If someone says “Children's Books” to you, what is the first thing that comes to your mind? Picture books? Perhaps here is the better question… what author first comes to mind? I would venture to bet that at least 90% of you come up with the same name. However, did you know that the name you come up with is not his true name? (Probably most of you do, since you are members of the book world or bibliophiles and would know something like that… but humor me!) Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on March 2nd, 1904 to a German family in Springfield, Massachusetts. His father ran a family-owned brewery in Massachusetts (well, until the Prohibition did away with that). Geisel went to school in Massachusetts until he went to Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, graduating in 1925. During his time at Dartmouth, Geisel first showed skill and interest in humorous literature as rose to the role of editor-in-chief of the literary magazine the Dartmouth Jack-O-Lantern before graduating. Unfortunately, one college incident threatened to end his early literary career – when Geisel was caught drinking gin (the Prohibition was in effect) in his dorm room with some of his friends. In punishment for this crime, Geisel was forced to resign from his position at the magazine. In order to continue publishing his work at the Jack-O-Lantern, Geisel began writing under the pen name “Seuss”, his middle name. The beginning of Dr. Seuss was underway. Once graduating from Dartmouth, Geisel began his... [more Dr. Seuss: Rare Books & Ephemera]

When visiting New York for the annual Antiquarian Book Fair, many attendees spend the entirety of their time within a fairly narrow geographic radius of the fair itself. That's understandable -- the Upper East Side has much to recommend it, and for convenience to the fair, it can't be beat. But New York City is a rich tapestry, and bookish pleasures abound throughout. Why not let the fair serve as an opportunity to grab a cab or hail an Uber and explore further afield? For sheer literary density, New York's crown jewel has to be the downtown neighborhood of Greenwich (that's "grennitch") Village. Universally referred to by natives simply as "The Village, this historic district is bounded by 14th Street on the north, Houston Street on the south, 3rd Avenue in the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Originally a bucolic out-of-town escape destination for disease-beset 18th- and 19th-century New Yorkers, the area retained its post-colonial flavor even as the city, marching ever northward, expanded around it. The Village's smaller scale, tree-lined streets, pocket parks, off-the-grid layout, and Bohemian sensibility has long attracted literary types, among them W. H. Auden, Willa Cather, Kahlil Gibran, Allen Ginsberg, Henry James, Jack Kerouac, Emma Lazarus, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Eugene O'Neill, Edgar Allen Poe, Dylan Thomas, Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, and many more. The area was the cradle of the "golden age" of New York literary society (dates vary, but broadly from the 1... [more Literary Greenwich Village]

Since 1975 the William Reese Company has served a large international clientele of collectors and private and public institutions in the acquisition of rare books and manuscripts and in collection development. With a catalogue inventory of over forty thousand items and a general inventory of over sixty-five thousand items, we are among the leading specialists in the fields of Americana and world travel, and maintain a large and eclectic inventory of literary first editions and antiquarian books of the 18th through 21st centuries. Our offices are located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut and are open by appointment only. The William Reese Company is seeking to add a new team member to its Americana Department. This person needs to be detail oriented, personable and outgoing, and willing and able to lift reasonably large boxes of books. A foundational knowledge of American history is a must, as is a basic grounding in bibliographical knowledge. Previous experience in antiquarian book selling or library work is preferred but not essential. Excellent communication skills, both oral and written, are necessary, as is proficiency in the use of databases. The job description includes a range of the many tasks required in running a large rare book business, but primary duties are cataloguing and researching new inventory; working with customers and selling books in person, on the phone, and by catalogue or internet listing; maintaining inventory control; and possible travel to attend... [more Job Posting: William Reese Co. Seeks Rare Book Cataloguer in Americana Department]

Please join us on October 21st at 3pm ET to honor this year's prizewinners of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest's Susan Tane Prize for Student Book Collectors by Zoom. In addition to the awards, the Library of Congress' Chief of Rare Books and Special Collections Division, Mark Dimunation, will interview each winner. To attend, you must register for the Zoom meeting at this link. First Prize Daria Rose Evdokimova (Harvard University) "Ardis Publishers and the Immigrant Identity" Second Prize Francesca Mancino (Case Western Reserve University) “Reassessing Modernism: Women Writers and Publishers of the Lost Generation” Third Prize Austin Benson (University of Virginia) “The Little Office of Our Lady, 1599-1966: Online Book Collecting During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Essay Prize Elizabeth Propst (Harvard University) “How Much Am I Bid for the Moon?: Collecting Poetry on the Cheap” With thanks to our colleagues and judges from the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Grolier Club, and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress) for making the contest happen once again, and to Susan Tane for funding the prizes. We look forward to seeing you there. NCBCC Award Ceremony Registration [more National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Awards on October 21]

Seeking Full Time Administrative Assistant for Online Rare Map Gallery ** No Application without a Cover Letter will be considered ** Geographicus is offering an exciting position in the antique business. We are one of the world's most active dealers in rare and antique maps. Geographicus has been in business since 2001 and is today one of the top dealers in authentic antique maps. We also exhibit at rare map and book fairs in Miami, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, London, Paris, and Korea. The business currently operates out of the ground floor of my Brooklyn townhouse. We do not have a physical gallery/storefront, as most of our business is online or through shows. We currently have 4 employees, including the owner. All three are focused on cataloging/sales. The position we are hiring for is not sales/cataloging, rather it combines support, management, and logistics. Duties 1. Pack and ship all outgoing parcels. Deal with outgoing customs. Track shipped parcels to ensure delivery. Liaise with clients, resolve shipping issues with FedEx / DHL / USPS support. 2. Track, receive, unpack all incoming parcels. Deal with incoming customs documentation. Build positive relationships with carriers. 3. Encapsulate new inventory in mylar, put into storage, and note appropriate locations after the cataloging process. 4. Collect and scan invoices, making sure all are paid in a timely fashion. 5. Liaise with auction houses around the world, deal with payment and arrange shipment... [more Rare Map Gallery Seeks Administrative Assistant]

BSA NEW SCHOLARS PROGRAM (DEADLINE SEPTEMBER 3) The Bibliographical Society of America's New Scholars Program promotes the work of scholars new to bibliography, broadly defined to include the creation, production, publication, distribution, reception, transmission, and subsequent history of all textual artifacts. This includes manuscript, print, and digital media, from clay and stone to laptops and iPads. Thanks to a recent donation to BSA in honor of Jacob Blanck (1906-1974), the New Scholars Program now provides named support for bibliographical and book historical scholarship focusing on printed works of writers of the United States and their publishers, in addition to the program's Malkin and Pantzer awards. The New Scholars award is $1,000, with a $500 travel stipend. Three awards are made each year as part of a two-pronged program: 1. New Scholars present fifteen-minute talks on their current, unpublished bibliographical research during a program preceding the Society's Annual Meeting, held each January. 2. Expanded versions of New Scholars' papers are submitted to the editor of The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (PBSA) for publication, subject to peer review. The committee strongly encourages applications from those who have not previously published, lectured, or taught on bibliographical subjects. Bibliographical scholarship pursuing new methods and new approaches, including applications from candidates applying bibliographical theory and principles ... [more Bibliographical Society of America’s New Scholars Program]

It's common knowledge that Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence, but did you realize he was also the first American to record a recipe for ice cream? Jefferson's recipe was for vanilla ice cream and he, sadly, did not name it Declaration of Deliciousness (which would be a perfect name if Ben & Jerry's decided to make a tribute flavor!). Precursors to ice cream, often ice mixed with fruits or juices, appeared in ancient Greek, Chinese, and Persian cultures. It's believed that the first milk based icy treat and the earliest device to make a 'ice cream' appeared in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). These frozen iced-based drinks gained popularity in Europe, and in the 17th century it became popular to turn these drinks into frozen desserts. Italians added sugar to the concoction and sorbet (then called sorbetto) was born. A Neapolitan, Antonio Latino, is credited with creating the first milk-based sorbet, the earliest form of our modern day ice cream. The French also were experimenting with their own form of ice cream called fromage, a misleading designation since there recipe did not contain cheese, and by the 18th century it had become a popular treat. Here's where Jefferson enters the picture. Ice cream is thought to have come to America with settlers in the early 18th century, so Jefferson may have encountered the dessert in the colonies, but there is no doubt that he enjoyed it during the five years he spent in France (1784-1789). Four ice molds... [more Thomas Jefferson’s Ice Cream Recipe]

Pioneering screenwriter Anita Loos was born on April 26, 1889. After learning her trade acting and writing one-act plays for her father's somewhat-disreputable theater troupe, Loos began submitting unsolicited scripts to film companies. D.W. Griffith directed The New York Hat, a film based on her screenplay, starring Mary Pickford and Lionel Barrymore in 1912. In 1915 Loos became the first “staff writer” for a film production company, when she signed on with Griffith's studio. She wrote hundreds of scripts during the silent era of cinema, most of which went unproduced, but the films that were made were noted for their wit and humor — all the more remarkable for being silent! Her collaboration with director (and future husband John Emerson) began by working on several romantic comedies which made Douglas Fairbanks a star. In later years, many of the scripts that carried both of their names would be primarily Loos' work, however. It was often convenient, in the Hollywood system of the 1930s and '40s, to have a male co-writer, as some directors were unwilling or uncomfortable discussing the script with a woman. During a period of infatuation with H.L. Mencken (who apparantly had a thing for blondes) Loos wrote a series of stories about a chorus girl on the lookout for a rich paramour, the Lorelei Lee stories. These were such a hit for Harper's Bazaar that they soon became a novel, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1925) which became a runaway bestseller. A broadway adaptation foll... [more Anita Loos: Hollywood Pioneer]

Get your new year off to a good start by examining a few highlights from around the abaa.org website or found within the pages of our members' latest rare book catalogs. Cassic orange Penguins are always eye-catching. This one is was also an influential part of early science fiction. The Quatermass Experiment: A Play for Television in Six Parts by Nigel Kneale Description: : Penguin Books, .. Small octavo, printed wrappers. First edition. Prints Kneale's revised script for the first of the three BBC Quatermass serials aired in 1953, 1955 and 1958/1959 respectively. Includes film stills. "Effective melodrama and social satire for its time." - Anatomy of Wonder (1987) 3-231. "Excellent scripts." - Pringle, The Ultimate Guide to Science Fiction, second edition (1995), p. 294. "With hindsight, there is a clear pattern in Kneale's work in which ordinary people are seen as stupid and ignorant, and ready prey for the supernatural or science-fictional forces that will almost inevitably attempt to control them. There is a seigneurial, Edwardian element in this, a recoiling from the vulgar. This is a point worth belaboring, because Kneale was certainly a much better than average scriptwriter -- the Quatermass series especially is exemplary -- and his scripts were, paradoxically, very influential on SF, at least at the Gothic and irrational margin of the genre where SF meets fantasy, particularly among film and television producers, who never expect SF to make sense anyway." - SFE (onli... [more Books of the Week]

The idea of the beach read encapsulates how most people seem to regard reading in the 21st century: a solitary activity, preferably performed in a comfortable place, and accompanied by an alcoholic beverage. Modern readers display their bona fides on Instagram with stylish photos of reading nooks and “still life”-type imagery featuring books (or, I'm sad to note, Kindles and iPads) and beverages of choice (most often, cups of coffee or glasses of wine). There's even a curious trend of people posting pictures of themselves reading alone in bars, sending a slightly odd mixed-message: are they in search of company, or advertising the fact that they are above the need for company? Whatever the motivation for sharing these photos, they all reflect the dominant view of reading as a virtuous, solitary, and slightly hedonistic act. However, this was not always the case. Rare bookseller Ernest Hilbert (of Bauman Rare Books) recently reviewed The Social Life of Books: Reading Together in the 18th Century Home by Abigail Williams for the Washington Post. Williams explores the “heyday of communal reading,” 18th-Century England, and details how rising literacy gave birth to a trend for reading aloud as a social activity. In fact, social commentators like Joseph Addison campaigned that reading should move from the private to the public sphere to improve education. Other factors like poor light and failing eyesight created a need for books for be read aloud — witness Jo reading to... [more Reading: Solitary or Social?]