Eureka Books Blog

New Store Slogan?

This is an ad for the restaurant and bar that used to occupy our building. I found this in a 1920 promotional brochure for Eureka. I'm thinking we should revive the Louvre slogan: Pretty girls! Jazzy music! Good books! That's us! Eureka Books * 426 Second Street, Eureka Cal.

Found in a Book

A newspaper clipping claiming to be "Bret Harte's First Poem, which was Written for, and Published in, the Humboldt Times," from July 25, 1857 (this clipping is a reprint from about 1905):

'Tis a town that is one of your queer kind of places

So noted for lumber and beautiful faces

There are dry goods and billiards, and shops where you victual

and every convenience—nor is it so little;

But once 'twas quite lost to the country around it,

And they called it "Eureka" to show that they found it.

(The rest of the poem is a rather forced rhyme about a drinking man and his bubbling attempts at wooing a young woman. I'll spare you, you've suffered enough already.)

Bookstore Cat in the House

Local children's book author Mary Nethery is here signing her lastest book, Nini, accompanied by O'Ryan, a very tame cat brought by the Sequoia Humane Society. That's the latest from Eureka Books during Arts Alive.

Just In: Collection of Watercolor Instruction Books

We just acquired an 80+ book collection of watercolor instruction books. These are virtually like new and most retail from $25 to $30. We've priced them from $10 - $15.

Local Book Artist Retrospective

 

The late great Shereen LaPlantz, a multi-talented artist who specialized in the book arts (and weaving and jewelry-making) is having a retrospective show at the University of Puget Sound, through March 12. 

See some of her work from the exhibit here.

Thanks to the North Redwoods Book Arts Guild (NORBAG) blog. LaPlantz was a founding member of the group.

Pulp Mill Art Show Opens Tomorrow

If you're out and about for Arts Alive on Saturday evening, drop in to see our show of paintings and photographs of the pulp mill. The mill is one of the industrial landmarks of Humboldt County, sitting on the bay on the Samoa peninsula, right across from Eureka. For many decades, the pulp mill emitted rather foul smelling sulfurous smoke from its towering smokestack. Environmental upgrades reduced the odor and a slack market for pulp that has kept the plant offline most of the time lately, greatly improved the air quality in town.

But for all its faults, the mill employed quite a few people and most landscape artists in Humboldt County painted or photographed it at one point. Since the mill manufactured the raw ingredients for paper, we asked Ellen Golla, past president of the North Redwoods Book Arts Guild (website and blog), to demonstrate papermaking with dried pulp. It should be a fun evening.

(Image courtesy of Brandon Truscott)

Print Sale Underway

We need space so we're having a massive, epic print sale. Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole, but we have three dozen prints, mostly framed, that are as much as 90% off their marked prices. The oldest ones are from the 1700s. As these sell, we'll put more out, so stop in from time to time.

Great Set Countdown III

We have another Great Set Countdown going - this time we're offering the Britannica Great Books of the Western World set - all 54 volumes of knowledge, from Aristotle to Darwin. The way this works is that the price drops $5 per day until it's free. This set started at $140 on February 1 and on March 1 it will be free. Right now, it's just $95 (which is about half of what they go for on eBay). Tomorrow it will be $90, unless someone snaps it up before we close today. If you've wanted this set, don't wait too long! Sold on February 19 for $50!

Trinidad in the Times-Standard

A nice write up in the T-S today about Dione Armand's new book, Trinidad. She'll be at Eureka Books on Saturday, February 6, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. signing books and talking to folks about Trinidad history.

Eureka Books Highlights

Jack and Scott left today for San Francisco, where Eureka Books will have its first-ever booth at an antiquarian book fair, in this case, the San Francisco Antiquarian Book, Print, and Paper Fair, held at the Concourse on Saturday and Sunday. We put together a list of some of our best material, and you can download a copy from our website.