"Letters About Literature" winners write well beyond their years
Washington winners LettersAboutLiterature_MAY2010_153 low res.JPG
Sixth grader Reagan Nelson wrote a letter to Laura Ingalls Wilder about almost dying when her house burned down, which happened before she almost got killed in a car wreck. She told the Little House on the Prairie author that she has found a way, as Wilder did, to look at such events as a blessing. Middle Schooler Stephen Hitchcock, meanwhile, wrote to Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea author Jules Verne about his effort to understand and forgive bullies who pick on him.

I read the letters and thought I may soon be put out of a job by people who haven't even gotten a pimple yet. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress read them and determined the Washington state students should win awards in the annual "Letters About Literature" contest that encourages young people to write letters to authors past or present. It promptly named Nelson as a national winner and Hitchcock as worthy of national honor. For her effort, Nelson earned a $500 gift certificate from Target, while the library of her choice will receive a $10,000 grant from the company.

If you read the letters from Nelson or Hitchcock, though, you'll quickly see they didn't write the letters because they wanted to make money. They wrote because they had important things to say. 


"Their maturity level is amazing," says Center for the Book spokesman Guy Lamolinara. "Their thoughts about what they're reading are deep and eloquent, and they did a wonderful job of sharing with the authors how their novels affected them."

Center for the Book founder and director John Y. Cole sees that connection as one of the great gifts that literature provides young readers.

"They write to the authors as a way of writing about their problems," Cole says. "That's how they relate to these books."

I, in turn, can well relate to the 70,000 students who participated in this contest. Just last year, I made my first trip to Concord, Massachusetts to visit Thoreau's cabin and his grave site. I wrote Thoreau a letter to thank him for the enormous impact he has made on my life.

I can't quite imagine how my life would have turned out with his guidance. One thing is for certain: Thoreau, especially in my early years, was someone with whom I could share my struggles and my dreams even when I wasn't comfortable talking to other people about them. Thoreau also challenged me to read at a higher level and to think more deeply about my life and the world around me.

I suspect that's exactly what the Center for the Book has in mind.

Coming Soon: A look at other "Letters" winners




Center for the Book, Letters About Literature, Library of Congress, Henry David Thoreau, Thoreau's cabin
Horatio Alger Society
The Horatio Alger Society is a group of collectors committed not only to gathering the books and preserving the legacy of a single author, but also to channeling their passion into worthwhile scholarship. Established in 1961, the affable group had its annual meeting this past weekend in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, hosted by long-time member Arthur Young, and his wife Pat. Young recently retired as the dean of libraries at Northern Illinois University, and is now living in the Granite State.

The busy program included presentations from three members, an auction, a book sale, a reception at the Young home, and a farewell dinner, where a thousand dollar "Strive and Succeed" scholarship was presented to a worthy recipient. I gave the keynote address, my third presentation to the H.A.S. over the past fifteen years, a personal record for me with one group. I was pleasantly surprised by the gift of a lovely plaque noting this milestone, and wish to express my gratitude in this space to the membership.

Single-author societies, as I wrote in Among the Gently Mad, are quite the phenomenon among book collectors, with one of the better known groups being the Baker Street Irregulars, whose passion for everything Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes knows no bounds. There are many confederations of collectors brought together by the pursuit of one writer's works, and collectors just getting started should be alert to their existence. Another that comes immediately to mind is the Thomas Wolfe Society, whose annual meeting I had the pleasure of addressing a few years back,

The Horatio Alger oeuvre is considerable--119 published books, according to Young--a number of the titles so scarce that no single individual, so far as anyone knows, has a complete collection. Art Young has 112, about as many as anyone else.

The H.A.S, I have to say, is a really squared-away group that does much more than pursue elusive titles. In recent years, the focus has expanded beyond Alger to include collectors and enthusiasts of all juvenile literature, including boys' and girls' series books, pulps, and dime novels. Next year they will celebrate their 50th anniversary. Check out their web site, linked above.
Horatio Alger Society, single author, Baker Street Irregulars, Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, Thomas Wolfe Society
Canadian Maps Under Water
Forwarded to you from our Fine Maps columnist, Jeffrey Murray, is an article in the Vancouver Sun about a minor disaster involving thousands of photos, slides, documents, books, and flooding in Revelstoke. From the article:

Dismayed Parks Canada staff arrived at work early Tuesday morning to find the 6,000-square-foot basement of their leased office space under two metres (seven feet) of water. The flood badly damaged the parks' huge archival inventory documenting the cultural and natural history of the area to the early 1900s.

"It was underwater," DiGiandomenico said. ...


archives, fine maps, jeffrey murray, paper conservation, parks canada, vancouver sun, water damage
Lambeth Palace Exhibit
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For those of you who happen to be in London this summer, a major exhibit awaits at Lambeth Palace Library. "Treasures of Lambeth Palace Library" opened today as part of the library's 400th anniversary celebration. According to the press materials, it is one of the earliest public libraries in England. Highlights of the exhibition include the warrant for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, Irish illuminated manuscripts from the ninth century, and several royalty-owned manuscripts and early printed books. Scala Publishers has issued a companion book for those of us who won't make it to the exhibit, running through July 23.
London library, early printed books, exhibit, illuminated manuscripts, lambeth palace library, mary queen of scots, scala publishers
Another Look at the NY Book Fair
At this year's New York Antiquarian Book Fair, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow journalist and bibliophile Pradeep Sebastian. He writes a column called Shelf Life in Businessworld magazine (based in India). Here's his refreshing take on the fair--meeting Nick Basbanes, catching sight of the Kelmscott Chaucer, and experiencing the joy and wonder of the NYABF. 
antiquarian book fair, kelmscott chaucer, new york, nicholas basbanes, pradeep sebastian, rare books
Excuse me, but my appendices seem to be missing....
Libraries and bookshops have always been great places for people watching.  

What's that guy with the pink mohawk doing with a copy of Finnegan's Wake?

I sometimes wander about such places trying to spot the readers or book buyers who are likely to be academics. You've probably spotted a few of them yourself--they're the ones who keep opening books from the back rather than the front.

Academics often judge books by their scholarly apparatus--i.e., all those things which help a reader verify the accuracy and currency of an author's work: endnotes or footnotes; a bibliography; an index; an appendix for matters that may require more detailed discussion (but would otherwise interrupt the narrative of the main text).  This apparatus traditionally has been included at the back of English-language books.

It's harder to spot academic readers than it used to be, because a lot of publishers have ceased publishing the scholarly apparatus as an integral part of the book. Nowadays, the indices, appendices, bibliographies, etc., are just as likely to be included on a CD-ROM in a pocket inside the book, or made available via a website.

This poses some interesting questions.  If scholars add such books to their private libraries, what happens when they no longer are able to access the CD-ROMs due to changes in technology?  What if the websites containing such apparatus blink out of existence?  

Using the indices might become a bit problematical.  Ditto the bibliographies. Ditto the appendices.

It would be a pretty piece of irony if future scholars find books published decades ago, in which the scholarly apparatus was an integral part of the book, more useful than today's hybrids....
book collecting, book collector, book history, books, home library, private library
FB&C Writer Wins Award
We wanted to share the exciting news that one of our writers, Ellen Firsching Brown, has been awarded two honors for work published in Fine Books. Virginia Press Women awarded Brown first place in its Web/News Article category for her piece Swann Song: A Last Hurrah for the Ritter Collection of Art Books from our June 2009 digital edition. She was also given a third place prize in the Web/Feature category for her interview with collector Peter Strauss from February 2009. As a first-place winner, Brown will now advance to the National Federation of Press Women contest.

Ellen is currently working on her first book, Margaret Mitchell's Gone With the Wind: A Bestseller's Odyssey from Atlanta to Hollywood, which will be published by Taylor Trade in 2011. Congratulations, Ellen, and good luck!
art books, ellen firsching brown, gone with the wind, margaret mitchell, national federation of press women, peter strauss, ritter collection, virginia press women, writers award
An alternative list of the Top 20 Sites for Book Collectors:
book blogs, bibliomania, book sites, bookish, reference
Morgan Library Renovation (Again)
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It seems like the Morgan just re-opened after its extensive face-lift. And now here's a story in today's New York Times about the Morgan's upcoming $4.5 million restoration of the McKim portion of the building, which houses Morgan's original library, pictured here, and office. As one who loved the 'old' Morgan's fustiness, I'm wary of more restoration. At least the director says it will be a "noninvasive restoration."
Morgan Library, mcKim building, new york times, restoration
Collecting Telephone Books
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A few days ago it was reported in the New York Times that Verizon has asked regulators if they can mail hard copies of the White Pages in New York and New Jersey only to those who 'opt in.' Likening the printed directory to a "rotary-dialed phone," the NYT reports that the White Pages are viewed as obsolete in the digital age. (Paul Collins took up this topic in Slate in 2008, and his recent blog post alerted me to this interesting new development.)

Of course, what becomes rare or obsolete also becomes collectible. Gwillim Law's website Old Telephone Books is a treasure trove of information about antique phone directories. How does he feel about the Verizon news? "It would probably be good for sales of old telephone books if directories went all-electronic. That would boost the interest of the numerous people with telephone nostalgia. When people realize that something is not going to be around much longer, some of them develop an interest in holding on to it," he wrote by email.

Law also pointed out that the regulators may reject the petition, as they did in North Carolina (where Law resides). It has passed in several other states.
antique telephone books, gwillim law, new york times, paul collins, telephone book, telephone directory, verizon, white pages