eBook Treasures, a new venture from Armadillo Systems in Great Britain, publishes digital facsimiles of some of the greatest (and rarest) masterpieces of world literature. You can flip through William Blake's personal notebook, or browse through Mercator's Atlas of Europe on your iPhone or iPad. We recently interviewed Michael Stocking, Managing Director of Armadillo Systems about eBook Treasures and bridging the gap between the codex and the digital reader:
NP: How did eBook Treasures begin?
MS: About 10 years ago we developed some software for libraries and museums to display digital facsimiles on touchscreens and the web called Turning the Pages. This became fairly successful, but earlier this year we started to look at how we could provide access to rare books in a compelling way on mobile devices, specifically tablets. I love print facsimiles, but we thought by offering digital facsimiles we could provide great quality images, additional interpretation like audio or video, a simple one-click download and at a price everyone could afford. We looked at building an app and Kindle, but in the end opted for the iBook platform, as it offered the best user experience
Coming up for auction this week at Heritage Auctions is this library book due date slip (remember those?) bearing the penciled signature of "J. Salinger." The worn card with seventeen other signatures dates from December 1959. And what was the famous 40-year-old author reading? Norman Forrest's Death Took a Publisher, a bibliomystery from 1936. Presumably this library card comes from a public library close to Cornish, New Hampshire. Salinger moved there in the early fifties and gradually slipped into a reclusive lifestyle. Quite an incredible Salinger collectible for the estimate of $800-$1,200 (much prettier and display-worthy than, say, the Salinger toilet up for auction on eBay last year). Online bidding has already begun and looks competitive. The live auction happens in New York on Thursday of this week.
Catalogue Review: Richardson Books, #47
Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury writers are consistent favorites for readers and collectors, so it seems Jon and Margaret Richardson of York, Maine, made quite a wise decision when they focused their bookselling business on that eminent group (read more about them here). In this catalogue #47, we are treated to 168 items from the likes of the Woolfs, Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Lytton Strachey, Vita Sackville-West, and E. M. Forster. The Hogarth Press also looms large, of course, and the very first listing in the catalogue shows fourteen first editions by the Hogarth Press, ranging in price from $175 for The Moment to $1,900 for Jacob's Room. A selection of Leonard and Virginia's limited, hand-printed books are also available.
An "exceeding rare book" by Leonard Woolf, The Wise Virgins: A Story of Words, Opinions And A Few Emotions is here ($7,500), and the catalogue further entices with the booksellers' comment that is this "only the second copy we have had in 25 years." Plus, it has the added association value of having belonged to Sydney Waterlow, a former suitor of Virginia's.
Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury writers are consistent favorites for readers and collectors, so it seems Jon and Margaret Richardson of York, Maine, made quite a wise decision when they focused their bookselling business on that eminent group (read more about them here). In this catalogue #47, we are treated to 168 items from the likes of the Woolfs, Vanessa Bell, Roger Fry, Lytton Strachey, Vita Sackville-West, and E. M. Forster. The Hogarth Press also looms large, of course, and the very first listing in the catalogue shows fourteen first editions by the Hogarth Press, ranging in price from $175 for The Moment to $1,900 for Jacob's Room. A selection of Leonard and Virginia's limited, hand-printed books are also available.
An "exceeding rare book" by Leonard Woolf, The Wise Virgins: A Story of Words, Opinions And A Few Emotions is here ($7,500), and the catalogue further entices with the booksellers' comment that is this "only the second copy we have had in 25 years." Plus, it has the added association value of having belonged to Sydney Waterlow, a former suitor of Virginia's.
Our series profiling the next generation of antiquarian booksellers continues today with Jonathan Smalter, proprietor of Yesterday's Muse, in Webster, New York. Jonathan just released his first catalogue, which is available to download here.
NP: How did you get started as a bookseller?
JS: I began working in a used bookstore when I was 17, but I think my love of books started much earlier than that. The first memory I have is of my grandmother teaching me to properly turn the pages of a book. My first book-related job was all data entry, and I had a chance to handle a lot of interesting books. I was hooked.
NP: When did you open Yesterday's Muse?
JS: Yesterday's Muse has been in operation since 2002, when I literally began selling books out of my closet during college. I've been making a living doing this full-time since college, and opened a brick-and-mortar shop towards the end of 2008.
NP: How did you get started as a bookseller? JS: I began working in a used bookstore when I was 17, but I think my love of books started much earlier than that. The first memory I have is of my grandmother teaching me to properly turn the pages of a book. My first book-related job was all data entry, and I had a chance to handle a lot of interesting books. I was hooked.
NP: When did you open Yesterday's Muse?
JS: Yesterday's Muse has been in operation since 2002, when I literally began selling books out of my closet during college. I've been making a living doing this full-time since college, and opened a brick-and-mortar shop towards the end of 2008.
