The Playful Antiquarian » Books

Lemony Snicket on Law Books

vernica — Sat, 13 May 2006 15:55:39 +0000

A paragraph so delightful that it had to be shared:

“There are many, many types of books in the world, which makes good sense, because there are many types of people, and everybody wants to read something different … But one type of book that practically no one likes to read is a book about the law. Books about the law are notorious for being very long, very dull, and very difficult to read. This is one reason many lawyers make heaps of money. The money is an incentive … to read long, dull, and difficult books.”

–Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Read along with the Playful Antiquarian

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This month I hope to finish cataloging my book collection at LibraryThing. I started in October, but since my collection has grown by about four books per day in the past few weeks, I may never catch up! If you are curious, visit my LibraryThing catalog or subscribe to my recently-added books RSS feed.

Recent acquisitions include

A playful resolution for 2006

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ordinarily, I avoid New Year’s resolutions, but during my holiday break reading, I found one that delighted me. In the 1934 edition of The Children’s Almanac of Books and Holidays, Helen Dean Fish gives this New Year’s advice: “Resolve to read at least a dozen good children’s books next year, and make a list of them now.”

I have not made my list for 2006, but at the moment, I am re-reading Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House in the Big Woods. I wonder if anyone else ushered in the new year with an old favorite as well …

Favorite out-of-print children’s books: a poll

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Can’t find your favorite childhood book? Would you like for it to be reissued? Until February 2006, you can vote for your favorite out-of-print children’s book. The poll is hosted at the Children’s Book Council (CBC) website and is a project of the ALA-CBC Joint Committee.

The top ten list will be announced in the spring. Perhaps, your favorite book will make the list …

Mole on the best part of holidays

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.”

–Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows
(Chapter 1: The River Bank, p. 3)

Playful reading for 10.12.05

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recent additions to my library:

City friends. New York: Sam Gabriel Sons & Co., 1940.
Grahame, Kenneth. The wind in the willows. New York: Scribner, [1960].
Illustrators of children’s books, 1744-1945. Compiled by Bertha E. Mahony, Louise Payson Latimer, Beulah Folmsbee. Boston: Horn Book, 1947.
Potter, Beatrix. Letters to children. [Cambridge, Mass.]: Harvard College Library, Dept. of Printing and Graphic Arts, 1966.
Powers, Alan. Children’s book covers: great book jacket and cover design. London: Mitchell Beazley, 2003.

Children’s books published by William Darton and his sons

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lilly Library Publications Online features electronic text versions of exhibition catalogues and other bibliographical publications produced by Indiana University’s Lilly Library. This site includes Children’s Books Published by William Darton and His Sons, the 1992 catalogue by Linda David.

Playful reading for Aug. 23, 2005

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Here is a glimpse at what’s on my bookshelf this week. Current reading includes two used bookstore finds and one libary discovery:

Stone, Wilbur Macey. Some children’s bookplates: an essay in little. Gouverneur, NY: Brothers of the book, 1901.
White, Colin. The world of the nursery. London: Herbert Press, 1984
Opie, Iona, Archibald Opie and Brian Alderson. The treasures of childhood: books, toys, and games from the Opie collection. 1st U.S. ed. New York, N.Y.: Arcade Pub., 1989.

Inside the great green room

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There is something magical about a reader discovering a book at the right time. Last week, I found a copy of Margaret Wise Brown: Awakened by the Moon in a used bookstore, and although it was not what I was looking for, I believe that it was the book that I needed to find.

Discovering the book was serendipity. At ALA Annual, I attended an ALSC-sponsored program in which Leonard Marcus, Brown’s biographer, spoke about his research for the book. When he was trying to locate information about the photographer who took the only existing photos of Brown as an adult, he had come to a dead end. No one had heard of the photographer. Then, one day, he was in a bookstore and saw a book featuring women photographers, and the mystery photographer, Consuelo Kanaga, was listed on the cover. This discovery marked a turning point in his research.

A week after hearing this story, I was wandering a bookstore in search of gardening books. I looked at a table of remaindered coffee table books and saw a retrospective of Consuelo Kanaga’s work. Then, I looked up, glancing at the nearby shelves, and there was the Margaret Wise Brown biography.

Since I started reading this book, I have had a series of similarly wonderful serendipitous experiences. At the very moment that I read a paragraph about the founding of what would become The Horn Book Magazine, I looked up and the woman seated across from me on the bus pulled out the most recent issue from her bag. The day before, I read about Brown’s experience of watching all of her college friends get married while she remained single, and an hour later, someone asked me about my own perspective as a single woman with married friends.

If my life were a children’s fantasy book, I suppose that I would soon find myself inside “the great green room,” puzzling about how I arrived there. But, life is not a fantasy book, and I am not disappointed. Subtly surprising coincidences are much more delightful.

Which would you choose?

vernica — Unknown, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I learned this week that I won the ALA raffle prize I wanted most (besides an iPod): my choice of one book from the W.W. Norton Annotated series.

I am amazed that I won. I lost my raffle entry card on the one day I had reserved for viewing ALA exhibits and had to make another trip to the exhibit hall expressly to drop off my card, only a few hours before my departing flight. By the time I arrived at the Norton booth, there was no longer a box or bowl for raffle entries. I handed my card to the Norton representative with little hope of winning.

As delighted and excited as I am about my fortune, I am also paralyzed by the decision in front of me. If you were given your choice of one of the following books, which would you choose and why? (Unfortunately, no prizes will be awarded for the best answer.)