ζHooked on Booksζ
A special shelf reserved for those who can't
find happiness without books in their lives
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"A good book is the best of friends, the same
today and forever..."--Martin Farquhar Tupper
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≈Books About Books≈
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| drawing by Marshall Brooks |
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A BRIEF, ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE BOOKSHELF, written and drawn
by Marshall Brooks. A fascinating excursion into the little known story
of how book storage developed over the centuries until arriving at the
most recent form of biblio shelving. Features 25 page-sized sketches
of storing knowledge, beginning with cuneiform records on to papyrus
scrolls to what we know as books today. "Brooks' book speaks volumes
about the allure of shelving...." WORCESTER TELEGRAM/GAZETTE.
64 pages. Artworks printed from metal engravings and text printed
from handset metal type. Limited hard: $75. ISBN: 0-913559-40-7.
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THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A BOOK, by William MacAdams. This charming
fictional tale might as well be a true story, detailing so accurately and
pointedly the "rites of passage" of one particular book--from publication
to its placement on a booksellers' shelves, then passed from hand to
hand by its various owners, including a used bookstore, a private
collector, until it meets its final, ironic fate. Features a large selection
of finely crafted wood engravings by Frank C. Eckmair. (See art
samples from this book on the At Home page of this website.)
64 pages in a hand-sized edition with hand coloration of art.
Letterpress soft: $18.00, limited hard: $60. ISBN: 0-913559-77-6.
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MAGIC & MADNESS IN THE LIBRARY, edited and with an introduction by
Eric Graeber. Classic imaginative fiction, and one long poem on real and
imagined libraries filtered through the minds of great writers from across
time such as Cervantes, Voltaire, Borges, Woolf, Bradbury, King, Eco,
Irving, Huxley, Verne, Bellamy and more. Charming wood engravings by
Frank C. Eckmair. "This handsome letterpress edition offers classic gems
on the rich, meditative motiff of the library..." PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.
160 pages of engaging reading. Softcover edition with Letterpress
cover: $22. Limited letterpress hardcover: $65. ISBN: 0-913559-36-9.
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THE ROMANCE OF THE BOOK, edited and with an introduction by
Marshall Brooks, highlights a selection of essays harking back to
the earliest days of the book on up to current attitudes toward books.
Each writer relates an experience with regard to his or her lifelong
relationship with the book as a friend, source of inspiration,
educational tool, an object to collect, or as a philosophical ally in
one's darkest days. Among the writers airing their views are Colette,
Franklin, Petrarch, Poe, Lamb, Douglass, Thoreau, Fuller, Hazlitt,
Gissing, Eliot. "This celebration of the romance of the book is the
ideal bedside companion..."--COMMON READER. 192 pages. Paper-
back edition with Letterpress-printed cover: $20.00. Limited hard
cover: $70. ISBN: 0-913559-28-8.
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HOW TO ATTAIN MORAL PERFECTION, with Thoughts on Morality & Printing,
by Benjamin Franklin. The genius of early America presents a system for
achieving a high standard of ethics through Temperance, Silence, Order,
Industry, Sincerity, Justice. Book includes a current-day essay on the
connection between letterpress printing (one of Franklin's many skills)
and human frailty. Frontispiece of Printer's Devil by Alfred P. Ingegno, Jr.
Printed on an antique hand press in an edition of 550 softcover hand-
bound copies, signed/numbered by the editor/printer: $15.00. Limited
hardcover: $30.00. ISBN: 0-913559-43-1.
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THE PLEASURES OF LETTERPRESS PRINTING, by Tom Tolnay, printer at Birch Brook Press.
This 16-page, handsewn, handset chapbook, letterpress-printed on vellum, discusses not
only the pleasures but the limitations of using archaic, slow technology to print books in
in the age of high-speed everything, from computers to the internet. "The very reason
cited by printers and keyboarders for turning their backs on and, indeed, for scorning
letterpress, was the very reason I was attracted to it: speed, or rather, the lack thereof..."
Includes comments on the workings of hot metal type casters, a few words on type design,
and a brief history of how Birch Brook Press came to follow these ancient paths to book
design and production. A Keepsake Letterpress Edition. $8.00. (includes shipping & tax).
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