Nabokov's Butterfly and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books

Nabokov's Butterfly and Other Stories of Great Authors and Rare Books PDF

Author: R. A. Gekoski

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780786714520

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A collector of rare books shares his personal experiences with twenty important volumes and other literary items, including a signed copy of Sylvia Plath's The Colossus, a copy of Nabokov's Lolita from Graham Greene, and the sale of J. R. R. Tolkien's college gown.

Nabokov's Butterfly

Nabokov's Butterfly PDF

Author: Rick Gekoski

Publisher: Da Capo Press

Published: 2006-06-22

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780786716548

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A first edition of Ulysses sold for 460,000 in auction at Christie's in 2002. The price might have upset the union chief, convicted gangster, and major-league James Joyce book collector Dennis Silverman, who had sold his copy, signed and inscribed by the author, for a mere 135,000 ten years earlier. Great books attract all kinds and come to fascinating destinies of their own, as Nabokov's Butterfly amply demonstrates. Here, noted author and rare book dealer Rick Gekoski — whose vocation led to the BBC radio series titled Rare Books, Rare People, — profiles twenty editions of major books that have passed through his hands and made publishing history, as they have become the legends of rare book collectors. Sued by J. D. Salinger, harassed by Harold Pinter, berated by Ted Hughes who unloaded his personal and passionately inscribed copy of Sylvia Plath's The Colossus, Gekoski is a convivial participant in these histories, including his sale of Mr. Tolkien's college gown. He recalls one day purchasing from Graham Greene his first edition of Lolita, with Nabokov's signature drawing of a butterfly inside, and on the next day he sold it to Elton John's lyricist at a 10,000 profit.

Nabokov's Butterflies

Nabokov's Butterflies PDF

Author: Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov

Publisher: Beacon Press

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 820

ISBN-13: 9780807085400

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

"Literature and Lepidoptera dance an elaborate pas de deux through seventy years of Vladimir Nabokov's life, from his boyhood in Russia to his life as an emigre in the Crimea, Berlin, France, the United States, and finally in Switzerland. An American literary giant, Nabokov also produced first-rate work as a scientist, and in his fiction and elsewhere eloquently advocated attention to the details of the natural world and promoted the delights of discovery." "Nabokov's Butterflies presents Nabokov's twin passions through an astonishingly rich array of novel selections, stories, poems, screenplay, autobiography, criticism, lecturers, articles, reviews, interviews, letters, and notes, plus a wealth of beautiful and fanciful drawings by Nabokov and photographs of him in the field."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

The Groaning Shelf

The Groaning Shelf PDF

Author: Pradeep Sebastian

Publisher: Hachette India

Published: 2012-03-12

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9350093634

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Notes from a bibliophile on the lure of rare and first editions, the beauty of dust jackets, the thrill of browsing in antiquarian bookshops, the bibliomania of book thieves, movies about books, and the inner life of a reader. The Groaning Shelf is not so much a book about books as a book about books about books. These little essays capture the drama of bookish obsession, the joys and snares of the bookish life and the pleasures of bibliophily.

Rare Books Uncovered

Rare Books Uncovered PDF

Author: Rebecca Rego Barry

Publisher: Voyageur Press

Published: 2018-02-27

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 0760361584

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Precious old books found in unlikely places, from the family that avoided foreclosure through a book in their attic to a copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle in a local fundraiser.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much PDF

Author: Allison Hoover Bartlett

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-09-17

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 1101140305

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In the tradition of The Orchid Thief, a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. John Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thief who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of rare books from book fairs, stores, and libraries around the country. Ken Sanders is the self-appointed "bibliodick" (book dealer with a penchant for detective work) driven to catch him. Bartlett befriended both outlandish characters and found herself caught in the middle of efforts to recover hidden treasure. With a mixture of suspense, insight, and humor, she has woven this entertaining cat-and-mouse chase into a narrative that not only reveals exactly how Gilkey pulled off his dirtiest crimes, where he stashed the loot, and how Sanders ultimately caught him but also explores the romance of books, the lure to collect them, and the temptation to steal them. Immersing the reader in a rich, wide world of literary obsession, Bartlett looks at the history of book passion, collection, and theft through the ages, to examine the craving that makes some people willing to stop at nothing to possess the books they love.

J.R.R. Tolkien for Kids

J.R.R. Tolkien for Kids PDF

Author: Simonetta Carr

Publisher: Chicago Review Press

Published: 2021-08-03

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1641603496

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Introduce a new generation of readers to the man who wrote the phenomenally beloved Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit. J. R. R. Tolkien for Kids takes young readers through the exciting life of the man who created amazing new worlds and helps kids discover how he could see them. Explore the personal experiences and subjects that inspired Tolkien's stories through hands-on activities, and learn how he influenced his contemporaries as well as later writers—like you! • Make a Shadowy Dragon Come to Life • Make a Batch of Marmalade • Rewrite an Ancient Tale • Invent a New Code • Paint an Enchanted Forest • Draw a Map for a Story • Make Mushroom Toast • Turn Your Friends into Heroes Discover who Tolkien was, not only as a writer, but also as a soldier, researcher, teacher, friend, husband, and father.

Nabokov's Butterflies

Nabokov's Butterflies PDF

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

Publisher: Beacon Press (MA)

Published: 2000-05

Total Pages: 800

ISBN-13: 9780807085424

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Unpublished and Uncollected WritingsEdited and Annotated by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael PyleNew Translations from the Russian by Dmitri NabokovLiterature and Lepidoptera dance an elaborate pas de deux through seventy years of Vladimir Nabokov's life, from his boyhood in Russia to his life as an émigré in the Crimea, Berlin, France, the United States, and finally in Switzerland. An American literary giant, Nabokov also produced first-rate work as a scientist, and in his fiction and elsewhere eloquently advocated attention to the details of the natural world and promoted the delights of discovery.Nabokov's Butterflies presents Nabokov's twin passions through an astonishingly rich array of novels, stories, poems, screenplay, autobiography, criticism, lectures, articles, reviews, interviews, letters, and notes, plus a wealth of beautiful and fanciful drawings by Nabokov and photographs of him in the field.Here for the first time, newly translated from the Russian by Dmitri Nabokov, is Nabokov's most intense amalgam of literature and Lepidoptera, his forty-page afterword to The Gift-cut short by his switch from Russian to English and from Europe to America at the midpoint of his life-an immensely rich and revealing work. Here too are scores of fascinating letters to his mother, wife, and colleagues; the sui generis scientific articles; "The Admirable Anglewing," an intriguing entomological tale; a taste of the prodigious work he expended on his ultimately unrealized Butterflies of Europe; and ten poems newly translated from the original Russian.Nabokov's Butterflies is a major literary event: not only in chronological scope but also in genre no other volume of Nabokov's writing encompasses such variety. It is, as Dmitri Nabokov claims, a book that "would have warmed the cockles of Father's heart," and a must-have for admirers of the great novelist and all who appreciate the joys of Lepidoptera.