Our friends at English PEN, an organization devoted to literary freedom, are staging an exciting event later this month when 50 modern first editions are to be auctioned. However, these are no ordinary first editions. All the books have been annotated, usually at length and in great detail, by their authors specially for the ‘First Editions, Second Thoughts’ auction.

Many famous authors have added annotations, commentary or illustrations, including Margaret Atwood, Julian Barnes, Alan Bennett, William Boyd, Margaret Drabble, Helen Fielding, Nadine Gordimer, David Hare, Seamus Heaney, Kazuo Ishiguro, Howard Jacobson, Ian McEwan, Michael Morpurgo, J.K. Rowling, Lionel Shriver, Ralph Steadman, Tom Stoppard and Jeanette Winterson.

The authors have explained their inspiration for characters and scenes, added background information, context, and details about why plots took a particular turn.

J.K. Rowling added annotations on 43 pages of a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (yes, a real first edition, first printing – one of the 500 from the initial Bloomsbury print run). Rowling’s annotations include 22 illustrations and 1100 words.

Hilary Mantel added annotations on 123 pages of a Wolf Hall first edition, which included 2,650 words.

DBC Pierre added annotations on 188 pages of a first edition of Vernon God Little, which included illustrations on 57 pages and about 3,400 words.

Julian Barnes added annotations on 68 pages of a Metroland first edition, worth about 2,300 words.

Ralph Steadman added new illustrations on 55 pages of a first edition of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, including 14 full page and four double page ink drawings across the text and rear end-pages. He also added two portraits of Hunter S. Thompson, the book’s author.

I could go on and on. Here’s the full list.

The auction takes place at 7:30pm on Tuesday, May 21st at Sotheby’s in London. The books can be viewed on Monday May 20th and on the day of the sale from 9am to 4:30pm. All proceeds will benefit English PEN. To attend the auction, order a printed catalogue, or arrange a telephone bid, contact Sotheby’s.

AbeBooks Top 10 Signed books from April 2013

AbeBooks Top 10 bestselling books from April 2013
1. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
2. Night by Elie Wiesel
3. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
4. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
5. Jesus Calling by Sarah Young
6. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
7. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
8. How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk by Adele Faber
9. Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch
10. Animal Farm by George Orwell

Last week I was in New York for the ABAA New York Antiquarian Book Fair and also the Manhattan Vintage Book & Ephemera Show. As always, New York offered amazing bookstores and a buzzing city.

I had some spare time, and in keeping with the book theme, decided to visit the main branch of the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. For me, this building is the very best of what a library can be; beautiful architecture, unique books and a great children’s book collection.

Walking down Fifth Avenue, my first glimpse of the library was the iconic lions (top left), Patience and Fortitude. The library lions are instantly recognizable and mark the library as a special place. On this visit, there were two Lego replicas of the beloved lions (top right) inside the building – definitely worth a look for Lego lovers!

The NYPL is the second largest library in the US and the third largest in the world, with at least 53 million items. The building was designed by John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings between 1897 and 1911 and is stunning example of Beaux-Arts design. At the time of construction, the library was the largest marble structure ever built in the US.

In a corner of the children’s library I discovered an exhibit of the real Winnie the Pooh animals: Eeyore, Piglet, Kanga, Tigger and Pooh. The animals belonged to Christopher Milne, son of the author, A.A. Milne and the books were donated to the New York Public Library in 1987 by the publisher of the Pooh books (aside: if you don’t know the origins of Winnie the Pooh, they are fascinating).

When you look at these animals you can see they were well loved, with worn patches and bits of fur missing, this makes them that much more endearing . Knowing that the stories were based on treasured and well-loved toys makes them even better to read, I can’t wait to rediscover these tales with my daughters.

The real animals of Winnie-the-Pooh: Piglet

Guest post compliments of Maria Hutchison, AbeBooks Account Manager for our rare and collectible segment.

Imagine making a Secret Garden, with nooks and crannies tucked away. Or have a wardrobe door opening into the snowy wonderland of Narnia. Perhaps a giant chessboard, for Wizard Chess, a la Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

In their own words:

Literary Lots is a program that ‘brings books to life’ in vacant lots in Cleveland. Working with the Cleveland Public Libraries and LAND Studio, Literary Lots will transform 2 to 4 vacant lots adjacent to libraries into six-week summer program spots for children in inner-city Cleveland. Between June and August 2013, local artists will use themes from specific children’s books to re-create places, concepts, or adventures from the book, creating a magical and educational space to engage local youth in art and culture. Working with other local non-profits and cultural institutions, the artists will bring engaging programming to youth right in their neighborhoods. The result: a transformative experience that combines creative land re-use, artist engagement, youth education and urban renewal.

It seems what books are represented/created will depend in part upon being granted copyright permissions. I hope they have little in the way of hurdles around that, as it’s such a wonderful idea for unused space. I would have been bonkers for something like that as a kid.

Learn more about Literary Lots (or donate, if you’re inclined)!

From informational texts like the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (The DSM) to autobiographies, to fiction, there is a fascinating array of books about mental illness to delve into. This list is just the beginning.

We love the BC Book Prizes here at AbeBooks. Granted, we’re a bit biased, given that we make our headquarters in British Columbia’s capital city (Victoria). But the prizes really are something special, highlighting the best written talent this beautiful province has to offer in seven categories: fiction, non-fiction, poetry, regional, children’s literature, illustrated children’s literature, and booksellers’ choice.

It’s now been 10 years that AbeBooks has been a proud sponsor of the prizes, in the Hubert Evans Award for Non-fiction category, and we couldn’t be more pleased to be along for the ride. A few years back I was lucky enough to attend the awards gala and dinner, and had such a memorable evening. Being in a room with so much talent and creativity is inspiring and humbling.

If you’re wondering who Hubert Evans was, he was born in 1892, and actually began his life in Ontario, not British Columbia, but moved to this province, in Roberts Creek, BC, in his early adulthood. Margaret Laurence called him “the elder of our tribe”. He was a Quaker, an avid outdoorsman, and a prolific writer. In the 70 active years of his career, he completed no fewer than 200 short stories, as well as several novels, plays, books of poetry and more, before his death in 1986. He is remembered and revered among writers, in BC, the rest of Canada, and beyond. That’s him pictured at left, on the cover of his biography: Hubert Evans: The First Ninety-Three Years by Alan Twigg.

Here are the finalists for the 2013 BC Book Prizes, in the non-fiction and fiction categories:

Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize

The Art of the Impossible: Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power, 1972-1975 by Geoff Meggs, Rod Mickleburgh

Into the Abyss: How a Deadly Plane Crash Changed the Lives of a Pilot, a Politician, a Criminal and a Cop by Carol Shaben

Journey with No Maps: A Life of P.K. Page by Sandra Djwa

The Light through the Trees: Reflections on Land and Farming by Luanne Armstrong

Pinboy by George Bowering

Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize

Floating Like the Dead by Yasuko Thanh

Gay Dwarves of America by Anne Fleming

Malarky by Anakana Schofield

Psychology and Other Stories by C.P. Boyko

The World by Bill Gaston

The winners of all seven categories will be announced at the Lieutenant Governor’s BC Book Prizes Gala on Saturday, May 4, 2013, at Government House in Victoria. Congratulations and best of luck to all the finalists!

The book was sold by Kim Herzinger of Left Bank Books from New York and Kim was kind enough to explain further why book collectors are fascinated with this enigmatic poet.

Kim writes:

“Kenneth Patchen’s poetry and fiction – and especially his ‘painted poems’ – are now bought and collected for many reasons.

“Like William Carlos Williams, Henry Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, and New Directions’ James Laughlin – all of whom were early champions of his work – Patchen was a kind of ‘godfather’ to the Beat writers of the 1950s and 60s. He was a visionary writer and artist, whose experiments in the ways that poetry could be presented – merged with painting and drawing, like William Blake, or merged with jazz, like Rexroth, Langston Hughes, Allen Ginsberg, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti – opened up new possibilities for the poets of that period. His work offered the Beats yet another way of making poetry central to the sense of unbinding energies that they were so intent upon making available to a culture they felt had become stifling, stale, and predictable in the post-war years.

“His ‘painted poems,’ of which The Moment is one of the finest and scarcest of all of his efforts (all of which were published in extremely small editions), are particularly desirable – for those interested in poetry, of course, but also for those who recognize in his gorgeous, vivid, and compelling drawings and paintings an artist whose work bears comparison with Klee, Dubuffet, American Folk Artists, and graffitists.

“The copy of Patchen’s The Moment recently sold by Left Bank Books, came out in 1955 in a printing of only 42 copies, and gathers together two of Patchen’s 1955 most important books of illustrated poems, Glory Never Guesses and A Surprise for the Bagpipe Player. It contains 36 serigraph broadsides plus two additional serigraphs on the title page and verso (a poem to his wife, Miriam) all of which are printed in various brilliant and delightful colors on rice paper. It had originally been owned by well-known poet-critic Stanley Burnshaw.

“Interest in Patchen will only continue to increase, as interest in the Beats and what they now have come to represent in the development of American life and culture, continues unabated, and also because his art work is recognizable in tendencies evident in the styles and forms of contemporary art.”

Every corner of science, life and nature, from wildflowers to electricity to the economy and beyond, can be found inside a Pelican.

Louis Wain was a British artist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, best known for his whimsical and chaotic drawings of cats. If you’ve come across any of Wain’s art, you know it’s memorable. The cats and kittens are depicted with large, wide eyes, often with crazy, spiky fur, and with psychedelic patterns and backgrounds. The cats are anthropomorphized, wearing clothes, having conversations, playing musical instruments and more. If you are a fan of cats, or unusual children’s art, they are utterly charming.

Wain’s story is rather a sad one, unfortunately, in many regards. He was born into a family with a lot of mental illness, and was the only one of six children in the family ever to marry. His longtime devotion to cats began when he was married in his early twenties. His wife Emily fell ill with breast cancer, and Wain found that their kitten, Peter, lifted his sick wife’s spirits immeasurably. He began to dress the kitten up and teach him to do little tricks to make his wife happy. He also began to sketch Peter, and it was on a promise to Emily that he persevered and published his first drawings.

Wain was a highly productive artist for the following three decades or so, providing work for countless children’s books, as well as advertisements and features in magazines. His love of cats defined his entire oeuvre (though he did branch into dogs, from time to time), and he became chairman of The National Cat Club in 1898, and even had his own Louis Wain’s Annual from 1901-1915.

But Wain’s success did little to secure his financial future – he had a mother and five sisters to support, and was a poor businessman, often selling his work outright with no thought to copyright or royalties, and was taken advantage of frequently.

Around 1907, Wain’s own mental health began to decline rapidly, and the previously affable, good-natured artist became paranoid, suspicious and delusional as schizophrenia began to take hold. He was committed in 1924, to the pauper ward of a mental hospital. When news of his circumstance reached the public, there was outcry from many, including H.G. Wells, who championed Wain’s cause. Wain was, as a result, moved to a much more pleasant hospital with abundant green space (and even cats), and he spent the remaining years of his life there in relative peace.

Some students of Wain’s art have claimed that the deterioration and change in Wain’s mental state can be clearly demonstrated through a study of his drawings and paintings, while others argue that is problematic. The latter claim that Wain’s frenetic, chaotic, psychedelic-patterned cats were experimentation with for, color and style, and that Wain also continued to create more conventional (albeit playing sports and talking) cats well into his later career. It is tough to know whether to lend any credence to the theories, as few if any of Wain’s works were dated, anyway.

Regardless, for a cat lover, an art lover, or a collector of vintage children’s books, Louis Wain is not to be missed.

And if you can’t get enough weird children’s books about cats, be sure to check out Mee-a-ow! Or, Good Advice to Cats and Kittens by R.M. Ballantyne.

Enjoy this selection of Wain’s cats, depicting great variation in his artistic style over the years.

It’s the time of year when cinnamon hearts, pink bears and glitter-festooned roses permeate the stores. Worst of all, generic greeting cards try to do justice to the world’s greatest and most complex of emotions – love. The best love stories can sometimes almost get there.

Take a break from the cloying sappiness of drugstore rhyme with these books that come close to speaking from the heart.

The Books of Love