A journal of rediscovery
– While searching for a subject for Part 5 of Project Booklust, I thought I’d expand from the rare and antique bookselling market and look at independent booksellers at large. So I went big. The Book Barn in Niantic, Conn., is a sprawling megaplex of used books. The store fills
– We consume books for different reasons—escape, fulfillment, distraction, etc. Much like consumers, booksellers enter the trade for various reasons or passions. In doing Project Booklust, I’ve discovered this prominent trend in the rare book community. At the Boston Book Fair the level of demographic diversity of the attendees surprised
Continue readingProject Booklust Part Four: John Kehoe Books
– When I decided to attend the 2014 Boston Book Fair in November, I imagined the trip would be something of a capstone experience. I figured it would pull together the things I’d learned from my visits to the John Bale Book Co. and Johnnycake Books. I didn’t expect to
Continue readingProject Booklust Part Three: Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
– PY: What inspired you to submit to Poor Yorick? CS: A number of things attracted me to Poor Yorick: its mission “to remind us of pasts we cannot afford to forget;” that it is a joint effort between WCSU’s MFA program and history department; and that it has
– Imagine a life filled with drugs, alcohol, petty crimes, casual sex, and little fear of consequences. It would be a life akin to that lived by the narrator (sometimes named Fuckhead) of Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son (1992). That lifestyle has drawbacks, among them a memory like a bingo blower,
– It’s rare that you get a chance to bite into history, but the bialys at Kossar’s Bialys in New York City allow you to do just that. In a way each Jewish-flatbread that comes out of Kossar’s bialy oven (which has burned almost continuously for the past 60 years) is
– Not much tugs at the imagination more than objects, places, or living organisms with hybrid qualities. Author Rebecca Reynolds followed her muse to discover more about the history and mythology surrounding the plant aptly named: The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. In the following interview she elaborates on her own
– Rare booksellers have stories—things that seem to define them aside from the tales in the books they sell. For the John Bale Book Company in part one of the Project Booklust series it was how Abraham Lincoln’s hair found its way into the shop. In the case of Johnnycake
Continue readingProject Booklust Part Two: Johnnycake Books—Salisbury, Connecticut
– Inspired by the line “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him,” and the question, “Whose (skull) was it?”, I imagined that Yorick’s skeleton had a life of its own and a future. I even imagined him climbing out of his grave! My creative process usually starts with scanned objects and
Continue readingPeter Ciccariello talks about the inspiration behind his “Poor Yorick” images.
– Poor Yorick’s Brian Lance talked with Charles Bechtel—sculptor, writer, teacher—about assembling scenes from the reclaimed pieces of everyday life. PY: How did you discover Poor Yorick and what drove your decision to submit your work to us? CB: I discovered Poor Yorick through a Facebook friend whose post informed me of