La Bella Biblioteca

We, here at Loome Theological Booksellers, are fans of real books. We've proselytized on the virtues of real, physical books and the vices of generic e-books. (Curse you, Kindle!)

Let's chalk one up for real books:

A hitherto unknown painting by Leonardo da Vinci has emerged from obscurity. La Bella Principessa was a portrait originally thought to be of 19th Century, German origin. Through digital imaging and fingerprint analysis, experts have attributed it to Leonardo da Vinci.

The portrait was Leonardo's only work painted on vellum, which was commonly used to bind books. The painting was commissioned as the cover for a book of poetry dedicated to the young woman in the painting, Bianca Sforza.

That's a book I'd like to have on my shelf.

One good blog leads to another . . .

We like the good writers of the New Liturgical Movement blog and we think they like us too.

Perhaps the Largest Selection of Liturgical Texts in the World

Loome Theological Booksellers presents our largest selection of liturgical texts for sale . . . ever.

Benziger Brothers Game of Catholic Authors

Lovers of liturgical texts should be familiar with the Benziger Brothers publishing house. An independent publishing house from 1792 to 1968, Benziger Brothers specialized in publishing Roman Catholic liturgical texts. The Holy See even conferred the title "Printers to the Apostolic Holy See" in 1867.








Loome carries a plethora of Benziger Brothers texts, but this is the first time we've carried a Benziger Brothers game. We've never heard of the Benziger Brothers Game of Catholic Authors, nor can we find any information on it, but we're intrigued. Perhaps we have an entire set of the playing cards hidden among the books in our stacks. Hope springs eternal.

Real Books Necissitate Real Bookstores

Once upon a time a library was where one could expect to find real books. By real books I mean those objects that contain printed pages bound between covers. However, while libraries rush to embrace the electronic screened word, WIRED published an article about how the king of the screened word, Google, is making way for more real books. That's good news for real bookstores.

The video about Northshire Bookstore's use of the Espresso Book Machine demonstrates how real books will always require real bookstores (or at least real bookish places), of which we have two: Loome Theological Booksellers and Chestnut Street Books wherein one will find thousands of real books, whether from the private libraries of scholars, pastors, and priests or from an Espresso Book Machine (maybe in a couple years . . . maybe), for many years to come.

Avast, thar be pirates among the tomes!

Ahoy, me hearties! In celebration of International Talk Like a Pirate Day, Loome Theological Booksellers be keepin' an eye out for pirates.

Ye might think there be no such piratical tomes at Ye Olde Theological Bookseller, but pirates be masters of sneaking and skullduggery.

We found Whisperings of the Caribbean lurking in the Missionary Studies. It be the account of the bonny missionary Joseph J. Williams. He devotes the very first chapter to the Caribbean buccaneers.

An excerpt:

Captain Hickeringill, writing in 1661, speaks of the Bucaneers, "who live by killing the wild beeves for their hides; and might grow rich by the trade, did not their lavish rioting in the experience, at the neighbouring Tortudoes (Tortugas) exceed the hardship of their incomes. Their comfort is, they can never be broke whilst they have a dog and a gun; both which, are more industriously tended than themselves.

Scurvy pirates be lurking elsewhere at Loome. We found them skulking in the following tomes:

The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson (Including South Sea Tales and In the South Seas)
The Waverly Novels by Sir Walter Scott (Including The Pirate)
History of the Catholic Church in Jamaica by Francis J. Osborne, S.J.
Apostle of Brazil: The Biography of Padre José de Anchieta, S.J. (1534-1597) by Helen Dominian

Avast! Let the reader beware.

-Wild Cat Bonney

Symposium on the Isle of Kalymnos

Just in case you missed it . . . This Bibliosite below fell out of a book I cataloged this week.