- NPR reported this week on the Field Museum's ongoing financial difficulties, which may result in further deaccessioning of rare books and museum collections.
- Officials at the Vatican report that a 2006 restoration of a Pinturicchio fresco in the Room of the Mysteries revealed what they believe could well be the first European images of American Indians. The fresco was originally painted between 1492 and 1494, and the pope at the time (Alexander VI, Rodrigo Borgia) was quite interested in Columbus' findings.
- At the Eton College Library blog, a post on some M.R. James artifacts in the Eton collections. And speaking of James, BBC4 is currently streaming some of his stories adapted for radio (just a few days left to listen).
- New on the scene: Just Teach One, an effort to make available some "neglected or forgotten texts" for scholars of early American studies to use in the classroom (hosted by AAS and Common-place). Joe Adelman offers some thoughts from a historical and book-historical perspective over at The Junto.
- At the Incunabula Project blog, two participants in David Pearson's recent Masterclass at Cambridge on "Discovering Provenance in Book History" share their experiences.
- The Smithsonian's Design Decoded blog explores the phonetic alphabet of Benjamin Franklin. [h/t @john_overholt]
- The joys (and amusements) of pen facsimiles at The Collation.
- New: DPLA StackLife, a way to visualize DPLA collections (useful as an example of a new "front end" for the DPLA collections and how they can be "mashed up" with other resources).
Reviews
- Rick Gekoski's Lost, Stolen or Shredded; review by Pradeep Sebastian in The Hindu.
- Edward Rutherfurd's Paris; review by Rodney Welch in the WaPo.
- Nathaniel Philbrick's Bunker Hill; review by Scott Martelle in the LATimes.
- Jill Lepore's The Story of America; review by Amanda Foreman in the TLS.
- Two recent volumes on Samuel Johnson; review by Kate Chisholm in the TLS.
