Links & Auctions

- Marsha Lederman writes for the Globe and Mail about the University of British Columbia's recent acquisition of a Shakespeare First Folio. And this isn't your standard "library buys book" story either - there are some interesting wrinkles! This copy, West 202 in the censuses, was previously at Meisei University (apparently with at least one intervening owner). Meisei seems to have deaccessioned two copies of the First Folio sometime in the last ten years, which I hadn't been aware of prior to looking in the censuses for info on this copy: their website now says they have ten First Folios, rather than twelve as before.

- Christie's announced their plans this week for the sale of Bill Reese's collection, including an exhibition of selected materials this month. Jennifer Schuessler has coverage in the NYTimes.

- Carissa Pastuch writes for the LC's Worlds Revealed Blog on "Al-Idrisi's Masterpiece of Medieval Geography."

- David Ferriero will retire as the Archivist the United States in mid-April 2022.

Review

- Mark Argetsinger's A Grammar of Typography; review by Joshua Langman at Typographica.

Upcoming Auctions

- Literature, Graphic, Illustrated at New England Book Auctions ends on 18 January.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 20 January. 

- Important Americana at Christie's New York on 20–21 January.

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

- Bonhams had announced that their sale of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's library would begin on Wednesday, 19 January, but the auction page now redirects back to the main page. Not sure what's going on there but perhaps we'll learn something soon (maybe an institutional acquisition?). [Edited to add: the link seems to work again but the complete catalog still isn't available so, who knows.]

Links & Auctions

- A new collection edited by Michelle Levy and Betty Schellenberg, "How and Why to Do Things with Eighteenth-Century Manuscripts," is currently open-access from Cambridge University Press.

- Public Domain Review is doing an advent-calendar style countdown to highlight various pieces of culture which will enter the public domain in 2022.

- Video of the 18 November Archival Silence Working Group event "Language In/Of the Archive" is now available.

- From Peter Kidd, part the second of "Celotti or Ottley? The Source of the Lomax-Wade Collection."

- The Clements Library has acquired a 1761 manuscript plan of the fort at Detroit, and has launched a crowdfunding campaign to cover the costs.

Upcoming Auctions

- The History of Western Script: A further selection from The Schøyen Collection at Bloomsbury on 7 December.

- Livres d'Heures – Manuscrits – Archives followed by Collection d'un Amateur at Binoche et Giquello on 7 December.

- Livres et Manuscrits at Sotheby's Paris ends on 8 December.

- Printed Books, Manuscripts and Maps at Bellmans on 9 December.

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle on 9 December.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Bonhams on 9 December.

- December Auction at Arader Galleries on 11 December.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

- 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

- Autographs & Memorabilia at Chiswick Auctions on 24 March.

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

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

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

- Spring Auction at Arader Galleries on 27 March.

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

- Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes at ALDE on 12 November.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links, Reviews & Auctions

- The IOBA Virtual Rare Book Fair continues through the end of the weekend - well worth having a look through the many and varied offerings, though I confess, I miss chatting with the booksellers. Much looking forward to when we can all be in the same place again!

- Dan Cohen posted this piece on guidance for reopening library facilities, put together by IFLA. See also WebJunction's information hub.

- Great biblio-human Robin Myers, 94, is walking in her garden to raise money for World Jewish Relief.

- Princeton's fabulous Shakespeare and Company Project is highlighted in the Guardian.

- New from AAS, Black Self-Publishing.

- Ariel Sabar has a piece in the April Atlantic about the Dirk Obbink scandal.

- Michael Vinson is interviewed on the AbeBooks podcast about his new biography of Johnny Jenkins.

- From Simon Beattie, a look at the second issue (1733) of The Catch Club, a collection of humorous songs by English Baroque composers.

- At Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a copy of Hannah Woolley's The Queene-like Closet.

- Over on the University of Glasgow's Special Collections blog, the first installment of a series about the conservation of a 14th-century manuscript of Higden's Polychronicon.

- Distraction reading has increased in the UK, the Guardian reports.

- Research has revealed text on four Dead Sea Scroll parchments in the John Rylands Library previously believed to be blank.

- Sarah McMillan writes for Swann about the mixographia printing process. Hadn't heard of it? Me neither.

- Karin Wulf talked to Whitney Martinko for Smithsonian about "How Historic Preservation Shaped the Early United States."

- UC Berkeley has released a set of responsible access workflows for digitization projects.

- From A Bookhunter on Safari, "A Cambridge Binding – John Bird Hawes."

- Boston Athenaeum programming for the spring has gone virtual.

- The University of Liverpool library has started a blog series taking readers on an A–Z tour of the historic counties of Britain.

- The National Archives has awarded $2.9 million in grants for historical papers publication projects.

- Stephen Grant has posted the third part of his profile of first Folger director William Adams Slade.

- Famed collector Peter Spang has died. He was on the MHS board when I worked there years ago, and was unfailingly kind and interested in what we were up to. Donald Friary has a nice memorial post on Antiques and the Arts Weekly.

Book Reviews

- Nick Gadd's Death of a Typographer; review by Alex Johnson for the Fine Books Blog.

- Kevin Hayes' The Road to Monticello; review by Breck Baumann for the Colonial Review.

Upcoming Auctions

- Churchill in Charge at Sotheby's ends on 20 May.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 21 May.

- Americana from the George M. Steinmetz Collection – Literature – Miscellaneous Books at PBA Galleries ends on 21 May.

- Books and Manuscripts: A Spring Miscellany at Sotheby's ends on 21 May.

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

If you can support your favorite bookstores and booksellers and publishers in any way during all this, please do. It's rough out there. Oh, and if you're a library administrator, close the library for now, please.

Courage, friends.

- Probably inevitably, London Rare Books School has cancelled its sessions for 2020.

- The Sammelband post for April is "Teaching Materiality with Virtual Instruction." 

- Over in the Ransom Center blog, "Picturing the Plays of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries."

- Scott Ellwood has a post on the Grolier Club's blog about what seems to be Sir Thomas Phillipps' earliest book catalogue.

- Don't miss Aaron Pratt's "Sometimes You Want Your Blank Blank."

- From the Middle Temple Library blog, "Provenance Mysteries: Injury by Beard."

- Some great, timely character sleuthing by Keith Houston at Shady Characters in "Miscellany No. 87: A Coronavirus Conundrum."

- From Emily Isakson for the AAS blog, "Mapping the World: Understanding Women's Education Through Geography."

- The Bewick Society blog highlights a new book by Nigel Tattersfield, Dealing in Deceit: Edwin Pearson of the 'Bewick Repository' Bookshop, 1838–1901.

- On the N-YHS blog, "An Ambrotype Army from the Cased Image File."

- From Laura Cleaver at History Matters, "The Sauce of the Middle Ages."

- Elizabeth Ryan writes for the Stanford Hidden Treasures blog, "Encounters with Binder's Waste in Stanford Libraries' Conservation Department." 

- From Penn's Special Collections Processing blog, Cory Austin Knudson offers "Some Thoughts on my Favorite Dissertation Ever Written."

- April's Rare Book Monthly articles are up.

Upcoming Auctions (online)

- Jiao Bingzhen Album at The Potomack Company on 8 April.

- Fine Literature featuring a Collection of Rudyard Kipling at Doyle on 15 April.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Potter & Potter on 18 April.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 26 February.

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

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

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

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

Links, Reviews & Auctions

- The Olympic Manifesto, sold at auction in December, has been donated to the museum of the International Olympic Committee by the winning bidder, Russian billionaire and president of the international fencing federation Alisher Usmanov.

- Nils Bernstein writes for Atlas Obscura about the recent digitization of the collection of Mexican and Mexican-American cookbooks at the University of Texas San Antonio.

- Stacia Friedman highlights Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts for Hidden City Philadelphia.

- Stephan Salisbury writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer about recent deaccessioning moves by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

- The folks doing wonderful work on the Letterlocking project have launched a new digital exhibition, Signed, Sealed & Undelivered.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Illuminated Manuscripts from the Collection of Siegfried Laemmle (1863–1953)."

- From the BL's manuscripts blog, "Middle English manuscripts galore."

- As usual, the administration's budget called for the closure of various important cultural heritage projects. LJ Infodocket has a roundup of responses.

- From the Princeton Graphic Arts collection blog, "Vellucent bindings."

- Rebecca Nicholson writes for the Guardian, "Meet the booksellers who are fighting back against the algorithm."

- Michael Ruane reports for the WaPo on a new map collection at Mount Vernon.

- Over on the BL's Untold Lives blog, word of a new acquisition of an Italian avviso from 1589.

Review

- Adam Sisman's The Professor and the Parson; review by Lawrence Osborne in the NYTimes.

Upcoming Auctions

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 19 February.

- Biblioteca Alberto Marín at Soler y Llach on 19 February.

- Livres anciens & illustrés modernes, manuscrits & lettres autographes at Aguttes on 20 February.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions (online) on 20 February.

- Rare Americana & Cartography with the Robert M. Ebiner Zamorano 80 Collection at PBA Galleries on 20 February.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Swann Galleries on 20 February.

Links & Auctions

- Guilty pleas were filed this week in the Pittsburgh Carnegie Library thefts. Former archivist Greg Priore pleaded to theft and receiving stolen property, while bookseller John Schulman pleaded to receiving stolen property, theft by deception, and forgery. Prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining counts against both men. Sentencing is scheduled for 17 April. See Paula Reed Ward's report for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette for more. Coverage also from Smithsonian, CNN, the WaPo, and Book Patrol.

- And if you thought that was going to be the main archives/rare books-related news story of the week, it was until Friday night, when Joe Heim reported for the Washington Post that the National Archives had altered an image of the 2017 Women's March displayed at the entry to an exhibition on the centennial of women's suffrage, blurring signs that were critical of Donald Trump or which referenced women's anatomy. An entirely-justified torrent of criticism ensued nearly immediately, and by Saturday afternoon the Archives had reversed both course and the altered photograph. In a statement which began "We made a mistake," the Archives said they would "immediately start a thorough review of our exhibit policies and procedures so that this does not happen again." More from the NYTimes and a followup from the WaPo. Also worth reading is Joe Heim's Twitter thread on how he turned this story up.

- Registration is now open for CABS–Minnesota 2020, to be held 12–17 July at St. Olaf College.

- Oberlin College Libraries and the RBS SoFCB are hosting a symposium on Teaching and Learning with Objects for Colleges on 13–14 March. See the link for schedule and registration info.

- This month's Free to Use and Reuse collection of images from the Library of Congress focuses on Maps of Discovery and Exploration.

- James Raven did a Q&A for the British Academy about his career as a book historian.

- Stephen Marche writes in the NYTimes on his collecting obsession with Thomas Browne first editions. Yep, been there, done that.

- From The Collation, "Sizing Shakespeare's Sonnets," by Faith Acker.

- Randi Ragsdale writes for the HRC blog on "Seeing stars in the Blaeu World Map."

- "Swann in Profile" highlights Devon Eastland, the auction house's new senior specialist for early printed books.

- Aaron Pratt writes for the HRC on "Revealing an English Schoolmaster's Piers Plowman."

- From Ed Simon for The Millions, "Annotate This: On Marginalia."

- Christopher Tolkien died this week at the age of 95. See his obituary in the Guardian.

- Over on the NYPL blog, "Ben Franklin: The Ultimate Bibliophile."

- The UK has placed a temporary export bar on an early 16th-century manuscript guide for hermits and anchorites.

Upcoming Auctions

- Editions & Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 21 January.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 22 January.

- Fine Literature – Fine Press – Fine Bindings at PBA Galleries on 23 January.

Links & Auctions

- Will Noel has been appointed AUL for Special Collections at Princeton University. Congratulations to Will and to Princeton!

- Charlotte Higgins has a long report in the Guardian about the continuing scandal of the stolen papyrus fragments. Much background on Dirk Obbink and the Oxyrhynchus collection.

- In the Atlantic, Cullen Murphy: "Before Zuckerberg, Gutenberg." (This is really about the importance of Elizabeth Eisenstein.)

- Betty Schellenberg writes for The Collation on "The Eighteenth-Century Manuscript Verse Miscellany."

- For the HRC blog, a Q&A with Bruce Hunt about the background of the Blaeu World Map.

- The American Museum of Natural History has begun a three-year initiative to make the museum's archives and memorabilia collections more accessible.

- Robert Caro's papers have been acquired by the New-York Historical Society.

- From Listology, "Eadweard Muybridge's Animal Locomotion."

- Over on the Fine Books Blog, "The Legacy of Joseph Rubinfine, Historical Manuscripts Dealer."

- Liz Adams writes for the Devil's Tale on "The Satirist and Tinkerer, Hogarth."

Book Review

- Bruce Licher and Karen Nielson Licher's Savage Impressions; review by Paul Moxon on the APHA Blog.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books, Maps, and Manuscripts at Revere Auctions (online) on 13 January.

- Autographs, Books, Declaration Signers, FDR & More at University Archives on 16 January.

- Hebrew & Judaic Printed Books at Kestenbaum & Company (online) on 16 January.

Links & News

- Kurt Zimmerman found some excellent biblio-association items recently, which he recounts in "Miss Stillwell and F. Richmond: The Recording of Incunabula in America."

- Pierre de Coubertin's "Olympic Manifesto" manuscript sold for $8,806,500 this week, setting a new auction record for sports memorabilia. The buyer has not been announced.

- The copy of Audubon's Birds of America, also at Sotheby's this week, sold for $6,642,400. Barron's reports that the buyer was Graham Arader.

- Over on the Fine Books Blog, Barbara Basbanes Richter on "Books in Movies: Binding for Little Women."

- From Freya Parr in the Guardian, "Browsing the dream" about spending a week managing The Open Book in Wigtown, Scotland.

- The Vatican Library has launched Thematic Pathways on the Web, offering annotations and narratives for manuscripts from their collections.

- Mills College will sell their copy of the Shakespeare First Folio and a Mozart music manuscript to support college functions.

- Jeffrey William Grande has been charged with the trafficking of stolen property after he sold four rare books to a Scottsdale, AZ rare book shop. The books had been stolen from the home of an acquaintance. Grande will appear in court on 13 January.

- From Peter Kidd at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Brölemann 'Catalogue A' has Resurfaced," noting the upcoming sale at auction of an important manuscript catalogue of the Brölemann collection (also I begin to suspect the auctioneer's estimate may be a tad under on this one).

- The AP reports on the ongoing sales at Heritage Auctions of Jim Davis' "Garfield" cartoons.

- Rebecca Rego Barry reviews the exhibition of Lisa Baskin's collection now on display at the Grolier Club, "Five Hundred Years of Women's Work."

- There's a new "missing in transit" notice from the ABAA.

- From the Washington State University "Insider," "Searching for La Belle Dame."

- In the HRC Magazine, "The Conservation Behind the Blaeu World Map."

- I was very sorry to hear of the death of bookseller Dan Siegel of M&S Rare Books on 18 December. Obituary. I can't say it any better than Garrett Scott did on Twitter: "I offer the highest praise for a bookselling colleague that I could imagine: He had a great eye for interesting material."

A quiet week in the salerooms coming up. Happy holidays, all! May your stockings be full of good books.

Links, Reviews & Auctions

Wednesday afternoon will see many of us paying close attention to the sale of an excellent, complete copy of Audubon's Birds of America at Sotheby's New York. The set is an early subscriber's copy, belonging to the Yorkshire Philosophical Society from publication until its sale at Sotheby's London in December 1946. Bookseller Charles Traylen purchased the set and sold it in turn to Joseph Verner Reed, Sr. of Greenwich, CT. In 1973 the Birds were bequeathed to Deerfield Academy, which sold them privately in 1985. Five years later the set sold again at Sotheby's London for £1,760,000 to the current consignor. Considering where prices have been recently, and the excellence of this set, the current estimate of $6–8 million seems a good benchmark. See also Selby Kiffer's "John James Audubon & The Double Elephant Folio."

- There are a few good book sales out there that may be of interest to some of you: at Johns Hopkins University Press, everything is 40% off with free media mail shipping using code HHOL; at the University of Massachusetts Press, paperbacks are 30% off with free shipping using code S754; at the University of North Carolina Press, all books are 40% off with free shipping above $75 using code 01HOLIDAY; at Harvard University Press, get 30% off all books using code HOLIDAY19. There are quite a few relevant books about books and book history at each, so ... have fun!

- Over on the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, a look at a priced and annotated 1818 auction catalog of prints.

- The ABAA put out a theft alert for an inscribed copy of Churchill's My Early Life from an auction house in Derbyshire.

- The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Garden has received a gift to establish the Shapiro Center for American History and Culture, which will include programming, fellowships, a book prize, and more.

- Applications for the Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award are now available; submissions are due by 20 February 2020.

- From UVA, "The Old Card Catalog: Collaborative Effort Will Preserve Its History." Huge respect to all concerned with this great project.

- Jennifer Howard writes in a recent issue of Humanities on "The Complicated Role of the Modern Public Library."

- Over at Atlas Obscura, Sabrina Imbler on "How the Library of Congress Unrolled a 2,000-year-old Buddhist Scroll."

- From Randi Ragsdale for the HRC, "The Science Behind the Blaeu World Map."

- On the Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog, "The Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscript Project: The Conservators' Challenge, Part I."

- The ABAA has launched a mentorship program that will match established antiquarian booksellers with those new to the trade.

- Penn has posted a finding guide to their collection of objects useful in teaching book history and material texts courses. I love this idea, and hope to be able to adapt it soon!

Reviews

- Janine Barchas' The Lost Books of Jane Austen; review by John Mullan in the Guardian.

- Nicolas Barker's At First, All Went Well ... & Other Brief Lives and The Pirie Library; review by Rebecca Rego Barry on the Fine Books Blog.

Auctions

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

- History of Science and Technology at Sotheby's New York on 17 December.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including the Olympic Manifesto at Sotheby's New York on 18 December.

- John James Audubon's The Birds of America at Sotheby's New York on 18 December.

- Americana – Custeriana – Travel & Exploration – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 19 December.

Links & Reviews

- Fifteen arrests were made this week in Romania and the UK in relation to the January 2017 theft of rare books from a shipping warehouse near London. The investigation also led to more than forty property searches in the UK, Romania, and Italy. None of the press releases or media reports I've found indicate whether any of the stolen books were recovered.

- A new episode of PBS' "Secrets of the Dead" focusing on the forged Sidereus Nuncius will premiere on Tuesday, 2 July at 8 p.m.

- The ABAA issued a "Missing Items Lost in Transit" alert for two manuscripts purchased at auction in July 2017 and subsequently gone missing in shipment.

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manscripts blog, "Noah's Ark and the Anglo-Saxons" and "Unexpected encounters of the fragmentary kind."

- Tim Barrett's work is featured in a recent issue of the Daily Iowan.

- The DPLA has issued a new strategic plan for 2019–22.

- The B.H. Breslauer Foundation has given $25,000 to further support the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography, which will next be awarded in 2022.

- A major fracas is brewing over the sale of several early biblical manuscript fragments. Candida Moss has an overview for the Daily Beast, but see also the EES statement and the several posts from this week on Brent Nongbri's blog Variant Readings.

- At LitHub, M. Sophia Newman on early movable type in China and Korea.

- The National Library of Scotland has a new exhibition on the Scottish Enlightenment, which includes an excellent online component.

- A new Bodleian Library exhibition will feature maps from the library's collections.

- Allison Ebner and Ann Manser write for UD Daily about the recent "Black Bibliographia: Print/Culture/Art" symposium.

- Simon Beattie put together a good list of places to talk about rare books and the like on Facebook, if you're so inclined.

Reviews

- Stuart Kells' The Library; review by Dennis Duncan in the Spectator.

- Jerry Kelly's Hermann Zapf and the World He Designed; review by Pradeep Sebastian in The Hindu.

Upcoming Auctions

- Bibliothèque Paul Destribats at Christie's Paris on 3–5 July.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions (online) on 3 July.

Links & Reviews

Coming up next weekend, the Virginia Antiquarian Book Fair. Not to be missed, if you're anywhere within striking distance!

- A new blog likely to be of interest to many: Listology.

- From last weekend's NYTimes magazine, "The Daily Miracle: Finding Magic Inside the Times's Printing Plant."

- A very nice new online exhibition from the University of Michigan: Marks in Books.

- Mark Pratt for the AP has a report on the new research effort led by a team from Merrimack College to find the burial place of Anne Bradstreet.

- Antiquarian bookseller John DeMarco of the wonderful Saratoga Springs bookshop Lyrical Ballad died this week at the age of 70. The ABAA has a memorial post on their blog.

- Over at Res Obscura, "The Most Wonderful Map in the World: Urbano Monte's Planisphere of 1587."

- A theft alert from the ABAA blog, a copy of Tractatus de Attentatis et Innovatis (Rome, 1576). See their post for photos and more info.

Review

- Eric Klinenberg's Palaces for the People and Susan Orlean's The Library Book; review by Sue Halpern in the NYRB.

Upcoming Auctions

- Beaux-Arts, Écrits & Correspondances de Peintres (Aristophil 15A) at Aguttes on 1 April.

- Écrits et Oeuvres d'Artistes du XVIe au XXe Siècle (Aristrophil 16) at Artcurial on 2 April.

- Poésie et littérature des XIXe et XXe Siècles (Aristophil 17) at Aguttes on 3 April.

- Feuillets d’Histoire (Aristophil 18) at Ader on 4 April.

- Grandes Figures Historiques (Aristophil 19) at Aguttes on 4 April.

- Art & Illustration – Prints & Graphics – Illustrated Books – Miscellanea at PBA Galleries on 4 April.

- Histoire Postale, Guerre de 1870–1871 (Aristophil 20) at Aguttes on 5 April.

- Spring Auction at Arader Galleries on 6 April.

Links & Reviews

- Interesting new blog to watch: Early Modern Female Book Ownership.

- From Louis Menand in the New Yorker, "Literary Hoaxes and the Ethics of Authorship."

- Also from the New Yorker, Sam Knight asks "Do Proteins Hold the Key to the Past?"

- Edward O'Reilly has an excellent post on the N-YHS blog, "John Winthrop's Sermon and an 'Erasure of Collective Memory.'"

- Heather O'Donnell and Rebecca Romney of Honey & Wax are featured on the Curious Objects podcast.

- From Alison Hudson on the BL's medieval manuscripts blog, "Women and books in Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms."

- On the 175th anniversary of the publication of A Christmas Carol, Tina Jordan looks back at the NYTimes' coverage of the story over the years.

- Not to be missed: Erin Blake on "The key to removing a card catalog rod (literally)."

- John Paul Floyd talked to Rebecca Rego Barry for the Fine Books Blog about his new book A Sorry Saga: Theft, Forgery, Scholarship, and the Vinland Map.

- In the Columbia Journalism Review, "What's behind a recent rise in books coverage?"

- From Michael Dirda in the WaPo, "The '90s are having a literary moment. That is, the 1890s ..."

- New York's Strand Bookstore is asking that the city not assign landmark status to its building.

- Einstein's "God Letter" sold at Christie's this week for $2,892,500, and a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone set a new auction record at $162,500.

Reviews

- Nathaniel Philbrick's In the Hurricane's Eye; review by Carol Berkin in the WaPo.

- Thomas Reinerstsen Berg's Theater of the World: The Maps that Made History; review by Lorraine Berry in the WaPo.

- Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River; review by Ellen Morton in the WaPo.

Auctions

- Lettres & Manuscrits Autographes at Ader on 10–11 December.

- Entertainment Memorabilia at Bonhams London on 11 December.

- Books & Manuscripts at Artcurial on 11 December.

- Printed Books & Maps; Children's & Illustrated Books; 20th Century Literature at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 12–13 December.

- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 12 December.

- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 13 December.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – Hunting & Sporting – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 13 December.

- Fine Autograph Letters and Manuscripts from a Distinguished Private Collection: Part II | Music, Americana, English and Continental Literature at Sotheby's New York on 13 December.

- La bibliothèque de Pierre Bergé at Sotheby's Paris on 14 December.

Links, Reviews & Auctions

- The Library of Congress launched a new crowd-sourced transcription tool.

- A man was arrested this week after attempting to steal a copy of Magna Carta from a display case at Salisbury Cathedral.

- A. N. Devers writes for the Fine Books Blog about Elizabeth Young's new Brooklyn bookshop.

- Sam Lemley, a doctoral student at UVA, won this year's National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.

- Ken Sanders talked to France 24 in a short interview about his many years of tracking down book thieves, and about material he's handled relating to disappeared poet Everett Ruess.

- Over at Res Obscura, Ben Breen highlights isochronic maps.

- On the American Scholar's "Smarty Pants" podcast, "The Future is Feminist Book Collecting."

- The Washington Papers editorial project celebrates its fiftieth birthday.

- An unpublished Sylvia Plath story will be published in January by Faber, the Guardian reports.

Review

- Benjamin Balint's Kafka's Last Trial; review by Lev Mendes in the NYTimes.

Upcoming Auctions

- Bibliothèque de François Mitterand: Livres Modernes de 1900 à nos jours - Première partie at PIASA on 29 October.

- Bibliothèque de François Mitterand: Livres Modernes de 1900 à nos jours - Seconde partie at PIASA on 30 October.

- Travel Literature and Sporting Books from the Library of Arnold 'Jake' Johnson at Doyle New York on 30 October.

- Sotheby's single-item sale of one of just three known copies of a 1932 poster for The Mummy starring Boris Karloff ends on 31 October.

- The Adventure & Exploration Library of Steve Fossett, Part I at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 31 October.

- Autographed Documents, Manuscripts, Photos, Books & Relics at University Archives on 31 October.

- The Joel Harris Collection of Original Illustration Art and Illustrated Books (with additions) at PBA Galleries on 1 November.

- Rare Books & the Harrison Forman Archive at Addison & Sarova on 3 November.