Blog
Best of 2020
See a list of favorite items I sold as a rare book dealer in 2020, from Winnie the Pooh in Braille to a 1919 Japanese children’s picture book.
Best of 2019
A survey of 10 favorite items I sold as a rare book dealer in 2019, from a racy paperback of Ann Petry’s The Street to a portable Victorian globe.
Best of 2018
A list of favorite items I sold as a rare book dealer in 2018, from Baudelaire’s translation of Poe to an automaton-penned poem.
Black Orpheus: Every Cover from the First Series
A visual tour of the cover for every issue of the first series in the legendary literary magazine from Nigeria.
Printer’s Errors in PRINTER’S ERROR
A typo in the phrase "I CAN HAZ DEADLY TERRORS?" and other typographical errors in my book Printer's Error.
The Handmaid’s Tale: 30 Years of Cover Designs
Take a tour of the cover designs for Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, across 30 years and more than a half dozen countries.
Lizzie Borden’s Basement & The Cover Design of Printer’s Error
What a famous murder trial has to do with the history of typography — and my own book on books, Printer’s Error.
Pawn Stars Reboot: Beethoven
In which I explain how a tricky bit of editing mixed up two different languages…
Why Book Collectors Like Dust Jackets
A short history of the dust jacket, and why book collectors love them so much.
Painting on Water: The Art of Paper Marbling
The once secret art of paper marbling is a unique medium of painting that now evokes antiquarian books.
Rare Books and the White Gloves Myth
Learn why — contrary to popular belief — white gloves are not used by modern rare books experts.
The Antiquarian Book Seminar
An introduction to CABS-Minnesota, called "Bookseller Bootcamp," where antiquarian book dealers go to learn the fundamentals of the business.