Pat and Allen 2 copy.jpgThe antiquarian book world lost one of its nicest, most beloved figures this week with the passing of Patricia Ahearn, the wife of Allen Ahearn, her partner for close to forty years at Quill & Brush booksellers of Dickerson, Maryland, one of the nation's leading dealers of modern first editions and literary collectibles, and now in its second generation of family management and ownership. Together, Pat and Allen were the authors of seven books on book collecting and rare book values, most famously, perhaps, four impeccably researched editions of Collected Books: The Guide to Values, the successor to Van Allen Bradley's groundbreaking series of the 1970s and '80s, Book Collector's Handbook of Values. The photo of the couple reproduced herewith graced the dust jacket of the 1991 edition, their debut effort, and in the years before the Internet arrived so explosively on the scene, was pretty much the only game in town for determining issue points and comparable values.

On a more personal level, some of my earliest and fondest memories of the rare book world have involved the continuing good cheer and companionship of Pat and Allen Ahearn. My first ABAA fair as a published author, in Washington, D.C., in October 1995, had as an unqualified highlight a sumptuous crab feast at Quill & Brush, and the beginnings of a long and lasting friendship with these two very classy and decent people. For me, a book fair in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, or Boston didn't start until I went over to the Quill & Brush booth and got my big hug from Pat, and it wasn't over until we all got together somewhere for spirits and dinner in a group that always included Allan and Kim Stypeck, the owners of Second Story Books, and lifelong friends of the Ahearns. These were special moments for me, and I treasure them.

Connie and I extend our deepest condolences to Allen and their four children, thirteen grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. Services will be at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Mary's Church in Barnesville, Maryland. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that a donation be made to a local non-profit hospice of choice, or the Alzheimer's Association.

Photograph 1991 by Robert Kalk.

Most writers with a deadline to meet have at least on occasion been afflicted with a debilitating case of writer's block. In Natalie Russell's latest offering we meet Tapir, a creature armed with fresh supplies of pencil and paper but utterly unable find a suitable topic. In search of inspiration he visits Giraffe the poet, Hippo the adventure writer and Flamingo the composer.  All write in different ways, and although Tapir doesn't realize that right away, he soon discovers just how to express himself best.

 


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Lost for Words, by Natalie Russell; Peachtree Publishers, $16.95, 32 pages, ages 4-6.

LOST FOR WORDS ©2014 Natalie Russell. Reproduced with permission from Peachtree Publishers


Russell's screen prints are at once gentle and bright. Charming illustrations of jungle creatures are set against a backdrop of saturated colors, creating a sub-Saharan fantasy world of hot pink flowers and tangerine skies.  Russell's message that creativity is unlimited and cannot be forced will motivate artists and writers of all ages to follow their own creative groove.  


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The Imperial War Museum in London is publishing a new anthology of World War I poetry in June (August in the States) entitled First World War: Poems from the Front. The anthology, edited by Paul O'Prey, a former president of the War Poets Association, aims to "challenge the notion that all war poetry was of a similar anti-war sentiment" by "focusing on 15 poets who all saw active military service and composed poems while they worked, nursed, and fought."  The anthology will include poems from fifteen men - and women - including a previously unpublished draft of a poem by Robert Graves.

Graves' poem "November 11th" features a scathing critique of the "thoughtless and ignorant scum" celebrating the Armistice. Graves, a veteran of the Royal Welch Fusiliers, had suffered such serious injuries at the Somme that he was left for dead. His experiences in the war left him intensely bitter.  The poem also refers to the cheering crowds as the "froth of the city," while "the boys who were killed in battle" are "peacefully sleeping on pallets of mud."

Graves was persuaded not to publish the poem in 1918, for obvious reasons. Graves did publish a modified, toned-down version of the poem in 1969; this new anthology will be the first time "November 11th" is published with Graves' original voice.

Along with Graves, the new anthology features both expected (Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen) and unexpected (American nurse Mary Borden) WWI poets.

"The rawness of their anger, their compassion and despair, still feels urgent today and cannot be ignored," said editor O'Prey in an interview with The Guardian.


With the unofficial start of summer behind us, plans for vacations spent on hammocks and beach towels take shape. When and where, and what will you be reading? I thought I'd share a roundup of four recently published or soon-to-be-published fiction with antiquarian or auction-related themes, i.e., perfect summer getaway reading for bibliophiles and collectors.

-1.jpgFirst up, The Quick by Lauren Owen (Random House, $27, on-sale June 17). Judging by its cover alone, it's a book I would pick up. Set in late Victorian London, the neo-gothic novel's main character is a poetic young man named James Norbury. James is new to London, and soon enough, things go very badly for him. His disappearance prompts his sister to come to the city, where her search leads to the mysterious Aegolius Club, whose members are ageless men with strange appetites. At more than 500 pages, this debut novel is bulky enough to satisfy.

Auction-watchers will enjoy A Paris Apartment by Michelle Gable (Thomas Dunne/St. Martin's Press, $25.99), a debut novel inspired by the real discovery of an early twentieth-century French socialite's apartment in Paris full of fabulous art and antiques. Shuttered since World War II, the apartment was finally opened and its contents auctioned in 2010. In this fictional version, thirty-something American April Vogt, a furniture expert for Sotheby's, spends a few weeks in Paris combing through the apartment and becoming obsessed by the salty journals of Madame de Florian. Love, art, history, Paris -- what more can you ask for? 

Antiq.jpgIf a haunting tale set in a South American city is more your speed, try this slim but dense read: The Antiquarian by Gustavo Faveron Patriau (Black Cat/Grove Atlantic, $16). The murderous main character is an antiquarian book collector in a world where rare book dealers double as organ traffickers. Translated from Spanish, the language is lush, dark, and erudite, with shades of Calvino and Borges.

Lastly, a recent "HybridBook" reprint of Christopher Morley's The Haunted Bookshop (Melville House, $16) is new to me -- and such a sweet little mystery, first published in 1919. If you love books, and you haven't read it, this new edition is the perfect excuse. What happens inside Brooklyn's haunted bookshop, Parnassus at Home? Well, a certain book keeps disappearing from the shelf, and one lovesick young man is determined to get to the bottom of it. One of my favorite lines in the book (there are many): "Against the background of dusky bindings her head shone with a soft haze of gold." The "HybridBook" label means that, if you're so inclined, you can follow a link to see illustrations from the original publication and read more by and about the author.  
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In 1940, John Steinbeck and his marine biologist friend, Ed Ricketts, chartered a wooden fishing boat and launched an expedition into the Sea of Cortez (also known as the Gulf of California). Steinbeck later published his journal from that trip as "The Log from the Sea of Cortez," which has since become a minor classic and one of the more important works in Steinbeck's oeuvre.

The boat from that expedition - called "The Western Flyer" - now rests in a state of gradual decay in Port Townsend, Washington, largely unknown to the tourists who pass through the town. The boat is unmarketed by the local tourism department and isn't much of a site anyway, covered with mud and rust. But now the Western Flyer is at the center of a new controversy:

The New York Times reported on Sunday that the owner of The Western Flyer, Garry Kehoe, a California businessman, plans to have the boat shipped to Salinas, California soon, where he will install it in a new boutique hotel. The nephew of the boat's pilot during the Steinbeck / Ricketts expedition, Robert Enea, is fiercely critical of the plan, calling for its return to Monterey instead. The Western Flyer was employed as a sardine boat in the Monterey area for much of its life. Enea would like the boat to installed as part of an environmental education exhibit in Monterey, where it would be freely available to the public. Enea has launched a nonprofit group, called The Western Flyer Project, to help make this a reality. For his part, however, Kehoe has a compelling counterargument.  He is willing to invest the significant amount of money needed to restore the boat and make it seaworthy again.  And he pointed out that The Western Flyer will be the centerpiece of a boutique hotel in Salinas, California, a town more in need of tourism dollars than wealthy Monterey.

In the meantime, The Western Flyer sleepily awaits its future orders in Port Townsend, attracting the occasional Steinbeck tourist excited to see a relic of an expedition that was so important to Steinbeck's philosophy.
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Shackleton: Antarctic Odyssey
, by Nick Bertozzi; First Second Books, $16.99, 128 pages, ages 12-18. (Publication date: June 17, 2014)


Amateur and professional explorers worldwide will mark the centennial of Ernest Shackleton's ill-fated yet miraculous voyage to the Antarctic this year. Entire documentaries and symposiums are devoted to understanding how the entire crew survived in polar conditions after their ship became trapped and ultimately crushed in pack ice. There's even a cruise called the Shackleton 100 that will recreate the route of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. 


For adventurers staying close to home, Nick Bertozzi's graphic novel replicates the voyage through a riveting and wholly original approach to telling this story of survival. Historians have meticulously documented the expedition, but in this account Bertozzi changes the point of view by inviting the reader onto the Endurance alongside the captain and his crew. Each panel illustrates the minutiae of life aboard a sea vessel - from chronicling Mr. Orde-Lee riding a bicycle across the ice, to a chapter called "Last Dog" which delicately handles the issue of starvation and self-preservation. 


Bertozzi's black and white illustrations overflow with visual detail while creating a solid and engaging story.  Ships, men and various polar creatures are at once grand and familiar. While the author is quite deft depicting each man in the story, Shackleton stands out from his crew; a tall, dark-haired commander determined to bring  all twenty-eight crewmen home after almost two years lost at sea.


Writing and illustrating stories of great explorers seems second-nature to Bertozzi, whose previous work includes Lewis and Clark, an equally inventive examination of two great explorers. Could Amelia Earhart or Thor Heyerdahl be next?  


See more great art from Bertozzi's SHACKLETON here!

William M. Griswold, head of the Morgan Library in New York for the past seven years, has accepted a new position as the director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Griswold, age 53, will be the 10th director of the museum, starting his new position this fall.

"All told, I've been at the Morgan for 13 years," said Griswold in an interview with The New York Times. Griswold was the head of the Morgan's drawings department for six years before stepping into his current position in 2007, "I'm ready for my last big challenge."

And it will be a big challenge as Griswold steps into a role abruptly vacated by its predecessor, David Franklin, who left in a cloud of controversy. The Cleveland Museum of Art has also just completed an eight-year, $350 million expansion and renovation inclusive of 35,300 square feet of new gallery space. With a $750m endowment and an encyclopedic collection covering a vast array of objects and time periods, the directorship of the museum will be an incredible opportunity for Griswold, who has also worked for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty and headed the the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for two years.

The president of the Morgan's board, Lawrence R. Ricciardi, was "suprised," but "not toally shocked" by Griswold's resignation.  Riccardi continued, "We are going to move quickly to set up a search committee and an interim director," adding that the primary challenge for the new director is "continuing to bring new people to the Morgan with creative programming and a vibrant exhibition schedule."

Below is a video statement from Griswold about his new position:

Meet Bill Griswold, the Cleveland Museum of Art's tenth director from Cleveland Museum of Art on Vimeo.

Small Rach.jpgThe only surviving autograph manuscript for Sergei Rachmaninov's Second Symphony in E Minor, OP.27, hidden away for nearly a century and subsequently the subject of an ownership dispute, sold for £1.2 million ($2 million), at Sotheby's London yesterday.

One of the few autograph manuscripts of a symphony, this 320-page manuscript reveals Rachmaninov's compositional processes--deletions, additions, annotations--and provides insight into the creation of what some argue is his greatest symphony. Composed in Dresden, it was performed in 1908 and very likely revised thereafter, making this the sole primary source for the composer's original orchestral vision.

Bound in modern half calf, the large folio had been on view at the British Library since 2005. Where it goes now, only the anonymous winning bidder (a "private collector") knows.

Image Courtesy of Sotheby's.
McEwanI_Uncat_3_001_300dpi copy.jpegIan McEwan's first draft of "On Chesil Beach." Courtesy of Harry Ransom Center.

The Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin purchased the archive of British novelist Ian McEwan for $2m last week. The archive includes early drafts of his classic novels, unfinished or abandoned stories, letters to McEwan from other literary luminaries like Philip Roth and Salman Rushdie, and 17 years of e-mail correspondence.

Stephen Enniss, Director of the Harry Ransom Center said the "acquisition represents a rare opportunity to share the work of a living, internationally-acclaimed author whose works are of strong interest to readers everywhere."

McEwan said of the value of the archive, "The writer tends to forget rapidly the routes he or she discarded along the way. Sometimes the path towards a finished novel takes surprising twists. It's rarely an even development. For example, my novel Atonement started out as a science fiction story set two or three centuries into future."

McEwan continued, "I was recently awarded the (Oxford) Bodleian medal. After accepting it, I was shown some of the items in their extensive historical archives. It was deeply moving, to hold in my hand a notebook of the 17-year-old Jane Austen. And then, to turn the pages of Kafka's first draft of Metamorphosis. An archive takes you right to the heart of the literary creation; it makes for an emotional connection that anyone who loves literature will understand. The experience is almost sensual. Beyond that, of course, critical and biographical work on writers is completely dependent on the resources of a world-class archive collection like the Ransom Centre."
Guest Post by Meganne Fabrega

9781617690969.jpgI was in the reading room of the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, MA, when I first came across a notice about Jessica Pigza's latest book BiblioCraft: A Modern Crafter's Guide to Using Library Resources to Jumpstart Creative Projects (STC Craft/A Melanie Falick Book, $27.50). Needless to say, I was hooked. After spending a month paging through colorful nineteenth-century children's illustrations, ladies' newspapers, and household instructional manuals, I was ready to stop researching and start crafting.

Pigza is in a unique position to write a book that is as wonderfully educational as it is inspirational. As a crafter and flea market aficionado, as well as a rare books librarian at the New York Public Library, Pigza describes how she discovered that she was "sitting on top of a craft book gold mine" at the NYPL. She began to sing the praises of the collection in her outreach efforts, which include blogging, "Handmade Crafternoons" at the library, and expeditions to craft shops around the city. In the process, Pigza met other crafters who shared her love for antique inspiration and contributed their own project ideas to BiblioCraft.

In a day and age where everyone with a DSL line imagines that they can find exactly what they are looking for on their own, Pigza has written a much-needed guide to libraries and how to use their collections in "Part One: Finding Inspiration at the Library." She provides detailed instructions and describes the different types of libraries (branch, research, special collections), recommendations for planning your trip to the library, tips for researching your area of interest, and a directory of physical and digital libraries. Pigza also demystifies the Library of Congress Classification and Dewey Decimal Classification call number systems, as well as subject headings, so that the crafter can best narrow down the topic of choice.

"Part Two: Projects Inspired by the Library" boasts over twenty glorious projects for crafters to choose by an all-star lineup including Heather Ross, Grace Bonney, Natalie Chanin, and Gretchen Hirsch. In addition to beautiful photographs and step-by-step instructions, each project includes the history behind the project's inspiration. For example, Hirsch's Wool Rose Fascinator project (inspired by Pierre Joseph Redouté's hand-finished engravings of roses) also features information about the millinery arts and lists early twentieth-century periodicals to refer to, as well as other books on the topic and subject headings to explore. More projects include Antiquarian Animal Votive Holders, Cartouche Embroidery, and Pigza's own Cuts of Meat Table Runner.

BiblioCraft is a book that will appeal to the detail-oriented, from its exquisite presentation (I loved the "check-out card" in the front of the book) to the types of libraries and crafts that are explored: no resource is left unturned.

Now if you'll excuse me, there are some Felt Dogwood Blossoms that are calling my name...

Meganne Fabrega writes about art, craft, books, and nineteenth-century women for a variety of publications. You can find her online at www.megannefabrega.com.