Matt

Matt has been working in bookselling for over ten years, seven of those here at Elliott Bay. He has worked with both new and second hand antiquarian books. Matt grew up in Seattle and passed many an afternoon prowling 2nd hand bookshops, buying up cheap paperbacks of beat writers, and looking longingly at the fine 1st editions. A few years and an employee discount later and Matt had his dream job. After an English degree and four years reading Shakespeare, Hardy, Milton, et al Matt discovered the pulps and there has been no looking back. A few of Matt's favorite writers include Jim Thompson, David Goodis, Horace McCoy, James Crumley, Eddie Bunker, James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler, Ed McBain (87th Precinct), Henning Mankell, Philip K. Dick and Graham Joyce.

Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia
by Danzig Baldayev
Having worked in bookselling for over 10 years I have seen books on a wide range of subjects; from the mundane to the spectacular, from the horrific to the beatific, but in all my years of bookselling I have never encountered a book this strange and wonderful. A book that illuminates a part of the world that was not only previously hidden but could not even be imagined. The book was compiled by Baldayev during a lifetime as a Soviet/Russian prison guard and consists of drawings and photographs of tattoos which are unlike anything you have seen before. In these photos and drawings are portrayed the horrors and sadness of the Soviet system written on the skin of criminals and political prisoners. Despite the horrors between its covers, the book itself is extremely well made. The printing, binding, and attention that went into the production of this book are magnificent.

The Bounty
by Caroline Alexander
My legs are still a little wobbly and I can still feel the sting of sea spray on my cheek after reading this painstakingly researched historically accurate account of the famous mutiny that occured aboar The HMS Bounty in April of 1789 and the remarkable chain of events that followed; including Lt. Bligh's perilous open boat voyage, the pursuit and capture of the mutineers by The Pandora, and a suspensful court-martial.
Reading this book blew apart my notions of the events that transpired aboard The Bounty; fostered primarily by movies; that William Bligh was a tyrannical sea-faring monster sadistically brutal toward his crew. What emerges instead is a man who cared deeply for the safety and welfare of his crew, and although he may have had his faults, was a brilliant navigator who saved many lives. The book reads like an entertaining sea-faring yarn, much like the fiction of such masters as Joseph Conrad, Jack London, Patrick O'Brian, C.S. Forester et al. This book will appeal to fans of Alexander's award winning Endurance.