One of the consequences of the unparalleled amount of information now available to us courtesy of the Internet is a sort of data paralysis. With so many options and so much to see and read it is becoming an increasing challenge to simply know where to begin. Of course you can search for something on Google but then what? Aside from the politics of search and placement inherent in a Google search, there is simply too much information out there. Enter Lapham's Quarterly. Founded in 2008 by long-time editor at Harper's Louis H. Lapham. LQ removes many of the barriers...
Gorey Letters
“Your letters . . . your existence has made something of this world that [it] hadn’t the possibility of before.” - Peter F. NeumeyerIt was 1968. Edward Gorey was contracted by the publisher Addison-Wesley to illustrate a children's book written by Peter F. Neumeyer. At their first meeting Gorey slipped and Neumeyer grabbed him by the arm. The grab dislocated Gorey's shoulder and it was during his stay at the hospital waiting for treatment that they began what would become a deep life-long friendship.The book, an illustrated memoir, features 75 typewriter-transcribed letters, 38 illustrated envelopes, and more than 60 postcards...
The Furry Side of Margaret Wise Brown
In 1947 Margaret Wise Brown published Good Night Moon. The book would redefine the bedtime story and find a place on the bookshelves of millions of infants and kids around the world. By 1990 over 4 million copies had been sold. It has been lauded as one of the better illustrated and designed books of its time.The year before Harper & Brothers published her book Little Fur Family, a tale of a little fur child's day in the woods.There was a little Fur FamilyWarm as toastSmaller than mostIn little fur coatsAnd they lived in a warmWooden tree. Unlike the well...
Evolution of a Painted Librarian: Peter Sis channels Giuseppe Arcimboldo
The Librarian (Wolfgang Lazius), ca. 1562. Oil on canvas. 97 x 71 cm (38 3/16 x 28 in.)In the mid-16th century the Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo gave us The Librarian, a portrait composed almost entirely of books. One of the most original painters of the Renaissance it is not hard to see how his work would influence the Surrealists and Cubists some 400 years later.In his 1994 book The Three Golden Keys illustrator Peter Sís "recaptures the wonder of his own lost childhood in Prague and celebrates the city's cultural heritage, reborn after forty-five years of Communist rule." One of...
Banksy of the Book Art World
Book art piece found at the National Library of Scotland Is there a Banksy-style book artist roaming the streets of Scotland? Last month, the book art piece above was found at the National Library of Scotland. It was the fourth piece found since March in a book-friendly location in Scotland. All references are devised from the work of Scottish mystery writer Ian Rankin and include a note professing some book love. First it was the Scottish Poetry Library where a 'poetree' was discovered on a bookshelf. The 'poetree,' comprised of intricately cut pages, had a note attached referencing...