Bytown Bookshop » Items of Interest

The Frankenstein Horror Series

Richard — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:52:36 +0000

A friend of mine brought to my attention the Frankenstein Horror Series, published in the early 1970′s by Popular Library, last week and it has been a really interesting little series to read about. This post from the Groovy Age of Horror website is by far the best review of the series and has great photos of the book covers.

Only 9 books were printed in the series from generally unknown authors. The print runs on them were likely pretty low as they don’t seem to turn up very often (although can be had readily on the web for $10-15 each). Here is a brief bibliographic checklist for the series.

Here’s how they described the series on the back covers:

THE FRANKENSTEIN HORROR SERIES is a group of entirely new stories that follows the fates of the primal monsters and their heirs, as they re-emerge from the Pit of the Unknown, the Unspeakable, and the Undead.

Upcoming Book Launches

Richard — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 02:29:47 +0000

Here is the info for a couple of upcoming book launches from local mystery authors:

Peggy Blair’s The Beggar’s Opera

Thursday, 16 February, 6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
The Orange Art Gallery, 233 Armstrong Street, Ottawa, Ontario

There will be live Cuban music with the terrific Cuban duet of Caridad Cruz and César Ricardo. Cuban food will be served and the wonderful photographs of Havana by David Barbour will be on display. Thanks to Beau’s Beer, Domaine Perrault & Blue Gypsy Wines, there will be beer and wine. There might even be mojitos!

Contact Peggy Blair at pjblair@rogers.com for an invitation (space is limited).

R. J. Harlick’s A Green Place for Dying

Tuesday, 28 February, 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Heart and Crown Pub in the Market, 67 Clarence St., Ottawa

R.J. Harlick is launching the fifth title in the acclaimed Meg Harris mystery series. Free for anyone to stop by and enjoy the evening.

25 Things I Learned From Opening a Bookstore

Richard — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:49:09 +0000

While many of the items on the struck a close cord with many of my observations when we had the open store, unfortunately I can’t lay claim to this humorously honest list of 25 Things Learned From Opening a Bookstore. I can however confirm that while I’ve encountered pretty much everything on the list, numbers 16, 18 and 21 are definitely 100% accurate!

Human Library Day at the Ottawa Public Library

Richard — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 00:19:02 +0000

Saturday, January 28, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m at various libraries throughout Ottawa

The concept

An individual accepts to take part in the event as a Book
Book reservations for specific time slots will be available the day of the event, at each site
Books get “checked out” for 20 minutes by a Reader
Talk to the person one-on-one about their diverse experiences.

Participants that can be “checked out” range from OC Transpo drivers and CBC journalists, to spiritual advisors and sex workers. There will also be a special set of participants at the War Museum also participating in the event. Details can on the Human Library Day can be found here.

Unique Hemingway First up for Auction

Richard — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:11:02 +0000

The February 8th Heritage Signature Book Auction is offering up as one of the major highlights of the sale a signed presentation copy of Hemingway’s first book, Three Stories and Ten Poems. The book is signed by Hemingway to Margaret Anderson and Jane Heap, editors of “The Little Review”, and first to publish some of Hemingway’s prose. What is doubly great about this lot is the write up they did detailing the history of Anderson and Heap, and their relationship with Hemingway. The lot starts at $37,500 with an estimate around $75,000, but I feel that the book will easily find its way into the six digit range.

The sale also features a first edition of Moby Dick, signed Ian Fleming firsts, and a first edition of Poe’s Tales of the Grotesque. Should be a fun auction to watch.

Random House now the Sole Owner of McClelland & Stewart

Richard — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 01:06:31 +0000

After over a hundred years of publishing history and launching the careers of Canadian literary icons such as Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Farley Mowat, Leonard Cohen, Mordechai Richler, Margaret Laurence, Michael Ondaatje and Rohinton Mistry (just to name a few), McClelland & Stewart is no longer Canadian.

As of Tuesday, Random House has now become the sole owner of McClelland & Stewart.

The Joy of Books

Richard — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 00:32:04 +0000

This great little stop-motion film, The Joy of Books, was done at the Type Bookstore in Toronto.

When the owner is away, the books shall play!

Canada Reads

Richard — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:48:43 +0000

It’s that time of year again when five great Canadian books (backed by 5 renown Canadians) do battle debate style for the Canada Reads title. This year’s twist, the books are all non-fiction:

The Game
by: Ken Dryden
Defended by: Alan Thicke

On a Cold Road
by: Dave Bidini
Defended by: Stacey McKenzie

Prisoner of Tehran
by: Marina Nemat
Defended by: Arlene Dickinson

Something Fierce
by: Carmen Aguirre
Defended By: Shad

The Tiger
by: John Vaillant
Defended by: Anne-France Goldwater

The first round of chats with the debaters are being posted with the debates themselves to air February 6-9 at 11:00 a.m. on CBC Radio One and live-streamed on CBC Books at 10:00 a.m. EST. Also, you can follow the debates and discussion here (www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads) or download the podcasts if you missed the live debates.

Alcuin Society Book Design Awards

Richard — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 03:26:40 +0000

Each Spring, The Alcuin Society holds an annual competition for Excellence in Book Design in Canada. The 30th anniversary of the Alcuin Book Awards will be held this coming March 31st and is open to all Canadian book designers.

The Alcuin Society encourages students, private presses and self publishing artists to participate in this prestigious event. The Limited Editions category is most appropriate, as only one copy of a book needs to be produced to be eligible (although it must be a complete book, and is judged alongside books produced by seasoned book artists). Books in this category are returned to the senders.

Although there are no cash awards for winners, there is considerable promotion and prestige attached to winning. Photographs of the books appear in the Alcuin Awards Catalogue and on their website. The books will also be exhibited in venues across Canada, at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, and will be Canada’s official entries in the February 2013 international book design competition in Leipzig, Germany. Winners also receive a beautifully calligraphed award certificate which is presented at the Alcuin Award ceremonies.

This year’s Call for Entries can be found here, and the deadline for entry is March 10, 2012.

Good Luck!

Notes For Bibliophiles

Richard — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 12:19:46 +0000

The blog of the Providence Public Library which I came across a couple months ago, Notes For Bibliophiles has great regularly posts of new acquisitions and other interesting items from their collection, often with great pictures of pieces (particularly Americana) not often seen. A great example of a library making available and sharing it’s collection virtually with book lovers from around the world. Hopefully many more with continue to follow suit!