Eureka Books Blog

McMurtry on Bookselling

Larry McMurtry will receive the Los Angeles Public Library Literary Award this week. In an interview posted online, he talks mostly about being a bookseller. "I just don’t think about my work at all. I think about being a bookseller. I don’t think about being a writer," he said.

Collecting Newspapers

A recent email from one of our readers who collects historic newspapers, lead me to a small cache of YouTube videos about two leading newspaper dealers, Timothy Hughes and the Mitchell Archive. Hughes is definitely the leading dealer in his field and has a great many newspapers in inventory. His business turns out to be a family affair that has taken over what used to be his father's machine shop. This video shows it to be ephemera dealing on fork-lift and heavy-lift scale.

The Mitchell Archive video is a nice presentation about collecting newspapers. Mark Mitchell specializes more in highspots:

More videos are also available:

 

Timothy Hughes on Newspaper Collecting

About Mark Mitchell

Behind the Scenes at the Mitchell Archives

Guy Heilenman, President of Timothy Hughes Rare Newspapers

More Hughes Videos on Their YouTube Channel

 

The Most Illustrated Bible

This from "Bible Editions & Versions," the Journal of the International Society of Bible Collectors (April - June 2008):

"The Brick Testament. Constructed and photographed entirely by the Rev. Brendan Powell Smith. The largest, most comprehensive illustrated Bible in the world, with over 3,600 illustrations (the scenes are made from Lego blocks) that retell more than 300 stories from the Bible. First launched as a website in 2001, then as a published book series in 2003."

I love how deadpan the description is. The "Reverend" Smith is hardly reverent. He is, however, obsessive, and pretty good with Legos.

Image of Noah's Ark.