Links & Auctions

- The sixth annual Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is now open for submissions.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Meaning in the Margins of the Theodore Psalter."

- The Grolier Club has begun a blog series on their Japanese manuscripts.

- Mark Godburn's "Early Bindery Dust Jackets" is now available on the ABAA blog.

- New on Twitter, @bookprobate, featuring probate material concerning members of the early English book trades.

Upcoming Auctions

- Early Printing, Americana, Bibles at New England Book Auctions on 1 March.

- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 2 March.

- Printed Books & Maps, Birds, Fish, Insects & Flowers at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 2 March.

- History, Military, Art, Early, Australia, Norman Lindsay, Private Press and more at Sydney Rare Book Auctions on 4 March.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

- Congratulations to the new officers and board members of the BSA and APHA, elected this week.

- Taylor Dafoe writes for Artnet about the results of the Ruth Bader Ginsburg library sale at Bonhams this week.

- From Peter Kidd, "Another Unrecognized Budé Manuscript?"

- New from Lambeth Palace Library, a project to identify and document the provenance marks found in books from the Sion College Library collections.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, "Lady Dorothy Long's Library."

- Adam Smyth's latest TEXT! installment is "Waste."

- Gerard McKeever writes for Books & Borrowing, "Anatomy of a Holding: Robert Burns at the Wigtown Subscription Library."

Upcoming Auctions

- Photographs at Hindman on 1 February.

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs featuring the Library of the Late William St Clair at Lyon & Turnbull on 2 February.

- The World of Anime at Bonhams New York ends on 2 February.

- 19th and 20th Century Vintage Posters at Bonhams London ends on 3 February.

- Comic Books at PBA Galleries on 3 February.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

- Bibliothèque Pierre Collin at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 25 November.

Links & Auctions

- 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

- Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries on 14 October.

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

- The ABAA Virtual Book Fair: New York Edition is coming up 9–12 September.

- Oak Knoll Fest XXI will now be held virtually, 28–30 October.

- The Beinecke Library has released results of new scientific analysis of the Vinland Map, and surprise surprise, it's a fake! 

- In Apollo magazine, Michael Prodger on the new addition to the Lambeth Palace Library building.

- Alison Flood has an update in the Guardian on recent research into the Merlin manuscript fragments identified in 2019 in the Bristol central library's collections.

- Julian Harrison writes for the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog on "Richard III: Fact and Fiction."

- Over on the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, "Color separation for Scribner's Magazine 1905," "Perry's 'Narrative' and the battle between its printers," and the news that the blog is being retired.

- The University of St Andrews blog has the fourth and final installment in their series on the USTC: Gender and the Book Trades conference.

- From the Conveyor, a look at the Bodleian Bibliographical Press, and "Locating material for the material history of the book."

- Congratulations to John Y. Cole, who retires from the Library of Congress this month. The LOC blog has a Q&A with John.

Upcoming Auctions

- 19th & 20th Century Photographs at Chiswick Auctions on 7 September.

- Literature, Graphics, Ephemera at New England Auctions on 7 September.

- Original Film Posters at Sotheby's London on 7 September.

- Printed Books, Maps & Autographs, 20th Century Photography at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 8–9 September.

- Modern Illustrated Books and Private Press at Forum Auctions on 9 September.

- Rare Books, Manuscripts & Ephemera on 11 September and the Bookworm Sale on 12 September at Addison & Sarova.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auction

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

Links, Reviews & Auctions

- More than 1,600 pieces of metal moveable type preliminarily dated to the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries have been found during an excavation in Seoul; the sorts contain both Chinese and Hangeul characters.

- One of Charles Carroll's copies of the Stone facsimile Declaration of Independence sold at Freeman's this week for $4.42 million, setting a new record for a Stone facsimile and for an American nineteenth-century printed document.

- Jesse R. Erickson and Sarah Werner have been announced as the new editors of PBSA. Congratulations and best wishes to the new team!

- Over at Books and Borrowing, "Return from Orkney," by Katie Halsey about her trip to Orkney to photograph early library records.

- The Royal Horticultural Society is seeking help finding more information about an Isabella A. Allen who annotated a copy of The English Flora (1830).

- From the Mondays at Beinecke video series available on YouTube, Kristen Herdman on "Ethiopic Manuscripts and Global Books."

- Among the Rare Book Monthly articles for July, Michael Stillman's report on the sale of the Hofmann forged Oath of a Freeman, and Bruce McKinney on "Shifting Gears." And Susan Halas has an update on how Sotheran's has fared during Pandemic Times.

- Scott Ellwood writes for the Grolier Club blog on "Sir Thomas Phillipps's Earliest Catalogue."

- The UK government has placed a temporary export ban on two volumes of process drawings, watercolors, and proofs by John and Elizabeth Gould and Henry Constantine Richter. More from Rebecca Rego Barry on the Fine Books Blog. The albums are valued at £1,287,500.

- Keith Houston has a new "field trip" for Shady Characters, "Roman all over the place."

- Now also available on YouTube, an event from May to mark the 700th anniversary of Dante's death, in which seventeen copies of the 1481 Florence Landino edition of the Divina Commedia were compared in a "large-scale, live, online comparative bibliography" session. Fascinating! There will be a followup discussion on 6 July, for which you can register here. See also the Bodleian's Conveyor blog for more info and background on this project.

- Zubairul Islam is in the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight.

- The Middle Temple Library's provenance mystery for June features some very extensive notes in their copy of an early printed history of Scandinavia.

- From me, a new post in the "Changing Hands" provenance blog series, this time about some volumes from Longfellow's library newly transferred to Special Collections from the stacks.

Reviews

- Jewish Treasures from Oxford Libraries, edited by Rebecca Abrams and César Merchán-Hamann; review by Philip Getz for the Jewish Review of Books.

- The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray; review by Heller McAlpin in the CSM.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Roger Martin Collection of Western Manuscripts and Miniatures and other properties at Bloomsbury Auctions on 6 July. 

- Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle at ALDE on 7 July.

- Signed and Inscribed: A Gentleman's Library of Modern Literature at Forum Auctions on 7 July.

- Autographs & Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions on 7 July.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 8 July.

- The Exceptional Sale at Christie's London on 8 July.

- Lettres & Manuscrits Autographes – Dessins – Aquarelles – Photographies (Aristophil 42) at Aguttes on 8 July. 

- Elite Americana & Rare Cartography at PBA Galleries on 8 July.

- Bibliothèque Angelo Mariani – Illustrateurs russes – Reliures originales at ALDE on 9 July.

- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 14 July.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 15 July.

- Focus on Women at Swann Galleries on 15 July.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Sotheby's New York on 16 July.

- Americana Rare Books, Maps, Prints and Photos at Donald Heald Auctions on 17 July.

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

- Heritage Auctions will sell Mark Hofmann's forgery of the Freeman's Oath in their 9–10 June Rare Books Signature Auction.

- Some good coverage this week of Kate McCaffrey's recent research on Anne Boleyn's prayerbook: see the Hever Castle announcement, McCaffrey's research overview, and stories in artnet and Smithsonian.

- From Peter Kidd at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Otto Ege's Copy of Thomas Aquinas on Peter Lombard's Sentences."

- Over on Books and Borrowing, "A First Look at the University of Edinburgh Library Borrowers' Receipt Books."

- On the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Thomas Becket: Manuscripts Showing the Making of a Saint."

- Oliver B. Pollak writes for the Oak Knoll blog on "Becoming a Bibliophile, 1950–1970."

- Sarah Lindenbaum has a look at a 1633 copy of Henry Isaacson's Saturni Ephemerides for Early Modern Female Book Ownership.

- Jim Green will be on the History of Libraries seminar on 1 June to discuss "Memory, Reason, Imagination: Subject Classification in the 1789 Catalogue of the Library Company of Philadelphia." Free registration here.

- Alex Shepard writes for the New Republic about the ongoing controversy over Philip Roth's literary estate and personal papers.

Upcoming Auctions

- Science: Books & Manuscripts at Sotheby's London ends on 25 May.

- Historic Manuscripts & Rare Books at Skinner ends on 25 May.

- Bibliothèque Cynégétique Jean-Pierre Lemanissier at ALDE ends on 26–27 May.

- Rare Autographs, Manuscripts, Artwork, Comic Art at University Archives on 26 May.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 27 May.

- Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries on 27 May.

- Literature – Beats & the Counterculture – Illustrated Books at PBA Galleries on 28 May.

Links & Auctions

- May's Rare Book Monthly articles include Bruce McKinney's note on plans for an ABAA book fair in New York in September, Michael Stillman on rare books and NFTs.

- The London Library has posted some recent research into their mid-nineteenth-century charging records, revealing some titles borrowed by Charles Darwin.

- The Middle Temple Library has a new provenance mystery for us this month.

- Two pieces about the UCT fire: Shamil Jeppie's "Fire and the Sword" and Janine Dunlop's "'Hopefully, it's all been digitised ...'"

- On the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, "Macy's Sells Birds of America."

- From Byrony Pillath on the NLS blog, "Bookplates in the National Library: Who owned books in 18th and 19th century Scotland?"

- Also on the NLS blog, "Henry Mackenzie and The Man of Feeling."

- On the Oak Knoll blog, a Q&A with Reid Byers about his new book The Private Library.

- From Keith Houston, a deep dive into the $*&#)$ grawlix.

- The trading app rally is going to try and sell 80,000 "shares" of a 1776 broadside Declaration of Independence for $25 each.

Reviews

- The Women's Print History Project; review by Leah Orr in SHARP News.

- Susan Stewart's The Ruins Lesson and Jessica Maier's The Eternal City; review by Anthony Grafton in the LRB.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 6 May. 

- From the Curious to the Extraordinary at Chiswick Auctions on 6 May.

- K2 Judaica Sale: Rare Printed Books, Manuscripts, Autograph Letters, Graphic & Ceremonial Arts at Kestenbaum & Company on 6 May.

Links, Reviews & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

- Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries on 8 April.

Links & Auctions

- Marc Wortman writes for the April issue of Vanity Fair, "Cracking the Case of London's Elusive, Acrobatic Rare-Book Thieves."

- From the UK National Archives blog, "Playing cards captured at sea," highlighting a cool find in the Prize Papers collection.

- Over at Books and Borrowing, "Women Borrowers at Westerkirk Library."

- The Princeton University Library blog highlights Emma Sarconi's work on the Her Book project, identifying and cataloging ownership markings by women in books from the Princeton collections.

- Over on the FB&C blog, Emily Wells is in the "Bright Young Collectors" spotlight.

- A new edition of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series will include the author's own illustrations.

- Charlotte Higgins reports for the Guardian on the retraction of a chapter about the provenance of Sappho fragments announced in 2014.

- Meghan Constantinou will give a talk on 4 May, "Private Library Catalogues as Sources for Library History: An Apprecation." Free but registration is required.

- In El Pais, "Why Spain's National Library covered up the theft of a Galileo original work."

- The Boston Public Library has received a $2.1 million gift for preservation and cataloging of some 400,000 volumes. Excellent news!

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "The colour purple."

- Stephen Durchslag has announced that he will bequeath his collection of some 4,500 Passover Haggadot to the University of Chicago. The bequest also includes support for cataloging, endowed collections funds, a curatorship, and fellowships.

Upcoming Auctions

- Autographes & Manuscrits at Aguttes on 29 March.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts Online at Bonhams ends on 30 March.

- Rare Books and Incunabula at Lark Mason Associates ends on 30 March.

- Travel & Sporting Books from the Library of Arnold "Jake" Johnson on 30 March.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams London on 31 March.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 1 April.

Links & Auctions

 - The Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book & Ephemera Fair is running through Monday over on Getman's Virtual.

- From Peter Kidd at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Dispersal of the Collection of Rodolphe Kann."

- A beta version of the new viaLibri design is now available.

- From Rebecca Rego Barry on the FB&C blog, news that the Horsham Museum & Art Gallery has acquired a copy of the rare 1750 pamphlet The Life of Thomas Munn.

- Over at Boston 1775, J. L. Bell takes up the question of early English editions of the Bible printed in the American colonies.

- From Gerard McKeever at Books and Borrowing, "Books for Borrowing: Walter Scott."

- Coming up on 25–26 February, "'Resistance in the Materials': A Gathering of Printers Pressing for Change." Free, but registration is required.

- Rebecca Romney has started a #rarebookwords explainer thread over at @typepunchmatrix - will certainly be worth watching!

Upcoming Auctions

- Printed Books & Documents, Maps, Decorative Prints & Watercolours, Military & Aviation History at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 17 February.

- Modern Literature, Private Press & Illustrated Books at Forum Auctions on 18 February.

- Books & Manuscripts at Freeman's on 18 February.

- Vintage Posters at Swann Galleries on 18 February.

- PBA Platinum – Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 18 February.

Links & Auctions

- If you missed any of the great programming as part of the BSA's Bibliography Week events, videos will be posted on their YouTube Channel this week.

- Over on the Smithsonian Libraries' Unbound blog, "The Staple of Libraries Past," which takes a close look at a library card catalog catalog.

- The first issue of SHARP in the Classroom launched this week.

- From William Hogeland for TNR, "Against the Consensus Approach to History."

- Madeline McMahon writes for Not Even Past on "An Archbishop's Lost Library Catalog."

- Over at Edmond Hoyle, Gent., David Levy asks "Who printed Piquet for Francis Cogan? Thank you Compositor!"

- The ABA will host three virtual "Firsts" book fairs in February and March.

- Information: A Historical Companion is now out from Princeton University Press, and the accompanying website is well worth a look.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Gaon of Vilna and his Disciples - Books and Manuscripts from the Yeshayahu Vinograd Collection at Kedem Auctions on 2 February.

- Paul Destribats: Une Bibliothèque des Avant-gardes, partie III at Christie's Paris on 2–4 February.

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

- The Artists of the WPA at Swann Galleries on 4 February.

- Detective Fiction Including the Alexis Galanos Collection at Sotheby's London ends on 4 February.

- Americana – Travel – Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 4 February.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

- Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at ALDE on 20 January.

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

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

- Photography at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 21 January.

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

- Fine Books at PBA Galleries on 21 January. 

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

- Winter 2021 Auction at Arader Galleries on 23 January.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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