Book Sale 2013 - Part 3: Book Art

This is going to be a long one. Hold on.

In another life I am going to be a book designer. Have you seen this Ted talk by Chip Kidd? It is one of my many favorites.

I'm sure it has something to do with the maps of the hundred acre wood found just inside the cover of A. A. Milne's Winne-the-Pooh books, E. H. Shepard's drawing is the one I always think of, but I love unexpectedly lovely illustrations in a text. Some examples from the latest haul.

 From Inside U.S.A. by John Gunther, besides being a beautiful map, all the red lines show the author's travels across the country. How amazing would it be to travel all those routes?

 

 The title should be lower, but that ship illustration is fantastic.

On the inside:

 Looks almost like a Longfellow paper doll.

 Cover of Prince of the Ghetto, which is a great book name for a collection of folktales by a Polish Jew.

Darling cover of one of my favorite books of all-time, I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

These next three are all from the same book.

Another translation which according to the dust-jacket is a "gay ... amusing ... slightly terrifying! A first-hand account of what happens when the Red Army 'liberates' a country."

 Looks like a charming town, no? Can you spot the two poor folks on foot fleeing soldiers on horseback coming down the road towards the bottom left?

Love the caricature.
I still dream about his studio in Aix, one of my favorite places.

I still have not figured out what that kid is holding...

But here are some of the stories you are supposed to remember:

 A perfect illustration for a collection of Kipling.

 Parade of the Civil Guard as a cover.

I was a little disappointed there were not more images in this book beyond these.

 The little Mexican mountain village of La Vista, from A Miracle Every March (which if you read the inscriptions post, has NOTHING to do with people who have birthdays in March). Not to abbreviate too much, but a young teacher from the capital arrives to set up a school and gets the following response from the villagers, “How can anybody eat reading and writing?”

 Another amazing boat cover. Title approximately translates: Columbus of Australia: the narrative of Pedro Fernández de Quirós

Book Sale 2013 - Part 2: Inscriptions and Bookplates

Due to my own impatience with the crowds I neglected to look through the books last Saturday for great inscriptions. Thankfully choosing them based on their covers still brought a handful of inscriptions to my shelves. A favorite potential aspect of a used book is what owners or gifters have written inside. Especially since it opens a whole world of possibility for getting a glimpse into someone's world.

But before the inscriptions, here are two of my favorite bookplates:

This is not an inscription or a bookplate – but intrigued by a book of poems belonging to a “Sister Marian” I looked her up. She was a Deaconess of the United Lutheran Church and appears to have acquired this volume of poems while attending the Baltimore Lutheran Deaconess Motherhouse and Training School – at a location where now stands Coppin State University. Since the university moved to this address in 1950, Sister Marian would have been there some time before that and apparently long enough to have address labels made. There is a lovely collection of just over 800 photos from the Motherhouse on flicker and you can get an idea of what Sister Marian’s life was like – she could even be in one of the photos (link to photo collection).

 I had come up with this whole story in my head about the little nun sitting in her comfortable but austere little room reading from this collection poems about life outside her religious existence - but according to photos they played badminton, just like the nuns at the Sacre Coeur do in Amelie - so I now must re-frame my entire conception of Sister Marian.

On to the inscriptions!

 Any guesses on that name? Babbe, Bobbe, Bobbi? I'm going with Bobbe, but pronounced ridiculously.

The above is perfect -

To Our Darling Elly on her graduation from Syracuse University in gratitude for all the joy she has brought us.
Mother
Dad

June 2, 1952

This one made me laugh - flipping through the book I was seriously confused how "This book is especially written for people with birthday's in March...". This is 100% something my grandmother would write in a book she was giving as a gift.

To: Patty on 51st birthday - Patty obviously retired at the early age of 50 and has spent the last year enjoying her garden, Butch and Sue thus gave her the perfect book.

I wish they would have written in black rather than red ink:

Dear Folks -
This book is about friends & co-workers of Jane Phillips Cody and worked with her in Ecuador. Merry Christmas.
With Love,
Mom
Maude
Grandma O... (I'm pretty sure it says Oakes, but the 'O' appears to have been turned into a person wearing a tasseled fez and sitting in a canoe or on a surf board...I'm now disappointed I have been missing so many creative opportunities with the 'o' in my last name, I have never once put a fez on it.)

Dec. 1965

That's the end of the inscriptions - but I'll hopefully find time to post some of the great cover art and fantastic titles - here is a preview of one of my favorites!

The outfit, the exclamation mark - it's perfect, makes me giddy.

Book Sale 2013 - Part 1

I love the annual Sacramento Friends of the Library book bag sale. Last year J took me for the first time and I about died. This weekend I think I exceeded my haul last year. 6 bags this time - at $6 a bag I was pleased. Though my shoulders are still in pain from carrying more than my weight in books. I found a handful of books to read, and many more for projects. The basic criteria was (1) they have a fantastic cover, (2) be about the right size, (3) right thickness, (4) not be a hideous color, and if possible (5) have a funny/strange/ironic title. It didn't hurt if they contained some fantastic illustrations to boot. I'll share photos of some of my favorites later this week.

One goal was to look through as many books as possible and find as many volumes as I could which had personalized messages written in them. Sadly, but very good for Friends, it was ridiculously crowded in the space. It felt as though I was knocking people over with my bags. I did manage to find one or two inscriptions. I love reading what people write inside a book they present as a gift, it's such an interesting record of the books history and hopefully it's meaning to to the giver.

Here is "most" of what I came home with. 

Animal Adventure

Q loves animals, as much as she loves princesses. She is the only two-year-old I know who can pronounce Jaques, as that is the name of my cat. Last Saturday J, G & myself accompanied the littles on a trip to Six Flags to watch the dolphin show and look at the snakes.

I'd never seen a silver snake before 

Loved this fake elephant slightly

They are both crying in this photo

Lil' J checking his hair in the mirror

 Riding the balloons

Love Q's expression

Another jeep ride 

While auntie K waits with the bags... 

Then it's Christmas again 

It was a three-for-one deal - zoo, rides, and Christmas. Result - two happy kids.