A Day at the Auction

Some of the LECs Bob brought home

So when was the last time you were in Ithaca, NY? I decided on the spur of the moment to go to the National Book Auction’s August sale last weekend, as there was an interesting mix of older books, private press, and books from the Limited Editions Club. I had never met David Hall, the owner, but gave him a call and he steered me to a nice place to stay (La Tourelle). The books were available for viewing on Saturday, so I made the 5 hour drive through heavy rain in the Poconos to get there in time for a long look. I found out that the older books had come from my old friend Norman Kane who had passed away in March.

The sale started at 12 on Sunday and lasted about three and a half hours. The auction house is at the forefront of technology with real time online bidding through Artfact, which added to the excitement of the normal audience, phone, and mail bidding.  I managed to get 64 of the lots including Norman’s bookpress, which I shall keep for myself as a reminder of him. I had a three hour dinner with David that night where we solved every bookselling problem in the world plus some. Then it was back to Delaware on Monday morning after lots of packing and a brief visit to John Spencer at Riverow Bookshop who is always worth seeing. Now stay tuned for many new additions to our stock!

Norman Kane’s bookpress

Review of William Stafford: An Annotated Bibliography

This book is a wonder and a wonderful place to wander if you like William Stafford’s work. It is also a wonder of the bibliographer’s art. Stafford’s production was immense and keeping track of it a daunting task.

Recently, Oak Knoll Press and Lewis & Clark College’s William Stafford: An Annotated Bibliography was reviewed in the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of the Friends of William Stafford newsletter. It is a glowing review that captures the importance of this bibliography for those interested in William Stafford.

For anyone interested in the work of William Stafford, this book is a browser’s dream. The index, seventy pages long, lists so many poems, essays, magazines, anthologies, presses, broadsides, and people’s names, each entry a story in itself, it is truly astonishing. One could get lost, which I can testify to, and find oneself hours later, more informed and having formed an even more profound respect for Stafford’s stature. This is a truly multi-dimensional book.

William Stafford (1914-1993) was one of the most prolific and important American poets of the last half of the twentieth century. During his lifetime, Stafford wrote over sixty books of poetry that still resonate with a wide range of readers. In this bibliography, one will find descriptions of Stafford’s work, from his books, to his contributions in magazines, to his translations of other poets’ works. The Friends of William Stafford newsletter review summarizes each section of the bibliography and gives several examples of what one will find within the covers of the book.

The past (his work), the present (the physical book), and the future (the ability to assess his stature) cohere in this hefty and handsome book. It is a major contribution toward the appreciation and understanding of William Stafford’s work and its resonance through time.

To read the entire review, email publishing@oakknoll.com to request a pdf copy. You can order William Stafford: An Annotated Bibliography online here!

The dimensionality of this book comes from the way it gathers the past, visually realizes the present, and offers the future the opportunity to form itself. This is his legacy in the sense that it catalogues his gift and enables it. It glows because it contains within its covers the past, the present, and the future of William Stafford, poet and thinker.