Moby Dickens' Biblio File

Moby Dickens Bookshop offers customers the best book selling services.
For just that reason, we've begun The Biblio File Web Newsletter and Buyer's Club. By giving us your name, address, and phone number for our data base, you will become a club member.. As a member of the Buyer's Club, you will receive a special discount. Your phone number is your customer ID and, at the time of purchase, the cashier/bookseller will enter the amount you spend into your file. When your tally reaches $100, the register will print out a $10 coupon good for the next purchase you make at Moby Dickens.(Music, rare/out of print tiles, maps, tax, calendars and non-book gift items are NOT included in Bookclub.)

TRAVEL TIPS
U.S. passports have become increasingly valuable to people who want to enter the country illegally. The State Department reports that about 15,000 passports are lost or stolen each year! If yours is stolen, you will need proof of citizenship to get a replacement, so guard your passport carefully. Never leave your passport in unattended luggage or carry it with you while you are out visiting sites. Keep it in a hotel safe or, if you must carry it with you, purcahse one of those special wallets that tuck under your clothing. For emergencies though, before you leave home, make two photocopies of your passport. Leave one copy at home with someone you can reach quickly and carry one copy with you, separate from the original. Having a copy will provide proof of citizenship and expedite a replacement.

**The Center for Disease Control and Prevention offers an important service for travelers abroad to help prevent illness. For information regarding the region you are visiting, call 404-332-4565, or visit their web site at www.cdc.gov.

Top of Page

BOOK REVIEWS
Nonfiction: Come by and pick up your copy of Art Bachrach's book D.H. Lawrence in New Mexico: "The Time is Different There." Art's writing compiles stories and recollections from his twenty - plus years aqui en Taos getting to know the folks that knew and remembered the Lawrences during their time here. The book also explores the influence of the mountains of New Mexico on D. H. Lawrence's work. Stick your head in the out-of-print office and meet the man himself (Art, that is, not D.H.!)

Fiction: Water for Elephants is now out in paperback. Sara Gruen's sense of timing and shomanship truly shine in this gritty novel of a traveling circus show set in the time of the Great Depression.

Top of Page

New in Mystery: Aaron Elkins and Margaret Coel are seminal favorites of the mystery bookclub and now we know why! Come pick up one of Elkins' mystries starring the near un-flappable forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver, such as Unnatural Selection (now in paperback) and Tiny Little Teeth, his new hardcover. Check out Coel's latest as well, The Girl with the Braided Hair.

Young Adults: This summer is the summer of the series for young adult readers! Brush up on your Harry Potter just in time for the movie Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (not to mention the release of the long-awaited finale Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows). Our favorite titian-haired girl detective is hitting the big screen as well! Nancy Drew makes a comeback. Reread old favorites, such as The Password of Larkspur Lane (#10 in the original series).

Children: Just in time for the Fourth of July comes a tale of an unlikely patriot. Haym Saloman risks his life, fmaily, and good name to support the cause of liberty. Susan Goldman Rubin makes use of little-known historical facts to craft the story of the man who became known as "The Financier of the American Revolution." The lively illustrations are the work of Davis Slonim.

Top of Page

O/PINION - The Out-of-Print World
A frequent question raised by book collectors and dealers is how to tell a true first edition. This can be a difficult task, complicated by inconsistecies on the part of publishers who have not agreed upon standards in identifying firsts. There are similarities in book design between publishers' first editions and book club editions, and also among qualifying terms such as "issue", "printing", "state", and "impression".

Recognizing the complexities involved, let's try to sort out the various terms ih general use. Edition is commonly used to indicate the issuance of a book. First Edition indicates that the contents of the book are the original contents. When the Second Edition comes out, it suggests there have been two revisions to the copy.

Accordingly, you can have a First Edition with many printings. For example, the popular book "Women Who Run with the Wolves" by Clarissa Pinkola Estes went through numerous printings. The true First Edition has on the Copyright Page (on the back of the Title Page, sometimes called the "Printer's Imprint") the following:

First Edition: May, 1992
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

A later printing reads:

First Edition: May, 1992
10 9 8 7 6 5

Top of Page

With each printing a number is deleted, thus this form indicates the book is still in its First Edition (the contents have not been changed), but this is the fifth printing. It is not a true First Edition with all the numbers from 10 to 1. Another printing of this book reads:

First Edition: May, 1992
Twenty-sixth Printing

The numbers can be any amount. It is dependent upon how many printings the publisher anticipates. It is obvious the publisher of "Women Who Run with the Wolves" did not foresee twenty-six printings or there just wasn't enough room to go 26 - 1.

Some books can carry an alphabetic series along with or instead of the numeric one. You may find:

A B C D E

with an A indicating the First Edition, First Printing. A letter is deleted with each successive printing. The next printing, for example, would be:

B C D E

This practice dates from around the Second World War. Entries in books published before that time show even greater inconsistencies and provide and even greater challenge to the collector.

.