First Impressions - 2010

                                                                             

First Impressions - October 2010

What's New:

GIFT IDEAS ~ On our new website: 

Check out B & B Gift Ideas page, which updates weekly for quick and easy browsing. We add holiday-themed and seasonal suggestions, but if you’re looking for something specific, don’t hesitate to ask.

We are adding new photos of our inventory daily. If you have any questions or comments about our new site, please let us know!

Events:

B & B will be showing at the 34th Annual Boston Antiquarian Book Fair, sponsored by the ABAA & ILAB.

Hynes Convention Center.

Please email us to request complimentary admission!

 

 

We will be exhibiting at the 36th Annual Albany Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair.

Washington Avenue Armory, Thanksgiving weekend.

Featuring 60 dealers with books, manuscripts, autographs, postcards, maps, posters, photographs and ephemera.

 

 Book Collecting News:

Twain Autobiography Published 100 Years After His Death

Mark Twain's memoirs, largely written during the last few years of his life, have been sitting in a vault at UC Berkeley's Bancroft Research Library for precisely one century. Hand-written notes, accompanying these 5,000+ unedited pages, dictated that his autobiography should not be unveiled until 100 years after his death. To be published as a trilogy, the first volume will hit stores mid-November.

Twain, who enjoyed his celebrity, perhaps knew that even 100 years later, his life and writings would still garner attention. Although excerpts of his autobiography have been previously published, this is the first time his manuscript will appear in full. Robert Hirst, head of the team of scholars at UC Berkeley, hopes that this publication will allow an eager public to get a fuller sense of who Twain really was.

Several hundred pages are dedicated to a romantic relationship Twain had with his secretary, and a few hundred more have him lambasting his friends and contemporaries. This may point to why he insisted this work should be hushed for so long. A smart move, considering unpopular politics or social indiscretions could have had a negative impact on his sales.

Readers looking for scandal and drama will not be disappointed, but those who love Twain’s effortless and entertaining style are bound to be delighted as well. Even with a century-long wait, Twain knew how to create a best-seller.

                                                                                                                                                        

First Impressions - August 2010

What's New:

NEW WEBSITE!

~ With great new features:

1) Advanced Search & Specialties Listings– browse our full inventory or just one category

2) Shopping Cart & User Accounts – order books directly from our site or even add books to your own Wish List

3) New Arrivals, Featured Books, Gift Ideas – new categories that will update weekly for quick and easy browsing

4) Newsletter – access current and archived editions of First Impressions

5) Inquiry Buttons – requesting info about books, appraisals or appointments is faster with pop-up message boxes

We will be adding new photos of our inventory daily. This will be a work in progress, but we hope to have an image for every book listed as soon as possible. If you have any questions or comments about our new site, please let us know!

Events:

B & B will be in Baltimore, MD Labor Day weekend for the 30^th Annual Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, a 70-dealer book fair with over 500 antique dealers.

Baltimore Convention Center, downtown in the Inner Harbor.            

Please email us to request a free one-day ticket for two people.

We will be traveling to the West Coast again for the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair.

Seattle Center Exhibition Hall.

Email us if you’d like a complimentary ticket for admission.

 

Book Collecting News:

Shall I Take Attendance?

Booksellers often blame the public’s poor attendance of a book fair on the weather. It goes like this: If the weather was poor, no one wanted to leave home. If the weather was pleasant, everyone wanted to be outside, never cooped up indoors at a book fair! All joking aside, public attendance of book fairs has been a hot topic among dealers and fair promoters. Indeed, the past few years has seen the closing of a number of fairs, some of them previously long-running.

For my Fall Newsletter, I usually include the New York Fall Antiquarian Book Fair in our line-up (previously held at the 25^th Street Armory in NYC). But for the second year in a row, this fair will not be running. Promoters have cancelled shows for many reasons. The economy is a usual suspect, but low public attendance is another culprit. In the age of the internet, who needs to go to a book fair?

Being rather young in this business, we often hear from veteran dealers about the “good ol’ days”. This was a time when, sans internet, people would line up around the block to be first inside at a fair. We’ve heard tales of crowds in the high hundreds, and even stories of (gasp!) fist fights that have broken out when two people both laid claim to a prized book.

Well, those days may be gone forever, but even as a “child of the internet”, and as a dealer who is, as we speak, touting her own new and improved website, I can say with all honesty that I hope the long tradition of book fairs continues. In our short seven years in business, we have met some of our best customers and many book dealer ‘mentors’ at shows. I look forward to fairs to see what’s new and hot in the market, and to discuss the latest trends in collecting. I also believe that getting to know a book (and its bookseller) in person is the best way to know what you are buying.

Of course, when this isn’t possible, I hope that you click, browse, and shop online to your heart’s content. But if there is a book fair coming to your town in the near future, well… we hope to see you there.

                                                                                                                                                        

First Impressions - March 2010

What's New:

Short n’  Sweet… Spring 2010

2010 Catalogue ~ Our newest catalogue with new acquisitions.

Access our catalogue from this link: 2010 Catalogue.

Email or call if you’d like to receive a copy in the mail – (646) 652-6766 or info@bbrarebooks.com.

 

 

Events:

B & B will be in Litchfield, CT this weekend for the Litchfield Antiquarian Book and Ephemera Fair.

Join us at The Litchfield Community Center, 421 Bantam Road (Route 202), Litchfield, CT 06759.

We are pleased to be exhibiting at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair at the Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY. This show is sponsored by the ABAA & ILAB.

 

Book Collecting News:

50th Anniversary of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair!

The New York Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates 50 years this April at Manhattan’s Park Avenue Armory. Boasting over 200 exhibitors, it is the oldest and most prominent book fair in the world. All dealers participating are members of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) and American dealers are all ABAA members. At the NYABF, the world’s best dealers bring their best and rarest material all to one room.

For an insider’s peek at what this year’s NYABF has to offer, you can attend the Gala Preview on Thursday, April 8th, 5-9 PM. Your $50 ticket gets you in to browse the exhibit booths before the show opens to the general public, and proceeds from ticket sales benefit NYC’s The Morgan Library & Museum. If you’re looking for information on books you already own, check out Discovery Day on Sunday, April 11th, 12-3 PM. NYABF exhibitors will provide free appraisals to visitors who bring their own books and manuscripts (up to 5 items per person.)

If you’ve never attended a book fair or if it has been a while since you have, the NYABF will not disappoint. Not only has it been called “the best book fair in the world” by Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes, but this fair is also a great way to mix and mingle with other bibliophiles and experts in the field. Visitors may also find good deals in wake of the weak economy. In an interview with The New York Times, Sanford Smith, organizer of the NYABF, stated “…now is the time for collectors to be looking to buy because there are a lot of values around.”

It is easy to spend an entire day or more browsing the booths of the NYABF. As new ABAA members, we are excited to be exhibiting here for the first time in our bookselling careers. Come visit the fair and B & B Rare Books in booth 36A; we hope to see you there!

                                                                                                                                                        

First Impressions - February 2010

What's New:

New Year, New Decade!

2010 Catalogue ~ Our newest catalogue, hot off the press.

First Impressions subscribers and members of our mailing list have first access to our new catalogues.

Access our catalogue from this link: 2010 Catalogue.

Email or call if you’d like to receive a copy in the mail – (646) 652-6766 or info@bbrarebooks.com

 2010 Catalogue coming soon to our website.

 

ABAA & ILAB Membership ~ Joshua & Sunday, co-owners of B & B Rare Books, are now members of the ABAA.

We thank our sponsors and look forward to upholding the values of this great organization!

We will be taking part in ABAA/ILAB book fairs this year, see details in “Events” below.

B & B Display Case in LaGuardia Airport

 We are partnered with HDS Retail to bring rare books to Watermark Bookstore, a sophisticated bookstore at US Airways (Terminal C) in LaGuardia Airport.

Watermark sells new releases and best sellers, and its new contemporary design makes it the perfect place to browse books and relax before boarding your flight. Our display case is located at the front of the store by the registers, and contains a sampling of the classics of English literature.

Craving Capote? At Watermark, you can pick up both a reading copy of In Cold Blood for the flight, and the first edition for your collection. Visiting a Kerouac fan? Arrive at your destination with a first edition and a new paperback of The Dharma Bums, a unique gift that will delight and surprise your friends or family.

 
Visit us!

If you plan on visiting the NYC area, make an appointment to browse our inventory. We are open weekdays and weekends at our Gramercy location:

200 East 17^th Street, at 3^rd Avenue.

Call for an appointment: (646) 652-6766 or (917) 673-3439.

Gramercy is located just east of Union Square Park. A quiet neighborhood easily accessible by:

Subway-    trains to 14^th Street Union Square, or train to 3^rd Avenue.

Bus – M101, M102, M103 via 3^rd Avenue; M15 via 2^nd Ave.

Events:

Upcomming Book Fairs

The 43rd California International Antiquarian Book Fair

B & B will be exhibiting at the ABAA/ILAB Book Fair in Los Angeles, CA (booth #134). The fair is located at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza (2025 Avenue of the Stars, Los Angeles, CA 90067).

If you wish to attend, please contact us for a free show pass!

 

Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair

 We are pleased to be exhibiting for our 4th year at PS 3 (booth #M54), John Melser Charrette School, 490 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

 

 

 
Washington Antiquarian Book Fair

We will be in a new, permanent location in the main room, booth #13. Holiday Inn Rosslyn at Key Bridge, 1900 North Fort Myer Drive, Arlington, VA 22209.

 

Book Collecting News:

 J. D. Salinger Dies at Age 91

The literary community is saddened by the loss of the author J. D. Salinger last week. He will be remembered as author of the ultimate coming of age novel, Catcher in the Rye, writer for The New Yorker, and a man who passionately protected his privacy for over 40 years. Generations of Americans were captivated by his stories and further intrigued by his self-imposed reclusion. In a society overrun by reality TV and shameless self-promotion, Salinger earned attention for denying fame.

Since 1965, Salinger had broken his silence only in effort to protect his literary ideas and privacy. He sued a biographer from publishing his letters, which he claimed copyright over, and famously refused to sell the movie rights to Catcher in the Rye. As recently as 2009, he had initiated a lawsuit against Fredrik Colting, a Swedish-American writer who penned an unauthorized follow-up to Catcher. Entitled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, Colting’s book follows the iconic character of Holden Caulfield as a 76-year-old man after he has escaped from his retirement home. It has already been published in Great Britain, but in a 6/1/09 court decision, Colting was barred from publishing his work here in the US. Salinger’s lawyers have asserted that Colting’s work is a violation of Copyright Law, insinuating plagiarism. Colting fought back, appealing in August 2009, citing a violation of his First Amendment rights. The implications of the ruling may be vast: can a fictional character be copyrighted? Can Holden Caulfield be parodied, or do Salinger’s words, and the impact they have had on popular culture, earn protection as though Holden has a physical representation? The court has yet to decide.

Even after writing one of the best-selling books of all time, the mystery of what Salinger could have been writing for the past 40 years may be of more interest than his previous literary successes. In rare interviews during his reclusion, Salinger stated that he had continued to write, and a neighbor insists that the author told him about a safe full of unpublished novels. Even Salinger’s daughter, Margaret, had written in her memoir that her father has organized manuscripts ready to be published after his death. So far, Salinger’s family and literary agent have been silent regarding the discovery of any new work. Regardless of his intentions, Salinger has left his mark on the landscape of American literature. His characters and the mystery behind their creator will haunt fans and critics for years to come.