Man, just entering bookstore: "Rumor has it that you sell the New York Times here."
Sandy (Daedalus owner): "That is a false rumor. We have 100,000 books, but no New York Times."
Man: "Oh."
Sandy: "You can find the New York Times across the street, at Market St. Market."
Man: "OK, thanks."
Sandy: "We have three floors, and 100,000 books. Much better than the New York Times."
--------------------
I respect the New York Times, but you won't find any arguments with what Sandy said here.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Organized thoughts on Random news
One of the two main free weekly newspapers in town -- C-Ville -- ran a story this week on the planned development of a site in town to add a hotel near one end of Charlottesville's Downtown Mall.
A few months back, a similar story ran in C-Ville, and it was our impression then that the development included only a single building, which currently houses a new pottery studio called City Clay. This week we learned, however, that the planned development of this area of town is also going to mean the end of Random Row Books -- as we've known it, at least.
I have written before that Random Row is my favorite bookstore space in Charlottesville. Daedalus is great, and has more books, and will probably yield more for us in the long run, but Random Row is just a great space with a great mission, and we've done well there for ourselves.
We've not yet been in Charlottesville for a year, but we've been around long enough to know that aside from being a really terrific bookstore with terrific people running it, Random Row has also been a valued community space, and a key component in the revitalization of the area of Charlottesville known as Midtown, which essentially describes the geographic area of Main St. between the University of Virginia and the Downtown Mall.
Random Row helped turn that part of town into a destination for the people who live in Charlottesville and the surrounding area, and they helped other businesses grow by proving it was possible to exist in that part of the city. And to know now that it's all going away so that a hotel -- which, despite the jobs it may bring to local folks, is really a business serving visitors -- is going to replace that whole stretch of businesses that has thrived in Midtown, is very disheartening on a citizen level, in addition to how it makes us feel as people who love used-book stores.
What does the impending change say about the value of books in a community? What does it mean that a town long trying to connect its two main ends will witness the removal of community-oriented businesses accomplishing just that, in favor of a hotel serving a temporary, ever-rotating population that has no stake in being a member of the Charlottesville community?
As I said, we haven't lived here very long, and the time we have lived here has largely been spent being either very pregnant or new parents, so we haven't exactly taken advantage of Random Row's community events, but just knowing that it existed in that way was enough for us. It's one of the things that we have loved about Charlottesville, that a place like that can do well here.
So where does that leave us now? We have been planning to visit Random Row for reasons related to "Get a Spine" itself, and now we will certainly add fact-finding about the future of Random Row to our visit. We'd like to think there is some kind "Save Random Row" movement brewing out there, at the very least to help find a new space if the current one can no longer be. But we'll get some answers, and provide an update when we can.
A few months back, a similar story ran in C-Ville, and it was our impression then that the development included only a single building, which currently houses a new pottery studio called City Clay. This week we learned, however, that the planned development of this area of town is also going to mean the end of Random Row Books -- as we've known it, at least.
I have written before that Random Row is my favorite bookstore space in Charlottesville. Daedalus is great, and has more books, and will probably yield more for us in the long run, but Random Row is just a great space with a great mission, and we've done well there for ourselves.
We've not yet been in Charlottesville for a year, but we've been around long enough to know that aside from being a really terrific bookstore with terrific people running it, Random Row has also been a valued community space, and a key component in the revitalization of the area of Charlottesville known as Midtown, which essentially describes the geographic area of Main St. between the University of Virginia and the Downtown Mall.
Random Row helped turn that part of town into a destination for the people who live in Charlottesville and the surrounding area, and they helped other businesses grow by proving it was possible to exist in that part of the city. And to know now that it's all going away so that a hotel -- which, despite the jobs it may bring to local folks, is really a business serving visitors -- is going to replace that whole stretch of businesses that has thrived in Midtown, is very disheartening on a citizen level, in addition to how it makes us feel as people who love used-book stores.
What does the impending change say about the value of books in a community? What does it mean that a town long trying to connect its two main ends will witness the removal of community-oriented businesses accomplishing just that, in favor of a hotel serving a temporary, ever-rotating population that has no stake in being a member of the Charlottesville community?
As I said, we haven't lived here very long, and the time we have lived here has largely been spent being either very pregnant or new parents, so we haven't exactly taken advantage of Random Row's community events, but just knowing that it existed in that way was enough for us. It's one of the things that we have loved about Charlottesville, that a place like that can do well here.
So where does that leave us now? We have been planning to visit Random Row for reasons related to "Get a Spine" itself, and now we will certainly add fact-finding about the future of Random Row to our visit. We'd like to think there is some kind "Save Random Row" movement brewing out there, at the very least to help find a new space if the current one can no longer be. But we'll get some answers, and provide an update when we can.
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
They find you when you're not looking
We went to Daedalus this afternoon hoping that its travel section would provide some suggestions for an upcoming trip. I have spent a lot of time in Daedalus, particularly in the basement, where the hardcover fiction is kept.
I recall only being on third floor once, last summer when we were looking for some baby books, and so I had little to no memory of what was on the third floor, where the travel section also resides.
While searching for said section, I came across the poetry room, and knowing full well that there are many of the Riverside Editions that we are collecting that are collected works of poets, the search was on. The travel section would have to wait.
And wouldn't you know it, there was another Riverside, hanging out in the middle of the section. That's No. 19 for us.
Oh, and we haven't found anywhere to go on our trip yet...
Book added: Don Juan, Lord Byron
Publisher: Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B40
Year: 1958
Where obtained: Daedalus Bookshop, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $6.50
I recall only being on third floor once, last summer when we were looking for some baby books, and so I had little to no memory of what was on the third floor, where the travel section also resides.
While searching for said section, I came across the poetry room, and knowing full well that there are many of the Riverside Editions that we are collecting that are collected works of poets, the search was on. The travel section would have to wait.
And wouldn't you know it, there was another Riverside, hanging out in the middle of the section. That's No. 19 for us.
Oh, and we haven't found anywhere to go on our trip yet...
Book added: Don Juan, Lord Byron
Publisher: Riverside Editions, Houghton Mifflin, B40
Year: 1958
Where obtained: Daedalus Bookshop, Charlottesville, Va.
Price: $6.50
Friday, May 4, 2012
Talking pub dates with the pros
One of the issues we constantly run into, whether as we look for new books to add, or in cataloging the books we already have, is how to know when the book was published if there isn't a publication date, or if there is only a copyright date.
We'd like our library to reflect accurately the years that the editions we have were published, and we'd like to have a strong sense of the age of the books we want to acquire when we are out searching.
I took this question to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library's main branch in Charlottesville, hoping a library professional could provide some useful info to help us figure out publication dates where there are not any.
I approached the front desk, explained my question, and was told by the attendant: "Let me get someone from downstairs on the phone." When she reached this next person, she handed me the phone, and I explained my question to person No. 2. At the end of the explanation, I was told: "I'm going to transfer you to Ann, hold on."
When Ann got on the phone, I explained to her what my question was. Third time's a charm, right?
Ann was as helpful as she could be, and very nice, and at the very least, the answer I got made us feel like we weren't banging our heads against the wall about this for nothing. It's apparently a very inexact science, especially with the kinds of books we are mostly dealing with.
It seems to primarily be complicated by the following factors (and likely more): copyright laws and copyright dates having limitations, which we knew; pirated copies of books being somewhat common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which we are learning; even after both of those, it seems many legitimate publishers of classic literature in the 19th and 20th centuries just didn't put publication dates in their editions, which we find it hard to understand. Why not?
So an edition of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises that is clearly not older than 20 years might only include the copyright renewal date of 1954, but nothing else. And though we know it is published by Hemingway's publisher, Scribner's, or rather the company that uses the Scribner's imprint today, Simon & Schuster, they don't tell us when they published this particular edition.
And we've found similar issues across the decades/centuries, so it's not only an issue of modern times.
The most helpful advice Ann gave us was to use the Library of Congress' online catalog to search for our editions. While not a guarantee of 100-percent success, it has proven a useful tool, and has helped fill in some of our blanks.
Our next stop in search of more info on this subject is to visit the UVa library to talk to some more library professionals, including checking in at the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Earlier than we thought we'd be going, but we need answers.
We'd like our library to reflect accurately the years that the editions we have were published, and we'd like to have a strong sense of the age of the books we want to acquire when we are out searching.
I took this question to the Jefferson-Madison Regional Library's main branch in Charlottesville, hoping a library professional could provide some useful info to help us figure out publication dates where there are not any.
I approached the front desk, explained my question, and was told by the attendant: "Let me get someone from downstairs on the phone." When she reached this next person, she handed me the phone, and I explained my question to person No. 2. At the end of the explanation, I was told: "I'm going to transfer you to Ann, hold on."
When Ann got on the phone, I explained to her what my question was. Third time's a charm, right?
Ann was as helpful as she could be, and very nice, and at the very least, the answer I got made us feel like we weren't banging our heads against the wall about this for nothing. It's apparently a very inexact science, especially with the kinds of books we are mostly dealing with.
It seems to primarily be complicated by the following factors (and likely more): copyright laws and copyright dates having limitations, which we knew; pirated copies of books being somewhat common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, which we are learning; even after both of those, it seems many legitimate publishers of classic literature in the 19th and 20th centuries just didn't put publication dates in their editions, which we find it hard to understand. Why not?
So an edition of Ernest Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises that is clearly not older than 20 years might only include the copyright renewal date of 1954, but nothing else. And though we know it is published by Hemingway's publisher, Scribner's, or rather the company that uses the Scribner's imprint today, Simon & Schuster, they don't tell us when they published this particular edition.
And we've found similar issues across the decades/centuries, so it's not only an issue of modern times.
The most helpful advice Ann gave us was to use the Library of Congress' online catalog to search for our editions. While not a guarantee of 100-percent success, it has proven a useful tool, and has helped fill in some of our blanks.
Our next stop in search of more info on this subject is to visit the UVa library to talk to some more library professionals, including checking in at the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature. Earlier than we thought we'd be going, but we need answers.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Our first recognition as bibliophiles
A hot May day deserved a trip to a local frozen-yogurt establishment, and while enjoying our sweet treats outside on the Downtown Mall, the owner of Random Row Books came walking toward us on his way through town.
We've been into his shop a few times (maybe eight or 10 now in 10 months), had some small talk here and there, etc., but we'd yet to encounter him outside the scene where it's obviously easy to place us.
But as he passed today, he said hello, we said hello, and then -- looking at our frozen yogurt -- he said with a smile, "You guys buy that with the money you got from selling that book I sold you?"
We got a good laugh out of that, wondered whether he meant the Sherlock Holmes or the Jane Eyre, and vowed to let him know soon that we don't sell what we buy. It's only for us.
We've been into his shop a few times (maybe eight or 10 now in 10 months), had some small talk here and there, etc., but we'd yet to encounter him outside the scene where it's obviously easy to place us.
But as he passed today, he said hello, we said hello, and then -- looking at our frozen yogurt -- he said with a smile, "You guys buy that with the money you got from selling that book I sold you?"
We got a good laugh out of that, wondered whether he meant the Sherlock Holmes or the Jane Eyre, and vowed to let him know soon that we don't sell what we buy. It's only for us.
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