The Biblio File hosted by Nigel Beale

William Taylor Jr. is a cataloger with PBA Galleries, a San Francisco-based auction house for rare books and ephemera; he specializes in fine literature, counterculture and poetry. He's an avid reader, and a prolific writer. His first book of fiction is included in the curriculum at select universities across the United States. In 2013 he was the recipient of an Acker Award, a tribute named after groundbreaking writer Kathy Acker given to members of the avant-garde arts communities in both New York and San Francisco who have made outstanding contributions to their discipline. We talk here about PBA Galleries, about Bill's role as a cataloguer and auctioneer, about how to sell your rare books using PBA's services; about what those services are; about commissions, first editions of Huxley's Brave New World in very good plus dust jackets (actually the item in question was in NF/NF condition), printed catalogues, Bukowski, the Beats, reasons to sell via an auction house versus eBay, and much more

Damon Galgut is a South African novelist and playwright. He was awarded the 2021 Booker Prize for his novel The Promise and shortlisted for the prize in 2003 and 2010 right about the time I first interviewed him at his apartment in Cape Town (listen here). Damon was head boy at Pretoria Boys High School, matriculating in 1981, and then studied drama at the University of Cape Town. He wrote his first novel, A Sinless Season (1982), when he was 17. We met via Zoom to talk about his life as a writer and how he writes novels. Among other things we discuss his Parker fountain pen, Chekhov's brilliant short story 'The Kiss' (hat tip to James Wood). We also riff together off John Gardner's classic On Becoming a Novelist. Good idea to read both if you want to get the most out of our conversation.

Biblio.com started as a price comparison engine for new and used books in 2000. Later, this price comparison engine became SearchBiblio.com famous for several years as the Internet's fastest "metasearch" site for books. In the summer of 2003 Biblio.com launched as a used books marketplace, working off a 'triple bottom line' using these goals: achieving profit, serving people, and preserving the environment. Biblio's founder, Brendan Sherar has a life-long passion and appreciation for books. A former bookstore owner, he has been involved in the transformation of the book industry from the earliest days of the Internet. He has a B.A. in economics from University of North Carolina at Asheville and is a graduate student at Georgia Institute of Technology. In his spare time, he enjoys running, soccer, hiking, playing piano, gardening, and traveling extensively. I met with Brendan via Zoom to talk about the differences between Biblio and its larger competitors, about Biblio's first ever live virtual Antiquarian Book Fair scheduled for March 24-26, 2022, about how booksellers can best increase their online sales, tips for book buyers wanting to shop online, advice on book collecting, how Biblio is working to match collectors with buyers and sellers, and much more.

Glenn Horowitz is an agent in the sale and placement of culturally significant archives to research institutions throughout the United States. Authors, artists, musicians, designers, and photographers represented include Bob Dylan, Norman Mailer, James Salter, Eve Babitz, Deborah Eisenberg, David Foster Wallace, Vladimir Nabokov, and many more. We spoke recently via Zoom about his practice: what he does and how he does it. Topics covered include polyps; making bookseller websites accessible to the disabled; looking for and selling value; Sting and estates; the disappearance of printed bookseller catalogues; the human touch; Hemingway; unique copies; avoiding book fairs and bookseller associations; nostalgia; unorthodox archives; the Kitchen Sisters; unused video games; the fact that every bookseller is now an archives dealer; Against The Tide Commentaries On A Collection Of African Americana 1711-1987; Johnny Cochran; and much more.

John Sargent is an American book publisher; until recently he was the CEO of Macmillan Publishers USA, and Executive Vice President of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group where he oversaw global trade operations; he was also responsible for Macmillan Learning, the company's US-based higher education business. We talk via Zoom about his career in publishing, not about libraries; about being sales reps, and doing cold calls; Columbia Business School, complex balance sheets and P & Ls; his grandfather Effendi (F.N. Doubleday); publishing great saleable books; supporting Joseph Conrad and Somerset Maugham; agents; movies selling books; advances; intuition and good taste; managing and motivating people and having fun; honesty; embracing and appreciating authors; sharing your enthusiasm for what you do; getting out of your silo; the unreplicable experience of reading, and producing movies in your own head; Frederick Forsyth; autobiography; self-publishing and gate keepers; hyperbole and blurbs, noise and signals; Bill O'Reilly, and more.

Jerry Kelly is a​ ​book designer, calligrapher​ ​and type designer. Before starting his own design business in 1998 ​he was Vice President of The Stinehour Press​. Prior to this he worked as a designer at A. Colish. ​Jerry's work has been honored ​frequently; for example, his book designs have been selected more than thirty times for the AIGA "Fifty Books of the Year"​ Award.​ In 2015 he was presented with the 28th Goudy Award from RIT.

​He has served as Chairman of the American Printing History Association​ and President of The Typophiles, and​ has worked ​o​n ​numerous committees at The Grolier Club. He has written​ several books on calligraphy and typography, including The Noblest Roman: The Centaur Types (co-authored with Misha Beletsky; winner of the 2016 Bibliographical Society of America Prize) and​Type Revivals.​ His best known book is probably A Century for the Century, a catalogue of the 100 most beautiful, finely printed books produced during the twentieth century, which we refer to in our conversation, along with referencing some of the most beautiful catalogue work Jerry ​has done for clients including booksellers Jonathan A. Hill and Glenn Horowitz, and The Grolier Club.

Andrew Wylie is an American literary agent. He grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts and attended St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He has a degree from Harvard University where he studied Romance Languages & Literatures. Wylie founded his eponymous literary agency in New York in 1980 and opened a second office in London in 1996. The firm now represents more than 1400 authors and literary estates. We met via Zoom to discuss what he does and how he does it. We talk about, among other things, his early experience building the business, authors getting ripped off, calculating and elucidating the true value of great literary works, bound daytime television, Danielle Steel, traveling the world, late mornings and the great British publishing tradition, Roger Straus and Fuck you very much, channeling Susan Sontag, the Zen of Andy Warhol, spider plants, hollow men, advances as guarantees of good service, discovering new literature, doing what you love until you die, and much more. Andrew also sings.

Richard Charkin is a British publishing executive. He founded Mensch Publishing in 2018. Prior to this he was Executive Director of Bloomsbury (2007 to 2018). Over the years he has held executive positions at Pergamon Press, Oxford University Press, and Reed International/Reed Elsevier. He is the former Chief Executive of Macmillan Publishers Limited and Executive Director of Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck. We met via Zoom to talk about what he's learned over the past several years running Mensch, his tiny publishing firm; specifically we discuss Frankfurt, understanding assets, and measuring various publishing activities in order to save time and money. * Apologies for the poor audio. Zoom connection was abnormally poor on this one.

Warren Kinsella is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, commentator and sometime painter. He has written for most of Canada's major newspapers and is currently a columnist for the Toronto Sun. He is the founder of the Daisy Consulting Group, a Toronto-based firm that engages in paid political campaign strategy work, lobbying and communications crisis management. Prior to this he played various roles in the Liberal government, including special assistant to Jean Chrétien, former Prime Minister of Canada. He has written ten books, including non-fiction on terrorism, racism, and punk rock, and a novel entitled Party Favours. We met via Zoom to discuss the political book genre. Topics of conversation included Warren's father Douglas, the types of people who write political books, motivations for writing political books, Chretien's Straight from the Heart, books written pre and post power, books on Justin Trudeau, movies that make you feel shitty, the Canada Council, prime minister biographies and autobiographies, Dick Morris's The New Prince, Marions Antiques in Brighton, Ontario, The Kinsella Diaries, and much more

Steven Heller is an eminent American graphic designer, art director, art critic and scholar.​ He ​has authored or​ co-authored ​more than 200 ​books which variously trace​ the history of typography, illustration and other subjects related to graphic design.​ I talk with Steve here about Alvin Lustig an American American book designer, graphic designer and typeface designer. Some of Lustig's most innovative work was for New Directions, the independent publishing firm. For example, he designed more than seventy iconic dust jackets for the New Classics literature and other series from the mid-40s until his death in 1955. His non-literal designs exuded a modern art sensibility and incorporated a fresh approach to typeface design that defined the New Directions look. Steve and I met via Zoom to discuss Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig a book he co-wrote with Elaine Lustig Cohen, Alvin's widow. Among other things we talk about magic shows and magicians, design as sleight of hand, illusions, tactility, Frank Lloyd Wright, hot metal, Constructivism, helicopters, furniture design, Ward Ritchie, New Directions, James Laughlin, expressionistic modernism, primitive art, catholic church propagandists, soldier's ribbon bars, being close to genius, Alvin's blindness, and Steve's forthcoming memoir Growing up Underground (Princeton Architectural Press, 2022).