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Category Archives: History
NYC: Word on the Street
The NYC-based street artist known as “Almost Over Keep Smiling” gave a minor update to slightly reinterpret this 19th century warning poster telling anybody who was Black in a “free” state like New York to stay away from the police … Continue reading
Books and Maps
A big thanks to TBTP follower Maria W. for sending me the link to the wonderful video below from the British Library Learning series on Vimeo. What could be better than antiquarian books and maps together.
How Books Have Helped
Washington D.C. is blessed with an abundance of excellent bookstores. One of my favorites has long been the wonderful Second Story Books in the Dupont Circle neighborhood. Now they have partnered with the Center for the Book at the Library of Congress … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Bookstore Tourism, History, Libraries, USA, Writing
Tagged Bookstores, Center for the Book, Library of Congress, Second Story Books, Washington D.C
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A Declaration of Independence
Back in 1971 the computer was barely understood by the average person and the concept of an ebook didn’t yet exist, but when Michael Stern Hart, a technologist and futurist, was given access to the Xerox Sigma V mainframe at the University … Continue reading
Italian Old Style
Frederic Goudy’s Italian Old Style typeface as published in the Lanston Monotype Machine Company’s Italian Old Style, A New Type by Frederic W. Goudy, designed by the eminent American typographer and type and book designer Bruce Rogers and printed in Mount Vernon, N.Y., in a second edition … Continue reading
An Honor Without Irony
Last week, an outdoor sculpture honoring the iconic American author J.D. Salinger was dedicated on a hillside near his family’s ancestral home in Lithuania. The artwork celebrates the writer’s most acclaimed novel The Catcher in the Rye. Ironically, Salinger’s 1951 bildungsroman … Continue reading
Bookseller’s Lament
As a bookseller and collector, I occasionally lament the sale of a book. Sometimes it’s because I undervalued a title, but more often it’s nostalgia for the missing volume from my shelves. The other day I stumbled on a reference … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Art, Books, Europe, History, Photography, Tourism
Tagged Czechoslovakia, Prague, Praha
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Have you or a loved one been affected by persuasive cartography
Although I am one of those odd people who actually took geography courses at university, Persuasive Cartography is a term I only recently encountered. It usually refers to propaganda art that uses cartography to make a point. An amazing collection … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Asia, Europe, History, Maps, Middle East, USA
Tagged Cartography, Cold War, Maps, Propaganda, World War II
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Notes on a native son
The unfolding events of recent weeks in the United States have fostered a long overdue interest in the writings of many Black American authors. Few African American writers have had the deep and lasting impact on our culture that James … Continue reading
Posted in Books, History, USA, Writing
Tagged African American Literature, essays, James Baldwin
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How Dickensian
A big thanks and a tip of the hat to TBTP reader Lucy from the UK for sending me the marvelous Dickens cartoon (below) by the great Tom Gauld. If you follow this humble blog, you will be aware that … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Books, Europe, History, Writing
Tagged Cartoons, Charles Dickens, Comics, London
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