Saturday, April 25, 2015

My bookmark collection

(Click the image to enlarge it.)
I've collected bookmarks from independent bookstores for decades. I've scanned them all (over 1000!) and put them in online photo albums. In the albums, click on any bookmark to see it larger.

If you're a bookstore lover, I'm sure you recognize some of these, including many stores that have since closed.

Someday, I hope to put all of these scanned images in a proper website, searchable by name or city or state.

Of course, I began by simply saving bookstore bookmarks that I picked up when I visited bookstores. I still seek out bookstores when I travel.

In the 1970s and 1980s, I began writing to bookstores I heard about or found in the American Booksellers Association online directory. I would send them a self-addressed stamped envelope and ask for a bookmark. In those years, every bookstore had a store bookmark.

Sadly, there are fewer and fewer independent bookstores these days, and many no longer have store bookmarks. Now I email asking if they have a store bookmark and, if so, would they send me one if I send them a SASE.

It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did, when, in 2009, I found a website devoted to bookmarks, including a list of bookmark collectors interested in exchanging bookmarks with others! Of course, I added myself to that list, and since then, have exchanged bookmarks with folks in England, Spain, and Australia, as well as the U.S.

If you have bookstore bookmarks that I don't already have, I would love to hear from you! If you want to send them to me, here's my postal address:
Rodney Hoffman
P.O. Box 41768
Los Angeles, CA 90041

 

Monday, April 20, 2015

Autographs - A. Scott Berg

I received this book as a holiday gift in 1979. I enjoyed it, but I thought it a big long and too uncritical.

At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books this past weekend, I attended one panel with three biographers, including Berg. The panelists autographed books afterward. Berg was surprised to see this very early paperback edition.

(Index of autographs)

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Las Vegas, Valley of Fire and Death Valley (March 2015)


Furnace Creek Ranch, where we stayed
(click photo to enlarge it)

I took this one-week tour last month. It started with two nights in Las Vegas, including most of a day at nearby Valley of Fire State Park. We then moved to Death Valley. We hiked every day.

I hadn't been in Las Vegas in more than 20 years, so I arrived early in the day. With the extra time, I walked to the Strip, of course, spending time at the Bellagio and then stopping in several other stores. Only when the tour group first got together that evening did I learn that we were to spend the next evening at the Bellagio!

The weather was not great while we were in Nevada. Much cooler than normal, often windy, and it rained off and on while we were at Valley of Fire Park.

Three photos from Las Vegas and two from Valley of Fire.

The weather was better in Death Valley, and we had lots of good hikes. 19 photos

Our bus driver had a cap with included spiky gray hair. I borrowed it for this photo (again, click the photo to enlarge it) :