Category Archives: Books

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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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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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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Many years later, as he faced the firing squad…

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. I first read One Hundred Years of Solitude during my first year at university when I … Continue reading →

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Emulating Books

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

I look forward to visiting the upcoming Emulating Books: Book Objects from the Lynn and Bruce Heckman Gift which is an intriguing new exhibition that features a wide range of items which look like books but aren’t. Running through July … Continue reading →

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Books and Roses Day

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

Barcelona is all about roses, books and lovers on April 23rd each year. In Catalonia World Book Day also becomes an especially romantic festival. People celebrate the day of their patron saint, Sant Jordi (Saint George), with a curious tradition. … Continue reading →

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New Literary Genres

Posted on April 22, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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Book Art/Art Books

Posted on April 21, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

 

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my hope is vertical

Posted on April 19, 2024 by Brian D. Butler

TODAY, MY HOPE IS VERTICAL Jane Hirshfield Today, my hope is vertical. Tomorrow it will be horizontal. The next day, cloudy. My hope is like a Greek myth: exchanging skin for bark, bark for scales, scales for the hollow bones … Continue reading →

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