{"id":7489,"date":"2013-06-19T21:23:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-20T01:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/?p=7489"},"modified":"2013-06-19T21:27:55","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T01:27:55","slug":"a-new-poster-from-cold-turkey-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2013\/06\/a-new-poster-from-cold-turkey-press.html","title":{"rendered":"
A New Poster from Cold Turkey Press<\/center>"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>


<\/p><\/div>\n

The first flash mob in Europe
\nMet in Rome on 24 June 2003.
\n300 people entered ‘Messaggerie Musicali’,
\nA large book and music store,
\nTo ask its staff either for non-existent books,
\nOr for the most obscure books
\nBy untraceable authors.<\/p>\n

One flash mobber asked for a copy of the New Testament
\nTranslated from Coptic into Latin by David Wilkins
\nAnd published in 1716 by Oxford University Press.
\nThe book took till 1907 to sell its 500-copy print run.
\nIt was the slowest selling book in human history.<\/p>\n

‘Have you got it?’ the book-lover excitedly giggled,
\nEager to serve the cause of surrealism and fun.
\nThe assistant scrutinized Messaggerie’s database then said:
\n(In Italian) ‘It’s not coming up. I’m sorry. It’s gone.
\nBut maybe you just missed a copy…? I’ll double check.
\nNo, it’s gone. But you must come again.
\nWe’re always restocking. We’ll have it in very soon.’<\/p>\n

She smiled, an old smile to warm your hands on.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s the smell of books —
\nThat crisp mustiness that mixes past and present,
\nCombined with the fumy glue in their bindings
\nThat make even the most impossible dream
\nSeem completely achievable, a commonplace …
\nJust one amongst many in the rows of dream-weavers
\nEach with an immortal shelf-life and no sell-by date
\nWhose books open like butterflies for the pages to flitter,
\nUntil something rises out, fanned by two floating minds
\nFor the reader’s soul to lose weight as it hitches a ride
\nOn a tandem, freewheeling through time and space.<\/p>\n

‘WIll that be all sir? Thank you sir … Next?’<\/font><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first flash mob in Europe Met in Rome on 24 June 2003. 300 people entered ‘Messaggerie Musicali’, A large book and music store, To ask its staff either for non-existent books, Or for the most obscure books By untraceable authors. One flash mobber asked for a copy of the New Testament Translated from Coptic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[19,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-7489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-art","7":"category-literature","8":"entry","9":"has-post-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-1WN","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7489\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}