Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, has put together a heady mix of history, philosophy, anecdotes and entertaining factsWhat most people know about the American librarian Melvil Dewey is his phenomenal classification technique, the Dewey decimal system, which is still used in 135 countries. Less well known is how he liked to classify people, too. In a chapter entitled “Dubious Dewey”, Martin Latham describes how the great librarian created groups from A to D, banning all in the D group – Jews, African-Americans, Cubans and the “new rich” – from his Lake Placid resort. He was also a prolific groper of women. Latham speculates that Dewey’s hypocrisy, and his “obsessively domineering persona”, were what caused his lifelong constipation and piles.This is a book that is down on banning, rigidity, abuse of power and all kinds of snobbery, bookish and otherwise. It celebrates stories, scribbling in margins and the collecting, cherishing and even kissing of books – something done with surprising frequency, apparently. Latham, a bookseller for 35 years, currently runs Waterstones Canterbury, where he proudly filed the biggest petty cash claim in the chain’s history to pay for the excavation of a Roman bath house under its floor. But this is not one of those funny “anecdotes from a bookshop” books that have recently been popular – though anecdotes there are aplenty. It is rather a history and celebration of all things bookish, from Alexander the Great’s unusual habit of reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2020-12-19 09:00:45 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 07/07/2011 - 15:47 read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 16:25 The Legal Services Commission, which handles legal aid, has been accused of "cynically changing the rules" by ignoring the decision of its own appeals panel that library campaigners pursuing judicial review claims should not... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Wed, 06/07/2011 - 08:02 A court hearing to decide whether permission will be given for a judicial review to proceed against Gloucestershire library cuts is to take place in Birmingham tomorrow (Thursday 7th July). If allowed to proceed, the judicial... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 08:49 The Oldie magazine team is launching a new literary festival, based in London's Soho, with authors including Man Booker-winner Howard Jacobson and Michael Morpurgo set to appear. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page Publication Date: Tue, 05/07/2011 - 14:43 Bloomsbury fiction editorial director Helen Garnons-Williams has bought world rights in a wildly original, devastating and funny debut novel, The Gamal by Ciarán Collins. The tale is narrated by Charlie, the gamal -... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-07-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Thu, 30/06/2011 - 09:30 CNN reports that Amazon and Barnes & Noble are remaining tight-lipped on the eve of new app rules being introduced by Apple. Today, 30th June, is the deadline for app makers to get in compliance with Apple's strict new... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 22/06/2011 - 09:13 HarperPress has bought a book by the mayor of London about the people who made the United Kingdom's capital city what it is today. Publishing director Susan Watt bought British Commonwealth rights to Johnson's Life of London:... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Neill Denny Publication Date: Fri, 17/06/2011 - 08:18 We Love This Book, The Bookseller's sister consumer magazine and website, launches next week with a circulation of 100,000. The free quarterly magazine is designed to alert readers to exciting new books and to provide a platform... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Thu, 09/06/2011 - 10:05 Literary agent Peter Cox has offered to review "any" contract given to an author by an agent for free in order to ensure that the author has "impartial advice". The move is a response to agents setting up their own publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-06-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
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More closures of Borders and Angus & Robertson book stores loom after the administrator told staff negotiations with creditors had ended. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-05-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Charlotte Williams, Lisa Campbell and Graeme Neill Publication Date: Fri, 27/05/2011 - 08:47 Waterstone's booksellers are relieved over the chain's acquisition by Alexander Mamut, with one saying: "The staff will be behind [new managing director James Daunt] 100%." Fears remained,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 25/05/2011 - 08:45 Edmund de Waal, Maggie OFarrell and Tony Parsons are among the authors lined up to take part in Independent Booksellers Week. The week of events, in association with the Booksellers Association, will take place between... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 23/05/2011 - 09:40 The takeover of Waterstone's by Alexander Mamut is cause for celebration among the publishing industry, Faber c.e.o. Stephen Page has said. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 19/05/2011 - 12:19 Readers are being called to cast their vote for the Independent Booksellers Book Prize winner, after the shortlist was announced today. The annual award, which recognises works of fiction for adults and children, asks members... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Wed, 18/05/2011 - 09:55 Publishers appear to have got a reprieve in the Hargreaves Review into intellectual property with it recommending against imposing an American style 'Fair Use' defence for copyright exceptions. The report also suggested the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Barbara Casassus Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 08:18 French culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand yesterday (16th May) called for publishers to increase booksellers' pay for their qualitiative work and for new measures to help shore up the sector, the French trade weekly... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 17/05/2011 - 09:00 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 22:30 Quercus has been crowned 2011's best publisher at The Bookseller Industry Awards, as Sainsbury's scooped the Bookseller of the Year award. Quercus was presented with the Bonnier Publisher of the Year Award at the black-tie... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 16/05/2011 - 15:30 Booksellers need to be treated as a crucial partner in the process of promoting books through the media or risk looking "irrelevant", the Book Industry Conference (BIC) has been told. Waterstone's bookseller Cathy Rentzenbrink... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-16 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Wed, 04/05/2011 - 09:15 Somerset and Gloucestershire county councils have been landed with a judicial review in the High Court over their plans to close over 20 libraries. Somerset County Council plans to withdraw funding for 11 libraries while... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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