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

Mixed in with the many books at the fair you can also find rare maps, prints, photos and sometimes items so unique they are hard to categorize.

There were several standout items for me at this fair, and just choosing a few to share was challenging. Here are just a few of the items I loved:

By far, my favorite at this fair was a small illustrated songbook manuscript presented by White Fox Rare Books, which can also be found on AbeBooks, Cahier de Chansons Commence en Captivite Le 1/10/1941.

The manuscript was made by Leo Osteng, a French prisoner held in a German POW camp during World War Two. Vibrant and lively illustrations accompany the hand written song lyrics.

White Fox Rare Books also brought along another of my favorites, a Monogram Album with Monograms Incorporated into Watercolors and Ink drawings. Monogram albums were common place in the Victorian era. People would cut out and save the crests and monograms found on letters and envelopes they received and then past them into albums. Some books were very simple and others more detailed and decorative, such as the one I found at the New York Book Fair. There are many great examples of Monogram albums on the AbeBooks site.

Lux Mentis Books always has unique books and ephemera and this time they brought some beautiful miniature books, each one no larger than a few inches.

The art historian in me loved this small, untitled but signed oil painting by poet E.E. Cummings that Massachussetts bookseller Ken Lopez brought to the fair.

If you’re interested in paintings by E.E. Cummings, there are many more on the AbeBooks site.

This is just a small sample of the incredible books and ephemera that you can find at an antiquarian book fair. Everything you see at the book fair is accessible and available to handle, and there’s nothing quite like picking up a book that is being sold for $10,000.

What I love most about these fairs is the friendliness and accessibility: although there are many high-priced books, there are also always items for new collectors, and the booksellers are more than happy to answer your questions and help you enter the world of collecting.

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

The Floundering by Romy Ash
The Beloved by Annah Faulkner
Questions of Travel by Michelle de Kretser
The Mountain by Drusilla Modjeska
Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany

The winner will be announced June 19th at the National Library of Australia.

Today’s interesting old-timey find on the site is The Good House-Wife Made a Doctor by Thomas Tryon, 1692. We only have one original copy, priced at just over three grand, so one would have to be very interested indeed to purchase it. But for those chiefly interested in its contents and text, there are several modern print-on-demand copies available for as little as $25.00.

It’s a fascinating book. Its full title is The Good House-Wife Made a Doctor, Or, Health’s Choice and Sure Friend Being a Plain Way of Nature’s Own Prescribing to Prevent and Cure Most Diseases Incident to Men, Women and Children by Diet and Kitchin Physick Only. In short, it sounds like a very early book of herbal remedies and nutrition as preventative medicine. I find it interesting, since so many health professionals seem to be trying to return to similar thinking now.

The preface (pictured above) reads (in part):

THE PREFACE TO THE READER –
Health is the greatest temporal Blessing we can enjoy in this Mortal State: Without it the choicest Beauty vanishes in a Moment, like a withered Flower; the stoutest Strength dwindles into a childish Weakness, scarce able to the Support the tottering Carkass (sic); Riches become insignificant Lumber; Honour an empty Bubble, or extrinsick shadow, yielding no delight; Nay, Wit and Parts grow Useless, and Life it self but an unwelcome load and continual Torture. For how often may we see Lords and Aldermen, the Rich and the…

That does indeed sound dire.

Thomas Tryon was a 17th-century author, primarily of health and self-help books, and a big believer in and advocate of plant-based food as medicine. He touted the benefits of a vegetarian diet long (long!) before it was common or fashionable.

Walking into an antiquarian bookshop is a bit like opening a treasure chest; you never know what you are going to find and there are always hidden gems. I love knowing that I can walk into these stores and find something that I know has had a long and interesting life and belonged to people that cared enough to preserve and share them.

One of the shops I visited was Argosy Books in midtown Manhattan. Argosy Books was founded in 1925 and is now in its third generation of family ownership. There are books on the shelves, books in stacks and piled on tables. All combined with great lighting and small pops of colour from flowers placed throughout the store to make you feel instantly comfortable and welcome.

Argosy specializes in Americana, modern first editions, autographs, art, maps & prints and books about the history of science and medicine. If those aren’t up your alley, you will also find many other books in a wide variety of topics and with a wide variety of prices. If you have the time and you’re in New York, Argosy is definitely a store you should visit.

Another shop I visited was the Complete Traveller Antiquarian Bookstore on Madison Avenue. This store evolved from The Complete Traveller Bookstore which was the first travel bookstore in the US. As the name states, this shop specializes in collectible travel literature and has one of the best collections of authentic Baedeker travel guides. Baedekers are considered to be the first modern travel guides and can be easily identified by their distinct red cover. The books were treasured for their detailed historic accounts and the many fold out maps they contain.

This is a unique and specialized shop and definitely worth a visit if you love travel, history and culture.

No visit to New York is complete for me until I visit The Strand. Strand never disappoints and I always walk away with at least one, well really several books. This time I came home with something for my children, but I love it too: This is New York by Miroslav Sasek. We love these books in my house and have many others in the This Is…. series.

Most people know that Strand is a great place to go for affordable books, but it also has a fantastic Rare Book Room. Hop in the elevator and go up to the 3rd floor, and you’ll walk into a room filled with lovely old books, many of which can be found on AbeBooks.

Strand also has many affordable and collectible signed first editions. The day of my visit, they were getting ready for a book signing and talk with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz, discussing his newest book This is How You Lose Her.

Bookstores in New York offer a slice of history and small pieces of beauty that will draw you in and make you love books even more.

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

Today Anzac Day commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations,” and while Armistice Day (November 11th) is still recognized as a Commonwealth memorial day, ANZAC day holds a special meaning for these nations.

It’s hard to imagine life in the trenches, just waiting for the whistle that commanded you to hoist up over the top, I can’t even fathom what would be going through my mind or how I would be able to keep myself even remotely sane knowing that moment could come any day or any hour.  Soldiers also had very little they could do to distract themselves while waiting for this to happen other than sit, try and sleep or read; and apparently that is what many of them did.

As for what they read, Perhaps the safest answer is anything they could get their hands on. Most soldiers traveled light to the front and then craved books and magazines once they were embroiled in the stalemate. They would read anything that could take their thoughts off the mud, the rats, the shelling, the smell, the snipers and the prospect of going over the top and charging machine gun emplacements.

If you are interested, here is a list of literature that may have been popular on both sides of no-mans land.

As an aside, I apologize i f this post may seem a little ill-timed to Australians and New Zealanders, I happen to live on the exact wrong side of the international date line when it comes to timely recognizing your national events, so while the majority of you are about to wake up on the morning of April 26 I am most assuredly living the morning of the 25th, and absolutely thinking of you all at this time.

Our latest video is brought to you by the letter P: Penguin, Puffin, Ptarmigan, Peacock and Pelican – apparently not even all of the “P-birds” in the Penguin pantheon. It also sheds some light on the different colored covers on the vintage Penguin paperbacks you no doubt come across in bookstores. Orange, cerise, dark blue, green, red, purple – even yellow and grey, though they’re scarce – all had meaning behind the color choices. And light blue means the Pelican imprint – but what does THAT mean? Watch and find out.

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.

Mark Twain on Jane Austen: I haven’t any right to criticize books, and I don’t do it except when I hate them. I often want to criticize Jane Austen, but her books madden me so that I can’t conceal my frenzy from the reader; and therefore I have to stop every time I begin. Every time I read ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ I want to dig her up and hit her over the skull with her own shin-bone.

William Faulkner on Mark Twain: A hack writer who would not have been considered fourth rate in Europe, who tricked out a few of the old proven sure fire literary skeletons with sufficient local color to intrigue the superficial and the lazy.

Ernest Hemignway on William Faulkner: Have you ever heard of anyone who drank while he worked? You’re thinking of Faulkner. He does sometimes — and I can tell right in the middle of a page when he’s had his first one.

Tom Wolfe on Ernest Hemingway: Take Hemingway. People always think that the reason he’s easy to read is that he is concise. He isn’t. I hate conciseness — it’s too difficult. The reason Hemingway is easy to read is that he repeats himself all the time, using ‘and’ for padding.

John Irving on Tom Wolfe: He doesn’t know how to write fiction, he can’t create a character, he can’t create a situation…You see people reading him on airplanes, the same people who are reading John Grisham, for Christ’s sake….I’m using the argument against him that he can’t write, that his sentences are bad, that it makes you wince. It’s like reading a bad newspaper or a bad piece in a magazine….You know, if you were a good skater, could you watch someone just fall down all the time? Could you do that? I can’t do that.

You can read more examples on the original Examiner article.

Let us introduce you to Lily King, one of the many booklovers on staff here at AbeBooks. Lily works in the Customer Support department as our Communications Specialist. She has been an AbeBooks employee for seven years, and a voracious reader all her life.

More a fan of reading than collecting, Lily loves the freedom books give her, as well as the ability they give her to see parts of the world she’s never seen, through the eyes of those that have. From Sri Lanka to Texas, from Africa to her own Canadian backyard, discover the books that make Lily feel at home, even when far away.

Enjoy.