Tongmunkwan rare book shop, one of only two left in Insadong,once Korea's largest market for antiques, artwork, and rare books.Photo by Shin Dong-yeun for Joongang Daily.Tongmunkwan is a 75-year-old bookstore in the Insadong neighborhood of Seoul, Republic of Korea. A sign in front of the shop reads, “It’s better to pile books than gold.”Not lately.South Korea, which once had a thriving rare and antiquarian book trade, is down to its last fifty rare book shops with more closings on the horizon.According to a recent article in the JoongAng Daily, numerous factors are at work.The reasons are eerily similar to what...
Old Books, Chemistry, and the Science of Smellology
A Book Patrol exclusive: Scratch n' Sniff this image for“A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids anda hint of vanilla over an underlying mustiness."I don’t know about you, but when I have difficulty falling asleep at night, I reach for the latest issue of Analytical Chemistry. Take it from me, counting volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is far more effective than counting sheep.A recent issue, however, jumped out of my hands, conked me on the noggin, and made my nostrils itch.“A combination of grassy notes with a tang of acids and a hint of vanilla over...
New ILAB Website Makes Unofficial Debut
The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB)’s website redesign is now live on the Internet.In an open letter to visitors, ILAB President, Adrian Harrington, said:“After eight years with essentially the same website, we at ILAB have decided to give it a whole new look, with greatly improved and deeper content. It will have a far greater selection of what the ILAB website has always provided: the best rare books in the World, supplied by the World’s best rare booksellers. Over the coming months you will see a great variety of news articles, bookseller interviews and scholarly pieces being added to...
Harlequin Goes Soft On Hard-Boiled
Those who know Harlequin Books only as a major publisher of romance novels will be startled to learn that it has a shady past: It once issued pulp-noir in the murky post-WWII era.Last October they reissued six titles from their Top Secret vault as their Mini-Series Vintage Collection. Hats off.The series’ genesis was as a hip art project in celebration of Harlequin’s 60th Anniversary. The assignment, according to Executive Editor Marsha Zinberg in Harlequin's blog, was to piggy-back onto the success of a recent a 60th Anniversary art exhibition featuring vintage paperback covers from Harlequin's origins and “choose six books...
Morgan Library’s Christmas Gift: Display of Dickens’ Decisive Deletions
Charles Dickens' Manuscript On Display At The Morgan Library. (Photo By Angel Franco for The New York Times.)The Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan is offering modern readers a chance to see the creative process behind Victorian literature's most enduring holiday tale, Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. The library, housed in an Italian renaissance style palazzo in Murray Hill, holds the original manuscript of the story, written and rewritten in Dickens' own hand. According to Alison Leigh Cowan of The New York Times, the manuscript goes on display each year at the Morgan, but under glass, with only a single...