Illustrated - Art, Photography, Architecture, Rare Books
The Weird and the Wonderful: Metropolitan Opera Fine Art
Less a book than a portfolio of rare art prints, this collection of limited edition poster prints–each one of just 25–displays the innovative poster art created for the Metropolitan Opera…. Read more
American Revolution
Forgotten Founders: Thomas Paine, Part 2
In Part 1, I explored the controversy over whether Thomas Paine was a Founding Father. This post is about Common Sense, his most famous work and the most influential, brilliant, and… Read More
Literature, Moderns
I Seek Another Place: Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Bluebeard”
The French folktale of a murderous nobleman called Bluebeard had been around for the better part of two centuries by the time Charles Perrault published his version in Histoires ou… Read More
Polar, Travel, Videos
The Story Behind South by Ernest Shackleton
In this short film, Las Vegas bookseller Greg Hicks tells you why he loves the story of South by Ernest Shackleton. (Image above by expedition photographer Frank Hurley.) For more… Read More
American Revolution
Forgotten Founders: Thomas Paine, Part 1
Should an independancy be brought about, we have every opportunity and every encouragement before us, to form the noblest purest constitution on the face of the earth. We have it… Read More
Illustrated - Art, Photography, Architecture, Science/Natural History
The Story Behind John James Audubon’s Birds of America
It was a chance encounter with nature artist Alexander Wilson that made John James Audubon realize he could make a living from selling his drawings featuring birds of America. At… Read More
Polar, Travel
John Franklin: The Man Who Ate His Boots, Part II
When we left off last, Sir John Franklin and his crew had abandoned Canada’s northern coastline and were making their way toward Fort Enterprise. Circumstances conspired and forced the party… Read More
American Revolution, History
Forgotten Founders: John Dickinson, Part 3
In Part 1, I introduced you to John Dickinson, the “Penman of the Revolution” who became a Forgotten Founder by refusing to vote for independence. In Part 2, I showed… Read More
Civil War, History, Videos
The Story Behind Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
Watch this short film featuring Las Vegas bookseller Greg Hicks with a great story about the publication of Grant’s Memoirs. Read More
Polar, Travel
John Franklin: The Man Who Ate His Boots, Part I
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, it’s sometimes difficult not to romanticize explorers. Never mind the specifics of terrain or method of transport; never mind the fact that many of us wouldn’t… Read More
19th Century, Literature
The Story Behind A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
“how he wept over it, and laughed and wept again—how he walked thinking of it fifteen and twenty miles about the black streets of London, and many a night after… Read More