Tag: Rare Books

Will True Anarchy Reign at 2010 Anarchist Book Fair?

  New York City Anarchist Book Fair, 2009.The 4th annual NYC Anarchist Book Fair, a one-day exposition of books, zines, pamphlets, art, film/video, and other cultural and very political productions of the anarchist scene worldwide, will take place on April 17, 2010, at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan, New York City, a center of anarchist life, culture, struggle, and ideas for 150 years, In addition, there will be two days of panels, presentations, workshops, and skillshares on April 17 and 18 to provide further opportunities to learn more and share your own experience and creativity. The goal of the book...

Continue Reading →

Charles Dickens’ Model for the Modern Rehab Facility: Victorian Health Care Reform

On November 29, 1842, London’s Morning Chronicle published a short, unusual piece by Charles Dickens, already a celebrated writer and novelist, titled The Sanatorium.Written shortly after Dickens’s return from his first American tour, it reflected both his deep and lasting interest in public affairs and his fascination with medicine and the medical profession, particularly mental illness, detailed descriptions of which form central passages in several of Dickens’s novels. Thomas Chapman was chairman of the Sanatorium Committee and a personal friend of Dickens (the character of Mr Dombey was supposedly based on Chapman). Chapman asked Dickens to write a brief piece...

Continue Reading →

2010 New York Antiquarian Book Fair or Sunny?

The 2010 New York Antiquarian Book Fair previews this Thursday evening at the Park Avenue Armory, officially opens on Friday and continues through Sunday, April 11, 2010.On Friday, Nicholas Basbanes, the rare book world's Boswell, will sign copies of his new book, About the Author: Inside the Creative Process. On Saturday, Stuart Lutz will sign copies of his book, The Last Leaf: Voices of History's Last-Known Survivors.Sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America (ABAA), this year the fair debuts a new feature, New York Book Fair Search Engine, which allows fair-goers to see what books dealers will be bringing...

Continue Reading →

Attack of the Beast People, aka The Social-Animals’ Parade

In 1829, the beasts within humanity were exposed and let loose upon an unsuspecting Paris. The onslaught was merciless; no one was spared, not even the clergy. It was a slasher-movie in print - don’t turn that page; somebody is getting ripped to shreds. The book was a killer. The horror was greeted with laughter, though the Church and State experienced sharp pains not associated with split-sides or knee-slaps.Garçon, I’ll have the Metamorphosis du Jour, please, well-seasoned with satire.Les Metamorphoses du Jour by J.J. Grandville (1803-1847), one of the most celebrated caricaturists of his era, is amongst the rarest of...

Continue Reading →

200 Rabbit Holes Await At Canadian Library

Sir John Tenniel's Illustration of Alice And The Cheshire Cat, From Lewis Carroll'sAlice's Adventures In Wonderland, 1865. (Images Courtesy of University Of British Columbia's Alice 100 Collection.)The release of Tim Burton's feature film version of Alice In Wonderland in March, 2010 has returned media focus to Lewis Carroll's 1865 classic tale once again. And this means that all eyes are also back on the many previous visualizations of the piece, including Sir John Tenniel's nonpareil original illustrations. For as the first sentence of the book concludes: "Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the...

Continue Reading →