2014 Newbery and Caldecott Winners

The American Library Association announced the winners of the 2014 Newbery and Caldecott medals on Monday.   A panel of fifteen librarians from across the country gathered to honor the very best children's books.  What distinguishes the two awards? The Newbery Medal goes to the author of "the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children."   The Caldecott recognizes an artist's excellence in picture book illustration.  Here are the medal and honor winners:

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 "Flora and Ulysses: The Illustrated Series,"by Kate DeCamillo, illustrated by K.G. Campbell; Candlewick Press, $17.99, 240 pages, ages 9-12.

In this adorable ode to superheroes, comic-book aficionado Flora sets on a series of adventures with a witty squirrel appropriately named Ulysses. DeCamillo's humor (and wonderfully rich vocabulary) is perfectly matched by comic book artist's K.G. Campbell's black and white illustrations.  Readers will adore that this quirky action-packed novel matches a sensitive, sophisticated story.

 

Honor Books:

"Doll Bones," by Holly Black; Margaret K. McElderry Books, $16.99, 256 pages, ages 10-14.

"The Year of Billy Miller," by Kevin Henkes; Greenwillow Books, $16.99, 240 pages, ages 8-13.

"One Came Home," by Amy Timberlake; Alfred A. Knopf, $16.99, 272 pages, ages 9-13.

"Paperboy," by Vince Vawter; Delacorte Press, $16.99, 240 pages, ages 10-14.



Caldecott Medal Winner:

"Locomotive," by Brian Floca; Atheneum Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 64 pages, ages 4-10. 

This year's Caldecott winner is a picture book rich with sensory details about America's first trans-continental railroad.  The rolling text mimics the turning of the wheels and the rumbling of the train down the track.  At sixty-four pages, this is on the long side for picture books, but the delightful text and sumptuous images will captivate young readers on every page.   


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Honor Books:

"Journey," by Aaron Becker; Candlewick Press, $15.99, 40 pages, ages 4-8.

"Flora and the Flamingo," by Molly Idle; Chronicle Books, $16.99. 44 pages, ages 4-8.

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"Mr. Wuffles!"  by David Wiesner; Clarion Books, $17.99, 32 pages, all ages.

Vatican Library to Digitize Lost Japanese Archive
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The Vatican Library has partnered with four Japanese institutions to digitize 10,000 documents from a lost Japanese archive. The documents - collectively called the Marega Papers - detail Christian persecution by the Japanese between the 17th and 19th centuries.

The Marega Papers were removed from Japan in the 1940s by Rev. Mario Marega, an Italian missionary priest who eventually deposited the documents in the Vatican library. For decades, the documents languished in the Vatican, forgotten by the world. Then, in 2010, a researcher stumbled across them in storage and was able to read and interpret the Japanese script. The researcher recognized their importance and the Vatican soon alerted Japanese authorities to the existence of the documents.

Japanese researchers arrived at the Vatican in September of 2013 to examine the archive. This week, a six-year agreement to inventory, catalogue, and digitize the archive was signed between the Vatican Library and four Japanese institutions.

Christianity was first introduced to Japan in 1549 by St. Francis Xavier, one of the founders of the Jesuits. For several decades, the religion spread around Japan, before a serious backlash began in the late 16th century, culminating with a mass execution of Christians and an outright ban of the religion in the early 17th century. It wasn't until the late 19th century that freedom of religion was again allowed in Japan.

Rev. Mario Marega arrived in Japan in the 1920s, working as a missionary.  He discovered the archive of rice-paper scrolls detailing the persecution of Christians in Japan and wrote a two-volume work about the documents before removing them from Japan and depositing them in the Vatican library.

Marega's treatise on the documents, ??????????? Documents Concerning the Persecution of the Christians of Bungo, Ky?sh?. Tokyo : Don Bosukosha, Sho?wa 21 [1946], is quite rare today.

[Image from Wikipedia]
Out of Print, but in Demand
Earlier this week, Bookfinder.com released its eleventh annual report on the 100 "most searched for out-of-print book titles" in 2013. This list tracks old books that have, somehow, either retained popularity despite being largely unavailable or regained it from some publicity bump sometime over the past twelve months.

According to the report, Bookfinder does not "consider a title currently published as an eBook or POD [Print on Demand] to be in print. We felt that In Print meant printed on a page, with ink; so while a book only available electronically may be handy, it did not fit our criteria. We also decided some years ago that we would not consider POD published titles to be In Print." The reasoning they offer for this: "The BookFinder.com Report is meant to highlight books which traversed the entire traditional book lifecycle from life to death, and yet are once again sought after for one reason or another."

So what are those popular old titles?

The names in the top ten haven't budged much from last year's report--Madonna (Sex, 1992) is still #1, followed by Stephen King as Richard Bachman (Rage, 1977) and Stephen King as himself (My Pretty Pony, limited edition, 1989), and further down, Nora Roberts (Promise Me Tomorrow, 1984) and Kyle Onstott (Mandingo, 1983).

Outside the top ten, we can still find Ray Bradbury's Dark Carnival, Madeleine L'Engle's Ilsa, Cameron Crowe's Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Carl Sagan's Murmurs of Earth. New to this year's list are The Afronauts by Cristina de Middel at #15, Life at the Limit: Triumph and Tragedy in Formula One by Sid Watkins at #23, and The Angelique Series by Anne Golon at #18.
Bookfinder.com, anne golon, cameron crowe, cristina de middel, madeleine l'engle, madonna, nora roberts, out of print books, ray bradbury, sid watkins, stephen king
Continental Congress Document Sells for $912,500
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On Sunday Keno Auctions in New York City sold an important piece of early Americana for a startling $912,500. The document, entitled Letter from the Twelve United States Colonies by their Delegates in Congress to the Inhabitants of Great Britain, was a final plea from the Continental Congress to avoid an armed uprising. The document - long thought lost - invited fierce competition from two phone bidders who quickly blew through its $100,000 - $400,000 estimate. The winning bid came from a private collector via manuscripts specialist Seth Kaller. The final price, at $912,500, took the prize for highest price paid during Americana Week 2014 in New York City.

The letter itself was written by the jurist Robert R. Livingston (of Declaration of Independence fame) in 1775 and was printed in July of that year. This draft of the document offers an invaluable perspective into the final printed document as it includes excised paragraphs and marginal notes. Until the discovery of this letter, only the final printed document was known to scholars.

The letter was found in July of this year by Emilie Gruchow, an archivist with the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Manhattan. (The mansion served as George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War). Gruchow found the letter in a folder of 18th century doctor's bills tucked away in the drawer of a desk in the mansion's attic. After its discovery and verification, the Morris-Jumel Mansion decided to sell the letter to raise funds for the long-term survival of the museum.

With a winning bid just shy of $1m, the Museum's nest-egg received an impressive boost.
Coleridge's Lap Desk for Sale
Screen Shot 2014-01-24 at 2.10.43 PM.pngThe "writing slope" of English poet-philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge goes to auction Tuesday in London. The mahogany lap desk features little holders for ink wells, a pen rack, and two drawers. No word whether he composed his most famous works--The Rime of the Ancient Mariner or Kubla Khan--here, but family tradition holds that this was the famous Lake poet's slope and that it was bequeathed to his sons and from there to his grandson E.H. Coleridge, along with the wedding spoons and clock also on offer in this "Gentleman's Library Sale."

Says Bonhams, "Although such artefacts are notoriously difficult to date with any precision, it certainly seems to be of too early a date to have belonged to either of Coleridge's sons." The sale estimate is $3,300-5,000--and no, the winning bidder will not walk away with the spoons, manuscript pages, or the other objects seen in this auction house illustration.

Image courtesy of Bonhams.

E.H. Coleridge, auction, bonhams, lap desk, samuel taylor coleridge, writing slope
The Little Prince: Made in Manhattan

MORGAN-3. Reynal and Hitchcock_The Little Prince medium.jpgMANHATTAN - The Little Prince is most often associated with the City of Lights.  Yet Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's wartime tale took shape in a rented house on Beekman Place in the heart of New York.  In fact, the ex-pat French aviator - who spoke almost no English - spent two years in Gotham, writing and reworking what would ultimately become one of the best-selling and most-beloved books in history.  As much as the world considers The Little Prince to be a French masterpiece, it took shape and drew inspiration from the people, sights and sounds of Manhattan.


The Morgan Library celebrates the book's 70th anniversary with an impressive exhibition of the author's working manuscripts and drawings, as well as other memorabilia such as personal communications, photos, journals and books.  The show opens to the public January 24th and runs through April 27th.    


So how much did the City that Never Sleeps inspire Saint-Exupéry?  Portions of the working manuscript on display show the author referencing iconic landmarks such as Rockefeller Center.  Some of the drawings also appear to be inspired by skyline views of Manhattan.  Much was ultimately removed from the final product, but these coffee and cigarette stained documents provide a fascinating look into the creative process.  Saint-Exupéry was also notorious for working through the night, often surrounded by reams of onion-skin paper - which, when examined under proper lighting, reveals the watermark Fidelity Onion Skin. Made in U.S.A.  


Admirer and fellow aviator Ann Morrow Lindbergh's diary is also on display and open to a passage where she reflects on what she considered the  "eternal sadness - eternal hunger - eternal searching"  of the work.  Orson Welles loved the book so much that he bought the screen rights; his annoted screenplay is here as well. Perhaps the most moving object is an identification bracelet worn by Saint-Exupéry when his plane was lost at sea.  It was recovered by a Marseille fisherman in 1998.   To the end, the author embraced New York - alongside his name is engraved the Park Avenue address of his publisher.  


Image: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-1944)
The Little Prince
New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1943
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York
Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2013




Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince, The Morgan Library
Be a Book Angel: An Interview with Haute Culture Press
Haute Culture Press is a small press based in Stockholm, Sweden with a unique publishing vision. Their goal is to translate European classics into English and distribute them internationally. To fund these efforts, Haute Culture produces rare or "luxury" editions of European classics which are financially supported by "Book Angels" who purchase a luxury edition and then receive 100 (or more) free eBooks of the title to distribute to people or institutions of their choice. We interviewed the CEO of Haute Culture, Luis de Miranda, over e-mail:

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When was Haute Culture founded and where are you based?

Haute Culture is a brand of Kreell AB, a company I founded in April 2013 in Stockholm, Sweden, along with our designer Linda Ayres, although we might move to the UK later this year.

The rest of the team include Jamie Schwartz, our editor, Jean-Sébastien Hongre and Olivier Rieu, early investors and Simon Carney, our PR.

Tell us about your publishing vision; about why you formed Haute Culture:

Our aim is summed up in a two-word slogan: content sublimation.

First of all we only publish masterpieces where the author has taken the collective reality and transformed it into sublime text. Secondly, the first form we use are handmade, precious, rare editions, so we materialize those masterpieces into a sublime object. Thirdly, this device, this 'dispositif' allows us to create a free viral distribution of the e-book version of the text and that's another sublimation, a passage from the solid state to the gaseous, digital state.

I created Haute Culture because I believe it to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a company that could contribute to the beauty of the world by sublimation. This is a form of alchemy applied to book publishing.

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Tell us about the concept of book angels and your publishing model in general:

Book Angels allow the sublimation process to take place by pre-ordering the precious material version of the book. That helps us finance the translation, the production of the print edition and the distribution of free e-books. Book Angels are the mini-Medici of our venture, a sponsor that can have his or her name acknowledged in the book.

They're also enlightened collectors, as we promise never to make more than 500 physical books in order to remain within the limits of a limited edition and in doing so create an object whose value increases year after year. No real alchemy can function without the breath of an angel.

Introduce our readers to Tammsarre's "Truth and Justice." How did you come to choose that novel for your first publication?

In fact our first publication was a Flaubert tale, Felicity, in December 2013. In 2014 we plan to publish two books: The Sublimes, by Yuri Mamleyev and Truth and Justice, by Anton Hansen Tammsaare.

The first one (not necessary chronologically), whose original title is Chatuny, is a masterpiece of Russian literature written in the late 1960s by an author who is still alive today and considered by younger Russian writers as the new Dostoyevsky. It's a horrible and sublime novel about the quest for the absolute truth.

The second is the most important Estonian novel ever written, by an author who is now part of the cultural heritage of the Estonian nation and has his own statue in the middle of Tallinn. It's a earthy novel about the struggle for a new territory, written in the 1930s. A very universal theme. To my great astonishment neither of these books have been published in English before.

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Please describe the luxury edition of "Truth and Justice."

I prefer to talk about a 'rare edition' rather than 'luxury edition' as our goal isn't to be "bling-bling", but to create a highly-designed artistic object that shares a deep connection with the text and the title. So we might use earthy materials to reflect the setting of the novel for example.

We're still working on the final version though as we think we can improve on the first prototypes we made a few months ago. If you want to get an idea of our work, have a look at our limited edition of Felicity, which is on sale in Assouline boutiques in London, New York, Los Angeles and Paris.

All It Needs Is Holly Sugar
Today's sale in 20th Century Illustration over at Swann Galleries will include a signed advertisement by Theodore Geisel. (Lot 223). If the ad has an air of familiarity, it's probably because you know Geisel by his pen name: Dr. Seuss.

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Seuss created the advertisement sometime in the early 1950s at the height of his career. It's one of several drawn by Seuss for Holly Sugar, a company that has since been absorbed into Imperial Sugar. The illustration was likely intended for a billboard advertisement. (As an interesting aside, Swann notes that Seuss actually lobbied for the boycotting of billboards in his hometown of La Jolla, California around the same time. Seuss subsequently cut his ties with Holly Sugar.)

Swann estimates the advertisement will sell for $30,000 - $40,000.

Today's sale also includes a pen-and-ink drawing on card of one of Seuss's famous advertisements for Flit Insecticide. (Lot 226; Estimate: $15,000 - $20,000). Seuss received his first big break from Flit Insecticide, who initially commissioned him in 1928, when Seuss was 24 years old.  Seuss's insecticide series continued sporadically until 1941.  The example at auction is from 1938.  Flit Insecticide - once a household staple - was produced by Standard Oil (now part of Exxon), and discontinued after its 5% DDT content fell out of favor.

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Jeweler & Book Artist Sondra Sherman
In a combination that can only serve to delight, artist Sondra Sherman combines bespoke jewelry design with book art by carving a hollow into the pages of a book and placing a unique piece of jewelry inspired by that book's subject or theme into the empty space. The piece seen here below, Julia Newberry's Diary, is a Gilded Age memoir of a young Chicago socialite (who also happened to be the daughter of the philanthropist that gave us the Newberry Library). Inside the hollow that Sherman created is a steel and silver brooch, inspired by Newberry and her time.
Screen Shot 2014-01-22 at 9.09.30 AM.pngThis piece and others are on view now at the Hunterdon Art Museum in Clinton, New Jersey, in a solo exhibition called "Found Subjects." Sherman, an associate professor of art, jewelry, and metalwork at San Diego State University, said of it, "All jewelry becomes a form or element of portraiture, and in 'Found Subjects' the book and jewelry piece came to reflect the imaginary reader, author or wearer."

"Found Subjects" runs through March 9.

Image: Sondra Sherman, Julia Newberry's Diary, 2010, steel, sterling silver,nail polish, Book: 8 X 5.5 X 1 in., Brooch: 3.75 X 2.75 X .5 in. Courtesy of the Hunterdon Art Museum.

book art, custom jewelry, exhibit, hunterdon art museum, julia newberry's diary, sondra sherman
Dust Jacket Art at Auction
Ever since Leonard S. Marcus did a cover story for us on book jacket designer turned children's author Fred Marcellino in 2012, I am always trying to "spot" his jacket art on books from the 1970s and 80s in shops and at book fairs. He did jackets for the likes of Tom Wolfe, Tobias Wolff, Anne Tyler, and Margaret Atwood. Marcus wrote, "Marcellino treated a cover as a miniature poster, as an artwork with the supporting role first of catching browsers' attention, then of offering a clear impression of the experience held in store."

685303.jpgIt seems collectors are beginning to notice, too. This week Swann Galleries is offering Marcellino's original cover art for the iconic 1984 re-issue of Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook (seen here at left). The estimate is $5,000-7,000. Another piece of cover art, created for T.C. Boyle's novel, World's End, in 1987, is also on the block. Its estimate is $4,000-6,000. Last year, his original art for Thomas Pynchon's Slow Learner dust jacket realized $6,720, also at Swann Galleries.

Other jacket art at Thursday's sale includes a selection of original art by Max Ginsburg, including the oil on canvas he made for the 1982 Bantam Books edition of A Separate Peace (estimate: $10,000 - 15,000) and Mark Tauss' art for Jay McInerney's 1984 cult classic, Bright Lights, Big City (estimate: $8,000 - 12,000).

Image: Courtesy of Swann Galleries. 
Fred Marcellino, Golden Notebook, Leonard S. Marcus, Mark Tauss, Max Ginsburg, Slow Learner, Swann Galleries, World's End, auction, book cover art, dust jacket art