It's not every day that a book artist receives a love letter from the New York Times. Lauren Redniss has earned that rare honor for her stunning new biography of Marie and Pierre Curie entitled Radioactive: Marie & Pierre Curie, A Tale of Love and Fallout. A rave review in the Times--one of many from around the country-is a welcome sign that artists' books continue to find their way into the mainstream.

Admittedly, Radioactive is not a traditional artists' book. Published by HarperCollins imprint It Books, some might deem it more of a graphic novel or just a beautifully illustrated biography. Whatever you call it, Redniss has created an exquisitely crafted work of literary and visual art. Her thoughtful text is paired with two hundred pages of striking hand-colored prints and line drawings that portray the love story of the Curies in a way that could not have been done in words or image alone. The author/artist paid the greatest attention to every detail, even designing her own font. Perhaps most strikingly, the book's jacketless cover, printed in luminescent ink, glows in the dark. The exterior also has a pleasant textural quality that reminds me of my children's Touch and Feel books.

Holland Carter once wrote of artists' books that some are "made for reading, some for looking; some for touching; many for all three." Radioactive hits the tifecta of sensory experiences. And I'll add a fourth--it even smells good, probably because of all that gorgeous ink used in the illustrations. Redniss reminds readers that the printed page still has much to offer us.

The New Jersey Historical Society in Newark is catching heat this week as it has consigned another twenty items to Christie's, to be sold at two New York sales on Thursday and Friday (and in another sale in February). The items will include a portrait of George Washington attributed to NJ artist Charles B. Lawrence (seen here at right), several tall-case clocks, some furniture, and a lovely dinner service once owned by early NJ Govenor Mahlon Dickerson. The NJHS stands to make something in the range of $80,000-$150,000.

Guest Blog by Richard Minsky, book artist

Field Report: CBAA Conference, Jan 13-16, 2011

More than 200 book art educators and librarians gathered at Indiana University, Bloomington last week for the Second Biennial Conference of the College Book Art Association. There were about 50 presentations in so many concurrent sessions it was impossible to attend them all. The speakers and topics were of top quality and interest, making it difficult to choose. There were in-depth analyses of individual book artists' works, including Betty Bright's study of Gaylord Shanilec's Sylvae and Mayflies of the Driftless Region, and Tracy Bergstrom's study of Tom Phillips' Dante's Inferno.

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of John F. Kennedy's inauguration this month, Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, and David S. Ferriero, the Archivist of the United States, announced yesterday "the nation's largest online digitized presidential archive." This allows unprecedented, global access to the documents, photographs, records, and audio/video recordings (including phone calls) of Kennedy's short presidency and its major themes -- the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, the Peace Corps., and civil rights. It's all now available at www.jfklibrary.org.

"As the largest, most advanced digital archive created by a Presidential Library not 'born digital,' the project can serve as a model for other presidential libraries and national and international archival institutions," stated the press release. Twelve other presidential libraries have their work cut out for them.

Perusing the list of Swann Galleries' Performing Arts Memorabilia auction (its first online-only auction opened on Monday, see the press release here), I found one playbill that looked very familiar. Lot 367 is a signed playbill for Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie (seen here at left). He wrote, "Thanks, Henry! -- Tenn. Williams." A different copy of this playbill also appears on page 50 of the winter 2011 edition of FB&C, within an article titled "The Transformation of Tennessee" about the Ransom Center's upcoming exhibit on Williams. The Ransom copy has an odd inscription on the cover: "The quizz kid asks you: "which one is the actor"? and at the bottom, "annotated by Laurette Taylor" -- who was an early American actress. The exhibit opens on Feb. 1, the very same day that Swann closes its auction.

For those of you just digging in to FB&C's winter 2011 edition, I'd like to point you toward some (more) wonderful images of Sarah Wyman Whitman's bindings. The Boston Public Library has posted an incredible resource of Whitman images on Flickr. In our article on Whitman, curator-writer Stuart Walker references this vast collection of images. It's amazing. Seen here at right, her design for Thoreau's Cape Cod (alas, the only Whitman I own).

I also received today a catalogue announcement from William & Nina Matheson Books, showcasing "The Book Arts of the 1890s." Looks like a lot of nice secondary material for Whitman collectors.

I think I get it. I know, I'm probably the last blogger of the biblioblogosphere to talk about e-readers, but I think I just got it.

I love books as things. The physical artifact. Paper, ink, boards, cloth, leather, all of it. I have not really understood the fascination with e-books. Until now. They seem pretty unsatisfactory, by and large, but are improving. I'll also admit I have an ereader app or few on my iphone. I use Stanza for books from Project Gutenberg (30K+ titles for free!) and MegaReader for access to books from Archive.org (Over a million, all free!).

In the current issue of Vanity Fair, a long profile of actor Johnny Depp (written by rocker-writer Patti Smith, no less) delves into Depp's collecting activities (page 3, particularly). Smith asks Depp: "Speaking of books, I was thinking about the letters and manuscripts you have--Dylan Thomas, Kerouac, Rimbaud. Can you remember the first of these that you obtained and how that came about?" Depp's response to this question refers to John Sampas, Kerouac's brother-in-law, who invited Depp to the family home to have his pick of Kerouac documents and memorabilia, including Kerouac's raincoat. Where have I heard this before? In "And the Beat Goes On," an article we published last January, all about the controversy surrounding Kerouac's will and how his estate has been/is being handled. Seems like this beat does go on and on...