- Reminder that the Western States Book & Paper Fair is coming up 29 April–1 May.
- Entries for the 2021 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest are now being accepted, and entries for the 2021 Honey & Wax Prize are due on 1 June.
- The BBC reports on new research which attempts to identify scribal hands in the Great Isaiah Scroll. See also the original paper in PLoS ONE.
- There was terrible news from Cape Town this week, where a wildfire destroyed the University of Cape Town's Jagger Reading Room. The full extent of the damage to collections is not yet confirmed, but some rare and unique materials are known to have been lost.
- An excerpt from Ross King's The Bookseller of Florence was in LitHub this week.
- Now online at Lost Manuscripts, Neil Ker's catalogue of pastedowns found in Oxford bindings (PoxBo).
- From Roger Wieck on the Morgan blog, "Master of Catherine of Cleves: Acquisition of a Previously Unknown Illumination."
- APHA has launched a YouTube channel.
- Rebecca Rego Barry notes a copy of Wharton's Ethan Frome inscribed by the author to her butler, Alfred White, currently offered for sale by Carpe Librum. The description reports that no other signed copies of this book are known.
- Lauren Hewes reports a very neat AAS acquisition: an 1858 set of foldable brass bookmarks!
- Swann Galleries will offer a selection of deaccessioned duplicates from the Letterform Archive on 12 May.
- Doyle has some books from William Safire's library in several of their upcoming sales. Rebecca Rego Barry notes some highlights.
- From Giuseppe Bruno-Chomin for the JHIBlog, "Italian 'Secrets,' Forgery(?), and a Pearly Obsession."
- A copy of Eikon Basilike is in the Early Modern Female Book Ownership spotlight this week.
Upcoming Auctions
- Collection of a Connoisseur: History in Manuscript, Part 2 at Sotheby's London ends on 27 April.
- Books, Manuscripts, Photographs: From the Middle Ages to the Moon at Christie's London ends on 28 April.
- Two Autograph Collections at Lion Heart Autographs on 28 April.
- Atlas, Cartes & Livres de Voyage at ALDE on 29 April.
- Antiquarian and Modern Literature and Illustrated Books at Forum Auctions on 29 April.
- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle on 29 April.
- California and the West. With Americana – Travel – Maps at PBA Galleries on 29 April.
