On the Occasion of Ted Williams's Birthday
Today, August 30, is the 91st anniversary of Ted Williams’s birth. After his last game, John Updike, dilettante sportswriter who happened to be present, penned a tribute. Great ballplayer met…
Month: August 2009
The Greatest Project I Ever Worked On (As a Printer)
I inherited the estimate from the soon-to-be departing production assistant, Angela. It was a quote for 10,000 copies and about $100,000. Not small potatoes. The client name was Control Bureau.…
New England Independent Booksellers Assoc. Trade Show
Please look for Val de Grâce Books at the New England Independent Booksellers Association trade show, October 2 and 3. We will be exhibiting the book, of course, as well…
Ayn Rand and the Ardor of Reading
Yesterday we were having lunch at La Bottega Marino, on the Westside. It is an intimate place, with small round marble-topped tables grouped close together, perfect for overhearing conversations. At…
Progress on the Book
The interior pages of the book have now been approved for printing. What remain to be approved are only the jacket and the sample of the foil stamping on the…
Buckeye Book Fair
We have been invited to exhibit at the Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster, Ohio, on November 7, 2009. Please look for A Journey Through Literary America in the program for this all-day…
Blue Highways
It is now August 12th. In less than two months, my wife and son and I will be hitting the road in a one-way Budget SUV rental, headed from Santa…
It's a wrap! (Except for the wrap)
Yesterday, we approved the last remaining proofs: a photograph of Leadville, Colorado, a photo of “The Last Good Country” from upper Michigan, The Wayside in Concord—home to many Concord luminaries—and…
The Notion of the Book
The idea for A Journey Through Literary America came to me in January of 2008 in Kawasaki, Japan (near Tokyo), where I was visiting my wife’s family. On the plane…
Hopkins Bookshop
When I was young, my parents became friends with Bill and Roddy Cleary, owners of the first bookstore that I ever experienced. The name of the shop was Hopkins. Bill…
July 31
July 31 Today we uploaded the files for the jacket and the endsheets. The only element that hasn’t been sent off to Toppan Printing is the layout for the foil…