At The Bookbinders

Posted on October 2, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

The folks from the London Review Bookshop paid a visit to London’s Shepherds Bookbinders to observe the creation of a limited special edition of Tom McCarthy’s novel Satin Island.

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Ban This Book

Posted on October 1, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Comics In Transit

Posted on September 30, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

The Vancouver-based non-profit comics collective Cloudscape Comics is behind a very clever project called “Comics In Transit”. They’ve commission single-page poster sized comics from twenty Canadian comic artists to be displayed on bus shelters around Vancouver, BC. Each work documents urban life in a different city around the world—from Copenhagen to Toronto. The project, which is meant to highlight Vancouver’s multicultural personality, includes both non-fiction and fiction comics.

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photos ©Daniel Chai

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Hemingway the Hoarder

Posted on September 29, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Ernest Hemingway was one of the 20th century’s greatest writers, but he was also a big time hoarder. A new exhibition, “Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars”, at New York City’s grand Morgan Library and Museum is packed with examples of the great author’s pack rat tendencies.

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This first ever major museum show devoted to Hemingway’s life and writing has a treasure trove of original manuscripts, inscribed first editions, short story drafts, correspondence between Hemingway and legendary writers, passports, visas, ticket stubs, notebooks, photographs, art work and never before seen personal items.

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The show will run at the Morgan through January 31, 2016, before moving to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library in Boston.

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Literary Cartography

Posted on September 28, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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The Map of Literature is featured in a terrific new book just released by Penguin. Vargic’s Miscellany of Curious Maps: Mapping Out the Modern World is the work of a precocious 17-year-old cartographic genius from Slovakia named Martin Vargic. The young design student has been producing amazing maps that have frequently gone viral online. His first book compiles some of his most intricate and thoughtful work. You can check Vargic’s prolific output on his website and even purchase prints of his maps.

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Defend Your Freedom To Read

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Held during the last week of September each year, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to read and raises awareness about the ongoing threats of censorship in the United States. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community—readers, authors, editors, librarians, teachers, journalists, publishers, and booksellers—to protect the freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. You can participate by visiting your local library, bookshop or school to take part in BBW activities. And, of course, you can read banned books.

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Craft Endures

Posted on September 26, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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If you have followed the career of travel show host/celebrity chef/author and raconteur Anthony Bourdain, you won’t be surprised to hear that he has collaborated with the makers of Balvenie single malt whisky to create a series of short films called Raw Craft. The episode below profiles master typographer and printer Andrew Hoyem’s Arion Press of San Francisco.

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Come for the pandas, stay for the bookstores

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Most travelers to China visit the Sichuan Province capital city of Chengdu for the Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, but bibliophiles will want to make time for the amazing Fangsuo Bookstore. With a dramatic entrance way and cavernous interiors, the bookshop demonstrates Chengdu’s commitment an ancient literary tradition going back to the Tang Dynasty.

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Libraries of the Mind

Posted on September 24, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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Shanghai-based artist Jie Ma’s imagined libraries are surreal, literary dreamscapes that intrigue and challenge the viewer. The extraordinary digital images offer fantastic sci-fiesque libraries of the mind.

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A Travel Guide With Heart

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Brian D. Butler

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The popular French travel guide publisher Le Guide du Routard has created a wonderful new 90 page graphic guidebook for migrants and refugees in Europe. Titled Hello, and illustrated by French artist Pascal Gauffre, the handbook allows communication by simply pointing at images. The guide is divided into helpful categories that include “Practical Information”, “Accommodation”, “Health & Hygiene” , “Food”, and “Leisure”. The initial print run of 5,000 copies was co-funded by Le Guide du Routard and French travel agency Voyageurs du Monde. The handbook will also be available as a pdf and an ebook.

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