Barbara Hodgson: Trading in Memories and Other Ways of Seeing Books

In her new book Trading in Memories: Travels Through a Scavenger's Favorite Places Barbara Hodgson takes us on an unforgettable trip around the world. From the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul to an ephemera show in Portland, Oregon we get a front row seat as Hodgson works her magic unearthing relics of material cultural. As the collector knows, the pursuit, in many cases, is as fulfilling as the acquisition.

The fruit of travel is in "collecting fragments of people's material lives" says Hodgson in the introduction; in Naples it was tearing posters off the walls, in Portland it was a mugshot, in Fez El-Djedid is was an portable Arabic typewriter, in France she was on the the trail of Pierre Loti (the image above is of an authentic Japanese pagoda Loti had installed in his house).

Hodgson "believes that it is in the streets, bookstores, and markets where the city tantalizingly and coyly unveils its real past and most intimate self" and she places each journey within the perfect amount of historical context that you wish she would keep on going; one more stall, one more city. In a world increasingly bent on the disposable Hodgson proves that value remains in much of what we leave behind. Move over Madonna we have us a new Material Girl!

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An exhibit of Hodgson's work, "Barbara Hodgson: Other Ways of Seeing Books", runs through April at Wessel & Lieberman.

The exhibit features her recently released collaboration with Claudia Cohen The Temperamental Rose and Other Ways of Seeing Color which is undoubtedly one of the most beautifully executed fine press books of 2007.

For the exhibition, Hodgson has created a limited edition keepsake, "The Temperamental Rose: An Experiment with Light". Each copy is hand-colored with a selection of lightfast and fugitive watercolors. It is designed to be exposed to the sun over a period of a year to demonstrate the effect of light on pigments.

Hodgson has also designed seven unique dust jackets for Trading Memories each containing material found during her journey.

There will be a reception for Barbara Hodgson at W&L this Thursday night from 6-8pm.

Trading In Memories website
Brief interview with Hodgson

Catalogue 39: A Winter Miscellany

We are pleased to announce the availability of Catalogue 39. The catalogue consists of 124 items in a variety of subject areas as well as an insert featuring 21 newer books.

Among the highlights are a stunning copy of the signed limited edition of Faulkner’s ‘These 13’; a fifty year run of the Royal Geographical Society journals from 1830; Theodore Roosevelt’s ‘Ranch Life...’ in its original printed dustjacket; a rare 19^th century guide to the Yellowstone; and a 17^th-century map containing one of the earliest views of Manhattan.

View the catalogue online
View and download the catalog in PDF
View the insert online
If you prefer a copy of the catalogue mailed to you, please contact us at mailinglist@wlbooks.com

Book Madness in Seattle

There is so much book related stuff going on this week in Seattle that Mayor Greg Nickels has designated it "Book Collecting Week."

Here's what's happening:

The premier non-new book event in the Pacific Northwest, The Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair & Book Arts show, takes place the weekend of the 13th and 14th at the Seattle Center Pavilion. With close to 100 exhibitors from around North America and as far away as Germany you are bound to see some of the best books, manuscripts and ephemera currently on the market. The exhibitors this year are particularly strong with many being members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America.

Don't let the word "antiquarian" keep you away, you don't have to be a high-end book collector to enjoy this event. If there are books in your life on any level then this is a can't miss event.

The Miniature Book Society is holding its Grand Conclave in Seattle on the same weekend. The society, chartered in 1983 , is an international non-profit organization whose purposes are to "sustain an interest in all phases of miniature books, provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and to serve as a clearing house for information about miniature books."
This gathering is sure to set the Seattle record for the most people here at one time who have a love for books 3" or smaller!

Anne Bromer, a bookseller and co-author of the beautiful new monograph on Miniature Books published by Abrams in association with the Grolier Club, will also be giving a talk at the pre-fair dinner co-sponsored by the Book Club of Washington.

Also at this dinner the winners of the Fine Books & Collections Magazine 2007 Collegiate Book Collecting Championship will be given their awards. Did you know that three dozen colleges and universities host book-collecting contests for their students every year?

The subject matter of the top three collections this year are:
1."Landmarks of Classical Scholarship"
2. "Drama of Oceania"
3. "Mathematician Emil Artin"

In the introduction to the 1934 book New Paths in Book Collecting John Carter, who worked in the Rare Book Department at Scribner's for over 20 years, says:

The enterprising novice must be made to realize how infinite are the possible variations on the book collecting theme. A collection of "high-spots may sound the chord of C major...yet there are other and more subtle harmonies, the pleasantest are those we evolve for ourselves...By rearranging familiar books according to some constructive plan, a new significance is added to them and, which is more, the unfamiliar, the neglected books, will acquire significance by their context.

For over 70 years booksellers have been worried that there isn't a next generation book collector, that once this generation kicks it there will be hardly enough book collectors to sustain a trade. An event like this reminds us of the permanency of collecting. There will always be a healthy amount of collectors.

The Lewis Carroll Society of North America has also decided to visit Seattle this weekend for its fall meeting. The organization consists of Carroll admirers of all ages and interests and are interested in keeping Carroll, the creator of Alice in Wonderland, relevant in today's world.

There is also one ongoing book related event that is worthy of mention and that should be on the itinerary for all those coming to town and for all us book types that live in town.

The seminal exhibit Shu: Reinventing Books in Contemporary Chinese Art is on view at the Seattle Asian Art Museum through December 2. The show was organized by the China Institute and was curated by Wu Hung, a leading Chinese art scholar. The exhibit was originally held in two parts featuring over 20 artists; almost all are part of the post Cultural Revolution generation and for all books are an integral part of their work. It is a great opportunity to see the power of the book in all its glory. I will have a dedicated post on the show shortly.

There is a lot of book energy in this town.


Last photo of Yue Minjun's “Garbage Dump” by Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

The Growing Bestiary of Briony Morrow-Cribbs

The "Cabinets of Curiosity" of the 16th and 17th century is the jumping off point for Morrow-Cribbs. These rooms of mythical constructs blur the boundary of fact and fiction, where the real and the imagined share the stage.

Morrow-Cribs says she "uses the mediums of print and the book arts (and occasionally ceramics) to create a graphic connection between the recognizable 'real' world and my invisible, 'fantasy' world.

Her latest project is providing 11 aquatint prints to accompany the first book publication of Brigit Pegeen Kelly's prose poem Iskandariya. The book is designed and published by Rollin Milroy at Heavenly Monkey.

Milroy says the poem offers "a perfect companion for Briony's growing bestiary of anthropomorphically jumbled creatures."

Millroy and Heavenly Monkey continue their ascent to the top of the fine press world with each book taking us on a quality journey utilizing the most creative artists, writers and book makers this region has to offer. I have yet to be disappointed.

Morrow-Cribbs, the daughter of two artists, has yet to leave her twenties so settle in, this journey is just beginning.

We are delighted to host an exhibit of the work of Briony Morrow-Cribbs to coincide with the release of Iskandariya. The exhibit runs through Halloween. For those who can't make it here is the online version.

A Tribute to Theodore Roethke

We are pleased to announce they release of a broadside we published to coincide with A Contemporary Theatre's premiere of David Wagoner's one-act play, 'First Class', a tribute to his mentor, Theodore Roethke.

The broadside includes 'The Rosebush', a poem by renowned poet, David Wagoner. Wagoner is professor emeritus of English at the University of Washington, and edited 'Straw for the Fire: From the Notebooks of Theodore Roethke, 1943-63.'

The photograph of Theodore Roethke is by Mary Randlett, well-known for her original photographs of Northwest artists and writers. A monograph of her landscape photography will be published in the Fall, 2007, by the University of Washington Press.

Here are the details:

[Roethke, Theodore]. Wagoner, David and Mary Randlett. The Rosebush; a memory of Theodore Roethke. Seattle: Wessel & Lieberman Booksellers, 2007. Limited edition. Single-sheet, measures 7 x 17-7/8". Printed letterpress in an edition of 100 copies(of which 85 are for sale) at Springtide Press by Jessica Spring, with an original mounted giclee print, from a photograph by Mary Randlett taken shortly before Roethke's untimely death in 1963 at the age of 55. Signed by both Wagoner and Randlett.


Don't miss the ACT trailer for the play and related events
and a 2 minute behind the scenes video

A Sense of Where We Are: History and Literature of the Pacific Northwest

For anyone interested in learning more about Pacific Northwest history and literature, this is a good summer to be in Seattle.

The University of Washington is offering Pacific Northwest History and Literature, a course for students and the general public. Sponsored by both the English and the History departments, the participants will use literary texts by historical and contemporary writers to examine the emergence of regional identity.

Associated with the program is A Sense of Where We Are, a visiting writers series, featuring public readings by prominent writers associated with the region. Through fiction, poetry, history, memoir, and criticism, these authors will offer insights into aspects of regional identity. The readings are at the Henry Art Gallery and are open to the public. Scheduled are:

Heather McHugh - poet and essayist - June 28
Debra Magpie Earling - novelist - July 11
Kim Barnes - memoirist and novelist - July 18
Robert Wrigley - poet and essayist - July 24
Richard White - historian - August 2
Marilynne Robinson - novelist - August 15

The class is from June 26 through August 16. Information is at the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest. Anyone interested in Northwest history will find resources and essays at the Center's website.

Support for this program comes from UW Summer Quarter, the Simpson Center for the Humanities, Michael J. Repass Endowment in Pacific Northwest History, the Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, and the Department of History.

Shelfitis: A Strain of Bibliomania

David McKie's piece in the Guardian today "My obsession with spines" deals with a strain of bibliomania that affects many of us book types. The need to know what is on the shelf behind that person in the picture. He talks about recent images in the Guardian and his desire to identify all the titles lurking on the shelves in the background.

He calls it a "form of voyeurism, a lust to discover guilty secrets."

Like McKie whenever I visit someone's home it is the books on the shelf that grab my attention not the furniture, not the kitchen appliances but the books.

It is also very distracting to watch television interviews with books as a backdrop. My attention is alway divided between listening and scanning the shelves. I am hoping that when television gets a bit more interactive my curiosity will be quelled by a simple click.

Shelfari should offer this option for its users:
Instead of only seeing all the titles from your library face out why not an option of a spine shot of the collection for us incurables?


Image of inside of Ophelias Books in Seattle taken by brewbooks

An Antidote to a Diminished Literary Culture

“When I say that the book is an instrument of freedom, I mean that in the most philosophical sense. Open any novel. What is there? Black marks – signs – on white paper. First, they are silent. They are lifeless marks, lacking signification until the consciousness of the reader imbues them with meaning, allowing a fictitious character like Huckleberry Finn, for example, to emerge from the monotonous rows of ebony type. Once this magical act takes place in the mind of the reader, an entire world appears in consciousness … This magic rests in your hands, as readers. It is a power to co-create and travel through numerous imaginative and intellectual realms that one can invoke at any time, anywhere. It is a power that serves democracy itself.”

by Charles Johnson from “The Magic in Our Hands: Books, Libraries & the Triumph of Human Freedom”

Charles Johnson, a National Book Award and MacArthur Fellowship winner is the fourth author to be highlighted in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s 2007 Writers in Residence series. Each month the work of one author is spotlighted in the newspaper. Johnson’s essay, along with related video commentary, addresses his concerns that even in a community where reading thrives, our literary culture is diminishing. To Johnson, the antidote "is simply the experience of complex, well-wrought, visionary books that challenge our assumptions, our intellectual laziness, and transform as well as deepen our perceptions of the world and ourselves."

Johnson is the fourth writer showcased this year. The roster of Seattle P-I 2007 Writers in Residence includes some of the best-known and most respected of Northwest authors: Sherman Alexie, Rebecca Brown, Charles Cross, Dexter, Ivan Doig, Timothy Egan, Ellen Forney, David Guterson, Charles Johnson, Jonathan Raban, Tom Robbins and Ann Rule.

Hovering Over New Arrivals

University of Washington Bookstore employee "preparing for the 2008 Shelving Olympics."


Via Shelf Life