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If This Isn't Nice, What Is?: A Rare Vonnegut Gem

By Megan Bell Monday January 5, 2015

vonnegut

“I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point,‘If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.’

-- Kurt Vonnegut, our patron saint


“If this isn’t nice, what is?” has become a motto around our shop and home over the past year, and when   we look (read: gaze adoringly) at this scarce advance review copy of Vonnegut’s first novel, Player Piano, we can’t help but murmur it ourselves.

Drawing inspiration from George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, Yevgeny Zamyatin's We, and his own Post-WWII experiences working for General Electric, Vonnegut prognosticates a future of know-how and no...

Juicy Hand-Written Love Letter From Jack London to Mistress

By Josh Niesse Tuesday November 4, 2014

Photo of the young Jack London

Photo of the young Jack London

Underground Books recently acquired a small archive of materials related to famed American author Jack London. London, most well known today for his works The Call of the Wild and White Fang, was a dramatic and controversial figure in his time. His passionate activism, outspoken socialism, and racist ideologies made him a polarizing figure whose personal life has been widely studied by scholars, fans, and critics alike.

The highlight of our recent acquisition is a love letter from London to his mistress Charmian Kittredge in 1904. London was married to his first wife at the time, Elizabeth "Bessie"...

Vintage Book Crafts and the Atlanta Maker Faire

By Josh Niesse Monday September 29, 2014

“Do you take books?” asked the caller, one of 5 or more we field a day.

“Yes, but we are very picky about what we buy, we only want –“

“No I’m not looking to sell them,” the caller cut me off, “I’m just wanting to get rid of them.”

book avalanche
How it feels when I show up to the store Monday morning and someone has piled boxes of books against the door.

Anyone dealing in used books these days is likely faced with staggering multitudes of books that no one wants. At our little shop we see as many as...

19th Century Beauty For Sale

By Megan Bell Friday September 12, 2014

understanding-women-giant-book

The above meme is one that’s popped up frequently this year in social media, and we finally got a volume in the shop! The truth is—well, the truth is, women are humans, not some kind of mysterious humanoid species from another planet, and understanding them merely requires communicating with and listening to them, not a multi-volume academic text. That said, man’s quest to pin and pen woman down is a long, long tradition, and the book the meme depicts would be more accurately titled Misunderstanding Women, Volume One.

Beautifully bound 1846 second edition of Walker's Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an Analysis and Classification of Beauty in Woman.
Lovely leatherbound 1846 second edition of Walker's Beauty: Illustrated Chiefly by an...

Underground Books Blog -- Meet Your Booksellers!

By Josh Niesse Friday September 5, 2014

This month (September 2014) marks 3.5 years since we opened Underground Books, just off of Adamson Square in downtown Carrollton, Georgia. To celebrate, we’re launching a blog to share our experiences as booksellers and highlight some of our favorite books and materials as they pass through the shop.  To begin with, we’ll share a little about the folks you’ll encounter when you come to our store.

Josh & Megan under the fantastic book archway at their wedding, made by local craftspersonForrestWorks. May 2014

Josh & Megan under the fantastic book archway courtesy of ForrestWorks. May 2014

Josh & Megan

Underground Books opened in March 2011 and was originally the creation of Josh Niesse. Josh graduated from Western Kentucky University...