This week a 1937 first edition inscribed copy of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit sold at a European auction for £60,000 (or $119,122.61, for those folks who want to gripe about the weakness of the US dollar). All told the BBC says this is double the expected sale.
This is why I go to yard sales… the dream of one day running across an unkown copy…
Hey, it could happen!
{via Bookninja}
Kevin Bondelli has re-posted his massive 80 Online Resources for Book Lovers listing. It’s one of the best lists, of the sort, that I have come across. Many of the links I’m familiar with, but there’s about a third of them I’ve never heard of.
I’m had some fun with What Should I Read Next. Though, I just entered The Terror by Dan Simmons (which I just finished) and the third recommended title is Scott Kelby’s 7-Point System for Adobe Photoshop CS3. Which is uncanny. I fought Adobe all day today trying to get my PhotoShop transparencies to flatten correctly in InDesign. How did they know I needed the help? Anyway, I think I like LibraryThing’s feature better. It’s turned up many a good read.
If you want to see some b-e-a-utiful books check out the Rare Book Room. Lots of great scans and photographs from books printed in the 1600’s on up.
And I am saving Free Tech Books for later. It can’t be everything I need it to be, so I know I’ll just be disappointed. Though I’ll have to look and see if there are any useful books. Later though.
Anyway, that 80 link list is worth your time to check out and see if there is anything new for you!
This Friday night at 6pm Joshilyn Jackson will be signing her new book The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, at the Alabama Booksmith.Via the Alabama Booksmith’s site:
Award-winning Atlanta author (and true Southerner) Joshilyn Jackson returns with The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, a charming, but dark, mystery full of family secrets, Southern twang, outrageous characters, and a surprise ending that will leave you kicking yourself for not seeing it coming. Joshilyn’s short fiction has been published in literary magazines and anthologies including Triquarterly and Calyx, and her plays have been produced in Atlanta and Chicago. Her best-selling debut novel, gods in Alabama, won SIBA’s 2005 Novel of the Year Award and was a #1 Booksense pick. Between, Georgia was also a #1 Booksense pick, making Jackson the first author in Booksense history to receive #1 status in back to back years.
BookPatrol mentioned a cool archive this weekend that features 100 Years of Alphabet Books. I wish I had all the time in the world to go through and look at these. Some of the lettering is worthy of framing.
Over on BibliOdyssey, this weekend, a collection of over-the-top “holy smokes how long did it take them to make that back then” ornate letters and folios were posted. Some of the letters are so ornate that I wouldn’t know what letter it was if not for the tag line. I’ll remember this is how they used to do it, the next time I’m cussin’ a font designer for not setting the kerning correctly on a new display font and maybe it won’t seem so bad.
