- The 10th biennial conference of the Society of Early Americanists is coming up this week in Tulsa. I've organized a panel there on the future of American library history, where I hope to prompt a good conversation about current tools for working with historical library records and what tools we need in order to make even better use of these.
- After that, it's off to New York for Rare Book Week: three book fairs and lots of other goings-on.
- Harvard Magazine features a highlight article in celebration of Houghton Library's 75th anniversary.
- Coming soon, the Stationers' Register Online.
- Dawn Albinger of Archives Fine Books in Australia has a post up on the ILAB site about her work recently to restore a stolen book to its rightful home.
- A serialized Walt Whitman novel from 1852 has been identified and published. More coverage on NPR.
- From Erin Blake at The Collation, "Manuscripts in libraries: catalog versus finding aid."
- In the "Bright Young Booksellers" series, Nate Pedersen talks to Derek and Anna Walker of Edinburgh's McNaughtan's Bookshop.
Reviews
- John Stubbs' Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel; reviews by James McNamara in the NYTimes and Jeffrey Meyers in the LATimes.
- Anders Rydell's The Book Thieves; review by Michael S. Roth in the WaPo.
- Sean Wilentz's The Politicians & the Egalitarian; review by Christopher Childers at Reviews in History.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams London, 1 March.
- Rare Books at Heritage New York, 8 March.
- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams New York, 9 March.
- Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books at Swann Galleries, 9 March.
Showing posts with label LEA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LEA. Show all posts
Saturday, February 25, 2017
Sunday, June 24, 2012
Links & Reviews
- Your must-read of the week is Bethany Nowviskie's opening plenary from this week's RBMS conference in San Diego, "Reality Bytes." Go. Read it (right after you finish this post, of course).
- Another key read from this week is an NYRB Exchange: Joan W. Scott, Caleb Crain, and Charles Petersen reply to Robert Darnton's "In Defense of the New York Public Library," and Darnton responds to their comments.
- The Boston Public Library is reportedly considering a plan to add "retail space" and possibly a restaurant to the main Copley Square branch. Sigh.
- Another Washington book made the headlines this week, but if you want some to see some important marginalia he wrote, look to Harvard's Houghton Library. They've got a copy of James Monroe's 1797 screed A view of the conduct of the executive, in the foreign affairs of the United States, connected with the mission to the French Republic, during the years 1794, 5, & 6 filled with Washington's marginal notations. John Overholt highlights the volume. Or see the LT record about this book.
- News broke this week that the Massachusetts Historical Society is selling a medieval Welsh manuscript that's been in the Society's collections since before 1830; the 14th-century manuscript will go under the hammer at Sotheby's London on 10 June, with a £500,000-700,000 estimate. It'll be the first manuscript in medieval Welsh to come up at public auction since 1923, and ArtDaily suggests this is "most probably the last appearance of a medieval manuscript in Welsh on the market," as most of the other known examples are already in instutitonal collections.
- Over on the Fine Books Blog, Justin Pedersen talks to bookbinder Tim Yancey, one of the founders of the Lost Gutenbergs project.
- More than $5 million worth of artifacts and documents have been returned to Chicago's Polish Museum; they'd been stolen decades ago, and were found the basement of a building owned by the mother of a former museum curator.
- The Library of Congress has launched a new exhibit, "Books That Shaped America." Coverage in the Washington Post, or see the press release (which includes the list and short descriptions of each).
- Stephen Gertz poses some of the "troubling questions" still lingering about the stolen Book of Mormon and the media's treatment of the case.
- Author Dawn Powell's diaries are currently up for auction. Report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
- Some really excellent courses are on tap for the 8th Australian and New Zealand Rare Book School session, running 28 January - 1 February 2013 at the Universtity of Otago. James Raven will be teaching "The Business of Books in Britain," Heather Wolfe will teach "English Paleography, 1500-1700" (which I took last summer at RBS and loved), and Donald Kerr and Richard Overell are going to teach "Exhibitions: The Art and Practicality."
- Sarah Werner hosts a new Carnivalesque, early modern edition!
Review
- Andrea Wulf's Chasing Venus; review by Tom Payne in the Telegraph.
- Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate; review by Donald E. Graham in the WaPo.
- Thomas Desjardins' Joshua L. Chamberlain: A Life in Letters; review by Michael Burlingame in the WSJ.
- Ray Raphael's Mr. President; review by David O. Stewart in the WaPo.
- Another key read from this week is an NYRB Exchange: Joan W. Scott, Caleb Crain, and Charles Petersen reply to Robert Darnton's "In Defense of the New York Public Library," and Darnton responds to their comments.
- The Boston Public Library is reportedly considering a plan to add "retail space" and possibly a restaurant to the main Copley Square branch. Sigh.
- Another Washington book made the headlines this week, but if you want some to see some important marginalia he wrote, look to Harvard's Houghton Library. They've got a copy of James Monroe's 1797 screed A view of the conduct of the executive, in the foreign affairs of the United States, connected with the mission to the French Republic, during the years 1794, 5, & 6 filled with Washington's marginal notations. John Overholt highlights the volume. Or see the LT record about this book.
- News broke this week that the Massachusetts Historical Society is selling a medieval Welsh manuscript that's been in the Society's collections since before 1830; the 14th-century manuscript will go under the hammer at Sotheby's London on 10 June, with a £500,000-700,000 estimate. It'll be the first manuscript in medieval Welsh to come up at public auction since 1923, and ArtDaily suggests this is "most probably the last appearance of a medieval manuscript in Welsh on the market," as most of the other known examples are already in instutitonal collections.
- Over on the Fine Books Blog, Justin Pedersen talks to bookbinder Tim Yancey, one of the founders of the Lost Gutenbergs project.
- More than $5 million worth of artifacts and documents have been returned to Chicago's Polish Museum; they'd been stolen decades ago, and were found the basement of a building owned by the mother of a former museum curator.
- The Library of Congress has launched a new exhibit, "Books That Shaped America." Coverage in the Washington Post, or see the press release (which includes the list and short descriptions of each).
- Stephen Gertz poses some of the "troubling questions" still lingering about the stolen Book of Mormon and the media's treatment of the case.
- Author Dawn Powell's diaries are currently up for auction. Report from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.
- Some really excellent courses are on tap for the 8th Australian and New Zealand Rare Book School session, running 28 January - 1 February 2013 at the Universtity of Otago. James Raven will be teaching "The Business of Books in Britain," Heather Wolfe will teach "English Paleography, 1500-1700" (which I took last summer at RBS and loved), and Donald Kerr and Richard Overell are going to teach "Exhibitions: The Art and Practicality."
- Sarah Werner hosts a new Carnivalesque, early modern edition!
Review
- Andrea Wulf's Chasing Venus; review by Tom Payne in the Telegraph.
- Fergus Bordewich's America's Great Debate; review by Donald E. Graham in the WaPo.
- Thomas Desjardins' Joshua L. Chamberlain: A Life in Letters; review by Michael Burlingame in the WSJ.
- Ray Raphael's Mr. President; review by David O. Stewart in the WaPo.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
George Washington Book Sets Record, Heads "Home"
A copy of the laws passed by the first session of the First Congress, bound for George Washington and containing marginal notes in his hand, set an auction record yesterday for an American book or historical document, fetching $9,826,500 including premiums. See the Christie's catalog description or the LT record (newly updated).
The buyer, we found out fairly quickly, was the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on behalf of Mount Vernon, where librarians are working to reconstruct Washington's library as part of the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington (upcoming next year). There was a brief bidding war over the book before all was said and done, but Ann Bookout, regent of the Ladies' Association board, carried the day.
Among printed books, only Audubon's Birds of America has sold for more at auction (the Hesketh copy, sold for $11.5 million at Sotheby's in December 2010).
The buyer, we found out fairly quickly, was the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association on behalf of Mount Vernon, where librarians are working to reconstruct Washington's library as part of the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington (upcoming next year). There was a brief bidding war over the book before all was said and done, but Ann Bookout, regent of the Ladies' Association board, carried the day.
Among printed books, only Audubon's Birds of America has sold for more at auction (the Hesketh copy, sold for $11.5 million at Sotheby's in December 2010).
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Auction Report: June Sales/Preview
- Bonhams London sold Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs on 3 June, the top lot being Francis Frith's Egypt, Sinai, and Jerusalem (1858), a collection of twenty albumen photographs. It sold for £337,250. A collection of Howard Carter's papers fetched £109,250.
- On 7 June at PBA Galleries, Rare Americana, Travel & Exploration with Manuscript Material, Maps & Ephemera (results here).
- Swann Galleries sold Maps, Atlases, Natural History and Ephemera on 7 June. The top lot proved to be a copy of the first printed sea chart of New England/New Netherland, printed at Florence in 1647, which sold for $31,200.
- Bloomsbury had a Bibliophile Sale on 8 June; full results here.
- Christie's London sold Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts on 13 June, for a total of £3,175,987. Top lot was a Bach manuscript, which sold for £337,250. A ~1504 antiphonal created for Elisabeth von Gemmingen made £289,250, and a Richard III letter fetched £109,250. A second edition Copernicus sold for £85,250. Lots of other interesting lots in this sale, too.
- Results for Bloomsbury's 14 June sale of Books, Manuscripts and Photographs are here.
- The 15 June Sotheby's sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana, made a total of $2,671,067. The top lot was an original Apple I computer, which sold for $374,500. A lovely copy of Antonio Fracanzano de Montalboddo's Itinerarium Portugallensium e Lusitania in Indiam et inde in occidentem et demum ad aquilonem (Milan, 1508) fetched $212,500. The original subscription book for the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts made $37,500.
- Bonhams New York will sell Fine Books and Manuscripts including Russian Literature on 19 June, in 450 lots. Some of the material is from the stock of Serendipity Books, including the Russian library of London bookseller Alec Flegon (est. $15,000-25,000). A very nice copy of the first de Bry edition in German of Le Moyne's Florida could sell for $25,000-35,000. The important Revolutionary War diary of Timothy Newell rates a $50,000-80,000 estimate. But it is a manuscript draft of Lincoln's amnesty policy which rates the top estimate, at $200,000-300,000.
- Christie's London will sell Fine Books and Manuscripts, in 459 lots.
- Also at Bonhams New York on 20 June, The Gentleman's Library, in 534 lots. Mostly non-book things, but the catalog makes for a fun browse.
- PBA Galleries sells Rare Books & Manuscripts, Fine Press and Illustrated Books on 21 June, in 354 lots. A 15th-century manuscript of Fasciculus temporum (the only known manuscript of this work in private hands) rates the top estimate, at $100,000-150,000. A first edition in English of Homer's works is estimated at $30,000-50,000.
- Swann Galleries will sell 19th & 20th Century Literature on 21 June, in 323 lots.
- On 22 June, Christie's New York sells Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, in 295 lots. A copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle in German with contemporary coloring is estimated at $250,000-350,000. What the auction house is calling the largest Jefferson manuscript ever offered at auction, a small collection of documents relating to his suit against the Rivanna Company, could fetch $250,000-400,000. Also on 22 June, in a single-item sale, a copy of the first collection of the Acts of Congress, bound for Washington and with marginalia in his hand. It is estimated at $2-3 million.
- On 26 June, Bonhams Oxford sells Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs, in 784 lots, and at San Francisco the Serendipity Shelf Sale, in 631 lots.
- On 7 June at PBA Galleries, Rare Americana, Travel & Exploration with Manuscript Material, Maps & Ephemera (results here).
- Swann Galleries sold Maps, Atlases, Natural History and Ephemera on 7 June. The top lot proved to be a copy of the first printed sea chart of New England/New Netherland, printed at Florence in 1647, which sold for $31,200.
- Bloomsbury had a Bibliophile Sale on 8 June; full results here.
- Christie's London sold Valuable Printed Books and Manuscripts on 13 June, for a total of £3,175,987. Top lot was a Bach manuscript, which sold for £337,250. A ~1504 antiphonal created for Elisabeth von Gemmingen made £289,250, and a Richard III letter fetched £109,250. A second edition Copernicus sold for £85,250. Lots of other interesting lots in this sale, too.
- Results for Bloomsbury's 14 June sale of Books, Manuscripts and Photographs are here.
- The 15 June Sotheby's sale of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana, made a total of $2,671,067. The top lot was an original Apple I computer, which sold for $374,500. A lovely copy of Antonio Fracanzano de Montalboddo's Itinerarium Portugallensium e Lusitania in Indiam et inde in occidentem et demum ad aquilonem (Milan, 1508) fetched $212,500. The original subscription book for the Pennsylvania Society for the Encouragement of Manufactures and the Useful Arts made $37,500.
- Bonhams New York will sell Fine Books and Manuscripts including Russian Literature on 19 June, in 450 lots. Some of the material is from the stock of Serendipity Books, including the Russian library of London bookseller Alec Flegon (est. $15,000-25,000). A very nice copy of the first de Bry edition in German of Le Moyne's Florida could sell for $25,000-35,000. The important Revolutionary War diary of Timothy Newell rates a $50,000-80,000 estimate. But it is a manuscript draft of Lincoln's amnesty policy which rates the top estimate, at $200,000-300,000.
- Christie's London will sell Fine Books and Manuscripts, in 459 lots.
- Also at Bonhams New York on 20 June, The Gentleman's Library, in 534 lots. Mostly non-book things, but the catalog makes for a fun browse.
- PBA Galleries sells Rare Books & Manuscripts, Fine Press and Illustrated Books on 21 June, in 354 lots. A 15th-century manuscript of Fasciculus temporum (the only known manuscript of this work in private hands) rates the top estimate, at $100,000-150,000. A first edition in English of Homer's works is estimated at $30,000-50,000.
- Swann Galleries will sell 19th & 20th Century Literature on 21 June, in 323 lots.
- On 22 June, Christie's New York sells Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts, in 295 lots. A copy of the Nuremberg Chronicle in German with contemporary coloring is estimated at $250,000-350,000. What the auction house is calling the largest Jefferson manuscript ever offered at auction, a small collection of documents relating to his suit against the Rivanna Company, could fetch $250,000-400,000. Also on 22 June, in a single-item sale, a copy of the first collection of the Acts of Congress, bound for Washington and with marginalia in his hand. It is estimated at $2-3 million.
- On 26 June, Bonhams Oxford sells Books, Maps, Manuscripts and Historical Photographs, in 784 lots, and at San Francisco the Serendipity Shelf Sale, in 631 lots.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Links & Reviews
- The London International Antiquarian Bookfair (the "Olympia" fair) was held this weekend. On the Economist's Prospero blog, it was hailed as "An antiquarian obsession."
- On bookfairs: don't miss Garrett Scott's "A hasty and discursive meditation on the care and feeding of a book fair," or Lorne Blair's post on the recent inaugural Library of Virginia Book Fair. And definitely don't miss the first part of Lorne's new series on the importance of regional book fairs: "Six Days On the Road & I'm Gonna Make it Home Tonight." At the end of this post he asks some key questions, questions I think all of us concerned with these matters should be thinking about.
- A panel discussion was held at the NYPL this week on the much-debated renovations plan. Caleb Crain has a full rundown, with links to audio/video of the event as well. Robin Pogrebin covered the discussion for the NYT, including in a followup piece the little nugget that former employees of the library believe they've been silenced by "nondisparagement agreements."
- For the culinary codicologist: historiated initial cookies!
- Mt. Vernon's efforts to recreate George Washington's library got a writeup in the Washington Post this weekend. Unfortunately it opens with the line "Gently, gently, the librarian opens the first of the five books displayed on the large wooden table, and age seems to rise up from the pages like a wavy distortion above heated pavement." While I think the recreation is a neat idea (virtual is handy, but real is cooler), I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Washington's books being "replicated with pages scanned from the Athenaeum's collection and put into an 18th-century-style binding with endpaper and leather and gold tooling." I certainly hope that means that the scans would be made available to all (as with the John Adams library); it just doesn't make much sense, today, to create scanned physical surrogates in bespoke bindings just for the sake of doing so. But, overall, I'm really glad to see the project going forward, and wish them great luck!
- Over at The Collation, Erin Blake examines the difference(s) between a colored print and a color print, and Heather Wolfe explores Shelton's tachygraphy, a common form of early modern shorthand.
- More on the Girolamini library thefts I mentioned last week: the former director, Mario Massimo de Caro, and four others have been arrested.
- Mike Widener notes a book in the Yale Law library's collections with the bookplate and signature of Johann Peter von Ludewig.
- Mary Norris of The New Yorker has a very amusing post about the printing of a thorn (þ) in a recent issue of the magazine.
- Dan Cohen muses on the "blessay." Make sure to read the updates, too.
- Glenn Fleishman posted this week on a recent visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library, where he talked to Sarah Werner about the physicality of books.
- Mark Anderson talked to the CSM about his new book on the Transit of Venus.
- The Russian State Polytechnical Museum Library in Moscow recently discovered some 30,000 pre-Revolutionary books hidden behind a false wall.
- Booksellers Adrian Harrington and Jonathan Kearnes star in a 15-minute video, "The Story of the Book." It's beautifully done. [h/t Book Patrol]
- At Boston 1775, J.L. Bell asks "How did people pronounce 'Faneuil Hall'?"
- A great new acquisition is highlighted on the Houghton Library blog: a 1741 book with a nifty five-ribbon bookmark.
- Queen Victoria's journals have been mounted online, free to the world through the end of June (and in the UK thereafter).
Reviews
- Wesley Stace's Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer; review by Miriam Burstein at The Little Professor.
- Peter Carey's The Chemistry of Tears; reviews by Andrew Miller in the NYTimes and Ron Charles in the WaPo.
- Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies; reviews by Martin Rubin in the LATimes; Charles McGrath in the NYTimes.
- E.O. Wilson's The Social Conquest of Earth; review by Thomas Maugh in the LATimes.
- Pretty much every major American birding field guide; review by Laura Jacobs in the WSJ.
- On bookfairs: don't miss Garrett Scott's "A hasty and discursive meditation on the care and feeding of a book fair," or Lorne Blair's post on the recent inaugural Library of Virginia Book Fair. And definitely don't miss the first part of Lorne's new series on the importance of regional book fairs: "Six Days On the Road & I'm Gonna Make it Home Tonight." At the end of this post he asks some key questions, questions I think all of us concerned with these matters should be thinking about.
- A panel discussion was held at the NYPL this week on the much-debated renovations plan. Caleb Crain has a full rundown, with links to audio/video of the event as well. Robin Pogrebin covered the discussion for the NYT, including in a followup piece the little nugget that former employees of the library believe they've been silenced by "nondisparagement agreements."
- For the culinary codicologist: historiated initial cookies!
- Mt. Vernon's efforts to recreate George Washington's library got a writeup in the Washington Post this weekend. Unfortunately it opens with the line "Gently, gently, the librarian opens the first of the five books displayed on the large wooden table, and age seems to rise up from the pages like a wavy distortion above heated pavement." While I think the recreation is a neat idea (virtual is handy, but real is cooler), I'm not sure how I feel about the idea of Washington's books being "replicated with pages scanned from the Athenaeum's collection and put into an 18th-century-style binding with endpaper and leather and gold tooling." I certainly hope that means that the scans would be made available to all (as with the John Adams library); it just doesn't make much sense, today, to create scanned physical surrogates in bespoke bindings just for the sake of doing so. But, overall, I'm really glad to see the project going forward, and wish them great luck!
- Over at The Collation, Erin Blake examines the difference(s) between a colored print and a color print, and Heather Wolfe explores Shelton's tachygraphy, a common form of early modern shorthand.
- More on the Girolamini library thefts I mentioned last week: the former director, Mario Massimo de Caro, and four others have been arrested.
- Mike Widener notes a book in the Yale Law library's collections with the bookplate and signature of Johann Peter von Ludewig.
- Mary Norris of The New Yorker has a very amusing post about the printing of a thorn (þ) in a recent issue of the magazine.
- Dan Cohen muses on the "blessay." Make sure to read the updates, too.
- Glenn Fleishman posted this week on a recent visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library, where he talked to Sarah Werner about the physicality of books.
- Mark Anderson talked to the CSM about his new book on the Transit of Venus.
- The Russian State Polytechnical Museum Library in Moscow recently discovered some 30,000 pre-Revolutionary books hidden behind a false wall.
- Booksellers Adrian Harrington and Jonathan Kearnes star in a 15-minute video, "The Story of the Book." It's beautifully done. [h/t Book Patrol]
- At Boston 1775, J.L. Bell asks "How did people pronounce 'Faneuil Hall'?"
- A great new acquisition is highlighted on the Houghton Library blog: a 1741 book with a nifty five-ribbon bookmark.
- Queen Victoria's journals have been mounted online, free to the world through the end of June (and in the UK thereafter).
Reviews
- Wesley Stace's Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer; review by Miriam Burstein at The Little Professor.
- Peter Carey's The Chemistry of Tears; reviews by Andrew Miller in the NYTimes and Ron Charles in the WaPo.
- Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies; reviews by Martin Rubin in the LATimes; Charles McGrath in the NYTimes.
- E.O. Wilson's The Social Conquest of Earth; review by Thomas Maugh in the LATimes.
- Pretty much every major American birding field guide; review by Laura Jacobs in the WSJ.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Links & Reviews
- Arthur Souza, 52, was arrested this week for attempting to steal books from the Brooks Free Library in Harwich, MA. Souza is believed to have also stolen books from libraries in Hyannis, Brewster, Barnstable, and Yarmouth. Souza was discovered when a tipster spotted books with library markings being sold on eBay.
- From Jennifer Howard, a thorough and well-written piece on library offsite storage.
- A good reminder from Bookriot: "You Are Not Your Bookshelf."
- Over at Interview, John D'Agata talks about his new book (with Jim Fingal), Lifespan of a Fact.
- The Folger Shakespeare Library announced this week that it has acquired the theatrical archive of Lynn Redgrave.
- Skinner, Inc.'s new Director of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Devon Gray, talks about her background and her plans for Skinner in a short "meet the expert" interview.
- Alexis Madrigal points out a recent interview with Yale Librarian Susan Gibbons about open-access policies. [via Dan Cohen]
- I had the great pleasure to speak at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) this week, as part of their Digital Dialogues series. You can download a video or the Keynote version of my talk here, should you be so inclined. I discussed the Legacy Libraries project at LibraryThing, in particular the Libraries of Early America element of it. It was a real treat to see all the neat things the good folks at MITH are working on, as well!
- Nicholas Carr writes about the DPLA in Technology Review, as "The Library of Utopia."
- From BibliOdyssey, bookplates!
- Jason Epstein's "How Books Will Survive Amazon" is well worth a read.
- Last week's link to Mike Widener's post about including dealer descriptions in catalog records ended up prompting quite an interesting conversation on Twitter and elsewhere. Sarah Werner captured the discussion here, and Laura Massey weighed in over at The Cataloguer's Desk as well. I was pleased to see this take off, and I think it's led in some very interesting directions!
- Big news (and good news) from Harvard this week, with the release of open metadata for 12 million works from across its libraries. More.
- Over at Public Domain Review, Benjamin Breen discusses John White's sketches of the New World.
- Ian Kahn posted a wrapup (with some videos) from this year's NYC book fair. Another good post about the fair to add to your reading list is "Love is a Doing Word," from Bibliodeviancy.
- From Rick Gekoski, in The Guardian, "Book dealers court the press at their peril."
- From the OUP blog this week, a quiz on Shakespeare in America.
Reviews
- The new issue of WMQ features a critical forum on Pauline Maier's Ratification. [h/t Joe Adelman]
- Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy's The President's Club; review by David Greenberg in the WaPo.
- Joy Kiser's America's Other Audubon; review by Liesl Bradner in the LATimes.
- Robert Caro's The Passage of Power; review by Robert Draper in the WSJ.
- From Jennifer Howard, a thorough and well-written piece on library offsite storage.
- A good reminder from Bookriot: "You Are Not Your Bookshelf."
- Over at Interview, John D'Agata talks about his new book (with Jim Fingal), Lifespan of a Fact.
- The Folger Shakespeare Library announced this week that it has acquired the theatrical archive of Lynn Redgrave.
- Skinner, Inc.'s new Director of Fine Books and Manuscripts, Devon Gray, talks about her background and her plans for Skinner in a short "meet the expert" interview.
- Alexis Madrigal points out a recent interview with Yale Librarian Susan Gibbons about open-access policies. [via Dan Cohen]
- I had the great pleasure to speak at the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) this week, as part of their Digital Dialogues series. You can download a video or the Keynote version of my talk here, should you be so inclined. I discussed the Legacy Libraries project at LibraryThing, in particular the Libraries of Early America element of it. It was a real treat to see all the neat things the good folks at MITH are working on, as well!
- Nicholas Carr writes about the DPLA in Technology Review, as "The Library of Utopia."
- From BibliOdyssey, bookplates!
- Jason Epstein's "How Books Will Survive Amazon" is well worth a read.
- Last week's link to Mike Widener's post about including dealer descriptions in catalog records ended up prompting quite an interesting conversation on Twitter and elsewhere. Sarah Werner captured the discussion here, and Laura Massey weighed in over at The Cataloguer's Desk as well. I was pleased to see this take off, and I think it's led in some very interesting directions!
- Big news (and good news) from Harvard this week, with the release of open metadata for 12 million works from across its libraries. More.
- Over at Public Domain Review, Benjamin Breen discusses John White's sketches of the New World.
- Ian Kahn posted a wrapup (with some videos) from this year's NYC book fair. Another good post about the fair to add to your reading list is "Love is a Doing Word," from Bibliodeviancy.
- From Rick Gekoski, in The Guardian, "Book dealers court the press at their peril."
- From the OUP blog this week, a quiz on Shakespeare in America.
Reviews
- The new issue of WMQ features a critical forum on Pauline Maier's Ratification. [h/t Joe Adelman]
- Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy's The President's Club; review by David Greenberg in the WaPo.
- Joy Kiser's America's Other Audubon; review by Liesl Bradner in the LATimes.
- Robert Caro's The Passage of Power; review by Robert Draper in the WSJ.
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Links & Reviews
- Over at "Cardiff Book History," Rhys Tranter interviews Robert Darnton about the future of books.
- New feature at the Houghton Library blog, "You've Got Mail," kicks off with a letter from Samuel Johnson to Hester Thrale.
- The Guardian covers that strange case of forged Ibsen works that I've mentioned here before.
- Don't miss "The Public Practice of History in and for a Digital Age," new AHA president William Cronon's first Perspectives on History column.
- The University of Georgia's new special collections building is now open for business.
- Vin Carretta's recent talk at the Mass Historical Society about his new Phillis Wheatley bio is now online. And this week, I added a Phillis Wheatley Legacy Library to LibraryThing.
- A must-read post at Typefoundry, "Type held in the hand."
- Johann Froben's publications are highlighted at The Private Library.
- Jennifer Howard expertly covers recently scholarship on the King James Bible.
- In the NYTimes, Anne Trubek explores "Why Authors Tweet."
Reviews
- Umberto Eco's The Prague Cemetery; review by Sinclair McKay in the Telegraph.
- Dava Sobel's A More Perfect Heaven; review by San Kean in the NYTimes.
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Links & Reviews
Pardon the brevity this week: he second RBS session begins tonight, so there's much to be done.
- The British Library launched a 19th Century Books app this week.
- From Mercurius Politicus, a neat look into the parish record research process.
- The second THATCamp New England will be held on 22 October at Brandeis University.
- From Houghton, some newly-digitized goodies, including the printer's copy for the Aldine edition of Aristotle's works.
- An interesting piece by Brewster Kahle on the Internet Archive's physical archive of books, which he sees as something akin to a "seed bank."
- There was no indictment this week in the Rolland Comstock case. The Greene County, MO grand jury took no action related to the still-unsolved murder.
- A new issue of "Republics of Letters" is up, featuring an essay by Roger Chartier, among others.
Reviews
- Christopher Krebs' A Most Dangerous Book; review by Cullen Murphy in the NYTimes.
- Jane Brown's The Omnipotent Magician; review by John Barrell in the TLS.
- John Sayles' A Moment in the Sun; review by Tom LeClair in the NYTimes.
- Erik Larson's In the Garden of Beasts; review by Dorothy Gallagher in the NYTimes.
Thursday, May 05, 2011
Early Librarian Libraries Database Desiderata
So say, just hypothetically (hrm, hrm) that there were to be a searchable/browsable database of early (pre-1825) American private libraries (in effect taking some of the data collected here and presenting it in a more robust way, including unitemized libraries, proposed libraries &c., all in one place).
What info would you like to see included? What ways would you like to be able to search, sort, and/or browse the data? (I'm intentionally leaving this open-ended instead of laying out what I've got so far in order to get the widest range of responses and thoughts). Drop me an email, or a comment here. Would very much appreciate your suggestions and thoughts.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Jefferson Books Identified at Washington University
Big biblio-news this morning: some 74 volumes from Thomas Jefferson's retirement library have been found at Washington University in St. Louis, among books donated to the university by Jefferson's granddaughter Ellen and her husband Joseph Coolidge. The cache makes Washington University the third-largest holder of extant Jefferson books, after the Library of Congress and the University of Virginia. Read the Monticello press release and blog post for more.
You can browse the Jefferson books at Washington University in the Jefferson LibraryThing catalog: click here for the list.
Many congratulations to Anne Lucas and Endrina Tay, good friends from Monticello who made and verified the discovery. Fantastic stuff!
Thursday, September 30, 2010
The State of Things
There look to be a whole slew of interesting auctions coming up in late October-early November, so I'll be working up a preview post for those this weekend (making this a preview-preview, I guess).
In the meantime, some updates:
I'm continuing to add to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence wiki as new source material is found; this week I've updated the North Carolina delegates based on copies of their wills, and I've gotten some good leads on ways to get the probate files for the six delegates who died in Philadelphia (and whose probate files seem to be stuck in some sort of bureaucratic morass). Hopefully those leads will pan out and I'll have some new information on those shortly. About eighty titles from the library of one of those delegates, Francis Hopkinson, are at the University of Pennsylvania library, and I've been in touch with librarians there about additional materials on his book collection that might be extant.
On Monday I went down to Providence to look at the estate inventory of Stephen Hopkins in the City Archives. That was quite the experience, but when all was said and done the inventory contains a short list of books, which I'll be adding to LT shortly (hopefully today or over the weekend).
While I was in Providence I took the opportunity and visited the John Carter Brown Library, where I got to hold in my hands Richard Mather's copy of the Bay Psalm Book (online here) and a (thus-far unidentified) partial book containing shorthand annotations (and lots of them) by Roger Williams. They've also got an Internet Archive scanning station set up there, and are scanning a range of their printed books and manuscripts (including collections of imprints related to Haiti, Argentina, and Peru). I really like how their scans look, with full color and the actual page edges showing (example).
And of course I couldn't leave the city without visiting a bookstore, so I went to Cellar Stories and browsed around there (for not nearly as long as I would have liked). I'll have to go again and plan to spend half a day in their stacks, I think.
All those things, combined with making plans for the upcoming research trip to Bermuda and being hip-deep in the wonderfulness that is the second volume of the History of the Book in America are why things have been fairly quiet around here. Stay tuned for auction previews and hopefully more Signers news shortly.
In the meantime, some updates:
I'm continuing to add to the Signers of the Declaration of Independence wiki as new source material is found; this week I've updated the North Carolina delegates based on copies of their wills, and I've gotten some good leads on ways to get the probate files for the six delegates who died in Philadelphia (and whose probate files seem to be stuck in some sort of bureaucratic morass). Hopefully those leads will pan out and I'll have some new information on those shortly. About eighty titles from the library of one of those delegates, Francis Hopkinson, are at the University of Pennsylvania library, and I've been in touch with librarians there about additional materials on his book collection that might be extant.
On Monday I went down to Providence to look at the estate inventory of Stephen Hopkins in the City Archives. That was quite the experience, but when all was said and done the inventory contains a short list of books, which I'll be adding to LT shortly (hopefully today or over the weekend).
While I was in Providence I took the opportunity and visited the John Carter Brown Library, where I got to hold in my hands Richard Mather's copy of the Bay Psalm Book (online here) and a (thus-far unidentified) partial book containing shorthand annotations (and lots of them) by Roger Williams. They've also got an Internet Archive scanning station set up there, and are scanning a range of their printed books and manuscripts (including collections of imprints related to Haiti, Argentina, and Peru). I really like how their scans look, with full color and the actual page edges showing (example).
And of course I couldn't leave the city without visiting a bookstore, so I went to Cellar Stories and browsed around there (for not nearly as long as I would have liked). I'll have to go again and plan to spend half a day in their stacks, I think.
All those things, combined with making plans for the upcoming research trip to Bermuda and being hip-deep in the wonderfulness that is the second volume of the History of the Book in America are why things have been fairly quiet around here. Stay tuned for auction previews and hopefully more Signers news shortly.
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Signers' Libraries Wiki
To keep track of my research into the libraries of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence I've put everything I've found so far into an LT wiki, with links to the libraries I've already added, plus the relevant bits from the wills/inventories of others (or various notes/&c.). As you'll see there are some hefty gaps, mainly because I've still got lots of stones to turn (ahem, the entire North Carolina delegation ...).
Today's additions were the notes on Arthur Middleton (with many thanks to the South Carolina Room at the Charleston County Public Library) and James Smith (definitely the Signer who wins the Most Generic Name award; many thanks to the York County PA probate court archivists for their assistance).
Any citations, suggestions, &c. welcome, of course!
Thursday, September 02, 2010
CT/NH Signers' Libraries
I spent some more quality time with probate records this morning checking for the libraries of the Connecticut and New Hampshire Signers of the Declaration of Independence. Here's what I found:
Connecticut
- William Williams (Windham District Probate, 1811). No mention of books.
- Samuel Huntington (Norwich District Probate; Will dated 28 June 1794; Inventory dated 5 February 1796). Wills to his nephew Samuel "my library." Inventory contains listings for "5 Geographical Maps" - value £1; "Library" - value £120.
- Oliver Wolcott. No probate file recorded, so a few more stones to turn over for him.
- Roger Sherman (New Haven District Probate; Inventory dated 16 September 1793). Devotes almost two full pages to books, so this one will get the full LEA treatment soon.
New Hampshire
- Matthew Thornton (Hillsborough County Probate; Inventory dated 27 July 1803). Inventory lists "A number of books," valued at $20 (total value of inventory $12,269.57).
- William Whipple (Rockingham County Probate; Inventory dated 15 November 1786). Total inventory value £928/9/6. No mention of books.
- Josiah Bartlett (Rockingham County Probate; Will dated 25 February 1795). In his will, Bartlett writes "My printed books on law Physick & Surgery I give to my son Ezra, all my other printed books I order to be equally divided among all my Children that shall be living at my decease."
I definitely want to do a little more work on Wolcott and Bartlett to see if we can't suss out any more about their libraries, and I've got lots of work now to do on Sherman. Any further advices or thoughts (on any of these or others) are always appreciated, of course!
Connecticut
- William Williams (Windham District Probate, 1811). No mention of books.
- Samuel Huntington (Norwich District Probate; Will dated 28 June 1794; Inventory dated 5 February 1796). Wills to his nephew Samuel "my library." Inventory contains listings for "5 Geographical Maps" - value £1; "Library" - value £120.
- Oliver Wolcott. No probate file recorded, so a few more stones to turn over for him.
- Roger Sherman (New Haven District Probate; Inventory dated 16 September 1793). Devotes almost two full pages to books, so this one will get the full LEA treatment soon.
New Hampshire
- Matthew Thornton (Hillsborough County Probate; Inventory dated 27 July 1803). Inventory lists "A number of books," valued at $20 (total value of inventory $12,269.57).
- William Whipple (Rockingham County Probate; Inventory dated 15 November 1786). Total inventory value £928/9/6. No mention of books.
- Josiah Bartlett (Rockingham County Probate; Will dated 25 February 1795). In his will, Bartlett writes "My printed books on law Physick & Surgery I give to my son Ezra, all my other printed books I order to be equally divided among all my Children that shall be living at my decease."
I definitely want to do a little more work on Wolcott and Bartlett to see if we can't suss out any more about their libraries, and I've got lots of work now to do on Sherman. Any further advices or thoughts (on any of these or others) are always appreciated, of course!
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Another Signer's Library
This afternoon (thanks to a fortuitously-timed book arrival) I've been working on the library of Caesar Rodney (1728-1784), one of Delaware's three Signers of the Declaration of Independence (in fact the deciding vote, since Thomas McKean and George Read were split on the question). His small library (as documented in the inventory of his estate) brings to eleven the number of Signers' libraries now in LibraryThing's Libraries of Early America project.
I was very intrigued to see that five of the thirteen books listed in Rodney's inventory were military titles, but this is not particularly surprising given that Rodney commanded the Delaware militia during the Revolution. The other titles are usual suspects: law texts, a Bible, a dictionary, &c.
Only forty-five Signers left to create libraries for (though as I noted last week, Sam Adams looks like a no-go, and I've recently had word that there may not be booklists for Virginia Signers Thomas Nelson and Benjamin Harrison).
I was very intrigued to see that five of the thirteen books listed in Rodney's inventory were military titles, but this is not particularly surprising given that Rodney commanded the Delaware militia during the Revolution. The other titles are usual suspects: law texts, a Bible, a dictionary, &c.
Only forty-five Signers left to create libraries for (though as I noted last week, Sam Adams looks like a no-go, and I've recently had word that there may not be booklists for Virginia Signers Thomas Nelson and Benjamin Harrison).
Monday, August 16, 2010
Some Early Connecticut Libraries
I've started working my way through some Connecticut probate records, and have made it through the Hartford district up to the year 1700 (two more published volumes to go). In the entire bunch I found just three libraries that contained books listed by identifiable title (other than the Bible, which was common):
- Elizabeth Gardner (~1604-1681), quite a wealthy woman and the widow of both Rev. Samuel Stone (d. 1663) and George Gardner (d. 1679), both early settlers of Hartford. Only one book is mentioned in her will (a volume of William Greenhill's Exposition of the Prophet Ezekiel, which she gives to her son Samuel Stone) but there were almost certainly others included among her household goods.
- Robert Morrice (d. 1684), the most interesting of the trio. His library was the largest of the bunch (at 7 titles). Morrice (or Morris) clearly had some health issues; he and his wife (Anne, the widow of John Lattimer) were granted a divorce in 1635 after Morrice admitted that he was unable to "perform the Act of Generation" because his "Bowels came Down." At his death, much of his estate went to pay fees for a doctor and "15 days Nursing," and a court awarded £4 to the family of Lt. Caleb Standly for their services to Morrice, which included "having baked his bread for a number of years." Morrice meticulously outlines his books, which are given to Standly's wife and daughters, plus several other children.
- Joseph Easton (~1602-1688), one of the original proprietors of Hartford and held many local offices there: chimney viewer (1649); surveyor of highways (1652, 1656, 1666); constable (1658), &c. His will mentions a Bible and the works of theologian Thomas Goodwin.
Aside from these three, there were many wills and inventories which mentioned libraries but did not mention specific titles (again, excepting the Bible). I've outlined those here; usually the books are simply listed generically, but occasionally an author's name or a type (martyr books, sermons and prayer books are the most common) is given.
I think my favorite among the unitemized bunch is Joseph Hooker's will, dated 7 July 1647. In it he stipulates: "I doe also give unto my sonne Jno by Library of printed books and manuscripts, under the limittations and provisoes hereafter expressed. It is my will that my sonne Jno. deliver to my sonne Samuel Soe many of my books as shall be valued by the overseers of this my will to be worth fifty pounds sterling, or that he pay him the summe of fifty pounds Sterling to buy such books as may be useful to him in thee way of his studdyes, att such tyme as the overseers of this my will shall Judge meett. But if my sonne Jno. doe not goe on to the prfecting of his Studdyyes, or shall not give up himselfe to the service of the Lord in the worke of the ministry, my will is that my Sonne Samuel enjoy and possesse the whole Library and manuscripts to his proper use forever; onely, it is my will that whatever manuscripts shall be Judged meett to be printed, the disposall thereof and advantage that may come thereby I leave wholy to my executrix; and in case she depart this life before the same be Judged of and Settled, then to my overseers to be improved by them in their best discretion, for the good of myne, according to the trust reposed in them. And however I doe not forbid my sonne Jno from seeking and takeing a wife in England, yett I doe forbid him from marrying and tarrying there. I doe give unto my sonne Samuel, in case the whole Library come not to him, as is before expressed, the summe of Seventy pounds, to be payd unto him by my Executrix att such tyme and in such manner as shall be judged meetest by the overseers of my will."
Complicated much?
Also noteworthy (and there may be some study on this somewhere, which I still have to look for) is the connection between brass kettles and Bibles (clearly important possessions): several times we see a mother giving to her daughter (or granddaughter) these two specific things:
- Dorothy Lord, of Hartford (will dated 8 February 1669): "I give unto my daughter [Anne] Stanton my Great Brass Pann & my greaet Bible."
- Margaret Heart, of Farmington (will dated 18 February 1691/2): "I giue to my daughter Elizabeth Thomson my great bras cattle [kettle] and my bible."
- Susannah Shepherd, of Hartford (will dated 7 March 1698/9): "I give unto my daughter [Anne] Stanton my Great Brass Pann & my greaet Bible."
More to come as I make my way through the next volumes. As always, probate records come with the important caveats that they probably do not reflect libraries (or other possessions) accurately or entirely.
Saturday, August 07, 2010
Early Suffolk County Libraries
I went on a mission this morning to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, to prowl through their probate records for a while. I had several files I wanted to check:
- Andrew LeMercier, minister of the Huguenot church in Boston (d. 1764). He apparently gave some of his books and manuscripts to Richard Cranch, and given the number of French sermons and theological texts in Cranch's library, I wanted to see if there was an inventory of books in LeMercier's estate (or a mention in his will of the materials going to Cranch). Alas, there was neither (it's possible that the books were divested before his death, as none are mentioned in the estate inventory).
- Samuel Adams, (d. 1803). I was hoping to round out the Massachusetts Signers of the Declaration of Independence by finding an inventory of Sam Adams' books (I've documented the other four: John Adams, John Hancock, Robert Treat Paine, and Elbridge Gerry), but his inventory, alas, includes simply "1 lot books", valued at $30 (the same as "2 cows" and "1 Bed bedstead & curtains"). Clearly quite a few books, then, but just what they were isn't clear. There are a few scattered books with Adams' signature around, but definitely not a critical mass of them. In his will, Adams also gives to his wife "such Books as she was the owner of previous to my intermarriage with her."
- Simon Bradstreet (d. 1697). Husband of the poet Anne Bradstreet, who lost his major library in a 1666 fire. I hoped perhaps his will or inventory would mention the additional library he built up after that time, but no dice.
Once I'd tracked these down I started a longer term project, which will be to go through the early probate records systematically and look for references to books or libraries in wills and inventories. Today I got through the first hundred pages of the first volume of Suffolk County's probate records (about the 1650s), and found no inventories but a few references. I've noted them here. Hopefully I'll be able to get back there once a week or so for a while, and continue to pluck out book references (this is sort of a practice run for the Bermuda project, since I'll be doing the same thing down there at the first opportunity).
Thursday, August 05, 2010
A Watchmaker-Polymath's Books
This morning I've finished adding books to the LibraryThing catalog of the books of Richard Cranch (1726-1811), the brother-in-law of John Adams (he was married to Abigail's sister Mary) and longtime friend of Robert Treat Paine (whose library I wrote about a couple weeks ago).
Cranch, born in Kingsbridge, Devonshire, moved to Massachusetts in 1746. He took up business as a card-maker, and later became one of the best-known watch repairmen in the Boston area. Cranch's interests varied widely (as you can see from the tag cloud for his books), extending far beyond horology and watch-making to encompass religious prophecy, the nature of the Antichrist, geography and navigation, history, languages (at least seven languages are represented in his collection) and classical literature
The library also reflects Cranch's interests in politics and government, in which he played an active role, serving two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1779-1783) and a term in the State Senate (1785-1787). He held the office of Justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County from 1779 through 1793, along with several local offices at various times. Cranch was also a delegate to the Massachusetts convention to ratify the federal constitution, where he supported ratification.
Cranch was a supporter of the Harvard library, and the college granted him an honorary M.A. degree in 1780, placing him with the class of 1744. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Charitable Society, and the Massachusetts Society for Propogating the Gospel in North America (in its 1787 iteration). He sat as a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, but declined membership in the Massachusetts Historical Society (he did donate a book to the Society's library, where it remains).
Thanks to the recent discovery* of a detailed inventory of Cranch's library taken by his grandson Richard Cranch Norton in January 1812 (in the Jacob Norton Papers at MHS), we can nearly reconstruct how the books were housed by Cranch: in two seven-shelf bookcases, with folio and quarto volumes on the lower shelves and books of smaller formats above (but not in much discernible order otherwise). Richard Cranch Norton also noted in his list which books he wished to purchase, and which books his father, Rev. Jacob Norton, had in his possession.
Another body of books from Cranch's library (including many legal titles) was given to his son William in 1797 after William's books had been seized by creditors. And there are various titles scattered here and there (as usual). But I fully expect to be adding more, as they appear in correspondence or in institutional holdings.
Interestingly, when I first glanced through the inventory of Cranch's books, I got an immediate impression of similarity between it and Robert Treat Paine's. So I wasn't all that surprised to find that the two collections are, both in terms of weighted and raw entries, extremely similar (see the "Members With Your Books" box on the left sidebar).
And now, on to the next!
*By Robert Mussey, who is working on a biography of Cranch and his family. I owe him huge thanks for collaborating with me on this project, and for his continued discoveries of books mentioned in family correspondence and notes.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Robert Treat Paine's Books
I've just completed another Library of Early America, this the collection of Robert Treat Paine (1731-1814). Probably best known today as a signer of the Declaration of Independence (the tenth one whose library we've now reconstructed), Paine also was at various times a school teacher, a merchant (he made a whaling voyage to Greenland), an army chaplain during the Seven Years' War, and an important legal official in Massachusetts (serving as Attorney General from 1777-1790, and as a justice on the Supreme Judicial Court from 1790 through 1804).
Paine's library is documented in a manuscript "Catalogue of Books beloging to Robt. Treat Paine," with the Robert Treat Paine papers at MHS. Paine started his catalog in 1768, organizing the books by format (folio, quarto, octavo, &c.). He added to the list as he acquired new titles, and then reorganized the catalog in 1805, supplementing the organization with the addition of some "subject headings" (Law, Theology &c., History, Physiology & Philology, and Poetry & Belles Lettres).
An interesting feature of the library catalog is a list at the end of "books lent and to whom," revealing that Paine frequently loaned titles to various friends and relations (and almost always got them back, too). An interesting example is William Law's A serious call to a devout and holy life, which Paine loaned to "Miss Sally Cobb" (who would in 1770 become his wife) and to her mother, "Mrs. Cobb." Another is James Garton's Practical gardener, borrowed by General William Hull. The notes on loans are included with each applicable record.
On to the next! On deck is completing the catalog of Richard Cranch (the brother-in-law of John Adams, and a longtime friend of Robert Treat Paine, to whom Paine loaned a few books). Then it'll be on to David Cobb's library (Paine's brother-in-law) and Thomas Paine (his father). That is, unless some other library crops up and distracts me (as they are wont to do).
Paine's library is documented in a manuscript "Catalogue of Books beloging to Robt. Treat Paine," with the Robert Treat Paine papers at MHS. Paine started his catalog in 1768, organizing the books by format (folio, quarto, octavo, &c.). He added to the list as he acquired new titles, and then reorganized the catalog in 1805, supplementing the organization with the addition of some "subject headings" (Law, Theology &c., History, Physiology & Philology, and Poetry & Belles Lettres).
An interesting feature of the library catalog is a list at the end of "books lent and to whom," revealing that Paine frequently loaned titles to various friends and relations (and almost always got them back, too). An interesting example is William Law's A serious call to a devout and holy life, which Paine loaned to "Miss Sally Cobb" (who would in 1770 become his wife) and to her mother, "Mrs. Cobb." Another is James Garton's Practical gardener, borrowed by General William Hull. The notes on loans are included with each applicable record.
On to the next! On deck is completing the catalog of Richard Cranch (the brother-in-law of John Adams, and a longtime friend of Robert Treat Paine, to whom Paine loaned a few books). Then it'll be on to David Cobb's library (Paine's brother-in-law) and Thomas Paine (his father). That is, unless some other library crops up and distracts me (as they are wont to do).
[Update: 25 July 2010 - I've added 156 more titles, after stumbling across a section of pamphlets from RTP's library in the 1850 book catalog of his grandson, Charles Cushing Paine].
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
A Skipwith Book
You may remember that in one of my posts from Charlottesville (this one) I noted that I'd come across a book with a very interesting provenance during one of the bookshop jaunts (in this case, to Franklin Gilliam Rare Books on South Street). Well, the book arrived in the mail today, so I can finally write about it in more detail.
The book itself I can't say much about yet since I've not read it, but it is I Says, Says I; a novel, by Thinks-I-To-Myself (i.e. Edward Nares). This is the first American edition, published at Boston by Bradford & Read and Philadelphia by Anthony Finley [printed at Boston by Munroe & Francis], dated 17 October 1812 (the first edition was published at London, also in 1812). A light penciled note on the title page appears to read "Trash, Trash" (which may be an indication of the quality of the text - you can judge for yourself if you wish, since Google Books has scanned this edition).
No, the interesting thing about this book is the signature(s) on the title page (pictured at left, full-size version here). The upper signature reads "Jean Skipwith / Prestwould", and the other (in red ink faded to a very bright pink) "Lionel Skipwith - 1895."
I've written about Lady Jean Skipwith (1748-1826) before (here), after I finished adding her library to LibraryThing. She was the most voracious female book collector in early America; her library included a vast number of novels and other literary writings (I suspect she had a fair majority of all English novels written by women during her lifetime; check out her author cloud). In her will she left 200 volumes each to her daughter-in-law Sarah Nivison Skipwith (wife of her son Humberston) and her two daughters Helen and Selena.
Sarah Nivison Skipwith having died before her mother-in-law, the books meant for her were apparently given to her widower, Jean's son Humberston Skipwith (1791-1862). From there this novel likely passed to Humberston's son Grey (1840-1895), and from him to his son Lionel (1882-1918); the date of Lionel's signature coincides with the year of his father's death.
So this book has quite a story (to me, an irresistible one, in fact), and that's why it's now on my shelves.
Friday, May 21, 2010
New LEA Libraries Added
I've added a few new (small) Libraries of Early America collections from the VA/MD probate inventories:
- William Triplett (1732-1802), landowner and friend of George Washington.
- Peter Presley Thornton (1750-1780), who served in the House of Burgesses 1772-1774, in the Virginia conventions of 1775, as colonel of a minute-man regiment 1775-1777, and as an aide-de-camp to Washington from 1777 probably until his death. Thornton's second wife was Elizabeth Carter, granddaughter of Landon Carter.
- Capt. John Belfield (1725-1801), commander of a troop of Light Continental Dragoons during the Revolution.
- Sarah Young Ball (~1682-1742), widow of Capt. Richard Ball, and holder of his lands following his death in 1726. A very small collection (Bible, prayer book, and Allestree's Whole Duty of Man).
- William Eilbeck (~1700-1764), among the wealthiest men in Charles County, MD at the time of his death. This collection is somewhat undercounted, since 70 titles are not itemized.
- William Triplett (1732-1802), landowner and friend of George Washington.
- Peter Presley Thornton (1750-1780), who served in the House of Burgesses 1772-1774, in the Virginia conventions of 1775, as colonel of a minute-man regiment 1775-1777, and as an aide-de-camp to Washington from 1777 probably until his death. Thornton's second wife was Elizabeth Carter, granddaughter of Landon Carter.
- Capt. John Belfield (1725-1801), commander of a troop of Light Continental Dragoons during the Revolution.
- Sarah Young Ball (~1682-1742), widow of Capt. Richard Ball, and holder of his lands following his death in 1726. A very small collection (Bible, prayer book, and Allestree's Whole Duty of Man).
- William Eilbeck (~1700-1764), among the wealthiest men in Charles County, MD at the time of his death. This collection is somewhat undercounted, since 70 titles are not itemized.
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