Sunday, December 11, 2011

Links & Reviews

- The December Fine Books Notes is up, with lots of good things as usual.

- Paul Collins writes in Slate about what happened to the Mary Celeste even after she was discovered floating around without her crew.

- Knute Young, wanted in a string of book thefts in the Oakland/Berkeley area, was arrested this week.

- The mysterious Copiale Cipher has been cracked; computer analysis earlier this year revealed it to be a "detailed description of a ritual from a secret society that apparently had a fascination with eye surgery and ophthalmology."

- Don't miss Steve Ferguson's great post about an 18th-century librarian's "Collat. & perfect." inscriptions.

- At the Collation, more on Impos[i]tor, the Folger's very cool digital imposition tool, and, more to the point, some excellent advice for developers of digital humanities projects.

- One of the editors alerted me to In the Words of Women, a new blog highlighting American women writing between 1765 and 1799.

- From Jordan Goffin at Notes for Bibliophiles, "What's a special collections library for?"

- At Anchora, Adam Hooks continues his "Faking Shakespeare" series with a look at William Henry Ireland's draft play about Louis XVI.

- I'm not sure whether this is new or not, but the BL's bookbindings database makes for a good browse.

- From the Boston Globe, a report on a BPL-led program to digitize "records and documents of cultural institutions" across Massachusetts.

- Jane Austen biographer Paula Byrne says she's found a new portrait of Austen, the Telegraph reports.

Reviews

- The New-York Historical Society's exhibit Revolution! The Atlantic World Reborn; review by Alan Singer at HNN. [h/t Boston 1775]

- Michael Popek's Forgotten Bookmarks; review by Rebecca Rego Barry in Fine Books Notes.

- Colin Woodard's American Nations; review/discussion by J.L. Bell at Boston 1775.