Talk about bi-partisan support.First, it was the New Democratic Leadership Council with their cockamamie "A Kindle in Every Backpack" proposal. Granted, the textbook landscape is littered with unfair practices and is in dire need of reform, but before we throw the book out the window for good we should spend some time trying to make right the inherent injustice of the textbook world. We need to make them affordable and relevant before we start talking about abolishing them. Of course, the e-reader provides certain advantages but just like its relationship to the printed book, it is a complement not a...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Antiquarian Bookseller
ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERThe lines of demarcation between ‘rare books’, ‘old books’ and ‘second-hand books’ have never been, and can never be, clearly defined. The same applies to most of those who deal in them; and the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association makes no distinction between a man who specialises in incunabula, another who deals only in modern firsts, a third who restricts himself to botany, and finally a general second-hand dealer, provided that his business is primarily in old books. The most comprehensive directories are those published by the Sheppard Press, London: Dealers in Secondhand and Antiquarian Books in the British Isles, now...
Picturing the Bookshop
Strand Shadows by Josh RobinsonThe results are in for the 'Eye on the Strand' photography contest. The contest sponsored by The Strand, Aperture Foundation and the Pratt Institute asked "amateur and professional photographers from all over the world...to submit their photo representations of the Strand Book Store."Over 500 images were received.Above is the winning photo by Josh Robinson. Below is the Viewers' Choice winner by Manjari SharmaStrand, The Dreamer's Land by Manjari SharmaHats off to the folks at the Strand for pulling this off. It is a fantastic concept and one that deserves to be pursued and duplicated in cities...
Rockin’ the Library
Stewart Parsons is the music librarian at the Lancaster library in the UK. After 20 years of doing the usual library gig he wanted "to push boundaries" a bit and created "Get it Loud in Libraries."Founded in 2005 'Get It Loud In Libraries' is "a unique award winning project" - it received the 2007 Love Libraries Award- and is "designed to give people, especially young people who love music, a damn good time in a library"Last week actress Juliette Lewis played with her new band "The New Romantiques"Here is a video of the 'Get It Loud In Libraries' project fittingly...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Anonymous
ANONYMOUSThere is the formal anonymity of a book whose author, though his name is not on it, is known (e.g. Gulliver’s Travels, The Vicar of Wakefield or Sense and Sensibility). For the cataloguing of these and similar pseudonymous books (e.g. Alice in Wonderland or Jane Eyre), some booksellers use, and others dispense with, the conventional square (or equally common round) brackets.There is also, however, the real anonymity of ‘authorship unknown’. And once in a while the cataloguer has to admit defeat. Since a book by an unidentified author is harder to sell (other things being equal) than one of known...