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- The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien released some previously-unpublished images of Tolkien's manuscripts and paintings.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

 - 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

- Getman's Rare Book & PaperPalooza continues through Sunday 9 January.

- Don't forget to register for upcoming Bibliography Week events sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America. Some really excellent programming to choose from.

- A long-running publishing industry mystery may finally have come to a conclusion this week with the arrest of a man for wire fraud and identity theft.

- The BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog has an annual update on their digitization efforts.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a copy of John Suckling's Fragmenta Aurea from the library of Anne Coote Boyle, Viscountess Blessington.

- From Peter Kidd at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Arthur Haddaway's Price-Code."

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books & Ephemera at New England Book Auctions ends on 11 January.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 13 January.

- Fine Literature – With the Beats, Bukowski & Counterculture at PBA Galleries on 13 January.

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

- New from AAS, "Reclaiming Heritage: Digitizing Early Nipmuc Histories from Colonial Documents."

- LC and the Copyright Office have announced a new crowdsourced transcription campaign for the Library's collection of early copyright title pages.

- The Hill Museum & Manuscript Library has launched a new open-access authority file database.

- There is a memorial post for Albert H. Small at Notes from Under Grounds.

- From Patricia Akhimie at The Collation, "Extra-Illustrating Othello."

- Elaine Treharne writes for the OUP blog on "Fragmentology: bits of books and the medieval manuscript."

- Paul Needham will deliver the 2021 Lyell Lectures beginning on 11 October, "The Genesis, Life, and Afterlife of the Gutenberg Bible."

- From Books & Borrowing, "A First Look at the Aberdeen Theological Library."

- Oak Knoll Fest (virtual) is coming up on 28–30 October.

Upcoming Auctions

- Lettres & Manuscrits Autographes – Musique at Ader on 12 October.

- Travel Books, Maps and Atlases at Forum Auctions on 14 October.

- Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries on 14 October.

- The Gary Munson Collection of Horror and Fantasy Rare Books at Heritage Auctions on 14 October.

- The Robin Satinsky Collection of Illustrated Books at Bonhams New York on 15 October.

- Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts including Americana at Christie's New York ends on 15 October.

Links & Auctions

- Another missing books alert from the ABAA, of some volumes currently missing in transit. See their post for a list and some images.

- Some new material from SHARP: a Special Topics Bibliography on Africa, Shef Rogers on "SHARP, BSA, BSANZ and the Place of Book History," and a new tranche of posts in the "SHARP in the Classroom" series.

- Over on the Clements Library blog, "A nesting doll of copies."

- A really fascinating provenance mystery post from the Middle Temple Library blog, featuring a 1485 volume of Arabic astronomy with what appears to be something like a bookseller's inventory bound in as front endpapers.

- The Gilgamesh Dream Tablet was formally handed back to Iraq on Thursday. And there is an update on the Dirk Obbink story in the NYTimes.

- From TEXT!, "Books annotations and loose papers."

- Registration for this year's Schoenberg Symposium, focused on "Loss," is now open; it will be held from 17–19 November.

Upcoming Auctions

- Poètes & Écrivains des XIXe–XXe Siècles at Aguttes (Aristophil 44) at Aguttes on 27 September.

- Autographs & Art, from Van Gogh to Hendrix at University Archives on 29 September.

- Fine Gold Books, Clubs & Memorabilia at PBA Galleries on 29 September.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 30 September.

- Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 30 September.

- Miniature Books with Books to Benefit the Miniature Book Society on 30 September.

Links & Auctions

- A major theft from the Robert M. Ervin Jr. Collection at Florida State University's Special Collections & Archives was announced this week. Some 4,996 items are believed to have been stolen between 17 March 2020 and 10 February 2021. See the ABAA post for a notice and a spreadsheet of the items known to be missing, and for relevant contact information.

- Next up on Getman's Virtual, the Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair, 23–26 September and Rare Books LA, 30 September–3 October.

- From Julie Swierczek at The Collation, "The Folger G.K. Hall Catalogs, or How to fit an entire card catalog on your bookshelf."

 - Brewster Kahle is profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Upcoming Auctions

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 22 September.

- The Library at Howth Castle at Fonsie Mealy's on 22–23 September.

- De Cranach à Picasso (Aristophil 43) at Aguttes on 23 September.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 23 September.

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle on 23 September.

- Books and Manuscripts at Freeman's on 23 September.

- September Auction at Arader Galleries on 25 September.

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

- 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.

Links, Reviews & Auctions

- Starting on Friday, 9 April, Spring Break for Booklovers, on Getman's Virtual.

- Amanda Bartlett writes for SFGATE on Brian Cassidy's recent identification of a previously unknown early typed draft of Allen Ginsberg's "Howl." See also Alison Flood's piece in the Guardian.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Easter Sunday in the Sherborne Missal" and "Alas, poor Hamlet."

- A conversation between Jason Dean and Nick Wilding about the Linda Hall Library's copy of Sidereus Nuncius is now available on Vimeo.

- Over on the Rylands Blog, "Photographing the Simon Papers," walking through the process of digitizing a collection of complex bound volumes and "A Passover Haggadah Painted by an Englishman?"

- More from Jennifer Schuessler on the recent questions about the Deuteronomy fragments in "A Biblical Mystery and a Reporting Odyssey."

- Also from the Rylands orbit, Kirat Sagoo looks back at the Guardian's San Serriffe prank.

- From the Getty, Julie Jaskol and antiquities curator Kenneth Lapatin talk through the process of confirming a forged gemstone.

- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog highlights a binding by Parisian binder Madeleine Gras.

- From the OUP blog, "New discoveries about John Shakespeare."

- The Grolier Club has been given a book from FDR's library.

- Over at American Book Collecting, "Nettie Lee Benson on the Development of Special Collections."

- At Books and Borrowing, "A Painted Library Parthenon for the Athens of the North."

Reviews

- Megan Rosenbloom's Dark Archives; review by Christine Jacobsen in the LARB.

- Michael Blanding's North by Shakespeare; review by Stephen Donoghue in the CSM.

I finally had a chance to sit down this weekend with Kurt Zimmerman's new collection of biblio-essays, Rare Book Hunting, and enjoyed it immensely. It is a delightful account of Kurt's adventures with books, from his time in the auction business to his visits with booksellers and of course some excellent stories about great biblio-finds. Some of his bibliographical association copies are the stuff that makes anyone who enjoys such things simultaneously so happy they exist and also so jealous that somebody else got to them first! 

Particularly valuable is Kurt's "Auction House Adventures," his memoir of working at San Francisco auction house (then) Butterfield & Butterfield. As he notes in the short introductory note, accounts about life in the book auction world are far rarer than they should be, so having his story between two covers is a very important addition to the genre. 

Kurt's tales all make clear the most important part of book collecting: the people, past and present. His "A Book I Shouldn't Have Had Yet" (another version of which is on his blog) is profoundly moving, and his stories of Texas bookselling greats Dorothy Sloan and Larry McMurtry, both of whom died in March, are timely indeed. I cannot wait to return to a time when we are able to have a great crowd of biblio-humans in a big room again: if nothing else, we need the opportunity for Kurt to find more great books and tell more great stories!

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres Anciens du XVIe au XIXe Siècle at ALDE on 7 April.

- Printed Books & Manuscripts, Autographs & Documents, Maps & Prints, The Bookbindery of Faith Shannon at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 7–8 April.

- Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries on 8 April.

Links & Auctions

 - Starting today on Getman's Virtual, the Ephemera Society's Virtual Ephemera Fair, running through 22 March. And coming up on 9–12 April, Spring Break for Booklovers, virtually combining the Florida and Washington fairs.

- John Lancaster sends along some of the neat work being done at the Staatsbibliothek Bamberg on the library and collecting of Joseph Heller (1798–1849): digitized materials from his collections, an online exhibit, and an open-access book (in German).

- From Daria Rose Foner for the Morgan's blog, "New Light on Belle da Costa Greene."

- The ABAA blog has a memorial post for Dorothy Sloan, who died on 14 March.

- For the Swann Galleries blog, Rick Stattler shares some ephemera from Black-owned businesses offered at Swann over the years.

- Princeton University Library highlights some recent acquisitions documenting women's lives in early America.

- John Hessler writes for the LC's Worlds Revealed blog, "Of Maps, Manuscripts and Memory."

- APHA has issued a call for proposals for a virtual conference focusing on Latin American and Caribbean printing, to be held in October.

- On the University of Toronto's The New Normal podcast, Maydianne Andrade talks to Alexandra Gillespie about the origins (and origin stories) of western printing.

- Over at The Fate of Books, "To Break a Book: Bibliophiles as Book Enemies."

- Allie Alvis' Bite Sized Book History is back with an episode on marginalia.

- InfoDocket has a good rundown of coverage on the recent announcement from Israel that researchers have identified new Dead Sea Scroll fragments. More from the BBC.

- The Princeton Graphics Arts Collection blog highlights Fred Siegenthaler's wonderful Strange Papers.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Fascinating beasts (and where to find them)."

Review

- Kurt Zimmerman's Rare Book Hunting; review by Rebecca Rego Barry for the Fine Books Blog.

Upcoming Auctions

- La bibliothèque poétique de Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller – Première partie at Christie's Paris on 23 March.

- Books & Works on Paper at Chiswick Auctions on 24 March.

- The Entire Personal Library of the late John Wyse Jackson (1953–2020) at Purcell Auctioneers on 24 March.

- Autographs & Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions on 24 March.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 25 March.

- Printed & Manuscript African Americana at Swann Galleries on 25 March.

- Space Travel – Fine Press – Maps – Americana – Books in all Fields at PBA Galleries ends on 25 March.

- Spring Auction at Arader Galleries on 27 March.

- 20th Century Art and Art Books at Second Story Books on 27 March.

Links & Auctions

- The fifth annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is now open for applications (due 1 June). See the post for all details.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a copy of Sandys' Paraphrase Upon the Divine Poems.

- From Emily Spunaugle at SHARP News, "Introducing Early Editions: Conversations with Emerging Researchers."

- Erin Blake writes for The Collation about the 24,000 new "preliminary records" recently added to the Folger's online catalog, what they are, and how to use them.

- CLIR has received a $4.4 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for the Digitizing Hidden Special Collections and Archives: Amplifying Unheard Voices program, which "will invite proposals to digitize materials that deepen public understanding of the histories of people of color and other communities and populations whose work, experiences, and perspectives have been insufficiently recognized or unattended."

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Lady Jane Grey's Letters from the Tower of London."

- The Library of Congress has acquired the Aramont Library, along with a $1 million endowment for programming.

- Over at Book Historia, Alexandra Alvis on "No Mere Foppery: A Defense of Rainbow Bookshelves."

- Rebecca Rego Barry has a Q&A with the Biblio File's Nigel Beale for the FB&C blog.

- More than 500 volumes from the Johns Hopkins University Library's Women of the Book collection have now been made available via the Internet Archive. See this article for background about the collection.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Gentleman's Library Sale at Bonhams on 23–24 February.

- Highlights from the Medical Library of the Late James Tait Goodrich, Part II at Bonhams on 24 February.

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 24–25 February.

- Fine Books & Autographs at Swann Galleries on 25 February.

- Comics at PBA Galleries ends on 25 February.

- Select Secrets: Rare & Important Magicana at Potter & Potter on 27 February.

Links & Auctions

- The Firsts Canada virtual book fair is happening this weekend (5–7 February) and the Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair will be held next weekend, 12–15 February.

- The Book/Print Artist/Scholar of Color Collective has a new website with a gallery and links to their events.

- The Free Library of Philadelphia's First Folio, with annotations believed to be those of John Milton, is now available in hi-res digital form.

- From Jill O'Neill at Scholarly Kitchen, "Revisiting Nicholson Baker and the Retention of Print."

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

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a colorful 1699 Book of Common Prayer.

- The British Library will loan the Lindisfarne Gospels to the Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle for an exhibition scheduled to open in 2022.

- From Lisa Fagin Davis at Manuscript Road Trip, "Reverse-Engineering the Codex."

- Emma Sibbald writes for the University of St Andrews special collections blog on "Miss Elizabeth Foulis, an Invisible Borrower."

- The Italian culture ministry has acquired the library and archives of Umberto Eco.

- From Erin McGuirl for the HRC's "What is Research?" series, "The women who made Selznick's screenplays."

- The Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds has acquired Charles II's copy of the 1647 Beaumont and Fletcher Comedies and Tragedies.

Upcoming Auctions

- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 10 February.

- The Frank Graff Collection of Rare Valentines from the Victorian Age at PBA Galleries on 11 February.

- Niagara Falls Guinness World Record Museum Displays at Ripley Auctions on 12 February.

Links & Auctions

- The Rocky Mountain Book & Paper Fair is happening this weekend over on Getman's Virtual.

- The ABAA's Bibliography Week showcase will be held 27–28 January - watch the ABAA website for the link.

- The Jan/Feb issue of the Library of Congress magazine is devoted to "The Art of the Book."

- From Beth DeBold for the AHA's Perspectives, "Reconciling Professional Rifts."

- Submissions are open for the prestigious 18th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography, to be awarded in May 2022 for new bibliographical publications printed between 2018–2021. The prize winner will receive $10,000 and an additional second and third prize of $5,000 and $3,000 will be awarded. Any aspect of bibliography (enumerative, textual, history of the book, design, binding, the book trade, etc.) is considered and only certain categories are not eligible, notably catalogues of books intended for sale and translations of works appearing in another language. Submissions are made by sending a copy of the publication to Fabrizio Govi, ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography Chair, Libreria Govi, via Bononcini 24, I-41124 Modena, Italy. The deadline is December 2021. For rules, past submissions and winners see: https://ilabprize.org/ and to discuss an entry, please contact secretariat@ilab.org.

- From Duke's Devil's Tale blog, "Guiding Principles for Description" and "A Code of Ethics for Rubenstein Library Instruction."

- A "Book of the Dead" scroll more than thirteen feet long is among the artifacts recently discovered in a tomb in the Saqqara necropolis, south of Cairo.

- An initial batch of Rhode Island newspapers from the collections of the Providence Public Library and the Rhode Island Historical Society are now available via the LC's Chronicling America site.

- If you missed Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff's visit to the Library of Congress, it's worth a watch!

- The BPL has uploaded more than 8,000 public domain images to Wikimedia Commons to mark the 20th anniversary of Wikipedia.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts at Il Ponte Auctions on 26 January.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 28 January.

- Livres Anciens et Modernes at Aguttes on 28 January.

- Manuscrits et Autographes at Aguttes on 28 January.

- Illustration Art at Swann Galleries on 28 January.

- Some (important!) books are included in various sales from the collection of Mr. & Mrs. John H. Gutfreund of 834 Fifth Avenue at Christie's New York: The Collection (ends 27 January) and Selections from the Library (ends 29 January).

Links & Auctions

- The BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog has a roundup of recently-digitized manuscripts.

- Submissions for the LHRT's Justin Winsor Prize are due by 1 February.

- A project to keep an eye on: Durham University and Durham Cathedral are working together to digitally recreate the medieval Durham Priory Library.

- From the LC blog, "Free to Use and Reuse: The Art of the Book."

- "More Ottley Identifications" from Peter Kidd at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance.

- From Erin Blake for The Collation, "Using Cardboard Spacers to Fill Gaps on the Shelf."

- Liz Broadwell writes for the Penn blog on "Two Unrecorded Woodcuts from Urs Graf's 'F.M.S.' Cycle."

- The catalog of the recent APS exhibit Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist is available free for download. And also from APS, Val Lutz on Benjamin Franklin's papers as "Survivors of the American Revolution."

- There's a call for papers for the second issue of Inscription, themed around "Holes."

- A new auction record for comic book art was set this week with the sale of a rejected Tintin cover for nearly €3.2 million.

Upcoming Auctions

- Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at ALDE on 20 January.

- Livres Anciens et Modernes at De Baecque on 20 January.

- Books from the Library of the Late Brian Findlay at Forum Auctions on 21 January.

- Photography at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 21 January.

- Fine Prints and Photographs at Skinner, Inc. on 21 January.

- Fine Books at PBA Galleries on 21 January. 

- In Praise of America: Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver, Prints and Broadsides at Christie's ends on 22 January.

- Winter 2021 Auction at Arader Galleries on 23 January.

Links & Auctions

- Quite a good piece by Mark Wilding for the Guardian about the 2017 Feltham warehouse theft of rare books.

- The Cary Graphic Arts Collection at RIT has received a gift of printing equipment, rare books and ephemera from the collection of Stephen O. Saxe.

- Katarzyna Bator writes for the N-YHS blog, "Lab Notes: Preserving Rare Pamphlets."

- A video tour of Princeton University Library's 2019 Gutenberg & After exhibition is now available.

- Here's the BL's announcement of their acquisition of the Melford Hall Donne manuscript, which is also now available digitally.

- Rebecca Rego Barry has a recap of the ILAB webinar "Wrapping up 2020," held this week.

- Alison Flood writes for the Guardian about the Isaac Newton mss. notes about the Great Pyramid that sold for £380,000 this week.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "New Prophecies of the Ancient Sibyls," an update on their effort to provide new descriptions of the Harley Collection manuscripts.

- Dave Gary points out the newly digitized American Philosophical Society Curator's Record of Donations for 1769 to 1898.

Review

- Stephen K. Galbraith's A Brief History of the Book; review by Sebastian Modrow for Bonefolder Extras.

Upcoming Auctions

- A Grand Vision: The David H. Arrington Collection of Ansel Adams Masterpieces at Sotheby's on 14 December.

- Livres et Manuscrits at Sotheby's Paris ends on 15 December.

- Éditions Originales du XIXe au XXIe Siècle at ALDE on 15 December.

- Reliures originales – Estampes & dessins – Livres illustrés modernes at ALDE on 15 December.

- La Bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé – 5e Vente at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 16 December. 

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

- One Upon a Time: Rare Children's Literature from Justin G. Schiller, Ltd. at Heritage Auctions on 16 December.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Selections from the Collection of Barbara and Ira Lipman at Sotheby's New York ends on 16 December.

- Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle at ALDE on 17 December.

- Fine Books, Atlases, Manuscripts & Historical Photographs at Bonhams London on 17 December.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 17 December.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 17 December.

Links & Auctions

- The ABAA Boston Virtual Book Fair continues through the end of the day today: don't miss either the books or the associated events.

- Swann Galleries' autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett takes a deep dive into "The Voice & Hand of Frederick Douglass."

- From James Tarmy at Bloomberg, "Retail Might be Struggling, But the Rich Are Buying Rare Books."

- Cushing Memorial Library & Archives at TAMU have launched a new blog, The Cushing Collective.

- Some of the books stolen from a London warehouse in 2017 and recovered recently in Romania were returned to their owners this week.

- Eric White writes for Princeton's Notabilia blog "Mystery Solved: A Long-Lost Spanish Vocabulario (ca. 1492–93) Comes to Light at Princeton."

- Alex Johnson highlights a new crowdfunding effort to preserve the St. Bride Library for the Fine Books Blog.

- In the NYT, William J. Broad reports on a new census of Newton's Principia. As you all know I am a huge fan of book censuses, so I am delighted to see another out in the world (and if you have an uncounted copy, please do contact the researchers). See also the Caltech press release.

- A neat offering from Peter Harrington: an illustrated script for the second theatrical adaptation of The Hobbit, a 1967 school production.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a fascinating-looking 1655 volume of Dickson's explications of the psalms, with lots of usage marks.

- Another interesting new blog to keep an eye on, The Fate of Books, which will focus on book history in Slovenia and central Europe. 

- Books & Borrowing has a very good breakdown of the different sorts of eighteenth-century libraries.

- The British Library has managed to secure funding to keep the 15th-century Lewis of Caerleon manuscript in the UK, and the BL has digitized the manuscript.

- It's all about the asterisk over at Shady Characters.

- A WWI carrier pigeon message has been found in France.

- Rugby School is selling off some of its rare books this week. More from the BBC.

- And from the Royal College of Physicians, after the recent outcry over their proposed plan to auction off rare books from their library, word that "no firm decision" has yet been made about the potential sale.

Upcoming Auctions

- Dada Data: Books and Boîtes by Marcel Duchamp and Others at Sotheby's New York ends on 16 November.

- Littérature: Boris Vian et les Maudits (Aristophil 33) at Aguttes on 17 November.

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

- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Swann Galleries on 17 November.

- Histoire Postale: Guerre de 1870–1871 & Aviation (Aristophil 34) at Artcurial on 18 November.

- Littérature: Fonds Romain Gary & Littérature du XVIIe au XXe Siècle (Aristophil 35) at Artcurial on 18 November.

- Selected Books from Rugby School Library at Forum Auctions on 18 November.

- Livres, Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes (Aristophil 36) at Druout on 19 November.

- Histoire (Aristophil 37) at Aguttes on 19 November.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts, and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 19 November.

- Comics and Comic Art at Heritage Auctions on 19–22 November.

- Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 19 November.

- Musique (Aristophil 38) at Ader on 20 November.

- Musique (Aristophil 39) at Aguttes on 20 November.

- Rare Books & Ephemera at Addison & Sarova on 21 November.

- Histoire Postale: Guerre de 1870–1871 (Aristophil 40) at Aguttes on 24 November.

Links & Auctions

Apologies if I missed any tweets, &c. this week - it's been a busy one!

- Coming soon, the ABAA Boston Virtual Book Fair (12–14 November) and the IOBA Virtual Book Fair (20–22 November). The ABAA has announced that their fair will feature a Virtual Book Fair Scavenger Hunt, too, so do have fun with that if you're so inclined!

- Coming up on Tuesday, 17 November: Heather Cole and David Gessner will hold a "Researchers in Conversation" discussion sponsored by Houghton Library: Theodore Roosevelt: Writer and Conservationist. Register at the link.

- As the debate of the proposed sale of books from the Royal College of Physicians continues (petition here opposing the scheme) another institutional sale is even closer to happening: on 18 November Rugby School is selling a selection of its rare books at Forum Auctions. 

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Value of the V&A's Cutting of St Giustina disputing with Maximian" and "Another Holford Cutting, Now in Lisbon."

- Over at Rare Book Digest, "The Trade in the Middle of the Pandemic."

- Rebecca Rego Barry notes for the FB&C blog the completion of the BL's seven-year project to digitize more than 40,000 maps and views from the Topographical Collection of King George III ("K. Top.")

- From Sue Donovan for the UVA Libraries blog, a mucky look at what happens to a time capsule when water gets in (spoiler alert: it ain't pretty).

- Another one to sign up for (or watch later on YouTube): Hannah Marcus and Nick Wilding will talk on 18 November about Hannah's new book Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and Censorship in Early Modern Italy.

- Over at Not Even Pratt, Aaron Pratt on "An Elizabeth Exorcist's (very weird) Secret Press."

- The Book of Lismore, a 15th-century Irish manuscript seized by the British in the 1640s, will return to Ireland: the trustees of the Chatsworth Settlement have donated it to University College Cork.

- Kathleen Monahan writes for the John J. Burns Library blog about "Cable Code: Technology Shorthand from Another Era."

- In the Harvard Independent, Cade Williams on "A Book Made From Humans."

Upcoming Auctions

- Printed Books, Maps & Autographs, Lord Nelson, Scottish Topography, The David Smith Print Collection at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 11–12 November.

- James Bond: A Collection of Books and Manuscripts, The Property of a Gentleman at Sotheby's London ends on 11 November.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books at University Archives on 11 November.

- Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at ALDE on 12 November.

- Books and Manuscripts at Freeman's on 12 November.

- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner ends on 12 November.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Leslie Hindman on 12–13 November.

- Historical Manuscripts Signature Auction at Heritage Auctions on 12 November.

- Vintage Photography, with Books and Monographs at PBA Galleries on 12 November.

- Livres & Manuscrits at Tessier & Sarrou on 13 November.