The Blog of the ABAA

Today is Bloomsday, the day of celebration for James Joyce’s tome, Ulysses. (The novel follows protagonist Leopold Bloom through Dublin over the course of one day, June 16, 1904.)  Below I have included some links to Bloomsday articles, posts and activities to commemorate Joyce’s iconic work.  Most of them are brief and include additional links, so they are definitely worth a glance.  At the very least, I recommend listening to a rare recording of James Joyce reading from Ulysses or Irish actress Marcella Riordan reading of the last 50 lines of the book, often referred to as Molly’s soliloquy, and taking a glance at Ulysses Unseen, an electronic comic book version of the novel.

Happy Bloomsday!

It’s Bloomsday! Listen to Molly’s Soliloquy! [Boston Globe]

8 ways to celebrate James Joyce and Ulysses [LA Times]

Bloomsday: How to Celebrate James Joyce’s Ulysses [WSJ.com]

Tweeting Ulysses: Fans Put A Twist On Bloomsday [NPR]

What Would Joyce Do?: Ulysses Revisited– In Comic Form [Huffington Post]

Computer helps solve Bloom’s riddle [Irish Times]

‘Ulysses’ Leopold Bloom’s Journey Through Dublin Photo Gallery [IrishCentral]

Designer Nate Burgos has launched an ongoing video project called Rare Book Feast.  In his description of the project, Nate writes:

“This series is about the timeless character of books. Their message and what they look like are what is celebrated here. As our culture becomes digital in a lot of ways, it is all the more important (not to mention inviting) to revisit and learn from the early design challenges, creative solutions and general lessons that the “old” print world keeps relevant.”

The focus of the inaugural video is on “World Geo-Graphic Atlas” (1953) designed by Herbert Bayer with Martin Rosenzweig, Henry Gardiner and Masato Nakagawa.  Without the proper knowledge, I can’t determine for myself the ‘rarity’ of the book (at least in the eyes of our members– help me out in the comments section, ABAA-ers!), but the video is short, informative and well done.  It’s a lovely look at the atlas with a specific focus on the elements of design.

Although not technically ‘in the business’ myself, I always have our members’ livelihoods in mind, and I think this sort of multimedia ‘introduction’ to an item is great.  I know it would most likely be a timely and possibly costly procedure, but it may be prove to be a worthwhile way to showcase a high spot in your inventory or to introduce potential buyers to an area of specialization (like pochior, for instance).

Celebrating Vintage Books: A stunning, $800 Atlas [The Atlantic]

Rare Book Feast

In early April, I posted about an amazing find that member Ken Sanders made at a charity event in Sandy, Utah– a German language Nuremberg Chronicle from 1494.  The owner had no idea what he possessed; it was passed down from a great uncle and has been sitting in his attic for decades, which impacted the condition of the book greatly (only about 1/3 of the full text is present).

Despite its condition and the fact that it’s not incredibly rare, with an estimated several hundred copies in circulation worldwide, the text is still quite a find and has significance for historians and bibliophiles alike.  Heather O’Donnell,a book buyer at fellow ABAA member firm Bauman Rare Books, commented that the Nuremberg Chronicle is a “landmark of printing” and each individual page  possesses a “genuine value”.  Collectors, she says, “see it as a part of western civilization and want to pass it on”.

Since he ‘found’ the book in April, Ken says that his shop has been flooded with calls and emails from interested buyers.  It is now on sale at Ken Sanders Rare Books for $35,000.

500-year-old- book on sale in Utah for $35K [AP]

The British Library has just unveiled a new iPad application that allows users to peruse more than 60,000 19th century books.  All of the titles are in the public domain and, unlike e-books, are scanned versions of the original texts and include maps and original illustrations.

The British Library partnered with Bibliolabs to create the app.  Bibliolabs is a development company that specializes in the digital distribution of antique and rare books.  Mitchell Davis, the company’s founder, commented that the “iPad allows for a level of intimacy with these antiquarian books that evokes a sense of engagement and curiosity that is not possible in a browser based experience.”

Many have been wringing their hands over the future of the rare book trade in the age of e-books and digitalization, but I think this project exemplifies that the two are not mutually exclusive.  In my opinion, this app is so exciting because it expands the audience of rare book enthusiasts; it allows those who are interested but may be intimidated to handle the materials to have a closer look at the original texts (I currently fall under this category!), and it has the potential to be a great marketing tool for booksellers (I am thinking virtual, interactive catalogues).  There is no question that holding an iPad, even when loaded with images of rare texts, does not compare to seeing and holding the actual book.  It may, however, prompt people to want to see, hold or possess the actual text– the best of both worlds.  I’d love to hear what you think in the comments section.

The full app will be available sometime this summer for a fee. Until then, roughly one thousand titles can be browsed for free.

British Library launch classic book reading app [BBC]