New visual treasures from Fantagraphics, Princeton Architectural Press & Chronicle Books

OK, having got that little throat-clearing end-of-summer group hug out of the way, I'm free to talk about three of the cool books that recently arrived here at my3books HQ.  

I'd like to use the traditional phraseology "landed on my desk", but to be honest, so many books and catalogs and packages come and go here that nothing really lands on my desk.  Also, when you say "landed on my desk", that more or less implies the presence of mailroom staff or interns or something like that.  And I'm usually the only one who opens up the jiffy mailers and book cartons.  

Nevertheless, you must check out these three beautiful books.  I can't think of a single good phrase to refer to them in the aggregate but at least one of them is perfect for the traditional "gift book" section in your typical indie bookstore.  One of them is simply a graphic novel from one of my favorite artists.  And one of them is a book that I would say is a no-brainer for any customer or loved one who is hoping to become a visual artist one day.

    

Pictorial Webster's: A Visual Dictionary of Curiosities
by John Carrera
Chronicle Books | 9780811867184 | $35 | Sept 2009

A visual delight, a word-lover's coffee table book, a fascinating historical document - Pictorial Webster's is all of these things.  John Carrera stumbled across an ancient and battered 1898 Webster's International Dictionary at his grandmother's house in 1995.  He was struck by the quality of the illustrated section: 80 pages of engravings in a variety of styles.

He embarked on a 10-year-long quest to find more examples, track down the original engravings and restore these beautiful images to print.  He ultimately located the original engravings at Yale University, organized their holdings, and then put together a collection that spanned the different editions across the decades.

   

Carrera published the extremely limited letterpress edition through his own fine press company, Quercus Press. The Fine Press Book Association recently featured a video by Carerra that walks viewers through the steps that were required to create his book. Chronicle Books has finally brought out the trade edition. They're also hosting a drawing - one lucky individual is going to win a copy of the Quercus Press edition. Chronicle is also hosting another drawing with IndieBound: five winners will win beautiful framed posters of Pictorial Webster's art.

***

Low Moon
by Jason
Fantagraphics Books (W.W. Norton) | 9781606991558 | $24.99 | June 2009

When I started repping for W.W. Norton, one of the special treats awaiting me as a longtime fan of graphic novels was the Fantagraphics list.  I've always been a fan of their particularly lovely bookmaking and their wide-ranging participation in both the history of the field as well as the future of comics.  To be dropped in amongst their riches was like Dorothy stepping out of her ruined farmhouse into technicolor Oz.

Consider this short list: The complete Peanuts.  Daniel Clowes' Ghost World. Love and Rockets. Chris Ware's Acme Novelty Library. Complete Crumb Comics.  Bill Griffith's Zippy. Tony Millionaire's Maakies.  Jules Feiffer.  Krazy & Ignatz.  I could easily fill this blog with nothing but Fantagraphics books, if I wanted.

 But my most exciting discovery of all has been Jason.  The mono-named Norwegian artist has been a prolific creator and a recent star of Fantagraphics' list.  His "clear line" style is immediately appealing and understandable to readers, and gives those readers what I think of as a head start - your focus and attention can be spent in finding the emotion and the subtext that runs below the surface narrative.

Some of my favorite backlist titles by Jason include I Killed Adolf Hitler (a time-traveling assassin is sent back to 1939 to do in the Nazi dictator, though the mission does not go as planned), and Pocket Full of Rain (a collection of 25 works from Jason's first 10 years as an artist).

He was one of the contributors to the Funny Pages serials in the New York Times Magazine, creating in the title piece from my featured book, Low Moon, an Old West homage that somehow combined gunfights, thwarted romance and chess.  Fantagraphics' Web site features a short video peek at Low Moon.

***

Inside the Painter's Studio
by Joe Fig
Princeton Architectural Press (Chronicle Books) | 9781568988528 | $35 | Paper | Sept 2009

Jackson Pollock 1951 (2002)This book began in 2000 when artist Joe Fig began a series of miniature sculptures of historically significant artists in their studios (see the Jackson Pollock sculpture, right).  After two years of working from memoirs and paintings and other source materials, he moved on to a related study of contemporary artists.  As he says in his preface, "my intention was to get a clearer understanding of the real, day-to-day practicalities of being an artist..."

Chuck (Chuck Close 1997) (2000)The resulting book combines all of the elements of Joe Fig's work and his behind-the-scenes research: an interview with each artist (which Fig quickly standardized as The Painter's Studio: An Artist's Questionnaire, seeming to riff on the Proust Questionnaire...), site photographs of each artist's studio space, their painting table, and works in progress, and photographs of the resulting miniature sculpture of the artist's studio by Fig.  In the end, what the curious reader holds in their hand in a guided tour through How Artists Work, told by an insider.  It's truly fascinating.

Fred Tomaselli 2003 (2003)Among the 24 artists involved in this project are Chuck Close, Ross Bleckner, Jane Hammond, Julie Mehretu and Fred Tomaselli.

***

Twitter coordinates:
Chronicle Books
Fantagraphics Books
Princeton Architectural Press 

Unearthing the foundations of our bookselling passion.

I've been thinking about these books for a while, and I think it all comes down to archeology. Human archeology, I mean.

If we got out our tiny picks and miniature whisk brooms and our specimen trays and started digging into the psyche of the typical bookseller, the first layer we'd unearth would be that of a bookstore customer. We all have stories about the bookstores we used to shop in before we got into the business. We're always remembering those stores and the experiences we had in them.

If you looked underneath that bookstore customer layer, you'd likely find a childhood layer of bookish passions - wintry trips to bookstores and libraries, rainy days spent indoors with a long series of kids' mysteries, and summers spent in the park or on the stoop, engrossed in novels.

In fact, anyone who loves books and works with them professionally - from publishers to publicists to book bloggers - will likely have this common history below the surface.

The adults we've become are built upon these foundations that we all have in common. When we get together at trade shows or conferences or in bars to meet up with each other, these stories come out pretty easily. When I'm working with my buyers in their stores, or when I'm having a meal with other booksellers, a little scratching at the surface will reveal their stories.

Like the archeologists who study humanity's ancestors to better understand how we got where we are today, booklovers can examine our own bookish histories to understand why we do the work we do.

Luckily, some authors have taken it upon themselves to explore the roots of their own passions, the bookishly-tinted world around us, and why we behave the way we do in stores.

***

The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop: A Memoir, A History
by Lewis Buzbee
Graywolf Press | 9781555975104 | $14 | 2008

How did I get here? What led me to this life? Sooner or later, we all ask these questions. Lewis Buzbee spends a good portion of his fascinating memoir & exploration of the history of bookselling, The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop, retelling his own story.

"I became a voracious reader and book luster at fifteen, after discovering The Grapes of Wrath. For several years, I cared little about a store's atmosphere or reputation; I was concerned only that it carried books.

"When I wanted new books, I hung out at the local B. Dalton located in the dark basement of our biggest shopping center, or at a tiny Little Professor tucked into the back end of a nearby strip mall. I bought mass-market editions of Steinbeck (every single one within six months), Cheever, Updike (for the respectable naughty bits), Vonnegut, Heller, Barth, Barthelme, Pynchon."

Buzbee soon graduates from bike-powered trips to the local mall to a discovery that he wants to spend his days & nights in bookstores. From his first day on the job, he's hooked. And in his memory, he captures the flavor of our passion so well!

"November, a dark, rainy Tuesday, late afternoon. This is my ideal time to be in a bookstore. The shortened light of the afternoon and the idleness and hush of the hour gather everything close, the shelves and the books and the few other customers who graze head-bent in the narrow aisles."

Perhaps you will pick up Yellow-Lighted Bookshop to find a portrait of a kindred spirit, as I did. But you'll finish the book with a greater appreciation for the democratic power of the book, and the place of the bookseller in the world.

***

The Book Shopper: A Life in Review
by Murray Browne
Paul Dry Books (Consortium) | 9781589880566 | $14.95 | May 2009

Like Lewis Buzbee's book, Murray Browne's The Book Shopper is also a memoir of a life spent reading and a life spent in bookstores. He writes from the outsider's point of view, the passionate amateur. Early chapters describe his initiation into the life of the book lover, his 10-year career as a book critic and even a balanced chapter on the pros and cons of Amazon.com book shopping (which he ends with a recommendation that sometimes you just need to step away from the keyboard and seek out your neighborhood bookstore).

Though his focus is frequently on shopping for used books, his chapters on the prerequisites of what every good bookstore should have make for a great starting point for any bookstore's collection. He doesn't waste time on store cats and mugs of coffee and comfy chairs - he just gets down to brass tacks: the authors that any self-respecting bookstore oughta carry. I doubt you'll disagree with any of his recommendations, and the treat is in the telling. He's a charming storyteller.

The Book Shopper is another great addition to the shelf of books for book lovers.

***

Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping (Updated & Revised)
by Paco Underhill
Simon & Schuster | 9781416595243 | $16 | Jan 2009

Once we've unearthed those childhood obsessions and adult passions, discovered the primary colors of Why, Where and How we got into this, it's time to start thinking about the place where we spend so much time - the bookstore itself.

At this point, it makes sense to leave the warm, friendly memoirs behind and learn from a scientist about the psychology of shopping. I don't think much introduction of Why We Buy is necessary - the first edition was published 10 years ago, and since then it has become a classic case study of Why and How people behave they way they do in stores.

In fact, the continuing appeal of the book prompted Paco Underhill to go back to the book and completely revise it, looking more closely at how online shopping has altered the landscape over the last 10 years, and exploring the most innovative stores to have sprung up recently.

A couple choice bookstore-specific tidbits from Why We Buy. To start, it's important to let

"...shoppers know that it's all right for them to touch. At Hallmark stores we studied, some front-end Christmas ornament displays were so artfully designed and painstakingly constructed that shoppers didn't know if they were supposed to take or just gaze adoringly. Bookstores, too, sometimes run into the same problem when tabletop displays show a little too much effort. People know how much effort it is to get anything looking nice, so they can be reluctant to undo somebody's hard work."

Underhill spends a few paragraphs extolling some of the merchandising choices that his favorite bookstore (BookPeople in Austin, Texas) makes.

"This store isn't just selling books - it's selling to people who like books. At heart it's still a serious place that, among the tchotchkes and kitschy humor, has reinvented categories and subsections. For example, the Insurrection and Conspiracy section sits next to the Journalism shelf, and there's a pair of stuffed roosters flanking Homesteading & Farming - a nice touch."

Of course, most of Why We Buy is not specifically targeted at booksellers. But Underhill's conversational voice and easy expertise might be just what you need to get inspired to take on some serious bookstore reinvention. And some of the issues he raises are perfect for tossing out at your next staff meeting to get folks thinking in new ways.

***

What other books about bookstores keep you inspired? Let us know in the comments.