We may be in the age of smart phones, tablet computers, and e-readers, but in sheer numbers, one household device still rules: television. Today in the United States, there are 2.86 TVs for every 2.5 ... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Entries from January 2015
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 it... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
The 48th California International Antiquarian Book Fair kicks off on February 6, 2015. One of the keynote events at the fair is a presentation on Jack London's photography, by archivist and noted Lond... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Years ago a colleague named Owen Kubik sent me an enigmatic manuscript. After considerable headscratching I determined it was the journal of a young naval officer sent to the Pacific to capture a soci... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Reading resolutions are becoming more common. Following the VIDA report on the paucity of reviews for books by women versus books by men in national newspapers and magazines, a lot of people resolved ... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Entries from December 2014
To begin at the beginning, Charles Ralph Boxer was born in 1904 to a distinguished British family of considerable means. Educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst, he seemed destined for a military... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
This week's news that President Obama will end the 54-year-old American trade embargo against Cuba and restore diplomatic relations marks a major change in Cuban-American relations. ABAA members have ... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Update on Proposed Internet Sales Tax Legislation Internet Sales Tax—What is it? Presently, catalog and online sellers must collect sales and use taxes only in states where they have a physical pres... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Waste Not, Want Not: Social Media and Time Management When you are juggling an endless array of duties and priorities, as so many booksellers are, fitting yet another “thing” onto your already len... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]
Recently Anne and David Bromer, proprietors of Bromer Booksellers in Boston, made a $10,000 stock gift to the Antiquarian Booksellers' Benevolent Fund. It hasn't been my practice to single out contrib... [more {visitor:mbr_blog_screenname}]