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

- The auction records were shattered on Thursday evening at Sotheby's when a copy of the first printed edition of the U.S. Constitution sold for $43.2 million. The buyer was Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, who plans to put the copy on exhibit; it will be displayed first at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR. The underbidders were a new cryptocurrency crowdfund group ConstitutionDAO.

- Alison Flood writes for the Guardian on another recent fragment identification, this time in a 1528 volume at the Bodleian Library. Keep looking at those fragments, folks!

- From Kim Beil at LitHub, "What I Learned While Cataloguing an Entire Library of 19th-Century Schoolbooks."

- Over on the Oak Knoll blog, "My Friend's Library, A Story of Association Copies."

- At Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, the first installment in a new series, "Celotti or Ottley? The Source of the Lomax-Wade Collection."

- Josh Smith writes for Books & Borrowing on "The Records of the Bristol Library Society."

- Recordings of all of Paul Needham's Lyell Lectures on the Gutenberg Bible are now available.

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres Rares et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 22 November.

- The Exceptional Sale at Christie's Paris on 23 November.

- Making our Nation: Constitutions and Related Documents. Sold to Benefit the Dorothy Tapper Goldman Foundation. Part I at Sotheby's New York on 23 November.

- Rare & Important Travel Posters at Swann Galleries on 23 November.

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

- Bibliothèque Pierre Collin at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 25 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

 - 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 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, Reviews & Auctions

- From Erin Blake for The Collation, "Rediscovering Three-Cornered Notes."

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, it's the "Great Medieval Bake Off"!

- Mary Yordy writes for the Duke Libraries Preservation blog, "Sewing Models: Pandemic Edition."

- New from the Courtauld Institute, an open-access book edited by Jack Hartnell, "Continuous Page: Scrolls and Scrolling from Papyrus to Hypertext."

- From Maddy Smith for the BL's Untold Lives blog, a look at pre-1620 English colonial settlements in North America.

- A 1634 edition of Shakespeare's "Two Noble Kinsmen" has been identified in the collections of the Real Colegio de Escoceses in Salamanca.

- Michael Caines and Lindsey Tyne write for the Morgan Library & Museum blog about "Taming the Wild Things: Storage Considerations for the Bequest of Maurice Sendak."

- Rachel Fletcher is in the "Bright Young Collectors" spotlight.

- "Fakes and Forgeries" over on the Exeter Working Papers in Book History.

- The AbeBooks podcast talked to the warden of Gladstone's Library this week.

- On the Peter Harrington blog, Tomas Elliott on Leibniz and computing.

- Over on Past and Present, a look at the intensely complicated "Conservation of a Fragmentary Early Menagerie Poster."

- Shira Perlmutter has been named the Register of Copyrights.

- From Neely Tucker for the LC blog, "Darkness and Light: The European World of 15th-Century Woodcuts."

- New from Books & Borrowing, "Eighteenth-Century Borrowing from the University of Glasgow."

- Wolf von Lojewski has written an account of his four-decade quest to collect a complete Nuremberg Chronicle by acquiring disbound leaves (scroll down for the English translation).

- The NYU Abu Dhabi Library has acquired the archive of Egyptian poet/doctor/scientist Ahmed Zaki Abu Shadi.

Reviews

- Ariel Sabar's Veritas; review by James Lansdun in the LRB.

- Serena Zabin's The Boston Massacre; review by Breck Baumann for the Colonial Review.

Upcoming Auctions

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs, Including the Trevor Dawson Magic Collection at Lyon & Turnbull on 30 September.

- Fine Literature at Doyle on 30 September.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books at University Archives on 30 September.

- Fine Golf Books, Clubs & Memorabilia at PBA Galleries on 1 October.

Links & Auctions

- First, there was actually a bit of surprising good news this week: the rare books stolen from a London-area warehouse in early 2017 have been recovered intact in the Romanian county of Neamt.

- Some more good news: the next Getman's Virtual event will be the CABS Virtual Antiquarian Book Fair, on 25–27 September.

- And a bit more, even! The winners of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest and the Honey & Wax Prize were announced this week.

- The Scottish Borrowers' Registers project will soon include the loans register of Craigston Castle in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.

- The Library of Congress has launched a new tool for searching images in historical newspapers.

- At The Collation, Sujata Iyengar offers "A Guided Tour of an Incunabulum from 1478."

- Rebecca Rego Barry rounds up some new biblio-fiction on the Fine Books Blog.

- On the Shakespeare & Beyond blog, an "Up Close" look at a 1797 caricature of the Shakespeare-forging Ireland family.

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Antiphonary of Marguerite de Baconel."

- Swann withdrew a 16th-century manuscript copy of an order to Cortes and Pedro de Alvorado from their 24 September sale after researchers suggested that it had very likely been stolen from the national archives of Mexico.

- Rosa Lyster writes on "Lost Libraries" for the Paris Review.

- A new virtual exhibition focuses on book edges in the KU Leuven libraries and other Belgian collections.

- "Whacky Victorian Imagery" is the order of the day on the Ephemera Society blog.

- Penn's Workshop in the History of Material Texts now has a YouTube channel, and their first talk of the season, on Milton's copy of Shakespeare with Claire Bourne and Jason Scott-Warren, is now available.

- Rare Book School's "Black Print Culture" discussion from earlier this month is also now online.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books & Manuscripts at Artcurial on 22 September.

- Books and Manuscripts at Il Ponte on 22 September.

- A Further Selection of 16th & 17th-Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library at Forum Auctions on 24 September.

- Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 24 September. 

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 24 September.

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

VOTE

Links & Auctions

- Getman's Virtual Book & Paper Fair for July opens at noon on Tuesday, 7 June. And the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair goes virtual - it will be held 11–13 September.

- Ashley Cataldo from AAS is in the "Bright Young Librarians" spotlight this week.

- Yale's Beinecke Library has acquired the incredible Frederick Douglass collection of Dr. Walter Evans (I am in the middle of David Blight's wonderful biography of Douglass at the moment, which makes clear just how important this collection is). See also Michael Morand's announcement for Yale.

- A biblio-deal alert: A. Franklin Parks' William Parks: The Colonial Printer in the Transatlantic World of the Eighteenth Century (Penn State University Press) is available at $7.95 from Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller (the list price was $84.95). It looks like they've also got Roderick Cave and Sara Ayad's The History of the Book in 100 Books for $7.95 too, which is also a very good deal.

- Over at Philobiblon, the 2020 Bind-o-Rama, of fish-skin bindings!

- There's a new "Crocodile Mystery" from the Folger this week.

- Rick Stattler has a new basic collector's guide to the Declaration of Independence for Swann.

- Over on the Grolier Club blog, Meghan Constantinou writes about a "Fifteenth-Century Manuscript Wrapper on a Rare Incunable" in the club's library.

- Rebecca Rego Barry notes a large collection of bookplates being offered at Swann this week.

- From the Bodleian's Conveyor blog, "Alice in Medieval Oxford."

- Another interesting provenance/marginalia mystery from the Middle Temple Library blog.

- July's Rare Book Monthly articles include Michael Stillman's report on the Schulman/Priore sentencing and a "brief update on the field" from Bruce McKinney.

- The National Library of Scotland has released datasets drawn from the library catalogs of the Advocates Library covering 1692 through 1878.

- Will Hansen is collecting contributions for his second issue of a zine about dreams concerning rare books and special collections.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams ends on 8 July.

- Livres de la Bibliothèque du Docteur Henri Polaillon: Livres Anciens et de Costumes Militaires at Binoche et Giquello on 9 July.

- Livres de Voyages – Atlas – Cartes at ALDE on 9 July.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 9 July.

- Fine Art – Photography & Prints – Food & Drink – Illustrated Books at PBA Galleries on 9 July.

Links & Auctions

- SHARP in Focus events begin on Monday, 15 June, and will run through 19 June. See the full schedule and registration instructions. Lots of interesting discussions to be had.

- Scott Casper has been named the eighth president of the American Antiquarian Society. Congratulations to both Scott and to AAS!

- Anthony Tedeschi surveys the (now digitized) medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

- Georgianna Ziegler writes for The Collation this week: "Early women buying books: the evidence."

- The National Library of Israel is digitizing more than 2,500 Arabic, Persian, and Turkish manuscripts and books. More from Smithsonian.

- From the Princeton Graphic Arts collection blog, "Famous Wood Engravings."

- Over at Manuscript Road Trip, "Otto Ege, St. Margaret, and Digital Fragmentology, Part 2."

- Richard Sheaff writes for the Ephemera Society's blog on "Wacky Victorian Imagery."

- From the Bodleian's Conveyor blog, "The Bodleian Quarterly Record, Vol. II (1917–19); and the Legacy of a Printing Press."

- Luke Henter writes for Past is Present about the AAS' Caribbeana Project.

- From Georgia Thurston for the Cambridge University Libraries special collections blog, "Nineteenth-century dialect writing."

- Also from the Bodleian, from their Archives and Manuscripts blog, Hannah Jordan on "The Library of St. Michael's College, Tenbury."

- Ian Maxted has updated his register of Mesoamerican codices and inscriptions over at Exeter Working Papers in Book History.

- Ed Redmond writes for the LC's Worlds Revealed blog on "18th-Century Maps of North America: Perception vs. Reality."

- The Middle Temple Library has posed another provenance mystery for us all to ponder.

- Tom Bentley writes for FB&C about the Shakespeare Society of America's challenges to maintain and make available its eclection of Shakespeareana.

- If you miss Aaron Pratt's very useful demo of camera setups and software useful for sharing special collections remotely, it's now up on the BSA's YouTube channel (along with many other of the interesting virtual events they've been sponsoring).

- Amber Kehoe and Heather Brown write for the Harry Ransom Center blog about conserving daguerreotypes.

- Up on the Grolier Club's Vimeo is "Medieval MSS at Social Distance," with Barbara Shailor, Lisa Light, Lisa Fagin Davis, Consuelo Dutschke, and William Stoneman.

- An amazing new biblio-offering from Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller: the manuscript catalogue of Claude Pierre Goujet's (1697–1767) 10,000-volume library.

Upcoming Auctions

- Beaux-Arts (Aristophil 29) at Druout on 16 June.

- Littérature Française du XXe Siècle (Aristophil 30) at Artcurial on 17 June.

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 17 June.

- Travel, Natural History, Americana & Sporting Books at Doyle on 17 June.

- Bibliothèque R. & B. L.: une décennie de ventes at Sotheby's on 17 June.

- Sciences: Archéologie, Savants et Philosophies (Aristophil 31) at Ader on 18 June.

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

- Selections from the Library of Lorenzo H. Zambrano: Latin Americana, Science, and Literature at Christie's ends on 18 June.

- The Open Book: Fine Travel, Americana, Literature and History in Print and Manuscript at Christie's ends on 18 June.

- Publications of the Arthur H. Clark Company at PBA Galleries ends on 18 June.

- Littérature Les Années 1920–1930 (Aristophil 32) at Aguttes on 19 June.

Links & Auctions

- A new short film by D.W. Young focuses on the jargon of the antiquarian book trade; Susannah Kemple has a short introduction for the New Yorker (the film is embedded at the top of the page).

- Tony Grafton did a talk for Labyrinth Books and the Princeton Humanities Council about his new book Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe, published by Harvard University Press. Watch on YouTube.

- I was able to tune into Marina Rustow's excellent talk this week on "The Cairo Geniza in the Digital Age," which is now available on YouTube.

- A former University of Illinois employee was sentenced to two years of "second-chance probation" after he pleaded guilty to the theft of two rare books from the University of Illinois Music Library.

- There's a virtual book launch for Nick Basbanes' new biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on 2 June. Free, but registration is required.

- The submission deadline for this year's Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is 1 June.

- From the Bodleian's Conveyor blog, the medieval manuscripts team talks about how they're able to work remotely during the pandemic.

- Biblio listings for used books are now available through the Bookshop.org platform (where new copies of a title are not available).

- The University of Buffalo has received a 30,000-edition collection of pulp fiction from alumnus George Kelley.

- Kevin Wisniewski has some updates on the AAS Program in the History of the Book, including that the program's newsletter from 1983 to 2008 is now available digitally, and that they'll be hosting their first virtual book talk on 28 May, with Derrick Spires talking about his book The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (which I hope will be recorded, since I have to be in another meeting at the time).

- Speaking of AAS, they are selling one of their two copies of the first newspaper printing of the Star-Spangled Banner, with proceeds to benefit the collections fund. The auction ends on 18 June, and the newspaper issue is estimated at $300,000–500,000.

- From Sara Schliep at The Collation, "Inside the Folger Archives: Uncle Henry's Pipers."

- The BL's medieval manuscripts blog looks back at the 2018 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibition.

- Eric White writes for Notabilia about comparing multiple Princeton copies of 15th-century books.

- Aaron Pratt is in the "Bright Young Librarians" spotlight this week.

- UVA posted some last pictures of the now-empty Alderman Library before the renovations begin in earnest.

- Another provenance mystery from the Middle Temple Library.

- The Council of State Archivists have released a series of new emergency preparedness documents.

- Biblio-human Colin Franklin died this week. Peter Kraus has a memorial post on the ABAA blog.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts: A Spring Miscellany at Sotheby's now ends on 27 May.

- Livres Rares et Manuscrits at Christie's on 27 May.

- Printed Books, Maps & Autographs at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 27–28 May.

- Art & Archaeology of Asia – Travel & Exploration – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 28 May.

- The Martin Magovsky Collection of Children's Books and Books & Manuscripts at Freeman's on 28 May.

Links & Auctions

- IOBA, the Independent Online Booksellers Association, has announced a Virtual Book Fair for 15–17 May, with "doors opening" at 1 p.m. ET on Friday.

- The ABAA will also hold a virtual book fair, from 4–7 June, and London's Firsts fair will be held virtually on 5 June starting at 2 p.m. UK time.

- Over on the NLS blog, "Delivering a Bestseller: Culpeper and Midwifery."

- From the Cambridge University Special Collections blog, Francis Young writes about a thirteenth-century poem marking the construction of Salisbury Cathedral. And their conservation department highlights some treatments being undertaken on some parchment deeds.

- At the Junto, "Early American Women Unmasked."

- Devon Eastland writes for Swann on "Introduction to Bookbinding: Folding & Sewing."

- From Caroline Duroselle-Melish for The Collation, "A Red Proof Sheet Used as Printer's Waste."

- Over on the Grolier Club blog, "Finding Our Marbles."

- Also at The Collation, Drew Thomas on "Following the Trail of Counterfeits in the Folger's Reformation Collection." False imprint detective work!

- The Middle Temple Library is trying to identify the annotator of their 1566 Copernicus.

- The Open University's History of Books and Reading Seminar has started a blog series on "Reading and Wellbeing."

Upcoming Auctions

- English Literature, History, Children's Books, and Illustrations at Sotheby's ends on 12 May.

- Rare Golf Books, Memorabilia & Ephemera at PBA Galleries on 14 May.

Links & Auctions

- Over at Sammelband, Cait Coker on "The Special Collections Classroom in the Time of COVID-19."

- From Aaron Pratt for the HRC blog, "Gutenberg's Blanks."

- Newly online from the Library of Congress, digitized collections of the papers of Andrew Johnson, Chester Arthur, and William McKinley.

- Jane Mainley-Piddock is editing a volume of M.R. James' letters: you can support it via Unbound (I have!)

- Over at Teaching the Codex, "Goatskin in the garden: how does it feel to prepare your own parchment?"

- Now online from the Yale Law Library, Mike Widener's exhibition "Precedents So Scrawl'd and Blurr'd: Readers' Marks in Law Books."

- Among the May Rare Book Monthly articles are Susan Halas' "Bookselling in a Time of Coronavirus" (rounding up responses from various booksellers about how they're dealing with the craziness); Michael Stillman's report on the Dirk Obbink happenings; and Bruce McKinney's check-in with Marvin Getman about the potential of holding some virtual book fairs.

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Missing Initials from the Murano Gradual."

- In Atlas Obscura, Rebecca Rego Barry writes about a recently-sold "chocolate museum in a box."

- A large collection of Civil War photographs from the Medford History Society are now being stored at Tufts University (and are available digitally through Digital Commonwealth).

- From Jerry Morris at My Sentimental Library, "Ventures in Book Collecting During This Coronavirus Pandemic."

- Over on the Cambridge Libraries Special Collections blog, "Rare Caribbean Pamphlets."

- Cynthia Smith writes for the LC's Worlds Revealed blog about "Ortelius: A Legendary Mapmaker."

- Rebecca Rego Barry notes the upcoming Freeman's sale of William Toplis' Wodehouse collection.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Designing the Arnstein Bible."

- On the Bodleian blog, a look at a 17th-century book of magical charms from their collections.

Upcoming Auctions

- Rare Books, Manuscripts & Relics, Forbes Collection Part II, Kerouac Estate Part III at University Archives on 6 May.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 7 May.

- Printed & Manuscript African-Americana at Swann Galleries on 7 May.

- The P.G. Wodehouse Collection of William Toplis at Freeman's on 7 May.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 7 May.

Links & Auctions

- The Library Company of Philadelphia and Penn have announced a joint symposium in honor of Michael Winship on 1–2 May.

- Christine Jacobson writes about the book trades as depicted in the new film version of Little Women.

- Over at Sammelband, "Teaching Manuscript: Lessons Learned from Quill-Cutting."

- The new Booksellers documentary opens this weekend; it is noticed in the NYTimes, NPR, the CSM, and the Guardian.

- Tony Dunnell writes for Mental Floss on "18 Surprising Things Stolen from Libraries."

- Two bibliospheric passings to note: Andreas Brown, longtime owner of the Gotham Book Mart, and Katharine Kyes Leab, editor of American Book Prices Current. Several of Kathy's excellent Rare Book School lectures are available to listen via their website, and I recommend them most highly.

- Heather O'Donnell speaks on the Biblio File podcast about the joys of buying, selling, and collecting books.

- The BL's Untold Lives blog reports on an exciting new Wynken de Worde acquisition.

- From William & Mary, some interesting work being done to identify the annotator of their copy of Newton's Principia.

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle at ALDE on 10 March.

- Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 10 March.

- Fine Books, Atlases, Manuscripts & Historical Photographs at Bonhams London on 11 March.

- The Medical & Scientific Library of W. Bruce Fye, Part III at Bonhams (online) on 11 March.

- The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing (residual part) at Forum Auctions (online) on 12 March.

Links & Auctions

Coming up this week, the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (16–18 November), accompanied of course by the Boston Book, Print, and Ephemera Fair on Saturday, 17 November.

- The concerted action of more than 600 booksellers around the world forced AbeBooks to back down from their plan to withdraw service from certain countries. See coverage in the NYTimes, the Guardian, Antiques Trade Gazette. Well done to all who helped bring about this result!

- David Pearson writes for the Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog about his current work on Cambridge bookbindings from the fifteenth through the eighteenth centuries. He's interested in feedback and/or more information about Cambridge bindings, so feel free to contact him (info at the end of the blog post) if you can help.

- Over at Echoes from the Vault, Farshad Sonboldel highlights his recent work on updating catalog records for the Arabic and Persian manuscripts in the St Andrews collections.

- Jessica Bigelow writes about the incunabula in the collections of the American Antiquarian Society.

- On the N-YHS blog, "Lab Notes: The Florence Flood and the emergence of library conservation."

- Mary Fissell writes for the Huntington Library's blog on "A History of the Medical Book," a conference coming up there this week.

- Some drafts of the screenplay for The Wizard of Oz will be sold at auction next month.

- Abigail Cain writes about letterlocking for Atlas Obscura.

- Over on the Fine Books Blog, Barbara Basbanes Richter reports on big changes in the New Haven antiquarian bookselling scene.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Fine Cartographic and Printed Americana Collection of Evelyn and Eric Newman at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 12 November.

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

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle New York on 13 November.

- 19th & 20th Century Literature at Swann Galleries on 13 November.

- Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History at Sotheby's London on 13 November.

- Fine & Rare Books at PBA Galleries on 15 November.

- Aristophil 11: Livres Illustres et Éditions Originales, Manuscrits et Lettres Autographes des XIXe et XXe Siècles at Ader on 15 November.

- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner on 18 November.

- Livres Rare et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 20 November.

- Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby's Paris on 21 November.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts, Atlases and Historical Photographs at Bonhams London on 27 November.

- Russian Literary First Editions & Manuscripts: Highlights from the R. Eden Martin Collection at Christie's London on 28 November.

- The Craig Noble Collection of L. Frank Baum & the Wizard of Oz at PBA Galleries on 29 November.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 29 November.

Links & Reviews

- Coming up on 28–29 September, it's the Washington Antiquarian Book Fair!

- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg explores the books in the Folger collections printed 500 years ago.

- Many congratulations to the winners of this year's Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize - what a great group of collections!

- Via Rebecca Romney's excellent Book Curious newsletter, there's quite an opportunity for the aspiring bookstore owner in Florence ...

- Over at Past is Present, an update on the Isaiah Thomas Broadside Ballads Project.

- Lucretia Baskin writes for the N-YHS blog about some of the different methods used to correct mistakes in books after printing.

- In the Guardian, Alison Flood reports on recent finds in the UK National Archives which shed light on the legal troubles of John Shakespeare.

- Ryan Moore writes for the LC blog about his recent identification of the signature of botanist David Fairchild (in part responsible for bringing the famous cherry trees to D.C.) on a 1901 map of Japan in the LC's collections.

Reviews

- Jill Lepore's These Truths; review by Andrew Sullivan in the NYTimes.

- Walter Besant's The Revolt of Man; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Erwin Tomash Library on the History of Computing at Sotheby's London on 18–19 September.

- Rare Books & Manuscripts from the Library of James "Ted" Watkins at PBA Galleries on 20 September.

- Livres de Photographies at Ader on 20 September.

Links & Reviews

- The BPL has launched a crowdsourced transcription project for their collection of anti-slavery manuscripts.

- Two cultural thefts to report: the ARCA blog notes that CCTV footage was enough for authorities to quickly apprehend the man responsible for vandalism and theft at the Route 66 Museum, but more than 1,500 items remain missing after they were stolen from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust's storage facility.

- Aaron Pratt talks to Sarah Werner about early digital facsimiles for the Ransom Center's magazine in advance of Sarah's Pforzheimer lecture at the HRC later this month.

- David Pearson will deliver the Lyell Lectures in April, on Book Ownership in Stuart England. Sign up here for free tickets.

- New blog to watch: Sammelband: A Book History Pedagogy Blog, from Cait Coker and Kate Ozment.

- Alison Flood writes for the Guardian about the Tremulous Hand, highlighting the BL's newly released Discovering Literature: Medieval site. See the BL's announcement post, too.

- From Justin Tonra at RTÉ, "A short story about bookshelves."

- The ABAA has posted an "In Memoriam" page for bookseller William Dailey, who died suddenly last month.

- Michael Thompson and Boreas Fine Art are featured in Evanston Magazine.

- Smithsonian highlights a book bound in lab-grown jellyfish leather ...

- The Trinity College Dublin blog features their Gutenberg Bible fragment.

- An American bidder won a 13th-century illuminated Bible sold at auction in New Zealand this week.

Reviews

- Charles C. Mann's The Wizard and the Prophet; review by Fred Pearce in the WaPo.

- Mark Purcell's The Country House Library; review by Adrian Higgins in the WaPo.

- Several recent Jane Eyre studies; review by Kathryn Hughes in the TLS.

- Pradeep Sebastian's The Book Hunters of Katpadi; review by Ashwin Ahmad in DNAIndia.

Upcoming Auctions

- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 7 February.

- The Collection of Avis & Eugene Robinson at Skinner, Inc. on 9 February.

- Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 11 February (in Pasadena).

- Fine Books at Manuscripts at Bonhams on 11 February (in Pasadena).

Links & Reviews

- At Wynken de Worde, Sarah Werner on "creating a digitized facsimile wishlist," in which she calls for suggestions of early printed books that aren't yet available as open-access digital facsimiles.

- In December's Rare Book Monthly, Thibault Ehrengardt on the Aristophil aftermath, Susan Halas on "courtesy to the trade," a followup report from Michael Stillman about the auction of an early Declaration of Independence broadside ($1.8 million!), and more.

- Rebecca Romney is starting up a biblio-newsletter; I have subscribed in anticipation, and would encourage all readers of this blog to do the same.

- The Codex Amiatinus will return to Britain for an exhibition at the British Library in 2018. And the Codex Leicester will be displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence from October 2018.

- The Folger's Crocodile Mystery for December is up and awaiting your guesses.

- James Mitchell writes for the National Library of Scotland blog about cataloging what looks like a very interesting collection of Venetian chapbooks.

- Penelope Lively's papers have been acquired by the British Library.

- John Hodgman gets the "By the Book" treatment in the NYTimes.

- Sara Sauers has another APHA panel review, on "Transatlantic Connections."

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Louise Ege, Book-Breaker."

Reviews

- Allan Young and Patrick Scott's The Kilmarnock Burns: A Census; review by Michael Stillman for Rare Book Monthly.

- Jorge Carrión's Bookshops: A Reader's History; review by Alan Riding in the NYTimes.

- Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney's The Collector of Lives; review by Deborah Solomon in the NYTimes.

- Kevin Young's Bunk; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.

- David E. Fishman's The Book Smugglers and Michele K. Troy's Strange Bird; review by Anna Katharina Schaffner in the TLS.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana at Christie's New York on 5 December.

- Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books at Sotheby's London on 5 December.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 5 December.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 6 December.

- Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures at Bloomsbury on 6 December.

- History of Science and Technology at Bonhams New York on 6 December.

- Voices of the 20th Century at Bonhams New York on 6 December.

- Russian America & Polar Exploration: Highlights from the Martin Greene Library at Christie's New York on 7 December.

Links & Reviews

Another Boston Book Fair in the books (my thirteenth, I realized). Still—and I suspect, always—my favorite fair. Chilly this year, but that didn't stop people from coming out for the main fair or the very busy shadow show. There wasn't time enough to pack in everything I wanted to do in Boston this trip ... I'll just have to go back soon!

- Princeton has acquired a 1483 Horace which happened to contain as binding waste a leaf from a previously unknown ~1457 edition of Donatus' Ars minor (printed with the same type used for the Gutenberg Bible).

- Ian Jackson, Nick Aretakis, and Ben Kinmont have issued a very nice biography of bookseller Bernard Rosenthal.

- Molly Hardy has a really useful update on various projects linking printing trade prosopographies.

- UVA Today highlights some recent work on the SNAC Cooperative (Social Networks and Archival Context).

- Mike Widener's new exhibition at the Yale Law School's Lillian Goldman Law Library, "Around the World with Law's Picture Books," is featured in the New Haven Independent.

- Nora Benedict is featured in the FB&C "Bright Young Collectors" series.

- The BL has launched a new crowdsourced transcription project for its historical playbills collection.

- A quiz about books? You bet! I hadn't heard of Nemo's Almanac before, but editor Ian Patterson's piece in the Guardian had me intrigued right away. Anybody collecting these?

- An annotated copy of Ben Jonson's Workes has been placed under a UK export ban until at least February, to see if a domestic buyer can be found.

- Daniel Witek, a one-time volunteer at the Buffalo History Museum, has been sentenced to six months time served and a $2,100 restitution payment for the theft of documents from the museum, which he then attempted to sell.

- Michael Greshko writes for National Geographic about the possibility of biblical forgeries lurking in the collections of the new Museum of the Bible.

- At Clements Library Chronicles, an attempt to locate some Revolutionary War trunks used to transport the Thomas Gage papers.

- Elizabeth Savage posts on the Leiden Special Collections blog about a frisket sheet fragment recently found during conservation at Leiden University.

- Houghton Library undergraduate fellow Mario Menendez talks about his work on a fictional biography of William Henry Ireland.

- A series of what could be 300 auctions to sell the Aristophil collection will begin on 20 December at Drouot.

- Another great APHA panel review by Paul Gough on "Illustrating Typography and Typos," which featured papers by Lynne Farrington, Vince Golden, and Michael Russem.

- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a great piece by two 18th-century woman printmakers, Isabella Piccini and Angela Baroni.

- A 1659 Blaeu map showing Australia has gone on display at the National Library of Australia.

- William & Mary's Swem Library has received by donation the Civil War diary of a Union soldier captured and held prisoner at the college.

- Ben Breen asks at Res Obscura, "What Did 17th-Century Food Taste Like?"

- At Echoes from the Vault, the first in a series on "Visualising the Biographical Register of the University of St. Andrews."

- AAS student page Emily Isakson gives a brief overview of forgery-related material in the AAS collections.

Reviews

- Martin Puchner's The Written Word, Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes, and Thomas Mullaney's The Chinese Typewriter; review by Thomas Hale in the Financial Times.

- Kevin Young's Bunk; reviews by Jonathan Lethem in the NYTimes and Colin Dickey in the LATimes.

- John Crowley's Ka; reviews by Michael Dirda in the WaPo and Elizabeth Hand in the LATimes.

Upcoming Auction

- Library of M. R*** at Pierre Bergé on 22 November.