Category Archives: History

All animals are equal…

Posted on May 29, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I recently ran across the wonderful 50th anniversary edition of the first U.S. publication of George Orwell’s Animal House. Issued in 1995, Animal House: A Fairy Story features 100 mindblowing illustrations by the inimitable Ralph Steadman. Along with the addition of the brilliant illustrations, … Continue reading →

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Global Dickens

Posted on May 15, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

I’m hoping that I will be able to catch the just opened exhibition called Global Dickens: For Every Nation Upon Earth this Fall at London’s excellent Dickens Museum. The show runs from this week through November 3, 2019. Here’s what … Continue reading →

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Bookstore Tourism: Manhattan

Posted on May 14, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

It seems that every week I read about the closing of another independent bookstore in New York City, so it’s a relief to discover a shop that’s thriving. Chartwell Booksellers is celebrating its 36th anniversary this year in its unique … Continue reading →

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Happy 300th to Robinson Crusoe

Posted on May 6, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Daniel Defoe’s Adventures of Robinson Crusoe was first published on April 25, 1719, and before the end of the year had run through four editions. An abridged children’s version was published in 1784 in Boston, printed and sold by N. … Continue reading →

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Word on the Street: San Diego

Posted on May 5, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

h/t Thomas Paine  

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Making Your Mark

Posted on April 26, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Most of us don’t give a second thought to the greatest human achievement in history. But now the British Museum’s new interactive exhibition Writing: Marking Your Mark is celebrating more than 5,000 years of our most amazing legacy. The exhibit, which runs … Continue reading →

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NYC Bookwagons Are Coming Back

Posted on April 17, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Starting this summer, the New York Public Library will be bringing books to residents of the Bronx, Staten Island, and Manhattan via a new fleet of brand new, strawberry red-colored vans. These new NYPL bookmobiles are designed to help communities … Continue reading →

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History Repeats Itself

Posted on April 14, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Karl Marx wrote that “history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” This reprint from the St.Louis Dispatch September 9, 1923, should be a reminder of the farce playing itself out across the United States and Europe today.

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A Bibliophile’s Treasure

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

In a story right out of a librarian’s dream, a previously unknown volume incorporating thousands of summaries of books from over five centuries ago, many of which no longer exist, has been found in  the University Copenhagen Library, where it … Continue reading →

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Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt

Posted on March 31, 2019 by Brian D. Butler

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the first publication of Kurt Vonnegut’s masterwork Slaughterhouse-Five. Part autobiographical, part science fiction, part satire, Slaughterhouse-Five was Vonnegut’s first bestseller and remains a revered literary classic of the 20th century. After the real-life Vonnegut … Continue reading →

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