AbeBooks' Reading Copy

Shot by Thomas Edison in 1909, this short video (no sound, obviously) is apparently the only footage of Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) in existence. It became part of a two-reel short film based on Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper. Twain died the year following the filming. via MentalFloss

The toughest pioneers wore skirts. This selection of non-fiction celebrates the women who tamed the American West, conquered Canada’s frozen frontiers and explored the Australian Outback. In an era when a woman’s place was in the home, these remarkable pioneer women made history, built communities and took the wild out of wilderness.

The Libraries at UC San Diego have a great archive up from when Dr. Seuss was in advertising, including many pieces I’d never seen before. The introduction: Before Theodore Seuss Geisel found fame as a children’s book author, the primary outlet for his creative efforts was magazines. His first steady job after he left Oxford [...]

May is Asian Heritage Month in Canada, and the CBC has a selection of excellent Asian-Canadian novels, compiled by CBC producer and Asian-Canadian history enthusiast Adrian Ma. His list includes a few I’ve read and many I haven’t, and one of my favourite books of all time, The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy. Tales from [...]

The American Guide Series is a collection of books, magazines and pamphlets published between 1937 and 1941. Meant to educate and attract, the series was put together by The Federal Writers’ Project (FWP) which provided government funding towards writing and publishing initiatives during the Great Depression. Each publication in the American Guide Series included background [...]

We look at many, many, many books in a day as part of the AbeBooks marketing team. They go as far back as ancient times, long before the printing press, and I see books from centuries ago every day. So it should come as no surprise that very often I end up reminded of the [...]

A Game of Authors – a very cool 19th century literary card game.

First of all, who is familiar with the author Terry Deary? Apparently, he’s sold 25 million books and yet very few adults know him. But millions of children adore his colorful paperback series Horrible Histories. Kids also love the BBC TV series dedicated to Horrible Histories. Each book is titled something like The Vile Victorians [...]

One of my favourite, televised guilty pleasures is the BBC’s The Supersizers Go…, which was rebroadcast on The Food Network in Canada. The show combines my love of cooking, history, and humour into several episodes of gastronomical adventure and hilarity. In the spirit of Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Supersize Me’, the two hosts immerse themselves in the spirit [...]

Features about the Titanic are plentiful this week – the BBC has some particularly interesting reading. Learn about the 1955 book about the sinking, A Night to Remember by Walter Lord, the lost jeweled copy of Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, the American mystery writer who went down with the ship, the ship’s two libraries, and [...]