Michael Powell and his daughter Emily Photo by Leah Nash for The New York TimesThe plans for a $5 million expansion of Powell's flagship store have been put on hold.Citing the overall current economic downturn and a 5% decline in sales the "project no longer looked prudent" according to owner Michael Powell.How close were they to enlarging their city of books? The plans were already drawn up and the financing was secured. And when do they feel they'll be ready to move forward?“It’s going to take a period of time to recover...Whether it’s 2 years or 10 years I don’t...
The Madness of the CPSIA and How Google and Amazon Might Benefit
Photo via mike.julianne on FlickrLast summer Congress passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (CPSIA). While well intentioned, being primarily a result of the toys being made with in China with lead paint scare that swept the country, CPSIA has potential catastrophic consequences for the book world. What's the problem? Any book printed before 1986 becomes illegal in the hands of children.Author David Niall Wilson sums it up nicely in his post, Burning Books for Consumer Safety:Under this law...very strict testing is imposed on every children’s book published before 1985 (It really did start in 1984 Mr. Orwell…right...
A Test and a Survey
Brad Johnson of The Book Shop in Covina, CA has circulated this little test within the gates of Facebook. It was created in the late 1960's and is attributed to Charles B. Anderson of Anderson’s Book Shop in Larchmont, New York. The test is both humbling and encouraging and reminds me that one of the reasons I love bookselling is that the learning curve is always vertical.How Good a Bookman Are You?This is a test designed to determine your bookman’s I.Q. A score of 20 right should entitle you to consideration as the editor of the next edition of “The...
Booksellers Talking
Are you wondering what's happening on the frontlines and how technology, chains and the slumping economy are taking their toll on the bookselling community?Three podcasts of note hit the airwaves in the last few weeks giving us a inside look on the current state of the trade.Nigel Beale, host of the radio show The Biblio File, recently passed through the Twin Cities and interviewed booksellers Rob Rulon-Miller and Kathy Stransky co-owner of Midway Used and Rare BooksBeale's interviews are worth a listen. At around 20 minutes each they are long enough to give one a real sense of the challenges...
Notes from the Fair : Codex & The California Antiquarian Book Fair
It was a big book week in San Francisco with both the book arts and antiquarian segments of the book trade hosting their largest events of the year. I was interested to see how these events would fair in the current economic climate of doom and gloom.Well, I got good news. Books are still alive!The Codex Foundation kicked things off with The Second Biennial Codex International Book Fair and Symposium. The book fair took place on the Berkeley campus of the University of California and the symposium was held at the Berkeley Art Museum. Over 125 fine presses and book...