Booking Through Thursday: Firsts

This week BTT asks: "How about First Editions? Are they something special? Or 'just another book' to you?"

Have to admit, I do think of first editions as a little bit special. And generally, if I'm buying a hard cover copy of a current book, I do try to get the first edition. Well, why not? Think about all those people who just happened to buy first editions of Stephen King back in the day. Of course, I know most books are not going to increase in value, at least not in my lifetime. But you never know.

My husband and I share a love of books. And over the years we've picked up a few first editions of older books, too. I suppose if we could afford it, we'd be full-fledged book collectors instead of just book accumulators.

Booking Through Thursday: Mark the Spot

I love this week's question! BTT asks: "What items have you ever used as a bookmark? What is the most unusual item you've ever used or seen used?" I love it because I love bookmarks. I've collected or, more precisely, accumulated them since I was a child. Most of mine aren't terribly old or rare or anything – just things that have caught my eye or that have been given to me over the years. Some of them I inherited from my mother. Some I picked up while traveling – bookmarks make excellent souvenirs.

I like to make my own bookmarks, too. The computer and home printer have made that really easy – you can have a new, unique bookmark for every book you read. And I love finding bookmarks in the used books I buy. On our trip to Texas last year, I bought a copy of Ellery Queen's Blighted Dwellings in a used book store, and inside I found this homemade marker – pressed flowers someone had laminated and tucked away. Very sweet.


I'm not sure I've ever used anything extremely unusual as a bookmark. But I've certainly used all kinds of things to mark my place in the books I read – not just "official" bookmarks, but slips of paper, Post-It notes, pieces of yarn, feathers, Metro passes, old dental appointment reminder cards, nail files, paper dolls, wine labels, candy and gum wrappers, playing cards. My aunt used to cut the pictures off Celestial Seasonings tea packages to use as bookmarks, and I still have a number of those.


Right now, I'm reading a couple of Christmas themed books, so I'm using two vintage Christmas bookmarks. One appears to be from about the 1930s and says it's from "Miss Groves and Miss Staudt." Possibly a gift to an honored student from two admiring teachers? And the other is a home-made marker with a drawing of Santa and a "Merry Christmas" greeting – it was in a batch of old ephemera I bought years ago.


And one of my very favorite bookmarks, and one I use quite a lot, is this one. Not sure where I got it, but it has some wonderful advise:


If you're looking for more info on bookmarks, I've got a little list of links to favorite websites on my sidebar (just scroll down – OK, farther down). I always especially enjoy the Forgotten Bookmarks site, which has photos of some of the strange and "heartbreaking" things people leave in books.

Booking Through Thursday: Collectibles

This week's BTT questions:

Hardcover or paperback? Illustrations or just text? First editions or you don’t care? Signed by the author or not?

Well, there was a time when M and I had visions of collecting antique books and first editions. And we even have a few very nice modern firsts in our library. But until recent years, we've always lived a fairly nomadic – and frugal – lifestyle; not the sort of existence that encourages the accumulation of expensive, valuable items. That hasn't prevented us from amassing a huge collection of books, of course. These days, if I'm buying a hardcover edition of a newly or recently published book, I always do try to buy the first edition. But for older books, I'm usually not that picky. Really, the only books I actually collect are editions of Lewis Carroll's Alice books and Twain's Huck Finn. And none of those are particularly valuable – just different editions of two of my favorite books.

The hardcover vs. paperback question is a tough one. In general, I always prefer hardcovers for my library. But for actual reading purposes, I'm not terribly particular. Hardcover books are nice because they generally stay open to the page you're reading. But paperbacks are usually lighter weight and more portable – they can be stashed in handbags and backpacks more easily. Also, the cover art on a paperback edition can frequently be much more interesting than its hardcover equivalent.

Signed by author? Well, we probably do have some books in our library that were signed by the authors. I can think of at least one textbook signed by one of our old college professors. And I'm sure there are at least a couple signed by M's colleagues or grad school pals. But other than those few, if the book has an author's signature in it, the signature was there when the book came into our collection. I've never been much of an autograph-seeker.

Ah, but illustrations – now there's something I have a definite opinion about. I love illustrations. I think all books should have them. Not to the point of turning them into "graphic novels," I suppose. But I'd like every one of my books to have a few nice illustrations. That was one thing I liked about the books by the late novelist John Gardner – he always insisted that his publisher include illustrations with his work. And Rita Mae Brown's Mrs. Murphy mysteries always have a few illustrations of Mrs. M, the "tiger cat," and her Corgi pal Tucker. Just a little something to jazz up the text a bit, and give your eyes something to rest on besides the old Times Roman for a while.

Musing Mondays: Bookmarks

Today’s MUSING MONDAYS topic is bookmarks:

What do you use to mark your place while reading? Do you have a definite preference? Do you use bookmarks, paper, or (gasp) turn down the pages? If you use bookmarks, do you have a favourite one?

Wow, I probably shouldn't even get started on this. I've been meaning to go through my bookmark collection and sort things out, but somehow I just never get around to it. I always thought I'd do a blog post about bookmarks with a lot of photos, but that takes a lot more planning than I'm usually up for. So now's my chance, right?

I really do prefer to use bookmarks to mark my place when I'm reading – definitely don't like to turn down the corners of the pages; although I have been known to do that once in a while (something I hate to admit). I use Post-it notes a lot, to mark interesting quotes or plot developments, but I still prefer a bookmark to keep track of my place.

Though I'll use most anything as a bookmark in a pinch (ticket stubs, greeting cards, folded up paper towels, lengths of dental floss), I love "real" bookmarks and I've collected them for a long time. Some I've actually purchased for myself, but most were either gifts, or promotional markers from booksellers and publishers, libraries, museums, art galleries, restaurants – you name it.

Not many of my bookmarks are antiques, but I do have a few fairly old ones. Some were actually meant to be bookmarks and some were just advertising, like these early 20th Century trade cards.

Lately, I've taken to collecting those little matchbook-style ads you find in hotel lobbies – for restaurants and local attractions. After I flatten them out and laminate them, they make very nice bookmarks, and also remind me of the places we've visited.

Some of my bookmarks belonged to my mom, who also accumulated them at an alarming rate. Although, like me, she was just as apt to use makeshift markers, like these pieces of Celestial Seasonings tea packages.

And I especially love finding handmade bookmarks – like these I've found in some of the used books I've bought at one time or another.
See a few more bookmarks on my Joysweb Blue Monday post.

Review: The Grand Complication

Written by Allen Kurzweil
Published by Hyperion, 2001, 360 pp.
Winter Reading Challenge

The search began with a library call slip and the gracious query of an elegant man.
"I beg your pardon," said the man, bowing ever so slightly, "Might I steal a moment of your time?"

So begins Allen Kurzweil's The Grand Complication. The book's narrator and protagonist, Alexander Short, is a reference librarian at a Manhattan library, very much like (wink, wink) the New York Public. Through his job, Alexander meets and is, in effect, seduced by the impressively named and impressively wealthy Henry James Jesson III, who wants the young librarian to help him "with a case." The "case" turns out to be an actual box – an incomplete cabinet of curiosities put together by a mysterious 18th-century inventor. Alexander resists the offer at first, but eventually gives in, and the rest of the novel involves his search for the cabinet's one missing object – a magnificent timepiece supposedly made for Marie Antoinette.

The Grand Complication is a mystery tale and, as in any good mystery tale, along the way we learn that many things are not exactly what they seem. Mr. Jesson's story, the legendary timepiece, and Mr. Jesson himself turn out to be much more complicated than at first we might have suspected – well, at least more complicated than Alexander suspected. So we end up unraveling more than just the secret of the queen's magnificent pocket watch.

This book has drawn mixed reviews, and I have to admit Kurzweil doesn't produce the most sparkling prose. But I enjoyed it very much – it's a fast-paced read, with a lot of humor and many surprises sprinkled throughout. There's also a nice love story included – the courtship and rocky marriage of Alexander and his French wife, Nic.

Then there's all the library arcana – my favorite part of the book – and Alexander's fascination with "objects of enclosure" and with the Dewey system of classification:

The system lets the well-trained librarian synthesize a hierarchy of people, places, and things, of ideas and phenomena. What's more, it encourages that hierarchy both to grow and to be remembered. Familiarity with classes, divisions, and sections means this: that if a reader walks up and requests, say, The Study of Arab Women: A Bibliography of Bibliographies, a librarian who knows the system can direct the inquirer with confidence to 016.016305488927. [Chapter 55, p. 319]

Ultimately, I suppose I was attracted to Alexander because he's such a meticulous list-maker. At one point, he admits to Nic that his ambition is "to compose lists," prompting her to ask if he wants to set them to music. He collects library call slips – his own and those of other library patrons. He even goes so far as to wear a journal (hand made by Nic) fastened to his clothing, for making lists and notes – in imitation of the "girdle books" employed by medieval monks. Now that's a man after my own heart.

Booking Through Thursday on Monday

Even though I always find it interesting, I can't seem to remember to check out the BTT web site every Thursday. Last week's topic:

"But Enough About Books - Okay, even I can’t read ALL the time, so I’m guessing that you folks might voluntarily shut the covers from time to time as well… What else do you do with your leisure to pass the time? Walk the dog? Knit? Run marathons? Construct grandfather clocks? Collect eggshells?"

Well, I do sort of read ALL the time – or at least, I try to do some reading everyday. Other than that, much as I hate to admit it, I guess my major leisure-time activity is watching movies (and old TV shows) on DVD – M and I subscribed to Netflix a couple of years ago so we could catch up on all the films we don't go to anymore. In the last 15 years (since the early '90s), we've gone out to see a movie in an actual theater about half a dozen times. So Netflix has been great for us.

A couple of cousins got me interested in genealogy many years ago, and since then I've spent a shocking amount of time and effort on family history research. It's a great hobby for a former history major. And it's a lot easier now than it was ten years ago, before there were all the online resources we have today.

I don't do sports and I'm not a real artsy-craftsy sort of person, although I am getting the itch to try doing some needlework again. I tried cross-stitch once and just couldn't stick with it – all those little x's over and over and over just got mind-numbingly boring after a while. But I think I could enjoy regular needlepoint or embroidery a little more.

For about a dozen years or so, I was deeply into doll collecting. Nowadays, I don't really collect – I maintain. I still love dolls and enjoy the collection, but I'm not actively buying anymore. The condo just can't hold any more additions. In fact, I may be on the verge of becoming a seller of dolls – could be my new hobby!