The Joy of Cooking March 18, 2013

The first edition of The Joy of Cooking,1931 It is the most popular and best-selling cookbook in American history, with nearly 18 million copies sold. It is the only cookbook to be included in the New York Public Library’s list of 150 Influential Books of the Century. The original edition was privately published by the author in an edition of 3000 copies and was illustrated by the author’s daughter, Marion Rombauer Becker, who also designed the spectacular…

The Golden Rules of Typography July 19, 2012

The Golden Alphabet; or Parent’s Guide and Child’s Instructor, published by Robert Taylor. This extremely rare miniature alphabet book from 1846 contains some beautiful decorated initials, followed by several pages of rhymes and moral platitudes for parenting and instruction of children. Based on these three images, I can only presume that Taylor was a far better evangelist than he was a printer or typesetter. Damn the wordspacing and to hell with letterspacing! The word kern must have…

Hail to the Book! A couple of booksellers get physical May 23, 2012

“if they are [books] to be of any use they must be as living friends or acquaintances and the whole art of forming and keeping a library consists in treating them on this footing alike mentally and materially” – from Books in the house by Alfred William Pollard, 1904 In this video, London booksellers Adrian Harrington and Jonathan Kearnes take us on a 15 minute tactile journey focusing on the physical, irreplaceable nature of the…

Goodnight Book September 29, 2011

No, this isn’t one of those all too common stories lamenting the end of books. This is a story about a comfortable place for your books to rest. Now you can sleep side by side with your most cherished book. Open to you favorite passage or illustration and the book will rest as soundly as you until you are ready to re-engage. Welcome to the Rare Book Display Pillow courtesy of University Products. Here’s what…

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is back on the loose December 15, 2010

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…

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