I received an email the other day from Michael Russem the proprietor of the KatRan Press alerting me to an article he wrote that was just published in Caxtonian, the journal for the legendary Chicago book group the Caxton Club. The article is titled "The Failure of Fine Printing: Why the beautiful book isn't so beautiful, and the ugly book isn't so ugly".An intriguing title that is destined to stir up the book community.My first thought was to question the timing of the article and the email. Next week marks the First Biennial Book Fair & Symposium of the Codex...
The Bright Side of Digitization
We all know where I stand on the issue of who should be digitizing what parts of our literary and cultural heritage. The issue is a heated one and remains at the forefront of the open access debate.Here are some fruits of digitization.I hope the beauty of these images and the significance of their historical content will contribute to the debate on why a digital archive of this type of material must be undertaken by the public, not for profit sector.lThe Library of Congress has just posted the complete contents of 6 items from the Jay I. Kislak collection. The...
Another Bookshop Eulogy
David Streitfeld of the L.A. Times jumps on the 'end of the world for bookshops' train with his story Bookshop's Latest Sad Plot TwistIt is; however, one of the better ones to emerge from this recent painful trend. Streitfeld is one of the first to be able to cover the plight of the new and non-new bookstores seamlessly. Like the book trade, the media has always tended to treat these two aspects of bookselling as separate animals instead of what they are and that is two branches from the same tree.Some lowlights from the eulogy:-Technology changes behavior, which reshapes the...
Powell’s To Buy Books Online
Powell's, the poster child for independent book stores, has just quietly unveiled a new program where you can now sell them your books online. The story was covered in Publishers Marketplace (a fee site) and appeared in the daily email from Shelf-AwarenessHere is how it works:-You submit the ISBN numbers for the books you want to sell-The books that must be in good condition, meaning that there is no underlining or highlighting-Hardcovers have the original dust jacket,-No pages are torn, etc.The site checks the ISBNs and will then either decline the book or make an offer. If the seller agrees...
The Next Generation Book Collector: Four Bay Area Booksellers Weigh In
While so much energy is focused on the present or future state of bookselling little goes toward the much more vital issue of who is going to buy our books.The non-new book community calls this species book collectors while the new book community calls them readers. Though this post focuses on the antiquarian slant it is not a far reach to substitute 'reader' for 'collector'. This is a pressing issue for anyone who sells any type of book.Bruce McKinney of Americana Exchange took a film crew and headed to the Bay Area to talk with four preeminent booksellers. The topic:...