Back from an excellent RBMS preconference in the very strange city of Las Vegas. It was a pleasure to see so many old friends and meet so many new ones, and to have a chance to hear from so many about the good work they're doing in their libraries and institutions.
- The Irish Times reports that the oldest known surviving Irish manuscript, known as the First Book of Ussher, will be displayed publicly by Trinity College Dublin for the first time in 2016.
- Mitch Fraas, who I had the great pleasure of meeting in person this week at RBMS, has posted some fascinating findings based on the Americana Exchange lists of top 2013 book and manuscript auction sales, including breakdowns by auction house, century, estimate overperformance, and more.
- From the Harvard Gazette, a story on the conservation of the miniature books created by the Brontë children.
- Over at the Melville House blog, Alex Shephard has an in-depth look at the ongoing Amazon/Hachette feud, and what it means for the publishing industry.
- Continuing the very strange stories coming out of Dublin, All Hallows College is planning to sell art and rare books next month at Sheppard's in Durrow.
- Following the recent confirmation from Houghton Library that a book in its collections was bound in human skin, Paul Needham has written a short essay calling for the binding to be removed and buried.
- Over at The Little Professor, thoughts on deaccessioning from one's personal library.
- SAA president Danna Bell has posted on the SAA blog about "The De-Evolution of the Archives and Archivists List."
- A working manuscript draft of Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" sold for $2 million at Sotheby's this week.
- Jennifer Howard reports from the Association of American University Presses' annual meeting for the Chronicle of Higher Education.
- Retiring UVA historian Sandy Gilliam talked to the Roanoke Times about his long career at UVA.
Reviews
- Horst Bredekamp, Paul Needham et al.'s A Galileo Forgery; review by Massimo Mazzotti in the LA Review of Books. More than a review, though, this is an excellent background piece on the forgeries as well.
- Robert Galbraith/J.K. Rowling's The Silkworm; review by Harlan Coben in the NYTimes.
- Michael Korda's Clouds of Glory; review by Fergus M. Bordewich in the NYTimes.
- Elizabeth Mitchell's Liberty's Torch; review by Janet Napolitano in the LATimes.
- Kevin Birmingham's The Most Dangerous Book; review by Dwight Garner in the NYTimes.
- Nicola Barker's In the Approaches; review by Ruth Scurr in the TLS.
- Alex Wright's Cataloging the World; review by Maria Popova at Brain Pickings.
- Michael Blanding's The Map Thief; review by Chuck Haga in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
- Lauren Owen's The Quick; review by Joy Tipping in the Dallas Morning News.
