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Something for the Weekend Jan. 9th, 2009

Curation, Appeciation, Organization: The Book Cover Archive goes live with “cross-indexed meta data” (and blog)! LOVE this. Nice work fellas. (via SwissMiss)

Skinny tight jeans and mild panic: The Scotsman profiles Canongate’s Jamie Byng.

Almost half of Canadians can’t name a single Canadian author according to the hand-wringing National Post… Or to put it another way, over half of Canadians CAN actually name a Canadian author? It could be worse (really)…

Canadian booksellers manage a “late holiday rally” in December reports PW:

Retailers large and small were unanimous in their opinion that books proved to be an excellent recession gift, with the value proposition of books being improved in part by fact that the actual price of books have fallen relative to U.S. prices.

A .38 shell for independent bookshops: The Guardian‘s Stuart Evers considers consumer apathy and the imminent closure of the Murder One bookshop on Charing Cross Road in London:

These kinds of shops are facing a long, bloody battle – and one which, without significant reinforcements, they are likely to lose. As we hear of the travesty of another brilliant independent going down, we’ll mourn the loss, wring our hands and damn Amazon and the supermarkets and Waterstone’s. Yet perhaps the most important detail we’ll probably keep under wraps: the last time we actually spent any money there.

Hapless Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reinstate editor Drenka Willen after Noble prize-winner Günter Grass intervenes.

Nostalgic book covers a hit for Penguin in Australia— 50 titles released with covers in the original orange-and-cream designs are selling strongly:

“They are instantly recognisable and have an emotional pull… Most people or their parents have got second-hand or old Penguins at home that have the same livery. But it’s not only pulling on that nostalgic lever, it’s also got that retro coolness. We’ve found that younger readers have been really drawn to them.”

“To say his work was inspirational is an understatement”: The New York Times profiles the late Barney Bubbles  whose iconic album cover designs (for the likes of Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, and The Damned) are celebrated in Paul Gorman’s new book “Reasons to Be Cheerful: The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles” published by Adelita (pictured).