- On Friday morning we got word that charges have now been filed in relation to the theft of materials from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library. According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Greg Priore, who managed the library's rare book collection from 1992 through 2017, was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, conspiracy, retail theft, library theft, criminal mischief, and forgery. John Schulman, co-owner of Caliban Book Shop, was charged with theft, receiving stolen property, dealing in proceeds of illegal activity, conspiracy, retail theft, theft by deception, forgery, and deceptive business practices. Paula Reed Ward's main report is accompanied by profiles of Priore and Schulman by Marylynne Pitz. See also Megan Guza's report for TribLive, Sarah Mervosh's NYTimes piece, and Marc Levy's Associated Press report.
ABAA President Vic Zoschak released a statement on behalf of of the organization: "This morning, the ABAA leadership learned that Greg Priore, former Carnegie Library Archivist, and ABAA member John Schulman of Caliban Books, have been charged with theft from the library. This is a truly regrettable situation for the larger book community, and one in which the Association shares the public’s dismay that such a theft took place. At this point in time, to comment further would be premature, as we support the legal process currently being pursued and will await its outcome. During this period we will continue to closely monitor the developments concerning this serious matter."
A thoroughly sickening state of affairs, to say the least; it's probably needless to say that I'll be keeping a close eye on where things go from here with this very disturbing case.
- Medieval Manuscripts Provenance has begun a series of posts on a 14th-century Italian manuscript, dubbed the "Goodspeed Bible."
- From Elizabeth DeBold at The Collation, "Under Cover: Forged Bindings on Display at the Folger."
- Dan Cohen writes "In Praise of Email."
- Absolutely love the joint post from the AAS blog by Doris O'Keefe and Elizabeth Watts Pope (which draw on a previous Facebook post by Brenna Bychowski) about some sample books for twentieth-century facsimile reprints.
- From the LC blog, an interview with Ahmed Johnson, a local history and genealogy reference librarian in the Library’s Main Reading Room and a specialist in African-American history.
- UVA has announced a crowdsourced-transcription project for the Julian Bond papers.
- Brill has made its "Library of the Written Word" volume Lost Books available as an open-access text to mark the tenth anniversary (and seventieth volume!) of the series.
- Travis McDade talked to the Daily Illini about his new book, Torn from Their Bindings, about Robert Kindred's widespread thefts from university libraries in the 1980s.
Upcoming Auctions
- Books & Works on Paper at William Bunch Auctions on 23 July.
- Angling Books from the Collection of Arnold "Jake" Johnson at Doyle New York on 24 July.
- Modern Literature at PBA Galleries on 26 July.
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter and Potter on 28 July.
