Journey into the world of book collecting with the Goldstones-rediscover the joy of reading, laugh, and fall in love with books all over again. The idea that books had stories associated with them that had nothing to do with the stories inside them was new to us. We had always valued the history, the world of ideas contained between the covers of a book or, as in the case of The Night Visitor, some special personal significance. Now, for the first time, we began to appreciate that there was a history and a world of ideas embodied by the books themselves. Part travel story, part love story, and part memoir, Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone's U**sed and Rare provides a delightful love letter to book lovers everywhere.

Who would have guessed that an innocent search for an inexpensive edition of War and Peace could lead to an all-consuming obsession? Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone's romance with rare books arose from just such a search and led them to a world they had never encountered before: the world of antiquarian books. They quickly found themselves infatuated with this quaint and curious world, and scoured the East Coast in search of first editions and rare books. This search, and the curious people they met along the way, is chronicled in their book Used and Rare. Their second book, Slightly Chipped, continues this exploration, taking us on tours of book fairs, libraries, and auctions. No longer the wide-eyed innocents, the Goldstones delve a little deeper into the book world: they explore facets such as fine printing and literary movements, pour over Bram Stoker's notes for Dracula, and puzzle over the incredible markup of hypermoderns. (Never heard of hypermoderns? They are collectible books recently published. A first edition of Sue Grafton's A Is for Alibi sold for $1,250 in 1998. Better check your shelves.) Both the avid bibliophile and the casual reader will find things to enjoy in Slightly Chipped. For the collector, the Goldstones' discussion of the Internet's impact on collecting is illuminating, and their look at the hypermodern market is positively eye-opening. Plus, visits to such places as the Rosenbach Museum in Philadelphia and the Pequot Library in Connecticut will get any bibliophile's salivary glands going. For the casual reader, Slightly Chipped is as warm and engaging as Used and Rare; although the Goldstones have become sophisticated book collectors, there is still plenty of the ingenuous surprise and delight that made Used and Rare such a joy to read. They balance out the serious aspects of book collecting with a liberal peppering of literary anecdotes, ranging from William Morris's tyrannical leadership of the Kelmscott Press to the sexual proclivities of Virginia Woolf and the Bloomsbury Group, keeping the tone light and the pace lively. All this packed into one volume makes Slightly Chipped a rare treat for book lovers of all types. --Perry Atterberry

The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.

古书是传统文化的重要载体，也是中国古代物质文化的重要组成部分。《古书之爱》中收入的文字，既有在国家古籍保护中心的讲座，也有记录拍书经历的《甲午春得书记》及长篇访谈录，作者所言都是过来人的经验之谈，内容丰富，极有参考价值，处处见出一位藏书家对古籍和传统文化的挚爱。

韦力谈《古书之媒》： 《古书之媒》是一个系列，共有4本书，每本选择四五位人选进行细致访谈。因为恰好11月就是中国古书拍卖20年的时间节点，所以顺应先推出了《古书之媒——感知拍卖二十年摭谈》。另外三本则分别谈北方的古旧书市中心琉璃厂、南方的中心上海福州路以及介绍国内著名的书商。 从古至今大家对于书商都没有一个大的评价，但我其实对书商是怀有感激之情的，有了书商才有了古书流通，他们才是古籍流通最重要的人。也正因为此，此系列书把一些能梳理的东西整理出来，取之“媒介”之义。 这系列书难度大、关键就在于访谈提纲的设置。为了达到预期效果，花费大量时间在提问上，比如准备苏州90高龄书商的访谈，就拟了近160个问题。 ——韦力 内容简介： 《 古书之媒——感知拍卖二十年摭谈》为我国民间藏书名家韦力先生同嘉德拍卖有限公司古籍善本部总经理拓晓堂的对谈录。全书分七个部分，详细解读了近二十年来我国古籍拍卖的奇书、奇人、奇事。二十年古籍拍卖的点点滴滴，见证一段段历史、一个个家族的兴衰、一个个爱书人的喜怒哀乐与痴情。喜的是好书得藏，文化得以传承；悲的是错失良缘，斯人斯书已失。 本书隐含着古籍鉴别、版本选择、价值判断等专业知识，介绍了这二十年来我国市场上出现的一些重要古籍的收藏价值及流传情况，以及一些大藏家藏书历程，从中可见他们的人生趣味及其对传承文化的拳拳之心，并从古籍拍卖的征集、图录、封面、估价、佣金、保证金等方面全面展示了古籍拍卖的市场运作情况以及它对保护、传承我国古籍的重要意义，对认识我国古籍善本的流传及保存状况大有裨益。 编辑推荐： 1． 韦力，中国民间藏书第一人，继《古书之美》后又一力作；拓晓堂，中国古籍拍卖的领军人物，开创中国古籍进入拍卖市场的先河，确立古籍善本每年春秋大拍的惯例。 2． 《古书之媒》的“媒”，是指韦力和嘉德拍卖的拓晓堂对谈，有旗鼓相当的舒畅感，以“一问一答”的形式，娓娓道来古籍拍卖二十年的风云秘事和喜乐悲苦，是了解古书文化、版本鉴别及价值判断的必读之作。 3． 本书不仅汇聚萧盅友、黄裳、黄永年、韦力、拓晓堂等一批大家的藏书经历与心得，而且从古籍拍卖的征集、图录、封面、估价、佣金、保证金等方面全面展示了古籍拍卖的市场运作情况，看完即可基本了解古籍的流通和运作。 4． 几百册毛边本一上市，顷刻被抢购一空。 5． 四色彩印，用纸考究，收录近百幅重要古籍的书影，还原古书之厚重与优美。

本书是著名藏书家谢其章先生的随笔集，延续了作者一贯生动活泼、涉笔成趣的风格，对史料的的关注和独特发现当然更是作者的拿手好戏。张爱玲、邵洵美、金性尧、梁得所、朱省斋、叶灵凤等现代文人，在他的笔下，均另有一番崭新的面目。书中另有一数万字长文《猎书须向拍卖场》，总分十六节，按时间顺序对上世纪九十年代以来的旧书拍卖作了近乎全景式的描述和评说，写得又极有布局有趣味，喜欢搜求旧书的朋友不可不读。