Artist Matej Kren created a house out of books for this installation at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna. The installation is called scanners. Books were chosed because "of their nature as seat of knowledge, as symbols of intrinsically human free thought."
We already told you about cigarette vending machines being modified to sell books. Now classic literature is available in cigarette packaging. The books include
The Death of Ivan Illych and Father Sergius by Leo Tolstoy
The New York Timesreports that there was anxiety at this year's BookExpo America over the rise of ebooks. Some authors are concerned as well. Author Garrison Keillor thinks book publishing could "slide into the sea." Fortunately, not everyone is worried. The Times says Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information, gave a presentation to publishers titled "I'll Never Pay More Than $9.99 for an E-Book! And Similar Lies."
Mr. Norris said that in 2008, 56 percent of adults in the United States bought at least one print book. In 2009 the number increased to 57 percent.
"The hype never matches up with reality," Mr. Norris said. "There's money to be made in e-books. There's money to be made in print books too. There's no reason why publishers shouldn't pursue both and just not let the hyperbole get out of control."
A lot of money made in the publishing industry is going switch to the electronic book format. Michael Norris is correct that publishers should focus on both electronic and print formats, which is what most publishers are doing. Michael Norris may be incorrect about the price. There is a lot of resistance to high ebook prices. Readers really don't want to pay more than a paperback for an electronic book.
Publishers Weeklyreports that Phoenix Books, Inc. has closed.
Few details were available this morning, but Gray Peterson, executive v-p and editor-in-chief Dan Smetanka left the company Friday after being told the publisher was being closed. Both men had been brought in to move Phoenix away from its tabloid-driven past and make it a well-rounded independent publisher.
Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is one of Phoenix's authors. He issued the following statement: "The governor was sorry to hear about Phoenix closing and the jobs that will be lost because of it. The ripple effect will no doubt impact him in some way as it will many other authors. The governor will always be grateful to Phoenix and to its late publisher Michael Vinor for believing in him and for giving him a platform to share the truth."
This circular bookshelf called Archive II is currently on exhibition at Denmark's University of Roskilde Main Library. The bookshelf is actually propelled by walking, so you could read and get exercise at the same time. The bookshelf was created by the David Garcia Studio.
Rare First Edition of Kipling's The Jungle Book Discovered
The BBC reports that a rare first edition of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book has been discovered. The book, discovered at at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, contains a handwritten note by Rudyard Kipling to his daughter Josephine.
The book was found by librarians at the National Trust's Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, where Kipling's eldest daughter, Elsie, lived.
The author wrote the inscription to his daughter Josephine, who died in 1899 aged six, said Trust officials.
The book contains an inscription by Rudyard Kipling that says, "This book belongs to Josephine Kipling for whom it was written by her father, May 1894."
People's bookshelves can offer fascinating insight about the owner. There are over 50,000 photographs of bookshelves on Flickr - see here. The BBC has an interesting article about what your bookshelf says about you. You can tell a lot about what a person likes if their bookshelf is focused on a particular theme or subject or if they have a particular book on the shelf. The photograph on the right shows a manga collection organized on a bookshelf by Flickr user jmurawski.
The article says Ikea's Billy bookshelf is immensly popular. 41 million of them have been sold since 1979.
Billy is a behemoth of the bookcase world. Designed by only the fourth employee for Ikea, 41 million have been sold since 1979. The factory where the bookcases are made knocks out 15 Billys a minute; 3.1 million a year.
Many households in the UK have one of these no-frills, building-block style bookcases nestled in a corner somewhere, which means there are a lot of books sitting on its simple shelves.
Book displays can also be manipulated to "present a certain front" says book blogger Peter Sandico.
"Books were immensely prestigious," says Ms Geddes-Brown. "Not only did they show how very learned you were - you could read - but they were also very expensive. At one throw, you proved your intellectual and monetary value."
Peter Sandico is a firm believer in books as an extension of the self. A book blogger, who is collecting photos of readers' shelves in his "bookcase project", he says the magic of book display is the ease with which they can be manipulated to present a certain front.
"The books we choose to display in our bookcases say a lot as to how we want others to see us," says Mr Sandico. "People who want to appear to have serious or academic reading tastes display their classics, while keeping popular novels at the back of the bookcases."
Some of the big nonfiction books that sell each year about past presidents could be one of those books people put on the shelf just for show. The article also mentions bookshelves that have a minimalist theme. That seems somewhat pointless. If you have a bookshelf it should be filled with wonderful books.
Jeff Vandermeer has blogged about the large size of the Chamblin Bookmine, a used bookstore in Jacksonville, Florida. He created a video and posted photos of the enormous bookstore.
Ann and I have traveled the world and visited many a great bookstore, but none, not even the Strand, can compare to Chamblin's, in Jacksonville, Florida. "Bookmine" is an apt title because it's the only bookstore I've ever gotten lost in-it's that big. You could literally fit anywhere from four to eight other used bookstores inside of it. (David Moles, can I get a "Hallelujah!"?)
Jeff Vandermeer also provided some great narration for his video tour of the bookstore. Take a look:
Dwindling Book Sales Create Gloomy Atmosphere For Book Expo
The New York Times has an article that discusses diminishing book sale figures and less enthusiasm about the upcoming Book Expo.
Publishers sold 3.08 billion copies in 2008, down 1.5 percent from the 3.13 billion copies sold the previous year, according to Book Industry Trends 2009, an annual report that analyzes sales in the United States. Higher retail prices helped to lift net revenue just 1 percent, to $40.3 billion from $39.9 billion.
The numbers confirm a litany of dreary news that has emerged from the publishing industry since last fall, when booksellers began seeing significant declines in store traffic. The trend has not abated this year, as publishers have continued to report double-digit sales declines. Borders Group announced Tuesday that first-quarter sales dropped 12 percent.
Against this backdrop, publishers, authors, booksellers and librarians are gathering in New York for BookExpo America, the industry's annual convention, which runs through Sunday.
The 12% Q1 sales drop at Borders is depressing but it really isn't that different than what other industries are experiencing during the recession. In fact, some industries reported far worse Q1 sales figures. This should mean that book sales should return once the economy rebounds.
Publisher's Weeklyreports
that the first Christian Book Expo in Dallas was not a success due to poor attendance. The event won't be held next year.
The show won't go on in Dallas. The Christian Book Expo, an innovative consumer-focused book show, won’t be repeated next year. The board of Evangelical Christian Publishers Association, show sponsor, decided not to stage another event in 2010. Attendance at this year's show, held March 20-22 at the Dallas Convention Center, was 1,500; organizers had hoped for 10,000 to 15,000. The show left the organization with a $250,000 shortfall, according to ECPA president and CEO Mark Kuyper. "We want to clean up the debt before we consider future options," Kuyper told PW in an e-mail.
There is a great market for such an Expo, but the timing couldn't have been worse for the Expo's debut year. With the recession and massive cutbacks in consumer spending, this just wasn't the best time for a new book convention.
HarperCollins Releasing Tolkien's Works in Ebook Format
HarperCollins has secured the electronic rights to the entire Tolkine library. A new global initiative by the publisher will make available the ebook editions of of all of Tolkien's works.
The first three titles, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings (available in its three parts - The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and The Return of the King, and as a complete version) and The Children of Hurin were released yesterday. The Legend of Sigurdand Gudrun (simultaneous publication with the hardback), The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales will be released on May 5th. More titles will be available later this year.
Amanda Ridout, Managing Director, says: "HarperCollins is immensely privileged to be the publisher of JRR Tolkien - one of the most admired and loved authors of the 20th Century. This marks a new and exciting chapter when we can bring his great works in a new format to additional readers of all ages around the world."
The ebooks are compatible with all major ebook readers, including the Kindle and the Sony Ebook reader.
Publishers Weeklyreports that book sales plunged in February by 10.8%. Even so books performed better than the total retail sector which fell 11.5%.
Bookstore sales, which were bolstered somewhat in January by back-to-school buying at college stores, declined 10.8% in February, to $1.02 billion. Sales for the full retail sector fell 11.5% in the month. For the first two months of 2009, bookstore sales were down 3.2%, to $3.32 billion. Sales for all of retail tumbled 9.9%.
The bookstores are certainly feeling the impact of sales falling 10%. There have been plans to close hundreds of its Waldenbooks stores.
Here's another unique way to store your books. It's a circular bookshelf designed by Zhdanova Irina. You can read more about Zhdanova's unusual bookshelf here and here. (via Neatorama)
The New York Times 
Italian author Claudio Magris has won the annual Frankfurt Booksellers Peace Prize worth $35,000.
