August 4, 2009
Dumpster Diving at the Kelly Library
One of my favourite book-finding spots in the city is the Kelly Library in St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. Every week they stock a table in the cafe with books withdrawn from their stacks, and every week the entire table is replaced with a new batch of books. The books seem to represent particular sections of the library: one week might be American Cinema, the next week the French Revolution. Every book on the table is 50 cents, to be deposited into a little wooden box.
Visiting the Kelly Cafe is one of my weekly rituals. I don’t often find something to buy, but when I do it is usually something totally unique and impossible to have found any other way. I exercise uncommon discretion – I bike there and can’t cart a huge batch of books home, and anyway I want to leave some pickings for others.
I have lately been studying the ins and outs of German typography – blackletter fonts, Fraktur and the like – and by coincidence, last week’s theme at the Kelly Cafe seemed to be early-to-mid nineteenth century devotional and theological books in German. My typefaces were in full display here over about a hundred year period. But for whatever reason I didn’t buy any. I hesitated, wondered if I really needed them, hummed about the subject matter.
By the weekend I totally regretted my decision. Honestly, for 50 cents surely I should justify a few books to practice transcribing and identifying the texts! I tried to go back on Saturday only to find them closed, I tried phoning on Monday to find same. This morning I ran down there first thing in the morning to try to intercept my books before they vanished to wherever they go when they are replaced by the next week’s offerings. They had indeed been replaced (luckily, this week’s batch included some nineteenth century German philosophy, so I picked up a few books there).
I asked the librarians what becomes of the books once they are replaced. They are, I was told, recycled. In a meek voice I pushed further… had… the recycling been disposed of? Luckily no, it had not. Could I look through it? Why yes, I was quite welcome!
So a nice librarian took me down into the bowels of the library to root through their massive recycling bins. They were packed full of books – good books, interesting books! – and luckily, included my early ninteenth century German pickings. I scavenged what I could. I joked to the librarian, “I bet this must happen a lot – mad bibliophiles wanting to root through your garbage?” “No,” I was told. “You are the first.”
Alright, honestly. I can’t be the only girl in Toronto willing to sort through a library’s recycling in order to get at a useful (and free) book. But then, nobody took them when they were 50 cents and on offer in the cafe either. What is this?! Are ex-libris books really so maligned? These books are in excellent condition. Many are leather-bound. Some are old, many are out of print, lots are hard to come by any other way. Readers and academics will find treasures there.
I can only conclude that people must just be unaware of this treasure-trove. Hence this post today. Looking for cheap, good, interesting and unexpected books? Might I recommend the Kelly Cafe? You should check it out, weekly even! And buy things when you see them, because otherwise you might need to go dumpster-diving to get at them the following week in a fit of regret.
May 6, 2009
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival and Why a Book Collector Should Care
The Toronto Comic Arts Festival is this weekend (May 9th-10th 2009), though lead-up events including Free Comic Book Day and an “Indoor Block Party” featuring Kid Koala have been scheduled to happen all this week. I hadn’t really been payng a lot of attention myself until earlier this week. On Free Comic Book Day I picked up Volume 3 of the Comics Festival sampler and finished it feeling downright inspired. I’ve always liked comic books but considered it a hobby completely unrelated to my book collecting or even literary pursuits – I don’t even list the graphic novels I read when tabulating the list of “What I Read This Year”, even though I read dozens upon dozens of them every year. Why not? I couldn’t even tell you. Possibly so I don’t have to own up in public to exactly how many of Marvel’s Ultimate [Insert Title Here] trades I own.
But the feeling I got after visiting the Beguiling this weekend is that anyone living in Toronto today who has any interest in book history, book collecting or literary movements at all would be absolutely foolish not to open their eyes and take a look at what is happening in comics here. The book media has been touching on it in pieces and bits for a few years now. “Graphic novels” are becoming part of the literary mainstream, beginning with Art Speigelman’s Pulitzer for Maus and continuing today with landmarks like Mariko Tamaki (and Jillian Tamaki)’s Governor General nomination for Skim and the New York Times‘ new Graphic Books Best Seller List. The school system has figured out that adding graphic novels and manga to their libraries will actually get kids to read and independent, “adult” comic book artists are getting exposure as far ranging as political covers for the New Yorker. Graphic novels are increasingly accepted as a legitimate literary form and Toronto is, right now, one of the most vibrant, innovative and productive comic-producing cities out there.
If you were a book collector in London in 1917 you would probably have been aware of the Bloomsbury Group and, if you were paying any attention, you would have been taking full advantage of being at the very heart of something new. You’d have had your pick of new publications, shows, newspaper clippings and sightings as Modernism sprouted its wings and took off. You might have decided, no, there was still surer money in Dickens and Trollope. But for someone looking to get in on the ground floor of something that might (and did) become the new literary standard, Bloomsbury was the place to be and to collect.
Now, I don’t mean to imply that the Toronto comic scene today is the new Bloomsbury. But you can’t deny that smell of fresh ideas, new blood and being on the vanguard of something which, in thirty years, might be a huge influential part of the literati mainstream.
To list of Toronto who’s who in the comic world exceeds my space allotment here. Take a look at the TCAF guests. Suffice to say in the four years that have passed between the 2005 Comics Festival (featuring Seth, Chester Brown, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Chip Zdarsky, Kean Soo, Kagan McLeod and more) and the 2009 edition, the quality of work and the number of artists has, in my opinion, jumped exponentially. Further, the best artists in town are producing some of their best work right now. And, maybe best of all, few of them have had the leisure to quit their day jobs and so getting inscriptions, sketches and other collectible ephemera is dead easy.
Comic book collecting is nothing new, but the evolution of the genre right now is bringing the pursuit into book collecting turf. The two activities have been separate so far: the expertise needed for one doesn’t help much with the other, and I can’t speak for other book collectors but I have never found the idea of owning a floppy, shrink-wrapped comic very attractive. Graphic novels are, on the other hand, an entirely different matter. These are books. Bindings, book design, editions and bibliography is starting to become relevant. Libraries and scholars need the materials. Many more artists are working in a straight-to-graphic novel format rather than the old model of episodic issues followed by a graphic novel compilation.
Ten years ago might have been the best time to start a Toronto-based graphic novel collection, but the window is not closed. It seems as if people are getting their big breaks daily in this city. After seeing the samples of some of the new work coming out of the city, you can bet your bottom dollar I am going to get my butt out to the Toronto Reference Library this weekend and see what’s on offer. I don’t want to be the one wishing I’d taken a chance twenty years from now when this is retrospectively viewed as the golden age of a budding genre. Worst case scenario, I own some amazing works by local, emerging artists. What’s to lose?
May 4, 2009
The Toronto Book Fair and Paper Show
Despite the baby and I being sick with a nasty (un-swine-related) flu, my family and I bustled off bright and early yesterday morning to the Spring Toronto Book Fair and Paper Show in the St. Lawrence Market. After 24 hours of reflection on the event I am now prepared to declare it a sad little affair which is, I suspect, staggering towards its ultimate demise.
The May 2009 Toronto Book Fair and Paper Show
1. First Impressions Last: I’ll begin on the outside and work my way in. We approached the market building to find the usual Sunday Antiques market in full and lively swing. It was a beautiful day and the colourful booths were busy and full of tourists and collectors. This, however, was not the Book Fair. After some searching we fought our way to the front door of 92 Front St. proper, finding it lamely signed with an 8 x 11″ print out announcing the event within. Passing from the sunny, bustling out-of-doors into the cool, dank and deserted room was sobering and not a little frightening.
2. Show us the money: I don’t begrudge any organization their fees, because I understand that all events have costs associated with them. But what, exactly, has Heritage Antique Shows been doing with theirs? $7 per person is a moderate entry fee, but other than rental of the space, I fail to see what Heritage contributed to the show. Pre-advertising was nonexistent, limited, as far as I could tell, to their vintage 1998-style poster board website and fliers being distributed at the door (why do I need a flier for an event I am already at?). The website is limited and unprofessional. Nothing was done to the hall except to provide bare tables for the vendors. The “snack bar” seemed to be running on rations – there was something especially pathetic about reading a specials board which lists the Soup of the Day as “NO SOUP”.
By comparison, the New York Antiquarian Book Fair costs $20 to get in, but takes place at the Park Avenue Armory, issues its own catalogue, provides a floor plan, map and guide to the guests, has a beautiful, functional website, is warmly and tastefully decorated for the event and hosts private events during the show. I don’t ask Toronto’s show to rival the “Best in the World”, but surely they can provide something other than a dark hovel for book gnomes to sniff and scratch books in.
3. This isn’t thirty years ago: The draw of a book fair used to be in part the opportunity to see the wares of out-of-town book dealers, as well as those dealers who keep a closed shop. But alas, this is the age of Abebooks.com, and the stock of unseen vendors is no longer a big undiscovered mystery. If you are going to ask book collectors to come out and see your wares, you need to show them something they didn’t see 45 minutes earlier online. What might that be? Oh, I don’t know. Debut some new finds. Offer show specials and discounts. Mini-raffles. Free appraisals. ANYTHING.
This is probably a big part of why the busiest aspect of the show by far was the “Paper” part. Postcards, prints, maps and various ephemera were getting a lot of attention. Well – there’s no Abepostcards.com yet! Paper collectors still have a reason to come out and root through boxes and binders. Book collectors – not so much.
4. Retiring Attendees: I passed quite a few people having hushed conversations about the attendance. Attendance is down again, always declining. Not just on the customer side either – it looks as if dealers are opting not to come show either. The site was looking barren. The fewer people show up, the fewer dealers show up, and so on. I’m willing to cast stones in all directions on this one. The attendees on both sides of the glass were as antique as the books. With dealers shutting doors left right and centre, they don’t seem over-eager to participate in an exercise in self-promotion like a Book Fair. Many booksellers are quietly fading into semi-retirement, relying on their existing customer bases to keep them company until they finish. Customers, on the other hand, are dying off quicker than new ones are born. There may be a way or a venue for younger, more forward-thinking dealers and collectors to gather, but this wasn’t it.
5. But it wasn’t all bad…: Okay, there were a few good things about the event. It was lovely to see all the local books, the Canadiana on display. Lots of Toronto history, Ontario history, Canadian literature. This may not be the New York fair, but New York doesn’t have our books. I was especially pleased to find a dealer right at the end featuring a signed copy of a book by my own great-great uncle George T. Denison, Recollections of a Police Magistrate. After some internal struggle, a few phone calls to relatives, and a short, unsuccessful bout of haggling I did not buy it, however, reasoning that someone in the family has probably still got a copy somewhere.
And I did buy one book for myself: a first edition of John Carter’s ABC for Book Collectors. They say every collector ought to have a copy and somehow I’d avoided getting one until now. This copy cost me less than a new copy of the latest edition would, and is still in beautiful, usable condition. Success!
Now all this said, I would go again because I have no alternatives. But there was a gloomy atmosphere at the fair this time around, a sense of impending doom. If this fair is going to survive, some changes need to be made. Or, perhaps, someone needs to pick up the slack and mount an event that’s more suited to a literary city of Toronto’s calibre. Anyone???
April 14, 2009
Another One Bites the Dust
Librairie Champlain, the only real french bookstore in Toronto (Maison de la Press in Yorkville sells some books as well, but specializes primarily in magazines), is closing up shop at the end of the month.
There has been a lot of press lately about the resilience of independent bookstores, citing the sprinkling of new shops which have opened in Toronto in the last few years – Type, The Monkey’s Paw, Re: Reading, Circus and of course, the new McNally Robinson store to name a few almost all of them. I’m on the fence about whether the overall shape of Toronto independents is good or bad. It certainly is heartening to see all the new stores. But they aren’t replacing the old ones. What’s being lost is the specialty stores – David Mirvish Books on Art, Champlain and Ballenford Books on Architecture (to name three of this year’s casualties) were old stores with very deep, specialized knowledge of their product. As cool as the new stores may be, with the exception of Monkey’s Paw, they basically sell more of the same thing everyone sells.
I also wonder how long they will last. None of the new stores are more than three years old. Will they go the distance? Or are we still floating on the new owners’ optimism and capital?
Anyway, it is sad to see another great old shop felled by, largely, online competition. Buying books is a political act, kids. Shop ethically.