At three o'clock on Friday, the California International Antiquarian Book Fair opened its doors to the public for the 46th time. This was to be my first visit to the fair that I had heard called, "the biggest and best book fair in America."  

One of San Francisco's biggest tourist attractions doesn't attract much attention at the California Antiquarian Book Fair.  Hardly a book can be found about Alcatraz.

 

Populated by 1853, a prison by 1859, Alcatraz Island has had a colorful history as a military fort and a prison for everyone from Native Americans to soldiers in the Civil War, to the likes of Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly.  It was also home to others who were not prisoners.

 

Looking out over San Francisco Bay, it is impossible not to notice Alcatraz.  It is like the birthmark from Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story, the single imperfection on an otherwise perfect face.  Visitors have looked to, through, past, and around Alcatraz to see the scenic beauty of the bay all around.  Indeed, the prisoners themselves recount seeing that same beauty around them, of watching New Year's Eve fireworks, and of watching from afar the lives of others go by.

 

There is no doubt that Alcatraz fascinates, but as one dealer at the fair told me, "Rare, collectable?  Not so much."    There are, however, plenty of books that have been written.  Some even fetch a few hundred bucks.  But this rock in the bay remains the birthmark - a curiosity and an imperfection - but mostly something on the landscape of California that has long been accepted and ignored.

In the wake of Valentine's Day, a very personal - and unpublished - A. E. Housman poem about unrequited love will be included in the extensive poetry sale coming up at Bonham's this spring.  The tender poem was written by Housman in 1917 about his life-long love for Moses Jackson.  Housman and Jackson attended Oxford together as undergraduates.  After University, Housman followed Jackson to London where they jointly took up work in the Patents Office.  Jackson soon married and left for India with his bride, spending the rest of his career abroad. 

Housman never recovered from the blow.

The poem - faintly written in pencil with clear attempts to erase it - passed into the keeping of Housman's brother after his death in 1936.  Housman's brother debated destroying the poem, but was advised to keep it by Alfred Pollard, a friend of Housman's from his Oxford days.

The poem is estimated by Bonham's to reach £25,000 at auction.

"Oh were he and I together"

Oh were he and I together

  Shipmates on the fleeted main,

Sailing through the summer weather

  To the spoil of France or Spain.

 

Oh were he and I together,

  Locking hands and taking leave,

Low upon the trampled heather

   In the battle lost at eve.

 

Now are he and I asunder

  And asunder to remain;

Kingdoms are for others' plunder,

  And content for other slain.

A guest post by Webb Howell, FB&C's publisher, who is in California this week for the book fair.

With apologies to Dale Chihuly, of whom Eric Sinizer, the owner of Light Opera Gallery on Post Street in San Francisco, is no fan, the craft glass movement may have seen better days. Chihuly, says Sinizer, is bested by numerous other artists in glass who are better designers and glass blowers. They are not, says Sinizer, better marketers, which may be why the art market in craft glass still suffers from recessions in 2001 and 2008.

The craft movement in glass blowing began in the late 1960s when artists took up what had been a commercial trade and brought a different perspective to it.  Sinizer became the first gallery in the early 1970s to recognize the trend and capitalize on it. Now in his 43rd year of business, the 69-year-old Sinizer is ready to perhaps give up the retail part of his business in deference to his online site at LightOperaGallery.com, one of the premier craft glass sites on the Internet.


Sinizer's success is driven by his own passion for the art and artists of craft glass. A collector himself, Sinizer says, "I buy for myself and reorder for customers." A particular fan of what is known as the paperweight technique, where sculptural images are encased in other glass, Sinizer is also a collector of Frederick Carder, founder of Steuben Glass - pronounced by few correctly with the accent on the "ben."

Sinizer has also assembled a significant collection of books about the craft glass movement, an area of collecting easy to enter since the movement is fairly new.  Books, he says, have played a significant role in his success as a craft glass collector.


After a few minutes in Sinizer's gallery, it is easy to see the significance of the "collection" that he has gathered - all of which is for sale. There hundreds of items by dozens of artists, all beautiful and creative. It's a who's who of craft glass artists, but apparently not a who's who of marketers. Not a single piece is represented by Dale Chihuly.

A guest post by Webb Howell, FB&C's publisher, who is in California this week for Codex and the CA book fair.

What do a dentist, a poet, an artist, and a printer have in common? If you answered an extraordinary passion for book arts, then you are correct.
 
That passion manifests itself at the CODEX International Book Fair and Symposium wrapping up today in Richmond, California, just outside San Francisco. The Mexican contingency was spearheaded by Fernando Ondarza, one of the driving forces behind Codex Mexico, whose goal is to promote the enormous heritage of Mexican and Latin American printing arts and book design, all the while showcasing the literary heritage of the region. Were this not enough, many of the works produced by fine presses there focus on subjects that bring attention to cultural, archeological, historical, and ecological issues.
 
A driving force behind CODEX Mexico is Dr. Isaac Masri, a dentist by profession but the patron behind Intaglio, one of Mexico's creative fine presses. On display at the fair were Esclavo, created by artist Francisco Toledo with narrative by poet Antonio Garcia De Leon. Printing was executed by Artura Guerrera. The work (seen above), which features a meticulous cut out of slaves on board ship, celebrates both the centennial of Mexican independence and abolition of slavery in Mexico in 1810.
 
Other works on display include Festin en el Mictlan (above), design by Faymundo Sesma and text by Jose Miguel Ullan. This "feast in heaven" is a cookbook of sorts with recipes depicted in very poetic terms, complete with spear head through the cover.
 
One common goal of CODEX Mexico is the development of young people into book artists, and for this, they have created a school. Here, young artists get to experiment under the watchful expertise of the more practiced, with the long-range goal of ensuring that book arts remains alive and vibrant throughout the 21st century. This expression of Mexican heritage is in no better hands than with CODEX Mexico.

At every big book fair--and this weekend's California fair is often cited as the biggest--there are generally a couple of auctions that coincide with the event, capitalizing on all those fresh collectors in town. Here are some of the lots that caught my eye from the Bonhams sale coming up on Sunday, the 17th.

For sheer oddity, how about John Steinbeck's "ebonized table casket." Better to call it a manuscript chest. According to an accompanying letter from Steinbeck's son, Thomas, the chest was a gift from Steinbeck's friend, editor, and publisher, Pat Covici. Thomas further states that his father used it to "store manuscripts of works in progress, and came to be known as 'Merlin's Chest' or the 'Magic Chest.'" The estimate is $3,000-5,000.  

For sheer beauty, it would be hard to surpass this Sangorski & Sutcliffe illuminated manuscript of Francis Bacon's Of Gardens: an Essay, c. 1905. The word that comes to mind is lush -- this illuminated manuscript on vellum features naturalistic rose and vine borders, colored and gold inks, and oval vignettes. The estimate is $4,000-6,000.

Another charmer in this sale is the calligraphy by Johann Busenitz, in German, dated to August 1713 and after. Seen here is one of ninety pages with calligraphic exercises in green, red, yellow, and black ink, each with elaborate decorative initial. According to the catalogue, Busenitz may have been part of a Mennonite community in Marlenburg. The estimate is $800-1,200.

Because of our Fine Maps columnist, Jeffrey S. Murray, this next lot was familiar; Murray's column in our forthcoming spring issue is all about the house of Blaeu. Theatrum orbis terrarum sive Atlas novas (Amsterdam, 1645-50), from the Blaeu family of mapmakers, was a published edition of hand-colored maps, reprinted several times and expanded by the younger Blaeu. This lot is a collection of 52 engraved double-page maps (disbound) from Theatrum orbis, covering modern-day Europe. The estimate is $10,000-15,000.

Anyone that's ever worked with rare books holds on to the hope that someday they'll dust off an old tome and out will spill some previously undiscovered - but amazingly relevant - piece of ephemera.

Something akin to that happened to bookseller John Howell of Los Angeles. Howell recently received a copy of the book Farewell Thou Busy World by John Hodgson Bradley.  Published by The Primavera Press in 1935, Farewell Thou Busy World was graced by woodcuts from the great Paul Landacre, one of the prominent illustrators of the mid 20th century.

As Howell was browsing through the book, he noticed an extra woodcut print clipped to one of the pages.  When Howell examined the print more closely, he saw it was clearly in Landacre's trademark style and even bore his small signature in pencil - but the print was not one of the six used to illustrate the book.  So Howell sent a scan of his find to the Landacre scholar Jake Milgram Wien for more information.  After digging around in Landacre archives, Wien declared the print as previously unknown.  Wien surmised the print may have been created for another book but then discarded for unidentified reasons.  Wien also did not know of any surviving wood block that might have been used to create the print.

So Howell had stumbled across a true rarity - a previously unknown Landacre woodcut - such an infrequent occurrence that Landacre scholars could not remember the last time it happened.  What the print was intended for - and how it ended up in this copy of Farewell Thou Busy World - remains a mystery.

If you're curious to see the print in person, Howell will be exhibiting it this weekend in San Francisco at the California Antiquarian Book Fair.  Look for him in booth 314.

(Photos submitted by John Howell).

Booksellers and book collectors are either in or flocking to California this week. And what treasures await? Last week, in Part I of this post, we featured some books from Simon Beattie, John Howell, Schubertiade Books & Music, and Eureka Books. Today we're taking a look at a few more CA International Antiquarian Book Fair offerings.

How's this for a highlight? London's Sokol Books will show a Nuremberg Chronicle. Yes, you read that right. Schedel's Liber Chronicarum, 1493, in its original Koberger pigskin, richly blind stamped over boards. Not only that, but this copy has been extensively annotated by Sebastian von Seyboldsdorff, a Bavarian knight who accompanied Breydenbach on his great pilgrimage to the Holy Land. The price is £87,500 ($138,000).

Bookseller Jo Ann Reisler of Vienna, Virgina, is bringing this affable Dr. Seuss drawing. The 5" x 9" pen, ink, and watercolor has a personal connection, too. Seuss gave it to his longtime cook and housekeeper, Alberta Fouts. Color paintings from Seuss are scarce, and this one is so sweet. The price is $25,000.

In his booth in San Francisco, UK bookseller Justin Croft will have many unique items. One is an extraordinary manuscript book of ink and watercolor drawings (seen here) done by one James Landon of England, 1790-91. The images depict comic figures--Dancing Dolly, Simon Swig Bottle--as well as flowers, natural curiosities, and a British Man-o'-War. The drawings are contained within a contemporary wallet-style leather binding. The price is $7,400. Croft's full fair list is here: http://www.justincroft.com/catalogues/Justin_Croft_Cali2013AWweb.pdf

Well, it's that time of year in the antiquarian book world -- California is hopping with book fairs. Let's take a look at some of the highlights you can expect to see.

The award-winning catalogues of UK bookseller Simon Beattie are always filled with intriguing and eclectic books--what he calls "The books you never knew you wanted." Such is the case with this miniature Qur'an, published in Glasgow c. 1900. Yes, it is the size of a nickel, but it comes in its original metal locket with a magnifying glass set into the lid. The price is $1,800. Simon will be showing this tiny treasure (and a booth full of other incredible books, full list: http://www.simonbeattie.co.uk/catalogues/simon_beattie_california_book_fair_2013.pdf) at the 46th CA International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco, Feb. 15-17.

John Howell's first stop is the Santa Monica fair this weekend and then he travels north to the fair in San Francisco. What he's proud to be carrying with him is this limited edition fine press book, Specimen Pages of Korean Moveable Types, by Melvin P. McGovern, 1966. This is the first study of Korean movable types, and it contains 22 specimens of movable type dated from 1420 to 1858. Shown here is an original leaf. The price is $3,250. John's full Santa Monica fair list is here: http://www.johnhowellforbooks.com/home/santa%20monica%20fair.pdf

Schubertiade Music & Arts is bringing this ultra-rare signed Bob Dylan album, "Bringing It All Back Home," signed on the cover "I dig it too. Jimi Hendrix." The album is together with a published account from the original owner for whom this was signed in 1967, musician and author CP Lee. The price is $8,500. Will Schubertiade find a crossover vinyl/book collector in San Francisco? Collectors with music on their minds can view the bookseller's full fair list here: http://www.schubertiademusic.com/sanfran

Scott Brown of Eureka Books (the former editor of this magazine) will also be exhibiting in San Francisco. One of his favorite offerings is this photo album that includes 116 photographs of pioneering dog breeder and sled dog racer Scotty Allan and his famous dogs, c. 1918. Allan won several All-Alaska Sweepstakes (the precursor to the Iditarod). The album is neatly captioned in white ink by Margueritte Helen Adams, Allan's niece. The price is $6,000.

More CA book fair previews here on Monday. Stay tuned!

How is your Mandarin?

Fennigen de Shouling Ye, translates to Finnegans Wake, the title of the classic novel from 1939 by James Joyce.

The classic novel from 1939... and current bestseller in China.

The Guardian reported Tuesday that Joyce's famous (and famously difficult) novel is currently enjoying an entirely unexpected popularity in China.  Dai Congrung, a professor of literature at Fudan University in Shanghai, produced the Mandarin translation of the first third of Finnegans Wake as "a labor of love." She had no idea that she was sitting on a bestseller.  While it took eight years to translate the first third, Dai plans to continue translating the next two parts of Finnegans Wake over the coming years.

Supported by a massive billboard campaign from the Chinese publisher, sales of Fennigen de Shouling Ye took off shortly after its publication in January.  Dai believes the book may be resonating with Chinese readers because of its strong and startling prose and its cyclical view of history.

Dai has attempted to remain faithful to the grammatical creativity of the original.  She said to The Guardian, "For example, there was a phrase in Finnegans Wake that said 'sputtering hand', which might mean shaky. If I translated it as 'shaky hand', that would be OK - in Chinese it's a good sentence. However, I just translated it as 'sputtering hand'. Sputtering and hand cannot be put together in Chinese grammar, but I put the two together anyway."

So, all of you Joyce collectors out there have another volume to add to your shelves: Fennigen de Shouling Ye, Part the First.