Usually, there is one book that stands out each day.  Today, one of my co-workers got “The Book.”  It’s surprising what draws your interest and even better when it also affects someone else in the same way.  We call these “book o’ the day” items, the ones you just have to share with someone…immediately.  Today’s is The book of trades (Ständebuch). It’s a collection of wood block prints depicting occupations in Medieval Europe.  The book has it all, lots of pictures, cryptic German fractur script (and English translations), and a sense of history.  My first thought was, oooh, woodcuts! followed closely by the realization that this book can come in handy for those deciding how to survive a sudden time traveling accident (it’s amazing what gets discussed on the internets –link to Marginal Revolution thread). Many of the trades seem down right modern and the translation mentions some of the goods they created…a time traveller might be all right barring disease and language drift.  The German wikipedia site even has links to all the woodcuts, you’ll have to check out the book to get the English translation though!

One of the curses of cataloging, is that you are forever sampling books but never get to fully digest them.  I used to try to keep lists of books I wanted to revisit, but, once they left my desk I never got back to them…there’s always an excuse, it’s shelved on the other side of campus, why did I want to read that book anyway?, why did I save that German title when I can’t read German, etc.  My favorites are the art books since I get a sense of the artist in the time it’s on my desk.  Currently, I have a ton of art books to catalog, one of those hidden collections.  So, I spend my time shifting between the art books and other materials.  Today, I thought I’d include a sampling of the different books I handled:

For the regular books, I handled all sorts of topics like Estonian music, biographies (World War 2 veterans mostly), William Blake’s complete works, Canadian fiction, Cameroon poetry, economics, and logic.  Luckly, today was mostly an English language day, with a little French and Italian thrown in for good measure.  None of these really held my attention, instead today was all about the art books.

The hidden collection I mentioned above is called the “Artist’s Vertical file.”  These books are all exhibition catalogs (a book published to accompany a gallery show).  I also had some art gifts.   One book I liked in particular was Minidoka revisited : the paintings of Roger Shimomura. Shimoura is an American artist exploring cultural identity (in this particular exhibition anyway).  I enjoyed the interplay between the traditional Japanese print style and pop art to emphasize sterotyping and discrimination.

Another artist that caught my attention was Randy Shull and his juxtaposition folk art and modern design.  Then again, I’m  a sucker for mid-century modern.

And finally, an old book, The Japanese House and Garden.  Unfortunately, the photos are in black & white but it includes plans and architectural details.

Welcome to cataloging the abyss, a blog about cataloging library materials and the discoveries I make along the way.  First, a little about my job ; I’m a cataloger responsible for adding books from our hidden collections, gifts and any other random item that crosses my desk.  In the course of a day, I see all sorts of topics.  I plan to share the better and most interesting items here, hoping they recover their significance and utility.  There will also be thoughts about libraries, cataloging, technology and how they intersect.

Enjoy, maybe you’ll find something you just have to check out.