Bookstar in San Diego, California is no ordinary bookshop. The 1945 Point Loma Theater was rescued from the wrecking ball by the Barnes & Noble chain. The theaters adaptive reuse capitalized on the existing theaters circulation path including the recreation of the historic carpet, and was augmented by imagery drawn from the existing deco architecture, marine nature of San Diego and literary references.
The Loma is interesting in that it was designed by one of the most prominent theater architects on the West Coast, S. Charles Lee, who designed everything from LA’s terra-cotta Tower Theatre (now home to an Apple store) to Hollywood’s historic Max Factor Building, which currently houses the Hollywood Museum.
Opened in 1945, the Loma was a Streamline Moderne single-screen. The building was later on the verge of demolition when then-Barnes & Noble subsidiary Bookstar stepped in to save it, transforming it into a bookstore in 1989.
Although the theater’s 1,188 seats are long gone, its former screen is said to be intact, and the one-time snack bar is now the store’s checkout counter. Even the theater’s stunning exterior signage—including the marquee and a neon blade sign that spells out “LOMA”—remains.
I have never been to San Diego, but Bookstar would be my first stop if I visited the city.
Each May 16th, France celebrates Saint Honoré, the patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs. This year, the French postal service La Poste marked the occasion with a tasteful tribute in the form of a unique postage stamp. The “Baguette de pain française” stamp not only features a baguette wrapped in a ribbon of France’s colors—red, white, and blue—but also a special feature: it smells like a freshly baked baguette. The timbre-poste is scratch-and-sniff baguette-scented. Designed by Stéphane Humbert-Basset, this curiosity is priced at 1.96 Euros each.
The stamp, which is intended to be used for international letters of up to 20 grams, or about 0.7 ounces, was released for sale at post offices and kiosks throughout France with an initial print run of 594,000 and a price tag of 1.96 euros, or $2.14, each.
Thanks to scratch-and-sniff technology, it will also transport “bakery fragrances” to those lucky enough to receive a letter from France.
The baguette is one of the most talked-about breads in the world, and certainly the most popular in its native France: Six billion baguettes are made every year, according to the postal service.
The culinary treat has also drawn international accolades, including being added to the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage List in 2022. At the time, a gushing President Emmanuel Macron called the baguette — made with just four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast — “the spirit of French know-how.”
One of the privileges in collecting and selling antiquarian books is discovering the absolutely wonderful book cover art and design from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although my specialty has always been books on travel, geography, and history, I often save images of unrelated titles that run across. Such as the copy of POEMS BY COLERIDGE by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. (Eragny Press, 1904) Art binding by Samuel Feinstein. Wood engravings by Lucien Pissarro.
Here are some fine examples along with travel titles too:
THE CARDINAL’S SNUFF BOX by Henry Harland. (London/New York: John Lane, 1903). Illustrated by G.C. Wilmhurst.
THE MILITANTS: Stories of some Persons, Soldiers and Other Fighters in the World by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews (New York: Scribners, 1907). Illustrated by Benjamin West and Arthur Ignatius Keller. Cover design by Margaret Armstrong
MORE MYSTERY TALES FOR BOYS AND GIRLS by Elva Sophronia Smith. (Boston: Lothrop, Lee & Shepard,1922). Frontispiece by Frank T. Merrill. Illustrations by L.J. Bridgman.
GLINDA OF OZ by L. Frank Baum (Chicago:Reilly & Lee, 1920) Illustrated by John R. Neill.
DREAM DAYS by Kenneth Grahame. (London/New York: Lane, 1902) Cover and illustrations by Maxfield Parrish.
THE BOY TRAVELLERS IN THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE by Thomas W. Knox. (New York: Harper, 1887)
LORNA DOONE: A ROMANCE OF EXMOOR by R.D. Blackmore. (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1920). Illustrated by Rowland Wheelright and William Sewell
ASGARD AND THE GODS by Wilhelm Wägner, 1800-1886. (London: Routledge, c.1917)
CONSTANTINOPLE by Alexander Van Millingen. Illustrated by Warwick Goble. (London: Black, 1906)
UNKNOWN SWITZERLAND: Reminiscences of Travel by Victor Tissot. (New York: Pott, 1900). Illustrated with black and white photos.
THE SPELL OF ITALY by Caroline Atwater Mason (Boston: Page, 1909)
THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS written and illustrated by George Caitlin (Philadelphia: Leary Stuart, 1913) 2 vols.
The Fairy Tales from Grimm is a collection of children’s stories written by the Grimm brothers, many of which have been popularized by Disney. This miniature book includes several stories such as the tale of Snow White.
Although the stories were originally published in the 1800s, this copy was produced in 1905. What makes it fantastic is the illustrations in both color and black and white. These drawings beautifully help bring the stories to life.
In our ongoing effort to keep you up to date on museum offerings around the world, we present the Cyril Callister Vegemite Museum. Launched in May 2023 with much fanfare in Beaufort, Australia the Cyril Callister Vegemite Museum was created to celebrate Vegemite and the life of the man behind the polarizing food spread.
Opened on the 100th anniversary of the invention of Vegemite, this quirky little museum resides in servo@23, a repurposed ’50’s petrol station in Beaufort, Victoria.
The museum is filled with donated vegemite memorabilia from people all over the world. It also features art and merchandise created by local college students. The museum examines the history of vegemite and has a pack of vegemite Oreos on display.
Personally, I cannot understand how any human being with functioning tastebuds can manage to get this stuff down.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is the beloved 1900 children’s novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a tornado. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.
The book was first published in the United States on this very day in May 1900 by the George M. Hill Company. In January 1901, the publishing company completed printing the first edition, a total of 10,000 copies, which quickly sold out. It had sold three million copies by the time it entered the public domain in 1956. It was often reprinted under the title The Wizard of Oz, which is the title of the successful 1902 Broadway musical adaptation as well as the 1939 live-action film.
In our never ending quest to bring you all known editions of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland here’s アリスに聞いてみよう. Here’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, a Japanese edition illustrated by Maki Sasaki / text in Japanese, 205-page hardback with jacket, 5.25 x 7.75 inches, published in 2015 . Maki Sasaki is a manga artist, illustrator, and children’s book author.
Travel Between The Pages 