BAG at Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair This Weekend

Coming Soon - Pistil Books' Outdoor Book Sale

Pistil Books' Annual Outdoor Book Sale

10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

1415 E. Union in the alley

Hundreds of books in all categories, including fiction, poetry, art, science, history, biography, how-to, and many more.  Many books in like-new condition.

Paperbacks $1    Hardbacks $2

Stop by to say hello and have some lemonade, or maybe beer.  Tell your friends!

Hope to see you there--

Also, a reminder that WE BUY BOOKS.  We are particularly interested in libraries and collections of scholarly non-fiction, art, technical, university press, collectible, and unusual titles.

Tests for Colour-Blindness

Here is an example of the beauty and practicality of the physical book.  Tests for Colour-Blindness by S. Ishihara was published by Kanehara Shuppan Co., Ltd, Tokyo, in 1969.

This book is plain blue cloth on the outside, and fits neatly into its own slipcase.   Inside, the book holds 24 individual color plates, each neatly tucked into its own blank black page by fitting the corners of the plates into slits in the pages.

As the title indicates, the book is used to test patients' ability to see colors.  When I went to the eye doctor for an exam recently, she used this same book.

 This is an accordion book - when opened all the way up, the pages of the book can spread across the room to take up twelve feet of space.

A booklet accompanies the main book, explaining how to administer the tests, and cautions, "It is important that the book of test plates should be kept closed, except during use, because undue exposure to sunlight causes a fading of the colour of the plates."

Greetings

My friend sometimes shops at the Goodwill by-the-pound store, otherwise known as "The Bins."  I've been to The Bins a couple of times, but the shopping experience is not for me.  Not surprisingly as a used book dealer, I'm a proponent of re-use, recycling, and buying used, but the couple of times I've been I've always wished I had worn gloves and felt like I needed a shower afterward.

Giant wheeled bins are filled with piles of clothes, household goods, and, yes, books.  The customers are a mix of regular people, dealers, and crazy people, particularly those after books.  My friend usually concentrates on vintage clothing and she's found some good scores, like a Pendleton jumper, or a tapestry of a pastoral scene that she re-purposed into a skirt.  When she found this scrapbook, she passed it on to me.

This scrapbook also included a number of loose items, yet-to-be-pasted, which makes it a candidate for the "found in books" category.

Typographic Awareness

This is a really cool set of three staple-bound books of black and white photographs of street images containing lettering.  The books have no publishing information, except for the title and this note printed around the edge of the front cover in English and in French:  "little things you may have missed while on your way to work - typographic awareness series - esler's commissioned errol etienne to create & execute this series / regarder sans voir... une activité quotidienne - la collection éveil typographique."

I like how the French words "regarder sans voir" translate as "to look without seeing" - how often do we do that?  Well, it's "une activite quotidienne," or in English, daily activity.

The images depicted on the covers of the three books are an ampersand, a thermometer, and a manhole cover. Here are some images:

I did find this about the artist on Wikipedia: 

Errol Herbert Russel Étienne (1941 - 2011) was an artist in many media including watercolor, oil and acrylic painting. His watercolors can be found in museums, travelling exhibitions as well as in private collections. Much of his bright and animated work was inspired by his time living in the Florida Keys."

 These publications truly inspire typographic awareness - now look and see, as well.