Having recently upgrade my cell to an iPhone, I’ve been scouring the app store for biblio-related applications to load and keep me busy. Bookride’s 12 Must-Have iPhone Apps for Book Lovers article does a great job summing up the essentials. There are plenty of other goodies to be found in the app store as well from nicely illustrated collected works of authors (the Shakespeare one I have is great) to Comiczeal (the best comic reader available) with plenty of fun little apps like Typo Junkies and The Coach House Press’ Coffee Room to add into the mix. Unfortunately I’ve yet to come across any letterpress related apps so far, but will be certain to post any fun and interesting apps that I may come across in the future.
Our friend Natasha Herman of the Redbone Bindery passed along this great e-catalogue from a former colleague of hers who has just started his own venture after 10 years employment in the trade. Bob Gaba’s inaugural Canadiana catalogue has a great little selection of scarce (and many unique) early Canadian manuscripts, laws, acts and other bits of ephemera dating back to the 17th century. Definitely worth looking at for collectors of Canadian history and I look forward to future catalogues.
Once again Margaret Lock will be running one of her excellent two-day courses on typesetting and letterpress printing the second weekend in April. Two of the three spots have already been filled, so if you are interested, be sure to contact her quickly to nab the final spot. Details of the course are below:
Introduction to Typesetting and Letterpress Printing
taught by Margaret Lock on 10-11 April, 2010 at 231 Johnson Street, Kingston, ON.
Participants will learn basic typographic design concepts, and how to set lead type by hand and print on a Vandercook proof press. The two-day workshop will cover setting type, letter-spacing capitals, distributing type, imposition, proofing, registration, and printing on handmade paper. As an exercise, participants will design and print a broadside up to 11 x 14 inches in size. Participants should bring a short, favourite piece of poetry or prose (fewer than 20 lines of poetry, and fewer than 160 words for a piece of prose).
The cost for each participant is $185. The workshop hours are 9:30am-5:30pm, Saturday and Sunday.
If interested, please contact Margaret Lock by email lockfp@queensu.ca or telephone 613-544-3505.
It’s getting close to that time of year again when five books are defended by five panelists to determine which book should be the one Canadians read in 2010. The book selections this year are great with some choice panelists to back them up. The debates will run March 8-12 on CBC Radio One until only one book remains. The books, panelists, podcasts and a host of information on Canada Reads 2010 can be found on the CBC Canada Reads website.
The new issue of the Devil’s Artisan is out and packed with great articles. In particular there is an excellent article on Frank Newfield (award winning designer of more than 650 books) followed by an article written by Newfield on the use and responsibilities of book illustrations. There are also three in-depth reviews of last falls published books written by Jim Rimmer, Wesley Bates and Robert Bringhurst. You can find copies of this great journal at a local magazine speciality shop (i.e. Mags & Fags) or subscribe here.
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!
JD Salinger, one of the most influential writers of the 20th century, passed away yesterday at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire at the age of 91. I remember the impact of reading “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” as a teenager and then proceeding to devour everything else Salinger had to offer over the next couple of weeks. His Glass family collection of short stories and novellas still remain as some of my favourite pieces of literature and have recommended them heavily to a number of friends and clients. As Robert Fulford in his National Post article suggests, we can only hope that Salinger continued to write throughout his decades of seclusion and that there just may be a treasure trove of literature in his Cornish home waiting to be shared.
A recent post (Books in Things & Things in Books) from one of our favourite sites, Bookride, is right up my alley being jam packed with fun anecdotes of glorious items found between the pages of book, inside bindings and the many odd places books themselves have been found. Some interesting other anecdotes are popping up in the comments section as well.
Our good friend George Walker just released his new book A is for Alice via the Porcupine’s Quill and it is absolutely wonderful (we were lucky enough to get a sneak preview copy). It’s a playful alphabet book comprised of a quote and accompanying wood engraving (done by the Mad Hatter himself, George) for each letter of the alphabet. The engravings were selected from the nearly 200 engravings used in the Chesire Cat fine press editions, limited to 177 copies each, of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass that George, Bill Poole and Joseph Brabant designed and printed in the 80’s & 90’s. I count myself fortunate to have a copy of Through the Looking-Glass and show it off every chance I get 
We’ve ordered a dozen copies directly from the source, so if you are interested just drop us a note. Here is a sneak peek at the book.
Also, to celebrate the release of A is for Alice, a video following the book through the intensive production process, which takes place in-house at The Porcupine’s Quill shop on the Main Street of Erin Village, has been made available here. Enjoy!
The original Stukeley manuscript containing Sir Isaac Newton’s famous falling apple anecdote is now available for the first time online as part of The Royal Society’s Turning the Pages project. The Stukeley Manuscript, along with other digitized original works by the likes of Paine, Locke & Henry James, are wonderful to flip through and enjoy passages and ideas as they were first put to paper.
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