The race is on. Amazon, Google, Apple, Sony and a host of other companies are moving at breakneck speed to create the e-book atmosphere that will become your e-book universe of choice.In his insightful piece at the Huffington Post, Eebs: A History of Future Publishing, Giles Slade gives us a good look at the current battlefield."In the emerging world of e-Books, Kindle-Amazon will increasingly occupy a position similar to the iPod while Google (a collector and purveyor of e-Books) together with its partner Sony (a manufacturer of e-Readers) will forever be positioned at the lower end of the e-Book market...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Annuals
ANNUALSOf books issued serially once a year two special classes have particularly interested collectors.(1) The anthologies of prose and/or verse, usually illustrated with steel engravings, which were a feature of late Regency and early Victorian publishing in England: copied originally from German and French models. Examples are The Keepsake, The Book of Beauty, Friendship’s Offering, The Literary Souvenir. These were the gift books or ‘table books’ of the day, and many of them contain first printings of work by famous authors, often anonymous.(2) The Christmas annuals issued late in the 19th century by the publishers of popular or fashionable magazines;...
ABC’s of Book Collecting : Ana
ANAA collective noun meaning a compilation of sayings, table talk, anecdotes, etc. Southey described Boswell’s Johnson as ‘the Ana of all Anas’. Its most familiar use is, however, the original one (from which the noun was made) in the form of a Latin suffix meaning material related to as distinct from material by; e.g. Boswelliana, Railroadiana, Etoniana. Like other such suffixes it is not always easily attachable to English names, even assisted, as commonly, by a medial i. Shaviana, Harveiana and Dickensiana are well enough; but Hardyana is repugnant to latinity, Cloughiana and Fieldingiana are awkward on the tongue, and...
John Updike Collection Up For Grabs
One of the largest collections of John Updike material in private hands has hit the market.The collection, which was amassed over a 30 year period consists of:126 Signed works,267 “A” items representing almost 90% of his primary publication titles,Extensive “B” items and numerous other appearances, including a 29 year (1980-2009) run of his “New Yorker” work.Two signed letters from Updike and multiple uncorrected proofs.Highlights of the collection include: Dance of the Solids, inscribed.Earthworm, first and second state.Lovelorn Astronomer.The Angels.Bath After Sailing.Rabbit, Run, First Edition.A Rabbit Omnibus, twvo volumes signed.Chaste Planet, signed.Couples, first edition review copyDog’s Death, framed and signed.Carpentered Hen.Flying...
Meet Ninomiya-kun, the Book-Reading Robot
It is 1 meter tall and weighs in at 25 kilograms, it is the brainchild of Kitakyushu National College of Technology and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.He "reads by training its camera eyes on printed materials placed on a special book stand. Character recognition software installed on a computer in the robot’s backpack translates the text into spoken words, which are produced by a voice synthesizer"Here it is reading some fairy tales:After a little more tweaking "the robot will be ready to read books to children and the elderly for a living"Now that is one glorified audiobook. Shouldn't it be reading...