AbeBooks' Reading Copy

Begun in 2003, this must be old news to many, but it’s new to me. A writer named Shelley Jackson (I suspect she’s a quirky individual: the bio on her web site claims she was “extracted from the bum leg of a water buffalo in 1963 in the Philippines”) launched a project called Skin in [...]

The cover of this vintage children’s book caught my eye. You can see why: It’s an 1860 children’s book called Mee-a-ow! Or, Good Advice to Cats and Kittens by Robert Michael (R.M.) Ballantyne. Ballantyne was a 19th-century Scotsman who lived in Canada and worked for the early Hudson’s Bay Company. He was an incredibly prolific [...]

The publishing sensation that just won’t quit… still hasn’t. E.L. James’ naughty, erotic Fifty Shades Trilogy still shows little signs of slowing. Rumors abound about who’s playing Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele in the movie version. Police sketch composite technology is used to generate a picture of Christian Grey. Otherwise respectable women in their thirties [...]

Move over, Superman – you’re not the only one who can perform a quick change in a telephone booth. According to the New York Times, an architectural designer from the Upper West Side is the real hero of this story. John H. Locke has devised a system by which he can quickly enter an empty [...]

Think you know everything about Jane Austen? Don’t be so sure. Our colleague Julie has compiled a list of 10 fascinating tidbits about Ms. Austen, and presents them in a most compelling – and creatively costumed- way in her video. Don’t miss out.

Just for fun, I created a grid of nine snippets from iconic, classic, well-known book covers. Think you know any of all of them? Leave your guesses in the comments below. I will post the answers in the next day or two.

And in a strange, boomerang twist of cross-marketing, the Self-helpers behind the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books are now trying their hands at….soup! But not soul soup. Not emotional soup. Not soup that’s actually just nice words to inspire you and make you feel spiritual. Just actual soup. “Launching the line will [...]

This ir our first “Ask AbeBooks” video, in which we recommend unusual cookbooks to Marjorie, who wrote to us from Wichita asking for gift suggestions. Enjoy. And if you’d like, you can read about even more weird cookbooks.

Toronto mayor Rob Ford is in the middle of a torrid scandal. Sex scandal? No. Embezzling? No. Drinking and driving? Close, but no. Ford’s crime is reading and driving. You read that right. A twitter user posted a photo of what appears to be Rob Ford, driving in 70km/hour traffic on the Gardiner Expressway, with [...]

It’s no secret that we’re bonkers for Edward Gorey around here. He wrote and illustrated so many fancifully fiendish and whimsically weird books, each with a style uniquely Gorey that were a pleasure for fans to behold. But he also designed and illustrated book covers for other people, many of which were just gorgeous, and [...]