Warning poster produced by Ken Sanders and sent to rare-book dealers when convicted book thief John Gilkey was released from prison in 2005.(click to enlarge)UPDATE - Richard Gilkey was arrested earlier this afternoon (12/15) in San Francisco. Details to followThe infamous Richard Gilkey, the subject of Allison Hoover Bartlett's 2009 book, The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, seems to be back in action.An antiquarian bookseller in San Francisco was paid a visit by a police officer, who also happens to be a book collector, and notified that Gilkey has apparently struck again, this time robbing two maps of the San Francisco...
Smells Like Book Spirit
Photo: Michael SchmellingArtist Rachel Morrison is spending her lunch breaks these days at the Museum of Modern Art. Her goal: to sniff her way through their entire library and live to tell about it.As a recent study concluded she will encounter “a combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness” in many of the books. She will also encounter many that will make her sneeze and feel nauseas. Her plan is to begin with the first book in the Library of Congress classification system, which in this case is AC5.S4 a 1934...
Books and Fire: A New App and a Fiery Bookshelf
The folks at Snarky Apps have created an app that allows you to burn a book on the privacy of your own iPhone.from the description:“Have you ever had the urge to burn a book? Well there’s never been a better time to exercise your freedom of expression with a nice and toasty bonfire and a good book! Choose from The Bible, The Koran, the Baha’i Writings and many more!Fortunately, the app is more of an attention getter then a tool of biblioclasm. Yes, you get to choose what book you would like burn, mostly from the religious texts of the...
In the Stacks: Boston Public Library
This is the first installment of a new series on Book Patrol. In the Stacks. A series dedicated to exploring the digital archives of the leading libraries, institutions and organizations of the known universeFirst up is the Boston Public Library who recently released over 15,000 images from their archive through Flickr.1895 advertising poster for Houghton Mifflin’s holiday booksGot to love this shot of kids learning "the right use of books"South Boston's class in the right use of booksBPL is the home of a tremendous collection of books designed by Sarah Wyman Whitman, the first major American professional book designer.Dorchester Branch, Summer...
The Book Piles of Ephraim Rubenstein
Book Pile XXXIII. Oil on linen. 36 x 28 inchesThey've been using books in still life painting for a long time. From the rise of the genre in the Netherlands in the the early 17th century to Van Gogh's Still Life with Bible to Mattise's Still Life, Bouquet of Dahlias and White Book the book has always had a prominent place in the artist's imagination. A solid contemporary example is Used and Discarded Books, a new series of paintings by Ephraim Rubenstein. These biblio-portraits breathe grace and beauty into books that have seen better days. Here the value transcends the monetary, and the seemingly unsteady, teetering piles mirror the...