The Fine Books Blog

I is for Imagination in Appalachia

2013-05-17T13:00:00Z

Barbara Basbanes Richter
Appalachian Toys and Games From A to Z by Linda Hager Pack, illustrated by Pat Banks; University of Kentucky Press, $17.95, 56 pages ages 5 and up.

Most modern American children have likely never heard of whimmydiddles (toys carved out of ivy and made to spin by reciting magic words) or played with apple dolls. This alphabet book, set in the heart of Appalachia, presents homemade playthings and games that entertained children at the end of the nineteenth century. Appalachia native Linda Pack has spent her career researching and writing about the culture and traditions unique to the people of this storied mountain community.

Each letter of the alphabet depicts an activity or plaything. While some are unique, (such as the aforementioned whimmydiddle) others are bound to be familiar, such as jumping rope, playing marbles, and setting noisemakers. An explanation of each activity accompanies the entries. Pack also provides instructions for how to play imaginative games such as Drop the Handkerchief and Anty Over. Still other entries include folktales such as the story "Never Mind Them Watermelons" often told to Appalachian children.

This eloquent ode to games of yesteryear would be incomplete without the enchanting watercolors by Pat Banks, a native of Kentucky who collaborated with Pack on a previous book about Appalachia. Over twenty beautiful illustrations capture an active and rich childhood enjoyed mostly outdoors and among friends. Perhaps modern readers will be enticed to put down their electric diversions and try some of these imaginative pastimes.

A glossary, author's and illustrator's notes, plus a thorough bibliography ensure that this book will grow with its readers from an alphabet teaching tool to a reference source.

Northwestern Returns Bonaparte Letter to France

2013-05-16T05:47:26Z

Today, Northwestern University will be repatriating about 250 documents to France including a letter written by Napoleon Bonaparte's brother Joseph about the future Emperor's patriotism during the French Revolution.

How the documents ended up at Northwestern is an interesting story in itself: Jack McBride, an entertainer in a USO troupe was stationed in Corsica during WWII. According to family tradition, McBride stumbled across a group of soldiers burning documents while he was wandering around the island. McBride saved what he could, a parcel of about 250 documents, including the Bonaparte letter. McBride shipped them home to his family, thinking they might prove to be valuable. In the 1980s, McBride's descendants deposited the documents at Northwestern for further study.

Some twenty years later, in 2009, Northwestern finally got around to processing the documents. (Like many archival institutions, Northwestern has an extensive backlog of unprocessed documents). They discovered the Bonaparte letter, which was written in 1792 to an unidentified colonel during the height of the French Revolution. In the letter, Napoleon's brother, Joseph, insists that Napoleon is a patriot to the revolutionary cause. The bundle of McBride papers included a variety of other documents over a 450 year time frame.

Northwestern consulted the French government about their find, who were interested in receiving the documents back. Today, Northwestern will present the bundle to the French consulate in Chicago in a special ceremony at the University.

Northwestern's move raises again the question of repatriation of historical documents. Many special collections libraries (and private libraries) own documents that could arguably be repatriated to their country of origin. Whether they should or not remains a question of much debate.

[Image of Joseph Bonaparte from Wikipedia]

Intellectual Property Prints

2013-05-15T12:29:39Z

Daniel Rolnik and Ryan McIntosh of Intellectual Property Prints in Los Angeles are launching a run of 100% handmade fine-art screenprints. Timed to support the annual Venice Art Walk auction on May 19th, IPP will debut ten new prints by artists from all genres of contemporary art, including: Gary Baseman (subversive art), Jason Shawn Alexander (fine art), Bob Dob (pop surrealism), David Flores (vinyl toys), Daniel Edwards (sculpture), Christine Wu (fine art Illustration), Gregory Siff (street art), Eric Joyner (lowbrow), and Michael Sieben (skateboard illustration).

To see teasers of prints being produced, visit: http://instagram.com/intellectualpropertyprints#

Or check out this video of Bob Dob, whose new 3-color screenprint, "Blood Orange," made in an edition of fifty, is one of the featured IPP prints.

Man Copies Entire King James Bible by Hand

2013-05-14T04:36:20Z

Following in the footsteps of medieval scribes centuries before him, Phillip Patterson of upstate New York completed an enormous task: he copied the entirety of the Bible by hand. Patterson, 63, began the project in 2007 and spent up to 14 hours per day writing passages.

The retired interior designer completed the final words of his manuscript last weekend in front of a crowd at his local church, St. Peter's Presbyterian in Spencertown, New York. After finishing, he said "Amen." He plans to spend the next year binding his 2,400 page manuscript before he will donate it to the same church.

Patterson said that he commenced work on the project to learn more about the Bible, rather than as a spiritual exercise, but that the act of copying the Bible taught him to be more loving, confident, and patient. He began the project while living at a retirement home in 2007 where he felt most of the other residents just spent their days watching television. Curious about the Bible, and seeking a meaningful diversion he could maintain in the face of deteriorating health, Patterson started copying out the King James Bible by hand.

The multi-year project was slowed by Patterson's health, which has been compromised by AIDS since 1985. Patterson was still able, however, to log lengthy days copying passages. He often spent more than 10 hours per day with a Pigma Micron pen in hand, slowly filling blank pages with the text of one of the foundational books of Western civilization.

[Illustration of scribe from Wikipedia]

Auction Report: April & May

2013-05-12T23:58:39Z

Recent and upcoming auction doings:

- 10 April was a pretty amazing day for Christie's New York. The sale of the first part of the Collection of Arthur & Charlotte Vershbow on 10 April can only be described as spectacular. The sale realized a grand total of $15,842,145, with Goya's Tauromaquia leading the way at $1,915,750. Another Goya lot, Los Caprichos, sold for $843,750. And in their single-item sale on the same day, Christie's sold Dr. Francis Crick's "secret of life" letter to his son for an eye-popping $6,059,750.

- Bloomsbury sold Books on Horology, Science, and Medicine on 11 April; results here.

- At Swann on 11 April, Fine Books Including Incunabula and Writing Manuals, in 148 lots. The Noble Fragment Gutenberg leaf sold for $55,200, and the first edition of Audubon's Quadrupeds made $288,000. The (only?) presentation copy of Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield fetched $16,800, and early printing did especially well.

- Swann sold Printed & Manuscript Americana on 16 April. A collection of Civil War diaries and letters by two friends in a California regiment sold for $31,200, while an archive of material by natural historian William Cooper and his son James Graham Cooper made $40,800 (over estimates of just $1,500-2,500). An extreme Theodore Roosevelt rarity, a memorial volume to his wife and mother, sold for $38,400.

- Bloomsbury held a Bibliophile Sale on 18 April, in 655 lots. Results here.

- Christie's London sold Travel, Science, and Natural History items on 24 London, realizing £1,658,075. The manuscript speech by Wilbur Wright sold for £61,875, while the egg of an extinct elephant bird fetched £66,675.

- PBA Galleries sold Travel & Exploration, Cartography & Americana from the Library of Glen McLaughlin (with additions) on 25 April. Their website was having issues when I wrote this, so I don't have results information at present.

- Christie's Paris' sale of Importants Lives Anciens, Livres d'artistes et Manuscrits on 29 April brought in 2,407,762 Euros, with Hugo, Balzac and Proust manuscript lots taking top honors.

- At Sotheby's Paris on 29-30 April, the first part of the Bibliothèque des ducs de Luynes, Château de Dampierre was sold, for a total of 2,354,715 Euros. The grand folio volume with Blondel watercolors produced to mark the wedding of the dauphin in 1745 sold for 301,500 Euros, but it was a manuscript map noting action involving Lafayette during the American Revolution which took the top price, fetching 373,500 Euros (over estimates of just 60,000-80,000 Euros).

- Bloomsbury sold The Library of a Continental Gentleman: Natural History Books on 9 May, in 288 lots. Results here. A copy of Ventenat's Description des Plantes Nouvelles et peu Connues (1800-1802) sold for £13,000.

- Swann sold Art, Press & Illustrated Books, including inventory from the stock of Irving Oaklander on 9 May. See the summer Fine Books & Collection for an overview of this sale.

- Sotheby's London sells Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History on 14 May, in 219 lots. An early 18th-century illustrated manuscript of Piri Reis' Kitab-i Bahriye once in the Phillipps collection could fetch £100,000-150,000.

- At Bloomsbury on 16 May, a Bibliophile Sale, in 406 lots.

- Sotheby's London holds a sale of First Editions, Second Thoughts on 21 May. This sale includes 50 contemporary first editions, annotated by their authors, to benefit the charity English PEN. Browse the available lots here.

- On 29 May at Sotheby's Paris, Livres et Manuscrits, in 149 lots. An archive of Rousseau letters is estimated at 250,000-350,000 Euros.

- PBA Galleries sells South Sea: The Library of Richard Topel, Part II on 30 May, in 349 lots.

- Also on 30 May, Bloomsbury holds a 30th Anniversary Sale of Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper, in 424 lots.

1922 - Gatsby, Newbery and Melcher

2013-05-10T12:46:19Z

The release of a new film adaptation of Fitzgerald's classic novel has reignited a mania for all things Gatsby. And why not? The story illustrates a prosperous, glamorous, yet sometimes garish, period in American society. On Monday Rebecca wrote about a new edition of Fitzgerald's first eight short stories. Today, we look at the creation of the first award for children's literature, which was the same year in which Fitzgerald set The Great Gatbsy.

While Fitzgerald described the cosmopolitan world of flapper culture set to decadent jazz music, American publisher and renowned admirer of children's books Frederic Melcher commissioned the first Newbery Medal. Melcher named the award after the eighteenth-century British bookseller and printer Jon Newbery because he is regarded as the first dedicated printer and publisher of children's literature.

Newbery felt that making beautiful and accessible books for children was essential to their development. When he published Pretty Poems for Children Three Feet High he added the following inscription: "To all those who are good this book is dedicated by their best friend."[1]

The first Newbery medal winner went to a non-fiction history book called The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright). In the 1920's this book was considered the authoritative children's resource on 5,000 years of history.

Like The Great Gatsby, the Newbery Award is a uniquely American institution, since only authors contributing to American children's literature and published in the United States by an American publisher are considered for the prize.

Source: Hazard, Paul. Books, Children & Men. (M. Mitchell, Trans.).Boston: The Horn Book Co., 1944.

OED Editor John Simpson Announces Retirement

2013-05-09T04:09:13Z

A standard reference work found on the shelves of special collections libraries and rare book dealers across the country is the massive, 20 volume Oxford English Dictionary, or the OED for short. The OED has been the gold standard of English dictionaries since the first of its volumes was published in 1888. The extraordinary scholarship of its writes and editors has produced an unparalleled reference into the history of the English language.

The longtime editor of the OED, John Simpson, announced his retirement this week, effective in October of this year. He has served as editor of the dictionary since the mid 1980s, overseeing its transition to an online publication. The first electronic version of the OED appeared in 1988 and the first online edition in 2000. Work is currently underway on the third edition of the dictionary, which thus far has been solely published online, where it is made available to paying subscribers The head of Oxford University Press said the OED is unlikely to ever appear in print. The online edition generated upwards of 2m hits per month.

Simpson gave a fascinating interview to The Independent in London about his time with the OED and his impending departure.

Here Simpson offers an interesting perspective on the historical nature of change in the English language:

"Big changes aren't happening so fast as they were in the old days. If you lived in 1000, and then looked ahead to 1500 you wouldn't understand the words and the accents that were being used then, especially with the influx of French. I don't see such cataclysmic change happening in the future. From 1750 or so, from Samuel Johnson's dictionary, things really haven't changed so much. Whereas 250 years before Johnson it was dogged by non-standardisation. In the middle ages it was a series of dialects. I'm probably slower to accept that there is a massive change on the way, because I'm aware that there has been a lot of stability over the last few centuries. I don't think a completely new form of language is going to come out of the technological changes we're seeing now. I'd be very surprised if it did."

The Spring (and Summer) of Audrey Niffenegger

2013-05-08T12:51:21Z

For artist and bestselling novelist Audrey Niffenegger--and her legion of fans and collectors (myself included)--this spring and summer is quite an exciting time. With two new books, a ballet, and a museum exhibit coming up, it might be her second wave.

The first book is a visual novella, more akin to her recent The Night Bookmobile than The Time Traveler's Wife. Raven Girl (Abrams ComicArts, May 7, $19.95) is a dreamy, dark fairy tale, obviously meant for adults. In it, an English postman falls in love with a fledgling raven from East Underwhelm, Otherworld. The strange pair conceive a child--a ravel trapped in a girl's body, who becomes so distraught that she engages the services of a plastic surgeon to give her wings.

The book itself is a pleasure to behold. The bright red binding peeks out under the gray jacket that features ornate silver lettering imposed on one of Niffenegger's eerie etchings. The endpapers show ravens in varying postures of flight, and the edges are stained with metallic black.

Raven Girl has been turned into a ballet of the same name, to be performed by the Royal Ballet in London from May 24 to June 8 (Niffenegger wrote about it for the Guardian last week). Take a leap, Odile.

The second book, Awake in the Dream World (powerHouse Books, May 14, $29.95), is, essentially, an illustrated catalogue for a mid-career retrospective that opens on June 21 at Washington, D.C.'s National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA). Printworks Gallery in Chicago, which has represented Niffenegger for thirty years, has done several group and solo shows of her work, but the NMWA exhibition is the first major museum exhibition devoted to Niffenegger. There will be 239 of her paintings, drawings, prints, and book art on display.

Like the forthcoming exhibit, the 120-page book is organized around three central themes: Adventures in Bookland for her artist's books and visual novels; States of Mind for twenty-two self-portraits; In Dreamland for her darker, fantastical artworks. An unjacketed hardcover with a striking cover (one of Niffenegger's self-portraits, Moths of the New World, 2005), the book also contains essays by Niffenegger, NMWA curator of book arts Krystyna Wasserman, and Art Institute of Chicago curator Mark Pascale. It's a stunning collection of Niffenegger's art, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in visual art and contemporary book art.

Niffenegger fans might be interested to read part of an interview I did with her in 2011 when we met in Chicago.

Images: Raven Girl, courtesy of Abrams ComicArts. Awake in the Dream World by Audrey Niffenegger, published by powerHouse Books, courtesy of powerHouse Books.

Harper Lee Sues Former Agent

2013-05-07T05:45:44Z

Harper Lee, the notoriously reclusive author of To Kill a Mockingbird, made headlines this week when she filed for suit in a Manhattan court alleging that Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee's longtime agent Eugene Winick, duped Lee into signing over the copyright to her famous novel. Lee claims that while she was living in an assisted living facility in the aftermath of a 2007 stroke, Pinkus convinced her to sign over the copyright for To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee has no memory of the event and her lawyer states that Pinkus knowingly took advantage of Lee's condition as an elderly woman with failing eyesight.

After Winick fell ill several years earlier, Pinkus began to absorb some of Winick's clients into his own agency, including Lee. Lee alleges that Pinkus arranged for the copyright transfer in order to ensure himself a longterm interest in the continual income generated from sales of To Kill a Mockingbird. While the transfer took place in 2007, the copyright has recently been restored to Lee. Although Lee has since fired Pinkus as her agent, he is apparently still receiving payment from the sales of Lee's novel.

Pinkus has thus far declined to comment on the suit.

Lee's classic novel was published in 1960 and has sold over 30 million copies around the world. She still lives in the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, where she has resided with her sister for most of her life. Lee is currently 87 years old.

First edition, first printings of To Kill a Mockingbird start in the five figure range.

[Image of Harper Lee receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Wikipedia]

Gatsby Girls

2013-05-06T12:24:26Z

F. Scott Fitzgerald's first eight short stories, originally published in The Saturday Evening Post, are out in a new edition (print or digital), complete with the original illustrations, cover art, reproductions of the Post pages, and an introduction by the Post's historian, Jeff Nilsson.

On sale May 7, Gatsby Girls is a collection of Fitzgerald's 'flapper stories,' e.g., "Myrna Meets His Family," "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," and "Popular Girl I." All were published between 1920 and 1922, before his Great Gatsby appeared in 1925.

"By the time he published The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald was already one of the best known authors in America thanks to The Saturday Evening Post," said Nilsson. "Through a span of 17 years the magazine published 68 of his short stories, and with 2.5 million subscribers, the Post brought Fitzgerald into the living rooms of Americans who might never have encountered his novels."

The new edition of Fitzgerald's early stories is a collaboration between The Saturday Evening Post, SD Entertainment, and BroadLit. With the much-anticipated film of The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, about to smash the box office, what better time to turn your gimlet eye on the stories and the art that not only preceded it but offers literary and cultural context for the novel that is considered Fitzgerald's most famous.

A Feline Fantasy Returns to Print

2013-05-03T13:58:58Z

"The Abandoned," by Paul Gallico; The New York Review of Books, $15.95, 312 pages, ages 8-12.

While trying to save a stray cat from certain death, eight-year old Peter is struck by a coal truck and thrown to the side of the road. During the resulting coma he is magically turned into a fluffy white cat. Unrecognized by Nanny, (the boy's parents are apathetic and generally uninvolved in his upbringing) he is chased from home. A fellow stray named Jennie helps Peter navigate the rough and violent London streets in this classic adventure/fantasy novel originally published in 1950.

This book is catnip to those who adore cats. Yet for those who may not be of the feline persuasion, it's a worthy read nonetheless. It's easy to see why J.K. Rowling is a fan of Gallico's skill at intertwining magic with reality, and some sections of the book recall scenes from the various Harry Potter books.

The undercurrent of disappointment and unhappiness makes this a captivating story for adolescent readers as well as older readers looking for a whimsical tale filled with exploits and bravery. The Abandoned also chronicles the daily struggle of a city stray, from participating in catfights to finding cozy spots to spend the night.

Last published in the United States in 1991, The Abandoned is now being republished by the New York Review of Books. According to Bookfinder.com, this work has been one of the most sought-after out of print titles in the United States for the past three years. This edition is bound in striking red cloth and the cover is graced with a beautiful Palmer Brown watercolor of two cats sitting in a shipyard.

In addition to writing children's books, Gallico (1897-1976) was a sport's columnist for the New York Daily News and short story writer. Some of his works were adapted to film, most notably The Poseidon Adventure in 1972.

photo credit Carl van Vechten

Spare Rib Resumes Publication

2013-05-02T05:30:37Z

One of the defining voices of the "second wave" of feminism was the radical magazine Spare Rib. The British publication was an offshoot of the feminist movement of the late 1960s. It began publication in 1972, under the leadership of Rosie Boycott and Marsha Rowe, becoming a defining voice of radical feminism for the next ten years before it began to gradually fade from relevance. It ceased publication in 1993.

News surfaced earlier this week that Spare Rib is being resurrected by the noted British journalist Charlotte Raven. Initially, Raven intends the new Spare Rib to be an online-only publication, but she has hopes of returning it to print in the future.

During its heyday, Spare Rib invited controversy with its radical content which sought to "investigate and present alternative gender roles for women for virgin, wife, or mother." The British paper agent chain, WH Smith, refused to stock copies. The magazine still managed to sell approximately 20,000 copies per month, an impressive number for a collectively run magazine with an underground ethic.

Today, original issues of Spare Rib are sought by collectors for their bold covers in addition to their content. The magazine purposefully subverted the glossy covers of women's magazines of the day, favoring a look that resembled the vibrant underground press scene of the 1960s. It will be interesting to see if the re-vamped Spare Rib will follow a similar aesthetic.

Literary Cleveland, in Pictures

2013-05-01T12:05:56Z

Nick Basbanes recently took a trip to Cleveland, Ohio, for which he wrote a column in our current issue. He visited two of the city's premiere booksellers, Paul L. Csank, owner of Peter Keisogloff Rare Books, Inc., and John T. Zubal, founder in 1961 of Zubal Books, while in town. Here's what he saw.

John T. Zubal, founder of Zubal Books, a sprawling operation on the west side of the city that specializes in used and antiquarian titles and occupies close to 200,000 square feet of space in several industrial buildings.

Some of the 14,000 wooden pear boxes used for shelving in Zubal Books.

Nick writes, "While their business has moved decidedly to the Internet ... there remain some charming throwbacks to the good old days, most notably the vintage wooden fruit boxes that John Zubal bought by the hundreds to use as stacked shelving."

A 100,000-square-foot building formerly used by Hostess bakeries to make Twinkies is now filled with secondhand books.

Paul Csank, owner of Peter Keisogloff Inc., with a recent arrival.

This had just arrived at Peter Keisogloff Inc. during Nick's visit: a fifteenth-century liturgical manuscript on vellum from Italy known as an antiphonary, a large folio bound spectacularly in contemporary brown morocco, with large brass bosses and hinges on the cover and spine.

A very pretty binding -- from the stock at Peter Keisogloff, Inc. "I am especially partial to the book beautiful," Paul told Nick.

Lambeth Palace Recovers Stolen Rare Books

2013-04-30T04:15:43Z

In 1975, the librarian at Lambeth Palace (the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury) noticed there were gaps in the library's holdings. He concluded that roughly 60 volumes were missing, including an early edition of Shakespeare, and several important works related to exploration and discovery such as Bry's America. The theft was reported to the police, who investigated the trail, but came up empty-handed. Nothing more was heard about the case for nearly 40 years.

Then, in February of 2011, the books were discovered hidden away in a London attic. The thief, who had just passed away, left a full confession with his solicitor and included directions to the attic where he hid the books. In effect, the thief willed the stolen books back to the library. When investigators entered the attic, however, they found many more books than the 60 originally thought missing. In the end, the final number of stolen volumes was closer to 1,400.

The library revealed the news to the British press on Monday, after having spent the past two years conducting restoration work on the books. Many of them were damaged by the thief, who had attempted to remove ownership markings. Despite his efforts to obscure the provenance of the books, the thief does not appear to have sold any of them.

While details of the theft remain unclear, it appears the thief had some sort of connection with the library at Lambeth Palace.

Sea Monsters and Old Maps

2013-04-29T12:27:28Z

There are few things quite so charming as the images of sea monsters that turn up on old maps -- personal favorite: the map of Iceland surrounded by sea monsters done by Abraham Ortelius in 1585. What's charming to me, however, was terrifying to sailors for centuries.

Now those sea monsters are getting some deserved scholarly attention, thanks to Chet Van Duzer, an invited research scholar at the John Carter Brown Library and soon-to-be research curator in the geography & maps division at the Library of Congress. His new book, Sea Monsters on Medieval and Renaissance Maps (British Library/U. of Chicago Press, $35), is illustrated with 147 color images. Van Duzer analyzes the most important examples of this decorative cartography from the tenth century to the end of the sixteenth, examining each mapmaker's sources and influences.

Van Duzer is also the co-author of last year's Seeing the World Anew: The Radical Vision of Martin Waldseemüller's 1507 & 1516 World Maps.