banktoasters • I was trying unsucessfully to find a diagram for a temporary protective book cover. I know it’s in one of my books somewhere – talk of a needle in a stack of needles.

Preservation Librarian Peter D. Verheyen was helpful enough to remind me of the lovely trove of free goodies that the Conservation Lab at Syracuse University has online:

just a few samples

Conservation Manuals:

• Conservation Recase – Recasing in cloth retaining the original sewing and adding new endsheets.
• Molded Paper Spine – For recasing pre-1800 volumes sewn on raised cords, providing a much more sypathetic appearance than recasing in cloth.
• Thin Paper Spine – Rebinding for books less than 1cm thick.
  

  Enclosures

• Phase Box – Cut, folded, and assembed four flap enclosure.
• Mylar Phase Box – As above but with Mylar wrapping for the spine to show contents.
• Drop Spine Box – Trays cut & assembled and covered in cloth.
• Windowed Drop Spine Box – As above but with a window in the spine to show contents.
• Encapsulation – Mylar encapsulation using an edge welder.
  

  Other

• Exhibit Cradles – Made of Vivak, a plexiglass which can be cut on the boardshear and folded by hand.
• The Care and Handling of Books and Manuscripts: A Workshop for SUL SCRC Staff and Students. In PowerPoint format.

There are a lot more resources there, you can easily waste an afternoon.

DIY • from DIY Planner – Making a Multi-threaded Bookmark. I’m not usually impressed with a most of the DIY projects found on the net, they tend to be kinda pointless, why make a wallet from Duct Tape when crappy wallets cost a buck at the dollar store. But this little bugger was not only surprisingly clever, it inspired a dope slap.

fet·ish – noun
1. an object regarded with awe as being the embodiment or habitation of a potent spirit or as having magical potency.
2. any object, idea, etc., eliciting unquestioning reverence, respect, or devotion: to make a fetish of high grades.

Long time readers know about my fetish for erasers. Whenever a new one is introduced, I must immediately get one and play with it - remember the little electic rubout? Well, it seems that Papermate has introduced a new toy for my toolbox, their Latex Free White Pearl. As lovely as the Sanford Magic Rub erasers – I cannot wait to try the White Pearl.

In from Win Shaeffer:
Folding Cargo Bag Trunk Organizer (SKU-ATO-40)

• Folding cargo bag eliminates clutter and keeps items from rolling around in the back of vehicle
• Oversized top zips closed for additional storage and security
• Three mesh pockets on front of bag allow for easy access to frequently used items
• Attaches to most carpeted floors with hook attachment strips
• Easily collapses for storage under seat or side cargo pocket storage
• Fabric: Nylon
• Size: 23.25″ x 13.25″ x 12.25″
• Weight: 2 lbs, 2 oz
• Warranty: 25 Years
• Spotted at Costco 2-pack $13.99

Like most booksellers I always have a problem finding JUST the right size box for each occasion. Either they are too big or too small – unless I order them to my own specs – but I am too cheap to do that – but I am NOT so cheap I wouldn’t use a box to ship a book. Which by the way one should always do. Shipping a book without a box is extremely tacky.

Anyway – I had a small need for a small box and the smallest things I had on hand are the relatively new USPS Priority ’shoeboxes’. Maybe this is old news to some people but I was delighted to find that the box is already scored to cut in half – creating at least one 4″x5″x8″ box. Which fit my particular need perfectly. I am alarmed to find that there ARE people of foresight working for the USPS and why aren’t they in departments that will do us the MOST good?

How sad is my life, when THIS is the most exciting thing that happened to me all day?

Exclusively from Main Street Fine Books, Galena IL:

Is that book you’re holding 64mo or 48mo? Small 4to or 4to? Whether reading or writing book catalogues, the Bibliophile’s Bookruler will save you endless leafing through glossaries. Our 18″ varnished ruler with beveled metal edge shows every book/manuscript size from miniature to folio, printed in bright, bold red for instant identification. Price: $6.95 postpaid (U.S.)

Jan Gardner from the Boston Globe picked my brain about gifts for the bookish. So I figured I’d give myself a post out of it – a lot of them you may remember from previous posts – but most everything here is stuff I have played with.

stocking stuffers:

• Syzygy crossword puzzle game
• Quiddler Short Word Game
• Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook by Dr Seuss
• Black Books Season 1 & 2 on DVD
• Slings and Arrows Seasons 1 & 2 on DVD
  
• Spalding Gray’s Monster in a Box on DVD
  
• LM Alcott Too Fond of Books Ornament
• Great Authors Pot Belly Figures
• Staedtler Battery Operated Eraser
• Expandable back scratcher

for the artsy

• Moleskine notebooks
• Palomino® – KUM® Long Point Pencil Sharpener,
• California Republic Stationers Palomino® Graphite HB Pencils
• Hand Book Artists Journals
• Lamy Safari fountain pens
• Noodler’s Eternal Inks
• Faber-Castell Pitt Artist Pens
• Fabriano Medioevalis Stationery

for the fartsy

• Bloomsbury Bookbag Tote
• Boston Athenæum Bookends Set

for the techy

• TV B Gone
• USB Mug Warmer & Hub
• Swiss Army Knife with USB memory
• Build Your Own USB Thumb Drive SD-USB adapter
• LED Electrilite Emergency Windup Flashlight/FM Radio/Cell Phone Charger
• Eton FR300 Emergency Crank Radio

cool tool • I found another freeware program to add to my useful PC tool kit PrintFolder (sorry Windows compatible)

PrintFolder is a fast and efficient utility that lets you print a list of files in any folder and subfolders. List the contents of a folder by name only or include date, size, time, and additional attributes of the folder contents as well. The printing option integrates into the Windows Explorer right-click menu, providing quick access to printing the contents of any folder. This is a great way to keep track of photos, music libraries or movies.

this little goody is going straight onto all my flashdrives.

. . . and for my next trick, I am predicting that shredders will become standard appliances like coffeemakers and can openers. I saw a commercial for this little bugger, and that alarm went off in my head, you know the one that says ‘hey, someone was actually paying attention when they designed this.”

This is what I think is the cool part: it shreds 10 folded paper sheets, CDs/DVDs, credit cards, staples & small paper clips.

• Heavy Duty Cross-cut: 51-100 uses per day
• Light weight, pull-out bin and rubberized handle make emptying easy
• Throat Width: 6″ (152.4 MM)
• Shred Size: .2″ x 1″ (4 x 25 mm)
• Basket Capacity: 1.5 Gallons (5.5 Liter)
• Dimensions: 10.2″L X 11.8″W 11″H
• Auto Off Feature: powers down after 30 minutes
• Shred Speed: 5.6 Ft/min. (1.7 M/min.)
• Weight: 15.2 lbs
• 1 year mfr. limited warranty, 10 year mfr. limited cutter warranty
• $69.00 a tad expensive, but considering how paranoid we have all become, it may be completely rational.
  

calendar •
1660 – John Bunyan arrested for preaching without a license.
1919 – William Faulkner poem Cathay is printed in The Mississippian.
1920 - George Bernard Shaw play Heartbreak House premiers, NY.
1929 - German novelist Thomas Mann receives the Nobel Prize for literature
1956 - Vladimir Nabokov completes the afterward to his novel Lolita.
1936 - Nobel Prize for literature is awarded to American author Eugene O’Neill.

birthdays •
1815 – Elizabeth Cady Stanton, feminist is born (1902) With Susan B. Anthony & Matilda Joslyn Gage she compiles first three volumes of History of Woman Suffrage.
1915 - Roland Barthes, French critic and writer (d. 1980)
1929 - Michael Ende, German writer (d. 1995)
1945 – Tracy Kidder is born author of House and Among Schoolchildren

cool tool • My best guess for the next piece of software Google buys is Campfire, a self-contained, password-protected web-based chatroom that allows groups of up to 30 people to chat and easily share files together. No instant messaging software is required all that’s required is a web browse. So far I have no one to chat with in the Bullpen Chatroom, but it’s quite idiot proof so there is always hope.

banktoaster • speaking of lovecraft, my buddy Smokestack has been recording free downloadable audiobooks of public domain titles for Librivox, this is his newest one The Tomb by Lovecraft.
Here is a list of his other recordings.

obit of note • Sci fi author Jack Williamson at 98, remembered as grand master of science fiction for his dozens of novels and short stories.