- The Massachusetts Historical Society marks the 225th anniversary of its establishment today. May it ever prosper!
- An employee of the National Library of Ireland will face trial over the theft of more than two hundred books from the library's collections. John Nulty has not yet entered a plea. Nulty is accused stealing the books "on various dates from 2004 to 2013."
- A lawsuit to determine rightful ownership of rare bibles and Franklin & Hall Work Book No. 2 continues to move forward: a judge this week determined that the New York Public Library's claim to the books is not barred by the statute of limitations. Read the full decision. For a plain-English report on this update, see Liam O'Brien's post on the Melville House blog.
- New from the Folger et al: Shakespeare Documented, "the largest and most authoritative collection of primary-source materials" documenting Shakespeare's life.
- Sarah Werner has posted a trio of her recent pieces, all of which are very much worth a read.
- Applications for the Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award are due by 16 February. Information here.
- From Jennifer Howard, "The Year of Opening Up the Library."
- It's being billed as a plus, but locals are none too pleased about it: the Silver Buckle Press and its collections will be relocated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries to the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum.
- For the Washington Post, Sarah Kershaw reports on the efforts to save Malian manuscripts from Islamic extremists.
- Part III of the Collation writeup of the Folger's acquisitions at the Pirie sale, covering the manuscripts, is now posted.
- E.C. Schroeder has been reappointed to a second term as director of the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library and associate university librarian at Yale.
Book Reviews
- Eleanor Fitzsimons' Wilde's Women; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Deborah Lutz's Relics of Death in Victorian Literature and Culture and The Brontë Cabinet; review by Samantha Ellis in the TLS.
- Christopher Buckley's The Relic Master; review by Aram Bakshian, Jr. in the Washington Times.
