I collect images. Physical ones, and virtual ones. I have stacks of illustrated children’s books, crime fiction dust jacketed books, Deco magazines and books, whatever grabs my eye and is pleasing, I want, no need, to keep. On flickr I have uploaded over 16,000 images. I used to be able to claim most came from … Read more
I was searching for info about an Alice in Wonderland in french, illustrated by an artist Morin, when another link popped up about a novel called Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin published in 2010. I was surprised not to have known of it, and very excited to find it–I’d read slews of things about … Read more
A road trip mystery book, what could be better for someone as I, who travels every year to various and sundry locations, just to take pictures of huge muffler men, buildings in the shape of coffee pots, and deserted former Mother Goose parks with discarded dwarfs littering the land? If a Body, by George Worthing … Read more
My dad loved model railroading. The HO models–not the big antique things that are so valuable today, such as Lionel etc. He built his own layout in the basement, designed a coal chute, and a bridge that crossed the bottom of the stairs that could be raised for people to enter and leave. He belonged … Read more
Sometimes the urge comes on me, and I desperately need to be among old volumes. The scent of fine aged paper, unopened boxes of new acquisitions, rows of superior bindings and dust jackets, ordinary reading copies that will be passed along to some other biblio, is essential to my mental health. The spot I rush … Read more
I was flabbergasted. I thought I was the only human alive that could possibly know who Scarlet O’Neill was. After all, the book I own was printed during WWII with substandard paper which crumbles to the touch. Each time I turn a page, the corner clips itself off. Even if people had some how heard … Read more
I’ve always heard this expression as: Dead as a door-nail. A rather odd expression to begin with. So I checked on its origins. Apparently no one is absolutely sure of whence the simile came. The best scholars can theorize it is a reference to the nails used on large wooden doors back in the middle … Read more
I didn’t realize that biblios had such a broad range. While researching, I found rare manuscripts and letters, and even scraps of writing on paper were considered part of the genre. A few titles fit very neatly. Here’s one–The Vivero Letter, Bagley, Desmond, 1968– A letter dating from 1539 and the conquest of Mexico by Cortes … Read more
