- Launched this week, Shakespeare's World, a collaboration between the Folger, the OED, and Zooniverse to crowdsource manuscript transcriptions of 17th-century letters and recipes. Nicola Davis reported on the launch for the Guardian.
- For your reference, the entire NUC Pre-1956 (all 754 volumes!) is now available digitally via HathiTrust. The contents list may also be of use.
- Nick Basbanes' collection of research materials and inscribed books have been acquired by Texas A&M University.
- The sale of the first portion of Pierre Bergé's library at Hotel Drouot on Friday realized the equivalent of $12.8 million. More coverage from AFP.
- The results of a survey about allowing self-service photography in reading rooms are well worth a look.
- Karin Scheper, conservator at the University Library Leiden, guest-posts at medievalbooks about the process of deciding whether and how to conserve a damaged book.
- The AAS has acquired a collection of daguerrotypes related to the Thomas P. and David C. Collins firm of Philadelphia.
- Architects have been hired to draw up plans for a new building to house the Lambeth Palace Library.
- Not that all the readers of this blog don't already know the answer, but Howard Jacobson, writing for the BBC Magazine, asks "Is there still any point to collecting books?"
- The AAS' annual report is now available.
- John Sunyer reports for the Financial Times on the Maggs Bros move.
- New to me, anyway, the Centre for Printing History and Culture, a joint initiative between Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham.
- The UK Intellectual Property Office has stated that faithful reproductions of existing public-domain works should be in the public domain.
Reviews
- Rebecca Rego Barry's Rare Books Uncovered; review by Jerry Morris at Contemplations of MoiBibliomaniac.
- John Sedgwick's War of Two; review by Susan Dunn in the NYTimes.
- James Shapiro's The Year of Lear; review by James Smiley in the NYTimes.
- David Wooton's The Invention of Science; review by Steve Donoghue in the CSM.
- Jane Dawson's John Knox; review by Arnold Hunt in the TLS.
