A bumper crop of books about books this summer/early fall has kept me up past my bedtime, and all to your benefit, dear reader. Highlighted here are five novels with bookish themes that I have enjoyed these past few months and which I can recommend. If you’re looking for great bibliofiction, choose the one—or two, or five—that suits you best.
Let’s begin with plague, because, well you
For many of us, the past three months of lockdown has meant extra time for reading. With no social or cultural events to attend, the books have beckoned. Luckily, a great selection of books about books were in the works for late spring and early summer publication. Here are the ones that I’ve been enjoying.
Leading our nonfiction list is, of course, longtime FB&C
There are many novels about bookshops, rather fewer about collectors of rare books, and almost none about book design. This final category has now been bulked out a little with Death of a Typographer by Nick Gadd (published by Arden), a playful crime thriller about the world of typography.
Set largely in Melbourne,
So you’re “stuck” at home reading? Here’s a shortlist of new & soon-to-be-released books of interest to bibliophiles.
Pictured above is the new illustrated introduction to the Book of Kells, Ireland’s iconic illuminated manuscript,
Today sees the publication of Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote (Avid Reader Press, $30) by Craig Fehrman, a journalist and historian who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and—full disclosure—Fine Books
ICYMI: Our top ten most popular posts of 2019. Number one takes a page from our winter issue’s cover feature, pictured above. What can we say? Bob Dylan rules.
1. Collecting Bob Dylan
Music icon Bob Dylan offers collectors several
In our current issue, Lilly Library director and curator of early books and manuscripts Joel Silver focuses his column on biographies, memoirs, and reference works that introduce us to the book collectors who have preceded us. “Many collecting fields have a sizable body of guidebooks and reference literature,” he writes, “but book
Our holiday edition roundup of books about books focused exclusively on splashy, illustrated non-fiction, which meant we left off at least one new novel worthy of every bibliophile’s attention. Marley by Jon
It is perhaps inevitable that our quarterly roundup of books about books is heavy on heavy books, i.e. oversized, coffee-table tomes, the kind you might give or wish to receive as a holiday gift. Nevertheless, all are useful and beautiful additions to a book lover’s shelves.
Here we are back to the books. Earlier this week, I posted part 1 of this Autumn 2019 books about books roundup. Now, without further ado, part 2:
Leah Price’s What We
