Author Archives: Brian D. Butler

Of myths and legends

Posted on May 5, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I always experience a frisson of nostalgia whenever I stumble upon a memorable book from my childhood library. It’s been a long, long time, but I still remember my battered copy of of The Wonder Book of Myths and Legends that I … Continue reading →

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Free Comic Book Day

Posted on May 4, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Today is Free Comic Book Day, in which you can go to any participating comic book store and get certain designated comic books, absolutely free. Enter your zip code at this website and you can find the participating comics shop nearest … Continue reading →

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Literary Leviathan

Posted on May 3, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was saddened to read about the death of the great American writer Paul Auster, who succumbed due to complications arising from lung cancer, aged 77. Auster, who has been celebrated as one of the most important American authors of … Continue reading →

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Dracula Returns (daily)

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Dracula Daily Returning May 3 You may remember DraculaDaily, which has been an annual paean to the beloved Gothic vampire classic first published in 1897. The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker unfolds over the course of six months, from May … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism : Iceland

Posted on May 1, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

About seven ago while visiting Iceland’s underappreciated northern town Akureyri, I stumbled across a charming used bookshop called Fróði fornbókabúð. The owner at the time told me that the name meant something like “learned bookstore”. The shop was a bit … Continue reading →

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When in Rome

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

When I visited Rome for the first time more than four decades ago, I quite randomly chose to pop in at the Museo della Civiltà Romana to see the massive model of the ancient city. The archaeologist and architect Italo Gismondi … Continue reading →

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Philosophy Museum

Posted on April 29, 2024 by Brian D. Butler
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Biblio Trivia

Posted on April 28, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

  1. The rarest book in the world is a 1593 first edition of Venus and Adonis by William Shakespeare. The Bodleian’s copy “is the only known copy of this book in existence.” 2. The first book ordered on Amazon was a scientific tome called Fluid Concepts … Continue reading →

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Fun and Games with Art and Maps

Posted on April 27, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Backdrop Backdrop is a map based game which is somewhat similar to the very popular GeoGuessr game. However in Backdrop instead of Google Maps Street View images you have to identify the locations depicted in famous paintings by some of history’s … Continue reading →

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The Dwindleberry Zoo

Posted on April 26, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I was today years old when I discovered THE DWINDLEBERRY ZOO by G.E. Farrow (London/Glasgow/Dublin/Bombay: Blackie, 1909) Illustrated by Gordon Browne.  It seems that G.E. Farrow was one of the masters of the Victorian fantasy genre. In this tale a boy eats a … Continue reading →

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