… And speaking of great Christmas presents for readers, all three His Dark Materials books by Philip Pullman – The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass – are now available in a single volume, put out by Everyman’s Library. And look – it’s gorgeous!
Dickens “is referred to as the man who invented Christmas but he didn’t exactly do that,” said Michael Slater, author of a new Dickens biography, ” It’s the same year, 1843, that the first Christmas card is recorded. There was definitely a revival of Christmas, and Dickens with his little story incorporates so many different aspects of the festive season. He stamped his image on it.”
“What he did,” said actor, author and Dickensian Simon Callow, “was to make Christmas about now.”
In today’s Washington Post, Adrian Higgins takes a look at the acclaimed novelist and his influence on the holiday.
Around the holiday season we like to look at some of our top sales and guess which ones might be Christmas presents for some lucky bibliophile. It a lot of fun because you start to think about the type of person who would be really excited about receiving each book, I even go a step further and try and think of my friends and family and guess who I would give each item to if I had an unlimited gift giving budget. Give it a try.
The top 10 list is hand picked from our sales over the peak Christmas shopping season (November 23 – December 6).
1. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - Sold for $3,300
No gift could convey the spirit of the season better than this 1843 first edition, second issue, copy of A Christmas Carol, and at $3,300 the giver is far from a Scrooge. This novella helped turn Christmas into the holiday it is today.
2. Babycakes with Weights by Edward Ruscha - Sold for $2,000
The perfect gift for pop art collectors or the next Andy Warhol in your family, Edward Ruscha’s Babycakes with Weights was published in 1970 and features one slightly hungry-looking baby and 21 photographs of assorted cakes, pies, sweetbreads, pastries and tarts with the weight of each item. A very odd book indeed.
3. A History of British Birds by F.O. Morris - Sold for $1,750
Published in 1857, this six-volume set details the various species of birds in Britain, including 358 full color plates. An absolute must for the very serious birder….if you can afford it.
Under the Dome Collector's Set by Stephen King
If you haven’t visited the AbeBooks Holiday Bookshop in awhile, I’d like to suggest that you “stop by” and check out the new books that have been added.
To keep you in fresh ideas for gifts, we’ve been adding books each week. For instance, this week some fantastic special editions have been added to the New Books Bookshop including the Under the Dome Collector’s Set by Stephen King and Percy Jackson and the Olympians Hardcover Boxed Set.
In the Rare Books Bookshop, we’ve added a scarce Walt Disney biography and a photoplay edition of Phantom of the Opera.
Swing by the Signed Books Bookshop and you’ll find signed copies of Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami.
Top Nine Short Story Collections I Love:
Life After God by Douglas Coupland
For anyone who has ever felt lost, felt too old to be feeling lost, felt too self-conscious and ridiculous to be feeling too old to feel lost, this book is for you. Full of vivid depictions of British Columbia, from the green you can almost smell it in places, to the grey of downtown Vancouver, the book is aching for spirituality, for belonging, for a sense of purpose, and for the sense of safety, security and comfort that people enjoy when they believe in God.
Holidays on Ice by David Sedaris
I bought this for a friend for Christmas a few years ago, and because this is what I often do, I read it before giving it to him. I have my own copy now, and I hope he never noticed his copy is mangled where I clutched it from laughing so hard. There are a couple opf stories I only liked, but most of them I loved. The trials and tribulations of a struggling actor playing a Christmas elf at Macy’s depart store is my favourite by far. This book makes a great Christmas gift (if you buy it now, think what a headstart you’ll have on next year’s shopping!).
Skin and Other Stories by Roald Dahl
I collect Roald Dahl books. I love his writing, and his tone and voice, and his absolute relish in ghastly things. While he’s primarily known for his children’s books, the grisly ghastliness is just as present in his writing for adults, including this collection. Also, what a great cover! It’s as great to look at as to read. My favourite in the bunch is the title story, Skin, about two young men who are friends, and both quite poor. One is an artist, and in payment for a debt to his friend, offers to tattoo him for free, and does a large piece on his friend’s back. Decades later, the old man with the tattoo comes across a gallery of his now very famous artist friend’s work…
Fresh Girls and Other Stories by Evelyn Lau
Chinese-Canadian author Evelyn Lau is a writer I really like, although she writes about such dark, heartbreaking subject matter that I tend to ingest her work in manageable chunks where possible to not fall into a bleak pit of despair. That makes her perfect for a book of short fiction! Kidding aside, Fresh Girls is a collection of stories all featuring women working in the sex trade in Vancouver. Told in the women’s voices, the stories speak of yearning, shame, the struggle for self-worth, and the ways we find ourselves trapped in our lives, without ever really knowing how we got there. Lau’s writing is unapologetic, sparse and beautiful.
Swimming Lessons and Other Stories From Firozsha Baag by Rohinton Mistry
Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance would easily be on my top ten favourite books of all things, ever, so since reading it, I’ve eagerly devoured anything else he’s written. This is another real gem. The stories are about a group of residents living in a ramshackle apartment building. They’re told with with and humour, and paint a portrait of everyday life in a middle-class Indian community.
People You’d Trust Your Life To by Brownwen Wallace
Of the authors I’ve read, Brownwen Wallace writes with an understanding of people more poignant and perfect than any other. The stories are simple and sweet, and deal with everything from day to day life, to tragedy, to the loss of a love, but the glory of them is the strength of the voices of her characters, and the recognizable pangs in the challenges they face. Wallace died before completing the final edit of this book, her only book of fiction (she mostly wrote poetry), and never lived to see its publication.
Homeland and Other Stories by Barbara Kingsolver
With the same wit and sensitivity that have come to characterize her highly praised and beloved novels Animal Dreams and The Bean Trees, Barbara Kingsolver gives us a rich and emotionally resonant collection of twelve stories. Spreading her memorable characters over landscapes ranging from northern-California to the hills of eastern Kentucky and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Kingsolver tells stories of hope, momentary joy, and powerful endurance. In every setting, Kingsolver’s distinctive voice — at times comic, but often heartrending — rings true as she explores the twin themes of family ties and the life choices one must ultimately make alone.
Nine Stories by JD Salinger
Using skilled language and consistent tone, Salinger manages to create a cohesive feel throughout all of the stories in this collection. His characters all seem to have similar struggles in varying themes: loss of innocence, disappointment, world-weariness, and the painful inability to reconcile their desires with their realities. There is a stark contrast between the frank, open, still innocent children in the book and their lost adult counterparts. 
My favourite among the stories, A Perfect Day For Bananafish, never fails to leave my stomach feeling full of ice-water, even after multiple readings. The stories are wistful and sad, but so skillfully crafted and insightful they must be appreciated.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
Okay, this one’s a cheat, because I haven’t read it yet. But it was a Christmas gift from my sweetie, and I’m sure it will become one of my favourites soon. Watch this space for an upcoming review.
happy New Year, everyone!
On a day where there is only more news about lay-offs in the publishing industry, I spotted this article in The Guardian about Tony Blair’s official Christmas card. It’s a pretty rubbish article but reminded me about the large number of Christmas cards from famous people that can be found on AbeBooks. Here are some examples….
Malcolm X (before he switched to Islam, of course – $9,500 for a Christmas card anyone?)
Prince Charles and Princess Anne (Note – we have lots of cards from the Royals)
Charlie Chaplin (a family photo from 1974 on the cover)
and, finally, one from Jack Norworth. Who is he you ask? Jack composed ‘Take Me Out To the Ball Game.’ Who the heck would spend $100 on that?
When I was young I was like most small children around Christmas time, constantly snooping around the house to see if I could stumble upon what my parents might be getting me for Christmas…. Either I was rubbish at finding things (only children are never any good at hide and seek) or my parents were masters of deception because I never found anything…
If you happen to have a very wealthy friend, and are very lucky, perhaps one of these books will be under the tree with your name on it this Christmas. All books were purchased on AbeBooks during prime Christmas shopping season (November 24 to December 7)
1 Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama – $5,000
Signed by both the President-Elect and Michelle Obama
2 Space Odyssey Series by Arthur C. Clarke – $3,750
Complete set (4) of first editions – all signed by Clarke, who died earlier this year
3 Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – $3,000
First American edition, one of 250 numbered copies signed by the author
3 The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice - $3,000
Complete set (10) of first editions – all signed by Rice
5 China, in a series of Views, Displaying the Scenery, Architecture, and Social Habits of that Ancient Empire by George Newenham Wright – $2,556
Published in 1843, a rare insight into China during the Qing Dynasty
6 The Works of Alexandre Dumas – $2,500
First edition published in 1894; 15 volumes including the Count of Monte Cristo, Three Musketeers and more
7 Poems by Wallace Stevens – $2,475
Number 294 of 326 limited edition copies with original Jasper Johns etchings
8 Enders Game by Orson Scott Card – $1,500
1985 first printing of the Nebula and Hugo Award-winning novel
9 The Complete Works of George Orwell – $1,238
Complete 20-volume set published in 1998
10 Psycho by Robert Bloch – $1,188
First UK edition from 1960
If you read this blog, or our website, with any regularity you will have found at least one instance where we mention the possibility that just maybe someone you know might, perhaps, enjoy a book should you decide to get them something around the holidays.
This is something we tend to believe around here. To this end you would be correct to assume that the reason we think you should buy your loved ones a book is that we sell books, and not televisions, radios, cookware, or toy dolls. While this is true, the reason we decided to sell books in the first place is that we truly believe that they are a far more enjoyable than any televisions, radios, cookware, or toy dolls.
What got me on this tangent was this article in The Times by comedian David Baddiel.
I don’t wish to pour cold water on the good intentions of this or any other books supplement presently advising its readers on which of the many masterpieces published this year might make the best presents this Christmas, but here’s a small piece of advice to my loved ones: I’m never that pleased, on either a snowy Yule morn, or for that matter a candlelit Chanukah night, when I pick up the wrapped-up rectangle and know instantly that yes, it’s a book. I do of course love books. But – uniquely perhaps in this day and age – I tend to express that love by actually going out and buying the ones I want. Like: as soon as they come out? So really, all a book means to me is: you wanted to spend less than £14.99.
There is a way round this, if you really do want to give a book to me or any other book-lover this Christmas, which is: ignore all the advice about which new books to get, and instead, get an old one. By which I mean, a first edition.
I would not go quite as far as Mr. Baddiel, new copies are just fine with me, but he does make a point that a book does make quite a lovely present.
According to the Associated Press, it’s not just me feeling extra humbug this winter. Tough times all around are sending people in search of familiar warm-fuzzies to beat the blues and blahs. And what better way to get in the holiday spirit than by revisiting some of the stories about the holidays that made us feel best, both in childhood and even for grown-ups.
The mortgage meltdown, job squeeze and clash between rich and poor evoke long-popular holiday tales with ghostly clarity, offering messages of hope, faith and togetherness during an intensely uncertain year, says William J. Palmer, an English professor and Charles Dickens expert at Purdue University.
“The real reason that readers have always returned to `A Christmas Carol’ year after year since the 1840s is that it provides a way of reinvigorating the spirit of Christmas that everyone wants to feel during this season, no matter how hard the times or how bleak the economic outlook,” he said.
Some of the Christmas stories mentioned to help you believe in Santa again:
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus by Anonymous (really Francis Church, a Sun of New York staffer)
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
It’s a Wonderful Life based on The Greatest Gift by Philip van Doren Stern
A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Roast some chestnuts, curl up with cookies and eggnog, snooze in front of the fire, and read your holiday favourites – whatever it takes to hunker down and get through the long winter, warm and happy.
This time of year usually finds me standing outside a shop, shaking my fist at the tinsel-strewn display inside and lamenting the commercialism of a holiday that seems to come sooner each year. But for some reason, this year I feel downright festive. It could be that I’ve adopted a tradition of my own – shopping primarily online – to help me avoid rabid shoppers and tinny Christmas carols.
Regardless, I’m looking fondly forward to the holidays. Traditions at the Beth house include reading/watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which we’ve done since I was a little girl, so I’m considering getting my mum a collectible copy, because if there’s one joy I take at the holidays, it’s making Mum’s eyes well up with nostalgia. For a similar reason, I’ll be looking for used copies of books she read to me as a child, like Old Black Witch, which is now out-of-print and becoming scarce. It has a recipe for blueberry pancakes in it, which I remember making with my mum when I was about six. I’m also thinking of getting her something both special, and sure to become more valuable – a signed book from one of her favourite authors, like Ian McEwan or Jose Saramago. Sadly, collectible Jane Austen is well beyond my means, but it would be great to see her face.
Christmas morning is generally spent lolling about and listening – often to Christmas music like a holiday jazz CD I made them a few years back, or Vince Guaraldi (think the piano music Snoopy dances to in the Peanuts cartoons). But I recently heard an audio story from Stuart McLean that was hysterically funny, and then discovered that the Vinyl Cafe has a Christmas collection, which would be fun to hear as a family. David Sedaris’ Holidays on Ice, one the funnier things I’ve ever had the pleasure to read, is also available in audiobook format.
I’m looking forward to it.
Today’s recommendation for Christmas is a gift for Daddy….(assuming he was a rocker in the 1970s and a lot of them were – they just don’t talk about that part of their lives anymore) is Hammer of the Gods: The Led Zeppelin Saga by Stephen Davis. Check out the signed copy signed by Robert Plant. This is an old book, written in the 1980s, but no-one cares what they did after the band broke up following the death of John Bonham. Last night’s reunion concert in London has got huge press – everyone has carried some sort of retrospective. Back home in the UK, I probably didn’t hear a Led Zeppelin record played on a major radio station from about 1983 onwards. Here in North America, they are played every day.
Today’s recommendation for something for Christmas is…..well, actually it is getting harder and harder to find something newish that might appeal to lots of people. So let’s look at one non-fiction author who writes super books on interesting events – Simon Winchester.
I recommend any number of his books, including A Crack in The Edge of the World for anyone who lives in San Francisco or intends to visit soon. I also recommend Krakatoa: The Day For World Exploded. Two great books on two events that shook the world.
Did you know Winchester, while working as a journalist, was captured by the Argentinian forces during the war for the Falkland Islands?
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