AbeBooks' Reading Copy

Dating back to the French revolution, “Les Bouquinistes” are outdoor booksellers along the Seine River. Selling books, magazines, ephemera, postcards, art and more, they are one of the most charming parts of Parisian life, and currently number over 200 regular vendors. For over 300 years, they have existed for locals and tourists alike. One is [...]

This is both important, and relevant to my interests. Queen Elizabeth has named an entire litter of Labrador Retriever puppies after Harry Potter characters. She’s keeping mum so far on most of the names, but a leak revealed that one of them is called “Gryffindor”. I guess she’s repaying a favor – after all, J.K. [...]

While it’s not always possible to attend an exhibition in New York, London or Los Angeles, it’s easy to add the catalog to your collection. AbeBooks offers thousands of beautiful art catalogs published by the world’s finest art galleries and museums. These publications – from New York’s Museum of Modern Art, London’s Tate Gallery and [...]

Victorian-era English illustrator Kate Greenaway drew children’s clothing with such care, imagination and detail that she inspired a line of clothing.

Congratulations to Samuel Jang of Victoria, BC, who was the first place winner in the 2011-2012 National Book Collecting Contest for Young Canadians Under 30, of which AbeBooks was a proud sponsor. The requirements for the contest were simple – be Canadian, be under 30, and write an essay about your book collection – what [...]

We have a feature exploring the post-war writing of authors who went to war. Many young men with an urge to write have gone to war and then produced a masterpiece on their return. One such young man was Ernest Hemingway, who fought in World War I. This letter to his family about his experiences [...]

As of May 1st, there is an app available from Azymous Interactive that allows users browsing bookstore shelves to not crane their necks to read spine titles. It’s called ShelfLook, and this is version 1.0, so coming improvements are likely. From the web site: “Do you hate turning your neck sideways to read book titles [...]

It’s always useful to know about the next holy day, full moon or high tide. Cures for common ailments and crop planting charts are also handy. Almanacs have been printed since 1457 and make for a fascinating book collection. This selection of rare almanacs stretches from Benjamin Franklin to a sporting reference book still being [...]

Congratulations to Sheila Turner, who recently won BC Transit’s Transit Hero contest and earned a big pile of British Columbia-themed books (donated by AbeBooks) for her efforts. Sheila wrote a very interesting essay about her bus reading club where a small group of like-minded bibliophiles talk books on the morning commute. Our bus has a [...]

Vintage seed catalogues are important historical documentation of our agricultural heritage. They remain an invaluable record of seed varietals and plants of the time, when crops and species evolve season over season. And fortunately for us all, many are also exquisitely beautiful as art and design.