Latest Additions To The Spill Library
Two additions this past week, a book by Nicholson Baker, and a book about death, edited by Mort Gerberg.
First up, Mr. Baker’s Double Fold: Libraries And The Assault On Paper, published in 2001. I’m showing it along with Mr. Baker’s and Margaret Brentano’s 2005’s The World On Sunday, because they’re related, content-wise (World On A Sunday has been in the Spill library for quite a while).
Both books, if I’m understanding the timeline properly, sprang from Mr. Baker’s absolutely fascinating New Yorker piece, published July 24, 2000, “Deadline: The Author’s Desperate Bid To Save America’s Past.” As one who values bound issues of The New Yorker (and loves libraries), the magazine piece was one of those couldn’t put it down til I finished it moments.
I’ve no idea why Double Fold stayed unbought…perhaps I mistakenly thought it was the book version of the article. Whatever…it’s here now, and although the book is over two decades old, I’m sure it will frazzle the nerves just as much as the article frazzled my nerves so long ago (why “frazzle” you might ask. Because of the ticking clock on the numbers of bound volumes remaining in your local library).
I’m fortunate enough to live midway between two colleges (Bard and Vassar) that have — last I checked — held onto their bound volumes. When I was deep into my research on Peter Arno, I would spend my first few hours hunting for particular materials, and then, when research exhaustion finally hit, I’d put away my notebooks and just wander through the stacks… library window browsing. Occasionally I’d pull out a bound volume and glance through. For me, lollygagging down an aisle of bound volumes was, and still is, a bit of a zen-like experience.
Last Laughs: Cartoons About Aging, Retirement…And The Great Beyond.
Not the first death-centric cartoon book, and hopefully not the last. If you’re a cartoonist, it’s one of those subjects that just keeps on giving. I knew I’d one day get around to getting this book — my local used bookstore had a copy for years. I just couldn’t bring myself to take it home, and by the time I could, it was gone from the shelf. This book arrived via an online used bookseller.
The “Contributors” section is made up of a photo (but not always) and questionnaire (each contributor is asked the identical 8 questions). While most contributors answer jokingly, there are a few moments that stand out. With four of the book’s cartoonist contributors having passed away within the past eight months, I’d thought I’d show their responses to Question #2:
“What is the accomplishment of which you are most proud?”
George Booth: “I snared Dione” [his wife].
Lee Lorenz: “Bringing a new generation of cartoonists to The New Yorker.”
Edward Koren:“A life’s worth of kids, family, friends; a satisfying body of work, and a sense of having been of service in many different ways — and particularly (as a member of the fire service) helping mitigate the chance disasters in my small community.”
Sam Gross: “Being around long enough to have a chance at being a very old cartoonist.”