Sunday, November 07, 2010

Links & Reviews

- "Fine Books Notes" for November includes a list of 50 Books About Books published over the last year or so (generally those geared toward the general reader), which I helped compile; the issue also includes Nick Basbanes' 2010 biblio-picks, and other goodies.

- Steve Ferguson notes a new find from the general stacks at Princeton's Firestone library: one of few books remaining from Bell's Circulating Library in Philadelphia.

- The V&A Museum is launching a campaign to fund the conservation of three Dickens manuscripts, including A Tale of Two Cities.

- Two copies of the Aberdeen Breviary (the first book printed in Scotland, 1509-10) are going on display at the National Library of Scotland

- Via the ABAA blog, check out the "ILAB Booksellers on Video" page, featuring interviews with a wide range of booksellers (with many more to come).

- At Mercurius Politicus, Nick uncovers some more recycled woodcuts in 17th-century English books.

- The College of Charleston has received a collection of more than 2,000 sporting and angling books, accumulated by Dr. Greville Haslam.

- David Gutowski has launched his Online "Best of 2010" Book Lists - the place to go for an aggregation of the spate of "best of" lists.

- In the November "AE Monthly" Susan Halas goes inside Better World Books, and Bruce McKinney offers another look at his upcoming "American Experience" sale.

- An exchange in the NYRB "Letters" this week between Tony Simpson of the New Zealand Society and Authors and Robert Darnton over the idea of a national digital library. And in the Atlantic, David Rothman also argues for the creation of a national digital library.

- Matthew Battles is collecting images for "The Wonderful Gallery of Scientific Imagery." Tweet them to him at @MatthewBattles with the hashtag #wondersci. This is going to be a great, and beautiful, project.

- If you know anything about British bookseller/thief John Edward Tinkler (active in the early 1900s), John Lancaster wants to hear from you.

- The Rhode Island Historical Society has launched The Atlas of the Rhode Island Book Trade in the Eighteenth Century. Jordan Goffin notes "We've attempted to document the location of as many printers, booksellers, and more in space and time. Best viewed in full-screen, users can also search and browse the accompanying database." I advise browsing the guide first, too.

Reviews

- John Tingey's The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects; review by Ellen F. Brown in "Fine Books Notes".

- Joseph Ellis' First Family; reviews by Caroline Weber in the NYTimes and Kirk Davis Swinehart in the Chicago Tribune.

- Ron Chernow's Washington; review by Erik Spanberg in the CSM.

- Ben Carp's Defiance of the Patriots; review by Maya Jasanoff in the Guardian.

- Simon Winchester's Atlantic; review by Matthew Price in the Globe.