Category Archives: Fine Press Book Reviews

Moby Dick; Published by University of California Press & Arion Press

Posted on September 13, 2014 by J. Davis

As an Arion Press subscriber, it would be disingenuous to claim that I did not wish that my subscription had begun in 1979 when the press’ leviathan edition of Moby Dick was published. Alas, I was but a senior in … Continue reading →

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The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner; Published by the Folio Society

Posted on July 13, 2014 by J. Davis

The Sound and the Fury is one of those landmark books that are the result of herculean human effort from everyone involved. The importance of the book manifests in several ways. It was influential in why Faulkner won the Nobel … Continue reading →

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Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau; Published by Sharp Teeth Press

Posted on June 29, 2014 by J. Davis

Civil Disobedience. Just the title of Thoreau’s essay makes me grin and almost rub my hands together in mischievous delight. I’ve always believed that everyone practices some form of civil disobedience in their lives. For some, it’s the daily wink-wink … Continue reading →

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The Folio Society Letterpress Shakespeare 450th Birthday Finale

Posted on June 8, 2014 by J. Davis

April of this year 2014 marked the 450th anniversary of the birth of the great bard, William Shakespeare. It also marked the completion of the Folio Society’s mammoth Letterpress Shakespeare series. Begun in 2005 with Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King … Continue reading →

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A Coney Island of the Mind; Published by the Arion Press

Posted on May 31, 2014 by J. Davis

I’ve been visiting San Francisco regularly since I switched to the west coast from the east coast by way of university somewhere in between. One constant of my visits has been bookstores. Another has been bars. Now it leans heavily … Continue reading →

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Melville’s Selected Poems; Published by the Arion Press

Posted on February 23, 2014 by J. Davis

Like many people for whom Moby Dick is the first thing that comes to mind when Herman Melville is mentioned, I’m not sure I was really aware of his poetry. Even after my second reading of Moby Dick, I never … Continue reading →

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Porgy and Bess; Published by the Arion Press

Posted on December 28, 2013 by J. Davis

When I think of Porgy & Bess, I immediately hear the song Summertime in my head. That’s the power of the associative property of music. Granted this is an opera, so music is implied, but I’ve never been to an … Continue reading →

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A Christmas Carol, or, A Miser’s Warning, by Charles Dickens and C. Z. Barnett; Published by The Barbarian Press

Posted on December 22, 2013 by J. Davis

For this year’s Christmas book, I finish up with the last of the three Christmas-themed books published by the Barbarian Press. It’s fitting that the last is also the first in many respects. It was the first Christmas book that … Continue reading →

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Undersea by Rachel L. Carson; Published by the Nawakum Press

Posted on December 1, 2013 by J. Davis

Rachel Carson is one of my heroes. Her book Silent Spring shook up the global environmental movement, created enough of a stir to get DDT banned in the U.S., and created the momentum to create the Environmental Protection Agency. For … Continue reading →

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Les Misérables by Victor Hugo; Published by the Limited Editions Club

Posted on October 21, 2013 by J. Davis

“So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny that is divine with human fatality; so long as the … Continue reading →

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