A Batch of Tuneful Tomes: Books on Music

By Jim, June 21, 2011

As comedian Martin Mull once famously said, “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.” But hell, haven’t you ever come across a particularly inspired structure that moved you to shake a tailfeather or two? For the most part, Mull was quite correct – capturing the essence of music with the written word can be as daunting a prospect as painting a mural in the dark with a flashlight. But when it’s done well, great music writing simply stands out all the more. And besides, as someone who has spent most of his life mixing musical pursuits with the workings of the written word, there’s little that gets my own boat afloat more than those areas where the two combine.

With all of that in mind, here’s a batch of the best odes to music and the people who create it. They range all across the stylistic spectrum, so whether you get your kicks analyzing the inner workings of jazz, reveling in rock & roll esoterica, or kicking into a country mode, you’re sure to find something here to tickle your eardrums and bedazzle your brain cells.

The Mayor of MacDougal Street: A Memoir – Dave Van Ronk w/Elijah Wald

Dave Van Ronk was the king of Greenwich Village folk even before Bob Dylan hit the scene, and he was a mainstay of folk festivals around the world for decades after Dylan moved on. In this memoir, you get not only an account of Van Ronk’s historic life and times, but also a taste of classic New York counterculture history.

Listen To The Stories – Nat Hentoff

Nat Hentoff was one of the most respected writers at the Village Voice for decades, writing about everything from art to politics, but music has always been close to his heart. This collection features Hentoff’s insightful, funny, often opinionated essays on some of the greatest jazz and country artists ever to walk the planet, from Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington to Merle Haggard and Ralph Stanley.

The Velvet Underground: An Illustrated History of a Walk on the Wild Side – Jim DeRogatis

Edited by renowned rock critic Jim DeRogatis, this is the ultimate Velvet Underground experience, offering not only a series of informed, illuminating essays, but a bounty of rare photos, memorabilia images, and more detailed VU info than you ever expected to find between two covers.

The House That George Built – Wilfrid Sheed

If you think you know it all about the classic Tin Pan Alley composers who crafted the standards that make up the Great American Songbook, think again. Acclaimed writer Wilfrid Sheed offers new insights into the lives, motivations, and pioneering work of George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and other stellar songwriters.

The Beatles Anthology – The Beatles

Coming in at a hefty 6.6lbs, The Beatles Anthology is the ultimate tomb of Beatles pictures and quotes. Simultaneously a fantastic coffee table book and fascinating bedside reading, there is no denying that this book is for all generations of Beatles’ fans.

Decoded – Jay-Z

To call Decoded a “lyric book” would be like saying Jay-Z is just a rapper. Instead, Decoded is more a memoir told through lyrics. Filled with blunt, poetic descriptions of growing up in Brooklyn, Decoded chronicles a beginning of rough neighborhoods and vivid characters. Jay-Z proves that eloquent rap can flow into intelligent prose.

best books, book lists, fun

Fun with Antique Books

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By stevec, June 8, 2011

I recently found a really fun, antique book that I wanted to share with the Alibris Community. This was found at a fun blog called If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats.

The original caption is as follows, “A member of staff at Lyon & Turnbull auction house holds up a copy of the book “Golf in the Year 2000 or What We Are Coming To” before its auction in Edinburgh, January 19, 2005. In a book published in 1892 with uncanny echoes of 16th century French seer Nostradamus, golfer Jack McCullogh also predicted that women would start dressing like men and do all the work while their menfolk took to the golf courses full-time.”

For me, all the fun of this book is in the title itself: in 1892 someone wrote a book called “Golf in The Year 2000″, one hundred and eight years before the year 2000, yet now its already 2011. It’s as fun as a time machine.

Uncategorized

Cooking from the book: Hunger Games lamb stew with dried plums

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By naomi, May 10, 2011

One of the best parts of a well written book is a scene involving food. A talented author can turn words into a imaginary feast so vivid, you can almost taste the crusty, fresh baked bread or the juicy, wild strawberries picked from a nearby patch. More often than not, this leads to putting down the book and running to the kitchen to find something half as delicious as what you just read about.

In the Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins paints the most tantalizing descriptions of food through her heroine, Katniss. For those who haven’t read the book, Katniss lives in what was formerly the United States. The area is divided into 12 districts ruled by a political entity known as the Capitol. The Capitol is rich and flush with new technologies and resources that it takes from the districts while most of the districts are stricken by scarcity. The Capitol created the “Hunger Games”, an annual fight to the last man standing amongst two chosen children from each district, in order to instill fear and retain control over the districts. Katniss comes from one of the impoverished districts and is selected to participate in the Games.

Highlighted by the scarcity of resources and poverty of Katniss’s world, food takes on an identity of its own. Katniss vividly describes an assortment of foods from a creamy, homemade goat cheese made by her sister to an entire roast beef dinner, extravagantly laid out by the Capitol.

The real star of the novel however is the lamb stew with dried plums. Katniss first tastes this stew in the Capitol before she is sent into the Games:

The stew’s made of tender chunks of lamb and dried plums today. Perfect on the bed of wild rice.

Later, when Katniss is asked what her favorite part of the Capitol is, she blurts out, “The lamb stew.”

That’s gotta be some stew.

Enticed by the mere idea of this stew, I searched for a similar recipe.

Fresh vegetables, chunks of marbled lamb, and a couple of fragrant spices all simmered in a large pot for an hour or two and there you have it: a tureen of your very own lamb stew with dried plums. Savory and sweet with tender, melt-away lamb complemented by winey, slightly spiced prunes. Fuel for any battles and challenges you have to face. May the odds be ever in your favor!

Lamb Stew with Dried Prunes ala Hunger Games

Recipe adopted from Gourmet

1.5 lamb shoulder for stew

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 cups water

1 pinch saffron threads

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 large carrots, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup pitted prunes

1 medium yellow squash, cut into 3/4-inch pieces

2 teaspoons honey

Freshly grated nutmeg

Heat 1/2 tablespoon oil in a flameproof wide shallow casserole with a tight-fitting lid over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Brown meat on all sides in 2 batches, transferring to a plate as browned.

Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon oil to tagine and cook onion, stirring, until softened. Return meat to pot.

Stir in water, saffron, salt, and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, until lamb is tender, about 1 1/4 hours.

Transfer lamb to a clean plate.

Add carrots, then simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are barely tender, about 10 minutes.

Add ginger, cinnamon, prunes, and squash, then simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables and fruits are tender, about 5 minutes.

Return lamb to stew and add honey. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes.

Notes: While I added squash in my stew, I would recommend omitting the squash if you’re planning on recooking it the next day since it tends to get mushy. Like all stews, this one’s better the next day after all the flavors have had time to meld together. To reheat next day, simply skim off some of the fat and stick it on the stove over medium heat until the lamb has warmed through.

Uncategorized

Haikus from our fans on why they love books

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By Stephen, Steve, whatever, April 25, 2011

We had a haiku contest on our Facebook page for $50 off on books. The winner was the haiku who received the most votes from our Facebook fans. And out of 50+ entrants, that honor went to….

Winner!

Caitlin Gerdes (15 votes): The smell of the pages
The tales I get lost within
The shelter they give

Honorable mentions

Donna Bocian Currie (11 votes): ink on paper lasts
no plugs or cables needed
my books never crash

Jen Traeger (9 votes): Many worlds at hand:
Voices breathe between pages
Begging for release

Rebecca Walker (8 votes): Vast worlds to explore
Wonders untold wait for me
Escapes I live for.

Diana Curtis (8 votes): Your only flaw is
I cannot take a shower
with you in my hand.

Congrats, Caitlan! And thanks to everyone else for their votes and contributions! Check out the rest of the haikus at our contest page.

community

Tips on shipping books for new booksellers

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By Richard Weatherford, April 11, 2011

It is one of the most discouraging things that can happen. You have ordered a book for yourself or for a customer, but when it arrives it looks like it has spent some time under road grading machinery. Or, worse yet, the packaging has arrived, but the book has been lost on the way.

Before packing books for shipment, it is well to consider the journey your books will take to get to the customer. The US Post Office, UPS, FedEx, and other carriers handle millions of packages every day, and for all the mail and packages that come through large sorting facilities every day, they do a great job.

Over the years, booksellers have developed processes for shipping that they know will work:

1) Pre-Wrapping Check. Look for paper, cards, bookmarks, money, and anything else that is between the pages. These may be bulky and, when the book is wrapped, may loosen the hinges. Next, check the book for condition and make a note of problems on your shipping log, such as broken hinges, torn spines, damaged dust jackets, and marks or blemishes. If you need to file an insurance claim, you will need to have a record of the condition of the item before it was shipped.

2) First Wrapping. Wrap each book separately in plain paper. Some people use tissue paper, some plain, unprinted white or brown wrapping paper, and some use plain, unprinted plastic bags. Never use bags that have had any type of food or chemical in them. We are all in favor of recycling, but there has to be a limit.

3) Taping. Use plastic tape or masking tape (NOT a tape that requires water) to hold the book in the plain paper wrapping. The book should be wrapped securely in this plain paper, but not too tightly. A wrapping that is too tight will cause the corners to bend over and the hinges to weaken. And a wrapping that is too loose will cause the text block to become loose in the binding during shipping.

4) Padding. Next, wrap the book in some padding material. Use bubble wrap, foam wrap, several sheets of plain, unprinted newsprint, or some similar material. The purpose of this layer is to cushion the book against bumps and to put some distance between the book and the outside cardboard wrapping.

5) Cardboard & Boxes. A single book with proper padding may be wrapped in two or three layers of sturdy cardboard. To avoid damage, make sure there is plenty of cardboard (at least one or two inches) overlapping the ends of the book. The outer corners of the book are the most delicate parts and are susceptible to the most damage.

Note: Most booksellers will not ship books in “Jiffy” bags. They are, after all, merely a covering of paper over a very thin layer of recycled newspaper or thin bubble wrap.

A box is best for shipping multiple books, sets, larger and/or more valuable books. Be sure to select a box that is clean, dry, and sturdy. Damp stains weaken the structure of cardboard and may transfer stains to the book itself. Put plenty of padding in the box – top, bottom, and all sides and corners – so that the book(s) are securely suspended in the middle of the box. Many booksellers avoid using newsprint as padding because the inks transfer to your hands and may discolor bindings and dust jackets. When taping the box, be sure that every seam is covered and that you wrap the box entirely more than once around each way. Once the box is taped, shake it to see that the contents do not rattle around. If they do, open the box and put in more packaging. If the book is loose in the box, it may suffer some damage in shipment

6) Labeling. Be sure the address label is written in large, clear numbers & letters. Then cover the label with clear tape that extends at least one inch over all edges of the label.

beginners, bookselling

Best-selling children’s books – February 2011

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By Stephen, Steve, whatever, March 7, 2011

With so many folks asking for long-lost children’s book on our Alibris Facebook page, I thought I’d take a look at what’s selling today for children’s books, particularly children’s fairy tales.

What might be the long-lost children’s stories of 40 years from now that people will remember fondly (albeit vaguely.) “Anybody remember that book with all the animals sitting around a mitten in the snow? I loved that book!” Hopefully, they’ll still be looking for physical books!

So, take a look and see if there’s a book from the list below that you could read with (or to) your child and start creating those childhood memories today.

Best-selling children’s books: February 2011

trends

Which Facebook fan lives the farthest from Alibris?

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By Stephen, Steve, whatever, February 9, 2011

One of our Facebook posts asked where our most far-flung Facebook fans are. And we’ve had 42 replies so far. So, we started entering in everybody’s locales the best we could on Google Maps so you can get an idea of where our fans are. Thanks, FB fans!

View How far away from Alibris are you? in a larger map

Alibris, community, fun

Collecting modern first edition books

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By Alibris, February 4, 2011

(written for Alibris by Ken Lopez. Browse his store at Ken Lopez Books!)

As a bookseller, I get calls almost every day asking me about the value of some “old books” that the caller has, usually in Grandma’s house or a trunk in the caller’s attic. The presumption is that “old” equals “valuable” and books that date back into the 19th century are “old.” This presumption is almost always incorrect but what many people don’t realize is that there is a category of books that are not very old but can be worth a lot of money because, despite being relatively recent, they are quite rare and considered to be important cultural milestones.

“Modern first editions” is a term that is generally applied to books published in the 20th century that are rare enough and/or important enough (preferably both) to be collectible. Modern firsts is one of the most active areas of book collecting today for a number of reasons. Because the books are modern, they are often available in sufficient quantities, even as first editions, to be able to satisfy a large body of collectors. Also, the collectible modern firsts are often the books that are considered “classics” and this means that many people will have read them and loved them: that’s how they got to be “classics.” Sometimes, half-jokingly, modern firsts is described as the field in which “you collect what you read in high school,” and there’s some truth to that: getting onto high school reading lists, as Catcher in the Rye and To Kill a Mockingbird did a generation ago, is one step on the path toward a book becoming a part of the literary canon, and thus an integral part of our culture.

Modern firsts can be broken out into a handful of different sub-categories. There are the classic authors—Hemingway, Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Steinbeck—who mostly made their marks in the first half of the 20th century and whose continued popularity makes them the “blue chips” of the modern first edition world. There are those writers from the latter half of the century who established themselves as major literary figures, but whose works have not yet stood the test of time as much as their literary forebears’ works have. Norman Mailer, Philip Roth, Ken Kesey, Raymond Carver fall into this category. And there are the “hyper-modern” authors—who are not only still writing books but, in some cases, just beginning their careers. There is a speculative edge to the modern first editions market in which these writers’ works are actively sought and traded.

One reason that so many collectors start by collecting modern firsts is that, not only are the authors and books familiar, there is also a fairly low threshold for getting started as a collector: it’s possible to buy first editions by some of the most famous and collectible modern authors for a relatively small amount of money. There are still Faulkners and Steinbecks that one can find, in dust jacket, for $100 or less.

The most important thing to remember about collecting modern first editions is “condition, condition, condition.” Because many modern books are not inherently rare, what makes a copy collectible are qualities that make it at least somewhat rare, and in most cases, this is condition. There were 50,000 copies of The Grapes of Wrath printed and many of them still exist. But there are a relatively small number that retain their original dust jacket, and an even smaller number in which the jacket has been preserved in fine condition—this can make the difference between a $35 first edition (unjacketed, so-so condition) and a $7500 first edition (jacketed, book and jacket both in fine condition). With modern books, from 1920 on, collectible copies will have their dust jackets, preferably in very good condition or better.

Also, a rule of thumb in book collecting in general, and it holds true in modern first editions, is “earlier is better.” The first edition is (almost) always “better”—i.e., more valuable—than a second edition. With modern books, there are early copies—review copies, advance reading copies, proofs—that were actually printed and sent out to reviewers before the first edition, and these help make a book that might not be especially rare as a regular first edition more collectible.

If there’s any other “rule” that I advise collectors about, it is to follow your heart: if collecting books is primarily about buying low, selling high, and making money, there are probably other commodities in which the risks are smaller, the wholesale/retail differential is smaller, and there’s more money to be made. But there are other kinds of “profit” than just money, and one kind is the satisfaction of surrounding oneself with beautiful copies of books that have particular value to you—be they cultural milestones or just books that you loved when you were young, and which helped shape the path you took in life. This is a very real kind of profit, and is one that every book collector has the opportunity to make, by choosing books that are inherently meaningful and valuable to him- or herself.

(written for Alibris by Ken Lopez. Browse his store at Ken Lopez Books!)

book collectors, rare, out-of-print books

Identifying First Edition Books for Beginners

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By Alibris, January 25, 2011

One of the most confusing issues facing beginning collectors (and even experienced ones sometimes) is how to identify a first edition. Keep in mind that for every guideline I’m about to discuss, there is an exception. I will try to note those exceptions when possible.

First of all, many people ask me why the first edition is more collectible, and thus more expensive, than a later printing of the same book, especially when the later printing may actually be identical to the first except for the words “first edition” or the number “1″ in the number line (more on that later). If you’re not a collector or lover of books, you may not understand or appreciate the explanation, but the answer is really quite simple. The first edition is the most original—and usually the rarest—version of the book. Even if there are no differences between the first edition and subsequent printings, the first edition is still the original. Anything else is just a reprint. To the casual observer, this might seem like a minor distinction, but to a true book aficionado, it’s like the difference between an original work of art and a reproduction.

The first place to check when examining a book is on the inner flap of the front dust jacket. There you should find a price. If there is no price, chances are you are holding a book club edition. (These are reprints made by the Book-of-the-Month Club or some similar organization.) Book club editions are often stated as such on the bottom of the dust jacket flap, and are not considered collectible. Not all books without prices are book clubs: most university presses and many small publishing houses do not include prices on their dust jackets. If it is a major publishing house, such as Harper & Row or Simon & Schuster, and has no price, it is almost certainly a club reprint of some kind.

If the dust jacket does show a price, the next place to look is the copyright page. This would be found on the opposite side, or verso, of the title page. (If you don’t know what the title page is, may I recommend a book for you entitled ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter.) Once on the copyright page, the first step is to look for the words “first edition” or “first printing”, or look for what is known as the number line. This is a string of numbers, usually from one to ten, most often occupying the last line of text on the copyright page. Sometimes the string is printed with odd numbers on the left and even on the right (i.e. 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2), but it still serves the same purpose. IF THE NUMBER “1″ IS MISSING, THEN IT IS NOT A TRUE FIRST EDITION, even if it says first edition elsewhere on the page. THERE IS ONE MAJOR EXCEPTION TO THIS RULE, and that would be Random House (and all its subsidiaries, such as Villard and Turtle Bay). Random House publications will never print the number one in its number line on a first edition, and will always state “First Edition” (i.e. “First Edition 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9″ would be a first edition for Random House, but for any other publisher this would be a second printing.) Confused yet? And to make matters worse, some publishers use letters instead of numbers, with the “A” signifying a first edition.

Most publishers adopted the number-line system around 1982 for the sake of uniformity, but some still do not use it. For those that do not use it, or for those books published prior to 1982, you must learn their coding system. Often if the copyright page states nothing about printing history, it is a first edition. In other words, unless it states second or later printing, you can assume it’s a first edition. There are exceptions to this of course, like Doubleday, which must always state “First Edition.” The best and easiest way to learn the various publishers’ coding systems is to order the inexpensive reference guide entitled “Identification of First Editions” by Bill McBride. It’s a must for serious collectors. (No, I’m not getting kickbacks.)

If you’re looking at a book with no dust jacket, or with a price-clipped dust jacket (which means the price has been cut off, usually for gift purposes), here’s another way to determine if it’s a trade edition or a book club. Look at the back board of the book (take the jacket off if there is one). A book club edition will usually have a small geometric indentation (known as a blind stamp) on the bottom corner near the spine. In most cases it will be a square or a circle, but may be other shapes as well. The absence of such a mark does not guarantee that the book is not a book club, but the presence of such a mark definitely signifies a book club. It’s a great trick to know if other key determinants are unavailable.

Please remember that all of the above guidelines have been boiled down to their purest form for the sake of simplicity. There are exceptions that I have omitted due to space restrictions or complexity, or possibly because I am not aware of them myself. However, the foregoing should provide you with a good “jumping off” point. To recap in three simple steps:

1. Look for a price on the dust jacket

2. Check the copyright page

3. Buy an adequate reference guide

HAPPY COLLECTING!

(written for Alibris by Danny Kaye. Browse his store at David Kaye Books & Memorabilia.)

book collectors

Are international edition textbooks legal to buy?

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By Stephen, Steve, whatever, January 3, 2011

We get this question every now and then, and the answer is yes, yes, and yes. It is legal to buy international edition textbooks.

The textbook publishers aren’t thrilled about students spending a lot less on textbooks by paying prices that other countries pay for the same textbook. They would rather you get get gouged at the local textbooks store. They don’t want you buying used textbooks either (and hence new editions come out early and often despite the lack of advances in first-year Chemistry…) From the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance’s analysis on textbook pricing:

Between 1986 and 2004, textbook prices rose 186 percent in the United States, or slightly more than six percent per year (GAO, 2005). Meanwhile, other prices rose only about three percent per year (GAO, 2005).

Some international edition textbook publishers will put stickers or labels on the international edition textbooks that say something like “this book is only authorized to be sold in country X, Y, or Z”, but that is an issue between the publisher and the textbook seller. For you as the international edition textbook buyer, they are perfectly legal to buy. Time has a good summary on international edition textbooks that you can read for some background information.

As a biology and chemistry double major, Rodgers’ classmate, Asmitha Sathiyakumar, purchased more than 15 international textbooks during her four years of college. She says she has noticed a change in the way international books are sold online. The country of origin is now advertised instead of hidden, the way it was a few years ago. The listing usually includes a description of the book — soft or hard cover, printed in color or black-and-white — which helps her decide the best deal. She says that international book buying is still pretty rare on campus and that most students look at her paperback textbooks with distrust. “Some of the covers of the books say NOT FOR SALE IN THE U.S., which may turn some people off,” she says. “Also, there is always the fear that the international and American versions are going to be different.” But Sathiyakumar says that isn’t true; all of her books have been identical to their U.S. counterparts, right down to example problems and page numbers.

That was in 2008. I think international edition textbooks are much more common now. We try to make it very clear in the item description that a textbook is an international edition or not to let you make the choice of which type of textbook you want. If you want more information, check out our international edition textbook FAQ.

textbooks

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Alibris: Uncorrected Proofs

What's going on at Alibris and stuff we like

A Batch of Tuneful Tomes: Books on Music

Fun with Antique Books

Cooking from the book: Hunger Games lamb stew with dried plums

Haikus from our fans on why they love books

Tips on shipping books for new booksellers

Best-selling children’s books – February 2011

Best-selling children’s books: February 2011

Which Facebook fan lives the farthest from Alibris?

Collecting modern first edition books

Identifying First Edition Books for Beginners

Are international edition textbooks legal to buy?

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