Thursday, August 17, 2006
Favorite books about books
Book lists, day four, this one is books about books, in which category I am known as something of a greedy truffle pig. I will start the list by plagiarizing myself: back in December I listed a few of my favorite books to aid people who dream of having their own bookshops. After those, however, I've got some new suggestions. This is my second attempt at posting today - earlier I listed a thousand books or so and my computer had a spasm (a technical term, I know) and I lost my entire post, arg and double arg. I am now writing in a word document FIRST. This list will contain mostly books about book-collecting, bookshops and booksellers, and a few examples of book arts, particularly printing. They are all in my library at home, next to a few hundred others. I will refrain from listing books about or by publishers and librarians or libraries, otherwise this post would be just too damn long and no one would read it. Many titles in this category are self-explanatory, so I will keep my comments to a minimum. Books ahoy:
The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter - Charles P. Everitt. Little, Brown, Boston 1952. Hands-down, my favorite bookseller memoir of all time. Rollicking, joyful, it makes me yearn to have been his apprentice. A brief foreword states that he died just after finishing the manuscript.
Trafficking in Old Books - Anthony Marshall. Lost Domain, Melbourne 1998. Droll collection of articles about keeping his used bookshop in Australia. He's published a second volume that I have yet to track down, which I hear is equally good.
The Side Door: Twenty-Six Years in My Book Room - Dora Hood. Ryerson, Toronto 1958. Great memoir of a dealer in rare Canadiana (this is more interesting than it sounds at first...).
The Seven Stairs: An Adventure of the Heart - Stuart Brent. Simon & Schuster, New York 1989. He sold new books and jazz records at his shop in Chicago, and his memoir captures and transfers his book-love to the lucky reader.
Sunwise Turn: A Human Comedy of Bookselling - Madge Jenison. Dutton, 1923. Long on dreams and short on practicality, but wonderful nonetheless. "There is a special and curious situation in the book trade different from that which exists in any other undertaking where buying and selling are carried on. It does not support the people who do it." (p.6)
Dukedom Large Enough: Reminiscences of a Rare Book Dealer 1929-1956 - David A. Randall. Random House, New York 1969. Gossipy, rich, the New York City rare book world during its true golden age.
Complete Guide to Starting a Used Bookstore: Old Books Into Gold - Dale L. Gilbert. Upstart 1991. Nuts and bolts. How to build good shelving, stock your shop, deal with customers, and the like. Written pre-internet, but still essential.
ABC for Book Collectors – John Carter. Knopf, New York 1991. The book that changed my life. Really. It taught me the language I wanted to learn, that of rare books, at a time in life when I was desperate for change.
Modern Book Collecting for the Impecunious Amateur – Herbert Faulkner West. Little, Brown, Boston 1936.
The Romance of Book-collecting – J.H. Slater. Elliot Stock, London 1898.
First Editions: A Guide to Identification – Edward N. Zempel and Linda A. Verkler. Spoon River, Peoria 1995. A desk reference for the first edition hunter. My copy sits behind my desk at the shop.
A Primer of Book Collecting – John T. Winterich and David A. Randall. Bell, New York 1966.
The Used Book Lover’s Guide – David and Susan Siegel. A regional series of guidebooks from Book Hunter Press. Essential for road trips.
Points of Issue and A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions – Bill McBride. McBride/Publisher, West Hartford 1996 and 1995. Back-pocket guides for first edition hunters.
Book Collecting 2000 – Allen and Patricia Ahearn. Putnam, New York 2000.
At Home With Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries – Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohm, and Christopher Simon Sykes. Southern, New York 1995. Eye candy for booklovers. Yum.
The Philobiblon – Richard de Bury. Meyer, New York 1899. Reprint of the first book ever to deal with the subject of book-collecting; de Bury lived from 1287-1345.
The Book-Lover’s Enchiridion – editor Alexander Ireland. Houghton, Mifflin, Boston 1883. An anthology of all things bookish.
Bibliomania; or Book-Madness – Thomas Frognall Dibdin. Chatto & Windus, London 1876. A classic, THE book on the disease of biblioholism.
On the Art of Reading – Arthur Quiller-Couch. Cambridge 1928.
The Book-Lovers’ Anthology – editor R.M. Leonard. Oxford 1911.
Bookman’s Pleasure – compiled by Holbrook Jackson. Farrar, Straus, New York 1947. Another fine anthology for browsing.
How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education – Mortimer J. Adler. Simon & Schuster, New York 1972.
Great Books and Book Collectors – Alan G. Thomas. Excalibur, New York 1983.
Book Shops: How to Run Them – Ruth Brown Park. Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, New York 1929.
Book Finds: How to Find, Buy, and Sell Used and Rare Books – Ian C. Ellis. Perigee, New York 2001. A good general book for the beginning book scout or fledgling dealer.
A Gentle Madness – Nicholas A. Basbanes. Holt, New York 1995. And sequels. He’s the best journalist writing about rare books today. Wide-ranging and intelligent.
Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World – Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone.
St. Martin’s Press, New York 1997. And sequels. Gentle, easy reading.
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most – Ronald B. Shwartz. Grosset/Putnam, New York 1999.
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader – Anne Fadiman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 1998. One of my favorite books of essays ever.
The Book on the Bookshelf – Henry Petroski. Knopf, New York 1999. The history of book-storage. Fascinating, minute, more detail than we may ever need to know.
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books – Paul Collins. Bloomsbury, New York 2003. Another all-time favorite. I’ve convinced many many people to own this book, and I myself have a fine first edition and an advanced reading copy in my collection at home.
A History of Reading – Alberto Manguel. Viking Penguin, New York 1996.
Bizarre Books – Russell Ash and Brian Lake. Pavilion, London 1998. Funny book titles and oddities, this is good for some chuckles.
84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff. Grossman, New York 1970. What is left to say about this book? It has inspired millions, and most everyone who loves books about books loves this one in particular above all the rest. Her book choices are what get me - they illustrate a reader educating herself as her interests and desires naturally evolve.
Wise Men Fish Here: The Story of Frances Steloff and the Gotham Book Mart – W.G. Rogers. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1965. Another favorite bookseller memoir, and fascinating side-lights on everyone from Christopher Morley to James Joyce.
Infinite Riches: The Adventures of a Rare Book Dealer – David Magee. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Toronto, 1973.
Born in a Bookshop – Vincent Starrett. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1965. Vincent Starrett was a bookman in the truest sense of the word. He helped found The Baker Street Irregulars club, the group of Sherlock Holmes collectors and appreciators.
The Last Bookman: A Journey into the Life & Times of Vincent Starrett (Author-Journalist-Bibliophile) – editor Peter Ruber. Candlelight Press, New York 1968.
Books in My Baggage – Lawrence Clark Powell. World, Cleveland 1960. A rare book librarian travels the world in search of treasures. He wrote other books equally as good as this one.
Books and Bidders – A.S.W. Rosenbach. Little, Brown, Boston 1927. A titan of twentieth-century bookselling.
Rosenbach – Edwin Wolf 2nd with John F. Fleming. World, Cleveland 1960. The classic biography of the author/bookseller above.
Yankee Bookseller – Charles E. Goodspeed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1937. Dry, but good information about Boston bookshops, Goodspeed’s own in particular, and the literary scene.
Collector’s Progress – Wilmarth Lewis. Knopf, New York 1951. The memoir of an obsessed, driven, determined, endearing book collector.
Black Sun – Geoffrey Wolff. Random House, New York 1976. The biography of Harry Crosby, with his wife Caresse, founders of The Black Sun Press. Wild Parisian jazz-age carousing and decadence with artists and authors.
A Rare Book Saga: The Autobiography of H.P. Kraus. Putnam, New York 1978.
Shakespeare and Company – Sylvia Beach. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1991. Beach’s autobiography of her famous Paris bookshop.
The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, Bookman – Matthew J. Bruccoli. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego 1986. An incredible (and ultimately tragic) journey through the rare book world in New York City in the first half of the twentieth century. One of my favorite books about a bookseller, publisher, auctioneer, and general all-around bookman.
Antiquarian Books: An Insider’s Account – Roy Harley Lewis. Arco, New York 1978. The London used book scene. Great book-hunting and book-selling stories.
Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and ‘Books & Co.’ – Lynne Tillman. Harcourt Brace, New York 1999. The life of a New York City bookshop and its idealistic owner.
A Memory of Vermont: Our Life in the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop – Margaret Hard. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1967.
The Unspeakable Curll – Ralph Straus. Chapman and Hall, London 1927. Eighteenth-century bookselling at its most scurrilous and deranged. Curll was a much-hated publisher and bookseller – hated by authors, that is.
Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. – Jeremy Mercer.
St. Martin’s Press, New York 2005. Mentioned earlier in the week in the memoir list, thanks L.T.! I read this when it was published (with a cover blurb by Paul Collins) and wished I had gone to live at this famous bookshop myself. Not about books per se, more about living the bohemian life, but the bookshop is central to the action.
Off In Zora – Alan Armstrong. Booksellers House, Tarrytown, New York 1997. Tales of a traveling bookseller roaming the U.S.
Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion – Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg. Doubleday, New York 1997. Again, L.T. beat me to it. These antiquarian dealers have written several books both memoir-ish and scholarly, all are good.
Book Row – Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador. Carroll & Graf, New York 2004. Tales from many booksellers about their shops and the golden age of bookselling in New York City on Fourth Avenue.
The Business of Books – André Schiffrin. Verso, New York 2000. The downfall of modern publishing. Acerbic, for good reason.
Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop – Christopher Morley. Doubleday, Page, Garden City, New York 1917 and 1919. How could I not list these gentle classics. They were written when Morley was quite young, and for me they only hint at his flowering genius. Still widely read, because they exhibit such a high level of true book-love.
Booked to Die – John Dunning. Scribner, New York 1992. And sequels. Bibliomysteries written by a rare bookseller. I don’t read many mysteries, but these are good.
Pi – Bruce Rogers. World, Cleveland 1953. A collection of short bits and pieces by this master book-designer/typographer.
Daniel Berkeley Updike and The Merrymount Press of Boston Massachusetts 1860 ~ 1894 ~ 1941 – George Parker Winship. Leo Hart, Rochester, New York 1947. I have a small collection of the books Updike saw through his press - they are elegant and lovely, a joy to read.
A Tally of Types – Stanley Morison. Godine, Boston 1999. A reprint of Morison’s book on classic typefaces and their origins and designs.
The Ideal Book: Essays and Lectures on the Arts of the Book – William Morris.
University of California, Berkeley 1982.
Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles – editor Paul A. Bennett. Beil, Savannah 1991.
Bookbinding, and the Care of Books – Douglas Cockerell. Lyons & Burford, New York 1991. A reprint of the classic book on binding and repair.
A Short History of the Printed Word – Warren Chappell. Knopf, New York 1970.
Anatomy of a Typeface – Alexander Lawson. Godine, Boston 2002.
Five Hundred Years of Printing – S.H. Steinberg, revised by John Trevitt. Oak Knoll, New Castle, Delaware 1996. A scholarly overview of the history of printing. With great pictures for browsing.
I could add so many more, but this is getting ridiculous, and these really are my true favorites in this field, the ones I re-read and linger over, or use for reference all the time. I hope I'm not just preaching to the choir here, because I'd like this list to lead more people to the world of books, book collecting, and bookselling. It's consuming, and life-changing. But for those that are called to it, it's a fabulous way to go.
The Adventures of a Treasure Hunter - Charles P. Everitt. Little, Brown, Boston 1952. Hands-down, my favorite bookseller memoir of all time. Rollicking, joyful, it makes me yearn to have been his apprentice. A brief foreword states that he died just after finishing the manuscript.
Trafficking in Old Books - Anthony Marshall. Lost Domain, Melbourne 1998. Droll collection of articles about keeping his used bookshop in Australia. He's published a second volume that I have yet to track down, which I hear is equally good.
The Side Door: Twenty-Six Years in My Book Room - Dora Hood. Ryerson, Toronto 1958. Great memoir of a dealer in rare Canadiana (this is more interesting than it sounds at first...).
The Seven Stairs: An Adventure of the Heart - Stuart Brent. Simon & Schuster, New York 1989. He sold new books and jazz records at his shop in Chicago, and his memoir captures and transfers his book-love to the lucky reader.
Sunwise Turn: A Human Comedy of Bookselling - Madge Jenison. Dutton, 1923. Long on dreams and short on practicality, but wonderful nonetheless. "There is a special and curious situation in the book trade different from that which exists in any other undertaking where buying and selling are carried on. It does not support the people who do it." (p.6)
Dukedom Large Enough: Reminiscences of a Rare Book Dealer 1929-1956 - David A. Randall. Random House, New York 1969. Gossipy, rich, the New York City rare book world during its true golden age.
Complete Guide to Starting a Used Bookstore: Old Books Into Gold - Dale L. Gilbert. Upstart 1991. Nuts and bolts. How to build good shelving, stock your shop, deal with customers, and the like. Written pre-internet, but still essential.
ABC for Book Collectors – John Carter. Knopf, New York 1991. The book that changed my life. Really. It taught me the language I wanted to learn, that of rare books, at a time in life when I was desperate for change.
Modern Book Collecting for the Impecunious Amateur – Herbert Faulkner West. Little, Brown, Boston 1936.
The Romance of Book-collecting – J.H. Slater. Elliot Stock, London 1898.
First Editions: A Guide to Identification – Edward N. Zempel and Linda A. Verkler. Spoon River, Peoria 1995. A desk reference for the first edition hunter. My copy sits behind my desk at the shop.
A Primer of Book Collecting – John T. Winterich and David A. Randall. Bell, New York 1966.
The Used Book Lover’s Guide – David and Susan Siegel. A regional series of guidebooks from Book Hunter Press. Essential for road trips.
Points of Issue and A Pocket Guide to the Identification of First Editions – Bill McBride. McBride/Publisher, West Hartford 1996 and 1995. Back-pocket guides for first edition hunters.
Book Collecting 2000 – Allen and Patricia Ahearn. Putnam, New York 2000.
At Home With Books: How Booklovers Live with and Care for Their Libraries – Estelle Ellis, Caroline Seebohm, and Christopher Simon Sykes. Southern, New York 1995. Eye candy for booklovers. Yum.
The Philobiblon – Richard de Bury. Meyer, New York 1899. Reprint of the first book ever to deal with the subject of book-collecting; de Bury lived from 1287-1345.
The Book-Lover’s Enchiridion – editor Alexander Ireland. Houghton, Mifflin, Boston 1883. An anthology of all things bookish.
Bibliomania; or Book-Madness – Thomas Frognall Dibdin. Chatto & Windus, London 1876. A classic, THE book on the disease of biblioholism.
On the Art of Reading – Arthur Quiller-Couch. Cambridge 1928.
The Book-Lovers’ Anthology – editor R.M. Leonard. Oxford 1911.
Bookman’s Pleasure – compiled by Holbrook Jackson. Farrar, Straus, New York 1947. Another fine anthology for browsing.
How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education – Mortimer J. Adler. Simon & Schuster, New York 1972.
Great Books and Book Collectors – Alan G. Thomas. Excalibur, New York 1983.
Book Shops: How to Run Them – Ruth Brown Park. Doubleday, Doran, Garden City, New York 1929.
Book Finds: How to Find, Buy, and Sell Used and Rare Books – Ian C. Ellis. Perigee, New York 2001. A good general book for the beginning book scout or fledgling dealer.
A Gentle Madness – Nicholas A. Basbanes. Holt, New York 1995. And sequels. He’s the best journalist writing about rare books today. Wide-ranging and intelligent.
Used and Rare: Travels in the Book World – Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone.
St. Martin’s Press, New York 1997. And sequels. Gentle, easy reading.
For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Books They Love Most – Ronald B. Shwartz. Grosset/Putnam, New York 1999.
Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader – Anne Fadiman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York 1998. One of my favorite books of essays ever.
The Book on the Bookshelf – Henry Petroski. Knopf, New York 1999. The history of book-storage. Fascinating, minute, more detail than we may ever need to know.
Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books – Paul Collins. Bloomsbury, New York 2003. Another all-time favorite. I’ve convinced many many people to own this book, and I myself have a fine first edition and an advanced reading copy in my collection at home.
A History of Reading – Alberto Manguel. Viking Penguin, New York 1996.
Bizarre Books – Russell Ash and Brian Lake. Pavilion, London 1998. Funny book titles and oddities, this is good for some chuckles.
84, Charing Cross Road – Helene Hanff. Grossman, New York 1970. What is left to say about this book? It has inspired millions, and most everyone who loves books about books loves this one in particular above all the rest. Her book choices are what get me - they illustrate a reader educating herself as her interests and desires naturally evolve.
Wise Men Fish Here: The Story of Frances Steloff and the Gotham Book Mart – W.G. Rogers. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1965. Another favorite bookseller memoir, and fascinating side-lights on everyone from Christopher Morley to James Joyce.
Infinite Riches: The Adventures of a Rare Book Dealer – David Magee. Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Toronto, 1973.
Born in a Bookshop – Vincent Starrett. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman 1965. Vincent Starrett was a bookman in the truest sense of the word. He helped found The Baker Street Irregulars club, the group of Sherlock Holmes collectors and appreciators.
The Last Bookman: A Journey into the Life & Times of Vincent Starrett (Author-Journalist-Bibliophile) – editor Peter Ruber. Candlelight Press, New York 1968.
Books in My Baggage – Lawrence Clark Powell. World, Cleveland 1960. A rare book librarian travels the world in search of treasures. He wrote other books equally as good as this one.
Books and Bidders – A.S.W. Rosenbach. Little, Brown, Boston 1927. A titan of twentieth-century bookselling.
Rosenbach – Edwin Wolf 2nd with John F. Fleming. World, Cleveland 1960. The classic biography of the author/bookseller above.
Yankee Bookseller – Charles E. Goodspeed. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 1937. Dry, but good information about Boston bookshops, Goodspeed’s own in particular, and the literary scene.
Collector’s Progress – Wilmarth Lewis. Knopf, New York 1951. The memoir of an obsessed, driven, determined, endearing book collector.
Black Sun – Geoffrey Wolff. Random House, New York 1976. The biography of Harry Crosby, with his wife Caresse, founders of The Black Sun Press. Wild Parisian jazz-age carousing and decadence with artists and authors.
A Rare Book Saga: The Autobiography of H.P. Kraus. Putnam, New York 1978.
Shakespeare and Company – Sylvia Beach. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln 1991. Beach’s autobiography of her famous Paris bookshop.
The Fortunes of Mitchell Kennerley, Bookman – Matthew J. Bruccoli. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, San Diego 1986. An incredible (and ultimately tragic) journey through the rare book world in New York City in the first half of the twentieth century. One of my favorite books about a bookseller, publisher, auctioneer, and general all-around bookman.
Antiquarian Books: An Insider’s Account – Roy Harley Lewis. Arco, New York 1978. The London used book scene. Great book-hunting and book-selling stories.
Bookstore: The Life and Times of Jeannette Watson and ‘Books & Co.’ – Lynne Tillman. Harcourt Brace, New York 1999. The life of a New York City bookshop and its idealistic owner.
A Memory of Vermont: Our Life in the Johnny Appleseed Bookshop – Margaret Hard. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York 1967.
The Unspeakable Curll – Ralph Straus. Chapman and Hall, London 1927. Eighteenth-century bookselling at its most scurrilous and deranged. Curll was a much-hated publisher and bookseller – hated by authors, that is.
Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. – Jeremy Mercer.
St. Martin’s Press, New York 2005. Mentioned earlier in the week in the memoir list, thanks L.T.! I read this when it was published (with a cover blurb by Paul Collins) and wished I had gone to live at this famous bookshop myself. Not about books per se, more about living the bohemian life, but the bookshop is central to the action.
Off In Zora – Alan Armstrong. Booksellers House, Tarrytown, New York 1997. Tales of a traveling bookseller roaming the U.S.
Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion – Madeline B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg. Doubleday, New York 1997. Again, L.T. beat me to it. These antiquarian dealers have written several books both memoir-ish and scholarly, all are good.
Book Row – Marvin Mondlin and Roy Meador. Carroll & Graf, New York 2004. Tales from many booksellers about their shops and the golden age of bookselling in New York City on Fourth Avenue.
The Business of Books – André Schiffrin. Verso, New York 2000. The downfall of modern publishing. Acerbic, for good reason.
Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop – Christopher Morley. Doubleday, Page, Garden City, New York 1917 and 1919. How could I not list these gentle classics. They were written when Morley was quite young, and for me they only hint at his flowering genius. Still widely read, because they exhibit such a high level of true book-love.
Booked to Die – John Dunning. Scribner, New York 1992. And sequels. Bibliomysteries written by a rare bookseller. I don’t read many mysteries, but these are good.
Pi – Bruce Rogers. World, Cleveland 1953. A collection of short bits and pieces by this master book-designer/typographer.
Daniel Berkeley Updike and The Merrymount Press of Boston Massachusetts 1860 ~ 1894 ~ 1941 – George Parker Winship. Leo Hart, Rochester, New York 1947. I have a small collection of the books Updike saw through his press - they are elegant and lovely, a joy to read.
A Tally of Types – Stanley Morison. Godine, Boston 1999. A reprint of Morison’s book on classic typefaces and their origins and designs.
The Ideal Book: Essays and Lectures on the Arts of the Book – William Morris.
University of California, Berkeley 1982.
Books and Printing: A Treasury for Typophiles – editor Paul A. Bennett. Beil, Savannah 1991.
Bookbinding, and the Care of Books – Douglas Cockerell. Lyons & Burford, New York 1991. A reprint of the classic book on binding and repair.
A Short History of the Printed Word – Warren Chappell. Knopf, New York 1970.
Anatomy of a Typeface – Alexander Lawson. Godine, Boston 2002.
Five Hundred Years of Printing – S.H. Steinberg, revised by John Trevitt. Oak Knoll, New Castle, Delaware 1996. A scholarly overview of the history of printing. With great pictures for browsing.
I could add so many more, but this is getting ridiculous, and these really are my true favorites in this field, the ones I re-read and linger over, or use for reference all the time. I hope I'm not just preaching to the choir here, because I'd like this list to lead more people to the world of books, book collecting, and bookselling. It's consuming, and life-changing. But for those that are called to it, it's a fabulous way to go.
Comments:
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Sarah, that is a gluttonous list! Thank you!
Fans of Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris will enjoy Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love. Anne Fadiman editied this collection of essays about rereading books ( including a wildflower guide and the back of a Beatles album).
It is fun to read the letters of Heywood and Anne Hill in a Bookseller's War. The G. Heywood Hill bookshop is still on Curzon St. in London. Nancy Mitford worked there during the war. My edition was published in Norwich, England in 1997 by Michael Russell Publishing.
Fans of Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris will enjoy Rereadings: Seventeen Writers Revisit Books They Love. Anne Fadiman editied this collection of essays about rereading books ( including a wildflower guide and the back of a Beatles album).
It is fun to read the letters of Heywood and Anne Hill in a Bookseller's War. The G. Heywood Hill bookshop is still on Curzon St. in London. Nancy Mitford worked there during the war. My edition was published in Norwich, England in 1997 by Michael Russell Publishing.
# posted by 
: 8:09 PM
: 8:09 PM
Hi S. Have a great trip. Love the list (what, not alpha...I'm shocked).
I have a few added in a linked post to yours *g* and am pondering a follow-up as you have me reviewing the (far too many) I have read and reread...
Look forward to hearing about the trip and can't wait to hear about it. Bring back treasures.
I have a few added in a linked post to yours *g* and am pondering a follow-up as you have me reviewing the (far too many) I have read and reread...
Look forward to hearing about the trip and can't wait to hear about it. Bring back treasures.
Vicky, I will find the Hill book - I haven't read it, and I suddenly have a burning desire to do so.
Jonathan, thanks - I have this book, and enjoyed his tales of the underbelly of bookhunting in London in particular.
Dear Ian, I am a tidy person, and it was distressing to feel I didn't have the time to alphabetize, plus I like to list some of my all-time best books near the top. So, haphazard will have to suffice.
I buy books tomorrow morning at a library sale before I catch my boat to the island. I'm sick, sick I tell you! Must - keep - working - up - until - the - last --- possible --- moment -----
Jonathan, thanks - I have this book, and enjoyed his tales of the underbelly of bookhunting in London in particular.
Dear Ian, I am a tidy person, and it was distressing to feel I didn't have the time to alphabetize, plus I like to list some of my all-time best books near the top. So, haphazard will have to suffice.
I buy books tomorrow morning at a library sale before I catch my boat to the island. I'm sick, sick I tell you! Must - keep - working - up - until - the - last --- possible --- moment -----
We share so many favorites in this catagory,Sarah,that it's down right scary:) But,I may have a few to recommend:
Casanova was a Book Lover by John Maxwell Hamilton: The title alone grabbed my attention and the contents are quite good. Filled with interestin tidbits and humor.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi: The role model for any reading group,anywhere.
So Many Books,So Little Time by Sara Nelson: A year in the reading life of Sara Nelson,who now is the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly. You can see what a good choice PW made in giving her the job after reading this.
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky: Lansky founded the National Yiddish Book Center and his book chronicles his efforts to save as much Yiddish literature as he could find.
The King's English by Betsy Burton: Betsy has one of the best known indie bookstores in Utah and tells some great stories about the trials and tribulations(plus,some funny moments)of the business.
The Yellow Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee:Buzbee's memoir of his bookselling days mixed with factoids of the history of books is a treasure.
An Alphabetical Life by Wendy Werris:I'm reading this now(the book will be out in stores in November)and this is such a gripping read that I'm shocked to actually be online at this moment! Wendy weaves a web of words(try saying that three times in a row)that paint quite a portrait of her journey from bookseller to publisher's rep. Definately keep an eye out for it this fall!
Casanova was a Book Lover by John Maxwell Hamilton: The title alone grabbed my attention and the contents are quite good. Filled with interestin tidbits and humor.
Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi: The role model for any reading group,anywhere.
So Many Books,So Little Time by Sara Nelson: A year in the reading life of Sara Nelson,who now is the editor-in-chief of Publishers Weekly. You can see what a good choice PW made in giving her the job after reading this.
Outwitting History by Aaron Lansky: Lansky founded the National Yiddish Book Center and his book chronicles his efforts to save as much Yiddish literature as he could find.
The King's English by Betsy Burton: Betsy has one of the best known indie bookstores in Utah and tells some great stories about the trials and tribulations(plus,some funny moments)of the business.
The Yellow Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee:Buzbee's memoir of his bookselling days mixed with factoids of the history of books is a treasure.
An Alphabetical Life by Wendy Werris:I'm reading this now(the book will be out in stores in November)and this is such a gripping read that I'm shocked to actually be online at this moment! Wendy weaves a web of words(try saying that three times in a row)that paint quite a portrait of her journey from bookseller to publisher's rep. Definately keep an eye out for it this fall!
L.T. - I have the Hamilton book, but haven't read it. Ditto Nelson. Ditto "Reading Lolita." It's shameful, really, I have no excuse! Other than that I've been reading OTHER books in the meantime.
I haven't picked up "The King's English" but I keep hearing great things about it. I blogged this spring about Buzbee and I can't think how I came to forget to add this to the list!!
I'll look for the Wendy Werris book - sounds great. Thanks for your thoughtful additions, as usual.
I haven't picked up "The King's English" but I keep hearing great things about it. I blogged this spring about Buzbee and I can't think how I came to forget to add this to the list!!
I'll look for the Wendy Werris book - sounds great. Thanks for your thoughtful additions, as usual.
Oh My God - I just realized I forgot to add Nick Hornby's great book of essays about books and reading, "The Polysyllabic Spree." It's terrific! Get it, if you don't have it already!! Situation rectified, crisis averted...
Hello Sarah,
What a wonderful list! I printed it immediately. Crossed out those I've read and taped it up on the wall. Bookish books are a real favorite of mine. (I'm also into books on forgary, bibliokleptomania and other literary crimes...)
A great fellow named Brian told me about your list. I met him last week at the annual Antiquarian Book Seminar in Colorado Springs. It was boot-camp for book dealers and the most inspiring, informative, exciting week in memory. It sounds like you know your stuff but if you want to go learn more and meet some living legends of the book world I highly recomend it! (Maybe you've already gone?)
Anyhow, THANK YOU FOR THE LIST!
I'll be scouting in Maine this fall and would love to visit your shop!
Best,
Nellie
What a wonderful list! I printed it immediately. Crossed out those I've read and taped it up on the wall. Bookish books are a real favorite of mine. (I'm also into books on forgary, bibliokleptomania and other literary crimes...)
A great fellow named Brian told me about your list. I met him last week at the annual Antiquarian Book Seminar in Colorado Springs. It was boot-camp for book dealers and the most inspiring, informative, exciting week in memory. It sounds like you know your stuff but if you want to go learn more and meet some living legends of the book world I highly recomend it! (Maybe you've already gone?)
Anyhow, THANK YOU FOR THE LIST!
I'll be scouting in Maine this fall and would love to visit your shop!
Best,
Nellie
# posted by : 11:27 AM
: 11:27 AM
What a list! Thanks.
Not much to add here, except Edmund Pearson's Books In Black and Red; Lynne Schwartz's Ruined By Reading; and Andrfe Kertesz's slim volume of 63 photographs of people reading, On Reading.
Not much to add here, except Edmund Pearson's Books In Black and Red; Lynne Schwartz's Ruined By Reading; and Andrfe Kertesz's slim volume of 63 photographs of people reading, On Reading.
# posted by : 12:03 PM
: 12:03 PM
Aw, shucks. Thanks for commenting, Nellie - I've wanted to go to Colorado for a while now, but the checkbook always tells me otherwise. My good friend Bob went this year, he works for a dealer in fine first editions, and gets to do some great work on various authors' archives. He's a fine picker, too. I'll get to Colorado, and the rare book school in Charlottesville too - someday!
Dan, I can't believe I forgot to add "Books in Black and Red" but there it is, in black and white. Ha. Thanks for your additions. Editions. Ha ha. I know I've made that joke before, but I do love it so.
Dan, I can't believe I forgot to add "Books in Black and Red" but there it is, in black and white. Ha. Thanks for your additions. Editions. Ha ha. I know I've made that joke before, but I do love it so.
Golly Gee! The book world is as big as a peanut...I drove to Colorado with Bob. He is my new buddy. I told him about you and your great list and OF COURSE he knew you. (Bob does seem to know everything and everybody, but he is clearly especially fond of you.)
So...maybe we'll all meet one day.
Ciao,
Nellie
So...maybe we'll all meet one day.
Ciao,
Nellie
# posted by : 10:10 PM
: 10:10 PM
How great that you know Bob - he's a good book-friend and a talented poet and artist. Years ago he lived here in Bangor, and I was sad to see him move away. Of course we will all meet someday - at an antiquarian bookfair...?
Sarah:
I visited your store in August and enjoyed very much seeing your (I presume) working collection of books about books. In fact, after buying that great book on the history of the TLS, I went next door to Lippincott and found a copy of The Reader's Encyclopedia.
Of course, there are many other books that could be added to this fabulous list but for now might I suggest a fairly recent one, Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea. I'm sure you'll find it as moving as I did.
I visited your store in August and enjoyed very much seeing your (I presume) working collection of books about books. In fact, after buying that great book on the history of the TLS, I went next door to Lippincott and found a copy of The Reader's Encyclopedia.
Of course, there are many other books that could be added to this fabulous list but for now might I suggest a fairly recent one, Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea. I'm sure you'll find it as moving as I did.
# posted by : 12:28 PM
: 12:28 PM
Hey Mike - thanks for checking in here, glad you are enjoying the TLS history. It's a great book, I think on the list I called it deep geek for booklovers. Many of my books-about-books are here in the shop, for easy reference, but I do have a few hundred (gulp) at home, too. "The Reader's Encyclopedia" is invaluable, I use mine all the time. Hope you stop in again when you are back in Maine!
Great post. I really enjoyed it, although it made me feel a bit inadequate. I have recently read Nick Hornby's Polysyllabic Spree and really enjoyed it. I'm glad it made your list. Excellent book.
I have also sent a link to this list from my blog: DrCris Reads.
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I have also sent a link to this list from my blog: DrCris Reads.
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