At 80 million monthly visitors one "could fill 60 Disneylands." Just imagine if just half of those visitors went to an independent bookshop, either online or in store, and god knows what the trade can do with half of the $9 billion in book sales. They're not kidding when they pronounce Amazon the "undisputed giant of online retail," but of course, as we all now, bigger does not automatically equal better... via Mashable
Book Art from a Bookseller
It was Christmas season 2010 and senior bookseller Justin Rowe was in the process of trying to figure out what to do for a holiday window display at the Cambridge University Press Bookshop when his wife whipped out an old food magazine that had a recipe with a papercut background.The seed was planted and Rowe got to work. He created 3 book sculptures for the window display.The result was "pretty amazing" says Rowe. "Suddenly I’d look out of the window and there'd be eight people crowded round it. That was quite odd. Then I did it again last year, and...
David Ishii: 1935 – 2012
A friend, colleague and longtime neighbor (our bookshops were in the same building) died yesterday at 76.Pioneer Square has never been the same since he closed his shop almost 7 years ago and now that he is gone Seattle has lost one of its treasured souls.Obit in the Seattle Times, Longtime bookseller David Ishii was quite a story himselfR.I.P.
Old Books Fresh Eggs
Between Muddy Gap and the Lander, Wyoming lies Sweetwater Station home of the Mad Dog and the Pilgrim Booksellers.Population of Sweetwater Station: 5Inventory of Mad Dog and the Pilgrim: 75,000In addition to the books Lynda “Mad Dog” German and Polly “The Pilgrim” Hinds operate an "eccentric working farm" featuring two dogs ; four cats; 62 chickens; 26 sheep; two llamas; one milk goat; four pea fowl, and two ducks.The roadside sign above is the only advertising they do for as German says “People who like books will find you.”Rone Tempest profiles Mad Dog and the Pilgrim at New West MissoulaPhoto...
Picturing the London Book Trade
Bernard Shapero"Bookdealing must be amongst the most wonderfully eccentricprofessions on Earth" - Mike TsangPhotographer Mike Tsang had recently returned to London from a demanding project in the Sudan when he popped in to visit his friend who was then manager of the Biblion bookshop in London. By the time he left the seeds for "The London Book Trade" project were planted. Tsang would go around town photographing booksellers in their domain with the end result being an exhibition at Biblion. When all was said and done Tsang had photographed most of the booksellers of note in London and the result...