Treats for Book Collectors
One of the things I enjoy doing is putting book quotes in unusual frames and uploading them to both Café Press and Zazzle. What you will see in the :widget" below are just a few samples of what you will find on my Zazzle Store. Enjoy!
Yale Acquires Rare Book and Manuscripts Collection
Yale recently acquired a substantial selection of rare books and manuscripts pertaining to English legal history that is almost 10 times larger than the Library of Congress’s collection, according to The New York Times.
Shapiro would not comment on how much the University paid for the acquisition, which was arranged jointly by the Law School Library and the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
[Top]My Book Collection - Lovely Videos From a European Collector
My Book Collection Part II - YouTube2
I am going to be conducting an interview with this book collector and we will find out more about his collection, how long he has been collecting, what inspires his collection and more... Check back for the interview!
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Author Ian Banks Dies of Cancer, Age 59
Author Iain Banks has died aged 59, two months after announcing he had terminal cancer, his family has said.
Banks, who was born in Dunfermline, Fife, revealed in April he had gall bladder cancer and was unlikely to live for more than a year.
He was best known for his novels The Wasp Factory, The Crow Road and Complicity.
In a statement, his publisher said he was "an irreplaceable part of the literary world".
A message posted on Banksophilia, a website set up to provide fans with updates on the author, quoted his wife Adele saying: "Iain died in the early hours this morning. His death was calm and without pain."
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group said the author was "one of the country's best-loved novelists" for both his mainstream and science fiction books.
"Iain Banks' ability to combine the most fertile of imaginations with his own highly distinctive brand of gothic humour made him unique," it said.
After announcing his illness in April, Banks asked his publishers to bring forward the release date of his latest novel, The Quarry, so he could see it on the shelves.
On Sunday, it was revealed the book - to be released on 20 June - would detail the physical and emotional strain of cancer.
It describes the final weeks of the life of a man in his 40s who has terminal cancer.
Speaking to the BBC's Kirsty Wark, Banks said he was some 87,000 words into writing the book when he was diagnosed with his own illness.
"I had no inkling. So it wasn't as though this is a response to the disease or anything, the book had been kind of ready to go," he said. The book is due out on June 20.
Rest in Peace.
[Top]The Largest Book and Paper Fair Between Chicago and California
The Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers Association is pleased to announce, more than 80 of the nation’s most prestigious dealers in rare and collectible books and paper ephemera will be at the Denver Mart, August 2nd – 3rd, for the 29th annual Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair.
For book lovers across the region, the 29th Annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair is a weekend not to be missed, as the thousands of books offered typically include once-in-a-lifetime finds. There is truly something for everyone, from museum-quality volumes to books suited for casual gift-giving.
The largest event of its kind between Chicago and California, the Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair also offers a wealth of vintage and rare paper goods, including postcards, maps, art prints, old travel brochures, posters, ads and ephemera from decades – and centuries – past.
This year’s theme, “To Have and To Hold,” offers more reasons to attend the fair. Special presentations on collections and how to care for them will take place over the weekend. They include:
- The Art of Collecting (Friday, 6:30pm). Chris Lane, the print and map expert for PBS's program Antiques Roadshow, will discuss a consideration of what it means to collect, with reference to antique prints and maps.
- Caring for your Collection (Saturday, 11am). Learn best practices for keeping your collection in prime condition. Join a panel of experts as they discuss conservation of: textiles, paintings, decorative and historic objects and books and paper.
- Preservation Station (Saturday, 1pm). Karen Jones will present demonstrations on basic book care and handling and an opportunity to ask questions about collection care.
Hosted annually by the Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers Association (RMABA), the fair has built a reputation as one of the nation’s leading antiquarian book fairs. Says chairperson Lois Harvey, “We work hard to make this a very enjoyable experience for both our exhibitors and attendees. The exhibitors often come so far and expend so much time and money to bring their best stuff to Denver, that we want to go the extra mile to make them feel welcome. And because we continue to attract the nation’s best booksellers, the fair continues to be a cultural boon to Colorado.
The Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair takes place August 2-3 at the Denver Mart, I-25 at 58th Ave. (exit east). Advanced tickets are available through Eventbrite (http://www.RMBPF2013.eventbrite.com). Admission is $10 for Friday evening's preview (includes Saturday re-admission) and $5 on Saturday. Parking is free. Show hours: Friday 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.; Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
The Rocky Mountain Antiquarian Booksellers Association is an organization of used and rare book dealers in the Rocky Mountain west area. The organization’s members are dedicated to stimulating book collecting, promoting ethical trade in all facets of the antiquarian book business, and educating the public in the field of antiquarian books.
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For more information, visit http://www.rmaba.org/rmbpf/2013/rmbpf2013.html or call 720-234-7829.
[Top]David Mason's Book Business is Winding Down but His Autobiography Comes Out This Weekend
The Star - BooksBy: Tim Alamenciak News reporter, Published on Thu Jun 06 2013
David Mason is a hunter. His prey hides in bargain bins full of long-forgotten coffee table books. His prize trophies line the shelves of a basement bookstore, David Mason Books, near Spadina and Adelaide, in the basement of an upscale office building.
After 50 years of finding books and selling them, Mason is passing the torch to the next generation with his new autobiography, The Pope’s Bookbinder, on sale June 6: a sweeping tour of the bookselling industry through the eyes of a man who has been at the heart of it for decades. His hope, he said, is to pass on the trade to the next generation.
“A stretch of 50 years is a long time. An antiquarian bookseller learns that time goes on and on forever — we end up with a view of history that is different from a normal person because we live essentially in the past,” said Mason. “You get a view of continuity and those things become very important to you.”
Possibly Toronto’s most prolific antiquarian bookseller, his book chronicles his rise from a young man interested in bookselling to the modern David Mason: a man whose bookstore spans two huge basement offices. Countless volumes line handmade shelves fashioned from scrap wood with doors made of windowpanes.
“I’m now too old to have this many books in downtown Toronto. I’ve got maybe two more years here and they’re going to double my rent. I shouldn’t be here now and I’m not going to be here in two years,” he said.
But while Mason thinks his time is running out, he insists there will always be a place for good books and good booksellers. The Internet has changed things, he acknowledges, but not necessarily in the way most people think. The state of the printed book is as it has always been: dismal.
His customer base is still a hardcore handful of book buyers who come from a small subset of the population that buys books seriously, meaning three or four a week. He cites a study that found about 4 per cent of the population makes up that demographic.
“But the funny thing was, the survey wasn’t done last week or even last year; it was done in 1905,” he said. “It’s not that people don’t buy books anymore, that people don’t read books anymore: they never did.”
Besides supplying countless private collectors and bibliophiles, Mason’s hunting skills have also helped stock the rare book collection at the University of Toronto.
“We’ve had a relationship with him for over 30 years. He’s been one of the main antique book dealers in the city. When he started out it was quite a flourishing scene. Now, of course, it’s quite diminished. He’s one of the few left standing,” said Anne Dondertman, director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.
Dondertman said booksellers like Mason provide an impeccable eye, a sense for what is significant amid piles of dusty texts.
“That kind of experience that spans so many books, that’s something that takes years and years,” she said.
What has changed in his 50 years in the business, Mason said, is the concept of rarity: in the past book buyers would have to hunt for treasured tomes, now they can find them online at websites like AbeBooks.
There is more to this interesting article. I suggest you go to the star to continue reading The Star - Books
I just ordered my copy of this book. There is a link in the right hand sidebar, if you are interested:
The Cost of Rare Books is Starting to Rise
Haley said, "More people can find it, want it and know that there is only one of them around." He said that demand was growing for what he termed "quirkiana" or books on specialist, niche topics that normally would not sell well. The difficult market is the mid-rank with books between 100 pounds and a thousand.
These are books which are rare but not unique, and modern first editions as potential purchasers could scour the web for other examples more easily than in the past. Haley said it was starting to look that second-hand bookshops were doomed.Some in the industry forecast digital books would outsell printed books in Britain in 2015. Yet the shift to digital publishing only made physical books more alluring to many people.
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