Possession Obsession, oil on canvas, 2008, 46 x 86cm





Tolstoi, oil on canvas, 2006, 50 x 50c





David Sequeira, oil on canvas, 2008, 80 x 60.5cm







Napoleon, oil on canvas, 2006, 60 x 60cm

Australian artist Victoria Reichelt has been painting bookshelf portraits for a few years. Recently, she began painting portraits of the bookshelves of actual people.

"This was a different way to do a portrait - because the decisions people make about the books they choose to buy, keep and display, reveals a lot about them. It offers a deeper insight into their interests and inspirations" Reichelt told the Inside Out blog who call Reichelt's work a "debate about 'the death of painting' and painting's relationship with photography."

Reichelt continues: "These works are a paradox to paint - as once the books are an image on canvas, they are shut forever and can never be read. In a painting, they serve a very different purpose from their intended function - they are purely objects like the others I paint and you're forced to judge them by the covers."

The same could easily be said for photography. Once the picture is taken and the image developed one is "forced to judge" by what is presented.

It will be interesting to see how her work continues to evolve. The leap from painting staged bookshelves to actual bookshelves is huge and opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Imagine high-end collectors having portraits done of their collections to complement their own portraits or a Candida Hofer approach of large scale paintings of library shelves that can be sold or given to top supporters.

The Dianne Tanzer Gallery will have show of Reichelt's work in November.

She received a $10,000 New Work Grant from the Australia Council for her exhibition Bibliomania: The Bookshelf Portrait Project which was held at the Linden Centre for Contemporary Arts in Melbourne in 2008.


Thanks to the blog of the Kenyon Review for the lead
I've just returned from the Paperback Collectors Show & Sale, now in its thirtieth year, held for the last ten years in Mission Hills, CA, just outside of Los Angeles, and organized for the last few years by Black Ace Books here in L.A.

I've been attending this show, the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi, since
2000, to scout for books, and connect with dealers and collectors who, over the years, have been extremely generous in helping me with my research on vintage pulp literature. (Allow me  to point out that the paperbacks world has nearly as many reference books as the standard rare book trade; it's really quite amazing).
I had the pleasure this past week of visiting Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, and speaking at ceremonies held in Cushing Library marking the acquisition of the university's four millionth book, an auspicious event for a dynamic program that for the past ten years has been embarked on a remarkable program of establishing itself as one of the outstanding research centers in the United States.

don_quixote.jpgBecause a noteworthy event such as this demands a fabulous book, the title acquired for the occasion was an exceedingly rare copy of the 1617 Barcelona edition of "Don Quixote." Part one of the world's most consequential work of fiction had been published separately, in 1605, part two in 1615; this edition marked the first time the two parts had been issued together, and appeared in print just a year after Cervantes's death. To give you an idea of just how scarce this edition is, it is the only perfect copy held in any North American library, making it more scarce, in fact, than the Gutenberg Bible, with copies in twelve American institutions. At Texas A&M, it joins a collection of one thousand other editions of "Don Quixote," along with a substantial archive of digital images, and contributes mightily to the mission of the university's Cervantes Project, which has received support from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The four millionth book ceremony was part of a double celebration, the other being the tenth anniversary of the reopening of the Cushing Library as repository of the university's rare books and special collections, and to showcase, with a splendid exhibition and a terrific catalog, both called "A Decade of Promise," the new acquisitions that have been made over that period. I plan to write at length about the arrival of Texas A&M as a major player in the world of rare books in a forthcoming Fine Books & Collections column, but I do wish to note here the essential role of the Friend--with a capital 'F', as I said in my remarks--in this process.

Making this milestone possible was Sara and John Lindsey, A&M Class of 1944, who purchased the book for the university; they also purchased for the library the two-and-a-half millionth book, a Kelmlscott Chaucer of 1896, and the three millionth book, a first issue, 1855, of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass," and contributed to the purchase of the one millionth and two millionth volumes as well.

Libraries require a lot of elements to achieve greatness, not least among them administrators with foresight and librarians with vision, but never, to my knowledge, have they been able to accomplish anything of substance without the help of their friends--excuse me, their Friends--and that applies at every level of participation. Those with modest means--but eager all the same to help preserve our literary patrimony--can participate in other ways, such as the Adopt-a-Book program sponsored by the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Mass. It's all for a great cause.
click to enlarge

"Of War & Wits & Power" is the latest from the Singapore-based industrial designer Daniel Loves Objects.
NYTimes has an article on the winner of this year's Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year (sponsored by The Bookseller magazine). The winner for 2009 is "The 2009-2014 World Outlook for 60-Milligram Containers of Fromage Frais". A special collections librarian summed the win up aptly, stating, "As a collector of books on fromage frais, I'm elated that this award will help jack up prices for cheese container books!"

On the other hand, Dr. Brooks D. Cash, who was a runner-up with his "Curbside Consultation of the Colon," said that while he was "honored to be in such august company," also added, "I think being beaten by someone with that title is really cheesy."
On April 21, 1954 a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee was charged with investigating the causes of juvenile delinquency and went right to the heart of the matter: comic-books.

The subcommittee's first and starring witness was Fredric Wertham, author of Seduction of the Innocent, which, in so many words, asserted that comics were Lucifer's lure, Beelzebub's bait. Seduction of the Innocent was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, excerpted in Ladies' Home Journal, and published two days before Wertham testified before the Sub-committee. The hearings were televised.
Michael Powell and his daughter Emily. Photo by Leah Nash for The New York Times

The plans for a $5 million expansion of Powell's flagship store have been put on hold.

Citing the overall current economic downturn and a 5% decline in sales the "project no longer looked prudent" according to owner Michael Powell.

How close were they to enlarging their city of books? The plans were already drawn up and the financing was secured. And when do they feel they'll be ready to move forward?

"It's going to take a period of time to recover...Whether it's 2 years or 10 years I don't know, but I don't think it's going to be quick. People are nervous." says Powell.

More at Peter S. Goodman's piece for the New York Times on the current economic climate of Portland, Ore "A Downturn Wraps a City in Hesitance"
Often, I'll be walking down the street minding my own business when a complete stranger will come up to me and declare, "Steve, I desperately want to be a book collector but I have little money and no idea what to collect."

"Are you attracted to the strange, the bizarre, and the off-beat?" I'll inquire. (This is the standard line I use when meeting anybody for any reason).

"Why yes, I am!"

"Well, then," I'll say, "I have good news for you, my off-beat, bookish friend."

Editor's Note: If you didn't get a chance to read this post or this one, I recommend going back to do so.


I stepped off the elevator and through the replica of Rodin's "Gates of Hell" into the Ninth Circle, the offices of the team developing the "Dante's Inferno" video game at Electronic Arts.


Worlds collided.

Last Friday, I left the cozy comfort of my small office (it's only a corner of my dining room) for the sophisticated environs of the Electronic Arts campus. Electronics Arts creates, develops, and sells video games. I was on a field trip of sorts, going to meet with the Executive Producer of EA's forthcoming video game, "Dante's Inferno".  As I've spent the past couple of years collecting books for a print catalogue featuring illustrated and unusual editions of the works of Dante Alighieri, I was interested to see how the book influenced the video game.


EA's offices are slightly larger than the dining room/corporate headquarters of Book Hunter's Holiday. All of the large buildings below make up the EA campus in Redwood Shores, California:
EARSaerial_small.jpg