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Stage Three of my epic fall journey began as soon as I arrived back in Portland. Having survived, barely, the Seattle to Maryland trip, I spent a few days doing things in the MD area and visiting my in-laws. Fun was had by all. We left on Thursday, arriving back in Portland at about 430pm or so.Lucretia picked us up at the airport and brought us to the house where we unloaded, I gazed longingly at my bed while repacking and then we (just LB and I, The Suz had conflicting obligations) were off to the Northampton area for the weekend.
The principle reason for the journey is the annual
MARIAB book fair in Northampton. That said, it was the invitation to attend the opening of
The Clark exhibit of "Raven and Crow" (Manet/Poe & Baskin/Hughes) and stay with Lisa and Lucretia that forced me to forgo my own bed (and other plans) for another weekend away. Friday saw us spend most of the day at the Clark. It is a small and wonderful exhibit at a gem of a museum in the middle of pretty much no where [N.B. the founders of The Clark sited it (in the early 1950s) where it is found because it was the least likely to be nuked there]. We spend the late afternoon and evening at the house/shop of
Second Life Books...great conversation, great books and (later) a nice Indian dinner together.
We woke at a reasonable hour on Saturday and had a nice breakfast (Lucretia brought down some smoked salmon and I sautéed some with onion and eggs...the other highpoint being Lisa's insanely good blueberry jam). I had a tour of the print shop and studio in the morning and then we hit the road. After a quick stop at an antique shop, we visited Michael Kuch (
Double Elephant Press) in his newly build print shop. We had a very nice visit, most of which revolved around him pandering to my desire to look at his
simply exceptional work (including his newest and his next). Images of his books do not come close to doing them justice. I am really looking forward to seeing more (and seeing what he does over the next few years and decades).
We left Michael and his family (and
Hosie and several of his) to explore
Troubadour Books. TB is a general stock shop...but with genuine flair, taste, and quality. It is rather well organized, the books are in generally great condition and the subject matter is legion. I picked up interesting things from erotica to drug culture, photographic monographs to fine press missives-the crowning item, discovered after I'd already cashed out once, being a simply wonderful 1930 alphabet block print volume, each plate signed by the artist/printer. There are many great shops in the Northampton area...but do not miss Troubadour if you are out this way.
Lucretia and I came back around 6pm and spent the next two hours (before dinner) looking at several
Gehenna Press books. We then joined Lisa, Hosie,
John Waite,
Jim Arsenault, and a few others for a great dinner at
The Great Wall in Florence. We started with two Peking Ducks and went from there. I'm told that they have two menus: one that is for the unadventurous, the other for those who want more authentic fare....ask for the white menu.
We arrived back at the house around 10 or so and stayed up until about 2am looking at more books. There are so many books. So many truly great books. I want to write about the books...but I can't. I need to think about them more first. Maybe later...if I can find the context.
One thing, as an example: I absolutely love Leonard's exceptional Moko Maki. Tonight I explored a unique set of the images, each printed on vellum. Remarkable.
Book fair tomorrow. More books. A wonderful weekend emerging.
Just a quick post as I am in no condition to...well...be conscious. The final day of the fair was great. Seattle is really a pretty wonderful book town. Lots of people genuinely interested and engaged in a broad range of material. It is really a treat to be out here. The fair was well attended pretty much all day. Best of all, an ok fair (marginal/fair sales, great buying) ended strong with a very nice sale in the last half hour. The next few weeks will let us know just how good it was as those with interest percolate on things and...with luck...will call.
Packed up quickly and got everything to FedEx before they closed at 6pm. We then headed to
Dragonfish again for Sushi and Sake Sunday...food and drink specials early...and even better deals later. We spent about 4 hours there. It is probably a sign to leave when your very wonderful waitress tells you that they are out of the
pearl sake you've been drinking all evening. Luckily, they have 23 other types. It was a wonderful evening...book[wo]men are just great fun.
Back in the room now...redeye tomorrow evening. Bookshopping (and
Utilikilts) during the day.
Day two in Seattle was great. This is a great book fair town. The crowd, slow at the very start, ramped up rapidly and stayed strong and steady nearly all day. A lot of people, engage, interested, inquisitive and, on occasion, buying. If 20% of those who left saying they wanted to see if x, y or z was already on their shelves return and buy tomorrow (as I expect), this tomorrow should be interesting.
It is great to have done this fair long enough that people stop in that you remember (admittedly, this is a slow process for me) and, more importantly, remember you and seem genuinely pleased to see you again.
There is some genuinely great material in the Hall. I have decided to try to control myself...and be amused. The first book I purchased was "Photography for Perverts" (signed by the author). I think I am going to book-end the fair by buying a remarkable collection of William Black images. For some reason, this amuses me to no end. I also found a wonder fine press work titled "Notorious Ex Libris"...bookplates that should have been for the likes of Al Capone, Vlad the Impaler, John Waters and Martha Stewart. A student press project, brilliantly designed and executed.
After the show, I joined the fine folks of
Wessel and Lieberman for their annual Saturday night dinner and shop tour. Dinner was at the
Collins Pub. The margarita's were very good, dinner was very good...the entertainment was epic. The Kent had just finished regaling us with a tale of SLC man who "loved an emu to death". As we were coming to grips with the implications of this rather horrifying tale, the evening's entertainment began...a quartet of "experimental saxophone" players. They played, 5 feet from us, a long and loud, atonal work that...I am CERTAIN...was title, "The Lament of the Oversexed Emu". One, clearly bleating out its tortured tale while its three family keened in support. It was brilliant. Brian, I am so, so sorry you were not here...
We retired to W&L's shop where there was nibbles and drink waiting for us and their wonderful stock (including a great section of unpriced material that beckoned nearly all). There is no commerce to be done, by strict rule...it would be wrong to get one's friends liquored up and then set them loose in one's shop...but you can make piles to be dealt with at a later time . I found a handful of things that pleased me...my favorite being a little toad woodcut with a brilliantly hand-colored eye.
Tomorrow runs from 11 to 4. I'll then pack up and get the cases off to the shipper. Fingers crossed for a great day.
This morning, or evening if you happen to be in Europe,Herta Müller was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Müller originally published in Romanian and German however her works have been translated into several languages, including English. Most of these translations have been though small presses and now an increase in demand for her work is causing some temporary shortages in supply.
I just checked Amazon, and they appeared to be out of stock with many of her English translations but you can still find used copies from various booksellers. So I thought I would post some links for people looking for Herta Müller translations.
*edit* - I also just checked on AbeBooks.com and it seems that copies are flying off the virtual shelves there as well. If you don't want to wait for the reprints I would pick one up sooner than later.
This past Sunday was the Portland Antiquarian Book Book and Paper Fair sponsored by the Maine Antiquarian Booksellers Association. In many ways, it was a hard year. We had fewer vendors than we have had in recent years (very annoying, given that this fair is the *only* fair in Maine *and* is so inexpensive relative to other shows (a full booth costing less than a display case rental at most shows). The number of attendees was also off...for reasons that many have various opinions about and clearly an issue that we need to think hard about how to turn around.
That said, there were also some bright spots. Though the gate was not huge, we did have collectors (and dealers) coming to the show from Vermont, Massachusetts and the Bar Harbor area. More importantly, those who came, spent money. We had the best show (here in Portland) that we have had since we started doing the show 5 years ago. I heard from several others that they had a very good
show...especially given the soft turn-out and small vendor pool.
That said, I know several dealers had little or now sales, though one of those apparently bought well enough to feel good about the show in the short term. These shows, of course, should really be thought of as part of a "long game". For most of us, the "value" of any given show has a great deal more to do with advertising and becoming known among local bibliophiles. A conversation at a show may just be a pleasant diversion during the fair...but becomes something "real" 6 months (or years) later when you get a call from that same person about placing their books and/or their desire to track down new material.
It was unfortunate that so many Maine dealers choose not to do the show. One of the best elements of the show, historically, is the number of Maine dealers who do this
show and don't do others. It is one of the things that draws dealers/collectors "from away" and that makes the show so much fun (that is, seeing folks that you might not see often otherwise).
One of the shining exceptions to this miss by others was the arrival of The Maine Bookhouse at the fair for the first time. Harry and Joanna Reese allowed themselves to be cajoled into attending after only a couple of years of pestering at the very last minute. They took a single table and made the very most of it (see the last image, with Joanna hiding at the left side). They came with solid material and benefitted
greatly from Joanna's wonderful personality and passion for her books. I've been told that it was a good show for them... I'm very pleased that their first show went well.
Also doing his first book fair was Craig Olson of
Artisan Books & Bindery. Craig has recently radically increased the volume of his stock by acquiring the sadly now gone ABCD Books in Camden. He is following up the Maine book fair with the shadow show of the
Boston ABAA book fair in November. This was, of course, exactly what we did and clearly bodes of great things to come from Craig...
I, of course, spent more time setting up my booth (admittedly, a big double booth as I had a lot of history of Maine/Americana that displays best if not shelved together...the bane of the "ugly brown book"). I spent about 7 hours setting up for a 6 hour fair. Another 2 hours breaking down...it would have been 2 hours more had I not had SIX helpers (thanks to Suzanne, Eli, Kaitlyn, mom, dad, and Lucretia).
That said, the booth looked really nice (better than I,
Utilikilt not withstanding). Eli was great fun in his skull and crossed bones bow-tie and belt. I met several new clients/potential clients and spent the day (and a half) with people I really enjoy seeing. A good time.
The economy is not great, the gate was off, the number of dealers was down...but overall, it was a surprisingly good show. Here's to next year being even better.
Sorry for the slight delay in posting, but after packing up the van (and unpacking it at the house), I left early Monday for NYC and a great conference at the
Grolier Club. Back home now and reality is settling down...for a few weeks, when I leave for the
Seattle Book Fair.
William Helfand (Pres. Grolier Club)
Mark Samuels Lasner (Collector; etc.)
David Alan Richards (Collector), etc.)
William T. Buice, III (Collector, etc.)
Concluding Remarks: Terry Belanger (Founder and [recently retired] Director of the
Rare Book School).
All sessions have been outstanding, thus far. Great panels, great audience and great fun.
Mark Dimunation (Chief of Special Collections at the Library of Congress)
Lunch was at
Serafina...very nice. Street was closed off and we had to be "cleared" to go to the restaurant by heavily armed NYPD as, we were told, the Pres. of Israel was staying on the block re the UN. Fun at every turn.
David Redden: (Sotheby's) - Moderator
State of the trade. Off to a lively start thanks to David.
The annual Maine Antiquarian Book and Paper show will be held this Sunday (September 20th) at the Wyndham Hotel out near the Maine Mall. The fair runs from 9am through 3pm and features dozens of dealers from throughout Maine and beyond. Antiquarian and used books, paper, pamphlets and ephemera will be present in abundance. Come join us at Maine's *only* antiquarian book event.
Exhibitors include: Kit Barry Ephemera of Brattleboro, VT offering ephemera supplies and general ephemera; James Arsenault & Co. of Arrowsic, ME offering historical documents and Americana; Austin’s Antiquarian Books of Wilmington, VT offering Americana & Civil War; T. Brennan Bookseller of Marietta, GA offering a general line; Harland H. Eastman of Springvale, ME offering rare ephemera; Eighty One Main of Monmouth, ME offering botanical and natural sciences; Lake Androscoggin Books & Prints of Wayne, ME offering fine prints and rare first editions; Bickerstaff’s Books & Maps of Scarborough, ME offering rare old maps & prints; Lux Mentis of Portland, ME offering fine bindings, first editions, and book art; Conservation Gallery of Yarmouth, ME offering vintage newsprint and maps; Rabelais Books of Portland, ME offering books on food, wine and the arts; Mainely Paper of Owls, ME offering unique ephemera and paper antiques; Tenney River Books of Mansfield, MA offering non-fiction and general ephemera; and Mori Books of Milford, NH offering rare children’s books. These and many other select Exhibitors will be found only at this exceptional show.
We hope to see you at the fair.
This morning Wired listed the top 5 Science Fiction/Fantasy books which were written by great authors but were awful books. You can check out Wired's reasoning by clicking though but the general theme seems to be that these are the books where each author lost sight of what made their writing or their series great.
1. To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Robert Heinlein
2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
3. Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton
4. Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman
5. MasterHarper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
So have you ever come across a great author that you loved, except for that one absolute turkey of a book they wrote. Either email me (my name at bookfinder dot com) or add a comment with your thoughts. This can be any genre, and doesn't necessarily have to just be science fiction or fantasy but you have to like the author, just not this book(s).
[Now Reading: The Van by Roddy Doyle]
This morning Wired listed the top 5 Science Fiction/Fantasy books which were written by great authors but were awful books. You can check out Wired's reasoning by clicking though but the general theme seems to be that these are the books where each author lost sight of what made their writing or their series great.
1. To Sail Beyond the Sunset by Robert Heinlein
2. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
3. Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton
4. Tarnsman of Gor by John Norman
5. MasterHarper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey
So have you ever come across a great author that you loved, except for that one absolute turkey of a book they wrote. Either email me (my name at bookfinder dot com) or add a comment with your thoughts. This can be any genre, and doesn't necessarily have to just be science fiction or fantasy but you have to like the author, just not this book(s).
[Now Reading: The Van by Roddy Doyle]
Having just gotten back to the office after a week away I'm catching up on my news, so my apologies if this is old hat for you.
When the Booker Prize long list was announced the other week the usual guessing on who would win started to take place. The bookmakers all posted their odds and the punters began dropping their bets like usual. However, as the Telegraph reported last week, betting patterns have been anything but ordinary with 95% of all bets being placed on Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall.
"It's almost like an unspoken
psychic rumour has gone round that this will be Hilary Mantel's year," spokesman
Graham Sharpe said, as the odds were cut from 12/1 to make it the clear 2/1
favourite.
"We'll lose a five figure sum if
the support continues. It is as though a tip has gone around the literary world
telling everyone that Mantel is a certainty.
In the last couple years the odds on favorite has not won, however there has not been this level of interest in Booker Betting since 2002 when Yan Martel's Life of Pi was bet on as if it were a shoe in.
"Quite a lot of them (people
placing the bets) are what we would describe as literary insiders," he said.
"Nobody quite seems to know why."
But he ruled out the notion of any
foul play, saying: "It would be unusual for the judges to know who they were
picking as the eventual winner already. I would be very, very surprised if the
judges had already decided.
"It's not in the realms of crying
foul or anything like that, it may be just a case of a lot of people deciding on
the same one at the same time."
He added it was "very, very rare to
see this type of gamble" and said it was "definitely the biggest Booker gamble
since Life of Pi was backed as though defeat was out of the question a few years
ago".
William Hill's latest 2009 Man
Booker Prize for Fiction odds are:
:: 2/1 Hilary Mantel - Wolf Hall;
:: 4/1 Colm Toibin - Brooklyn;
:: 4/1 Sarah Waters - The Little
Stranger;
:: 6/1 JM Coetzee - Summertime;
:: 6/1 James Lever - Me Cheeta;
:: 10/1 AS Byatt - The Children's
Book;
:: 12/1 William Trevor - Love and
Summer;
:: 14/1 Ed O'Loughlin - Not Untrue
& Not Unkind;
:: 14/1 Simon Mawer - The Glass
Room;
:: 16/1 Adam Foulds - The
Quickening Maze,
:: 16/1 Sarah Hall - How to Paint a
Dead Man,
:: 16/1 Samantha Harvey - The
Wilderness;
:: 16/1 James Scudamore -
Heliopolis.
I'm not a betting man but if I were I would put my money down on AS Byatt, I think she's the dark horse in this race (it should be known I have failed to call every booker I have atempted). How about the rest of you Journal readers, who do you think will win this years Booker?
We were included in two "best of book blogs" lists yesterday and are flattered and honored by both.
The first was part of blog.com's ongoing program of providing internal and external "10 Best List"s. In this case, Larry Mitchell (collector, occasional dealer and special collections library) and author of the brilliant blog
The Private Library was asked to compile his
Top 10 list. Our blathering notwithstanding, it is a wonderful short list. I am pleased to say, it only added 4 that I was not already following...they have been added. Each site is described briefly so you can get a touch of flavor.
The only problem is that he was only allowed to include 10 blogs. Apparently, Larry heard about this shortcoming from a number of humans as he subsequently posted
an apology. Such lists are obviously subjective...We are very pleased to be included in Larry's best of...
[N.B. As I have said before,
The Private Library should be on everyone's blog roll...in addition to this regular and cogent posts, his navigation links provide a clearinghouse to nearly every substantive rare/used book resource available. It is the benchmark against which data-rich biblio-sites should be measured.]
OnlineSchool also included us in their "
100 Best Book Blogs for History Buffs" under the "Rare" section. They have created a much longer list, broken up into sections (e.g. Reference, Librarian, Rare, Review, etc.) and, again, most have short bios. Obviously, there is a lot of crossover, but they try reasonably hard to group things properly and the result is a good list.
It is always nice to be recognized...more so by those you respect. Enjoy the various suggestions...I'm going to have to start posting more cogent missives.
At the end of the RBMS weekend in June there was a "Farewell Reception and Dinner" for Terry Belenger, the founder and driving force behind Rare Book School. A professor at UVA and Honarary Curator of Special Collections (and 2005 MacArthur fellow), Terry is force of nature...and we are all better for it. I had only met Terry once or twice prior to taking my RBS class last week, but had heard many stories from many people...to a one with love and perhaps a touch of awe.
Many people spoke at the reception, all have known and loved Terry for years and it showed in their words. The one that struck me, however, was the last. Michael Suarez will be the new Director of Rare Book School when Terry hands over the reigns. His was one of the best such I've heard in a very long time. I emailed him to ask if I could have a copy of his speech and was told that he had no written text for them...I think you'll agree that they were not bad for extemporaneous comments. He told me that they were recorded and would be transcribed...I got a copy of the proceedings as a Keepsake. I have included his words below, because I think they are wonderful on many levels. I look forward to seeing how RBS evolves and grows during his tenure.
Please note, in honor of Terry's "retirement", RBS has created the "Directors Scholarship Fund", its goal being to raise $30,000...to date, contributions exceed $113,000. This fund will be exclusively used to fund scholarships for students who might not otherwise be able to attend. If you have not already done so, I strongly encourage you to contribute (see the link above)...if you have already given, you might consider giving again, just on principle. Also, "In Praise of Rare Book School, including the full text off all the speakers at Terry's event and a nice history of RBS, can be had at the RBS Store (you'll have to ask for it, as it does not appear to be listed online...$5/copy).
The following is the full text of Michael Suarez's comments. Enjoy.
Thank you very much indeed. I can't tell you what a privilege and pleasure it is to be here. I'm very moved by the testimonials we've all be listening to. Tonight we've heard many memories: important memories of relationships built over many years. And as I was sitting here, I was thinking about a moment a long, long time ago, when a noble king had a true humanist teacher. And Charlemangne one day asked Alcuin, "What is memory really like? To what could memory be compared? How can I as the leader of a great nation, train and understand the art of my own mind?"
Great humanist that he was, Alcuin took a deep breath and thought, and then he said to the king, "You must understand this. Memory is not like anything at all except for a great library, and everyone has this great library in his mind, in her mind. A great nation has this library even more so. And as leader of the people, you must know that even as memory is a library, so too are libraries memory. They are the precious repository of the past."
Sitting there tonight in the front row - as I was told to do! - I asked myself, to what book in the great world library might we compare this night? To what book is the great world library might we compare Rare Book School and Terry Belanger himself? It seems to me that the most appropriate book of all would be that classic by Erasmus of Rotterdam, In Praise of Folly.
Mr. Belanger, I accuse you - as many doubtless have before - of tremendous and unbridled folly. The folly of founding the Book Arts Press. The folly of starting Rare Book School. The folly, after being crushed by an uncomprehending administration, of starting everything all over again. The folly of collecting 200 lithographic stones and copper plates. The folly of sending out those Valentines! What are they for? Can someone explain? The folly of producing the biggest library address book in the entire world. The folly of evening after evening "Terrorizing!"
Terry Belenger: I accuse you - and I praise you for your folly. You are a fool for books. You are a fool for libraries. You are a fool for collectors and collecting. Terry Belenger is a fool for the enterprise that has been his life. But much more, more than all this, the man who sits before you is a fool for you.
I am a poetry teacher, and I love to teach my students figurae verborum, the classic figures of rhetoric. And when I get to the figure of oxymoron, I explain by saying, "Well, come on, you know, jumbo shrimp! military intelligence! humble Jesuit!"
Yet, I stand before you this evening deeply honored and deeply, deeply humbled to receive this great commission - to carry on, to deepen, and to extend the work of the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia, that has already been so supportive and so generous.
Ladies and gentlemen, the wisdom of the wise is pure folly, but the foolishness of the foolish man turns out to be true wisdom and grace.
Suzanne and I are packed and more or less ready to leave tomorrow morning for Rare Book School (not counting the myriad of minor loose ends). We should be able to load up the van and be on the road in the early AM tomorrow with a destination of Washington, DC (to spend the night with a friend of Suzanne's). We will leave early Sunday to spend the day at Poplar Forest (Jefferson's second home) before return to C'ville for a Sunday afternoon/evening gathering of the RBS attendees.
I will be taking
Book Illustration Processes to 1900 with Terry Belanger.
The identification of illustration processes and techniques, including (but not only) woodcut, etching, engraving, stipple, aquatint, mezzotint, lithography, wood engraving, steel engraving, process line and halftone relief, collotype, photogravure, and color printing. The course will be taught almost entirely from the extensive Rare Book School files of examples of illustration processes.
Suzanne will be taking
The History of the Book in America with Michael Winship
A survey of the role of the book in American society and culture from colonial times to the second half of the c20. The course will first examine the early trans-Atlantic trade in books, the beginning and early years of local American book production, and the place of books in colonial American life. The focus will then shift to the establishment of a national book trade in an expanding United States during the industrial era. Topics to be investigated include the industrialization and mechanization of book production, methods of bookselling and distribution, and the rise of authorship in the United States. Finally, c20 developments will be discussed, including the introduction of book clubs as well as mass and trade paperbacks, the role of literary agents, the rise of the best seller, and the purchase of trade publishing houses by multi-national conglomerates.
Needless to say, we are both extremely excited and I may not sleep at all tonight. I'm going to go reread sections of Gascoigne.
The Private Library has a great post up on Foxing. Good read for all who deal with it or wonder what it might be...
More broadly, I'll use this as another opportunity to encourage your active following of Private Library. It is, far and away, the best blog about on and about collecting and collections. In addition to great posts, his collection of bibliophilic links sets the bar against which all others should be measured... Enjoy.
These thieves are apparently not even bothering to be sneaky (or careful)...just ripping out the textblocks and leaving the debris in dark corners of the library. Annoyed by title, as they are not really vandals, they are thieves. I wager you can (or could have) found the stolen plates on ebay. I wonder how many loose plates sold on ebay are *not* stolen...very few these days, I wager.
The Independent has just posted a list of the 10 "Best Bookshops in the World. There is a brief description of each (all not, not antiquarian). It is quite a list and I must admit to having only set foot in two. All are now added to my "future places to travel" list.
This is E. A. Poe's, The Raven as a word cloud via Wordle. I am not certain how utilitarian it is, but it makes really pretty pictures from text. Very cool.
A remarkable collection of incunabula is being digitized and coming online from Cambridge University Library.
Very few records of the Library's 4,650 treasures are currently in its online catalogue, which means that they are often invisible to scholars and students - both in Cambridge and around the world.
It is told that their copy of the Gutenberg Bible arrived on morning in 1930 when a man stepped out of a taxi and told the library he had a bible he would like to give them...
Can't wait to see the results of this project.
the Kama Sutra. It appears Wired broke the story about this inexplicable denial. The app, Eucalyptus, was created by Project Gutenberg and therein rest the "problem". The app does not come with any books, you search PG's database and download whatever you want to read.
Among PG's vast db of public domain books is the Kama Sutra, and Apple claims this work, first compiled in the second century CE contains "inappropriate sexual content" [N.B. I assume the PG version is the 1883 "Burton" edition and not the recent 2002 "scholarly translation"].
The interesting issue here is that Apple is precluding it NOT for something "in it", but something obtainable *through* it. Doesn't this mean that Google and all other "search-y" apps need to be blocked as they can "
find" dirty text and pictures??? It appears that PG has coded a filter to protect iPhone users from the Kama Sutra and hopes to get the app approved....at least those who don't know how to use Google...or Safari. Oh, wait....hmmm. [Thnx to
@ncacensorship]
"Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us."�Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas," The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports, vol. 7, no. 1 (Jan. 1953): p. 20.
There has been an annoying spat of censorship events at various schools recently. The most recent was twitted about by He With His Finger On The Pulse Of All Things Biblio, M. Lieberman of BookPatrol. The story revolves around a teen poetry anthology (POETRY...being read by TEENS. Holy crap) called Paint Me Like I Am:Paint Me Like I Am is a collection of poems by teens who have taken part in writing programs run by a national nonprofit organization called WritersCorps. To read the words of these young people is to hear the diverse voices of teenagers everywhere.
Unfortunately, "[t]o read the words of these young people" has apparently offended ONE mother of a teen who complained of the Superintendent of the Vineland, NJ school her son attends. Sup. Charles Ottinger read the offending poem and said "in no way, shape or form" should the book be allowed on school shelves. The principle did an interesting, though also egregious, thing in that rather than complying with the Super's order to pull the book, he TORE OUT THE TWO PAGES that contained the offending poem so the rest of the book could be shelved for student use. [Side note, while I appreciate the Solomonetic approach of splitting the proverbial book...tearing pages out is a rather lame solution. You are *still* censoring the book *AND* you have mutilated the book itself.] The poem, which I have tragically failed to find in full online, is apparently laden with "bad words" and written from the point of view of a drunken abusive step-father...arguably not a "happy, shiny people" piece.
I am tired of the Lowest Common Denominator being allowed to define and direct our schools and libraries (and government, but that is another rant). One person complains about a given book [or books] and FAR too many schools/libraries are willing to just roll over and pull the material. Sometimes it is because the administrator is of an equally small mind but more often than not, I wager, it is because it is just not seen as a fight worth having. I suggest that it is a fight worth having...to fail in this fight is to guarantee the ascendance of mediocrity and the rule of the narrowest mind.
Children do not need to be protected from challenging material, they need *context*. They do not need to be told they are not able/old enough/mature enough to read certain things, they need the intellectual guidance to *understand* the material as written. To refuse the exposure doesn't "protect" a child, it denies from the child a necessary skillset for adult life...the ability to read, absorb, contemplate and embody challenging ideas...in all their forms.
A virus analogy is quite apt. It is well established that our over-use of certain antibiotics in children has lead to not only to the evolution of drug-resistant bugs but, far more dangerous, the impairment of kids/young adults immune systems to be able to fight common bugs. Kids *need* to get sick...because it is by exposure/illness that the body builds antibodies to fight future infections. We make kids *more* susceptible to *serious* illness by denying them the ability to get sick now and again and, thereby, allowing them to build up antibodies.
Reading...the exposure to the ideas embodied in books...works on the mind in much the same way. The more you read, the greater your ability to comprehend complex/difficult/challenging material in all forms. Context is the critical variable...obviously there is a burden put upon parents (and teacher, etc) to help kids understand the things they read, *especially* when that material upsets or troubles them. But is is through that process of getting upset and resolving those feelings that a child *learns*. Denying children challenging material is simply to deny them the ability to learn.
Children are not infants. They do not need to be protected from the likes of the Brothers Grimm; the racism of Huckleberry Finn or the violence of Lord of the Flies or the language in Of Mice and Men. They need context. They need to be able to read these things and talk about them...with parents, teachers and peers. They embody the things they read and it makes them stronger...and smarter...and able to process bigger, more complex challenges down the road.
Treating kids like they need to be protected from any thought or idea that might challenge/offend/frighten them serves *no* purpose but to impair their ability to rationally analyze the data that bombards them every day. Dumbing down our books and, worse, dumbing down our libraries does nothing but dumb down our children. They deserve better. They *need* better.
At a time when the world is becoming more complex and arguably more dangerous, there are far too many people doing all they can to impair the next generation's ability to analyze and rationalize. Dogmatically held positions are held sacrosanct and those that dare challenge them with logical analysis are dismissed as "elitist". We need kids to read more...to be exposed to more...to build up the intellectual capacity to combat the myopic worldview that is becoming far too prevalent.
There is no such thing as a moral book or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.
Two of my favorite bibli-bloggers have posted on the recent USF sale of material from their collection. PhiloBiblos and BookPatrol have written well crafted articles on the issues, with notable differences...both should be read.
I've nothing to add as to facts and the over-arching issues. Personally, I think such sales are likely to be short-sighted solutions to much deeper issues and are unlikely to serve a useful long-term goals. That said, such efforts can certainly raise considerable sums and one has to think that such efforts are not pursued lightly. But then, broader issues sometimes fall to the wayside.
The most famous of these revolves around the Bodeian's First Folio. It entered the library in 1623 and was sold to a local Oxford bookseller in 1663-4 as part of a small collection of "superfluous library books sold by order of the Curators" for £24. "Superfluous" because the Bodleian had purchased a Second Folio, thought to be "better" and thus, the first was just taking up space. Sir. W. Osler spearheaded the campaign around the turn of the 20th century, to bring the Bodleian's copy back to the library (to the tune of approx. £3000).
I am not certain there *is* a right answer. There are a variety of issues in play and the balance can very greatly. In the end, it is hard to argue that having things come back to the market...to enter private collections and/or other special collections...is not good for the book trade as a whole. The next several months should be interesting....
There is an outstanding new reference/resource blog for bibliophiles: The Private Library. The site's owner is a longtime collector ("overly enthusiastic book collector"), a sometime antiquarian bookseller and a professional librarian (with a MLS w/ a Specialization in Rare Books & Manuscripts)...that is, he is a high-order book geek, to our great benefit.
His posts are well written, cogent, reasonably frequent and genuinely useful (as opposed to my random and often off-topic rants). He posts, as the title implies, on various aspects of the private library...all sorts, all levels and all nuances. As one who spends most of my time in and around collection development projects, it is a great treat to find.
Best of all, however, are the resources he has pulled together. At either side you will find:
GLOSSARIES OF GENERAL BOOK TERMS
GLOSSARIES OF SPECIALIZED BOOK TERMS
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
BOOKISH ORGANIZATIONS
BOOKISH PODCASTS & WEBCASTS
BOOKISH BLOGROLL
STATE CENTERS FOR THE BOOK
It is, far and away, one of the best reference sites I know of and has leapt to the top of my "Hit Every Day" blogs. Enjoy.
Biblio-folk are showing up in interesting places these days. I joined Facebook a long time ago...and largely ignored it until relatively recently. Over the past several months, however, there has been a tremendous surge in book people (dealers/collectors/etc) who seem to be coming out of the woodwork. The ABAA now has a FB Page (as does Lux Mentis), ready for "Fans" to join and follow, as does Fine Books & Collections. The Rare Book School's Page has nearly 450 Fans... There are also many...many...many groups that are biblio-theme, from collecting to author-specific to elements of the craft.
When I started poking about FB, there were *very* few book dealers who had accounts, now there are literally too many count. Some are active, some on personally, others professionally and some just lurk...but there are a remarkable number of the biblio-crowd on FB and more joining every day. It is rapidly becoming a vibrant network to keep your pulse on the doings of the trade, hobby and/or obsession.
Linked-In is another site
I've been for a very long time...more actively when I did more consulting work, but I kept my profile active and periodically checked on bookish elements there. Recently, in addition to a number of "serious" dealers beginning to be found there, more than one "
book group" has formed (admittedly, one by me).
Last for today, and certainly not least, is
Twitter. I am
quite fond of it, as it updates nicely from my iPhone and auto-updates my FB page, killing two feeds with one, so to speak. A considerable number of people are beginning to use it in interesting ways. Publishers are using it
around news,
booksellers are carefully using it for traffic and sales (a tricky issue, as there is a general "anti-commercial" use sentiment...but very effective in good hands,
as here). Personally, I find I tend to post biblio-related missives with a bit of news and a bit of "things that amuse/annoy me"....and I tend to most enjoy those who do the
same.
There are beginning to be some good focus-centers for books Twitterers. WeFollow has a well developed "
Bookseller" tag (we can be found on
page two). There is also a "
BookCollecting" tag that I am experimenting with...
Potentially more useful (and still "emerging") is Twibes, where tweets that share common words can be grouped for easy review. See:
Books,
BookCollecting,
BookDealers and/or
Librarians (the last very active, with over 700 members).
This, in addition to the various blogs that are out there...many feeding each other. One of the nice things, frankly, with FB is that many/most of the best book blogs are either mirrored there or are part of
NetworkedBlogs there, streamlining one's reading/following (though not, at this point, entirely replacing a good RSS reading).
There is a tremendous abundance of bookish news, personal and professional. Enjoy the data-stream...
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Stage Three of my epic fall journey began as soon as I arrived back in Portland. Having survived, barely, the Seattle to Maryland trip, I spent a few days doing things in the MD area and visiting my in-laws. Fun was had by all. We left on Thursday, arriving back in Portland at about 430pm or so.Lucretia picked us up at the airport and brought us to the house where we unloaded, I gazed longingly at my bed while repacking and then we (just LB and I, The Suz had conflicting obligations) were off to the Northampton area for the weekend.
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Thank you so much for posting this. His words moved me to tears when he spoke them and have been haunting me ever since....
Jesse