Welcome to My Blog, Part II

This blog has been languishing in the throes of neglect long enough. I have been putting off posting, because I knew in my mind that the next post was going to bring with it a significant change in the blog's purpose and scope.


Originally, the scope of this blog was limited to being "...an attempt to document some of my best acquisitions, as well as to provide myself with a forum through which to showcase my other book and writing related interests."


By the terms "best acquisitions," I originally meant new additions to my "Big Three" collection (i.e., antiquarian editions of the works of John Dryden, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift.)


By the terms "other book and writing related interests," I meant published, scholarly criticism relating to the Big Three, as well as my own scholarly work in this area, and also the expansion of my thesis, which centers around Aristotelian tragic theory, and its possible permutations.


This might, at first, seem like a broad enough range of topics for a blog, but I soon realized that if I wanted a large readership, that my focus was still much too narrow. Therefore, I decided to expand the blog's scope to include my collections of the following authors:



The works of William Congreve
The works of John Milton
The works of Thomas Shadwell
The works of William Wotton
The works of Sir William Temple


As well as antiquarian books on the following subjects:


Antique locomotives
Wooden sailing ships
Medieval arms and armor
Heraldry


But even then, I sensed the need to broaden the scope of this blog even further. In addition to broadening the scope, I also felt that the content up until this point has been somewhat lacking in depth; in essence, each post has gone something like this: 


"I recently bought another book about the Big Three. It had these so and so markings on the inside, and was published in so and so year. Here are some pictures..."


If I were to continue in this vein, I might as well call this blog "Christopher's Brag Book," and be done with it. But the shallow content shall end here, because the last thing that I wish to do is to allow this blog to become my online vanity fest.


I do want to showcase my book collection, but I want to provide my reader with something of interest as well. I want my reader to know why I collect these things, and what makes each volume special to me. I want my reader to learn something new that will be of value to them. I want my reader to come away from each post thinking, "Wow, I didn't know that. That's pretty neat." I want the blog to be informative, like a museum exhibit. It's nice to look at the big, skeletal T-Rex, but there needs to be a plaque as well, that lets the viewer know what it is that they're looking at, and why it is significant and worth remembering.


Thus, I have decided to write this post, which will serve as a re-dedication of the blog, and a more concise re-statement of its aim and purpose.


I am Christopher Altnau, aka The Traveling Antiquarian, and I am a librarian, a literary scholar, a book collector (antiquarian and otherwise,) a writer, and an amateur genealogist.


In this blog, you will find:


1) Articles relating to my collection of antiquarian books, specifically the works of the aforementioned authors and subjects.


2) Articles relating to my scholarly endeavors, including the expansion of my thesis, and literary criticism relating to the Big Three.


3) Articles relating to librarianship, including such topics as information literacy, digital preservation, rare books and manuscripts, and equal access to special collections.


4) Articles on book binding, book repair, book appraisal, and book restoration.


5) Anything else that I can think of that would somehow relate to the overall intent of this blog.


The posts will probably be spaced further apart, but they will no longer be rushed, and they will no longer focus solely upon the physical act of collecting. I'd rather have five quality posts per year than to have 20 mediocre ones. And I hope that you, my reader, will agree.

Sir Walter Scott at the Austin Book, Paper, & Photo Show

Hello again, gentle readers; I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize to Larry McMurtry for the awful pun on his "Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen," but I simply couldn't resist. How often does one get the chance to use a title like that?


I went to the Austin BP&P Show this afternoon, arriving in the last hour of the last day of the show, just in time, it seems, to stumble upon a really good deal. I'd like to thank Chuck Whiting for telling me about it, because I was otherwise oblivious to the occurrence this event, and hindsight being all that they say it is, I would have regretted not attending.


I don't usually collect Sir Walter Scott's works, but the book was so beautiful, I was unable to ignore it. The seller was, surprisingly, the Austin Public Library Bookstore. Their blog, Recycled Reads, can be found here.

Before today, I hadn't realized that the APL even had a bookstore, let alone one that boasted rare and antiquarian titles among its inventory; I would have thought that the library would have put such books in its special collections room, but it appears that I was blessedly mistaken. I think that I shall be paying them a visit quite soon. Their prices were quite reasonable.


And of course, all the monies collected by the store benefits the APL, a noble cause to be sure.


Without further ado, here are the pictures of my new treasure:

Front Cover

Spine Detail

Seller's Detail Card

Ephemera From Past Sellers: An Antique Advertisement

Penciled Inscriptions

Title Page

I couldn't be happier with this find. And I suspect that the APL Book Store will soon become one of my favorite haunts.


Until next time, I wish you, my readers, all the best in your book collecting endeavors. Cheers!

English Poets: Ben Jonson To Dryden

Hello again, gentle readers. I apologize for my long absence, but November and December were incredibly hectic for me. The upside is that, on December 17, 2010, I graduated from library school. Thus, my day to day schedule is now a lot more flexible, which means that I can once again turn some of my attention to leisurely pursuits such as this blog.


This post concerns a windfall, upon which I stumbled completely by chance. I was at the local used book store, looking for books on genealogy, and I just happened to see this book on the clearance rack for one dollar, on my way out of the store. Granted, the spine is in grievous need of repair, and the book is a "student edition," which means that it was meant as a textbook, probably as an introductory text for high school or freshman college students. But to me, it is a treasure. As you will see from the pictures, it was published in 1881, with an introduction by Matthew Arnold, and has an inscription from 1884; and of course, its subject matter is close to my heart. I really enjoyed discovering this little jewel, just as I am also enjoying the process of adding it to this blog. So without further ado, here are the pictures:

That's all for now. Until next time, may your discoveries be fortuitous, and your journeys safe and fulfilling.

Congreve, Bound!

Well, here it is, after more than a month in the making, I proudly present to you the process of book restoration, in pictures, as performed by Michael Atha of Restoration Books Bindery & Fine Press. 


Here is the URL to Mr. Atha's website:  (http://www.rarebookrestoration.com/)


I have to say, now that I am holding the book in my hand, I couldn't be happier; Michael's high quality work far exceeded my expectations, and I feel like a kid at Christmastime. Owning this unique volume is truly both a pleasure and a privilege.


So without further ado, here are the pictures:

Before

Separated

Sewing Begins

Front & End Papers Added

No Detail Overlooked

Cover Panels

Cutting Out The Leather

Doing The Corners

Sans Decoration

Decoration Added

Time To Do The Spine

Crimping

Make Sure It's Securely Glued

Hey Michael, Leave A Comment & Tell Me What This Thing Is For!

Spine Detail Work

After

 As you can see, I ended up with a very nice book, one that I will always treasure. Thanks, Michael, you really made my day!

To my gentle readers, I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into the restoration process. Until next time, I wish you all the best in your book collecting endeavors!

Congreve Dis-bound, Part Two: The Journey Towards Restoration

Well, my gentle readers, I have sent the book to a restoration specialist, and he wrote me an email today to let me know that the book arrived safely:


Christopher-

Just to let you know, your copy of Congreve's "The Way of the World" just arrived safely in the mail and looks great!  It will rebind beautifully.  We'll get to this as quickly as possible, and I will keep you posted of our progress and when we're prepared to return ship.  At any point, please feel free to call me if you have any questions.  Thanks again and I'll look forward to speaking with you again soon.

I'm not going to mention who I sent it to just yet, because I have another surprise in store; the next post will be one that you won't want to miss!

Until next time, I wish you the best of luck in your book collecting endeavors!

Congreve Dis-bound, Part One

Finally, the postal system has delivered my latest online acquisition: a dis-bound copy of William Congreve's "The Way of the World," published 1777 by John Bell. The frontispiece is, alas, missing entirely, as are the remaining pages of the epilogue beyond the first. At any rate, it's still a nice piece to have; the remaining pages are crisp and tight, and only slightly yellowed with age. For something that's 1 year younger than the United States, it's in remarkable shape. Here are some pictures, including one next to a tape dispenser, to illustrate the small size of the item. It was probably a "coat pocket" edition, meant to be easily portable.

As promised, this little item is going to be featured in two posts; the reason being that I plan to take it to a restoration shop and have it re-bound, if possible. When the new cover is on, I shall post pictures of it. If I am told that re-binding is not possible, then the second part of this post will be a simple note to that effect; I sincerely hope that this is not the case, as I would love to see it with a proper binding.

Until next time, gentle readers, I bid you good day, and wish you well.

More Ephemera?

Ok, I was going to wait for the aforementioned volume to arrive in the mail before posting this, but I am afraid that in the interest of keeping this blog active, I cannot afford to wait on the mail any longer. The volume has been in the mail for 10 days, according to the tracking page, and has not, as yet, arrived! Now I know where the term "snail mail" comes from. 


I do, however, admit to having had better service in the past, and to being mystified as to why this particular parcel has spent so long in the mail system. Maybe (hopefully!) it's just a fluke. I eagerly await tomorrow's mail, in hopes that the slow-moving volume shall appear; according to the tracking page, it left the nearby sorting facility on the 14th, and according to one of the sorting facility's personnel (whom I called the other day) it has two days to make it from the sorting facility to my local branch, and my local branch has another two days past that to deliver it. That means that it should have been delivered on the 18th (yesterday.) I shall give them a 1 day margin (tomorrow's mail) before resorting to more direct inquiry methods (i.e., a trip down to the sorting facility.)


At any rate, I was going to include this item in the post containing the mailed volume, but it now seems that it shall appear in a post of its own, so let's get to it, shall we?


I am not sure whether or not this item counts as ephemera, or as part of the book that it came with (in the same manner as a dust jacket... would a dust jacket count as ephemera?) It is a newsletter that came with my 1950 edition of Plutarch's Lives. The book's introduction is by Carl Van Doren, whose brother, Mark, wrote what is still recognized as the definitive scholarly treatment of Dryden's poetry. Here is a picture of the newsletter, unfolded. (It is printed double-sided on a single sheet, folded in the middle, designed to be read as a four page pamphlet.)

Whether or not it counts as true ephemera, I nevertheless enjoy owning it and looking at it. They don't do this sort of thing anymore, at least as far as I know. If there are any book clubs nowadays that do anything similar, I suspect that the newsletter would (more than likely) be delivered via email. If any of my gentle readers can contradict me in this regard, please feel free to drop me an email, I would love to know about it.

Well, that concludes this little post; the next post will (hopefully) happen soon, and you won't want to miss it. Until that time, I bid you adieu, and wish you all the best in your book collecting endeavors.