City Bookstores, Going and Coming

Allow me to stray from libraryland for a moment and share some news about NYC bookstores.

Morningside Bookshop will be closing its doors at the end of the week. The owner, Peter Soter, owes his landlord (Columbia University) $158,000 in back rent for the store's space on 114th and Broadway. If you know anything about the book biz, you probably realize how impossibly difficult it is to sustain an independent bookstore in this (or any) city, much less turn a profit.

I've done the majority of my book-buying at Morningside's neighborhood indie competitor, Book Culture (née Labyrinth). I admit that without guilt: Book Culture is a great bookstore with a strong academic bent. I suspect that in the battle for customer dollars, Morningside Bookshop has been doomed for some time. Book Culture maintains a significantly larger selection of titles and has direct ties to Columbia's students and faculty. At 112th and Broadway, the incomparable Bank Street Bookstore stocks everything parents and under-aged bibliophiles desire. And then there's the Columbia University Bookstore — ahem, Barnes & Noble — that sits directly across the street from Morningside Bookshop. In short, I'm surprised it lasted this long.

Over in Fort Greene, a couple of entrepreneurial book-lovers are hoping their neighborhood will embrace Greenlight Bookstore when it opens this fall. Will it work? According to this NY Times article from last September, the community is clamouring for a local independent bookstore.

Finally, here's a "bookstore" that has no chance of failing: the Carturesti Book Exhibition transplants the look and feel of Bucharest's Carturesti bookstore to the Romanian Cultural Institute, New York. Enjoy the literary atmosphere with no sales pressure!

Cuban Field Trips/Viajes Cubanos, Week of May 18

Librarian-friendly activities are somewhat wanting this week, but if you have an interest in Cuban art...goldmine! "Cuban Artists' Books and Prints / Libros y Grabados de Artistas Cubanos 1985-2009," an exhibition organized by Wake Forest University and the Grolier Club, opens on Wednesday with accompanying events at the Club and the Museum of Modern Art. It includes 120 books and projects in various media, created under the auspices of Ediciones Vigía, a collaborative artists' press.

From the Grolier Club's description, one might conclude that much of the art is minimally (or only slyly) subversive, that these state-educated artists have endured Castro's "gaunt and threadbare state" experiencing a minimum of cruelty and repression. From the Wake Forest press release:

In 2007, [curator Linda S.] Howe initiated an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship project to create an exhibition that would bring national and international attention to these artists and their work. “These artists have survived cultural politics, difficult living conditions and resource shortages that limited their access to the most basic materials, like paper,” she said, “but the project is not about politics. It’s about living our university motto, ‘Pro Humanitate’—for the good of humanity.”

But how does one think about/discuss/engage with Cuba sans politics? Learn more, live:

• May 20: "Cuban Artists' Books" panel discussion and symposia at MoMA.
• May 21: Free lecture by exhibition curator Linda S. Howe at the Grolier Club.
  

On Exhibit: Surrealist Literary Gems at MoMA

Back in 1936, The Museum of Modern Art Library acquired nearly 700 items belonging to the Surrealist poet Paul Éluard and Camille Dausse, a Parisian doctor and friend of the movement. Many of their rare books, magazines, pamphlets, and other ephemera are currently on display in "How to Make a Modern Art Library: Selections from the Éluard-Dausse Collection." Now through June 22.

[Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes, Georges Bataille, Robert Desnos, Georges Limbour, J.-A. Boiffard, et al. Un cadavre. Paris, January 15, 1930. Photomontage by Jacques-André Boiffard. Image via MoMA.]

To Boldly Go: Field Trips, Week of May 11, 2009

For those of us at work in academia, the semester is winding down. Summer's quiet promise lies just ahead, with more time for special projects and municipal expeditions. Explore these strange (or familiar) worlds:

• May 11-13: METRO activities are about to slow down for the season as well, but not before presenting these workshops on communication, collaboration, and digitization.
• May 13-14: Library tours are absolutely de rigeur. On Wednesday, join the Desk Set for a peak into NYU's Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. Thursday brings a pecuniary double-header with ACRL/NY's tours of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the American Numismatic Society.
• May 13: The Tribeca Performing Arts Center hosts a panel discussion, "Rare Editions: The Book as Art," in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name at Lehman College.
• May 14, 16: Support Brooklyn Public Library times two. Proceeds from Brooklyn Vanguard's Party with a Purpose will help replenish the Clinton Hill branch's dwindling coffers, while books donated at Saturday's Great American Book Drive will benefit the entire system.
  

On Exhibit: Roosevelt, Edith Kermit Carow, 1861-1948--Correspondence

First Lady Edith Kermit Roosevelt, wife of Teddy, was a dear friend and frequent correspondent of Marion King, librarian at the New York Society Library. Their letters are on display from now through the end of the year as part of NYSL's exhibition, "The President's Wife and the Librarian." (Paper Cuts is going.) If you're a first lady aficionado, you'll be pleased to learn that Mrs. Roosesvelt's biographer, Silvia Jukes Morris, will give a lecture on April 30.

On Exhibit: When Less is More

Nearly every library has some kind of exhibition space, though I've rarely—maybe never—written about any taking place outside the big-money institutions. The following two special exhibits are somewhat off the beaten track, though no less intriguing for their obscurity.

Re: Rebus at Queens College's Rosenthal Library: "In approaching rebuses as a means of communicating with other visually-curious people Re: Rebus is curator Tara Mathison's response to [Vik] Muniz's MoMA Rebus, using the permanent special collection of the Queens College Art Library. All of the books featured in the exhibit will be available for personal viewing after the exhibit comes down."

Handmade/Homemade at the Mortola Library, Pace University, Pleasantville: "This mini-exhibition includes handmade, homemade and letterpress chapbooks, one-of-a-kind editions and broadsides." Sadly, the opening night reading is taking place as I write this post.

Long Live NY Libraries, Long Live the King & Other Tales

In lieu of a weekly activities update (offerings are slim, but do check the calendar), allow me to present a smattering of noteworthy news items:

This year's Library Lobby Day is especially significant as we face an 18% decrease in state Library Aid funding. At a time when public library use is skyrocketing, our patrons can't afford cuts that limit their access to library services. So hop Metro-North to Albany this Tuesday morning and join NYLA in support of New York's libraries.

Celebrate the 500th anniversary of that lovable rapscallion Henry VIII's accession to the throne with VIVAT REX! at the Grolier Club. " 'VIVAT REX!' takes its title from the Latin version of the familiar English phrase 'Long live the King!,' which appears in a woodblock print in the first sanctioned English Bible (1539). This work is among the 140 items that shed light on Henry VIII as man and monarch—his education, character, and unrelenting attempts to father a male heir." This exhibition—created in partnership with the Folger Shakespeare Library, Harvard's Houghton Library, and the Morgan Library—is accompanied by three lectures.

Starting in Fall 2009, Pratt Institute will offer a dual-degree program in Digital Arts and Information (the acronym-tastic MSLIS and MFA in DA).

NYU has begun their renovation of a portion of Bobst Library Lower Level 1 formerly occupied by technical services staff (see this previous post for commentary on the move). As a former NYU employee, I'm particularly thrilled to hear that the high school horror-fest restrooms are slated for upgrade.

Gothamist interviewed NYPL's "Librarian to the Stars," David Smith.

On Exhibit: Reading Room

Artist Elizabeth Felicella, armed with a large format camera and a $10,000 grant from the Graham Foundation, has embarked on an ambitious journey to photograph each of the city's 189 branch libraries. The first fruits of this endeavor (branches 1-25) are on display at Art in General's Project Space through Saturday, March 7.

The black and white photographs, printed as cards, are cross-referenced in a series of cases and presented with replicas of standard-issue library furniture, bringing to mind Melvil Dewey’s systems of organization. Reading Room functions as a survey of public architecture and design as it relates to reading technology and innovations—but it is also a record of the photographer’s own process of browsing.

Art in General will keep the lights on until 9 pm this Thursday in celebration of Armory Arts Week's SoHo Night.

On Exhibit: $40 Million-Worth of Incomparable Hebrew Rarities

Sotheby's is handling the sale of the Valmadonna Trust Library, the collection of an elderly former diamond merchant, Jack V. Lunzer. This extraordinary private library of 13,000 Hebrew books and manuscripts is on display now through Thursday, the 19th. From the Sotheby's brochure:

The treasures of the Valmadonna Trust cannot be briefly summarized, but they include copies of almost half of all extant Hebrew incunables; the incomparable twelfth-century English manuscript Pentateuch; arguably the finest copy in the world of Daniel Bomberg's edition of the Babylonian Talmud; and scores of incredibly rare and even unique sixteenth-century imprints, many being luxury examples printed on vellum or colored paper.

I'm flabbergasted to learn that such a deep, comprehensive, and impossibly rare collection was assembled by a private individual. Again, according to Sotheby's, only the British Library, the Bibliothèque nationale, the Bodleian Library, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and the National Library of Israel have "rival" Hebraica collections. Are there any deep-pocketed institutions out there willing to pay $40 million for this prize?

On Exhibit: Edward FitzGerald & the Rubaiyat

Through March 13, the Grolier Club's second floor gallery space is showcasing Edward FitzGerald (1809-1883) & the Rubaiyat (1859): A Double Anniversary from the collection of Nicholas B. Scheetz.

All about the Book: Field Trips, Week of Jan. 12, 2009

With the holidays in our rearview, library-related events are back in force. Some highlights:

• Jan. 15: Center for Book Arts hosts a free opening reception for its three winter exhibitions: Artists Books as (Sub)Culture; Jacqueline Rush Lee: INTROspective; and Zahra Partovi A Poet Speaks.
• Jan. 16: Nylink presents a moderated discussion of OCLC's recent policy changes. You know, that brouhaha about who can use Worldcat records. No? Better brush up: the policy itself; code4lib's bibliography wiki of commentaries on the subject.
• Jan. 16-17: Bibliography week kicks off a little early this year with Books at the 25th Street Armory, the antiquarian book fair featuring rare, collectable and first edition books, autographs, ephemera and rare paper.
  

Tis the Season...

...of frantic students, scaled-down holiday parties, and snow! There will be few library-related events to report on until January, so you won't see any "week of" posts until then. If your library is lacking in holiday cheer -- or if you're just plain in the mood to meet some friendly folks over a beer -- head to the Librarians without Boundaries happy hour this Thursday at Slainte. And if you're looking for a little biblio-activity to fill the time, check out Shelf Life: Works in Brass by Christopher Hewat at the New York Society Library. The book-as-object never shined so bright!

On Exhibit: Happy 125th to the Grolier Club!

'For Jean Grolier & His Friends': 125 Years of Grolier Club Exhibitions & Publications, 1884-2009 has just opened at the venerable East Side institution. It runs through Feb. 14, 2009 and admission is free. From the Club's press release:

'For Jean Grolier & His Friends' is much more than a piece of Grolier Club history, it is a survey covering 125 years of American trends in the book arts, as well as the steady growth of interest by Americans in political, literary and art historical topics, as embodied either in Grolier Club publications, or Grolier Club exhibitions. The show will be accompanied by a monumental 500-page illustrated history and comprehensive checklist of over 1000 Grolier Club exhibitions and publications produced since 1884.

On Exhibit: Bookbindings at the Morgan Library & Museum

Holy goatskin appliqué! Protecting the Word: Bookbindings at the Morgan opens today and runs through March 29. The exhibition includes a superb selection of bound treasures dating from the 7th through 20th centuries. Be sure to check out the full panoply of exhibitions currently on display at the Morgan before you go and plan accordingly; you might be there a while.

Update on "Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano"

From the NY Times: "Can the cost of the book be justified? 'Such a beautiful book has relevance in a time of economic hardship,' said Ms. Ferrari, a businesswoman who is not related to the automobile family." Hmm...so the recession does have a silver lining!

NYPL's copy is a donation and will migrate to the Rare Books Division after the one week viewing opportunity ends.

On Exhibit: An Italian Curiosity at NYPL

One week only! "Michelangelo: La Dotta Mano", a 62-pound marvel—hand-carved marble cover, silk velvet lining, 100,000 euro price tag—will be on display at the NYPL Humanities & Social Sciences Library from Tuesday, December 2nd through Monday, December 8th. (Strangely, there are no details available on the NYPL website.) For a preview, the NY Times published a slideshow back in May.