“Three columns of unknown verse by the Mad Poet of Broadway: Life is good.” (A brief remembrance of Robert Fraker from Garrett Scott, May 3, 2017.) I probably met Robert Fraker of Savoy Books sometime in the mid-1990s, though later neither of us could ever remember when exactly it happened. It must have been some February back when I worked for John Crichton at the Brick Row Book Shop in San Francisco, when Robert would have been wandering through the shop a day or two before a California Book Fair. This genial bookseller from back east immediately stood out because even when judged by the recondite standards of the Brick Row Book Shop, Robert tended to purchase remarkably obscure titles of American verse. In those days, to have sold anybody a copy of C. L. Woods's Kaw-Wau-Nita, and Other Poems (Stockton, Calif., 1873)—as I believe ... [more In Memoriam: Robert Fraker]

UPDATE: RECOVERED From Michael Hackenberg, Chair of the Northern California Chapter of the ABAA: The rare book room at Moe's Books on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley has just reported to me the recent theft of the 1977 Sultan and Mandel photography book, Evidence by Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel. Moe's reports the book missing as of Monday, July 8th. If offered this title and you suspect it is the signed, missing copy or if you have information on this copy, please contact Ken Eastman Moe's books (510) 849-2133 You can also contact Michael Hackenberg or the ABAA security chair Garrett Scott. [more Missing in Berkeley: Sultan & Mandel EVIDENCE (1977)]

This item is still missing as of 5/31/2019. Orpheus Books in Redmond, Washington reports: On April 22, 2015, the following title went missing from our customer's doorstep in Roxbury, MA: Steve Holl. Steven Holl: Architecture Spoken. The book was inscribed and dated by architect Steven Holl on the title page: For Chuck & Linda, S. Holl 7/23/07. The book is a first edition in very fine condition with a clear archival mylar cover. Anyone offered this title should contact: Barbara Wight / Don Stutheit Orpheus Books 10425 170th Ave. NE. Redmond, WA 98052-2740 425-556-9376 [more Missing: Inscribed Steven Holl]

Some brief history In 1824, land speculators John Allen and Elisha Rumsey founded Annarbour, Michigan. (They named the town after their wives, Ann Allen and Mary Ann Rumsey; history is silent on whether Mary angled for top billing.) In 1837, the University of Michigan was moved to Ann Arbor. And then in 1965 the proto-punk pioneer Iggy Pop graduated from Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School. Today, Ann Arbor still has its world-class university and punches above its weight when it comes to book shops and restaurants—it's a pretty good small city, even if the local Arbor Wiki project notes “here is no Iggy Pop museum.” But for bibliophiles of all stripes looking for something to do—even those at loose ends and nursing a grudge after a disappointed pilgrimage to the yet-unbuilt shrine to the genius of Jim Osterberg—the 37th Annual ANN ... [more Ann Arbor Antiquarian Book Fair]

UPDATE (5/13): RECOVERED Adam Davis of Division Leap in Portland, Oregon reports: "Our car was stolen today from outside the shop. There were a couple hundred 8vo sized zines in the back, and two binders with ephemera. We don't have a list of the contents yet- but I would think this many zines hitting the market would be a bit of an anomaly. . . . There was a complete run of the zine Dishwasher, but aside from that I don't have an inventory of that material. "Some of the material will have my pencilled price at upper right hand corner of first blank, with a 5 Digit number at the lower tip of same Page beginning with a 1 or a 2. Local bookstores have been alerted." Please keep your eyes/ears/email reading open for queries about a quantity of this sort of material, esp. if you are in the PDX area. Please contact ABAA Security chair Garrett ... [more Missing: Zines + ephemera in Portland, Oregon]

UPDATE (5/13): RECOVERED Three items have been reported missing in the wake of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. (Two broadsides and one CDV -- descriptions below.) The items were last seen in Booth B-12 and were likely misplaced during move-out. If you catch word of these items, please contact ABAA Security Chair Garrett Scott via email. With thanks, Garrett Scott Chair, ABAA Security Committee *** 1. . SHERIFF'S PROCLAMATION! ANNUAL ELECTION! Ravenna, O.: L. W. Hall, & Son, Printers, . Folio broadside. A nice piece of unlocated civic job printing graced with exuberant display typography. In a mylar sleeve. 2. . FINE DECORATIVE CHARTER FOR THE COTTAGE TENT NO. 2 OF NEW YORK IN THE WOMEN'S TEMPERANCE LODGE, THE ORIGINAL UNITED DAUGHTERS OF RECHAB. . Broadside, approx. 20 x 16 inches, blanks completed in autograph ink (with penciled revi... [more Three items missing after New York Antiquarian Book Fair]

UPDATE (2/19/15): MATERIAL RECOVERED Missing in transit, shipped from San Francisco via US Priority Mail on 2/2/2015, a copy of the Matisse Verve, this copy missing approx. three inches of the binding at the head of the spine. If you are offered this copy or otherwise encounter it, please contact Michael S. Hollander (ABAA) in San Rafael, California, by phone at (415) 572-4224 or mshollbks@gmail.com. [more Missing in Transit: Matisse Verve]

The Texas State Library has compiled a list of missing material, including early Texas Republic material and maps missing from its archives. A link to a PDF list of missing material may be found at the Texas State Library website here. This site also includes information on ownership markings and the text of state law on the right of recovery of Texas public records. [more Texas State Archives Missing Materials]

Lost in transit: A signed Abraham Lincoln document appointing Christian Frederick Moller assistant Danish Consul in 1864. The document was framed and matted with portraits. See a rough image of the item here: http://www.bibliophagist.com/gscott/images/items/LincolnMoller.jpg Island Movers in Hawaii packed the item in its own custom wooden crate. One of the owners of the document saw the item packed. The crate was shipped from Hawaii on Oct. 10, 2014 (as part of a larger shipment of other household effects) to Northern California. The crate with the Lincoln document has not arrived, though the balance of the shipment arrived safely on December 12, 2014. If you are offered this piece or hear any information about the item, please contact Steve Gilley at (808) 497-7402. You can also contact Detective Andre Peters of the Honolulu Police Depar... [more Missing in Transit: Abraham Lincoln Signed Document]

To mark the 75th Anniversary of 1939, we've asked some ABAA members to discuss publications from that momentous year. Garrett Scott, a prominent Ann Arbor bookseller, offers a divagation upon At Swim-Two-Birds, Flann O'Brien's proto-post-modern first book– published in 1939. Biographical reminiscence, part the first: Sometime in 1991, I had taken up temporary residence in a storage closet in a university-owned cooperative house. This was during a period in college in which I was neither enrolled in any classes nor strictly speaking in the eyes of the university a resident of the university-owned cooperative house. The storage closet was situated within one easy extension-cord's length of a hallway electrical outlet and thus easily outfitted with a small fan and a reading lamp and a clock radio. A spare mattress fit neatly between the st... [more 1939: At Swim-Two-Birds]