So what makes this page–by Bruce Rogers–work? This was instantly my favorite plate in Blumenthal’s book, and the best I have ever seen, so, until I find something better, I will use this as a model of perfection. These are my observations:

1) Unabashed downward pull of the ornament.

2) Uniform Latin inscription-style text block, all capitals, with minimal negative space.

3) All the necessary text on the page is kept in the frame.

4) Ornamental curves complement the flourishes in the text.

5) The beginning letters of most words have flourishes not found in secondary letters. The sole flourish for "A" in "An Introduction" is stunningly elegant.

6) No punctuation.

7) Horizontal lines subtly incorporated into the ornament. Two horizontals above, four below.

8 ) Slightly asymmetrical ornament design, which avoids any suspicion of the ornament being built up from several different pieces. It’s almost surprising to realize that he drew the entire thing.

9) Avoidance of heavy or thick marks of ink anywhere.

10) Unabashed rigidity of the rectangle, and the rectangular format of the text within, amongst all the curves.

11) The overall design is so simple that it can be understood from any distance.

12) I think of the red ornamentation as a Baroque picture frame with the white rectangle as a mirror with the text etched into it. It would be inappropriate to think of the white rectangle as a marble slab, because it has a weightless quality. On the other hand, I suppose you could also think of this page as a thick marble slab with the text carved into it in high relief, impossibly held aloft by soft tendrils for your viewing pleasure.

13) The ornament is active, blossoming, organic; the text block is passive, noble, docile.

Most of the books were located via publisher name. For reasons unknown to me, an advanced keyword search yields better results than the default search bar on the front page, which is why browsing for books can be so maddening.

Smithsonian, National Geographic, the Modern Library, and the Heritage Press imprints make numerous appearances. I gave treasuries, anthologies, readers, etc., published before 1965 the benefit of the doubt and gambled on several. Desperation to reach $100 in books forced me to buy softcovers, so I reached for The Limits of Art, by Huntington Cairns, Narcissus Leaves the Pool, by Joseph Epstein, and…that’s about it.

Reading Ted Seth Jacobs’ Light for the Artist compelled me to purchase Brighten Your Home: Making Natural Light Work for You, and Fire of Life: the Smithsonian Book of the Sun. I also can’t wait to explore the contents of A Soldier’s Reader, especially since George Macy compiled it himself.

• Ebay. Quick way to find photos of particular book editions. Don’t forget to search through the completed listings. 

• Google Books searchable database.

• Archive.org searchable database.

• LibraryThing. I look at the profiles of every single owner of a book that I think would only be in the possession of someone with similar tastes. 

• Shelf-reading. This is my favorite and most fruitful method. Whether in used book stores, library book sales or the libraries themselves. Don’t forget to scan the Pre-Shelving holding areas. I also scan shelves for fine bindings, particularly any books with gilt tops and leather corners, which is generally an indication that the contents are worth poring over at least once.

• Ask for permission to browse Rare Book rooms in the library. If that is not allowed, you can still do so online by limiting your search to only the books in special collections. I tend to use 19th or early 20th century book publisher names as keywords.

• Websites of publishing companies, think tanks, intellectual magazines and journals, their book reviews, etc. Publishing companies often have video interviews with their authors.
• Amazon.com reviews, lists, suggestions by other users.

• YouTube, Fora.tv, The Open Mind Online Digital Archive, C-SPAN, etc. Video interviews, debates, book talks.

• Podcasts. Milt Rosenberg, townhall.com podcasts.

• Bibliographies of books I own or otherwise.

“Gentle Friends!–We entreat your careful attention to our exposition of the objects of the The National. We purpose that it shall most fully justify its title; that it shall be a Library for the People, a Magazine of popular information. We well know how to appreciate the struggles of the Unmonied in their pursuit of knowledge. Our design is–to assist them in their difficulties, to aid the inquirer, to encourage the learner, to cultivate moral and intellectual power,–be it understood that we assert the supremacy of morality, to which the intellect should ever be subservient–to disseminate and aid the fructification of Truth, to assist to the uttermost the progression of humanity. Many of the noblest productions of our best writers are sealed books to the People: their scarcity or high price is an effectual bar to their general appreciation. The grandest and profoundest thoughts of our master intellects are as yet utterly unknown to a vast majority of the People. We would remedy this by presenting to them, at a price within the reach of all, choicest gems from the treasure-houses of our best authors, giving to the millions for a sure possession the thoughts and opinions of the noblest spirits of the world, more especially those of our own country, whether of the bygone or of the present time. In addition to these The National will contain original articles in prose and verse–Tales, Essays, Poetry, History, political and theological Criticisms, and Reviews of literature and art. We shall endeavor in all cases to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: considering no subject above inquiry, nothing too sacred for investigation. We would enlighten the people, we would respond to their feelings and consult their interests, we would assist their inquiries, we would supply their wants, and reason with them on their errors. To the tender-conscienced we would say–we wish not to insult or wound your feelings, we acknowledge your illimitable right of opinion as we claim to possess the same right ourselves, and on this principle wherever we see error we shall strive, even for own conscience’ sake, persuasively to controvert it, whatever we deem prejudice we shall endeavor to overthrow, though it wear the most antiquated dress, though it should appear in the guise of Divinity. Our political opinions may be briefly yet comprehensively stated:–The equal rights of all, the greatest happiness of the greatest number, and the never-ceasing improvement of humanity. We trust to render The National interesting to the Millions, not only by introducing them to a companionship with the brightest geniuses of the world, not only by filling their homes with the purest and most ennobling delights, the mighty aids and comforts of a beneficent intelligence, but also by our thorough identification with them, the at-present degraded class, in all their hopes and exertions for the attainment of liberty and happiness. Our choice of illustration will be directed by the same desire of advantaging the community, having ever reference to our one great object, moral and intellectual improvement. We are of opinion that to accustom the eye to the study of beauty is one way, and no inconsiderable way, of ennobling and beautifying the mind. “The mind becomes that which it contemplates.” We therefore intend that every illustration shall bear the impress of Beauty and convey some useful lesson. Our first number shall not be our best–on the usual principle of samples, but we promise much after-improvement, and hope to make every number better than the one preceding it. We also request contributions from all those who as faithful ministers of Love and Truth seek earnestly for the overthrow of ignorance and poverty by the removal of all monopolies, who dare unflinchingly advocate the full acknowledgement of universal rights, and who are determined to employ their most strenuous and untiring exertions to hasten the consummation of universal morality and happiness.

P.S. We beg of our readers not to pass over the shortest of our extracts: we promise they shall never be mere make-weights ; but often the one line may contain as much wisdom as all the rest of the number.”

The book can be found in PDF form–you miss the priceless quality of letterpress text and wood engravings–here:

http://www.archive.org/details/nationalalibrar00lintgoog

1. The Customs of Mankind, by Lillian Eichler Watson
2. Standard Book of Letter Writing and Social Forms, by Lillian Eichler Watson
3. Light From Many Lamps, by Lillian Eichler Watson
4. Any Number Can Play, by Clifton Fadiman
5. The World’s Great Letters, by Max Lincoln Schuster
6. The Religious Experience, by Georg Brantl
7. Man and God: Passages Chosen and Arranged to Express a Mood About the Human and Divine, by Victor Gollancz
8. Voices of Liberty, by Finley M.K. Foster & Homer Wattt
9. Triumph Over Odds: An Anthology of Man’s Unconquerable Spirit, by James Donald Adams
10. A Commonplace Book, by Charles P. Curtis
11. The Practical Cogitator: Or, the Thinker’s Anthology, by Charles P. Curtis & Ferris Greenslet
12. This Was Publishing: a Chronicle of the Book Trade in the Gilded Age, by Donald Henry Sheehan
13. 150 Greatest Living Authors Present the World’s Best Stories, Humor, Drama, Biography, History, Essays & More, by Whit Burnett
14. Unforgotten Years, by Logan Pearsall Smith
15. The Third Book of Words to Live By, by William I. Nichols
16. A Book of Beauty: an Anthology of Words and Pictures, by John Hadfield
17. A Passion for Books, by Laurence C. Powell
    

(1) In Praise of Books (1901), by Ralph Waldo Emerson, with two essays by Sir John Lubbock

(2) The Pleasure of Literature and the Solace of Books (1902), by Andrew Lang

(3) The Home Library (1883), by Arthur Penn

(4) The Choice of Books, by Charles R. Richardson

The shelves that I retraced yielded:

(1) The Pleasures of Life, Complete (1894), by Sir John Lubbock

(2) The Practical Cogitator

Upon returning home, I read a great essay by Joseph Epstein in his book, Partial Payments, called “H.L. Mencken for Grown-Ups”. I call the essay great not only for its style, but also because, with new-found enthusiasm, I returned to A Mencken Chrestomathy. This diversion was inspired by listening to an interview with Mr. Epstein located here:

http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podshows/2059666

- Sir John Lubbock, The Use of Life (1894)

theopenmind.tv/tom

I cannot recommend enough the intellectual feast that is available on The Open Mind. When I first found this site over a year ago, I only recognized a handful of people Richard interviewed: Neil Postman, Martin Luther King, Jr., Allan Bloom, William F. Buckley, Jr. Luckily, each interview is titled, so I watched a couple about education. As I got used to the the little ditty that plays before each introduction, I was shocked that these interviews were televised–I never knew they were being shown on WGBH Boston. Here were hundreds of thinking minds engaged in conversations lasting 30 minutes, an hour, or more. The best thing about these videos is that you get to encounter these people as human beings, not just by way of their ideas. I particularly enjoyed the presence and poise of Stanley Crouch, Allan Bloom, and Richard A. Posner.

Who is watching these precious videos? Who even knows they exist? I haven’t looked to find anyone that does, but I hope that this is one way to help The Open Mind find avid new viewers. The more of these interviews I watch, the more I value boundless curiosity and interdisciplinary thinking. You get to watch the interviewer sit at a table for 50 years as intellectual history takes a seat across from this man, one guest at a time.

(1) Toward Liberal Education, edited by Louis G. Locke, Gibson, William M., & Arms, George

(2) Reading I’ve Liked A Personal Selection Drawn from Two Decades of Reading and Reviewing, edited by Clifton Fadiman

(3) Fifty Years, Being a Retrospective Collection of Novels, Novellas, Tales, Drama, Poetry, and Reportage and Essays, edited by Clifton Fadiman

(4) The Borzoi Reader, by Carl Van Doren

(5) The Three Readers; an Omnibus of Novels, Stories, Essays & Poems Selected With Comments by Clifton Fadimin, Sinclair Lewis & Carl Van Doren

(6) The Experience of Literature; a Reader With Commentaries by Lionel Trilling.

I immediately bought them all on Alibris for $2 each. For these used books at least, prices from the 1950′s have actually fallen, while the importance of these books has never been greater. The library is amazing for finding them, the internet is amazing for finding copies of them for purchase.