If you are an independent bookseller and your door is still open you are to be commended. The systematic onslaught against independent businesses that is a byproduct of our current economic policy and technological advances has been steady and ruthless for the last decade. Luckily the bookstore is faring better than the independent (or the patronizing tag the mom & pop) hardware or drug store. I don't have the numbers but I would bet the % of these that have gone out of business in the last 10 years is far greater than the % of bookstores that have closed...
Book Arts Roundup: JAB, Kiefer, Buzz, Bindings and Hidy
It is nice to see JAB (Journal of Book Arts) being published again. After a few year hiatus issue 21 has just been released. The journal is now being published by Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts and is "Still dedicated to providing a forum for critical, theoretical, and creative engagement with artists’ books". A highlight of the new issue is Elisabeth Long's article Editioning One-of-a-Kind Multiples: Notes Toward An Understanding of Anselm Kiefer’s BooksI concur that the display of Keifer's book art (or book art as a whole) has suffered from museum curators not having the...
Hovering Over New Arrivals
University of Washington Bookstore employee "preparing for the 2008 Shelving Olympics."Via Shelf Life
A Novel Way For a Writer to Get Paid
The government of Ireland has hatched a plan that will pay authors a royalty for their books that are checked out at the local library.Here is how it works:"authors will be conferred with an exclusive right to allow the lending of their works in public libraries...in return the authors would receive a royalty payment for the lending of their work."The program will be publicly funded and will not cost the library user anything.I have often thought that this arrangement should also apply in the used book market.There is no reason an author shouldn't be compensated for a sale of a...
A Plagiarist Goes Off the Deep End. Again
News began circulating last week that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was eliminating the position of book editor and quite possibly its entire book review section. Coming close on the heels of the recent revamping of the LA Times book section is especially troubling. That's 2 of our country's top newspapers, which serve 2 of our most literate cities, reducing (or potentially eliminating) their book coverage significantly. Not a good sign.To combat this trend The National Book Critics Circle began circulating a petition to "Help Protect Atlanta's Book Review."In a show of solidarity Scott McLemee over at the blog Quick Study published...