Sunday, October 21, 2018

Links & Reviews

Back in the saddle this week with lots of backlogged news to pass along. It was great to be back at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair last weekend (and the city provided a few days of absolutely stunningly lovely weather, too). Coming up next is the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (16–18 November), accompanied of course by the Boston Book, Print, and Ephemera Fair on Saturday, 17 November.

- There was an update in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on 12 October on the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library thefts case; the story includes some embedded documents. Other reports indicate that both Priore and Schulman will be going to trial, and that arraignment has been scheduled for 29 November.

- Sarah Lindebaum writes on the Houghton Library blog about "Looking Beyond the Text in Frances Wolfreston's Books."

- Video of the recent conference at the American Philosophical Society, "Past, Present, and Future of Libraries," is now available.

- An article I've been watching for for a while is now up: "Passing the Book: Cultures of Reading in the Winthrop Family, 1580–1730."

- Over at Notabilia, a great new Princeton acquisition is highlighted: a textbook signed by several Revolutionary-era students.

- Coming up on 6 November, Heather O'Donnell will deliver the Van Sinderen lecture at Yale's Beinecke Library: "Scouts, Spies, and Surveyors: Collectors of the Future."

- The Adams Papers team at MHS have released transcriptions of John Quincy Adams' diaries from 1821 through February 1825.

- The Library of Congress has digitized its collection of Theodore Roosevelt's papers.

- Book collector and philanthropist Jay Kislak died on 3 October; see his obituary in the Miami Herald or Rebecca Rego Barry's post on the Fine Books Blog.

- William Helfand also passed away earlier this month: Neil Genzlinger wrote the NYTimes obituary.

- Reading Copy has a good background post on forger Lee Israel, as the new movie based on her book Can You Ever Forgive Me? (starring Melissa McCarthy) hits theaters.

- Police in Stranraer, Scotland are looking for information about the June theft of a 1549 "Treacle Bible" from the Old Kirk, outside Drummore village.

- A great highlight from Edward O'Reilly on the N-YHS blog: a manuscript facsimile of a rare 1725 Benjamin Franklin imprint.

- The Lilly Library is featured in the IU Magazine.

- Margaret Atwood writes for the Guardian about Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

- On the JHI Blog, "Norse Fantasies and American Foundings," by Derek Kane O'Leary.

- "The Importance of Language in Rare Books" at Rare Books Digest.

- Susan Orlean's new book The Library Book was featured on NPR's "Weekend Edition" last weekend.

- Trinity College Dublin has launched a digital version of its Oscar Wilde collection.

- Also newly digitized, from the BL, more than two hundred Anglo-Saxon manuscripts from before 1100.

- The Guardian reports on the return of the Behemoth Bible (Codex Amiatinus) to the BL from Italy for the library's exhibition on things Anglo-Saxon.

- A complete Egyptian Book of the Dead on papyrus sold for more than 1.3 million Euros at auction in Monaco.

Reviews

- Susan Orlean's The Library Book; reviews by Michael Lewis in the NYTimes, Ron Charles in the WaPo, and by Jennifer Szilai in the NYTimes.

- David Blight's Frederick Douglass; review by Jennifer Szilai in the NYTimes.

- Maryanne Wolf's Reader, Come Home; review by Jennifer Howard in the WaPo.

- Jill Lepore's These Truths; review by Alex Carp in the NYRB.

Upcoming Auctions

Libros y Documentos at Morton Subastas in Mexico City on 23 October.

- Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at Ader on 23 October.

- Some books and manuscripts in the Arts of the Islamic World sale at Sotheby's London on 24 October.

- The Sporting Sale at Bonhams Edinburgh on 24 October.

- Rare and Important Travel Posters at Swann Galleries on 25 October.

- Books and Works on Paper (online) at Forum Auctions on 25 October.

- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 25 October.