I’ve posted photos of some of my bookshelves online at http://www.robincamille.com/bookshelves/. I love looking at other people’s books. Maybe you do, too. You may also be interested in the annotated bibliography of my award-winning dictionary and abecedary collection at http://www.robincamille.com/dictionaries/.
books
Project: Grandma’s letters
In cleaning my grandmother’s garage, my relatives found a cardboard box filled with love letters she wrote to my grandfather during their courtship and early days of their marriage (c. 1943-1950). He lovingly saved them all, numbered them in a certain order in his beautiful calligraphic numbers, and tied them into bundles. Often, she was [...]
Books I read in 2010
I read 21 books in 2010, considerably fewer than in 2009. For bibliophiles and the casual snoop, here they are, in reverse of the order in which they were read. Those I recommend are emboldened. The Pursuit Of Love — Nancy Mitford [a favorite] House Of Sugar — Rebecca Kraatz [beautiful] A Gate At The [...]
The future of marginalia
The NYT clearly has eyes only for the Newberry The New York Times published an article on Monday entitled “Book Lovers Fear Dim Future for Notes in the Margins.” I got really excited about it, especially since G. Thomas Tanselle and Heather Jackson were quoted. But it turned out to be more of a list [...]
Description of a London printing office in 1834
The ceilings are black as printers’ ink with the candle-smoke of two or three generations, and the walls, save where they were polished to a greasy brown by the friction of the shoulder, were of the same color. The wind and the rain were patched out from the clattering casements and the rotting window-frames by [...]
