I enthusiastically endorse Scott's "Wikipedia" suggestion, below,
but with a couple of major caveats... based upon a few years'
personal Wikipedia work, so far...
Using Wikipedia is a matter of sacrificing editorial control for
global reach. Few independent efforts will come anywhere close to
attaining Wikipedia's status as being, consistently, one of the
most-visited resources on the Internet. But Wikipedia "editors"
and "administrators", on the other hand, do not favor long
articles, or "authoritative" articles -- or heavily-footnoted, or
illustrated, or overly-rigorously-formatted, articles -- all of
which any piece mounted there by Exlibrans may very well wish to
be, or to become...
And bibliography so far is a rough undertaking, on Wikipedia:
they have some useful "templates", and standards and notes are
under wiki-evolution -- but full annotated bibliography isn't
there, yet -- and BDRB it ain't...
So may I suggest "Wikipedia Plus":
* By all means do build an article on Wikipedia itself, which is
the only place on the Ouebbe where truly global distribution can
be obtained, albeit "edited" and sometimes overly-democratic -- a
few self-appointed Exlibran editors will need to watch for
"trolls" and other miscreants, regularly, particularly in the
early days of the article before the general Wikipedia community
has seen it and takes on the troll-watch role as well;
* But _in addition_ build other, independent and non-Wikipedia,
web-pages on specific topics and arcanities, and particularly of
anything too technical or detailed or illustrated or lengthy for
Wikipedia limits, and *link these non-Wikipedia pages to the
Wikipedia article*!...
This will avoid a lot of heartache and headache and eyestrain, in
debating the fine points of rare book bibliographic description
with some Wikipedia administrator who is a chemist by profession
and believes all information now is digital and online.
It also will provide "editorial control": you'll be able to say
what you like about that favorite book without some troll or
worse wading in and mis-speling his idiotic contribution -- or
calling you some name in your own text, or far worse than that.
And you'll be able to add bibliography and links and whatever
else to your heart's etc. content, without running up against
sysop limits or thoughtpolice or nuts or the democratic rest.
Wikipedia articles all offer plenty of opportunity for "external
links": so, do a good Wikipedia article -- but also do other
non-Wikipedia articles, and link the latter to the former -- all
the many Wikipedia users will have to do, then, to see your more
specific / detailed / whatever contribution, is "click the link".
It's all a part of Wikifying the universe... not an original aim
of the Wikipedia project, but then that had few original aims, in
fact... But it's also a way of having one's cake and eating it
too, in terms of Wikipedia's sometimes-ill-informed and often
very heavy-handed arguments and editorial policies -- pleasing
all the people all the time, then.
Jack Kessler, kessler@well.com
On Sat, 29 Jul 2006, Scott Brown, Editor wrote:
> I think this is an excellent idea, too. However, rather than a "kind of
> Wikipedia bio-bibliography", why not use Wikipedia itself?
>
> Someone has already started it:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:American_book_and_manuscript_collector
> s
>
> There are also entries some book-collecting terms.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_collecting
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminated_manuscript
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Bury
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Serriffe
>
> Wikipedia is far from perfect (see my blog post on bookmarks, for an
> example)
> http://blog.myfinebooks.com/2006/07/bookstore_podca.html
>
> but it gets better over time. Plus, it has the advantage of a bunch of
> volunteer and paid programmers who keep it working. And there's nothing
> wrong with starting small and then building an entry over time, as
> circumstances allow.
>
> One could create a "book collecting literature" category and then populate
> it with the titles and synopses of the various books being discussed here.
>
> Scott
>
> **********************************
> P. Scott Brown, Editor
> Fine Books & Collections magazine
> http://www.finebooksmagazine.com
>
> Blogging at http://blog.myfinebooks.com
>
> PO Box 106
> Eureka, CA 95502
> tel. 707.443.9562
> fax. 707.443.9572
> *********************************
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Exlibris [mailto:EXLIBRIS@MAIL.ECW.NAME]On Behalf Of John Windle
> Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2006 10:24 AM
> To: EXLIBRIS@MAIL.ECW.NAME
> Subject: [EXLIBRIS] Another title, and a suggestion
>
>
> Has anyone yet mentioned Herbert West, the bookseller from
> Hanover New Hampshire whom I met in London in the mid-sixties
> when he was buying for US institutions? A warm and friendly
> soul (to me at least, a neophyte bookshop clerk) he gave me a
> copy of "An Impecunious Amateur Looks Back..." 1966 and I went
> on to read "Mind on the Wing" and "Sunny Intervals" -- I think
> there may be some other titles too.
>
> Here's an idea -- what we are creating here is a kind of
> bibliography of booksellers' and collectors' memoirs (Dibdin is
> the first of several who could count as both -- look at The
> Lincoln Nosegay) and it would be most interesting to bring
> together the expertise and experience of all those interested
> to create a kind of Wikipedia bio-bibliography where each of us
> could choose to write and/or add comments to the description of
> each book -- not only on the contents but also personal
> reminiscences of the writers we have known and references to
> other accounts of them and their works. It would be a Sheila
> Markham "Book of Booksellers" in reverse (and when will that
> excellent book be reissued I wonder?).
>
> I have no idea how difficult this would be to create and manage
> but if someone has the technical know-how and the ability to
> set it up it would be a fascinating offshoot of the combined
> knowledge, wisdom, and experience of this list -- and different
> countries could create their own versions. What a contribution
> to the history of book collecting and selling that might be.
> Perhaps we could get the Grolier Club to host it in some way.
>
> Best wishes to all,
>
> John Windle
>
> John Windle Antiquarian Bookseller,
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