Oxford Exchange Bookshop The race for finding the right mix to compete in the ever changing publishing / bookselling world of the 21st century continues as both Rizzoli and Phaidon make moves to extend their reach. Rizzoli has announced that it is partnering with the upscale Tampa, Florida bookshop the Oxford Exchange. The new "Studio" site will occupy half of the shop's floor space and feature only Rizzoli publications. As the online space expands and the retail avenues shrink it becomes imperative for publishers like Rizzoli to find ways for people to interact physically with their books. Look for more of these...
Future Library: Publication date 2114
Scottish artist Katie Paterson is a patient women. Her current project Future Library will take 100 years to consummate! You heard right; a century from inception to completion. Here's the deal: A forest has been planted in Norway, which will supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in one hundred years time. Between now and then, one writer every year will contribute a text, with the writings held in trust, unpublished, until 2114. The texts will be held in a specially designed room in the New Public Deichmanske Library in Oslo. Tending the forest and ensuring its...
Digital Insurance: E-Book backup by Jesse England
Life in the cloud can have its consequences. Remember back in 2009 when Amazon unilaterally decided to remove copies of George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm from customers Kindles due to a copyright issue. And what if we suffer a prolonged power outage? Or god forbid the Kindle becomes obsolete? How will ever be able to access our ebooks? Thanks to Jesse England and his E-Book Backup project we now have an insurance policy. Says England of the project: E-book backup is a physical, tangible, human readable copy of an electronically stored novel. The purchased contents of an e-book reader were easily photocopied...
Of Interest: The Beatles and Me, Poetry Pamphlets from New Directions, Messing with Books in Victorian Britain…
The Beatles and Me On Tour by Ivor Davis. Cockney Kid Publishing, 2014 Ivor Davis was front and center during the Beatles 1964 tour of America. Covering the tour for London's Daily Express Davis he was one a handful of journalists that had unfettered access to the Fab Four. In addition to his reporting he was also George Harrison's ghostwriter for his Daily Express column. From the hysteria to the isolation, from the Beatles meeting Bob Dylan to them meeting Elvis, Davis was right in the mix. There's plenty of anecdotes and behind the scene nuggets to keep you...
The Beat Generation in the Big Apple
Carl Solomon, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs at the Gotham Book Mart, New York City, 1977 Calling all tour guides... The latest New York-centric map from Constantine Valhouli features the haunts, hangouts and related places of interest for the Beat Generation. From the library in Ozone Park, Queens where Jack Kerouac started planning his seminal road trip to the West End bar across from Columbia University which became "a college bar for the Beat poets" and all points in between. The map highlights 123 spots of interest with most falling within the boundaries of NYC. Link to...