FMR: most beautiful magazine

Back in the early 1990s, in my many hours spent browsing at Yes Books here in Portland, I encountered a fabulous magazine, lushly printed like no other, and full of a fascinating array of articles. Every issue seemed to be hand-picked to reflect my interests! That magazine was FMR. Recently, I came across a stack of back issues at a rummage sale, which are now out on the shelf in the shop. It's been so nice to revisit them!

Topics are many and varied, from antique androids to colonial era gravestone art to ... well, you name it!

To quote designboom.com, since they seem to have summed it up so nicely,

The magazine bears Francomaria Ricci's initials as its title 'FMR'. Pronounced in French, the title appears to read 'ephémère'. First and foremost 'FMR' is an object. 'The most beautiful magazine in the world' acts as a model for perfection, presenting noteworthy iconological
and art historical studies without being pedantic.

Magnificent, large photographs, and exquisite drawings are faithfully reproduced on a black background, the pictures and the clear bodonian type stand out brightly -- isolated shapes in their chromatic relief and in their volumes in order to help the eye to contemplate attentively.

[Source]

(Be sure to visit their site, as it is striking and full of delicious design goodies.)

EVENT: First Friday Artwalk "Relics" opening

The Green Hand is very pleased to present "Relics," a series of digital and traditional photographs depicting industrial decay, anachronism, and forgotten places around Portland and Southern Maine, as captured by the intrepid Eric Pomorski.

WHAT: First Friday Artwalk opening of "Relics" by Eric Pomorski
WHEN: Friday, September 3rd, 2010 from 5:00-8:00pm
WHERE: The Green Hand Bookshop, 661 Congress Street, Portland, ME
FMI: (207)450-6695 or see the Facebook event page http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=101655499895193

Fans of urban exploration, abandoned mill buildings, and other remnants of Maine's past will be especially interested in this show. A wide range of Eric's work is posted on Flickr here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epomorski/

We are very excited to have his work on display throughout the month of September!

Rearranging!

Well, nothing ever stands still here in the shop. The other week we started work on expanding the sci-fi/fantasy section, and today we kicked off another chain reaction.

A few of the changes:
-- The literary biographies (authors and poets) have their own little bookcase now.
-- There is now an "Adventure and Intrigue" fiction section, with everything from spy novels to Civil War novels to nautical adventure, etc.
-- The "Exploration" and "Arctic" sections have been moved out of History into the section that also houses the shipbuilding/sailing books. It seemed like a natural fit!
-- There is a new Art section bookcase right at the front of the store as you come in, housing some of the oversized books, some art history, photography, and Collectible guides (including autos/airplanes).

On the agenda as we move more stuff around:
-- Adding a pair of double-sided cases near the counter, where the "New Arrivals" table is now, one of which will house the weird non-fiction.
--Expanding the horror section into the tall bookcase which previously housed the weird non-fiction books.

Hot diggity! There's no sitting-on-hands going on here. :) More to come, too... stay tuned!

Tom Swift mysteries

I'm about to put out a stack of the old creamtone hardcovers of the Tom Swift books (which will complement the shop's collection of later editions nicely). Leafing through Tom Swift in the Land of Wonders a section caught my eye, in Chapter XI: The Vampires... enjoy!

Tom laughed quietly.
"A shadow!" he exclaimed. "Since when were you afraid of shadows, Ned?"
"I'm not afraid of ordinary shadows," answered Ned, and in his voice there was an uncertain tone. "I'm not afraid of my shadow or yours, Tom, or anybody's that I can see. But this wasn't any human shadow. It was as if a great big blob of wet darkness had been waved over your head."
"That's a queer explanation," Tom said in a low voice. "A great big blob of wet darkness!"
"But that just describes it," went on Ned, looking up and around. "It was just as if you were in a dark room, and some one waved a wet velvet cloak over your head -- spooky like!"

T. H. White waxes ordinary

Another delectable morsel from a book world gone by -- from a 1936 hardcover of T. H. White's "England Have My Bones" comes this charming introductory explanation of the contents:

This book cannot pretend to be written by a naturalist, and it is not for naturalists. It is a book about things, for people who have lost them; because it has given me pleasure to rediscover my things, and I should like to shew them to other people who might be pleased as well.

It has turned into a book about the tangible side of country life. People, I felt, ought to pay more attention to the temperature of their baths, and the way they fill their pipes, and the birds who are squandering their song for a chance audience, and the spectacles of nature that give food for the pleasures of rumination, and the construction of fires, and the time to drink sherry, and the season at which a hot water bottle improves upon the comfort of warming one's own bed. In fact, it is an empirical book, an effort to return to the various world. Sport is a good way of doing that.

At the same time, I am sorry to feel that it must be a book which requires apology, or at least explanation. Fishermen will be maddened by the flying, aviators by the snakes, zoologists by the instructions for playing darts. It may seem a fair criticism to say that too many things are done, and none of them expertly.