Categories for Literature
Literature
The Radical Roots of Gulliver’s Travels
Swift has sailed into his rest;Savage indignation thereCannot lacerate his breast.Imitate him if you dare,World-besotted traveller; heServed human liberty. –W.B. Yeats, The Winding Stair Read More
Literature, Moderns, Videos
The Story Behind A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
Las Vegas bookseller Christy Shannon explores the creation of this famous dystopian novel. Read More
History, Literature
Collecting rare books and autographs of American Presidents
If you love American history, you may find a particular joy in collecting rare books related to the nation’s presidents. For many, the presidency holds an exceptional fascination as a… Read More
19th Century, Literature
The Story Behind Frankenstein; Or the Modern Prometheus
A stormy evening closes in on a villa not far from Lake Geneva. The group of friends gathered there read ghost stories to pass the time. Inspired by these tales… Read More
19th Century, Literature, Videos
The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Sherlock Holmes
Watch a short film featuring Las Vegas bookseller Embry Clark discussing the ups and downs Sir Arthur Conan Doyle endured while living with his most famous creation Sherlock Holmes. Read More
Literature
We Read Banned Books
We all know that books burn—yet we have the greater knowledge that books cannot be killed by fire. People die, but books never die. No man and no force can… Read More
Literature, Rare Books 101, Videos
Book Talk with University of Iowa Special Collections
The University of Iowa Special Collections has produced four more wonderful videos from their visit to Bauman Rare Books in Las Vegas. The video featured above gives a deliciously close… Read More
19th Century, Literature
The Story Behind Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
In January of 1851, a 40 year old homemaker and mother of six received $300 from a Washington D.C. newspaper to write a short antislavery narrative. Staying up nights after… Read More
Literature
5 Shakespeare Editions We Love
It may seem strange that the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s works did not appear until seven years after his death, and that 17 of the 36 plays had never… Read More
Literature
Inspired by the Greats
That great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil. When W. H. Davenport Adams wrote positively about the poet Tennyson in his article “Imitators and Plagiarists” in… Read More