NPR has a fun piece on famous writers and their associated drinks. Have a mojito while you read Hemingway, or a gin rickey while you take in Fitzgerald, or gimlet while poring over Chandler … or read about them all (and perhaps not drink them all) in the recently released Hemingway & Bailey’s Bartending Guide to Great American Writers.
Maida Silverman’s Anna and the Seven Swans
This is signed copy of the enchanting Baba Yaga Russian folk-tale of a girl attempting to save her brother from an evil witch who sends seven swans after him. Fowl count - 23… maybe that’s why it is traditional to eat some sort of bird for Christmas dinner?
When I was in grade school we took weekly trips to the school library, as a class, to get our fix of reading material and each week the boys (who are all I can speak for) would always a rush for a specific few titles - a series on classic monsters, a huge tome on old cars and any or all of the Tintin series. Seeing this article in the Guardian Blog brought back memories of trying to speed walk (as running is not allowed in the library) to the fiction shelf where the Tintin books were kept.
BibliOdyssey is perhaps one of my favourite blogs - book-related or not. It doesn’t feel like a traditional blog, rather the blog focuses on collecting antiquarian book imagery. Most posts are a series of related images and some explanatory text about the series. The posts range from book arts, scientific illustrations, antiquarian maps, country specific art styles and more…
Rather than wasting effort trying explain how fascintating the posts are, you should really just visit and discover for yourself, I really can’t recommend it enough.
What’s going on in the New York Times today? Very little usually catches my attention from this paper. However, today, there is this article about a huge collection of African-American artifacts including 30,000 rare and out-of-print books, and another piece on a very interesting boxing book that I might be tempted to buy.
There’s an awful lot of avian themed presents in this song - has anyone else noticed? It might be interesting to note that economists are really out there earning their money calculating the true cost of Christmas each year and creating a fancy website. Apparently last year H5N1 bird flu caused this index to shoot up due to all these avian gifts… for OUR sixth day of Christmas we give to you….
Six Geese from a Tomb at Medium by Wagas Ahmad Khwaja
Published in Pakistan in 1987, this copy is a signed first edition.
There is an interesting article on ‘literary spam’ in the New York Times this morning. Spam is something we know all about at AbeBooks.com - we are deluged by the stuff. At the moment, we are being attacked by huge amounts of Viagra spam thinly disguised with Christian subject lines. Someone was offering me secondhand yachts this morning. Banks are always telling me to reconfirm my account details. And then there’s the endless stream of letters telling me that I’ve won the lottery in Australia or that their uncle was formerly the ruler of a remote African country and that they have access to $1 million but need my bank account details to get the loot.
FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, I think this has to be everyone’s favourite part of the song as it’s where we can really belt it out!  What’s the only thing your true love will love more than gold rings?
Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
It’s a special GOLD souvenir edition (wait for it) in a FIVE-RING binder! This edition commemorates the sale of 10 million BHG’s cookbooks.
The AbeBooks’ auction of five signed Penguin Designer Classics closed a few hours ago and we’re thrilled with the response. Three books were sold for $3,000 or more and in total $13,775 was raised for charity. Thanks to everyone who took part - this was the first auction in AbeBooks’ 10-year history and it’s been an extremely memorable experience.
Dan Brown earns more than Donald Trump, according to Forbes.
Just take a look at how the AbeBooks’ charity auction is going. Bidding for all but one of the five beautiful books has exceeded $1,000. However, the latest bid for Lady Chatterley’s Lover designed by Paul Smith is now $2,000. The auction closes today at 3pm EST and 8pm GMT.
On the fourth day of Christmas, your true love can give the gift of calling birds with:
Garden Bird songs and Calls  by Geoff Sample
This 2000 edition covers how to identify and call 40 of the most common and vocal garden birds. It also includes a CD to guide you through the learning process step by step.
 In the UK, the Daily Mail comes up with an article on unusual book titles - most of them have been drawn from bygone eras. The 
article says the creators of the collection of book covers spent four decades searching secondhand bookshops and libraries for amusing titles. Why didn’t they just look on AbeBooks?
There’s just over 24 hours to go in our charity auction. Bidding for the Manolo Blahnik designed copy of Madame Bovary has reached $500. Stay tuned.
If you’re in Boston and love British rare books from the 18th century then this exhibition might be for you.
After a weekend repast (and don’t they go so quick?) we once again revive our Christmas countdown…
*achem* On the third day of Christmas, the true love was to give Three French Hens. We upped the ante, now you can create your own flock…
Le Poulailler - Monographie Des Poules Indigenes et Exotiques  by Charles Jacque.
Published by Agricole de la Masion Rustique, Paris, in 1858 with French text; the famous Barbizon School animal painter Charles Jacque here offers his thoughts on animal breeding. This was the dominant manual in France for poultry breeders for decades.