Moby Dickens is 25!

On December 14, 1984 Moby Dickens Bookshop opened its doors to its small shop on what was once John Dunn's front porch. The shop has gradually expanded to take up the side porch and part of the upstairs attic space of the John Dunn house.

Art Bachrach and wife Susan fell in love with Taos, Art having retired from a successful career at the Faculty in the University of Virginia Medical School, attaining the rank of Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology and Psychiatry. In 1962, he left the University of Virginia to accept the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychology at Arizona State University. From 1969 to 1987 he worked as Director of the Environmental Stress Program and Chair of Psychophysiology at the Naval Medical Research Institute at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. Susan had been the first Nurse Practitioner at the National Institutes of Health.

Art, with his love for Herman Melville's and Charles Dickens' writings as well as his enchantment with sea species, named the shop Moby Dickens, hence the whale theme throughout the bookshop.

Art and Susan wish to thank all of our wonderful customers and local and visiting authors during all these happy reading years!

TOP STAFF PICKS for April

Out in paperback now is Little Bee by Chris Cleave. Cleave is a columnist for the Guardian in London, but his skill as a novelist comes to the fore in this tense, poignant book about Little Bee who as a teen stows away aboard a ship for London and is caught up by immigration, her own fears, and an unlikely friendship with a glamor magazine editor. A highly recommended, gripping tale.

J. Michael Orenduff's new book is out! The Pot Thief Who Studied Ptolemy has been acclaimed as even better than his first book. He will be here to sign the book in early Summer. Look for our announcements.

Come in and browse our large selection of tarot cards.

We have the 2010 Caldecott Winner, The Lion and the Mouse, retold and richly illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.

The Newbery Winner this year is When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Twelve-year-old Miranda encounters shifting friendships, a sudden punch, a strange homeless man and mysterious notes that hint at knowledge of the future. These and other seemingly random events converge in a brilliantly constructed plot.

The Zombie Survival Guide, A Complete Protection from the Living Dead by Max Brooks is a hit here in Moby Dickens. There are the top ten lessons for surviving a Zombie attack and tips on how to traverse various terrains to avoid being spotted by a zombie.

Complete Poems of Cesar Vallejo A Year With Rilke Love Haiku

The Red Book by C. G. Jung is a seminal, historic occasion publication and an instant collectible. This book will be studied as a major contribution to the synthesis of science, mythology, and art.

Here's another: Lit by Mary Carr is a brilliant, critically acclaimed memior with the searing honesty and remarkable humor Karr uses to describe her descent into severe alcoholism and then her mighty struggle to climb back out. She does not spare herself in either process.

We now have that revolutionary Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution in! He adores Italian cuisine, and has adapted it to American kitchens.

Come browse our scintillating garden display just inside the front door. If that doesn't make you want to don your gardening gloves, we don't know what will!

The Bedside Book of Beasts by Graeme Gibson is a gorgeous, informative book on wild animals by the author of the similarly great book, The Bedside Book of Birds.

This is history too! Coming out on April 27th is Hampton Sides riveting new book, Hellhound on His Trail, the Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the International Hunt for his Assassin. If ever there was a page-turner, this is it!

Cakewalk by Kate Moses is just out. It is one of those cooking memoirs that one reader said made her both laugh out loud and sob. There are "can't resist" recipes in each section!

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.!)

Moby Dickens Bookshop offers customers
the best book selling services.

For just that reason, we've begun Spoutings Web Newsletter and Buyer's Club for local residents. As a member of the local Buyer's Club, you will receive a special discount: when your purchase 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.)

We Specialize in books written about Taos and this area. For instance we just received four signed copies of Lucille Reid Brock's "Taos Then." We attempt to keep copies of popular out-of-print titles about Taos in stock: e.g. Taos Mosaic and Long John Dunn. We happily search for any out-of-print book that you may desire from rare to a childhood favorite to 'You Name It.' If it's out there, we can get it.

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 A Writer's Eye by Paul Horgan, first edition, 1988. This appealing book features Paul's watercolors and field notes.

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, for instance 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.

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.