Lux Mentis, Lux Orbis... rare books, random thoughts http://www.luxmentis.com/blog An evolving experiment in blogging about rare books, fine books and fun books, book collecting, book buying and bibliomania...and random musings on [mostly] related subjects... Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:52:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 What a great book fair: sales, interesting humans, and debauchery, oh my! http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2531 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2531#comments Mon, 18 Feb 2013 08:52:29 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2531 [...]]]> Well, just finished packing out from a great fair in SanFran. Found a few good things to buy…sold some interesting things. Notably I sold the biggest thing in the book (Mazur’s Inferno) *and* it was carried away! This last bit was *huge* as I had picked up a number of additional things at CODEX and the missing Mazur made a huge difference while packing.

Staying with Suzanne’s classmate was great fun…nice visit for a few day and then they left for the weekend, so I’ve the run of this lovely apartment all to myself. As bookfair lodging goes, it would be hard to beat…

I wrapped up the fair in a reasonably surreal discussion/theatre of the absurd performance art piece with My New Best Friend. I spent the final hour of the fair discussing debauched books, printing, and alternative uses for Amazing Tape (or, really, the original uses for AT…). It was a book fair discussing against which future such discussions will be measured and fall short…

Morning flight from SFO to Boston…then home. More to follow….
Ate breakfast while watching a big truck eat the road...quite remarkable to watch... Can not get over how shockingly sexy this edition of My Pretty Pony is. So. Very. Sexy. The. Worst. Thing. I. Have. Ever. Seen. Truly, my bar is pretty damn low (or high, depending), and this is just in a league of its own. I'm seriously thinking about doing a letterpress edition... Touch of food porn. Dinner at Prospect with Mark, Cass, and Melissa. Dinner was great... but the presentation of the chocolate desert was pretty nice (and the bourbon icecream was outstanding. Mark warming the fan club... Best. New. Client. Ever. Have to love an engaged booklover interested in alternative uses for what the book world calls Amazing Tape. I may have a new best friend . Until next year, SanFran.

]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2531 0 Of finishing up, setting up, and opening…all while being blanked. http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2514 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2514#comments Sat, 16 Feb 2013 06:18:53 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2514 [...]]]> I managed to get another dozen or so new slips printed this morning (just finished cataloguing new books last night) before heading over to The Concourse for the far. Did a bit of cruising books, but even so, finished at a respecatbel 130ish…so had plenty of time to get ready and prep for the afternoon opening. Opening was nice…steady flow. Lots of interested people. Even sold some big books. All in all, not a bad day.

Pleased the day turned out as it did, as I was being blanked all day for not showing up at the K is for Kegger party at the Bookseller Real World house. On one hand, I feel sorry that I missed it (again)…on the other: 1) I have missed it each prior year for various reasons…there is an argument that there is a tradition to respect; 2) I had dinner less than 2 blocks from my place (and with an intervening crepe place on the way)…that is, the idea of moving blocks and blocks *away* from my place when my bed (and work) was so close seemed…er…unwise; 3) it seemed likely that it would be a late night and I was very fearful it would have a bad effect on my ability to get work done and/or get things done in the morn (as I heard people were still there and happy until 4am or so suggests I made the best choice. I am, however, very sorry that I let down people almost undoubtedly put out if I came upon them on fire…I will accept my blanking with dignity.

Walked by the Blackstone building...apparently they hate skateboarders, as the building is surrounded by very grindable granite benches and edging...all of it embedded with thick aluminum fins. meh IMG_9150 IMG_9151 IMG_9152 IMG_9153 IMG_9154 IMG_9155 IMG_9156 IMG_9157 IMG_9159 IMG_9160 IMG_9161 IMG_9167 IMG_9169 ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2514 0 SanFran Setup for the ABAA book fair. Chaos! http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2501 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2501#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 06:44:10 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2501 [...]]]> The pictures tell the story. Setup started at noon. I managed to actually go eat lunch, I was feeling so cool and collected. The booth is about 2/3 done. We have from 9am until 3pm to finish (and to cruise the hall). Looking forward to tomorrow. Many action shots promised… [It appears I have managed to 'miss' the K is for Kegger party...I had every intent to go...but after dinner and thinking of books I needed to catalogue and slips that needed printing at Fed Ex tomorrow...I just decided to continue my multi-year failure to attend....]

IMG_9127 IMG_9128 IMG_9129 IMG_9132 IMG_9135 IMG_9137 IMG_9139 IMG_9140 IMG_9143 ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2501 0 CODEX wrap up and dinner…Big Show Twitches http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2492 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2492#comments Thu, 14 Feb 2013 09:18:10 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2492 [...]]]> The hall where CODEX was held used to be a Ford plant...it was also where Rosie the Riveter worked... Pleased I remembered to bring an empty case...brought back a dozen or so new books... Wrapping up for another two years. Much packing in action. What a great event. Felice managing to get Booklyn's huge pile of books into a small handful of cases. Miracle. Also: there is a certain Assumption of Risk element to photographing Felice while she packs. Mark went and took a nap before dinner...and thus missed Felice and my discovery of the Coffee House of Bondage. Sam, Fred, Rick, and Cristina....we definitely had the Naughty Kids Table. Sam's lovely partner, Victoria, very nice German whose name I have lost, and Antje.

Spent the day at the CODEX fair firming up new arrangements and looking at still more new books. Ride home notable as Mark Dimunation spent some of it belting out Jefferson Airplane’s, Volunteers for America. On a completely unrelated note, more people than one might think knew all the words to Circle Jerks, World Up My Ass, at the Gala Banquet and we did a pretty good rendition… Long day…and have much cataloguing to do as set up for the SanFran fair is tomorrow and I suddenly have another dozen

]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2492 0 Codex Day Two: Great Speakers…stunning books. http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2483 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2483#comments Wed, 13 Feb 2013 07:42:17 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2483 [...]]]> The morning sessions flew by with presentations by Russell Maret, Mark Dimunation and Veronika Schaepers. These presentations were streamed and if/when they are posted at CODEX, I’ll link to them as all are well worth watching (and/or rewatching). After a quick round of dim sum (a lot of dim sum) with Mark, Cristina, and Felice, we were back in the trenches at the book fair (thank you, again, Felice for driving us all). I have now spent about 12 hours looking at books steadily and feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Another 6 hours tomorrow…

180 book artists/printers/dealers. Wow. Just kinda wonderful... Gunnar Kaldewey...I had a great long chat with Gunnar today (bonus: I learned a lot about the Kaldewey 6 I have (and that it is much more uncommon than I thought, as a large bit of the run were lost). Labor/Movement by Amy Borezo. Brutally smart and well executed. Expecting great(er) things from this one...the force is strong... Peter Koch his very self...with a favorite of his, Ur-Text Volume 3. Seriously love this book... David Esslemont was so pleased an Englishman won a chili cookoff that he did a book embodying the recipe in 39 woodcuts. It. Is. wonderful. A bonus of David's book: the colophon is so bloody cool, it's chil(i) ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2483 0 CODEX: Day One. [or] There are Fine Press/Artist Book Fairs…and then there is CODEX. http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2469 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2469#comments Tue, 12 Feb 2013 05:59:54 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2469 [...]]]> Exhausted after a remarkable day of extraordinary books (to be fair, also still recovering from last weekend’s book fair). The morning Symposium was (overall) very very good. I had some very good dim sum for lunch and then headed over to the big hall to visit each and every one of the 180 fine press/artist book printers in the venue…I failed miserably. It’s a very good thing that I have two more days to finish working through this room. Quick images below…some detailed thoughts in the near future (when my brain is working).

I always like this spot... Tim Barrett speaking, image of Peter and Donna Thomas. Great shot in so many ways... Sandro Berra on the stage speaking of the love of hot lead... Great bit of prose... 180 booths in one great huge (over sunny) room. Wow. Just...seriously...wow. LOLOL Strips of paper woven into bra and panties...letterpress printed with slang/derogatory terms for women and their various bits... Brilliant retelling of Harlot's Progress through the use of 'Trade Cards'. You've no idea how much I love this... ...final line of text only legible when you lift the coiled snake from the page and read it in his reflection...nice execution. ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2469 0 Second day of the Santa Monica show, pack out, fly to SanFran…argh. http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2463 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2463#comments Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:14:09 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2463 [...]]]> Today was strange at the fair. Very slow, overall…but saved by the children! I had three great conversations with three young kids (two girls 8 and 11 and a boy 10). All three were hyper engaged with books and reading, asked great questions, and absolutely made my day (and, as a bonus, they actually bought, too). I managed to pack everything up in record time (2 hours) and grabbed and Uber to the airport. Interesting conversation with an Irishman abord the plan (arguably the most interesting bookish convo of the last couple of days). Safely ensconced in a lovely place in SanFran. Going to bed now…early BART to the Codex Symposium. Posts/twitter/tumblr to follow. Should have has some shuffleboard kit and/or lawn darts... Loved coming out of baggage claim to a scrum of Uber cars... Lovely view from my place for the next 8 nights. Like these guys a lot already...then found this cache of books waiting. Outstanding.

]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2463 0 Santa Monica Book Fair: Day One [Bonus Portland, ME snow images] http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2449 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2449#comments Sun, 10 Feb 2013 07:48:21 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2449 [...]]]> Very brief. Nice day. Long. A good, steady traffic and some very engaged humans. Saw a fair number of old friends and a few new ones…and met a number of interesting humans. Saw some good/interesting things and picked up a handful. Nothing truly amazing…but hope springs eternal. Packing now as I leave for the airport as soon as I’m done packing up after the show tomorrow. Flying up to SanFran and then CODEX bright and early Monday morning. More to follow…

BONUS: While I’m here in sunny SoCal, my wife is home shoveling/blowing snow. I offer for your amusement and edification: Front steps/bay windows. Front steps...there are six granite steps somewhere under there... Windswept roof... Back from above...the lump between the two back steps is our snowblower...with a drift higher than its handles in front of it. Back again, the snowblower is hidden behind the five foot drift. The arches in the background is the top of our basement windows (about 4 feet off the ground) Suz working to get the snowblower free while I talk about books is sunny CA. Neighbors car...hahaha Sidewalk in front of our house...wow. Freeing a path down our block of rowhouses...snow just below the top of the ejector chute... With light snow, it is amazing what wind can do...alley is nearly clear in some spots...and 5-6 feet deep in others. The alley behind our block. Yikes. Just yikes.

]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2449 0 Set-up in Santa Monica: Too many books, not enough space. http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2430 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2430#comments Sat, 09 Feb 2013 07:52:51 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2430 [...]]]> I planned by packing around the 15 foot booth that will be waiting at the SanFran ABAA Book Fair (passes still available, let me know if you need one). This presented an interesting problem as I attempted to get said same volume of books into a 10 foot booth with significantly less display cases, etc… Yes, yes, I could have left some items in cases…but what is the fun in that. In the end, it came out looking reasonably good…this despite an hour or so of minor panic during mid-afternoon when I was quite convinced it would not work at all. Not much to say about the process–shoehorning was the word of the day. Enjoy the images:

The cases arrive...slight delay allowed me to actually finish setting up the miniatures (which I tend to leave for last) before anything else was there. All the cases (2 coffin and 4 medium) are unpacked. It dawns on me that I have too many books for the space. Ah, well. The wall space allowed me (for the first time) to display Michael Kuch's Waterlines in its full glory (a set of full page woodcuts that form a single image). This give a sense of the overall look and feel. Not too shabby. Right side of the trophy: highlights include major work by Maret, Baskin, and Buchta. Also shown is perhaps the most 'important' collection I've had, both copies of the work of Juan Latino, the first sub Saharan African to publish poetry in a romance language (mid 1500's). High points here include a wonderful work that explores the loss of the Titanic through the lives of the two job printers aboard ship, important work by John Sienna, "Look at this Skin" (bound in visera and printed in bile and spinal cord fluid, etc); and Tom Huck's wonderful(ly debauched) Hillbilly Kama Sutra. Koch, Tina Howe's Swimming, Goodale, etc... King and Kruger's My Pretty Pony. Best copy I've ever seen. Sandlin's Slumburbia and the brilliant Occuprint portfolio. Miniatures, 660 jazz-age nudes, Einstein, 1720s mss math journal, and CUBA. Oh my. Mostly Sex, Death, and the Devil...with a bit of fine press and other shiny bits... Mazur's Inferno, Locke, Kuch (Disasters of Love, Waterlines, etc), Ascensius' Consider the Lobster, Russel Means' Great Mystery, etc... kuchclose Your House is Mine (brilliant), Mazur, et al Wonderful collection of J. Willie material (Gwendoline, original bondage images (of his wife), and a watercolor, very important as he burned most of his archive), a bit of early science, travel, and printing. Bonus: a wonderfully grangerized copy of Cavaliers and Roundheads. All in all, it cleaned up pretty... ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2430 0 Three fairs, two weekends, chaos reigns supreme… http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2421 http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2421#comments Fri, 08 Feb 2013 09:23:43 +0000 LuxMentis http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?p=2421 [...]]]> I am safely ensconced in sunny southern California (leaving poor Suzanne in Maine with a storm coming that is threatening 24 or more inches of snow…for this I shall no doubt pay). Flew Virgin America (far and away the best way to cross the country). Landed safely and let Uber shoot me from LAX to Santa Monica (I truly love Uber, especially in SF and LA (not good cab cities, otherwise)). I used airbnb to find places to stay in Santa Monica and SanFran. Thus far, I’m wildly pleased with it. For far less than area hotels, I’m in a lovely one bedroom ‘beach cottage’, effectively on the beach and 2 blocks to the hall (and my place in SanFran is owned by a classmate of Suzanne’s…the “social filter” on airbnb is *really* very cool). No doubt there is a bit more of a dice roll…but thus far, I could not be more pleased with the results.

As an added bonus, Cha Cha Chicken is just around the corner. Beach front lodging, great (cheap) Caribbean food nearby, and a book fair. Shaping up to be a great weekend. Have been relatively productive thus far. Deleted nearly 10K emails on the flight, had some good meetings, visited with one of my most favorite humans. Tomorrow is Set Up Day (more interesting images tomorrow. Fingers crossed for the show…

Waving to Darcy over a state I'll probably never visit... Lovely place, on the beach, with a fireplace (and wine). Quite pleased with airbnb, indeed... Jerk chicken, fried plantains, dirty rice and beans...loving ChaChaChicken Like pho places, good Caribbean food seems to need a touch of dive for greatness... Out the front door is this. I really could not have asked for a better location. ChaChaChicken is BYOB and BYOCass. Did well in both regards. Cassandra and I finished up at Catch for dessert...chocolate and espresso tart with salted carmel sauce and a rhubarb creme brûlée. ]]> http://www.luxmentis.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=2421 0