The Seventh Annual NY Art Book Fair was held two weeks ago at MoMA PS 1, and I'm sorry that I missed it. Organized by Printed Matter, the fair had more than 200 local and international exhibitors and also included screenings, lectures, musical performances, and book signings. ABAA member Adam Davis of Division Leap (Portland, OR) was exhibiting at the fair for his fourth consecutive year. Division Leap, which just moved to a great new location last month, specializes in zines, artists' books, the Mimeograph Revolution, radical Americana, and a host of other printed miscellany. Adam spoke with Capital New York about technological advances and the future of the book, a topic that is on everyone's mind. He made the following thoughtful and astute observation: I think that the changes in technology—lifting the burden of having it be a purely informational transfer—will lead to people paying attention to what is really important about books and what it is you can't get from . The aura, the presence of it, the feeling that you're actually holding a work from an artist. That's really apparent with handmade books or books that the artist made themselves. You pick it up, you get a shock, you feel what's going on here in a way that you don't reading about on a website. I'm incredibly optimistic about the future of independent publishing. I'm a cheerleader in the face of gloom and doom. I couldn't agree more. I can only surmise, as many others have, that as we become increasingly ac... [more Member in the News: Adam Davis of Division Leap (Portland, OR)]

Two recently published titles focus not on the fatalistic claims that we are closing in on 'the end of the book', but rather examine what the future holds for books, in both the private and public sectors. In This Is Not the End of the Book, Umberto Eco and Jean-Claude Carriere have a lively intellectual discussion about books, "reading, the Internet, book collecting and odd byways of literary and cinematic history." Michael Dirda reviewed the book in the Washinton Post on Friday, and it sounds like a highly engaging and interesting read. David Culbert, President of the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), also just edited a book on a corresponding subject. The Future of the Books & the Public Interest, published by the William Clements Library at the University of Michigan in conjunction with FABS, is a collection of essays and includes a thoughtful introduction by Mr. Culbert. The "end of the book" is an understandable concern, as technology advances and the publishing industry and very modes of reading change, but still a ridiculous notion in the eyes of this bibliophilethe book isn't going to disappear as a relic of the past! These advances and changes in the literary landscape will affect how we read, though, and how we view the book as a physical object. In my opinion, the emphasis on the physicality of books will only increase because of these changesa plus for booksellers, especially those dealing in rare and antiquarian material! [more NOT the End: Two New Titles on the Future of Books]

The New York Public Library currently has an exhibit on display in its flagship building entitled Charles Dickens: The Key to Character. The exhibit "celebrates the power of Dickens's characters to be imagined ever anew, examining important precedents for his art of characterization as well as intersections between his personal and his literary creations." A few of the items on display are artwork by over twenty illustrators, the memoranda book Dickens used to jot down possible character names, and his 1867 pocket diary that contained the code Dickens used to communicate with his mistress. Flavorwire noted a very interesting part of this exhibit that the NYPL website did not mention: a replication of Dickens's 'fake library'. After moving into Tavistock House in 1851, Dickens apparently wanted to fill a space in his study with fake books, the witty titles of which he came up with himself, and "wrote to a bookbinder with a list of 'imitation book-backs' to be created specially for his bookshelf." For the current exhibit curators at the NYPL recreated some titles from Dickens's imitation library, which included titles such as Jonah's Account of the Whale, Kant's Ancient Humbugs, Captain Parry's Virtue of Cold Tar, The Art of Cutting the Teeth, and Drowsy's Recollections of Nothing. (Additional images and titles can be found at the link.) I swear, every time I read something about Dickens, I learn something new; what a fascinating man! Check Out Charles Dickens' Library of Fake ... [more Charles Dickens's Fake Library Replicated in NYPL Exhibit]

An extensive Ernest Hemingway collection compiled by a Mississippi physician was donated to the University of South Carolina Columbia and put on display at the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library for a special showing earlier this week. Edgar Grissom, the 70-year-old collector and donor, has worked for more than 50 years in his quest to compile all of Hemingway's English-language publications. He likened his pursuit to "an Easter egg hunt", but now, at the end of his journey, he is delighted to assert that he has "the most complete collection of primary works in existence." William Rivers, chairman of USC's English department, agrees. "It provides a tremendous resource. It makes writing real in a very powerful way," Rivers said. "There is no other place in the world now where scholars can go to look at Hemingway's primary materials." Thisto provide an institution, and thereby students and scholars, with an extensive collection that would allow for further research on Hemingwaywas Grissom's intention all along. He was smitten with Hemingway after reading The Green Hills of Africa, and began seriously collecting in his 2os when he was still a medical student. Last year he published his own bibliography of Hemingway's work. It wasn't always an easy road, though, and Grissom encountered opposition from a number of research libraries and museums he tried to work with over the years. "I could give you story after story of Hemingway scholars who told me to get lost," Gr... [more Hemingway Collection Donated to the University of South Carolina]

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is delighted to announce the winners of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest! First Prize: Jordan Haug, University of California San Diego, "Mormon Fundamentalism & Polygamy" Second Prize: Jessica Anne Kahan, University of Michigan, "Romance Novels in DJ, 1925-1935" Third Prize: Andrew Ferguson, University of Virginia, "Bibliography & Puzzle of R.A. Lafferty" Essay Prize: Kevin Baggot Roberts, Johns Hopkins University, "Cheap Thrills: Sex in American Publishing, 1924-1970" Congratulations to the winners! [more 2012 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Winners Announced!]

The blog will be silent until after Labor Day as I will be enjoying a little vacation. In the meantime, please visit our Facebook page to get your bookish fix. Enjoy the last days of summer! [more Vacation!]

My apologies for the lack of recent posts. I spent a week at the amazing Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar and have been catching up since then. CABS was a ton of fun and provided an abundance of information, but more on that later. Now back to rare book and literary news and items of interest! [more ...And I'm back!]

Yale University provides incredible online access to a number of introductory courses through the Yale Open Courses program. The goal of the program is to "expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn." Course are free and offer virtual students a full set of class lectures and any other relevant materials. The course offerings are varied and cover a number of disciplines. I, as I suspect many readers of this blog would be, was particulariy interested in the English courses, which include Introduction to Theory of Literature, Milton, Modern Poetry, and The American Novel Since 1945. A class that caught my particular attention was Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitgerald, taught by Professor Wai Chee Dimock. The course examines major works by the three authors, "exploring their interconnections on three analytic scales: the macro history of the United States and the world; the formal and stylistic innovations of modernism; and the small details of sensory input and psychic life." I've included the course introduction after the jump. Kudos to Yale for offering this wonderful open learning experience to all! [more Yale Courses Available to the Public]

There's a great article in this morning's NY Times about Rare Book School, check it out! UPDATE: A companion piece in the NY Times Arts Blog about the Hinman Collator is also worth a read. Rare Book School [more NY Times Profiles Rare Book School]

ABAA members James Bryant of Carpe Diem Fine Books in Monterey, CA and Edward Nudelman of Nudelman Rare Books in Seattle, WA recently received some attention in the press. Carpe Diem was written about by Cynthia Haven of Stanford University who dubbed the shop "the best bookstore I've never seen", and Rebecca Rego Barry of Fine Books & Collections magazine profiled Ed Nudelman. Congrats to James and Ed! [more Members in the News: Carpe Diem Fine Books & Nudelman Rare Books]