Over eight years ago, Vagabond Books, located in Pasadena, CA, got a call from a woman named Ellen. She explained that she was the Propmaster for a new show, Mad Men, on AMC and asked if we could find contemporary books for them. For the past seven seasons, we have provided hundreds of vintage hardcover and softcover books for the show including: The Godfather, Slaughterhouse Five, Wall Street Jungle, Valley of the Dolls, Portnoy's Complaint, six Jewish Prayer books from 1969 for a funeral, Sally's school books, children's books, and Betty's Freud paperback for college. The producers required that all the books be historically correct, tied specifically to the year portrayed in the show, and in like-new condition. Every year we sold them many boxes of books published in the year they were filming. This arrangement led us on many fun and interesting adventures to locate books for them. For example, the opening shot for season six shows Don Draper reading a paperback copy of Dante's Inferno sitting on the beach in Hawaii. The first few immortal lines of this classic were read to the viewers in a voice-over that established the motif for the entire season. Unable to locate the exact copy required for this scene through the usual channels, we finally located the as-new 1969 paperback in a library bookstore in Atascadero, CA, only a couple of days before shooting began. Naturally the books we provided had to look new. Except for Nursery Friends from France. It was Betty's when she... [more Finding Books for Mad Men]

Throughout history, writers have been known to cause a stir. The Marquis de Sade was incarcerated in an insane asylum for his erotic tales. Oscar Wilde self-exiled himself to Paris for the unimaginable treatment he received for the “crime” of homosexuality. Harriet Beecher Stowe caused a flurry of activity around the anti-slavery act in the United States. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita was banned in many different countries, including France (you know it's controversial when even the French consider it obscene…). In modern days we have parents and schools banning books by authors like Judy Blume and Laurie Halse Anderson because they deal with sex and coming-of-age experiences in young-adult fiction. We can only imagine the hell-fire that would begin to burn should any school library choose to keep a holding of The Lover or The Ravishing of Lol Stein on hand! Marguerite Duras, the French novelist, essayist, playwright and film director, could certainly be considered controversial in both work (like the Marquis) and life (like Wilde). Despite the often explicit and controversial themes and plots in her novels, many of which were drawn from her real-life experiences, Duras has been a beloved figure in the field of “serious literature” (a genre I just made up, you'll be pleased to know) for decades. Marguerite as a young girl in Indochina, pictured here with her brothers Pierre and Paulo and a friend. Marguerite Donnadieu (pen name Duras, taken after the French town where h... [more Marguerite Duras & the Minimal Novel]

A few select items offered by ABAA members for the week of May 4th 2015, also known as (Intergalactic) Star Wars Day... Star Wars: From The Adventures Of Luke Skywalker by George Lucas Ballantine, 1976. First Edition. Mass Market Paperback (Offered by Yesterday's Muse, Inc.) A long time ago, in a childhood far, far away, many of us read this novelization of a new movie called Star Wars. Although credited to George Lucas, the book was actually ghostwritten by science-fiction author Alan Dean Foster. The book was released six months before the film -- in order to be on shelves for Christmas 1976 -- so several plot points differ from the final movie, which was still being edited when Foster received his synopsis. The tsunami of Star Wars merchandise that folowed the film's unexpected success has obscured the fact that it all started with this modest mass-market paperback. As a child, I read and re-read my copy until it disintegrated, and Star Wars toys became the first thing I collected with passion. If only I'd been a more careful reader, my copy might be worth something today. Search for other copies of Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker... The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer New York: Rinehart and Company. (1948). First edition. (Offered by Quill & Brush) A presentation copy of Norman Mailer's acclaimed debut novel, which was included in the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century. Inscribed to Adeline Lubell-Naiman, an editor who wa... [more Featured Items]

The designer Chip Kidd has produced some of the most iconic book and dust jacket designs of the past thirty years. Even if you don't know Kidd's name, you've seen his work, on books as varied as Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and Haruki Murakami's The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. Kidd has been called “the closest thing to a rock star” among graphic designers (USA Today) and “the world's greatest book jacket designer” (by author James Ellroy, many of whose books Kidd has designed). Kidd's archive — more than 250 linear feet of material, including sketchbooks, juvenilia, correspondence, and thousands of pieces of original artwork — was recently acquired by Penn State, his alma mater. Among that vast assemblage of materials was a sampling of Chip Kidd's other great passion — Batman collectibles, of which he has assembled what is generally considered the preeminent collection in the world. Kidd literally wrote the book on this area of collecting: his Batman Collected (1996), drawing extensively from his own collection, has long been the bible for all things Batman, from action figures to 1960s' Japanese Batman-inspired manga. During the week of the New York Book Fair, we had the opportunity to visit Kidd in his Upper East Side apartment. There, arrayed in a half-dozen or so built-in glass bookcases, filling the walls of every room in the apartment (except the kitchen, where we never ventured but from whence cocktails materialized throughout the course of our visit) wer... [more A Visit With Chip Kidd]

A roundup of some recent rare book news. 1000-Year-Old Manuscript Contains Cure for Antibiotic-Resistant Infection If ever you need to explain the importance of preserving old books, cite this story! Bald's Leechbook, and Old English manuscript in the collection of the British Library contains a 9th-Century Anglo-Saxon salve for eye infections. Researchers have found that it cures one of the scourges of modern hospitals, the antibiotic-resistant infection MRSA. Demonstrating that ancient medicine wasn't all leeches and quackery. More on this story from the BBC... Books Presumed Stolen from NYPL Re-appear After 24 Years FBI seize them... A Book the Pope Couldn't Burn Rediscovered A rare copy of Varia Opuscula Theologica by Doctoris Francisco Suarez, which was banned but the Pope and ordered burned in 1679, was found in a charity shop in the UK this week. What strange journey has this volume taken over the last 300 years? More on this story... ISIS Financed in-part by Stolen Antiquities Still on the subject of book burning, an article by Barbara Basbanes claims that the sale of looted antiquities, including books, is part of the fundraising efforts underpining ISIS in the Middle-East. While the headline attracted controversy for attributing all of ISIS fundraising success to rare books, the underlining story makes clear that books may only be a part of their funding , and does raise concerns that ISIS' much publicized destruction of ancient remains may be a smokescreen for a lu... [more Rare Book News]

The description a rare book dealer lists in a database or catalog entry is far, far more than simply a list of bland descriptors (format, publication date, publisher, condition, etc.) such as one finds at online retailers of new books (whose goal is to sell an infinite number of identical, flawless -- and thus featureless -- copies). The experience and knowledge a rare book dealer brings to bear allows him or her to recognize some of the history of an individual volume, and to establish its provenance. John Carter defines “Provenance” (in his classic reference guide ABC for Book Collectors) as “The pedigree of a book's previous ownership.” While it's not necessary for a book to have had distinguished previous owners to be rare or valuable, volumes that enter the realm of “Association Copy” because of a previous owner's connections to the author are very highly prized. The degree of association can vary, with a "Presentation Copy" given by the author to a friend or contemporary and inscribed with a note from the author, at the top of the heap. Carter defines the association copy thusly: "a copy which once belonged to, or was annotated by the author; which once belonged to someone connected to the author or someone of interest in his own right; or again, and perhaps most interestingly, belonging to someone peculiarly associated with its contents." You can find sterling examples of informative, knowledgeable, and thorough research in the catalogs of any ABAA member, ... [more What is an Association Copy?]

Priya Parmar is the author of the acclaimed novel Vanessa and Her Sister, which tells the story of the complicated relationship between the painter Vanessa Bell and her sister, the novelist Virginia Woolf. As her medium was visual art, Bell has been somewhat overshadowed by Woolf's vast legacy of novels, stories, and essays. Parmar's achievement is to bring Vanessa to vibrant life on the page, showing her to be the "linchpin" of the Bloomsbury set, possessed of an unexpectedly modern sensibility. We spoke with Parmar about her extensive research, which included moving to London to walk the same streets as the Stephens' sisters and access the various archives of Bell and Woolf's papers. ABAA: What piqued your interest in Vanessa Bell and the Bloomsbury group? Priya Parmar: I read a letter that Vanessa Bell wrote in 1905. Clive Bell had proposed marriage and she was rejecting the proposal but she did not write the demure, Edwardian letter I would have expected. She wrote a fiery, messy, blunt, truthful letter. It was so modern and vibrant and she stepped off the page for me right there. She was the person I wanted to write about. She led me to her family and friends, to Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes, Thoby Stephen, Lytton Strachey, Roger Fry, Clive Bell and Leonard Woolf. ABAA: Was your research primarily in biographies and the group's fiction and nonfiction, or were you able to examine any primary sources like letters and diaries? PP: I spent huge amounts o... [more Researching Vanessa Bell & Bloomsbury]

In the Poetry Book Shop -- A Parody in Prose Sylvia Plath is having an Argument & Song with Stanley Plumly, while Steve Orlen gives Permission to Speak to Howard Moss, who is always Finding Them Lost on one shelf or the other. Why you'd think David Ignatow would have more to do than chasing Sunlight – collectors know it's so bad for the book spines – but he does it all for his daughter. And then we have thoughtful Randall Jarrell giving Blood for a Stranger, while that Kenneth Patchen obsesses with following Red Wine and Yellow Hair everywhere! Poor Gary Snyder was Left Out in the Rain for no reason at all, so his pal C. K. Williams held The Vigil until he brainstormed A Dream of Mind to get ole Gary back on the Mountains and Rivers Without End. Then along comes Corso with his own Mindfield and bumps into Robinson Jeffers looking for lunch in the Hungerfield, and that got Gerald Stern to offer them both some Bread Without Sugar, all hoping for The New Body that James Moore promised. John Frederick Nims, forever the gentleman and diplomat, needed to remind them that all bodies are Of Flesh and Bone, even if some of the tribesmen look Zany in Denim. Ever eager to keep in touch, Ted Hughes is busy writing Birthday Letters, and Brad Leithauser is fussing with The Mail from Anywhere, while Dan Gerber writes Letters to a Distant Friend before Sailing through Cassiopeia using the same nautical chart that Edward Byrne used Along the Dark Shore. These land lovers should have check... [more In the Poetry Book Shop]

A rarity among rare books: The New England Primer Enlarged with an engraved portrait of George Washington attributed to Paul Revere. Among Americana collectors, one of the most desirable class of books remains the 18th century New England Primer – 17th century examples being known, but entirely unavailable. The New England Primer was not only the first primary reader designed for use in the American Colonies – a cornerstone of early American education – but in the hundreds of editions that were produced, it was among the most successful educational texts ever published. In his 1934 check-list of New England Primers, bibliographer and bookseller extraordinaire Charles F. Heartman recorded more than 450 editions published between 1727 and 1830, many of these printed in editions of thousands of copies. According to Heartman, even before 1727 there were likely “many thousands” of New England Primers printed, none of which survive. The Primer, he writes, was “practically an institution. It was, next to the Bible, the 'stock book' in the bookshops of the towns and the general stores of the village.” Due to its small size, its relatively modest cost to contemporary buyers, and constant handling by “not too careful” children, few of these once very common volumes remained intact for even a generation. Though literally millions of copies were printed by the first decades of the 19th century, only a tiny fraction survive today. From the beginning, The New England Prim... [more The New England Primer]

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America are pleased to announce the 2015 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest! Established in 2005 by Fine Books & Collections Magazine to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students, the contest aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. The magazine conducted the annual competition program for three years before turning over leadership to a collaboration of institutional partners (The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, with major support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. Competitions are held at more than three dozen colleges and universities across the United States. Some contests have been conducted for decades, dating back to Swarthmore College's first competition in the 1920s. All college or university prizewinners are encouraged to enter. Student collectors whose institutions do not offer a book collecting contest also may enter. All entries for the 2015 competition must be submitted by May 31, 2015. Full rules and details can be found at https://www.abaa.org/ncbcc/the-national-collegiate-book-collecting-contest... [more 2015 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest]