This is truly a remarkable story.Her name is Amanda Baggs and her blog is Ballastexistenz. She describes herself as "a non-speaking physically disabled and autistic woman who’s lived in institutions, whose income comes from a disability check, and whose services are funded by the state."She is also a book collector. From a recent post on her blog comes this:"One of my hobbies is collecting books by autistic people. At this point, I don’t even always read them, but I love to obtain them, put them on the shelf, and keep them in order."Those words can only originate from a book...
The Scroll to the Book: The Last Technological Jump in the Book Trade
Another youTube biblio classic.This one from a Norwegian TV sketch with English subtitles.
The Failure of Fine Printing: A Response
I received an email the other day from Michael Russem the proprietor of the KatRan Press alerting me to an article he wrote that was just published in Caxtonian, the journal for the legendary Chicago book group the Caxton Club. The article is titled "The Failure of Fine Printing: Why the beautiful book isn't so beautiful, and the ugly book isn't so ugly".An intriguing title that is destined to stir up the book community.My first thought was to question the timing of the article and the email. Next week marks the First Biennial Book Fair & Symposium of the Codex...
Another New-Century Modern Architectural High Spot: The Free University Library in Berlin
Here in Seattle we are still basking in the glow of our new Rem Koolhaas designed Central Library. We are, in some ways, still in shock over this instant Modernist classic and its effect on our city and library system. For a book lover with an appreciation of architecture and design taking the elevator up to the tenth floor and walking all the way down is pretty much a religious experience.Our friends in Berlin are lucky enough to share this privilege. The Free University Library in Berlin designed by Foster and Partners is "a smart building that employs a range...
The Bright Side of Digitization
We all know where I stand on the issue of who should be digitizing what parts of our literary and cultural heritage. The issue is a heated one and remains at the forefront of the open access debate.Here are some fruits of digitization.I hope the beauty of these images and the significance of their historical content will contribute to the debate on why a digital archive of this type of material must be undertaken by the public, not for profit sector.lThe Library of Congress has just posted the complete contents of 6 items from the Jay I. Kislak collection. The...