Last week the Library of Congress in collaboration with the Washington Post released the first of four short videos featuring four U.S. poets laureate in a series called “The Poetry of Home.” Marking National Poetry Month, the series debuted on April 10 with current U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo reading and discussing her poem, “Perhaps the World Ends Here.”

The series, which is meant to explore the theme of home during this international health crisis, will continue over the next three Fridays: Robert Pinsky on April 17, Natasha Trethewey on April 24, and Juan Felipe Herrera on May 1.

“We are living through extraordinarily challenging times that can seem overwhelming. However, poetry can give us the power to reflect and to heal,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We are proud to join with The Washington Post to present to the nation some of our leading voices in poetry.”

The Dear Mr. Poole exhibition at the Cartoon Museum in London has been one of the casualties of the coronavirus lockdown, but happily a sizable section of it has now been put online for readers to visit virtually.

Philip Poole (1909-1999) was known as the ‘pen-man of London’ running his shop His Nibs at 182 Drury Lane from 1956 until rent increases in the 1990s necessitated a move to the back of L. Cornelissen & Son’s art supplies shop in Great Russell Street where he worked right up to the end of his life. His huge stock, and knowledge, of nibs, quills, pens, and ink was legendary and the most famous names in illustration around the world bought from him.

The exhibition includes work and endorsements from cartoonists such as Arnold Roth, Martin Rowson (“it was more or less like walking into Verloc’s shop in the The Secret Agent”), Peter Brookes, Michael Heath, and Chris Duggan (“A visit to Philip Poole was like being measured for a suit in Saville Row, the perfect nib in exactly your size and style would soon be forthcoming.”). It also features previously unseen illustrated letters they sent to Mr Poole in the 1980s and 1990s to thank him for his help, including postcards from one of his most enthusiastic supporters, Ralph Steadman (see picture above).

The online exhibition also includes two short videos in which cartoonists Steven Appleby and Woodrow Phoenix talk about how they work.

The Dear Mr Poole exhibition opened at the Cartoon Museum on February 19 in collaboration with the Museum of Writing Research Collections from where many of the objects on display including writing equipment and old advertisements have been borrowed, but it will still be running when the museum reopens later this year. 

Earlier today, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) hosted a 90-minute webinar to discuss how the COVID-19 health crisis is affecting antiquarian booksellers around the world. ILAB president, Australian bookseller Sally Burdon, moderated the lively discussion, which included panelists Brad Johnson of the United States; Mario Giupponi of Italy; Pom Harrington of the UK; Ryu Sato of Japan; Hervé Valentin of France; and Sibylle Wieduwilt of Germany.

Most of the booksellers are in the same boat, with lockdowns keeping staff at home and shops closed. A nearly complete shift to online bookselling has helped many to keep fairly “normal” working hours. In Italy and Germany, where Giupponi and Wieduwilt operate in tourist centers, business is certainly slower, but Wieduwilt said she is staying busy online and issuing catalogues, which clients have more time to read now. “Business is a bit slower, but the mood is good,” she said. Tokyo, Satu said, is struggling because Japan has been wavering on its emergency status. And in the U.S., Johnson said transitions have been rough because decisions have been made on a state-by-state basis, but he closed early (in California) and was able to equip staffers with material to work from home.

How are booksellers faring economically? Harrington said that after the initial shock of the virus and the closures, there was a slowdown across his bookselling channels, but then, in the past ten days, business has picked up, and he even sold two books via social media in the past week. Collectors are beginning to acclimate to the new ecosystem. Some booksellers reported buyers asking for immense discounts at this time, but the book market, they agreed, remains strong, particularly in light of decreased auction activity, and there is no need to sell short. 

Aside from selling, the booksellers said they are spending their time reconnecting with clients, learning the technologies/social media platforms that can help them find new customers remotely, and cataloguing their stock. Johnson said adding photos to older stock listed online has been a worthy task.

Of course, there have also been many difficult “housekeeping” issues to attend to as well, such as furloughing staff members, inquiring about rent waivers, navigating difficult shipping and export license queries, and checking on insurance (which Harrington suggests all booksellers do).  

For collectors, one of the biggest takeaways may be the ongoing discussion about upcoming book fairs. Valentin mentioned that the Paris Rare Book & Fine Art Fair, which had been scheduled for later this month, has been postponed to September. However, the exhibitors are setting up a virtual book fair to open on April 23, with exhibitors contributing a list of highlights for potential buyers to browse. When asked about Firsts, London's rare book fair, still scheduled for June, Harrington said they are waiting to hear from the government what restrictions will be in place in June, and until then, no decision has been made to cancel or postpone.

It is impossible to predict how COVID-19 will impact the future of the antiquarian book trade, but the panel felt that while the short-term shift to online bookselling and virtual book fairs can work, people do enjoy seeing and touching books in open shops and at in-person fairs. That face-to-face interaction is much missed.

A recording of the webinar was made, and can be accessed here.

Our Bright Young series continues today with Christy Smirl who has blended together elements of bookselling, librarianship, and interior design in a unique business model with her company Foxtail Books & Library Services in Jackson Hole, Wyoming:

How did you get started working with rare books / libraries / interior design? How did these interests blend together for you?

After 15 years in a fairly traditional library career, I realized how many collectors and book lovers were out there who could use help with their books. Particularly if someone has either amassed a lot of books in a lifetime or if they have more than one home, and want to live in a space surrounded by books, those are problems that need to be solved. I have an eye for design as well as a head for logistics and project management, but I had no desire to leave the book world. I simply wanted to do something new. Foxtail Books & Library Services was created using all of those elements. I pursued the world of rare books after I had started my business; the fact is that the client who is interested in a beautiful home library is also often the client who is interested in especially special and unusual books. It’s been fun to find myself between all of these worlds: libraries, interior design, publishing, and rare books. My work is related to all of theirs, but is also entirely unique. 

When did you open Foxtail Books & Library Services?  Please introduce us to your unique business model:

I started providing home library services in 2017, first in the resort town of Jackson Hole, and eventually working nationally. I create personalized library collections for homeowners and also solve problems for people with large or valuable collections. To give you an example of the variety of work I do: in February I organized a collection of several thousand books on birds, wildlife, and hunting in Houston. Last month I provided project management for a New York-area collection that needed to be divided between two homes. I’m currently curating collections of books for three clients. The most unusual of those is a sports collection. The one I’m enjoying most will include objects alongside the books that work with the midcentury design of the home. 

Describe a typical day for you:

If I’m onsite at a project, a typical day is spent moving books efficiently into an accessible, attractive plan for the space. That involves efficient decision-making, lifting, and creativity. When I’m in my office, a typical day might include receiving packages for curating projects, touching base with clients about options and scheduling, and looking through our vendors’ catalogs for just the right books for projects to come.  

Favorite rare book (or ephemera) that you’ve handled?

I love books that tell the history of the American West in a new way.  I once had the pleasure of consigning a copy of the Taos Pueblo, one of only 108 copies of Ansel Adams’s first bound edition. It’s special because Adams was not yet famous, and because he printed the photographs himself. It’s also a beautiful example of fine bookbinding in the early 20th century, by San Francisco bookbinder Hazel Dreis, and includes an essay by Mary Austin, “grand dame of the western literati.” 

But in some ways, I get just as much of a kick out of fairly ordinary books from the 18th or 19th century, if they have personalized inscriptions in really great handwriting. Or something completely unexpected will throw me for a loop: At this year’s antiquarian book fair in New York, I was able to browse one of those items that makes you realize how wide and beautiful the world of rare books can be.  Actually, the seller of this incredible but mysterious illustrated WWII-era manuscript is making its imagery available on Instagram: if you haven’t seen @europaredux, I recommend checking it out. 

How about a favorite collection you've helped curate?

It might be variety that drew me to library work in the first place -- the variety of interests, stories, and artistic expression out there in the world of books. My favorite collections are those for families, because I get to choose books for multiple people, each a different age, with unique interests and reading tastes. For example, right now I’m working on a collection for a family in Los Angeles with three young girls. It’s fascinating to dive into the best of literary fiction and classics for one parent, business and technology for another. I’m also including a selection of books providing context for the art in the home. And who doesn’t love exploring children’s literature? It’s a dream job.  

A favorite library you've designed?

My favorite project last year was choosing books and objects for a New York loft that was a mix of modern and Art Deco interior design.  We curated a collection of books on the music industry, as well as the history of modern art and photography, all of which went perfectly with the space.  It’s such a pleasure to find just the right books for a client, and choosing a vase or sculpture to sit alongside them, to complete the visual puzzle, makes it all the more enjoyable.   

What do you personally collect?

I collect local history about Jackson Hole and the Tetons, though our written history is rather young, even in the West. I enjoy books with illustrations of the history of mountain sports, particularly skiing and mountaineering. And I have always loved a good publisher’s binding, particularly Art Nouveau designs. Margaret Armstrong is a favorite designer.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I like exploring both the mountains and a good city, now and then.  My husband and I are skiers, hikers and backpackers here in Jackson. We are lucky enough to live in a cabin in the woods, surrounded by wildlife and, come summer, wildflowers. One of the perks of my job is the travel. Just when I have tired of snow boots or the limited restaurant options of small town life, I get to spend a week working in a great city. It’s a fantastic excuse to explore museums, restaurants, bookshops, and people. 

Any thoughts to share on the future of private library design? A growing field?

I do think there is a growing value in our culture for authentic, meaningful objects in the home, but this is an incredibly niche field. I’m the only private librarian in the country offering precisely these services, but that’s not necessarily to say the field has room for growth. It’s a very specific client who is interested in this service, who either needs help with the books they have or has a new home to fill, and, especially, who can afford it. It’s a field that follows spending trends like those of fine art and high end interior design. I certainly hope to see growth in the world of private library design, though. There is nothing quite like the feeling of a home with intellectual and personal depth to it, after all. And I find that the people who chose to spend their life surrounded by books, by information and stories? They’re good people. 

 

Next week, a collection of English novelist Rudyard Kipling formed by the late Joan Twigg in conjunction with her husband Oliver Twigg, the proprietor of The Totteridge Rare Book Shop, comes to auction (online) at Doyle in New York. Because of their trade association, the Twiggs assembled a strong collection, many of the items with distinguished provenance and all of which have been off the market for several decades.

The auction schedule continues to be a bit of a moving target as some sales are postponed, some are moved online, &c. Here are three of the currently scheduled sales (all to be held online):

The Potomack Company holds a single-item sale on Wednesday, April 8 of an album of 46 illustrations by Jiao Bingzhen (active 1629–1728). The images are mostly of farming and weaving activities. The album also contains the ownership stamps of Gong Qin Wang Yixin (1833–1898), a son of Emperor Daoguang. The prince was a well-known collector, and this album is estimated at $100,000–200,000.

On Wednesday, April 15, Doyle holds a 106-lot sale of Fine Literature featuring a Collection of Rudyard Kipling. A copy of the twenty-volume "Manuscript Edition" of The Writings of Henry David Thoreau (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1906), with two Thoreau manuscript leaves (one from his journals and one from Cape Cod) is estimated at $5,000–8,000. An autograph fair copy of Robert Louis Stevenson's poem "To Will H. Low" and a first issue copy of Kipling's Just So Stories in the rare original dust-jacket are each estimated at $3,000–5,000. Among the other lots are a signed first printing of Gone With the Wind in an unrestored dust-jacket ($2,500–3,500) and an early printing of the first American edition of War and Peace in the original paper wrappers ($800–1,200).

Potter & Potter hold a Fine Books and Manuscripts auction on Saturday, April 18. The 698 lots include a first issue of Ian Fleming's Casino Royale in the first issue dust-jacket ($8,000–12,000) and a copy of the 1884 deluxe edition of the Rubáiyát with drawings by Elihu Vedder and signed by Vedder ($6,000–8,000). A nice copy of Fleming's Thrilling Cities inscribed to his friend David Bruce (head of the Europe branch of the O.S.S.) is estimated at $5,000–7,000. There is also a discharge book from the Folsom State Prison for 1914 through 1919, with nearly 1,100 mugshots ($1,500–2,500).

On the heels of Internet Archive's recent decision to launch a "National Emergency Library" by offering access to 1.4 million books during the coronavirus pandemic--now embroiled in debate as to whether the move is an act of piracy rather than lending-- another enterprise known as HathiTrust recently announced freely accessible additions to its database, but the comparisons end there. 

Launched in 2008 as a collaborative library initiative, HathiTrust boasts over 17 million fully digitized books, of which many are available to a consortium of over 90 academic and research institutions. Hosted at the University of Michigan, the program took shape when Google partnered with universities in an effort to create Google Books.

Unlike Internet Archive, HathiTrust maintains restrictions on how its holdings are accessed; over 6 million of the books in HathiTrust are in the public domain and are available for perusal, while the remainder of the collections still under copyright cannot be viewed or downloaded. In the wake of covid-19, HathiTrust issued new guidance for scholars trying to access its archives remotely by granting emergency temporary access by request only. (More information on who is eligible, what's available for review, and how to request emergency access here.) 

And now, some of the Grolier Club's publications have been digitized and added to the virtual archives, with 188 unique items available for perusal, ranging from the 1910 volume showcasing reproductions of the etched work of Whistler to a 1907 history of the life and library of the club's namesake, French bibliophile Jean Grolier. 

Though some elements of the archive are only accessible through an account at a partner institution, much is available to the independent scholar. Details on how to use this massive resource are here.

Although the real world has paused in its celebration of fine books and collections, it is still very much possible to find delights online. Here are five suggestions:

Determine how you like your rare books (rare, medium rare?):
A marvelous tweet from Durham Cathedral Library inspired by the ‘How do you like your tea/toast’ meme asks instead how people prefer their rare books (pictured above). Also, read the messages below the main tweet which are marvelous too.

Tour (Virtually) Samuel Johnson’s birthplace:
While writers’ museums are shut, many have virtual tours online so it’s worth searching for your favorites. Samuel Johnson’s in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England is among those available.

Turn up the library noise:
Can’t get to a library? No problem. The Sounds of the Bodleian does exactly what it says on the tin, with recordings from four of its key library spaces in Oxford. Relive the coughs of the Radcliffe Camera Upper Reading Room! Thrill to pages turned in Duke Humfrey’s Library!

With kids? Explore the idea of childhood in Dickensian London:
Although this free exhibition at Senate House Library in London is among those closed early by the coronavirus, it’s still possible to visit an online version of the galleries. The display looks at how Dickens helped to improve the lives of children and includes plenty of interesting objects such as Punch magazine’s verse obituary of Dickens, lithographs of the great man, and illustrations including Harold Copping’s version of Oliver Twist asking for more from Children’s Stories from Dickens published by Raphael Tuck in the early 20th century.

Watch the Book Makers trailer:
It’s not just book events and exhibitions that have gone dark, British-American filmmaker James Kennard’s one-hour documentary, The Book Makers, focusing on people who are making books in the 21st century is also on hold. But you can enjoy the trailer.

Yes, we have a public health crisis and a national emergency, nevertheless, today is Census Day in the United States, a day set aside every decade since 1790 to count every person living in the country. The man on the cover of our spring issue, David M. Rubenstein, a major collector of Americana, has a particular interest in the census story, and his collection was slated to go on display at the New-York Historical Society beginning on March 13—the day the N-YHS unfortunately had to close due to the coronavirus.