Well the above sentence is somewhat correct. Richelle Mead author of the hot series Vampire Academy spoke with the AP about her books, adults who read them and possible movie deals. You can read about it here.
Will the vampire trend in books and movies keep going strong? My local used bookstore has about ten copies of twilight sitting on the shelf.
Our friends over at the Daily Camera in Boulder have an interesting article concerning university students and electronic reading. This article can be read here.
Here at Abacus Used Books we have talked about the e-book quite extensively. There can be no replacement for the feel of a used or new book. Publishers weekly had something to say about the sales of e-books. You can read about it here.
I came across a great blog today featuring the nation’s top archivist. His experience is very impressive. From his own blog site
“David S. Ferriero was confirmed as 10th Archivist of the United States on November 6, 2009.
Previously, Mr. Ferriero served as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries (NYPL). He was part of the leadership team responsible for integrating the four research libraries and 87 branch libraries into one seamless service for users, creating the largest public library system in the United States and one of the largest research libraries in the world.”
One thing I like about this blog is the openness of Mr.Ferriero and his honest inquiry of what the public thinks.
You can visit his site here.
I was at a used bookstore today in Ft Collins and I was talking to the owner and the subject came up of the worlds oldest bookstore that is still in business. He gave me the name of a used bookstore and I did some research.
The Moravian Book Shop, the oldest bookstore in the world, was founded in 1745 when the Moravian Church appointed Samuel Powell of the Church’s Crown Inn on the South Side of the Lehigh River to operate a book store. After several locations, the Moravian Book Shop was moved to the church’s publications building near the Central Moravian Church in 1871. Today, the Moravian Book Shop’s home is this same site on Historic Main Street in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Read more about it here.
Recently The University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business conducted an experiment with ebook readers. In a nutshell they took away papers and textbooks and had Academic students use a ebook reader instead. The results, which come as no surprise was a complete failure. Read more about it here.
So you’re in your favorite used bookstore in Denver and you see some really nice books in a glass case. Where did they come from is a common question that will be asked. Though there are a number of ways these books are collected by used book dealers, I thought I would share one of the ways they used to be bought.
A trade publication called AB Bookman’s weekly was a magazine that a used and rare book dealer could list in. Generally they would have two listings. One for books they were looking to buy and the other for books they wanted to sell.
There was an editor’s corner where an article on the book trade or a short interview or comments from a famous author was shared.
Another feature was a list of upcoming antiquarian book fairs and such.
Starting in 1949 this was the premier magazine for book people.
Sadly their last publication was in 1999 as the internet quickly replaced the print version.
A bid to try a digital version was tried for a short while but quickly disappeared.
The following article is a brief summary to help when you first start a book collection. There are numerous details and more in depth knowledge involved in building a book collection, but the following will help you get started in the right direction.
So you love to read and want to start a collection. The first question is what do you want to collect? Let’s assume you love Military books.
Great, then let’s narrow it down to a particular branch of the military for example the United States Army.
Now before you buy every book that even mentions the word Army lets narrow down a time frame. We will use 1930-1950.
Now that we have a time frame lets concentrate on Native Americans. There were approximately 44,000 Native Americans in WW2.
So from the above information, we can build a book collection on Native Americans in the U.S. Army from 1930-1950.
You will want first editions if you can locate and afford them.
Condition is everything. Event though the majority of the books you purchase will be used books, keeps trying to find the better copy.
Try to collect hardbacks with dust jackets (if they originally came with one).
Buy from reputable used bookstores or reach out and meet and talk to an experienced rare or used book dealer. They may have the knowledge of a fellow collector who is looking to sell their book.