Book-return machines in libraries in England are spitting out poem-receipts. Electric Lit has lots of terrific examples. Thanks, Kathy Randall and AARP Magazine!
poems by library machines
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Richard Brautigan Library Project
The Richard Brautigan Library Project from Andy Knowlton on Vimeo.
Artist Andy Knowlton has written and designed covers for 23 books in the imaginary library described in Richard Brautigan’s novel The Abortion: An Historical Romance. In the novel, the narrator looks after a library full of “unwanted” books donated by their authors, including:
My Trike by Chuck
Leather Clothes and the History of Man by S.M. Justice
Love Always Beautiful by Charles Green
The Stereo and God by the Reverend Lincoln Lincoln
Pancake Pretty by Barbara Jones
He Kissed All Night by Susan Margar
Moose by Richard Brautigan
It’s the Queen of Darkness, Pal by Rod Keen
Your Clothes are Dead by Les Steinman
Jack, the Story of a Cat by Hilda Simpson
The Culinary Dostoevsky by James Fallon
My Dog by Bill Lewis
Hombre by Canton Lee
Vietnam Victory by Edward Fox
Printer’s Ink by Fred Sinkus
Bacon Death by Marsha Paterson
UFO Versus CBS by Susan DeWitt
The Egg Layed Twice by Beatrice Quinn Porter
Breakfast First by Samuel Humber
The Quick Forest by Thomas Funnell
The Need for Legalized Abortion by Doctor O
Growing Flowers by Candlelight in Hotel Rooms by Mrs. Charles Fine Adams
The Other Side of My Hand by Harlow Blade
Mentioned in the book but not written/designed (yet?) by Knowlton:
Sam Sam Sam by Patricia Evens Summers
A History of Nebraska by Clinton York
Images of all the book covers are available at Knowlton’s Facebook page.
Thanks, Dina Wood, for bringing this project to my attention — I love it!!
with creepy kid
The Alexandria-Monroe Public Library in Indiana says: “We’d like to remind patrons to not attach googley eyes to books. It can cause damage to the cover and in this case haunt our nightmares for all eternity. Thank you. — with Creepy Kid.”
Thanks, Sarah Milteer!
Librarians need a seaside rest home!
According to Livia Gershon’s article “Being a Victorian Librarian Was Oh-So-Dangerous,” Melvil Dewey “predicted that female librarians would have trouble doing the job because of poor health.” Indeed, at the turn of the last century the Brooklyn Public Library Association proposed a “seaside rest home” for broken-down librarians.
When Diane Westerfield forwarded this article to me, I responded that maybe Dewey had the idea that librarians might suffer from nervous exhaustion or whatever because he was sexually harassing them and perhaps there was some emotional fallout from that. Diane then found this hair-raising portrait of Dewey available at Find-A-Grave. The look in his eyes! Yike!
never before seen photo: trail to Helen Hunt Jackson’s grave
We are fairly certain this is the first online appearance of a photograph labeled “Trail to H.H. Grave,” numbered 642, Hook Photo. The date is likely 1890.
Writer and activist Helen Hunt Jackson (known in her lifetime as H.H., Helen Hunt, or Helen Jackson) died in 1885. She was buried in South Cheyenne Canyon, but so many people visited the site that her grave was moved to Evergreen Cemetery in 1891. The address for W.E. Hook on the back of photo is 509 N Tejon, Colorado Springs, Colorado, an address first used in 1890.
The photograph is a recent gift of Alan Campbell, former Colorado College Psychology staff. As far as we can tell, no other institution holds a print of this image.
Citation: Colorado Room Photo File for Helen Hunt Jackson, Colorado College Special Collections.
Ellsworth Mason quote
Researching something else, I came across this quote from former CC librarian Ellsworth Mason. He’s talking to a potential donor about the library’s nascent rare book collection:
“[Rare books on display] help involve undergraduates emotionally with books, and this, I am convinced, is the basis of the entire educational process.”
Source: Ellsworth Mason letter to Horace Eames Day, August 24, 1959, in Colorado College Special Collections office gift file for Horace Eames Day.
Purple Syllabus
The Purple Syllabus, created by “Prince fans affiliated with the University of Minnesota Libraries in conjunction with the Prince From Minneapolis Symposium,” is awesome.
Thanks, Kris Kanthak!
no dogs, drunks, or smallpox
The Hyde Institute Library in Barnet Vale, Hertfordshire, England had some strict rules for its patrons.
Citation for the original is uncertain. According to the Bodleian Library, the source may be a 1930 issue of the Nottingham Post. A slightly different version of these rules may have appeared in the May 2, 1930 issue of the Western Gazette. Yet another version appeared on page 11 of the May 29, 1930 issue of the Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser.
Thanks, Woody Guth3!
“Horoscopes for Librarians”
“Horoscopes for Librarians” by Mayur Chauhan and Sally Miller in McSweeney’s is funny even if you don’t care about astrology. Thanks, WoodyGuth3!
