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Historic Van Gogh-Gauguin Letter Estimated $470,000 - $670,000 At Christie's
by Stephen J. GertzAn astounding autograph letter co-written and signed by Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin to a third party discussing each other, their work together, paintings in progress, thoughts...
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Breaking News from the Sixteenth Century: Typography Takes Off
by Alastair Johnston Stan Knight, Historical Types (From Gutenberg to Ashendene), Oak Knoll Press, 2012, 104 pp., hardback in dust-jacket, $39.95Historical Types is based on a smart concept: an...
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Literary Matchboxes Light Up Christmas Stockings (Close Cover Before Striking)
by Stephen J. GertzThose seeking the perfect match when Christmas (or any other kind of) shopping for friends with a literary bent (and all book lovers are proudly a little bent) should look no further...
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Nice Ass, Great Binding
by Stephen J. GertzIn 1904, publisher George Bell and Sons issued a beautifully designed and printed edition of the ancient classic The Golden Ass, aka Metamorphosis, by Apuleius in its 1566 English...
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Time Out For Booktryst
by Stephen J. GertzBooktryst takes five this week and will return with new posts next Wednesday, December 26.In the meantime, relax over the next few days and enjoy a few oldies but goodies from the...
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On The Road With Minnesota Fats - A Booktryst Golden Oldie
by Stephen J. Gertz“I’ve been shooting pool since I was four years old. No con. By the time I was six I was playing for stakes. My first sucker was a neighborhood kid in Washington Heights. I spotted...
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Eliot Ness and The Female Untouchables: A Booktryst Golden Oldie
by Stephen J. GertzIn a recent post, I discussed ephemera in general and a certain piece that elicited memories of my family's involvement in the liquor business during Prohibition in Chicago. My...
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A Lurid Story of Book Dope And Lives Twisted By Mad Desire! A Booktryst...
by Stephen J. GertzHard-boiled dames caught in the grip of a habit beyond their control; corrupt dolls seeking cheap thrills between the sheets of a book; innocents ensnared into the rare book racket,...
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The Year Of Reading Dangerously
by Stephen J. Gertz2012 provided many opportunities for daredevil readers to dance on the precipice and laugh in the face of peril. Here's a review of some of my own action-packed adventures in reading...
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Educate! Amuse! In Color! The George M. Fox Collection of Children’s Books
by Alastair M. JohnstonThere’s another children’s book show at San Francisco Public Library (through March 10th 2013), but this is the first since 1986 to draw on the library’s own superb resource: the...
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The Amazing John Martin Collection Of H.P. Lovecraft In Weird Tales
by Stephen J. GertzMarch 1938.First Weird Tales appearance of Lovecraft'sBeyond the Wall of Sleep.Cover art by Margaret Brundage.John K, Martin is, perhaps, best known as the far-sighted founder and...
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Travels with Kapuscinski, Travel Writer Extraordinaire
by Alastair M. JohnstonRyszard Kapuscinski: a Life, by Artur Domoslawski, Verso, 2012, 456 pp., cloth in d.j.You know who makes my blood boil? Rick Steves, the twerp with a travel show on American...
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Two Scarce Erotic Novels From 1787 Exposed (May Be NSW)
by Stephen J. GertzA couple of extremely rare erotic books recently came into the marketplace, wowsers both, each from the eighteenth century and scarcely seen but when seen goggle eyes and boggle...
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Fighting Modern Evils With Old Rare Books
by Stephen J. GertzMILLER, Fred S. Fighting Modern Evils That Destroy Our Homes - A Startling Exposure of the Snares and Pitfals of the Social World - Vividly Depicting How Homes Are Wrecked and Souls...
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In Search Of Athanasius Kircher
by Stephen J. GertzIn 1602, the year of Jesuit polymath Athanasius Kircher’s birth, the study of nature was called natural philosophy. At his death in 1680 natural philosophy died with him; “science,”...
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Snap Judgements: New York's Photo League
by Alastair Johnston The Radical Camera: New York's Photo League, 1936–1951Yale University Press, edited by Mason Klein and Catherine Evans, 248 pp., with 150 duotones and 76 B&W images.This book...
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The Mother of Political Satire, or Why Did Yankee Doodle Call His Hat...
by Stephen J. Gertz Despite their wide popularity and broad distribution, and their importance in the history of British caricature, the color-plate books and albums of Mary Darly are now quite...
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Thomas De Quincey Writes While High As A Kite
by Stephen J. Gertz"I was necessarily ignorant of the whole art and mystery of opium-taking: and, what I took, I took under every disadvantage. But I took it: -- and in an hour, oh! Heavens! what a...
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Allen Ginsberg On Neal Cassady's Ashes
by Stephen J. Gertz On January 17, 1971, a college student in Pennsylvania wrote a letter seeking assistance from Beat poet Allen Ginsberg. Dear Mr. Ginsberg,I am a junior at Bucknell University at...
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Raymond Chandler Gripes To His Agent About Agents
by Stephen J. GertzIn a letter dated July 11, 1952, Raymond Chandler wrote his agent, H.N. Swanson ("Swanie") mentioning, among other things, that he is "still fussing around with the end of a book, a...
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