Browsers' Bookstore
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Past NewslettersPlease note: there is at least a one-month lag time between a newsletter being mailed, and being posted to this website. Email us today to sign up! Browsers' Bookstore Newsletter for December, 2006HAPPY HOLIDAYS! It's holiday season, which means it's time for me to hit you up for a donation! Do you want to help local schools? (Of course!) Would you like a cute little book ornament for your Christmas tree? (Who wouldn't?) For only ten dollars, you can have both! Five of those dollars will go towards Corvallis and Albany school libraries. These are hand-made in Corvallis by Birch Tree Book Arts. The Albany store has opened up the first of its new rooms, which is now the home of the military section. This has allowed us to expand our modern literature section. We've rearranged a bit, and added a total of about twenty bookcases to the store, most of which are already full. That's a lot of new books, so be sure to stop by! NEW ARRIVALS Let's go through some books at the Albany store first, for a change. 1. Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes. Robert Louis Stevenson. 1st edition, 1879. Author's second book. A beautifully bound and illustrated book on Stevenson's home town. Although it is self-described as "picturesque," Stevenson is not above peppering his book with crimes and scandals. A nice addition to any collection. $300. 2. Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell: Adventurer, Adviser to Kings, Ally of Lawrence of Arabia. Janet Wallach. This is by no means collectible, but is just a good read. $8.00. 3. And So to Dine: A Brief Account of the Food & Drink of Mr. Pepys Based on His Diary. S. A. E. Strom, illustrated by A. E. Taylor. 1955. A light look at Pepys' experiences with food and drink. This falls squarely in the "cute" category. My favorite line is when Pepys is introduced: "He was interested in everything, was our Mr. Pepys. In a later age he would have acquired a movie camera and been a menace to his friends." $10.00 4. The World Wide Cook Book. Pearl V. Metzelthin, illus. by Tony Sarg. 1st edition, 1939. Gourmet food from 72 countries. I don't often put cookbooks in the newsletter, but this one looks exceptionally good AND it has great dustjacket art showing half a dozen cherubs in chef's hats carrying various dishes. Sacrilegious but fun. $20. The Corvallis store has quite a few this month; we're not rearranging there, so have had more time to go through books... 5. The Lisbon Earthquake. T. D. Kendrick. Kendrick argues that the 1755 Lisbon Earthquake, which killed 15,000 people, set off a chain of events which ended the age of optimism, exemplified by Leibniz, and ushered in the Age of Reason. This book, which is as much a history of philosophy as the actual event, is timely in these days of terrorism and tsunamis. (I must confess, however, to being an incurable optimist and will continue to believe in culinary cherubim and the like.) $20. 6. Paper Bullets: A Brief Story of Psychological Warfare in World War II. Leo J. Margolin. Although not above using terms like "Japs" (this was written in 1946), this interesting history contains lots of reproductions of propaganda from all sides, including American "I Shall Return" matchbooks, a Japanese poster aimed at Australians showing a U.S. soldier having a good time (against her will) with an Australian soldier's girl, a scary German leaflet aimed at the French in the shape of a leaf ("If you fight England's battle your soldiers will fall like autumn leaves" complete with Nazi deaths-head). The author was a news editor of the Psychological Warfare Branch, 1943-1945. $20. 7. The Deluge: A Science-Fantasy Novel. Leonardo da Vinci. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! The da Vinci code revealed!! The back of this 1950s pulp novel reads "From the monumental works of Leonardo da Vinci have come some of the most thrilling discoveries of all time -- among them the manuscript for The Deluge..." Great pulp cover art includes bare-chested and bloody man helping two women whose clothes are shredded and/or falling off, but whose lipstick is immaculate. $5 8. A Physician's Tour in Soviet Russia. Sir James Purves-Stewart. An interesting account from 1933 which includes reproductions of Soviet political cartoons, the usual social, political and historical descriptions found in travelogues, as well as some observations particular to medicine. The author travels to a maternity ward (infant mortality rate of .15 percent), a sanitarium, a prophylactorium, a hospital (abortions were given to anyone who wanted one, and the rate was 8.2 per 1,000, roughly one-third the rate in America today), a dispensary (city doctors earned 300 roubles/month, country doctors 200), and more. $10. 9.City Boys in the Woods, or, A Trapping Venture in Maine. Henry P. Wells, 1890. The hardest part of bookselling is actually making a profit. But the second hardest part is offering for sale books you would much rather keep for yourself, if only you had room. Such is the case here. A neat book, formally a novel, but actually an educational book about hunting written for young men: the character of the trapper has an endless amount of backwoods hunting and tracking tidbits to relate to his city boy companions. Profusely illustrated with engravings and drawing. $20. 10. The Song of Songs. Woodcuts by James Reid. 1931. Here's another one I hate to give up. I really need to add a library on to my house. The beautifully-executed woodcuts here breathe new life into the erotic and holy words of the Song of Solomon. The second book by this artist who had previously published the wordless Life of Christ. $50. BOOKS ON CD WANTED! Both stores need more audio books on CD! We've got a good selection, but always need more. Be sure to bring them on in for cash or store credit. WEBSITE Would you believe that, other than our home page, our blog is the most popular page on our website? Waste some time at www.browsersbookstore.com/blogger.html. Browsing through an old book written by a 19th-century caricaturist, I discovered the secret to writing backwards. (This was an important skill for an artist to develop in the days of woodcuts when all the lettering had to be done in reverse.) Simply hold a piece of paper to the underside of a table and start writing. It works! Happy browsing and holiday-ing, Scott Givens Browsers' Bookstore 121 NW 4th St. Corvallis, OR 97330 (888) 758-1121 Browsers' Bookstore, Vol. II 1425 Pacific Blvd. SE Albany, OR 97321 (541) 926-2612 www.browsersbookstore.com info@browsersbookstore.com
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Browsers' Bookstore is dedicated to four principles: low prices, high quality, great selection, and fantastic customer service. If we don't have the book you're looking for in stock, please email us and we'll do a free international book search for you, whether you're in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley or in the middle of the Australian outback. We can order new books, used books, and almost any out-of-print book.
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