Since it was established in 1977, the Center for the Book has sponsored more than 100 publications, including books, pamphlets, reports, calendars, catalogs and brochures. For a selective listing and information about availability, visit the center's Web site.
1999 "Literary Companion" Calendars Published
The Library of Congress's rich literary collections are reflected on every page of two calendars for 1999, just published by Pomegranate Calendars & Books. The calendars present photographic portraits of more than 60 authors, plus biographical profiles, anecdotes, dates and quotations that provide vivid glimpses of the authors' lives, books and achievements.
In his introduction to the calendars, Center for the Book Director John Y. Cole describes the Library's book and nonbook collections as "an amazing compendium of the power and influence of the written word." He also notes how the Library strives to make all of its collections readily available, not only to those able to visit Washington but also through its National Digital Library Program "to the growing millions of people with access to personal computers."
American novelist Rex Beach (1877-1949), one of the most popular American novelists in the first decades of this century, is on the cover of the 1999 engagement calendar (above left), which was compiled by Margaret E. Wagner of the Library's Publishing Office. She and free-lance writer Alan Bisbort wrote the captions. The 112-page spiral-bound book sells for $13.95.
American bard Walt Whitman is on the cover of the 1999 wall calendar (left), which was compiled by Ms. Wagner and Mr. Bisbort, who also wrote the brief biographical essays about each author. In addition to Whitman, the writers portrayed are: John le Carré, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Agatha Christie, Lewis Carroll, Lord Byron, Lorraine Hansberry, Clifford Odets, Gore Vidal, Nikki Giovanni, Maxwell Bodenheim and James Baldwin. The price is $12.95.
Both calendars are available in bookstores around the country, in the Library of Congress Sales Shop, and from Pomegranate Calendars and Books, Box 6099, Rohnert Park, CA 94927.
For the Love of Libraries Postcard Book Published
In cooperation with the Center for the Book, Pomegranate Calendars & Books has published a book of 30 postcards, For the Love of Libraries, featuring photographs and anecdotes by Diane Asséo Griliches. The introduction is by John Y. Cole. The photographs, captions, and quotations are from the author's Library: The Drama Within, a book published by the University of New Mexico Press in 1996 in association with the Center for the Book. Many of the photographs of libraries and their patrons in For the Love of Libraries were exhibited at the Library of Congress in 1997 and have been added to the Library's photographic collections.
For the Love of Libraries: A Book of Postcards is available in bookstores around the country, in the Library of Congress Sales Shop and from Pomegranate Calendars & Books, Box 6099, Rohnert Park, CA 94927.
Book of Jefferson Quotations Published in Paperbound Edition
Jefferson the Man: In His Own Words, edited by Robert C. Baron and published by Fulcrum Books in 1993 in association with the Library of Congress, is now available in a paperbound edition. This tribute to the nation's third president explores many different topics in Jefferson's own words, ranging from his ideas on exploration, science, freedom and democracy to his feelings about friends, family, books, education and gardening. It includes an introductory essay, "Thomas Jefferson and the Library of Congress," by Center for the Book director John Y. Cole.
A 54-page book, Jefferson the Man: In His Own Words, is available for $7.95 in bookstores throughout the country, in the Library of Congress Sales Shop and from Fulcrum Publishing, 350 Indiana St., Suite 350, Golden, CO 80401-5093, telephone (800) 992-2908.
Jefferson Building Book Wins Top Award from Washington Book Publishers
The Library of Congress: The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building won the "Best of Show" award in the Thirteenth Annual Book Design and Effectiveness Competition sponsored by the Washington Book Publishers. The award, "bestowed on the book with the most outstanding combination of cover and interior design" was announced and presented at a ceremony on June 11.
The richly illustrated 320-page book, published in 1997 by W.W. Norton & Co. in association with the Library, features 185 full-color photographs of the recently renovated and reopened Jefferson Building, most of them taken by noted photographer Anne Day especially for the book. Robert L. Wiser of Archetype Press in Washington was the designer and accepted the award. Also recognized at the awards were Library of Congress Publishing Office Editors Margaret Wagner and Blaine Marshall and Director W. Ralph Eubanks. The editors of the volume are John Y. Cole and architectural historian Henry Hope Reed.
The book also won first prize in the category "Illustrated Books: Three or More Colors." The second prize in this category went to another LC-related book, Eyes of the Nation: A Visual History of the United States, by Vincent Virga and curators of the Library, published in 1997 by Alfred A. Knopf. This 416-page volume, which contains more than 500 images from the Library's collections, was designed by Peter A. Anderson and edited by LC Publishing Office staffers Ms. Wagner and Sara Day.
Both books are available in bookstores across the country and in the Library of Congress Sales Shop. The Library of Congress: The Art and Architecture of the Thomas Jefferson Building sells for $60; the cost of Eyes of the Nation is $75.
Multicultural World of Print Culture Explored in New Book
The University of Illinois Press has published Print Culture in a Diverse America, a volume of essays originally presented as papers at a May 1995 conference sponsored by the Center for the Study of Print Culture at the University of Wisconsin. Partial support for the conference was provided by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
Editors James P. Danky and Wayne A. Wiegand have selected 11 papers that examine the many ways that print culture functions within different groups. Several of the authors link gender, class and ethnicity to the uses and goals of particular publications. Others look at ways that print materials construct and influence our interpretation of historical events. Topics include the Italian immigrant press, 1850-1920; the effectiveness in the 1990s of Chicago's tabloid newspaper StreetWise; San Francisco's newspaper Chung Sai Yat Po and the transformation of Chinese consciousness, 1900-1920; African American periodicals and the black middle class, 1900-1930; and the role of African American literary societies in the American literary scene.
The volume includes an introductory essay by Mr. Wiegand, "Theoretical Foundations for Analyzing Print Culture as Agency and Practice in a Diverse Modern America."
The 291-page volume is available for $49.95 (clothbound) and $27.95 (paperbound) in bookstores and in the Library of Congress Sales Shop. Toll-free telephone orders from within the U.S. can be placed with the University of Illinois Press at (800) 545-4703.
Documenting LC
Center for the Book Director John Cole is the author of several recent articles about the activities of the Library and the Center for the Book. They include: "The LC: An Incomparable American Studies Center," American Studies Association Newsletter, Vol. 21, March 1998; "Books, Reading, and the Library of Congress in a Changing America," Libraries & Culture, Vol. 33, Winter 1998; and "Center for the Book," The Bowker Annual, 43rd Edition, 1998.
