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 Ephemera Society of America's Virtual Ephemera Fair is open today and tomorrow (22–23 January) over on Getman's Virtual.

- The Bibliography Week schedule is up. The ABAA's Bibliography Week Showcase will be live on 26–27 January.

- Rebecca Rego Barry reviews the new Grolier Club exhibition of Glen Miranker's Sherlock Holmes collection for CrimeReads.

- Jerry Morris has a new post about his collection of early editions of Strunk & White.

- From Alan Krieger for the Notre Dame RBSC blog, "Seventeenth Century Dominicans Supporting the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception."

- Over at Books & Borrowing, "William MacGregor Stirling: Minister, Historian, and Antiquarian."

- Kurt Zimmerman has a new post about some recent wonderful association copies he's acquired, in "Every Book Its Story."

- From Clive Thompson, "A Search Engine That Finds You Weird Old Books."

Upcoming Auctions

- Manuscrits & Lettres Autographes at Aguttes on 25 January.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana at Sotheby's New York ends on 25 January.

- Printed Books & Maps, The Sinclair Hood Library of Archaeology, The Charles Tomlinson Poetry Library at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 26 January.

- Histoire des Idées Politiques et Sociales – Économie Politique – Finances at ALDE on 27 January.

- Books & Works on Paper including Contents from the Estate of Paul Gallego at Chiswick Auctions on 27 January.

- The Library of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg at Bonhams New York ends on 27 January.

- January 2022 Auction at Arader Galleries on 29 January.

Links & Auctions

- Coming up on 2–4 December, Getman's Virtual Bibliophilic Holiday Gift Fair.

- Cynthia Brokaw's Panizzi Lectures begin on 30 November; register here. Thanks to the sponsorship of Johnathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc., the livestreams of these lectures will now be freely available.

- Kurt Zimmerman has posted the video of a talk he gave recently to the Florida Bibliophile Society about the late Dorothy Sloan.

- From the Leiden special collections blog, André Bouwan on "Medieval manuscripts in the classroom: on site or online?"

- Over on the Cambridge special collections blog, a post on the "conservation of felted paper in a bound iron-gall ink manuscript."

- Jordan Pearson and Jason Koebler write for Vice about the chaotic aftermath of that attempt to buy the first printing of the Constitution using cryptocurrency.

- The Book of Deer, Scotland's oldest surviving manuscript, will return to Scotland next year for display at the Aberdeen Art Gallery during the summer.

Upcoming Auctions

- Music and Antiquarian Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby's London ends on 30 November.

- Bibliothèque d’un château du Sud-Ouest de la France - Bibliothèque cynégétique Jean Lebaudy et à divers at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 30 November.

- Soviet Political & Propaganda Posters: The Sergo Grigorian Collection at Bonhams London on 30 November.

- Fine Books & Ephemera at New England Book Auctions ends on 30 November.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams London on 1 December.

- The Fantasy World of Arthur Rackham: Rare Original Illustrations from the Collection of Shirley Carter Burden at Sotheby's London ends on 1 December.

- Exiles and Idealists: A Private Collection of Russian Literary Manuscripts at Christie's London ends on 1 December.

- Modern Literature at Forum Auctions on 2 December.

- Antiquarian Books at PBA Galleries on 2 December.

- Making our Nation: Constitutions and Related Documents, Part 2 at Sotheby's New York ends on 2 December.

- Fall Books & Ephemera on 4 December and Bookworm Sale on 5 December on Addison & Sarova.

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

- 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 & Auctions

- There will be a 24 Hour Book and Paper Fair on Getman's Virtual beginning at noon EDT on Wednesday, 19 May. 

- The Grolier Club's new exhibition "100 Books Famous in Typography" has opened for in-person viewing and with an online version.

- Over on the State Library of Victoria blog, "King George's Donation."

- From Mark Dimunation for the LC blog, "Not Gutenberg's Book: Wild Innovations in Handcrafted and Art Books."

- Lucy Kelsall writes on "A Sombre Binding" for the Paul Mellon Centre magazine.

- Coming up from UCLA, a three-part webinar series on "The History of the Chinese Book."

Upcoming Auctions

- Bibliothèque J.-L. et C. Pierron at Binoche et Giquello ends on 18 May.

- 19th & 20th Century Photography, Cameras and Accessories at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 19 May.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 19 May.

- Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 19 May.

- Books and Manuscripts at Freeman's on 20 May.

- The Einstein Archives of Ludwik Silberstein at RR Auctions on 20 May.

- Rare Pulps and Collectibles at Heritage Auctions on 20 May.

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

Links & Auctions

- Coming up 29 April–1 May, the Western States Book & Paper Fair.

- The Columbus Dispatch is looking for a new home for a 1920 Linotype machine. Can you help?

- New exhibition from the Cambridge University Library: Ghost Words: Reading the Past, about palimpsests.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a copy of the 1615 Faerie Queene.

- Lisa Fagin Davis has an excellent Twitter thread on "So you think you've solved the Voynich manuscript. What next?"

- From the University of St Andrews special collections blog, a two-part "Anatomy of an Enquiry" series on answering remote reference questions: Unlocking Answers in the Archive and Historical Firsts.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "A newly discovered manuscript from Byland Abbey."

- From Kurt Zimmerman at American Book Collecting, "McMurtry, Pass By."

- On the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, "Anatomy for Painters."

- Vartan Gregorian died this week at the age of 87. See his NYTimes obituary.

- I was also terribly saddened to hear of the death of Cornell librarian Lance Heidig, whose obituary is in the Morning Times. Lance's infectious enthusiasm and bright smile will be much missed.

Review

- Pip Williams' Dictionary of Lost Words; review by Helen Sullivan in the Guardian.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana at Christie's ends on 22 April.

- Comic Books at PBA Galleries on 22 April.

- Illuminated Manuscripts and Early Printed Books from the Collection of Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg at Christie's on 23 April.

- Shelf Sale of Books including Several Lots from Madeleine L'Engle's Library at New England Book Auctions ends on 24 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 California Virtual Book Fair is coming up on 4–6 March. See also their lineup of special programs for this year's fair.

- Not to be missed the online version of Mīharo Wonder: 100 Years of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

- From Mike Widener, "Printers' devices from law books," highlighting devices found in the Yale Law Library's rare book collections (more than 330 examples now up in their Flickr).

- From Adam Smyth, "Pronting Errors."

- The HRC's rescheduled Pforzheimer Lecture by Sarah Neville will now be held on 11 March.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Illuminated Canon Tables."

- Eve Kahn writes for the Grolier Club blog, "A Bibliophile Went Shopping, Or Maybe Not."

- From the Princeton Graphics Arts Collection blog, an "Index to Princeton's Audubon Birds."

- More from Peter Kidd this week on the dispersal of the collection of Rodolphe Kahn.

- From the Middle Temple Library's provenance mysteries series, a manuscript translation of Senault's De L'Usage des Passions by Henry Carey, Earl of Monmouth, with a list of Italian books appended.

- At Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a 1692 missal in French, with English Catholic provenance.

- The Minute Book of the United Sons of Salem Benevolent Society at the Clements Library has been transcribed!

- Brooke Palmieri will give the Charles W. Mann Lecture in the Book Arts at Penn State on 25 March. Sign up here.

- And coming up on 3 March at the Morgan, "The Women Who Made the Morgan."

- Congratulations to Jessica Camille Jordan, winner of the 2021 California Young Book Collector's Prize.

Review

- Jonathan Senchyne's The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature; review by Tim Sommer for SHARP News.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Collectors' Sale at Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers on 3 March.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts & Books at University Archives on 3 March.

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

- Fine Art, Photography & Prints at PBA Galleries on 4 March.

- Richard Margolis International Numismatic Library at Kolbe & Fanning on 6 March.

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

- 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

- 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

- From the Morgan Library blog, "Color and Curious Creatures: Fifteenth-Century Block Books at the Morgan."

- Thanks to Simon Beattie for calling attention to a project seeking to reconstruct the library of German writer Ludwig Tieck (1773–1853). See their guide for potential Tieck provenance (in English) for distinctive marks to watch for, and please help if you can!

- APHA and the Hamilton Wood Type Museum are collaborating on a 2020 Awayzgoose, and registration is now open.

- Library History Seminar XIV is looking for papers relating to the broad theme of "library history." Proposals are due by 1 October.

- Jasper Fforde talks to Elizabeth Flux for the Guardian about his new novel, The Constant Rabbit.

- Also in the Guardian, Justine Jordan profiles Eley Williams about her debut novel The Liar's Dictionary (out this month in the UK), hunting for mountweazels, and more.

- A set of musical scores from the collection of (and annotated by) Maria Callas is currently being offered by Christie's (sale ends 30 July).

- APHA has released an outline of steps the organization is taking to support BIPOC printers and allied craftspeople.

- Thanks to Alex Hidalgo for pointing out on Twitter the Catálogo Colectivo de Marcas de Fuego.

- From the N-YHS blog, "A Printer's Account of the Caribbean: Mahlon Day's Diary."

- The British Library has acquired the visual archive of Mervyn Peake.

- Pichaya Damrongpiwat writes for the NYPL blog on "Materiality in Eighteenth-Century Epistolary Fiction."

- The conservation staff at the John Rylands Library has posted a series of blog posts on the materiality of the book.

- The Grolier Club has launched an online exhibition of recent gifts from member Stanley D. Scott.

- ACRL and RBMS have passed a memorial resolution honoring Katharine Kyes Leab.

Review

- Jonathan Senchyne's The Intimacy of Paper and Joshua Calhoun's The Nature of the Page; review by Gill Partington at Public Books.

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres Anciens et du XIXe Siècle at ALDE on 21 July.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts, including Property from the Eric C. Caren Collection at Sotheby's ends on 21 July.

- Fine Judaica at Kestenbaum & Company on 21 July.

- Fine & Rare Books – Fine Literature at PBA Galleries on 23 July.

- Summer Auction at Arader Galleries on 25 July.

Links & Auctions

- New from the University of East Anglia's Unlocking the Archive team, Discover Historic Books.

- The digital version of the BL's Harley MS 7368 (The Booke of Sir Thomas Moore), can now be viewed in full online.

- The Grolier Club's annual New Members Collect exhibition is virtual this year.

- Over on the AAS blog, a new series on their artist fellowships.

- From Richard Norman on the ABAA blog, "The History of Vellum and Parchment."

- On the Early Modern Female Book Ownership blog, Sarah Duffield's copy of Crouch's Historical Remarques.

- Teaching Manuscripts has added the first two of a series of videos about making parchment.

- Claire Voon writes for Atlas Obscura about the bookwheel built by a group of RIT engineering students.

- The booksellers of ANZAAB have issued a joint catalog.

Upcoming Auctions

- Music, Continental Books and Medieval Manuscripts at Sotheby's ends on 14 July.

- The Collection of a Connoisseur: History in Manuscripts at Sotheby's ends on 15 July.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 16 July.

- Eureka! Scientific Breakthroughs of the 20th Century at Christie's ends on 16 July.

- Illustration Art at Swann Galleries on 16 July.

Links & Auctions

- The ABAA Virtual Book Fair ends later today; Firsts London continues through 12 June.

- Oak Knoll Books & Press has started posting some author interviews on their YouTube channel.

- David Pearson has a great post for Early Modern Female Book Ownership about some uniformly-bound and labeled volumes he was recently able to acquire from the library of Jane Pearce.

- Type & Forme have launched a new online exhibition and catalog, "Joseph Banks: A Lincolnshire Botanist in Australia." See also Rebecca Rego Barry's post on the Fine Books Blog.

- From Past & Present, a look at what some AAS staff members have been have up to during quarantine, sharing in the transcription of the Society's first donation book.

- Over at Jot101, a sniff at an early 20th-century book advertising gimmick, the perfumed novel.

- Henry Widener gets the "Bright Young Librarians" treatment this week.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Late manuscripts, bad manuscripts?"

- Rebecca Rego Barry has a rundown of some new books about books.

- Catherine Ansorge writes for the Cambridge University special collections blog about "Some Islamic manuscripts from Africa."

- Peter Kidd has a followup post identifying the collector(s) of a now-dispersed album of illuminated cuttings.

- BYU has acquired a collection of the Book of Mormon, including several copies of the first edition and first editions of all 149 translations.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 9 June.

- Militaria Autographs at Alexander Historical Auctions on 9 June.

- Essential Genius: Ten Important Manuscripts for Modern Times at Bonhams on 10 June.

- Collecting Camelot: John & Jackie Kennedy Family Collection at University Archives on 10 June.

- Arts of the Islamic World & India at Sotheby's London on 10 June.

- Literature – Counterculture – Fine Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 11 June.

- Early Summer Sale at Arader Galleries on 13 June.

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 Booksellers" documentary is now available for streaming rental, and if you rent via this link, 50% of the proceeds go directly to the ABAA. I'm looking forward to watching later today!

- Yesterday afternoon's BSA webinar "What is a Feminist Practice in Bibliography?" was excellent. It was largely based on small-group discussion (and thus not particularly suited for video) but I found it really inspiring to hear about the great projects folks are working on.

- Dirk Obbink was arrested in March on suspicion of theft and fraud, according to the Guardian. Background and more on the ARCA blog. The arrest was first reported by the Oxford Blue, but at the time of writing their article is not currently available.

- Dawn Hoffman writes for The Collation, "Hooked on Book Furniture ..." Clasps and bosses and corners, oh my!

- Also in The Collation, Bénédicte Miyamoto on "Marks in Manuals" and Caroline Duroselle-Melish on "The Many Different Ways to Make a Lacemaking Pattern Book."

- Abram Van Engen is giving a virtual book talk about his new book City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism at the MHS on 1 May. Register (free) here.

- From Kathleen Monahan on the John J. Burns Library blog, "Virtual Reference, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Local Note."

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a look at Thomas and Isabella Hervey's copy of Thomas More's Utopia.

- The Royal Library of Belgium has digitized 213 manuscripts from the Library of the Dukes of Burgundy.

- From the Cambridge University Library's Special Collections blog, "Spreadsheets, Shelflists & Scones: Special Collections Works from Home."

- Rebecca Rego Barry notes the ongoing celebrations marking the 500th birthday of Christophe Plantin.

- Ellen Gleason writes for the Clements Library blog about her work processing two recently-acquired whaling logbooks.

- The BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog highlights a 1547 inventory of the possessions of Henry VIII, including several extant books and manuscripts.

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, the first part of a series on "A Recently Dismembered Copy of Giordana Ruffo, De Medicina Equorum."

- The Marian Library's exhibition "Mary in Miniature: Books of Hours in the Marian Library Collection" is now available for online viewing.

- Video from the ILAB seminar on COVID-19 and the antiquarian bookselling world is now available.

Upcoming Auctions (online)

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle New York ends on 22 April.

- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 22 April.

- Autograph Seeker: The Estate of Gary Combs at Doyle New York on 23 April.

- Americana from the George E. Steinmetz Collection (with additions) at PBA Galleries on 23 April.

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

- Miscellaneous Books at PBA Galleries on 30 April (no catalog yet)

Links & Auctions

- On the TCD blog, "A Bibliographical Alphabet."

- Via IMLS, "COVID-19 Resources for Libraries and Museums."

- From Sarah Werner, "Blanking out," on what blank pages have to tell us if we look closely enough.

- The Yale University Library's new exhibition "Trial by Media: The Queen Caroline Affair" is now online.

- Robert Oldham writes for the APHA blog on "Restoring a Coisne Stanhope Hand Press."

- Over on the Providence Public Library Special Collections blog, "Archives in the Time of COVID-19."

- Stephen Grant has the second part of his profile of Folger director William Adams Slade at The Collation.

- Over on the Manhattan Rare Book Company's blog, "Beyond the Page: Finally, the Perfect Gift."

- From Swann Galleries, a short piece on the value of manuscript journals.

- Nolin Deloisin-Baum is in the "Bright Young Collectors" spotlight.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, a profile of Humfrey Wanley.

- Anke Timmerman writes about book collecting on a budget, for the FB&C blog.

- The NYSL has posted video of their recent event with Sean D. Moore about his book Slavery & the Making of Early American Library.

- From the Audubon Society's blog, "The Woman Behind The Birds of America," about Juditha Dowd's new biography-in-poems of Lucy Bakewell Audubon.

- More useful things: the BPL's guide to their medieval manuscripts, and Heather Cole's guide to online instruction with primary sources from Brown.

- Released this week, Matt Kirschenbaum's Mellon-funded report "Books.Files: Preservation of Digital Assets in the Contemporary Publishing Industry."

- From the Innerpeffray Library blog, "Meet the Borrower – Thomas Stalker Part I."

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Works on Paper including Autographs and Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions on 31 March.

- The Alex Raymond Flash Gordon Collection at Profiles in History on 31 March.

- Spring Auction at Alexander Historical Auctions ends on 1 April.

- April Auction at Arader Galleries on 4 April.

Links & Auctions

- David Segal writes for the NYTimes about the ongoing Aristophil scandal. This is the most in-depth account of the case I've seen so far.

- In the March Texas Monthly, "The Legend of John Holmes Jenkins" by Chris O'Connell. Michael Vinson's biography of Jenkins, Bluffing Texas Style, is scheduled for publication in March by the University of Oklahoma Press. I'm very much looking forward to this book ...

- The Chicago Sun Times has an obituary for Kenneth Nebenzahl, famed antiquarian map dealer.

- The Times (paywalled) ran a report on luxury handbags being made which each contain a fragment of a manuscript written by a well-known person (Dickens, Queen Victoria, Casanova, &c.).

- Contextual Alternate's "Drafts of History" project is calling for volunteers to send copies of their local newspapers from 10 March 2020 (in part to replicate a similar attempt made on 10 March 1888). Please join if you can!

- Antiquarian bookseller Barbara Rootenberg was honored at this year's California International Antiquarian Book Fair; an introductory speech given by her granddaughter (and third-generation bookseller) Madison Rootenberg Schwartz is up on the ABAA blog.

- Book Patrol highlights the Prismatic Jane Eyre project, which explores translations of Jane Eyre.

- From Stephen H. Grant for The Collation, "First Folger Director: William Adams Slade, Part I."

- In the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight, Will Baker of W. C. Baker Rare Books & Ephemera.

- The Library of Congress has acquired the archive of photographer Shawn Walker, as well as Walker's collection of the Harlem-based Kamoinge Workshop.

- Texas A&M University will host an exhibition this spring and summer, "The Eternal Passion: Nicholas A. Basbanes and the Making of A Gentle Madness." A symposium on 19 March will feature Basbanes, Rebecca Romney, Kurt Zimmerman, and curator Kevin O'Sullivan.

- Simon Beattie highlights an unrecorded variant of Goethe's edition of Ossian.

Upcoming Auctions

- Classic & Contemporary Photographs at Swann Galleries on 25 February.

- A Collection of Edward Gorey at Doyle New York (online) closes on 25 February.

- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 26 February.

- Bibliothèque Georges Pompidou and Éditions Originales du XIXe au XXIe Siècle at ALDE on 26 February.

- Autographs, Books & Relics Include Kerouac Estate & Hemingway at University Archives on 26 February.

- Livres Avant Garde Surréalisme at Binoche et Giquello on 28 February.

- Magic Collection of Jim Rawlins, Part III at Potter & Potter on 29 February.