A Peek At Last Week's NY Times Book Review

I looked through last week's Book Review and found several things of interest. I usually scan the best sellers - print hardcover of course, not the e-stuff. There are two titles on the list for May 27 - June 3 that have very long runs as best sellers.

George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons is at #9 on the Fiction list and has been on the list for 43 weeks. This is his fifth book in a fantasy series - Song of Ice and Fire - that was inspired by England's War of the Roses. I searched Biblio ( http://www.biblio.com/ ) for signed, first printings and found 8 copies offered at prices from $65 to $135. I do have to admit that I'm not a reader of fantasy.

Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken is at #3 on the Nonfiction list and has been on the list for 81 weeks. This is Hillenbrand's second book, following her also long running best seller Seabiscuit. This time her focus is on a human runner - Olympic runner Louie Zamperini. After competing in the 1939 Olympics in Berlin he ended up in WWII as an Army Air Force bombardier in the Pacific. Hillenbrand writes of his survival of several years of savage abuse in a Japanese Prisoner of War camp. Signed first printings are very scarce - I found only one offered at $395. There are actually several copies offered that have been signed by Zamperini, who is still around at 94.

Finally, Bauman Rare Books is offering Shakespeare's Fourth Folio of Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies published in 1685. The folios were printed in very small runs of a few hundred copies and most are now in institutional collections. This very rare volume can be yours for $235,000.