FB&C's Most-Read in 2011

I've had fun reading year-end lists of the most popular online articles at The Millions, Latham's, and Slate, and I thought it would be neat to see what's been most appealing to our readers as well. Working our statistical magic, we came up with a list of our top 10 online articles of 2011.

1. "Plain But Good" by Karen Edwards. A look at R.R. Donnelley's highly collectible Lakeside Classics series.

2. "A Classic Back in Print" by Nicholas Basbanes. Nick's recent column on Allen and Patricia Ahearn of Quill & Brush and the fourth edition of their indispensible guide, Collected Books.

3. "The Americanist" by Nate Pedersen. Nate's interview with longtime antiquarian bookseller Norman Kane.

4. "On the Road" by Tom Bentley. A profile of Peter and Donna Thomas, the 'Wandering Book Artists.'

5. "Exceptional Ephemera" by Nicholas Basbanes. Nick visits the Grossman collection of ephemera at Winterthur.

6. "Comic Cartography" by Jeffrey S. Murray. The witty world of cartoon maps -- even the New Yorker liked it!

7. "Scholars in the Stacks" by Richard Goodman. Richard went to the New York Public Library's Cullman Center to see what they were up to.

8. "Lovecraft's Providence" by Nick Mamatas. Seeing the homes & haunts of H.P. Lovecraft.

9. "Edward Curtis' The North American Indian" by Jonathan Shipley. A neat story about how this million-dollar set of photos actually plunged its creator into debt and obscurity.

10. "Temple of the Muses" by Nicholas Basbanes. The first in-depth report on the burgeoning American Writers Museum.

And on our blog, the top 5 of 2011 were...

1. "Oddities: Books Bound in Human Skin" by Rebecca Rego Barry. A video-clip from a Discovery Channel episode on these oddities.

2. "Foliomania" by Rebecca Rego Barry. A review of the Folger Shakespeare Library's exhibition catalogue, Foliomania.

3. "John Gilkey Redux" by Brian Cassidy. A virtual APB for book thief John Gilkey.

4. "Game of Thrones, Collectable Fantasy Book, Hits HBO" by A. Genevieve Tucholke. Different editions of George R.R. Martin's books, as the show premieres.

5. "Banned in Boston!" by L.D. Mitchell. Only one copy of 1690's Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick survives -- because it was banned!