto delighted) to announce our next exhibition, a monumental show of visual art by writers, mounted in conjunction with the publication of the wonderful new book on the subject, entitled The Writer's Brush, by Donald Friedman, with supplementary essays by John Updike and William Gass (see the wonderful review in this week's New York Times Book Review).

The first leg of the show took place in New York in September and October at Anita Shapolsky Gallery, and our show is an expanded (and I hope improved) version of that event. It will run from the 15th of December through the 15th of January, with an opening reception on 15 December, at which Mr. Friedman and some of the writer/artists will be present and happy to sign or inscribe books. The show will go to Los Angeles from mid-February through mid-April at Denenberg Fine Arts (with a reception during the Los Angeles Antiquarian Book Fair), and perhaps then on to Houston. It will contain work by more than 120 writers, including:

Walter Abish, Rafael Alberti, Roberta Allen, A.R. Ammons, John Ashbery, Enid Bagnold, Amiri Baraka, Djuna Barnes, Mary Beach, Andrei Bely, Bill Berkson, Ted Berrigan, Elizabeth Bishop, Star Black, Jorge Louis Borges, Breyten Breytenbach, Joseph Brodsky, Charles Bukowski, Gelett Burgess, David Burliuk, William Burroughs, Josef Capek, R.V. Cassill, G.K. Chesterton, Tom Clark, Daniel Clowes, Jean Cocteau, Norma Cole, Douglas Coupland, Morris Cox, Jim Crace, E.E. Cummings, Annie Dillard, J.P. Donleavy, John Dos Passos, Rikki Ducornet, Robert Duncan, Lawrence Durrell, Russell Edson, David Eggers, Kenward Elmslie, Mary Fabelli, Jules Feiffer, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Jacopo Fijman, Charles Henri Ford, Federico Garcia Lorca, Kahlil Gibran, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Allen Ginsberg, Louise Gluck, Guenter Grass, Alasdair Gray, Nicolai Gumilov, Alan Gurganus, Brion Gysin, Donald Harrington, Hermann Hesse, Jack Hirschman, Susan Howe, Georges Hugnet, Victor Hugo, Aldous Huxley, Tama Janowitz, Charles Johnson, Donald Justice, Anna Kavan, Weldon Kees, Robert Kelly, Jack Kerouac, Maxine Hong Kingston, Bill Knott, Richard Kostelanetz, Alfred Kubin, D.H. Lawrence, Jonathan Lethem, Wyndham Lewis, Pierre Louys, Mina Loy, Lucebert, Clarence Major, Gerard Malanga, Andre Malraux, Robert Marshall, Henri Michaux, Leonard Michaels, Henri Michaux, Henry Miller, Susan Minot, Bradford Morrow, Walter Mosley, Vladimir Nabokov, Hugh Nissensen, Clifford Odets, Fernando del Paso, Kenneth Patchen, Mervyn Peake, Claude Pellieu, Francisco Picabia, Alexandra Pizarnik, Sylvia Plath, Beatrix Potter, Annie Proulx, James Purdy, Alexei Remizov, Kenneth Rexroth, Maclaren Ross, Peter Sacks, William Saroyan, Mira Schor, Maurice Sendak, Charles Simic, Patti Smith, William Jay Smith, Iris Smyles, Ralph Steadman, Mark Strand, Aldo Tembalini, Igor Terentiev, Cecilia Thaxter, Ruthven Todd, Frederic Tuten, Josef Vachal, Cecilia Vicuna, Tino Villanuevo, Kurt Vonnegut, Janwillwem van de Wetering, Derek Walcott, Keith Waldrop, Rosanna Warren, Lewis Warsh, Denton Welch, Marjorie Welish, Richard Wilbur, Tennessee Williams, Gahan Wilson, Stanislaw Witkiewicz and Unica Zuern (and a few others not all yet committed, if you can imagine that).

A catalogue will be made for the exhibition, with an introduction by the magnificent novelist Joseph McElroy.

Best wishes,
John Wronoski

Lame Duck Books
Pierre Menard Gallery
10-12 Arrow Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
617-868-2022 (bookshop)
617-868-2033 (gallery)
617-407-6271 (mobile)

www.pierremenardgallery.com
www.lameduckbooks.com
Clearly, a trip to Boston is in order...

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

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...

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Thursday, November 15, 2007

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).

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Wednesday, November 14, 2007

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"]

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Saturday, November 10, 2007

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.

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

Book Week in Seattle....and we are almost on our way...

The Mayor of Seattle has included the FB&C book-collecting championship awards ceremony in his proclamation of this week as "Book-Collecting Week" in Seattle. We are packed. The books are with FedEx. If all is well, we will be there Thur. afternoon. Drop off is Thurs. and setup is on Friday with the book fair on Sat. and Sun.

It looks like it should be great fun. I'll do my best to blog the fair. Hope springs eternal.

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Friday, August 31, 2007

Media update. [or "I am a media [insert adjective of choice here"]

As I think I mentioned earlier, I will be presenting one of the seminar's here at the Balt. Summer Antique (and Book) Fair. That will be on Sunday at 1pm...plenty of time to get that plane ticket and be here for this not-to-be-missed event.

The promoters of this fair have been doing a truly outstanding job of PR/marketing. Inexplicably, they have included me in a number of their efforts and we are extremely honored, flattered and amused. I was very pleased to be interviewed by a local Balt. paper and the local NPR station and pretty much assumed that would be the end of my humiliation until I actually speak on Sunday...but NO.

Yesterday, I was asked if I would appear on the local CBS Saturday morning program that is being shot on site tomorrow morning. I, of course, said yes...and am hoping for the best. Saturday morning at 630ish at the start of Day 3...I should be in rare form. If you are local, be sure to watch. I recommend you do not eat/drink while watching. It really hurts when cereal (or coffee) comes out your nose.

While involving me may not be indicia of great judgment, I think the promoters have done a truly great job with this show. It is great to see a show so well run and so well promoted [more on this with the next post or two]. I'm going to go to sleep in hopes that I might be close to sentient tomorrow morning...hope springs eternal.

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Friday, August 10, 2007

Bibliomulas

A university in Venezuela has rolled out (or walked out, as the case may be) an alternative to the venerable bookmobile. In order to get books out to remote mountain villages, the University of Momboy has enrolled the sure feet of Chiquito and Cenizo, two very special mules.

The bibliomuas (book mules) make their slow and steady way up rutted trails where, it is assumed, vehicle traffic is difficult or impossible. They are warmly welcomed by the villages:
Anyone who was not out working the fields - tending the celery that is the main crop here - was waiting for our arrival. The 23 children at the little school were very excited.

"Bibilomu-u-u-u-las," they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped.
The full story can be found here.

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Wednesday, June 27, 2007

2007 Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship winners announced:

Scott Brown, editor of Fine Books & Collections has just announced the winners of the 2007 Collegiate Book-Collecting Championship. In alphabetical order, with the subject of the collections in quotes, the finalists are:
* David Butterfield. Christ's College, Cambridge. "Landmarks of Classical Scholarship"
* Craig Citro. UCLA. "Mathematician Emil Artin"
* Diana Looser. Cornell. "Drama of Oceana"
There are also three Honorable Mention recipients:
*Shelley (Johnson) and Dawson Jones. University of South Carolina. "Poet Mary Robinson"
*Brent Morris. Cornell. "Abolitionists"
*Robin Worth Reinert. Harvard. "American Songbooks"
The awards ceremony will be hosted by the Book Club of Washington on October 12 during the Seattle Book Fair. We (Lux Mentis, Booksellers) are very pleased and honored to be sponsors of this competition. The future of the profession rests on the shelves of these students. I look forward to meeting them in Seattle. Congratulations to them all.

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Saturday, May 12, 2007

St. Martins, NB...A booktown to be...

I just received a most interesting email. It seems that St Martins, NB has decided to become a booktown. Mind you, they only have one open shop at the moment, but one other in opening soon with another or so in the work. Most importantly, they seem to have a genuine PLAN to assist them toward their goal. I have quoted bits of the email below (and note the very stylish logo for their "Booktown Initiative"):
St. Martins, N. B. is going to be a booktown. The Booktown Initiative is working towards that.

Booktowns (small towns having a high concentration of bookstores like factory out let towns have a high concentration of factory outlets) attract bibliophile tourists whose purpose is to visit book stores. If the town is an attractive seaside town, as St. Martins is, it attracts other tourists who may also visit bookstores, although, perhaps, with less intent.
...
The difficult task in establishing a booktown is the timing in bringing together sellers and buyers. At least some book sellers must be established so that book buyers who have heard of the Initiative are not disappointed. Buyers must come to justify the presence of the sellers.

To lead up to the critical mass necessary to fully establish the booktown, the Booktown Initiative will hold various "book" events. Our first is a BOOK FAIR
during St. Martins Old Home Week.
...
BOOK FAIR
JULY 14 – 21
Osborne Hall
St. Martins
9.30 -5.30 each day except Sunday 12.00 – 5.30
I absolutely *love* the idea...the goal...of a town striving to define itself around books. I truly hope they are successful. With a bit of luck, I'll get up there for the fair, though I do not think I will be able to actually show there.

On that note, I am not certain what I think of an EIGHT day bookfair. I am the first to admit that I *loathe* one day fairs. My booth is complex to set up and once it is up and the way I want it, I like to leave it for at least two days. Four days is the longest I've done (Baltimore). Eight days seems...er...long. That said, the price is certainly right.

The website is definitely worth a look. I am definitely going to have to get up there sometime during the week...just so I can say I was there at the birth of a booktown. More on this at news warrants.

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Friday, May 11, 2007

?Happy? Douglas Adams Death Day.

I was once actively involved in organizing an extremely cool, brain-candy conference called the Camden Technology Conference (now Pop!Tech). I was on the Program Committee for many years. In April of 2001, we successfully secured Douglas Adams to come and speak at the October conference. I was ecstatic, as Adams had always been a favorite of mine and held at least two places on my rather short list of "people I'd like to meet before I start rotting".

Three weeks later, on May 11, Douglas Adams had the unmitigated gall to die...denying me and countless others from the pleasure of his company. I was toying with writing a pithy tribute, but find I am just too depressed. I'm going to go reread HGttG and sulk.

A great bio and far too much trivia can be found here.

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Tuesday, April 24, 2007

Nice month for us in Fine Books and Collections...

It was a very good month of Lux Mentis is the pages of Fine Books and Collections. In addition to our usual ad on the second page of Nicholas Basbanes' regular article, an image we submitted was included in their profile of the West Side Loft show (Bicknell/Pyle, Etchings) along with a short description, they included our most recent catalogue (Illustrated and Illustrated Juvenilia) AND we were included as the bookdealer sponsor of the 2007 National Collegiate Book Collecting Competition advert. It may be my favorite issue every .

It appears we may strive to do the Seattle show this year. It turns out the awards ceremony for the Collegiate Collecting Competition will be held there and we will be going out for that. It seems silly to cross the country to be at a book fair without showing at it. Updates to follow as warranted.

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NY Book Fair(s) update

I think this picture sums up the West Side Loft book fair quite nicely. Pictured here is John Spencer (owner of Riverow Books and new ABAA board member) and my neighbor at the WSL. The fair had opened about an hour earlier...it was clearly time for champagne. John was a great neighbor. Fun, interesting and had several nice things that went home with me (notably a signed copy of Calder's, Aesop's Fables (with the naughty sketches).

On the plus side, the WSL fair was reasonably well lite (though we were able/needed to use our lights), nicely polished hardwood floors (slightly easier on one's feet) and was interestingly laid-out. It had, as has been mentioned elsewhere, a "feel" often associated with EU shows. Cozy, close quarters, diverse spread....interesting and nice.

There was good food and drink available for free during set up and for cash during the show. There was also a very nice area to sit and eat (or sleep, as some did). My son and several new friends made good use of it...especially when a very nice young lady with a Gameboy Advance DS joined them (picture three young boys (5-11ish) sitting around this young woman gazing adoringly...it was too cute).

Load in was, for many, a genuine pain. 37th Street is narrow with parking on both sides. When trucks started "standing" to unload, local PD showed up and started writing $120 tickets. I managed to avoid this and, best yet, was directed by another officer to a legal spot immediately "in front" of the line. It was sort of interesting, there was a big long line of ticket-getting vans with about 4 spaces open "in front" of the line.

There were plenty of porters, two freight elevators and not too much chaos. We were there early...I have learned through hard lessons that I need every available moment of set-up time (whether 5 hours or 12...really quite pathetic).

The show itself was, I think, quite good. It seemed to have a slow start (though it started at 8am...people should be asleep then) but picked up steadily on the first day (Friday). EU dealers were there in force and it is always nice to have people like Christian Jonkers and Simon Finch stop by to say hi. Unlike last year, I did not sell a great deal to dealers from across the pond (which was sad, given the exchange rate)...but have it on good authority that they were purchasing aggressively elsewhere. I did have an interesting exchange with someone from overseas actively seeking psychedelic material...I may be able to sell my entire collection of such material en banc, which would be nice.

I definitely got a very positive vibe from most dealers. Sales seemed quite strong, overall. It was a very strong show for us. All the better because most of the significant sales were to "new" clients (that is, not dealers...or old clients ).

The buying was also really quite good. I picked up a great little Maine item (expect it at the Portland Fair in June), a great early, handwritten cookbook, etc.....and the very slick Calder item.

I was very skeptical about the fair. I hate it when a fair moves. This space was *much* smaller than the 25th Street Armory and had MUCH more difficult move-in logistics. I do not "know" NY well...but when I mentioned it was at West 37th, more than one of my clients said words to the effect of, "that is nice, will you meet me at the Princeton Club"...which I did not take as a good sign. That said, I am extremely pleased we did the show.

I can not speak for the ABAA event to any great extent. I went there on Sunday for a few hours. The major item I was seeking, a collection of handwritten material, did not make it across the pond. I touched base with just about everyone for whom I needed to say hi, was able to catch up with several a lot of folks and picked up a nice thing or two for some clients. Then there was the...you know...window shopping.

The NY ABAA show is really something you must see to believe. You can buy $25 books there (though not that many), as you can at any show. You can also find the expected $250 and $2500 books that show up with some frequency. What really sets it apart is the sheer number of $25,000 and $250,000 books in one place. It is an amazing place to go just to see the depth and breadth of just what is "out there." From exceptional book arts to maps to fine leather, it is just a wonderful weekend for book lovers of all sorts.

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Friday, April 13, 2007

Finally, something to do with my electron microscope:

"Publishers" in Vancouver, BC have created the smallest book "published". Using that publishing standby, the focused gallium-ion beam laser, they have printed "Teeny Ted from Turnip Town". The book measures 0.07mm by 0.10mm (a bit less than the head of a pin). The major enjoyment obstacle to reading this 30 page volume would appear to be the necessity of a scanning electron microscope.

Hmmmmm, birthday is coming...ideas, ideas...

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Thursday, April 12, 2007

quick follow-up re Vonnegut's passing...

As is now widely known, Kurt Vonnegut passed away last night (see previously mentioned, genuinely well written, NYT article). I have received and/or seen two things I wanted to pass along:

Rob Stuart of Frenchboro Books email me the following in response to the news:
In the early 60's, before email and blogs, a few of us might have too much to drink, and we would call Vonnegut (and if Vonnegut, then always also Claude Sitton, who was writing extraordinary stuff from the South for the NYT, for which he eventually won a Pulitze--and yes, a few others) and we would leave slobbering messages of appreciation, adoration, and exhortation, thanking them for expressing what we liked to think were our ideas as well, but really because they gave us hope and courage--and heroes!
Also, Wonkette has a nice post and some great comments, including:
I was a kid when I first read Vonnegut and Joseph Heller. All I could think was OMG! Adults are even more pissed off than I am.

One of my most treasured posessions is a letter Kurt wrote me when I was a freshman in college complete with the ass-terix in the signature. 'Harrison Bergeron' was satire when he wrote and now it is public policy. Life imitates parody.

and

Kurt Vonnegut wrote books with pictures of assholes juxtaposed against depressing truths. He wrote the truth because he loved people. He died today. He hated semicolons; so it goes.

I can feel a rereading binge coming on...

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Wednesday, April 11, 2007

RIP Kurt Vonnegut...


Wildly busy, much news...posts to follow if and when I can carve out a bit of time. I did have to post this, NYT has just announced the passing of Kurt Vonnegut. I haven't read (or, rather, reread) any Vonnegut in years...but I have read just about everything he put to print as of a handful of years ago. I remember reading Slaughterhouse for the first time many years ago...it had an amazing impact at the time. I'm going to have to go back and reread some...I really do hate it when strong voices are lost...

He passed away Wed. evening...that is, a few hours ago. The NYT article is a three page, genuinely well crafted article. Clearly someone had been polishing this obit for a bit. Mr. Vonnegut apparently suffered a brain injury a few weeks ago in a fall (which fell, apparently, beneath my radar).

I am going to bed...a bit sadder than I would like to be.

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Friday, April 06, 2007

Quick follow-up to Heritage events

Scott Brown, et al, at Fine Books and Collections have a great post on what is happening at with and around Heritage Books. Rumors tied up, facts laid out, the hint of what is likely to be an exceptional auction on the horizon. A very good read.

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Tuesday, March 27, 2007

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.

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Monday, March 19, 2007

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.

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Wednesday, March 14, 2007

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