Links & Auctions

- Jennifer Schuessler reports for the NYTimes that one of Charlotte Brontë's tiny manuscript books will be offered at the upcoming New York Antiquarian Book Fair. 

- On the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Deciphering an English exorcism manual."

- Tom Staley died this week; obituaries are in the NYTimes and the Austin America-Statesman.

- Over on the Bodleian's Conveyor blog, "Nature Printing," by Elena Trowsdale.

- Kurt Zimmerman has been making some wonderful new acquisitions, as usual: he recounts a couple in "The Love and Pursuit of Books Unites Us."

- On the AAS Acquisitions Table, "Turner & Fisher's Infant Primer."

- Over at Shakespeare & Beyond, an interview with Brian Cummings about Nicolas Rowe.

- Thomas Venning, Head of Books and Manuscripts for Christie's, offers up a "What I've Learned" feature.

- A fascinating find will be at auction this week at Dominic Winter: Rebecca Rego Barry has the report on the Fine Books Blog (though I have to say I'm fairly unconvinced that this volume could have spent all that much time in the eaves of a thatched roof).

Upcoming Auctions

- Oeuvres Graphiques & Autographes (Aristophil 47) at Aguttes on 5 April.

- Early Printed Books, Historical Autographs & Documents, Travel, Maps & Decorative Prints at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 6–7 April.

- Bibliothèque d'un Amateur at ALDE on 7 April.

- Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 7 April.

- Photographs at Bonhams New York on 7 April.

- The Jack and Beverly Waltman Collection with Photography and Fine Art at PBA Galleries on 7 April.

- Comics and Comic Art at Heritage Auctions on 7–10 April.

- Autographes et Manuscrits: Bibliothèque de Monsieur et Madame B, Seconde Partie: Livres Illustrés Anciens, Romantiques et Modernes at Binoche & Giquello on 8 April.

Links & Auctions

- Todd Peak, the man charged with the theft of rare comics from FSU, entered a not guilty plea earlier this month.

- Coming up on 17 - 20 March, the conference of the Ephemera Society of America, "Creating Places and Spaces."

- The ABAA will hold the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair on 21–24 April.

- LSU has acquired the Wyatt Houston Day Collection of Poetry by African Americans.

- A new website, Mali Magic, features more than 40,000 digitized pages from the Timbuktu manuscripts. See also coverage on the BBC.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Antiphonal of Berardo da Teramo in 1924."

- The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien released some previously-unpublished images of Tolkien's manuscripts and paintings.

- Michael Durrant writes for Early Modern Female Book Ownership about Bangor University's copy of the 1540 Great Bible.

- Over on the NLS blog, "Sir Walter Scott and the historical novel."

- For The Millions, Lenny Picker talked to Dennis Duncan about his new book Index, A History of the.

- The University of Liverpool blog notes a new acquisition of an 1878 travel diary.

- From Christine Jacobson for the Fine Books Blog, "At Risk: Ukraine's Museum of the Book and Printing."

- Susan Martin writes for the Beehive on "Behind the Scenes: Challenges in Processing."

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres de Photographies at Ader on 14 March.

- Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle, Voyages, Sciences & Médecine at ALDE on 16 March.

- Two Day Book Sale at Keys Auctioneers on 16–17 March.

Links & Auctions

- Rebecca Romney has an essay in Uncanny Magazine, "Resisting the Monolith: Collecting as Counter Narrative."

- There's a new provenance mystery for us from the Middle Temple Library.

- Over on the Cotsen Children's Library blog, "A Rare Print Makes a Poor Fan But a Great Find!" [With many thanks to John Overholt for pointing out the inclusion of a book I collect in the image!]

- From The Bookhunter on Safari, "Becoming a Book-Hunter."

- Erin Blake writes for The Collation on "18th-century watchpapers."

- Alison Flood reports for the Guardian on Susan Jaffe Tane's recent donations of Poe items to the Poe Museum in Richmond, VA.

- From Jerry Morris, "About William Strunk, Jr. and his Other Books."

Upcoming Auctions

- Books & Manuscripts including the Monsieur X Collection at Artcurial on 8 March.

- American Historical Ephemera & Photography at Hindman on 8 March.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 10 March.

- Decorative and Graphic Arts with Illustrated & Antiquarian Books, Fine Press & Fine Bindings at PBA Galleries on 10 March.

- Rare Books & Ephemera at Addison & Sarova on 12 March.

- Bookworm Sale at Addison & Sarova on 13 March.

Links & Auctions

 - Todd Peak, 38, the head of security at Florida State University's Strozier Library, has been charged with the theft of some 5,000 rare comics from the library's collections. Charges include grand theft of more than $100,000, fraud, dealing in stolen property, and sale of stolen property using the internet. So far, only about 2,800 of the stolen comics have been recovered.

- The British Library has announced a major new project to digitize manuscripts, rolls, and charters connected to medieval and Renaissance women.

- The Museum of the American Revolution has acquired a collection of some 200 documents relating to Black and Native American soldiers in the American Revolution.

- Joanna Colclough writes for the LC blog, "Belle de Costa Green: Library Director, Advocate, and Rare Books Expert."

 - From Books and Borrowing, "Forgotten Best-Sellers: Mary Brunton's Self-Control (1811)."

- Cynthia Brokaw's Panizzi Lectures are now available for viewing.

- Adam Smyth's latest at TEXT! is "Grangerising: Exploding and Ballooning Books."

- There's a new Bite Sized Book History video up, "Magic Movable Pop-Up Books!"

- Another tranche of Copyright Historical Record Books are now available from the Library of Congress.

- New to me: "Digitization as a Teachable Feature, or 'How did those images get there?!'"

- On the JHI Blog podcast, Glauco Schettini interviews Hannah Marcus about her book Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and Censorship in Early Modern Italy.

- From Oana Godeanu-Kenworthy, "Roughing it in the Bush: The Politics of the Book in Early Canada."

- A really lovely and interesting digital font project based on the Exeter Book.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Connoisseur's Library Sale at Bonhams London on 15–16 February.

- Printed Books, Maps, Decorative Prints & Watercolours at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 16 February.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Photographs & Books at University Archives on 16 February.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 17 February. 

- Books and Manuscripts at Freeman's on 17 February.

- A Grand Vision: The David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams Photographs at Sotheby's New York on 17 February.

- Fine Books & Autographs at Swann Galleries on 17 February.

Links & Auctions

- Rare Books Pasadena continues through today, and the California International Antiquarian Book Fair begins on 11 February.

- Sandra Hindman has a new post on the AbeBooks blog, "Explaining Books of Hours."

- From Keith Houston, "a fistful of manicules."

 - Catalogers, take note: DCRM (RDA Edition) is now available.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "A Spanish Choirbook Dated 1522."

- James Joyce's grandson has donated a large collection of Joyceana to the University of Reading.

- From Books & Borrowing, "Forgotten Best-Sellers: John Moore's Zeluco (1789)."

- There's a new crowdsourced transcription project: Corresponding with Quakers.

- Rare Book Monthly articles for February include Michael Stillman's update on auction sales, Susan Halas' interview with Glen Miranker,

Upcoming Auctions

- Original Film Posters at Sotheby's London ends on 8 February.

- Fine Books & Ephemera at New England Book Auctions ends on 8 February.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 10 February.

- Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries on 10 February.

- PBA Platinum: Rare Books and Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 10 February.

Links & Auctions

- Marsha Lederman writes for the Globe and Mail about the University of British Columbia's recent acquisition of a Shakespeare First Folio. And this isn't your standard "library buys book" story either - there are some interesting wrinkles! This copy, West 202 in the censuses, was previously at Meisei University (apparently with at least one intervening owner). Meisei seems to have deaccessioned two copies of the First Folio sometime in the last ten years, which I hadn't been aware of prior to looking in the censuses for info on this copy: their website now says they have ten First Folios, rather than twelve as before.

- Christie's announced their plans this week for the sale of Bill Reese's collection, including an exhibition of selected materials this month. Jennifer Schuessler has coverage in the NYTimes.

- Carissa Pastuch writes for the LC's Worlds Revealed Blog on "Al-Idrisi's Masterpiece of Medieval Geography."

- David Ferriero will retire as the Archivist the United States in mid-April 2022.

Review

- Mark Argetsinger's A Grammar of Typography; review by Joshua Langman at Typographica.

Upcoming Auctions

- Literature, Graphic, Illustrated at New England Book Auctions ends on 18 January.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 20 January. 

- Important Americana at Christie's New York on 20–21 January.

- Important Numismatic Books at Kolbe & Fanning ends on 22 January.

- Bonhams had announced that their sale of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's library would begin on Wednesday, 19 January, but the auction page now redirects back to the main page. Not sure what's going on there but perhaps we'll learn something soon (maybe an institutional acquisition?). [Edited to add: the link seems to work again but the complete catalog still isn't available so, who knows.]

Links & Auctions

This'll likely be the last post for 2021 - my very best wishes to each and every one of you for a restful and healthy holiday season. May 2022 be better for us all.

- The biggest biblio-news of the week is the acquisition of the Honresfield Library en bloc for a consortium of British libraries. The £15 million purchase price was funded by grants and donations, with half the cost given by Sir Leonard Blavatnik. More from Charlotte Higgins for the Guardian and from the BBC.

- There was far less coverage of it, but a $7 million default judgment against Dirk Obbink in federal court is also a very important story. Obbink failed to respond to allegations he had defrauded Hobby Lobby by selling $7 million worth of stolen papyrus fragments.

- From Karin Wulf at Scholarly Kitchen, "Reading About Libraries and Librarians."

- The Middle Temple Library has one last provenance mystery for us this year.

- The National Archives announced its plans for the release of the 1950 census, coming in April 2022.

- The Books and Borrowing team had a tour of Edinburgh's Signet Library.

Reviews

- David Pearson's Book Ownership in Stuart England; review by Adam Smyth in the LRB.

- Gary Goodman's The Last Bookseller; review by Timothy Francis Barry at the arts fuse.

Upcoming Auctions

- De Chateaubriand à Cioran – Raymond Queneau at Aguttes (Aristophil 45) on 20 December.

- Holy Family College Rare Book Collection (Part 1) at Eaton Hudson ends on 21 December.

- Fine Books and Ephemera at New England Book Auctions ends on 21 December.

Links & Auctions

- At The Collation, Heather Wolfe has a wonderful post on a 1602 book theft and its aftermath.

- Jennifer Schuessler writes for the NYTimes on the recent donation of the production archive, props, costumes, &c. used in the Apple TV+ series "Dickinson" to Harvard's Houghton Library.

- Over on the Ransom Center blog, Aaron Pratt on a recent donation of rare books from the Vaughn Foundation Fund, including a first edition of Newton's Principia with an early presentation inscription and early annotations.

- Ken Sanders Rare Books will reopen in 2022 in The Leonardo, a Salt Lake City science and technology museum.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts: 19th and 20th Century at Sotheby's London ends on 14 December.

- Early Printing, Americana & Rare Books at New England Book Auctions ends on 14 December.

- Printing & Bookbinding Equipment and Supplies at New England Book Auctions ends on 14 December.

- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 15 December.

- Printed Books, Maps, Historical Documents & Ephemera, Bookbinding Tools & Materials, Vinyl Records at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 15 December.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams New York on 15 December.

- Children's Books & Illustrations, Playing Cards, Modern First Editions & Autographs at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 16 December.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 16 December.

- Books and Manuscripts Online at Bonhams New York ends on 16 December.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – Maps & Views at PBA Galleries on 16 December.

Links & Auctions

- A new collection edited by Michelle Levy and Betty Schellenberg, "How and Why to Do Things with Eighteenth-Century Manuscripts," is currently open-access from Cambridge University Press.

- Public Domain Review is doing an advent-calendar style countdown to highlight various pieces of culture which will enter the public domain in 2022.

- Video of the 18 November Archival Silence Working Group event "Language In/Of the Archive" is now available.

- From Peter Kidd, part the second of "Celotti or Ottley? The Source of the Lomax-Wade Collection."

- The Clements Library has acquired a 1761 manuscript plan of the fort at Detroit, and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs.

Upcoming Auctions

- The History of Western Script: A further selection from The Schøyen Collection at Bloomsbury on 7 December.

- Livres d'Heures – Manuscrits – Archives followed by Collection d'un Amateur at Binoche et Giquello on 7 December.

- Livres et Manuscrits at Sotheby's Paris ends on 8 December.

- Printed Books, Manuscripts and Maps at Bellmans on 9 December.

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle on 9 December.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Bonhams on 9 December.

- December Auction at Arader Galleries on 11 December.

Links & Auctions

- Don't forget the (virtual) Boston Book Fair, 18–20 November.

- Over at TEXT!, Adam Smyth on "Thinking."

- Ward Library at Peterhouse, Cambridge hosts "Thomas Gray: An Anniversary Exhibition through 13 December." There is also an online version.

- From the BL Medieval Manuscripts blog, "The Floreffe Bible on exhibition."

- Kurt Zimmerman has posted a memorial to Bill Barlow, who died on 21 October. See also Terry Belanger's tribute, which is on the RBS site.

- The 42nd Annual Conference on Book Trade History, "The Humours of Book Collecting," will be held 26–27 November.

- The new issue of Parenthesis contained interviews with the first four winners of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize.

- Coming up on 18 November, the University of Kentucky's King Library Press hosts, "Print/Reprint: A Roundtable Discussion of Print Technologies as Material Evidence." Free on Zoom, but registration is required.

- Pardon the logrolling, but I am quite excited to report that Binghamton University Libraries Special Collections has acquired an 1859 third octavo edition of Audubon's Birds of America.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Henry Fitz Jr. Archive of Photographic History and American Historical Ephemera & Photography at Hindman on 15 November.

- The Lewis Gilbert Film Script and Production Archive at Bellmans on 16 November.

- Travel, Photographs, Maps, and Natural History at Sotheby's London ends on 17 November.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 18 November.

- Rare Books with Science, Medicine & Natural History at PBA Galleries on 18 November.

- The Constitution of the United States at Sotheby's New York on 18 November.

- The World of Hergé at Artcurial on 20 November.

Links & Auctions

- The (virtual) Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held 18–20 November.

- The Library of Congress has acquired the M.C. Migel Rare Book Collection from the American Foundation for the Blind.

- From the Bodleian blog, "Congratulations, have a fish."

- Over at Books and Borrowing, "COP26 – Part 1: Glasgow, Birthplace of the Anthropocene."

- Abbie Weinberg writes for The Collation on "Small Latin and Less Greek," explaining this month's Crocodile mystery.

- From the Mudd Manuscript Library blog, Iliyah Coles on "Secret Societies at Princeton in the 19th Century."

- The BL Medieval Manuscripts blog highlights the new exhibition on Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots in "'Not lawful nor tolerable.'"

- Peter Kidd has the second installment of his series on the Lombard Cutting.

- From The Conveyor, "Printing matters: Inspiration at the Bodleian Bibliographical Press."

- Carson Koepke writes for the Beinecke blog on "Digitally Reconstructing the Acts of Appian Papyrus."

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books & Works on Paper and Autographs & Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions on 9 November.

- Contemporary Artists' Books: The Property of a Texas Collector at Swann Galleries on 9 November.

- Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 9–10 November.

- Books, Maps & Prints at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 10 November.

- Rare Autographs, Photographs & Books at University Archives on 10 November.

- Modern Firsts at Skinner ends on 10 November.

- Shelf Sale: Literature, Early Printing, Books on Books at New England Auctions on 11 November.

- Fine Judaica: Printed Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinic Letters, Ceremonial & Graphic Art at Kestenbaum & Company on 11 November.

- The Civil War Collection of James C. Frasca at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 12 November.

Links & Auctions

- Oak Knoll's sitewide sale is happening now, until 6 November (everything 20–50% off).

- Much of the material in the New England Book Auctions sale of Printing & Bookbinding Equipment and Supplies (ending 14 December) comes from the collection of our friend Vince Golden - there's some really excellent wood type and border material in this sale.

- Emory University has acquired Irish bibliophile John Moore's impressive collection of Bram Stoker material.

- The ABAA blog has an update on some stolen books recently returned to the National Library of Sweden.

- A copy of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part One extracted from the First Folio sold this week for $35,000.

- Over on The Conveyor, "Medieval Cookbooks: A Student Collection," and "Copper Plates in the Bodleian Libraries."

- The Middle Temple Libraries blog has posted a new provenance mystery for us this month.

- The Clements Library has digitized the William Howe Orderly Book, covering the period 1776 to 1778.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blogs, "Afterlives and Otherworlds: Three Ghost Stories from Medieval Ireland."

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Provenance of a Lombard Cutting [I]."

Upcoming Auctions

- History of Science and Technology at Bonhams Los Angeles on 3 November 2021.

- Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle (Part I, Part II) at ALDE ends on 4 November.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 4 November.

- Art, Illustration & Dr. Seuss – British Prime Ministers – Antiquarian Books at PBA Galleries on 4 November.

- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 6 November.

Links & Auctions

- Don't forget Oak Knoll Fest (virtual), coming up on 28–30 October.

- Derrick Spires will deliver the 2021 Lieberman Lecture for APHA on 2 December, "Nineteenth-Century Black Printing and the Matter of Black Life." Register here.

- On the Columbia Rare Books blog, Celeste Brewer "On Oudated and Harmful Language in Library of Congress Subject Headings."

- Over on the Bodleian's Archives and Manuscripts blog, "The First Black Student at Oxford University."

- From the Cambridge University Special Collections blog, "The Pilgrims' Tale: The Box that Moved the Library."

- The University of Pennsylvania has received a gift of 151 interpositive glass photographic plates by Edward S. Curtis. 

- The Lazarus Project's technique for photographing books and manuscripts without opening them more than 30 degrees is highlighted in the University of Rochester news. 

Upcoming Auctions

- The Alexander Hamilton Collection of John E. Herzog at Freeman's on 25 October.

- The Ricky Jay Collection at Sotheby's New York on 27–28 October.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 28 October.

- Fine Books & Autographs at Swann Galleries on 28 October.

- Comic Books: Pre-Code Horror, Golden Age, Silver Age & Undergrounds at PBA Galleries on 28 October.

Links & Auctions

- The Lilly Library has acquired the marvelous dictionary collection of Madeline Kripke.

- Paul Needham's Lyell Lectures continue, and are viewable here as they are delivered.

- The ABAA's Diversity Initiative is hosting a panel, "Everyone is Welcome Here: Building Better Relationships in Book Communities" on 26 October. 

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Otto Ege's Armenian Lectionary Dated '1121.'"

- Heather Wolfe will be the Munby Fellow at Cambridge University Libraries for 2021–22, working on a project titled "Decoding early modern writing paper."

- On the Swann Galleries blog, Devon Eastland writes about Harvard librarian George Parker Winship.

- Carla Cevasco writes for the Collation on "Picturing Children's Food in Early Modern Europe."

- There is still time to register for the APHA conference on 22–23 October, "Impresos: Printing Across Latin American and Caribbean Cultures."

- The bat signal has gone out for a number of Mark Twain legal documents which are believed to have been acquired by the Detroit Public Library in 1966 but were not found when a researcher looked for them in 2010. Barbara Schmidt has a feature on this over on Twain Quotes.

- A First Circuit panel has ruled that a 1780 Alexander Hamilton letter to Lafayette is the clear property of the Massachusetts Archives, and the letter has now been returned. It was stolen by employee Harold Perry sometime between 1938 and 1946 and later sold. Read the full decision here.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Luzzatto High Holidays Mahzor: A Magnificent Ashkenazic Prayer Book at Sotheby's New York on 19 October.

- Travel including a single owner collection of books on mountaineering at Bloomsbury Auctions (Dreweatts) ends on 20 October.

- A third selection of 16th and 17th English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library at Forum Auctions on 21 October.

- Fine Literature – Bukowski, Beats & the Counterculture at PBA Galleries on 21 October.

- Literature, Social Activism, Counterculture at Second Story Books on 23 October.

Links & Auctions

- The Cotsen Children's Library has acquired a large cache of woodblocks used to illustrate books published by John Newbery and several successors. An online searchable database of the blocks is planned.

- From Keith Houston, "Interrobang Archaeology."

- Over on the Morgan Library blog, John Bidwell on "A Fine Binding for the Prince of Books."

- Adam Smyth's excellent TEXT! dispatch this week is "Paper, wasps, dandelion roots."

- Bodleian Library Publishing has made nearly 550 publications, exhibit catalogs, &c. available through HathiTrust.

- Salt Lake City bookseller Curt Bench, who some readers may recognize from the Netflix documentary "Murder Among the Mormons," has died aged 68.

- In Smithsonian, V.M. Braganza on the cipher monogram of Lady Mary Wroth.

- Steven Lubar sent along a post about a course he taught this summer at Brown, "Books, Material & Digital," which looks like it worked very well!

Upcoming Auctions

- Summer Historical Auction at Alexander Historical Auctions on 24–26 August.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books at University Archives on 25 August.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 26 August.

- 100 Items of Judaica, Rare Autographs at University Archives on 26 August.

- Books in All Fields with Fine Press Books, Americana & Maps at PBA Galleries on 26 August.

- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter Auctions on 28 August.

Links & Auctions

- The Virtual Ephemera Fair runs through 8 p.m. EDT today (15 August). Coming up next on 1–2 September is the New York City Virtual Book and Ephemera Fair.

- The planned in-person New York fair for September has been cancelled, with a new planned date of April 2022.

- I missed this Atlas Obscura piece last November, looks like: Jeffrey Arlo Brown on "How German Librarians Finally Caught an Elusive Book Thief."

- Over at Penn Today, a look at the Penn Libraries' participation in a multi-institution project to digitize materials documenting early medical education.

- A very happy tenth birthday to The Collation, the excellent Folger blog. They've got a neat "by the numbers" post to celebrate. And also from them this week "Book History, Manuscript Studies, and Navigating Special Collections During COVID-19."

- On the University of Glasgow archives and special collections blog, "The Foulis Brothers Book Receipts Project: how much can an invoice tell us?"

- The St Andrews special collections blog continues their series on the recent USTC conference on gender and the book trades.

- From the Columbia University rare books blog, "Two ancient papyrus fragments and their very modern reunion." 

- Madison Rootenberg Schwartz is in the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight this week.

- The NYPL has acquired a collection of Russian zines.

- Newly published by Quaritch, Arthur Freeman's Historical Forgery in Romanophobe Britain: Robert Ware's Irish Fictions Revisited.

- CNBC will be airing an episode of "Super Heists" this week focusing on the 2004 Transylvania University Library thefts.

Upcoming Auctions

- LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History at Swann Galleries on 19 August.

- Apple and Steve Jobs at RR Auction on 19 August.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – Space – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 19 August.

- American Historical Ephemera & Photography at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 20 August.

Links & Auctions

- The Virtual Ephemera Fair (summer edition) will be held on 14–15 August over on Getman's Virtual.

- Karin Wulf has been appointed the new Beatrice and Julio Mario Santo Domingo Director and Librarian of the John Carter Brown Library. Congratulations!

- Cambridge University Library has acquired a new book from Gabriel Harvey's library for their collections.

- From the BL Medieval Manuscripts blog, "A mariner's handbook from the library of Sir Walter Raleigh."

- Over on the Peter Harrington blog, "Why do we use catalogues in the rare book world?"

- From Adam Smyth at TEXT!, "Book ownership, Paul McCartney and Napoleon Bonaparte."

- On the Morgan Library's blog, "Collecting Bibiena."

- From the N-YHS, "Art in Early Republic New York City."

- Over at Books and Borrowing, "Labouring-Class Borrowing at Innerpeffray Library, 1815–1833."

- On the St Andrews special collections blog, summer intern Megan Briers reports on her efforts to identify some items from the library sales of Rev. John Lee.

Upcoming Auction

- Printed Books, Maps & Documents, Vinyl Records & CDs at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 11 August.

Links & Auctions

- Anne Bromley has a writeup of an extensive Mormon studies collection recently acquired by UVA.

- A digital version of the tenth-century Exeter Book is now available. 

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Murder most foul in the Cotswolds" and "The lost miracles of Wulfsige of Evesham."

- Alicia Petersen writes for The Collation on "Decoding Early Modern Gossip."

- Scott Ellwood has a post on the Grolier Club blog on "Tuskegee's Printing Office."

- The French government has acquired the manuscript of the Marquis de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom for €4.55 million.

- A copy of Roger L'Estrange's edition of Seneca is featured on Early Modern Female Book Ownership, as is a 1676 Book of Common Prayer.

- Over on the JHI Blog, Alexandra Montgomery on "Imagining Nova Scotia: The Limits of an Eighteenth-Century Imperial Fantasy."

- At Books & Borrowing, "Robert Chambers' Circulating Library Borrowing Register, 1828–1829" and "In Memoriam William St Clair."

- Adam Dalva writes for the New Yorker, "On the Trail of a Mysterious, Pseudonymous Author."

- The St Andrews special collections blog has begun a four-part series highlighting the recent USTC conference on gender and the book trades.

- From the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, a look at the largest Government Printing Office job undertaken in the nineteenth century.

- Peter Steinberg has a rundown of the Plath sale at Sotheby's.

Upcoming Auctions

- Early Printing, Americana, Science, Prints & Ephemera at New England Book Auctions on 27 July.

- Books, Maps & Manuscripts at Tennants Auctioneers on 28 July.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 29 July.

- Disneyana and Pop Culture at Potter & Potter Auctions on 30 July.

Links & Auctions

- The forged Oath of a Freeman sold at Heritage Auctions last week was acquired by Kenneth and Shirley Rendell for donation to the Grolier Club as part of the Collection on the Detection of Forged Handwriting. Excellent news for the future study and research potential of this piece.

- A UK consortium of libraries and museums will try to raise £15 million to keep the Honresfield Library from auction, and the first sale at Sotheby's scheduled for next month has already been postponed. See Alison Flood's report in the Guardian, and Jennifer Schuessler's in the NYTimes.

- The Letterlocking research group gets a nicely-illustrated writeup in BBC Future by Richard Fisher.

- Anna Burgess writes for the Harvard Gazette on the recently-completed Colonial North America at Harvard Library digitization project, which now includes more than 700,000 pages of material.

- On the digitization front, the Clements Library has recently digitized three collections relating to slavery and abolition.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Medieval Killer Rabbits: When Bunnies Strike Back."

- Coming up next month, "500 Years of Mexican Books: Colonial Book Bibliography in Indigenous Languages."

- Anna Willi's Manual of Roman Everyday Writing: Writing Equipment is available open-access via LatinNow. There's also a PDF.

- Elaine Treharne's recent talk "Uncertainty in Manuscript Technologies and the Potential of Computational Tools" is now available on YouTube, as is Alex Hidalgo's RBS lecture "The Book as Archive."

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Literature at Doyle on 22 June.

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 23 June.

- Éditions Originales Littéraires du XIXe au XXIe Siècle at ALDE on 24 June.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Photographs at Bonhams London on 24 June.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 24 June.

 - Illustration Art at Swann Galleries on 24 June.

- Antiquarian Books with Manuscripts and Food & Drink at PBA Galleries on 24 June.

- Livres et Manuscrits de Cervantès à Houllebecq at Sotheby's Paris ends on 25 June.

- American Historical Ephemera & Photography at Cowan's on 25 June.

- The Gentleman's Library & Bindery at Addison & Sarova on 26 June.

- Rare Books, Antiquarian Maps, and Manuscripts at Second Story Books on 26 June.

- Bookworm Auction at Addison & Sarova on 27 June.

Links & Auctions

- Mary Hamilton French writes for the NEDCC blog about her recent work to conserve a fifteenth-century manuscript Vitae Augustini from the BPL collections. A really excellent and beautifully illustrated walk through the process.

- News that the Honresfield Library will be sold at Sotheby's across three auctions (see the introduction to the first part, scheduled to be sold in July) prompted much coverage: see Alison Flood's piece in the Guardian and Jennifer Schuessler's in the NYT. A followup piece by Alison Flood for the Guardian reports on the immediate calls from the Brontë Society and others for the collection to be kept intact and made publicly available for research. See also Francesca Collins' post for the Museums Association.

- Stephen Hawking's Cambridge papers and personal memorabilia have been acquired for the British nation, and will be housed at the Cambridge University Library and the Science Museum.

- Hobby Lobby has sued Dirk Obbink to recover some of the $7 million reportedly paid for ancient gospel fragments which Obbink allegedly had stolen. See also the official complaint.

- The National Library of Scotland has acquired a sixteenth-century Perthshire manuscript, the "Chronicle of Foringall."

- Candida Moss has a roundup of some recent book thefts from libraries in the Daily Beast.

- Chiara Betti writes for the St John's College blog about the collection of some 750 copper plates given by Richard Rawlinson to the Bodleian Library. This is an introductory post about a new project to really study this collection for the first time, which promises to be extremely useful!

- From Aaron Pratt, "Paper Pitfalls."

- Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library has acquired a rare early Civil War lithograph of Jefferson Davis metamorphosed into a donkey.

- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog has a roundup of their Pandemic-Times webinars, and also a new post on "Typographic Necrology."

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "A New Leaf from the Pontigny Copy of Florus & Didymus" and "Otto Ege's 12th-Century Italian Gospel Lectionary."

- Heather Wolfe writes for The Collation, "Malicious Teaseling: Or, how a simple reference question got complicated."

- Over on the Bodleian blog, "A Pirate's Life?"

- The Franz Kafka collection held by the National Library of Israel is now online in digital form.

- From Adam Smyth at TEXT!, "Family Bibles."

- The Middle Temple Library has another provenance mystery for this month.

Upcoming Auctions

- Music: Books & Manuscripts at Sotheby's London ends on 8 June.

- Early Printing, Americana (Printed and Manuscript) at New England Book Auctions on 8 June.

- TCM Presents ... Mavericks at Bonhams Los Angeles on 8 June.

- Travel Books, Maps & Atlases at Forum Auctions on 9 June.

- Rare Books Signature Auction at Heritage Auctions on 9–10 June.

- Americana – Zamorano 80 – Travel – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 10 June.

- Bibliothèque Théâtrale du Comte Emmanuel D'André – Livres at Manuscrits at Binoche et Giquello on 11 June.

- Summer Auction at Arader Galleries on 12 June.