Category: booksPage 2 of 4

Buried in Books

coffin bookshelves

Who says you can’t take it with you? Well, you might have to leave your books behind, but at least you no longer need to be separated from your bookshelves, thanks to William Warren’s “Shelves For Life.”

Writers reading Right Reading

The image at right is a selection from my inlinks tag in Google Reader. It shows websites that have been linking to mine (these are all via Google…

Another independent publishing company bites the dust

Ten Speed Press, a mainstay of Bay Area Book Publishing for nearly forty years, has been sold to Random House, which means it is now part of the…

Codex Book Fair

The second biennial CODEX Book Fair will be held this weekend, February 8-11 in Berkeley. The Codex Foundation promotes the art and craft of the book and strives…

What are the components of a well-made book?

Over at India, Ink., the redoubtable India is thinking about “what materials and processes and vendors to use to make books that will last a hundred years.” I…

Northern California Book Reviewers Translation Award

I’ll be on the road for a while, and posting could continue to be light until mid January. Meanwhile, I’ve agreed to be a reader for this translation…

Is print dying?

Steve Rubel, one of the sharpest web marketers (and a prolific tweeter) claims that  “five years from now all media will either be completely digital or well on…

Ten Independent Bay Area Book Publishers, part 2

Yesterday I began a list of ten independent Bay Area book publishing companies, all of which are producing interesting work, though each has its own unique personality and…

Ten Independent Bay Area Book Publishers, part 1

Following the example of Kyle Semmel, I offer here ten independent presses (five today and another five tomorrow) based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Compared to the…

Progress on library

Back in September I mentioned that I was working on a couple of outbuildings that will house much of my library. I’ve been progressing on this pretty steadily,…

Shepard Fairey at Gingko Press

Here’s a familiar image: It’s by Shepard Fairey. My friend Ellen, who works at Gingko Press (currently located in Marin County but soon to move to Berkeley), informs…

Ubu Roi, book binding by Marcel Duchamp and Mary Reynolds

Mary Reynolds (1891-1950) was an innovative book binder who for three decades enjoyed a relationship with Marcel Duchamp described by friends as “happier than most marriages.” Susan Glover…

Doubleday Publishing announces big layoffs

The NYT is reporting that Doubleday Publishing will lay off 10 percent of its employees. The company denies the move is related to delays in the delivery of…

The Island at the End of the World

Penguin Books and Creativity magazine recently ran a Hearts and Minds Talent Competition for which entrants designed the cover of a book by Sam Taylor, described as “a…

My Bookhouse

Call me Kirk: my house is being overrun with tribbles. Well not tribbles really, but books, which amounts to much the same thing. They seem charming at first…

Two covers, one image

It’s not unusual to see two or more books that use the same image. After all, professional designers tend to sample from the same stock image pools. What…

American and European dust jackets, 1926-1947

The New York Public Library’s amazing and ever-expanding digital collections includes more than two thousand book jackets from 1926 through 1947. The library routinely removed jackets from books…

Palin and book banning

According to the NYT today: Shortly after becoming mayor, former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some…

World’s largest publishers

Some time ago I wrote about consolidation in publishing and the challenges facing independent book publishers. One result of this consolidation has been the transfer of ownership from…

Will Amazon take the place of traditional publishers?

That’s what Sramana Mitra, writing at Forbes magazine (last month), thinks. Mitra believes that publishers must be treating their authors very badly, because most authors make little money…

Books and Buddha-nature

Alberto Manguel, author of The Library at Night, among other books, writes lovingly in the New York Times about his current library south of the Loire Valley in…

Photo Wednesday: abandoned books

This photo of books simply left behind after a St. Louis Public Library move comes from nathansnider’s photostream. .

Print publishing caught in pricing bind

Print publishers are currently caught between the Scylla and Charybdis of a weakening economy and higher prices for essential costs such as paper, freight, and postage. The soft…

Book design fees

Recently I had occasion to research rates charged by designers for text-based book work. I was trying to determine a reasonable price for a 320-page hardcover collected poems,…