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O Song, what will become of me...
Aug. 2nd, 2015 11:59 amThe subject line comes from Dorothy L. Sayers's translation of a Dante canzone/sestina that I used as the text of my first major bookbinding project, for a class I took twenty years ago at Elaine Borruso's house in Michigan:
That class was also where I first picked up on the buzz about Shereen LaPlantz's Cover to Cover -- which, as the buyer of craft books for Borders's 100+ stores, I promptly placed large orders for. The publisher was unprepared for that. Given how most craft titles sold only a handful of copies each year at best, and given how many people I personally knew were eager to get their hands on a copy, I grew so exasperated at the "indefinitely out of stock" notices that I typed "PUBLISHER IS AN IDIOT" in the memo line of the order screen, which I understood to be visible only to Borders corporate staff.
Some months later, the publisher reps took me out to dinner and cheerfully informed me that a copy of that purchase order -- WITH my note on it -- was now framed and hanging on one of their office walls. The senior children's section buyer, another guest at the dinner, squawked, "What? You all can see that line?" The publisher liaison later said she'd never seen my face so red. The reps then presented me with an autographed copy of the book:
I've bought many Lark books in the years since, what with Aunt Louise and Paula and other people dear to me being dedicated knitters and beaders and the like.
Shereen died in 2003, but her work remains visible at the LaPlantz Studios website, where her husband continues to create and teach and share ideas and examples.
[This entry prompted by #100untimedbooks - items 6 (craft) and 12 (slim).]
That class was also where I first picked up on the buzz about Shereen LaPlantz's Cover to Cover -- which, as the buyer of craft books for Borders's 100+ stores, I promptly placed large orders for. The publisher was unprepared for that. Given how most craft titles sold only a handful of copies each year at best, and given how many people I personally knew were eager to get their hands on a copy, I grew so exasperated at the "indefinitely out of stock" notices that I typed "PUBLISHER IS AN IDIOT" in the memo line of the order screen, which I understood to be visible only to Borders corporate staff.
Some months later, the publisher reps took me out to dinner and cheerfully informed me that a copy of that purchase order -- WITH my note on it -- was now framed and hanging on one of their office walls. The senior children's section buyer, another guest at the dinner, squawked, "What? You all can see that line?" The publisher liaison later said she'd never seen my face so red. The reps then presented me with an autographed copy of the book:
I've bought many Lark books in the years since, what with Aunt Louise and Paula and other people dear to me being dedicated knitters and beaders and the like.
Shereen died in 2003, but her work remains visible at the LaPlantz Studios website, where her husband continues to create and teach and share ideas and examples.
[This entry prompted by #100untimedbooks - items 6 (craft) and 12 (slim).]
