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A rare first edition of Thomas Bewick's History of British Birds belonging to Frances Currer, the woman believed to have inspired Charlotte Brontë's pseudonym of Currer Bell, has come to light. Dubbed 'England's earliest female bibliophile' in Seymour de Ricci's history of collectors, Frances Mary Richardson Currer's library in her family home of Eshton Hall, Yorkshire, ran to 15,000 to 20,000 volumes. Among them lay Bewick's classic of British ornithology - the work Jane Eyre is reading as Charlotte Brontë's novel opens, and whose 'enchanted page[s]' the author also celebrated in poetry.
Isis militants have reportedly ransacked Mosul library, burning over a hundred thousand rare manuscripts and documents spanning centuries of human learning. Initial reports said approximately 8,000 books were destroyed by the extremist group. Read more
Last week Time published its100 Best Children's Books of All Time, and a companion list,The 100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time. As the children's book buyer for an independent bookstore and reviewer of children's fiction, several of my friends, family members and colleagues posted the link to my Facebook wall almost simultaneously. I sighed as I dragged my cursor over to the link, knowing full well what awaited me, a little thread of sadness knotting in my stomach.
It's the same knot I get as a bookseller when I encounter a particular kind of adult customer who is looking to buy a book for a child: their eyes are darting nervously about my section of the store, they're picking up books and putting them down without really looking at them, they are babes lost in a realm long forgotten to them.
"Where are your classics?" they ask, a little sheepishly. I try to speak quickly as I walk them to the long table near the window, laden with time-worn favorites:
"Is there someone in particular you're shopping for? Boy or girl? You know, there are some wonderful new authors and illustrators I could show you."
"...Umm..."
"This book won the Caldecott Medal this year. Have you heard of Oliver Jeffers? Lauren Child? Sean Qualls was here just last week!"
Their hands land on Madeline, a mist coming into their eyes. "Oh I loved this book when I was young." My time is running out.
I snatch a few of my favorites from the other tables, not too many, afraid to overwhelm.
"If you liked Madeline you might also take a look at Julie Morstad. This is Sophie Blackall's latest book, are you familiar with Ivy and Bean?"
"You know...I think I'll just go with Madeline, it's for my niece, I'd love to share this with her."
I smile. "I'm sure she'll love it." Who could blame them?
"We're living in a golden age of young-adult literature," Time's round up began. Yes, YES! I thought, hope rising. Which made it all the more dismaying to see the same old familiar faces gathered once again to receive praise. A curmudgeon's voice took hold in my head as I clicked through the list: The Wild Rumpus is still in vogue? Must we bid the Moon Goodnight once more? Surely piling on one more commendation will fell The Giving Tree!
As with the customer who just wants to share a fondly remembered tale from their childhood with a son, daughter or young relative, I can hardly blame Time's esteemed judges for their selections. And three cheers for the inclusion of the modern masterpieces I Want My Hat Back, Extra Yarn and Journey. But in the interest of widening the spotlight of our adulates, allow me to submit 20 new pictures books which in 20 years time may find themselves as dog-eared and long-loved as those on Time's list of venerable selections.
The biggest news of the year is the ousting of Madonna's Sex, which has enjoyed lounging lasciviously around in the #1 spot since 2010, enjoying the view. But no matter how much Madonna might like to be on top, the winds of change blew Sex down to #3 this year. So what two titles were bold and daring enough to take down the queen?
Interestingly, the #1 spot on this year's list went to On the Psychology of Military Incompetence by Norman F. Dixon. The book examines in deep detail the power dynamics and reasoning behind blunders in military leadership and strategy from The Boer War, WWI, The Crimean War and more. From a perspective of analyzing personalities and intellectual abilities behind positions of power, even considering factors such as character traits prized and abhorred in the military, On the Psychology of Military Incompetence asks very tough questions and even offers some answers. No doubt the book has ruffled its share of feathers since its original publication in 1975 by Jonathan Cape. The book's overlying, scathing assertion is that by its very own structure, the military is assuring its own continued failure by the types of people it attracts, promotes and makes leaders:
"Such personality traits - fear of failure, need for approval, orderliness, excessive obedience and underlying hostility etc. - fit in so well with the requirements of military organizations, that a proportion of these people may rise to high rank. At the top, however, those features of their psychological make-up which assured their ascent may prove sadly incapacitating. Over-control, rigidity, having a 'closed-mind', do not lend themselves to the task of fathoming, let alone dealing with, the great uncertainities of war."
The book made its first appearance last year at #11, after never having appeared in the top 100 previously. While I'm not sure I want to live in a world where military incompetence trumps sex, it says something about the current state of things when that's the the most frequently searched-for out-of-print book.
The #2 spot goes to The Lovely Reed: An Enthusiast's Guide to Building Bamboo Fly Rods by Jack Howell, which wasn't even on the list last year. How wholesome. A bit of snooping around the net reveals that in October 2013, the Sioux City Journal featured an interview with a man named Jeff Hatton, whose collection of over 115 fishing rods (called "The Gnome's Traveling Rod Show") lovingly details the history of rods, dating back to the 1700s. In the interview, Hatton mentioned having taught himself to build fishing rods using a book - "The Lovely Reed". Could this be the cause of the book's seemingly sudden demand? Or is it merely a renewed interest in bamboo fly rod fishing? Do we have hipsters to thank? I would feel more confident making that assertion if it was a book about vinyl record collection, or making one's own kombucha, but the possibility remains.
It's always fascinating to see the fluctuations in the list. For those not in the know, when demand wanes for a book, a publisher can decide to give it the axe and not print any more copies. In the case of a resurgence of interest, the demand can soar again, making for some highly sought-after books indeed. These days, with the speed of communication and ease of printing, publishers are quick and eager to jump on a reprinting if the demand exists, so these lists become narrower. However, there is still a fascinating, eclectic gap between supply and demand, and this glorious literary grey area is where we find ourselves today. Some of the books on this list are extremely unlikely to ever be reprinted, such as #14 - Promise Me Tomorrow by Nora Roberts is widely acknowledged, even by the author and her most loyal devotees, to be entirely godawful ("She had never wanted a man so much. He had sworn no woman would ever possess him."). True fans insist on owning the whole Roberts bibliography, while Roberts herself would seemingly rather be drawn and quartered than put more copies of the book into circulation. Hence its scarcity: there are fewer than 20 copies currently for sale on AbeBooks.
What can cause renewed interest in an OOP title? Well, it's almost always media or celebrity-based. It's interesting to see the social and economic impact that comes of a nod from a wealthy, successful community figure. In July 2014, Bill Gates wrote that his favorite business book was Business Adventures by John Brooks (first recommended and lent to him by Warren Buffett - I find it gratifying to know the unimaginably wealthy people of Earth still lend one another books, rather than just having a small plane skywrite the entire text over Manhattan). This time last year it was an out-of-print title that didn't crack the top 100 spot. One year later, and Gates' recommendation not only sent searches for the book skyrocketing, but it has also been brought back, both as an e-book, and into print, which means, of course, it won't be on this year's list either, but eager would-be businessmen can easily find copies now.
My personal pet book on the list has to be #23, Cards as Weapons by Ricky Jay. The cover alone is enough to make me swoon. There's so much going on! The pyramids! The charging bull! The giant squid! What's happening in that saloon? Oh, how can I resist?! Well, the price tag helps me resist. It's a popular collectible book, and copies on AbeBooks start over $100. It's sorely tempting, though. Even the description of Ricky Jay is full of allure: "The author of the critically acclaimed Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women, a nationally known sleight-of-hand expert, movie actor and magician extraordinaire..."
Masterful. If sleight-of-deadly-hand isn't your cup of tea, rest assured, this list is as eclectic as they come, and has something for everyone, even (especially) if you're weird.
