I promise that I will not post too much baby related stuff 😉 I found this a very nice idea, though. A library baby shower! Too bad showers are not a normal thing to do in The Netherlands…
Most expensive book in the world August 4, 2009
The publisher Taschen is known for their affordable art books. Once in a while they also make special editions that are a little more expensive. The book they are planning on selling now is a different story. This book is likely to be one of the most expensive of the world. Several hundred thousand dollars it is expected to go on sale for; “Moonfire: The epic journey of Apollo 11” by Norman Mailer.
The cheap edition of this book will ‘only’ set you back 800 dollars. The real thing however, is a little bit more expensive. It does come with real pieces of lunar rock. Pieces that crashed on earth and somehow got into the hands of the publisher. Taschen will make only 12 of these books. If you would rather buy a house and opt for the budget edition, you still get very nice pictures provided by NASA and LIFE magazine. Each book, appropriately 1969 copies, will be signed by the second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin.
Read more about the book here, or go the the Taschen website here.
Bookish Tattoos June 28, 2009
For quite some time now, I’ve been thinking about getting a bookish tattoo. I do not have any tattoos and take the matter very seriously. This is why I do not have any yet. For some (weird) reason it just appeals to me to have my biggest passion on me. As an everlasting work of art, because that is how I view tattoos. A work of art. That is, if they are done by a proper artist.
To get inspired I have been searching the web for people with bookish tattoos. I found out that there are not many. (Loving books and tattoos apparently do not go together…) It seemed like a fun idea to post some of the bookish tattoos I found. You can see them by clicking ‘more’ at the bottom of this post. I’m curious to your response to them. If you are thinking about a book related tattoo, please post about it in the comments. If you are not sure yet, like me, this might be something for you.
If you are the owner of some bookish ink, please send me a picture of it. (Click here to mail me.) I will post the photo’s in a separate topic.
(more…)
Penguin Classics: the Bill Amberg Collection January 9, 2009
I got the Penguin Newsletter in my mailbox today. As I browsed trough it, I fell in love instantly. Penguin had the people at design house Bill Amberg make the cover for six classics. They turned out in beautiful brown leather, carefully wrapped an but in a stunning box. The titles are:
- The Picture of Darion Gray by Oscar Wilde
- A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler
- Brideshead Rivisited by Evelyn Waugh
- Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote
The books usually cost 50 British Pounds each, but they are now on offer at the Penguin site at 20 Pounds. So instead of 300 pounds for the complete set, you pay 120 pounds. Since the Pound dropped drastically in relation to the euro, this is even more a bargain now. So I could not resist and bought the complete set just now. I am so, so very exited! I cannot wait to smell the leather. Even though I’m not sure if I will get the books out of their wrapping… Mayby I’ll just cherish them. If I can restrain myself.
Click here to see the offer and here for the set the Bill Amberg website.
Dutch Book Fairs July 12, 2008
Summer is the time of the book fair. Well, there are book fairs all year round, but in The Netherlands most of them are during the summer. We visited two of them recently and I thought it would be nice to give you a small photo impression. I wonder if book fairs look different in other countries…
The first fair was on June 29. it was in the city of Haarlem. There were about 170 stands in the city center. The atmosphere was very cozy. We overspend. Big time. The second one was in Dordrecht, on July 5. This is the second largest book fair of The Netherlands. There were about 450 stands. It was very busy, but we managed to find some new treasures for our library.
Click on ‘more’ the see some photo’s we took.
(Literary) Remembrance May 4, 2008
Each year on the 4th of May we, the Dutch, take a couple of minutes to remember the people who died in WWII. And the wars after that. The next day, the 5th we celebrate the ending of the war. I also do a little ‘remembrance’ on Kimbooktu,but in a bookish way. I bring you a post related to the Second World War and books. Last year I wrote an article on Anne Frank, to be seen here. This year’s topic is the destruction of books during WWII. Click ‘more’ to read the article.
Personalized books May 1, 2008
If you are looking for an original gift (for a book lover) a personalized book might be an idea. There are several websites which provide this service. Usually you can choose a book of your liking. You can then choose one or more names that you want to have featured in this book. Below you will find a small selection of websites that provides this type of book. If you have any books or experience with personal books to add, please do so in the comments.
A2Z Personalized Children’s Books
You can choose out of 150 books for children. There are also some titles available for adults. All the books are hardcover and it will cost between twelve and fifteen dollars to have a book made.
This website sells ‘personalized stories for children’. The fun part is that the illustrations are also personalized to look like the child.
This company has only one book on offer, but it adds first, middle and last names to the book. Most other personalized books only have first names.
Here you can pick from a variety of themed books for babies, children and adults. The books can have the name, age, home town and other names printed in the story.
A Dutch website that has a choice of books in different themes. You can also choose children’s books and books by The Netherlands most popular crime writer, Appie Baantjer. It is also possible to pick by price.
Funny add March 13, 2008
I just found this add for an American bookstore. It might be old, but I thought it is quite funny.
Click here for a larger image.
The Science of Fairy Tales
Ever wondered if events in Fairy Tales can actually happen or exist? I did not, to be honest. It never crossed my mind if it is actually possible to have someone climb up a tower by the means of very long hair. A Fairy Tale is a Fairy Tale, after all. It does not mean it is very interesting to read the science behind these tales.
If you are intrigued, click here to read an article posted on LiveScience. It is written by Chris Gorski of the American Institute of Physics. It immediately made me wonder about other tales too…
Design your own book cover January 29, 2008
I just found this fun online program which enables you to make your own book cover. You can choose different animals for the cover picture and different colors. You can type the titles you like. After you are done, you can save the cover and a link to it is provided. Give it a try! Click here. Do not forget to post the link to your cover in the comments! (This is mine.)
Kimbooktu.com 