Category Archives: Libraries

Literature vs Traffic

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

Regular visitors to TBTP are likely aware of my enormous regard for the brilliant installations from the Madrid-based street art collective Luzinterruptus. Somehow I missed their most project titled Literature vs Traffic that they created in one of my favorite cities, Utrecht, … Continue reading →

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In The Stacks (Maisie’s Tune)

Posted on January 13, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

In the Stacks (Maisie’s Tune) by Robin Sloan is both a synthesizer with knobs you can fiddle with and a short story you can read. Here’s a sample, but you can read the entire story by the author of the … Continue reading →

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The Master of Mysteries

Posted on January 10, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

In the newest addition to the Library of Congress Crime Classics series, Gelett Burgess’ Astro the Seer proves that he is “The Master of Mysteries.”  This collection of short stories, originally published in 1912, features victims of crimes who bring their … Continue reading →

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A Library Is A Spaceship

Posted on January 3, 2023 by Brian D. Butler

I have been a fan of the wildly imaginative writing of Isaac Asimov since I was a child. Recently I ran across a charming story about the iconic sci-fi author and a letter that he wrote in 1971. He sent … Continue reading →

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Mystery of the Big Book

Posted on December 30, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

Over the years, the photograph above has appeared on numerous blogs and websites, usually captioned as “man with large book at Prague Castle, 1940s” or “c. 1940s: Man with books.” However, bibliophiles and antiquarians have long questioned the image’s description … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, Books, Europe, History, Libraries, Museums, Photography, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Breaking the Dickens Code

Posted on December 29, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

An international campaign to decipher the complex code that Charles Dickens used to write his notes has won a Times Higher Education Award, one of the most prestigious prizes in UK Higher Education. The University of Leicester, in collaboration with … Continue reading →

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Keep Books Alive In Ukraine

Posted on December 26, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

A group of writers and booksellers (Carolyn Forche, Mitchell Kaplan, Christopher Merrill, Askold Melnyczuk, and Jane Unrue) have partnered with the Coral Gables Foundation to raise funds for direct support to booksellers, editors, printers, warehouse workers, libraries and librarians, and … Continue reading →

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Is Santa from Oz

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The Life and Adventures Of Santa Claus by author of The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum, with its elaborations and much added detail went a long way to popularizing the legend of Santa Claus in North America. However, in the cover … Continue reading →

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A Ghost Story of Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

I HAVE endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and … Continue reading →

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Library of Mistakes

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Brian D. Butler

The new Library of Mistakes opened in Edinburgh, Scotland in April of this year, moving to larger and more felicitous premises from its previous location. Like many barely financially literate folks, I would value access to a library that could potentially … Continue reading →

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