Fine Books Blog

Saving Special Collections

If all else fails, move to higher ground. That's the tactic that librarians at the University of Iowa took when it became clear that the Mississippi [correction] Iowa River would breech the levees in Iowa City. Staff and volunteers moved special collections materials to higher floors in the library.

[Update, Friday night, 6/20/08, from a librarian a"directly involved in the efforts to secure our collections"]: "We're still locked out of the building, but have word that the materials came through fine, despite several inches of water in the basement."

 

More photos can be found online at Flickr.

Building a sandbag levee.

Moving library materials upstairs.

Collecting Library Cards

Here's an unusual twist on collecting: Fifteen-year-old Cory Peterson, in Suisun, California (located between Sacramento and San Francisco), has amassed more than 3,000 library cards from around the world. And he's putting his collection online. I was glad to see the Humboldt County library (the main branch is located just eight blocks from me), amply represented with three cards.

Thanks to Rebecca for the tip, via the Bunless Librarian (a blog name which, I finally figured out, refers to a hairstyle, not to a defect in the nether regions, nor to a certain type of burger popular with lo-carb dieters).

Technology Books Soar

Our July/August issue, which is currently being printed, has a technology focus, meaning that many of the articles have some kind of technology hook, though not always in obvious ways. In case it wasn't already apparent, key books on science and technology have been steadily increasing in value. The results of Tuesday's sale of the Richard Green library of scientific books (held at Christie's in New York) blew the roof off, with the hammer prices doubling and tripling what on Monday seemed to be strong estimates.

Copernicus's De revolutionibus (the book that suggested that the earth revolved around the sun), estimated at $900,000 to $1.2 million sold for $2.2 million. Of course, the high price is in large part because it was the finest copy in private hands, in its original vellum binding (see left).

Pedro de Medina's Arte de navegar (a key early work on the use of the compass for navigation), estimated at $200-$300,000, went for $578,500.

One of Galileo's rarest works, an instruction manual on his invention of a calculating device, Le operazioni del compasso geometrico, et militare, also estimated at $200-$300,000, reached $506,500.

Kepler's Harmonices mundi libri, a culmination of his thinking on the harmonic order of the universe, went to $362,500, or ten times the estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.

Extraordinary results, to be sure.

Marshall Magic Mania Continues

This just in: The auction of legendary magic collector (or should I say accumulator?) Jay Marshall continues next month during the Society of American Magicians' annual convention. Magicians, as a group, tend to have a profound interest in the history of their craft - frequently referring to techniques by the name of the magician who developed them - and are therefore more prone to collecting books and ephemera than most professionals. Among the famous magician-collectors are David Copperfield, Ricky Jay, and Steve Martin.

The first of what will likely be several auctions of Jay Marshall's collection was held last year. I wrote about it here and here.

Here's a highlight from the description of Marshall as a collector (quoted from David Meyer):

Bookcases were filled, then surrounded then overwhelmed, then disappeared under mounds of books and papers. After Frances [Marshall's wife] moved to a nursing home, the second-floor dining room and office space became crammed, nearly to the ceiling, with trash and treasure... He was the possible recipient—through gifts from fellow collectors—of more rare books in defective condition than any other collector in magic.

Matthew Bruccoli Has Died

Matt Bruccoli, one of our great scholar-collectors, passed away on Wednesday of an inoperable brain tumor. An obituary can be found here.

Bruccoli wrote the bibliographies for many mid-20th century writers, usually based on his own extensive collections. His F. Scott Fitzgerald collection, now at the University of South Carolina, is one of the best in the world. He also assembled perhaps the most complete collection of Armed Forces Editions next to the library of Congress, and built two World War I collections, both in public institutions now.

Dan Gregory, of Between the Covers Rare Books, recently interviewed Matt for an article in our upcoming July issue, so his passing comes as a great surprise.

We wish all the best for his family.

Photo: TIM DOMINICK

Book Expo

I'm in Los Angeles today, getting ready to head out for my second day at BEA (Book Expo America), the annual convention that brings together publishers, bookstore owners, and everyone else interested in the new-book trade. It fills the LA convention center. The coolest thing for me was seeing Fine Books among the two-dozen or so sample titles that our distributor brought to the fair. Perhaps most interesting to collectors was the dramatic reduction in the number of Advance Reading Copies in evidence, compared to past years. In past years, it was not uncommon to see dozens of people staggering under the weight of the free ARCs they picked up. I only saw one yesterday. I've written about publishers' concerns about the collector's market for advance copies here.

I stopped by Amazon's large Kindle booth, and there was a bit of excitement, but not nearly as much as I expected. And they only seemed to have six sample machines, which made it hard for gawkers to get a look at it. I've tried one before - it was pretty good, but hard to hold without accidentally turning the page.

Win a Bookseller for a Day - Last Chance!

Just a reminder, today is the last day to enter AbeBooks Win a Bookseller for a Day contest. The winner will have a professional bookseller sent to their house to evaluate their book collection and will be featured in Fine Books magazine.

Girl in the Hood

It's finally leaked out. The news accounts about Margaret "Peggy" Seltzer's fake memoir about growing up in foster care in South Central Los Angeles frequently mentioned the promotional video her publisher produced of Seltzer touring her old 'hood. The video has found it's way to YouTube. Without further ado, we present (via Galley Cat), Girl in the 'Hood, or Lies and Consequences. Best line, "I hope to god I'm a role model now."

She even manages to dis used bookstores at the end of the clip (about minute 8) for not paying enough for used textbooks: "You only get pennies on the dollar" for used textbooks. She says she encourages students to donate their books to prisons and works with bookstores to mail them (most jails will allow shipments from bookstores but not individuals). After it broke that she didn't actually live in foster care or grow up in South Central, it was revealed that her "foundation" was fake, too.

Beyond the Book Fair

Here's a video interview with Steven Schuyler, a bookseller who specializes in the building trades and German books. You can find him online at RareBookStore.net and at many home restoration shows. He is very familiar with that market and has many friends in the restoration trade. Over the years, he's built a large clientele on the show circuit. Steve's a good example of a bookseller who has found (or more accurately, created) a market for books outside of the traditional bookstore.

McMurtry on Bookselling

Larry McMurtry will receive the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award this week. In an interview posted online, he talks mostly about being a bookseller. "I just don’t think about my work at all. I think about being a bookseller. I don’t think about being a writer," he said.