Book Patrol

Denslow’s OZ

Posted by under , ,

      Of the 14 books in L. Frank Baum's beloved Wizard of Oz series only one was illustrated by W.W. Denslow. As it turns out, it was a big one. For it was Denslow that illustrated the first volume, Wizard of Oz, published in 1900, and visually introduced us to Dorothy and the gang.   Though many of us think of John R. Neill when thinking of Oz illustrators it was Denslow's  "depictions of Dorothy, Toto, and all the other creatures and landscapes of Oz have become so iconic as to be inseparable from Baum’s story."1    ...

Continue Reading →

The Collected Poems of Donald J. Trump

Posted by under , ,

    “I thought maybe I could turn the thing that has been weaponized into something beautiful,” says Gregory Woodman of Portland, the 29-year-old founder of the ad agency Weller Creative, who along with his business partner Ian Pratt have published The Collected Poems of Donald J. Trump. The 373 page book compiles hundreds of Trump's tweets and is arranged in chapters such as "Loathings," "Free Verse" and "Introspective Musings."  Combining the measured contentiousness of Thoreau, the terse poignancy of Hemingway, and the incisive social commentary of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Toni Morrison, Donald J. Trump has emerged as one of...

Continue Reading →

Ive’s Book Brace: A 19th century American bookend

Posted by under , ,

Hailed as "a valuable invention for booksellers, librarians, clergymen and reading-men" the Ive's book brace hit the market in 1850. It was designed to hold books on partially filled shelves for "As must be well known to all, Books, if allowed to stand loosely upon a shelf, will not retain their original shape for any great length of time." It sure beats the heavy bookends made of marble, bronze and wood that had been around for centuries. It was also 27 years before William Stebbins Barnard would patent the simple sheetmetal bookend.  Charles B. Norton, in addition to being listed on...

Continue Reading →

Shanghai: Pop-up perfection for Hauser and Wirth and a new poetry bookshop

Posted by under , ,

Pixcell Deer by Kohei Nawa Let's start off the new decade in Shanghai featuring what very well could be one of the coolest pop-up bookshops of the last decade and the opening of a new poetry bookshop. In early 2018, inside the art space - bookshop of Modern Eye in Central Shangai, dongqi Architects created a three-story pavilion for the noted art gallery and publisher, Hauser & Wirth. The space featured publications and other goodies and drew its inspiration from the Granary Shed at the Hauser & Wirth gallery in Somerset, England. The shed is a traditional English structure used...

Continue Reading →

Infographic – The 16 Best Science Fiction Books of All Time

Posted by under ,

To celebrate upcoming  Science Fiction Day on January 2, 2020, the folks at Global English Editing have created an infographic featuring their picks for the 16 best science fiction books of all time. "If you’re fascinated by the unknown and by the possibilities of what science can bring in the future, you probably would be – or already are – a fan of science fiction. And that’s why National Science Fiction Day is the perfect day to celebrate all of these different books, movies, and television shows."  Enjoy!

Continue Reading →