As a literary blogger myself, I like to follow quite a few blogs online that are written by like-minded individuals. The internet is a wonderful thing, is it not? Perhaps we can see both the good and the bad when it comes to online reading. You can find all the research in the world, but also are privvy to the intimate daily thoughts of Donald Trump through Twitter. You can read The Documents of the Hexateuch written in 1893 on Google Books, and then in less than ten degrees of separation find some hateful and badly written webpages on the damnation of both religious and anti-religious folk. Why am I telling you all this, you may very well ask?
The only blogs that we at Tavistock Books can be responsible for are the ones that are published on www.tavbooks.com (AKA the best blog in the world)! So no matter where I direct you to, where we might find inspiration or what you may read online… do us a favor and read everything (even this) with a grain of salt! Always remember that you can’t believe everything you read online. Well, except pretty much everything written by Trump on Twitter. That is definitely all true.
The New Antiquarian: The Blog of the ABAA
Now, we might be a teensy bit biased toward the ABAA’s blog, as our blogs have been featured pieces on there several times! But in all truthfulness, if you’re looking for an antiquarian book world blog updated constantly with all different types of pieces… works on book collecting, on authors, on events, on problems in the book world – even thefts… look no further! In an all-around sense, the New Antiquarian sets you up with a little bit of everything… rare book world style!
The Fine Books & Collections online magazine has A LOT going on on their main page. Don’t let that deter you from delving in! Their blog page is a bit calmer and has a lot of interesting pieces… you can search through by genre and also by writers/bookstores that some of the blogs come from. Oh, and they don’t just report on antiquarian books… within you can even find works on recent TV shows based on famous authors and reviews of brand new literature hitting the shelves!
The Public Domain is a very interesting find, in my not so humble opinion… their main focus, in their own words, is to be “an online journal and not-for-profit project dedicated to the exploration os curious and compelling works from the history of art, literature and ideas. In particular… the focus is on works which have now fallen into the public domain, that vast commons of out-of-copyright material that everyone is free to enjoy, share, and build upon without restriction.” The Public Domain focuses, as stated, on many out-of-copyright material – much of which you would not have heard of before, as they are often no longer printed for the masses! If you’re searching for the literary blog that will guarantee you the most interesting topic of conversation at your next dinner party… look no further!
If you’re looking for something a bit less antiquarian and a bit more focused on the modern-day book world of e-books, publishing, self-publishing and producing, I suggest The Book Designer as a place to start. I find some of their blogs/articles a bit too “Self-Help-y” for my taste (nothing wrong with self-help, and in their defense their tagline is “Practical Advice to Help Build Better Books”), but if you’re looking to begin a writing or publishing or book designing career in any form or fashion, The Book Designer will have at least a hint of what you need.
A great literature-lover blog that has a bit of antiquarian, a bit of modern, and a bit of cheek is Literary Hub. Just this past minute I read a blog on there I missed a couple weeks ago about Jane Austen’s ridiculous Mrs. Bennet being the most subversive and free-spirited of all of Austen’s characters! (Despite also being the most widely mocked.) This is just the type of literary article you can find on LitHub… along with reposts, new posts, literature and politics… a bit of something for every bibliophile who encounters it. Check it out!
Also, check out this awesome list by Stephen J. Gertz on his book-blog BookTryst (another great blog) – briefly detailing some of the best antiquarian book blogs out there for our perusal!
But no matter where you head off to (online, that is) after reading this… just remember your promise! The moment you come across the article “Turning away Refugees is an American Tradition” on one of these websites, do as you will – snort, scoff, giggle then feel guilty about it, make sad droopy eyes… anything but shoot the messenger!
