Monday, March 31, 2008

UBC #17 The World of Science Fiction by Lester Del Rey

The World of Science Fiction 1926-1976
by Lester Del Rey
Del Rey Press 1979 Paperback

From the back cover: "Lester Del Rey has lived through all of science-fiction's history-and, as a fan, an agent, and one of the field's major writers and editors, he's contributed to a lot of it. In his absorbing and authoritative account of SF's first half century, del Rey analyzes its booms and busts;...From Amazing Stories to Star Wars, from space opera to works that rank with the best, here is the full story of science fiction as it's never been told before."

I've never heard of space operas. The glossary states that space operas are "analogous to horse operas in Westerns." There is nothing in the glossary about "horse operas". there is an entry for FIAWOL: Fandom Is A Way Of Life--"A somewhat exaggerated statement used by those who take fandom seriously." Somewhat?. This book is nuts. I'm going to go eat a burrito and ponder all this.

$3.50

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

German Maps!

doing some spring cleaning down here in the UBC and in doing so, I came across a stack of beautifully illustrated German maps. Not sure of the age but they are all in excellent condition. There are a handful of maps in color but most are in black & white. They are of various places in and around Germany. Or at least what I think might be Germany. I was never very good at foreign languages. If I remember correctly, these maps came as part of a set. We're keeping these down in the basement so if you're interested, just swing by. We're selling em for $2.00

Saturday, March 29, 2008

UBC #16 The Ambonese Curiosity Cabinet


The Ambonese Curiousity Cabinet
by Georgius Everhardus Rumphius
translated by E.M. Beekman
Yale University Press 1999 1st ed/pr
oversized hardcover

"This is the first great natural history of tropical marine life. Remarkable for its detailed observations of living animals, habitats, and fisheries, as well as the accuracy of its morphological descriptions and classifications, the entire work reflects Rumphius's practical talents as engineer, merchant, and student of local cultures, as well as pioneer naturalist. Rumphius provides an invaluable window on the richness of tropical nature as it used to be." -- Jeremy Bradford Cook Jackson, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute.

To paraphrase, this book is about marine life. It has a lot of interesting illustrations and diagrams as well a wide variety of information dealing with said marine life. Rumphius is the man.

$30.00

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

Friday, March 28, 2008

UBC #15 Harry Potter 1st Editions/Printings!



Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter & The Order of The Phoenix
Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
By J.K. Rowling
Scholastic Press

Your eyes do not lie! Three first edition, first printing copies of Harry Potter #4,#5, and #7. I know, I know. We don't have the first book. If we did we'd sell it and use the money to buy some smokes and deep dish pizzas. I must be honest and admit that i've never read any of the books in this series. Maybe someday. I do know that in the last book Harry grows a big bushy moustache, like Nietsche's, and acts like he's God's gift to facial hair... These books are in very good condition (some slight edge wear and folded corners) and all three have their dust jackets. Think of these as a very affordable investment!

$45.00 each

If you'd like to jump on the Potter train we do carry paperback versions of the first six books ($4-$6), as well as a few of the seventh book in hardcover ($15-$18)!

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

Monday, March 24, 2008

UBC #14 - First Diasporist Manifsto by R.B. Kitaj

First Diasporist Manifesto
By R.B. Kitaj
Thames And Hudson Press c1989 Softcover

From the back cover: "Kitaj, one of the most important painters working today, declares here his credo on art and life, in a manifesto equal in power and intent to those- like the Surrealists', the Futurists' or the Constructivists' - which have signalled a radical change in the course and perception of art and life."

Kitaj's opening statement speaks volumes: "Painting is not my life. My life is my life. Painting is a great idea i carry from place to place." With over 60 black and white illustrations and lucid aesthetic hallucinations, The First Diasporist Manifesto ranks high on the list of all-time greatest manifestos. Right up there with Karl Marx, Malcolm Gladwell's Talent Myth, and the one by that guy who lived in the woods and set beard-cred back fifteen years.

SOLD

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

Sunday, March 23, 2008

a message from Carl

i was going to start this post off with some sort of "dear diary, what a wild weekend!" zinger but thought against it at the last minute. instead i will simply say, "what a wild weekend, diary!" saturday saw the mothership make its way to brookline and drop nearly 400 new titles on our shelves. a few highlights:

    lots of r. crumb books
    three kara walker monographs
    the re-emergence of our bat-man phone
    someone's eric ambler collection
    ditto for agatha christie
    fifteen plane ticket stubs
    william gaddis's agape agape
    several books on bookbinding
    a book on the history of prison escapes
    five krazy kat collections

huge high fives go out to all who came out this weekend to sell or buy. especially which ever one of you bought the huge oprah book we had on display. man, that beast weighed a ton. that's like lugging a spare tire home with you. kudos to you for pulling the trigger on that purchase. i hope your loved ones appreciate you.

nonetheless, we've got plenty left in the tank for the rest of you. throughout the week i'll be throwing some of the more eclectic items up here on the blog for all to enjoy. so stay tuned!

also...

[ WARNING shameless self-promotion content ]
in the news, i'll be reading some of my poems here at the booksmith on june 8th as i open up for the great zach schomburg (who co-runs octopus books). come watch me attempt to warm up a crowd with ten minutes of inside jokes! plus, the first three people to mention the blog will be given a chance to rifle through our classic rock cds. it'll be a great afternoon as i've long admired zach/mathias/Octopus Book's aesthetic and quality control. i'll be making up some chapbooks to sell, too. and if there are any copies left, i'll be selling some greying ghost titles.


that's all for today.
more books to follow!

-c

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

UBC #13 - National Poetry Month Hype!

In a two weeks (or so) April will be upon us. April, if you didn't know, happens to be National Poetry Month. T.S. Eliot used to tell the boys that April was the cruelest month. Nuts to that, I say! He was probably loathing having to do his taxes. At any rate, we here in the basement are, as the kids say, stoked for next month. It gives us a chance to dust off our throwback "Pumped 4 Poetry" jerseys and start throwing down A-B-A-B rhyme schemes and reciting Fibonacci poems like they're going out of style. Wait, they have? Gabunza! Let me share a couple titles with you:

The Apple That Astonished Paris
by Billy Collins
Arkansas Univ. Press c1988 Trade Paperback

This collection of poems by one of the genre's most readable and easily accessible craftsmen is sixty-one page romp through the disturbingly comedic fields of everyday life. Barking dogs. Bars. Reading Anna Karenina. Lowell, MA. Hart Crane. Gun Control. They're all here. I must profess that i've never been a HUGE Collins fan. That being said, I can appreciate his comedic genius and the niche he's built for himself in seemingly everyone's collection. Or was that Phil? Did Billy Collins record "Sussudio"? That was a hilarious tome.

SOLD







The Nude Formalism
by Charles Bernstein and Susan Bee
20 Pages Press c1989 Chapbook

I was an english major in college. The best part about being an english major was being able to say to a professor, "Yeah, these poems by this T.S. Eliot guy are dandy and all, but i'm more of a devout Charles Bernstein follower." At the time it seemed like a badass thing to say. The moral of the story is that I was and still am a HUGE Bernstein fan:
    Man with no clothes trapped
    in a zoo with a bird
    trapped in a zoo with no
    clothes. A fire engine hrt
    the man's head in the
    engine.
    A wave broke on the man's head.
    Red red
    wave with circle, mirror, little
    green purple washing face.

Also, I apparently dislike T.S. Eliot on a deeply subconscious level. I had no idea I knocked the man twice in one post. My apologies to the Eliot estate.

SOLD
[if nobody buys this by the 25th of March, I will!]

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

Friday, March 14, 2008

UBC #12 - The Book of Jones by Ralph Steadman

The Book of Jones
By Ralph Steadman
Harcourt Brace c1997 1st Edition HC

Ralph Steadman was the maverick who frequently collaborated with Hunter S. Thompson. In this book, Steadman collaborates with a highly neurotic, temperamental feline named Mr. Jones [note: i added the "Mr."]. here's my favorite passage:
    "I have never met a cat more insolent and yet more appealing than Jones. He never needed to judge a situation; he was the situation. God knows, i'm not much of an animal person - at home i try to cope with three sheep and one tiny rabbit, and so far I have three bags of wool and a ton of rabbit [expletive]."
this is a first edition, first printing copy!

SOLD

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

The suggestion box works!

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

UBC #11 Painting as a Pastime by Winston Churchill

Painting as a Pastime
By Winston Churchill
Cornerstone Library c1965 Softcover

this is billed as "an instructive and inspiring invitation to the joy of painting by Winston S. Churchill." it is true that once the great war ended Winston had some time on his hands. it is during this stretch the big guy discovered a little thing called "joy." here, in a thirty-two page essay, Churchill recounts his fondness for one such joy: painting...oh, and golf. and carpentry. card games. certain vaudeville acts. he was also very fond of animals. puppies in particular. but mostly painting. and what a cover! look at the unbridled joy! the passion that exudes from his brow! this one is for the serious Churchill fanatics (heretofore referred as "churchies") who like nothing better than having a bored curmudgeon write about his feelings. i meant that in a good way. contains 18 reproductions of his paintings!

$8.50

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

UBC #10 - The Man Who Sang The Sillies

The Man Who Sang The Sillies
By John Ciardi, Illustrated by Edward Gorey
Lippincott Company c1961 Softcover

published in 1961, this is a collection of poems for children (and adults for that matter) written by John Ciardi and illustrated by the then hardest working man in showbiz, Edward Gorey. my favorite triplet: "I'll tell you a lie, and it's almost true:/ I met an oyster as big as you./ and boy-size oysters are very few." there's also one about an old man who jumps out a well and scares off a little boy, but that one hit a little too close to home for me to recite. nonetheless The Man Who Sang The Sillies is a great book especially for those of you with small children and/or elderly-infested wells. did i mention Edward Gorey's illustrations accompany every poem? was there anything published in the 50's and 60's that didn't feature a gorey-illustrated cover?

SOLD

please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).

UBC #9 - I Was Elvis Presley's Bastard Love Child, pb

I Was Elvis Presley's Bastard Love-Child
by Andrew Darlington
Critical Vision/ Headpress c2001 Softcover

Aptly subtitled "& other stories of rock'n'roll excess," this dashing gent of a read is a collection of interviews which center around two basic themes: how a band can slowly rise to greatness, and how quickly a band can fall. case in point, led zeppelin: arguably one of the best r'n'r bands ever (behind the who) and led by one of the most mesmerizing frontman ever (second behind roger daltry). together, they were dynamite. but honestly, how many of us back in the 90's bought the robert plant solo albums or for that matter, the coverdale-page collaborations and openly hoped that it was all some sort of ha-ha joke? whenever i hear a song off of "Manic Nirvana" in the car, my immediate reaction is to get out of the car, pronto. anyways, despite the title, Darlington has a playfully critical eye and his conversations with the likes of fleetwood mac, kraftwerk, the fall, the kinks, stone roses, jefferson airplane et al, are both entrapping and entertaining. yes, i said entrapping.


$10.50


please call or email to hold or purchase. only one copy, so its first come first serve. please note that we will only keep books on hold at the store for three days (including weekends).