Thursday 31 October 2013

A bookman's overalls


1.       Thomas started selling books (then they were antiquarian; now they are new) in a plain grey dustwrapper (like the one he’s wearing here) about twenty years ago. He has also sold books in a brown plaid dressing gown (when he had his own business and sold them by catalogue), but not so often.

2.       The unitary filing system. This useful bag contains the paperwork for this year’s Christmas catalogue. The label is both an injunction to read the contents, and an indication that the contents have already been read.

3.       These are bibliographer’s boots but they are good for bookselling, too. Thomas has tried standing at various points along the path a book takes from writer to reader, and finds the best thing about bookselling is that it occurs at (and can even create) the most exciting moment of all: when a book and a reader find each other.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Coincidences


Today a customer made this purchase. This piqued our interest. Love that combination of titles: Fiona Kidman's fictional account of aviatrix Jean Batten, The Infinite Air and Mawer's The Girl Who Fell from the Sky. A completely coincidental choice.

Tuesday 29 October 2013

Feathers, birds and bikes

Plumes, Native Birds of New Zealand & les Bicyclettes
Two new posters arrived in this morning, Plumes (feathers) and Bikes. They look great as an accompaniment to our Native Birds poster. $15 each (what a bargain!)

Monday 28 October 2013

Thank you Listener



In a time when book reviews in most print media are becoming smaller and more hard to find, it's always refreshing to open the Listener on a Monday morning. This week we're treated to 13 books spread over 9 pages, including Donna Tartt, Elizabeth Knox, Richard Dawkins and Sebastian Faulks.

Sunday 27 October 2013

Another winner!

Sarah and her prize from the Ecoman competition. Sarah is already an avid user of the Ecostore products but is looking forward to trying a few new things that are in the pack. She has bought two copies of the book and reckons if people read it they'll never buy any other kind of cleaning product again.

Saturday 26 October 2013

At the granary...

Marti Friedlander and Emily Perkins gave excellent and well-attended sessions at the Page & Blackmore Readers & Writers festival today. 
We sold out of Marti Friedlander's new book, but we'll have more in the shop early in the week!

Friday 25 October 2013

Catalogue Layout


In between chasing up endless Luminaries orders, Thomas is busy tweaking the catalogue layout. Placing 140 titles across around 10 genres is a juggling act requiring courage and fortitude. And regular short black coffees.

Thursday 24 October 2013

Jennie from Craig Potton Publishing

Jennie, the lovely rep for splendid local publisher Craig Potton Publishing, visiting us today to show Peter new titles for January 2014. Here are Peter & Jennie scooping up paperwork from the floor. Those glossy Lonely Planet catalogues! (We enjoy visits from various publisher representatives who are all wonderful individuals with heaps of knowledge and a passion for books - they are an invaluable part of our industry).

Wednesday 23 October 2013

Congratulations!

Holly came in today for her prize, looking very happy! We are lucky to have many enthusiastic youthful readers as regular customers.

Tuesday 22 October 2013

Winner!


Congratulations to Holly who won 15 books in our anniversary competition. Hope you enjoy them!

Monday 21 October 2013

12.2km

Our order of 98 copies of the Luminaries arrived this morning. 12.2km worth of Booker Prize winning goodness! These are all pre-ordered but we are expecting another order in a couple of weeks or so.

Sunday 20 October 2013

Meet the Staff: Maclean




I have been lucky to be working for P & B for almost three years.  I have worked in 10 good bookshops and libraries over the years, as well as working in museums and as curator for Larnach Castle.  I love books and have a library full of my own.  My husband Derek and I are photographers and  we  plan to live in a caravan next year (when our son starts at Otago Uni)  and to roam the country writing and photographing.  Favourite authors: Too many! Most Indian and Japanese authors, Barbara Kingsolver, A.S.Byatt, Neil Gaiman, current nonfiction and art books of all kinds. Favourite pastime (when not wading in river with camera) curled up with cats, port and a Really Good Book… I think I purr!

Saturday 19 October 2013

At the signing table

Today at Readers & Writers there were two sessions with the wonderful (and indefatigable) Kate De Goldi: storytime in the morning and a talk 'The 10PM Question and More' in the afternoon. And then she was kept busy inscribing books for a great queue of lovers of her books! Writers work really very hard, even when they're not writing.

Friday 18 October 2013

Your .10c counts

We got a letter from the RNZFB this morning letting us know that the ceramic dog that sits on our counter and stares beseechingly at you, raised $75.10 in the last four months. Considering that this as accrued at a rate of about .10c a pop, that's quite an achievement. So thank you!

Thursday 17 October 2013

Liz x 2

Page and Blackmore regulars Liz L and Liz P hanging on a Thursday afternoon

Wednesday 16 October 2013

Eleanor Catton wins the Booker!

Sarah and Stella can't contain their excitement in the moments after the announcement (and even beyond those moments!). Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries has just won the 2013 Man Booker Prize!

Tuesday 15 October 2013

Meet Paul

Peter and Paul in the office/staffroom upstairs.
Paul is one of our independent reps. He sells us books from several different publishers. As you can see he has quite a range! They are buying stock expected to arrive early next year.

Monday 14 October 2013

Catalogue preparations, Part 2 (Thomas and the boxes)

Thomas and the boxes
40 boxes of catalogue stock arrived this morning, all of which needs to be carted upstairs. Anyone need some exercise?

Sunday 13 October 2013

The Thinking Brunch - Readers and Writers, Day 2

L-R Jim Salinger, Karen Healey, Craig Potton, Matt Lawrey (chair), Sir Alan Mark, Dot Kettle, Ralph Chapman

An inspiring morning at the first Thinking Brunch debating the topic Economy vs Environment. The Thinking Brunches are some of the most popular sessions at the Readers and Writers Festival.

The second brunch will be on the 27th of October featuring panelists Emily Perkins, Bill Manhire, Gabrielle Hervey, Hon Chris Finlayson and Ali Boswijk.

Saturday 12 October 2013

Karen Healey, Readers and Writers Day 1

Great first day at the Page & Blackmore Readers & Writers. Here's super enthusiastic YA author Karen Healey talking with two of our keen teen readers, Sara & Richard, about her book When We Wake.

Friday 11 October 2013

Readers and Writer's Festival 2013 - Packing In

Charlie's Angels or the Three Stooges?
The Page and Blackmore Readers and Writer's Festival kicks off tomorrow. We have 12 writers and 2 Thinking Brunches on the cards, so this equates to a lot of stock needing to be transported to the venue at Founders. And all in the pouring rain too!

Thursday 10 October 2013

A Diary Day


 Sue with her new diary!


Antonia making her choice...
The lovely Paperblank diaries are proving ever popular. Everyone's planning for 2014!
Sue even took a day off work to have time to make her selection from the almost-impossible-to-choose range. And Antonia couldn't resist taking one home to Christchurch with her.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

Tuesday 8 October 2013

Monday 7 October 2013

Catalogue preparations, Part 1

Oscar
Each Summer catalogue is made up of 140 titles, which equates to over 3000 units. This requires a lot of space to be made in the stock room upstairs before the stock starts arriving in early November. Oscar has been drafted in to help tidy, and as you can see, he might be up there a while.

Sunday 6 October 2013

A visit from a publican

Amber pops in most Sundays to collect the papers for the Sprig and Fern. She's a bit camera shy!

Saturday 5 October 2013

A fine balance

A couple of months ago we were lucky enough to host Lynley Dodd for a book signing. In honour of her visit, Maclean made these dogs for the window display and now they're going up on the wall in the kids' section.

Friday 4 October 2013

Our prodigal pilot returneth

Elizabeth has been working here off and on for four years and it's always a treat when she's in town and is available to work for a day. When she is not selling books Liz reads books, fantasizes about reading books, reads staff reviews of books and occasionally flies planes.

Thursday 3 October 2013

The 2014 Calendars have arrived!

They're here!  From cats to caravans, art to roses, horses, pigs, French kitchens, cars, boats, trains, dogs, Italy, shoes, golf, Sudoku, Lonely Planet and a great New Zealand selection- you name it and we will have a calendar dedicated to it!  Come and have a look !

Wednesday 2 October 2013

Underwater books on display

Art in Windows is a yearly chance for local businesses to show work by our local artists.  This year we have a literary theme: Maclean Barker (also on our staff) has completed a series of photographs of books swirling underwater.  She assures us they have had good long lives first! Here she is installing the last pictures.

Tuesday 1 October 2013

But wait, there's more!

A visit from Tim and Susi Blackmore (fresh from the garden, and full of the joys of spring)  to top up their reading stacks.  There's plenty to choose from with new titles pouring in at present!