http://www.themodernfirst.com Recent blog posts from my shop. en-US Wed, 24 Feb 2021 03:31:03 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/1007866345460/ask-zobert-volume-two https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/1007866345460/ask-zobert-volume-two?pub=1614155463 Sun, 21 Feb 2021 09:21:33 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/1007619686404/ask-zobert-volume-one https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/1007619686404/ask-zobert-volume-one?pub=1613917293 It seems as though the artists working on "The Shining" jacket couldn't decide if they wanted to go with a "Peyton Place" look or a "Star Wars" look and decided to compromise. Wed, 15 Jan 2020 06:53:06 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/744228972737/ugliest-dust-jackets-on-much-loved-books https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/744228972737/ugliest-dust-jackets-on-much-loved-books?pub=1579089186 Fri, 15 Feb 2019 11:29:21 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/478491273402/what-determines-the-value-of-a-book https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/478491273402/what-determines-the-value-of-a-book?pub=1550248161 Sun, 06 Jan 2019 05:22:54 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/466824833051/so-you-married-a-book https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/466824833051/so-you-married-a-book?pub=1546770174 Sat, 05 Jan 2019 02:53:22 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/456033997200/some-books-are-bigger-than-others https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/456033997200/some-books-are-bigger-than-others?pub=1546674802 Unlike book club editions, reprint editions seldom resemble their trade edition counterparts. Well-known reprint houses include The Modern Library, A. L. Burt, Everyman's Press, Castle Books, Garden City Books, Tower/World Books, and Grosset and Dunlap. The latter two are often misidentified as publishers of book club editions, most likely on account of their habit, back in the day, of opportunistically stalking and scrounging the reprint rights to any modestly successful publication. Their imitation books, which appear to have been printed on recycled fast food napkins bound in covers made of compressed dust, were rushed to press right behind the trade editions. Tue, 12 Jun 2018 11:23:02 -0400 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/339349432042/book-club-editions-i-have-known-and https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/339349432042/book-club-editions-i-have-known-and?pub=1528816982 It sometimes happens you find a book you really, really want, or maybe just a book that's really valuable, except it smells like a dead possum in a toilet. Wed, 28 Feb 2018 10:51:16 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/278096778522/the-plague-booklice-and-mold-on-books https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/278096778522/the-plague-booklice-and-mold-on-books?pub=1519833076 Let me guess. You think that analog books made out of dead trees are better than futuristic digital books made out of electrons? Wouldn't you rather read books on a landfill-grade plastic rectangle that spies on you and sells your data to marketing firms? Like how is that not better for everyone?

Here are eight reasons why ebooks are unironically the best:

1. They're not your books. They're content—content that you are licensed to use. You do not own them. So... Sun, 19 Nov 2017 07:21:47 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/226914570989/physical-books-are-heavy-pretentious-and https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/226914570989/physical-books-are-heavy-pretentious-and?pub=1511094107 Rabbit Run, John Updike's second novel, was published in 1960. The story of Rabbit Angstrom, a hapless basketball jock adjusting to married life, earned extensive praise and elevated Updike to the first rank of American writers. His next two published novels, The Centaur (1963), and Of the Farm (1965) were acknowledged in polite terms by reviewers but ignored by the reading public. Sun, 19 Nov 2017 06:20:05 -0500 https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/223964582156/rabbit-is-rich https://www.themodernfirst.com/post/223964582156/rabbit-is-rich?pub=1511090405