Another busy week in the world of books!
- The Irish Times reported this week that the Jesuit Order in Ireland will sell "thousands" of rare books from its collections at Sotheby's London next summer. Some additional books and manuscripts have been deposited at the National Library of Ireland on long-term loan.
- A copy of Isaac Newton's Principia set a new auction record for a scientific book this week, selling for $3.7 at Christie's New York.
- The ISTC is now live at its new home.
- The Bibliographical Society of Australia and New Zealand has issued a call for papers for their 2017 conference, "Connecting the Colonies: Empires and Networks in the History of the Book."
- A remarkable collection of rare books and manuscripts has been bequeathed to Trinity College, Cambridge by Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe.
- The British Library has acquired nine copper plates used to print diagrams and maps in several East India Company publications in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The plates were previously in the possession of a scrap metal dealer.
- Xinyi Ye has posted a video profile of Boston's Brattle Book Shop (one of my very favorite places, it must be said).
- The Fine Press Book Association seeks an editor for their journal, Parenthesis.
- There's a new Common-place out; it includes a Q&A with Carla Mulford about her recent literary biography of Benjamin Franklin, and John Garcia on print culture and popular history during the Mexican War, among other interesting pieces.
- Video of Matthew Kirschenbaum's 2016 Fales Lecture, "Bookish Media," is now available online.
- Bookbinder Michael Chrisman has been sentenced to twenty-one months in jail after defrauding a business partner; Chrisman had promised to bind seventy facsimile Gutenberg Bibles, but instead sent false invoices and used the funds for personal expenses. Chrisman was also ordered to pay some $483,000 in restitution.
- Registration is now open for the "Bibliography Among the Disciplines" conference in October 2017.
- The University of Michigan Special Collections have completed an eight-year project to digitize Islamic manuscripts from the collections.
- AbeBooks have posted their top sales of 2016.
- Mark Boonshoft writes for the NYPL blog about literary politics in 1790s New York City.
- Caroline Duroselle-Melish posts about sophistications in the First Folio over at The Collation, while Elizabeth DeBold explores explores "The Mysterious Case of Folger First Folio 33."
Reviews
- Joanne Limburg's A Want of Kindness; review by Katharine Grant in the NYTimes.
- Matthew Rubery's The Untold Story of the Talking Book; review by Kevin Canfield in the WaPo.
- Boston's "Beyond Words" exhibition; review by Jane Whitehead at West 86th.
- Caroline Winterer's American Enlightenments; review by Benjamin Park at Professor Park's Blog.
No Upcoming Auctions
Happy holidays, good cheer, and good books to one and all!
