Blog

  • Holiday Special: Spend $100 at Quimby's and Get a Free Quimby's Totebag

    That’s right! Between November 28th, 2008 and January 1st, 2009, if you spend $100 at Quimby’s in the store or from our website www.quimbys.com you’ll get a free Quimby’s totebag! These beautiful, 2-sided, heavy cotton (15oz!) bags are made in the USA by Envirotote. Side ‘A’ features Mr. F.C. Ware’s brilliant, iconic logo printed in two colors, while the one-color &‘B’ side shows off our typographical acumen:

    Quimby’s Bookstore
    Books, Comics & Unusual Periodicals
    1854 W North Avenue
    Chicago, IL 60622
    www.quimbys.com
    773-342-0910

    How awesome is that? Please note that the hundred bucks has to be in one shopping experience. But there’s plenty o’good stuff to choose from. This offer only good while supplies last.

  • Thanksgiving Holiday Hours

    Please note Quimby’s will close early on Wed., Nov 26th at 5pm. Also, Quimby’s will be closed on Thanksgiving, Thurs., Nov 27th.

    We will, of course, be open Fri., Nov 28th so you can get your day-after-Thanksgiving-shopping on and burn off some o’those calories.

  • The Museum of Contemporary Art presents: "Saturday Shorts – Zines: The Art of Intervention" With Anne Elizabeth Moore!

    Dive into the world of self publishing with the guidance of artist Anne Elizabeth Moore in this workshop that looks at the powerful intersection between language and art. Participants create, publish, and distribute their own small books based on the structure of Jenny Holzer’s work.
    When: Sat., Nov 1st, 1-4pm
    Where: The Museum of Contemporary Art – NOT AT QUIMBY’S
    How: To register call the MCA Box Office at 312-397-4067. Mention that you got this email from Quimby’s when you call the Box Office and pay only $35 to participate in this workshop (all supplies and museum admission are included).

  • Quimby’s Top Ten Best Sellers For the Week of October 19th – October 25th, 2008

    1.    Kilter #1 Fall 08 $3.00
    2.    The Rock Bible Unholy Scripture For Fans & Bands by Henry Owings (Quirk) $15.95
    3.    Chunklet #20 $9.99
    4.    Cometbus #51 by Aaron Cometbus  #51 $3.00
    5.    Slingshot 2009 Small Organizer $6.00
    6.    Acme Novelty Library #19 by Chris Ware (Drawn + Quarterly) $15.95
    7.    Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #2 by Laura Park $3.00
    8.    Paper Nov 08 $4.00
    9.    Achewood The Great Outdoor Fight by Chris Onstad (Dark Horse) $14.95
    10.  Bitch #41 $5.95

  • New Stuff 10/25/08

    Just had a dude ask me if we sold Ron Paul paraphernalia? What Halloween costume is that for? Anyway Henry Owings will be here tonight to make fun of the often over serious business of indie rock. So swing by if you can, last time he brought everybody in attendance milkshakes! For Real! Other than that the fall book onslaught continues, WOW!

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  • Off-site Event: Peter H. Fogtdal Reads The Tsar's Dwarf At Chinaski's

    Peter H. Fogtdal‘s book The Tsar’s Dwarf (Hawthorne Books) is about a Danish dwarf given to Peter the Great as a gift who ends up as a court jester at the Russian court. It’s this author’s first book in English, though he’s had twelve published in Danish.

    Here’s more about the book:

    Soerine, a deformed female dwarf from Denmark, is given as a gift to Tsar Peter the Great, who is smitten by her freakishness and intellect. Against her will, the Tsar takes Soerine to St. Petersburg, where she becomes a jester in his court. There, she lives a life that both compels and repels her. Soerine eventually gives in to the attentions of Lukas, the Tsar’s favorite dwarf, and carves out an existence for herself amidst the squalor and lice-ridden world of dwarfs in the early 18th century. In this inhospitable milieu, Soerine’s intelligence and detached wit provide her some small measure of protection — until disaster strikes in the shape of a priest who wants to “save” her.

    This event will not be at Quimby’s but down the street at Chinaski’s, and Quimby’s will be there selling the book. Chinaski’s is at 1935 N. Damen, just south of Armitage. Starts at 7:30pm.

  • Kristy Bowen reads In the Bird Museum

    Poet and artist, Kristy Bowen is the author of In the Bird Museum (Dusie Press, 2008) and the Fever Almanac (Ghost Road Press, 2006), as well as the forthcoming Girl Show (Ghost Road, 2009). She lives in Chicago, where she runs dancing girl press & studio, which publishes a chapbook series for women poets, produces the online lit zine wicked alice, and hosts an online shop, dulcet.

    This will be the release event for In the Bird Museum.

    more info at:

    www.kristybowen.net

  • Handmade Nation Event at Quimby’s!

    Join Faythe Levine and Cortney Heimerl as they discuss their book and forthcoming documentary of the same name: HANDMADE NATION: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design

    Today’s crafters are no longer interested in simply cross-stitching samplers or painting floral scrolls on china. Instead, the contemporary craft movement embraces emerging artists, crafters, and designers working in traditional and nontraditional media. Jenny Hart’s Sublime Stitching has revolutionized the embroidery industry. Each year Nikki McClure sells thousands of her cut-paper wall calendars. Emily Kircher recycles vintage materials into purses. Stephanie Syjuco manufactures clothing under the tag line “Because Sweatshops Suck.” These are just some of the fascinating makers united in the new wave of craft capturing the attention of the nation, the Handmade Nation.

    Faythe Levine traveled 19,000 miles to document what has emerged as a marriage between historical technique, punk culture, and the D.I.Y. ethos. For Handmade Nation (along with the documentary film of the same name, coming in 2009) she and Cortney Heimerl have selected 24 makers and 5 essayists who work within different media and have different methodologies to provide a microcosm of the crafting community. Participants in this community share ideas and encouragement through websites, blogs, boutiques, galleries, and craft fairs. Together they have forged a new economy and lifestyle based on creativity, determination, and networking. Twenty-four artists from Olympia, Washington, to Providence, Rhode Island, and everywhere in between show their work and discuss their lives. Texts by Andrew Wagner of American Craft Magazine, Garth Johnson of Extremecraft.com, Callie Janoff of the Church of Craft, Betsy Greer of Craftivism.com, and Susan Beal, author of Super Crafty, supply a critical view of the tight-knit community where ethics can overlap with creativity and art with community. Handmade Nation features photographs of the makers, their work environment, their process, their work, and discussions of how they got their start and what motivates them. Handmade Nation is a fascinating book for those who are a part of the emerging movement or just interested in sampling its wares.

    website:
    http://www.indiecraftdocumentary.blogspot.com

  • Featured Book of the Day: Burning Angel: Photographs By the Lovely Brenda

    Burning Angel is a sexy photo book evolved out of the website founded in 2002 burningangel.com, a site devoted to punk-inspired erotic photos and hardcore videos as well as record reviews and interviews. The photographer, Brenda Staudenmaier (also known as the Lovely Brenda), uses brick walls, rooftops, subway stations and the like of New York City as her backdrop. Tattoos, glasses, mohawks, colored hair, gym shoes, guitars, pierced body parts — True, it’s kind of SuicideGirls-y, but tattoos and rock star hair on naked ladies can be sexy. You just can’t get enough o’ that! To see the photos on both burningangel.com or suicidegirls.com you have to pay a few bucks a month, but with either of the books you can see it for free (that is, once you buy the book) any time you want without the internet. Also, not unlike going to see a roller derby bout, there’s lots of opportunities to pick up some good fashion tips. Oooo! Black and magenta-striped leggings with sparkly gold high heels. I am SO there.

  • Quimby’s Top Ten Best Sellers For the Week of October 12th – October 18th, 2008

    1.    French Milk by Lucy Knisley (Touchstone) $15.00
    2.    Do Not Disturb My Waking Dream #2 by Laura Park $3.00
    3.    Petal Pusher A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story by Laurie Linden (Washington Square) $13.00
    4.    Trubble Club Vol 1 $3.00
    5.    Porn and Pong by Damon Brown (Feral House) $15.00
    6.    Cometbus #51 by Aaron Cometbus $3.00
    7.    Proximity #2 Cities Issue $10.00
    8.    Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Vol 3 edited by Danzig Baldaev (Fuel) $32.95
    9.    Papercutter #8 $4.00
    10.  Radiator Days by Lucy Knisley $15.00