Well, the move into our new home went quite well with only a few minor hiccups here and there. Although, we can’t really complain as we got lucky with two beautiful days in which we did the majority of of our move (seriously, who moves in the middle of a Canadian February?) A big thanks to all those who helped us move, paint, unpack and generally settle in, we couldn’t have done it without you.
While we have personally settled in for the most part and just await a few final pieces of furniture to finish everything off, the basement still remains a mass of shelving and boxes waiting to be assembled into some semblence of order. Hence, we will not likely have our online stock up for another week or two, but have been able to restock our booth at the Ottawa Antique Market with some fresh finds and stuff tucked away before the move.
Will try to get some pictures of my new office set-up soon and will being posting regularly again shortly.
Well we’ve got ourselves nicely set up and running at the Ottawa Antique Market, which is working out marvelously I might add, and have been busily packing our personal possessions for our big move into our new home this Thursday. With plenty of work to be done over the next week or two to get settled in, the post here will few are far between. So, I thought I would leave you with a few videos from Youtube to entertainment during the hiatus:
A very well produced Letterpress Video of a guy making custom coasters.
A nice collection of short clips of books with fore-edge paintings held by the Boston Public Library.
And of course one of my all time favourite video bios, Portrait of a Bookstore as an Old Man, of George Whitman, eccentric owner of Shakespeare & Co. in Paris. Gotta tip your hat to a guy that still cuts his hair with a candle.
With our move only a couple weeks away, the last thing I should be doing is acquiring more printing equipment. However, this fun little Edison Rotary Mimeograph from 1904 was too good to pass up (loads of info on the Edison Mimeograph and other historical copying machines available here). In fact, I got it by trading a box of 1950’s Popular Mechanics to another dealer down at the Antique Market. Ahhh, the good old barter system at its finest.
While it needs a little cleaning up, it is fully functional and will be put to the test in my new print shop at the new house. What’s even better, while looking up the history of my newly acquired prize I found this company, Repeat-O-Type, in the U.S. that still sells the stencils and inks for mimeographs. And here I was expecting to have to scrounge around for some supplies!
The majority of the books we didn’t plan to keep for use at the Ottawa Antique Market or book shows was packed up and shipped off yesterday to a gentleman in Barry’s Bay who is starting up a huge secondhand store for that area. 400+ boxes packed with over 22,000 books and weighing nearly 16,000 pounds have now found a new home near Algonquin Park 2hrs west of Ottawa. One of most daunting tasks I’ve undertaken (mostly the carrying 200+ boxes up from the basement), but very relieving all the same. The house is definitely breathing a huge sigh of relief!
Now off to box-up our ABE stock and personal reference collections…
A few months ago I was interviewed by Nigel Beale for his literary blog Nota Bene on the history of the private press and more specifically the collecting and Canadian aspects of fine press editions and letterpress printed works. The interview lasts about 40mins and was quite fun to do, so hope you enjoy!
After being heavily admonished by members of our Ottawa Press Gang at this morning’s Wayzbrunch, here goes a quick catch-up on events of the past few weeks to be followed by a flurry of posts over the next few days to tick off all the items on the “To Post” list that has been growing far too quickly in 2010.
First off, a quick reminder to all that the Arlington location is now closed and we are in full flight at the Ottawa Antique Market which has been an excellent venue for us so far. Also, don’t forget our phone number has changed and we can now be reached at 613-302-4718.
Second, we have been boxing furiously (hence the lack of posts) to ship off the excess books that we can’t bring to the Antique Market and pack up the good stuff for storage to ensure the shelves in our booth stay packed for years to come.
Third, just because we’re moving and downsizing doesn’t mean we’ve stopped buying. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve acquired a great modern Sci-fi/Fantasy collection in sparkling condition that will be hitting the shelves of the booth shortly. We’ve also picked up a great collection of vintage paperbacks with plenty of Ace doubles, hard crime, racy covers and a few top knotch hard cover early Sci-fi by some great presses like the Fantasy Press, Gnome Press and Greenberg.
Finally, this mornings Wayzbrunch displayed once again how quickly the Ottawa Press Gang has continued to grow and produce wonderful work from invitations and greating cards to booklets and engraving portfolios. This was clearly evident by the beautiful presswork passed around and shared by the group this morning. Plenty of printing on the horizon for the group too as a group joint project is in the works, the OPG Letterpress Gazette (below) had its inaugural issue come off the press, and a number of members have personal projects in the wings. Will be sure to highlight all the great work the group is doing as they come to fruition.
That’s it for now, but plenty more to come over the next few days…….honestly!!!
Wishing everyone the very best over the holiday season and into the New Year. 2009 certainly was an amazing year for us with lots of joy (our little baby Emma and a new home) along with a good helping of change (relocating Bytown Bookshop to the Ottawa Antique Market). Here’s hoping 2010 holds the same adventure and happiness that we shared this year.
For all of our friends and patrons over the years, while the time spent at the shop on Arlington will certainly be a big void to fill, we look forward to seeing you at our new location and we’ll be sure to keep you up to date through our website. Also feel free to e-mail us at info@bytownbookshop.ca or give us a call at our new number 613-302-4718 should you wish to get in touch.
Hopefully the next post you see will be me sharing all the nifty gifts I received (I was a good boy this year) 
Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to Everyone!
A final fair warning to patrons of our bookshop, this Saturday, the 19th, will be our last day open at the 21 Arlington location. Books are still 50% off, so be certain to stop by and fill a bag or two for the holidays
Starting in January I will be setting up some regular hours at our new location at the Ottawa Antique Market in order to keep in touch with our regulars and hopefully meet many new book enthusiasts. Once we are settled into both our new location and new home come March, I will be able to focus more effort towards perhaps doing a few catalogues each year and focusing on ramping up the amount of posts and content on our website.
Thanks to all of our regulars over the years, many who have now become good friends, for your conversation, knowledge and support. We look forward to seeing you in the future at the Antique Market and book shows.
Today marks the first day of the Bytown Bookshop officially being open for business at the Ottawa Antique Market! The first two weeks we’ve been at the Antique Market while setting up the booth and stocking shelves has been great for sales so far, so here’s hoping that we can keep up the momentum. While we are now installed at the Antique Market, the shop on Arlington will remain open until Dec 20th as we look to clear house with our 50% off sale. Â
That’s right! Starting today, everything in the store is now…
 50% OFF
(except for a few item behind the cash)
Well, again my apologies for the 2 week posting hiatus, but this time it was with good reason.  We’re on the move!
We’ve decided that our fun little apartment above the bookshop just won’t cut it as the place to raise our little Emma in the years to come, so we will be moving to another beautiful home in the downtown area ( only 2 blocks away in fact!). So what’s happening with the Bytown Bookshop you ask?
We’ll be moving the majority of our better stock to the Ottawa Antique Market where we’ve just yesterday set up ~30ft of shelving and stocked it with a couple thousand books to start things off with a plan to add more stock and develop the space over the next couple months. The Ottawa Antique Market is a great location with two other bookdealers having a space in the market (both with excellent stock at great prices), which will make the Market a great place to go for old books. Even better is that the Market is open 10-6 seven days a week all year and has a front desk that can process the sales for any of the Market’s dealers. I will also be able to man the space whenever I like and therefore set up some regular hours on certain days to keep in touch with regulars and do some purchasing onsite. These great features made our decision much easier and will also allow me to get back my evenings & weekends and dedicate more time to my family. We will also continue to do book fairs and sell online, with the potential for e-catalogues and greater website development and blogging in the future given the extra time we will have.
As for 21 Arlington, we will be putting it on the market shortly and looking to sell the majority of the stock we don’t intend to take with us. Which means…
50% Off Sale!
That’s right, the majority of our books will be 50% off the regular price for the next two months as we wind things down at the shop and get fully set up at the Antique Market. So be sure to stop by and fill up a bag or two of your favourite author or topic!  If anyone is interested in stocking a house or starting their own store(s), ask us about our bulk discounts
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