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It sounds like this is the final week for Borders stores to be open. I happened to find this tiny label last week amongst some books for another project I’ll talk about more soon. It was used to cover the printed price on the back of a trade paperback– I imagine they were used inside dust jackets as well at that time– my book was from 1992 (iirc). Really a tasteful solution to keep people from price clipping dustjackets or gouging off prices off the rear cover of a paperback. Now in my collection of book trade labels, though a little different. I like it. Anyone ever seen different varieties? Anyone seen a price-cover-up sticker/ label from another bookshop?

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I’m excited. I got my letter today from Humanities Montana officially inviting me to participate in the Montana Festival of the Book in October. It seems they’ve never had much from collectors, the people who celebrate books as objects, but more on texts, from the writer’s and reader’s perspectives. They’ve requested a Book Collecting 101 session/ workshop. More details to follow as we get a little closer to the conference and they figure out if I’m fish or foul. I wasn’t able to attend last year since I had another event at the same time and it’s on the other side of the state, and well, Montana’s big. From where I live in northeast Montana to Missoula (site of the MT Festival of the book) is something like 600 miles. One way. About the same distance as driving to Minneapolis. But, it’ll be worth it.

From Harry Basford Miller, How to advertise printing (1915)

www.archive.org/details/howtoadvertisepr00basfuoft

I found this series via LibraryThing, the best readers’ site on the web. Period. I managed to find all the books of the series via BookMooch or *very* cheap online. I read them all over about 2 weeks this fall, so it’s a little murky now.

The series basically boils down so:
Alex Plumtree inherits the multi-generation London-based book publishing company that allows a pretty comfy lifestyle. He’s close to his Father’s business partner and his old college roommate’s widow. Bad things ensue of varying bibliophilic endeavors.

The first one was pretty uneven. The second was not very good, but better than the first (as I recall). I accidentally picked up the fifth installment instead of #3 for one last go— and it was pretty good! Kaewert‘s writing improves and the story is better paced. There are a couple plot holes that are left open and one with a bonus character whose involvement with the villain is never explained.

The main romance element that runs through the series is ridiculous and feels forced in every book, but in #5 it gets an over the top explanation that works in context. Almost. Also in #5 Ed Maggs is a main character! I enjoyed it and went back to #3 with much less dread, and happily finished the series.

For me, one of the most important element to a bibliomystery is the biblio-element. It can’t simply be the McGuffin. It’s gotta be *real*. This is where Kaewert did a good job. The biblioness is deep and very real. And each book deals with a different element of the bibliosphere– fine printing, fine binding, collecting, incunabula, book collector societies, publishing, Bloomsbury, mysterious authorship, Pepys, etc. Julie Kaewert is a fellow bibliophile and I can certainly gloss over the few rough patches in the series to spend some time in this fun world where typography is a matter of life and death.

So all-in-all, the stories were good, and pretty enjoyable. This isn’t complicated stuff, but it was fun bed time reading for this bibliophile. Kaewert’s website reports a potential Plumtree prequel and perhaps even a new series. I’ll certainly watch for them.

I think I get it. I know, I’m probably the last blogger of the biblioblogosphere to talk about e-readers, but I think I just got it.

Obviously, I love books as things. The physical artifact. Paper, ink, boards, cloth, leather, all of it. I have not really understood the fascination with e-books. Until now. They seem pretty unsatisfactory, by and large, but are improving. I’ll also admit I have an ereader app or few on my iphone. I use Stanza for books from Project Gutenberg (30K+ titles for free!) and MegaReader for access to books from Archive.org (Over a million, all free!).

I’ve used it to read in line at the Post Office, etc., and occasionally for reading in bed when I’ve not planned well and my TBR pile has shrunk too low to suit whatever reading mood I’m in. I do not use it for my primary reading source, nor do I ever expect it to.

Enter a fantastic book I read this past week: A Book For a Sixpence by David Kaser. Kaser examines the history of subscription libraries in the US. This was part of the Beta Phi Mu chapbook series, which is a must-have for students of the history of the book. This is not exhaustive, nor does he make any claims of it being so. There were many places in Kaser’s study that prompted me to ask questions that no one has yet found answers to (I think). There is also a very good bibliography, index and a couple appendices listing known American circulating libraries before 1900. After a very cursory search through my limited records, I only found a few not listed in this 30 year old work, but I imagine records for such would be elusive at best, but searchability will improve as more institutional collections migrate online.

Reading this book made the light come on. E-readers are the new circulating libraries! Sure, you get to keep the “book” longer, but you don’t own it. Your subscription fee is the price of the hardware reader, then you pay for access to the text, not for the book itself.

You never own the text on an e-reader. Except when they’re free, then no one seems to really care. But you still don’t own it.

In this context, e-readers make more sense. When I try to equate buying an “e-book” (an ugly chimera of a word!) with buying a book — it doesn’t come together in my mind. It doesn’t add up. I “buy” an “e-book” and I have no or very limited lending rights, right of first sale is out the window, etc. However, when I consider using an e-reader as a 21st Century subscription library that merely grants access to works, it suddenly makes a lot more sense.

I know most of you have not struggled with this, nor have you sought any kind of justification for buying an e-reader or using one. I think however, I’ve finally found mine.

kindle, ipad, i-pad, nook, sony, comparison, history, amazon, subscription library, private library, rental library, membership library,

Burligton Iowa, I’m sold! Book dated 1883. I’d certainly go see if it were true or merely bold talk.

From
Love’s Book Store
Full of Books
and
Elegant Goods
Hedges Block
Burlington, Iowa

One of my very favorite areas of the bibliofilic world is book trade labels. I have a modest collection I’m pretty proud of. There are a few websites devoted to these gems of the book world, and now there is another, http://www.booksellerlabels.com/ Gabe Konrad of Bay Leaf Used & Rare Books has put together a wonderful site with lots of great information all gathered into a convenient, useful site.

He sorts through some of the questions of what is a book trade label, provides a very useful list of references, even providing links to how he had some labels made for his own shop.

The image to the right is a few of my own labels I’ve printed as a postcard. I’m thinking of doing a series.

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I hope you already subscribe to the fantastic blog Bookman’s Log. Greg Gibson has interesting posts, but today’s is just wonderful. A rare glimpse into what and why bibliophiles love books so much. I’m also pleased to see he’s tackling writing the story of John Ledyard… now if we could find an inventory of the books he owned… He was a fascinating guy, tattoos and all.

I’m still looking for guidance on book hunting in Minneapolis! Let me know!

Happy Birthday to Emily Dickinson, who was born this day in 1830.

The one thing we were able to accomplish (really) during my time with the Bibliophiles of Oklahoma, was a donation of a Washington Irving volume to Emily Dickinson personal library project: Replenish the Shelves at the Emily Dickinson Museum.

Washington Irving has an interesting connection to Oklahoma having visited here when it was practically a mission to the moon to accomplish. It made an easy choice. I wonder if there was a Montana connection to Emily Dickinson’s library? I may need to get her a birthday present.

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Penguin Books has another great exhibition for me to share. The main idea is to:
“… print, etch, sculpt, photograph, whatever their medium, whatever their style… create a book cover for a novel of their choice, a book that has inspired them, a book that has had a profound impact on them or a book that they remember fondly as a child … all that we asked was that they create their original artwork to the traditional format and size of a Penguin book 198mm (h) x 129mm (w)”

You, dear reader, can view 100 entries here. Many, many, many of these would be very happy to live on my shelf. Just sayin’.

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About the Author: Benjamin L. Clark writes and works as a museum curator.