IOBA members may not be aware of a bookish 'event' held in NYC every January...

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The bookplate Mosher used in books from his personal library was designed in 1897 by Frank R. Rathbun of Auburn, New York, with the designer’s monogram of an “F” with two “R’s” mirror imaged on either side. The bookplate was part of an exhibit (entry 1371) of bookplates from the Club of Odd Volumes held at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston in 1898. Mosher’s bookplate is described as “emblematical pictorial” in the Burnham collection. The original plate was photo-mechanically printed on Japan vellum paper from Rathbun’s original drawing, but the later scarcity and high price of Japan vellum…

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I had been selling books for just about a year, and was on a scouting trip. After a long unsuccessful, very hot morning of yard sales my last stop was one with a lot of cardboard boxes filled with books. Her price, 25 cents for the hardbacks, 10 cents for the paperbacks. So I settled in. I picked and chose quite a few and then browsed the paperbacks, composed largely of science fiction. Some were quite old and all were in fine condition, and I picked up a few. I didn’t know much about SF and thought the only good…

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Isn’t the internet wonderful? Received a call from a customer who told me that he’d just visited a London bookshop. He was in search of a book, a biography of an English punter and racing identity. Imagine his surprise when the bookseller told him that the only available copy on the internet was our copy in Dromana, Australia! My client lives in Melbourne, a little over an hour away from Dromana. He was most anxious that we hold the book until his return from the other side of the world. We were happy to oblige. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog…

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Yesterday I received an email from AbeBooks which stated that I could save 48% on Stephan King’s Duma Key. Stephan King? It seems that Abe’s ‘Passion for Books’ doesn’t extend to proofreading. Maybe I’m being overly critical but this is a company in the business of words, books and literature! You’d think that they’d go to greater lengths to ensure these types of errors didn’t occur. What would happen if TechCrunch had a headline that read ‘Steve Jubs predicts iPod success’? I’d give AbeBooks a mulligan but they used that up a few years ago when they sent a message to their…

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