- Your must-read article of the week (and I mean that) is Nicholas Schmidle's "A Very Rare Book" in the 16 December New Yorker. Schmidle's written an excellent summary of the forged Galileo Sidereus Nuncius (and other titles) and of de Caro's thefts from the Girolamini and other libraries. He also spent three days with de Caro and got him to confess a great deal about how the forgeries were made. The article's behind the New Yorker paywall, so if you don't subscribe you'll have to go find a copy, but trust me, it's worth it.
- Some nasty, nasty news out of Turkey this week, where reports suggest that as much as 140 tons of books and magazines were sold by the National Library of Turkey to wastepaper dealers for extremely low prices. The Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister said "We have detected some criminal and corrupted practices over many works in the National Library," and pledged a crackdown.
- An inquiry into the death of book thief Raymond Scott has concluded that he killed himself, the BBC reports. Further reporting in the Durham Times adds that Scott had been removed from suicide watch two weeks prior. Scott "suffered two wounds to the neck and razor blades were found in his right hand," the Times notes.
- The University of Pennsylvania seeks a CLIR postdoctoral fellow in data curation to work with the Penn Provenance Project and other related projects. Looks like a good gig!
- The Kelmscott/Goudy Albion iron hand press which sold at Christie's last week was purchased by Bromer Booksellers on behalf of RIT's Cary Graphic Arts Collection, with the support of the Brooks Bower family. Curator Steven Galbraith said that the press will be used as a working press at RIT, which is excellent news. See the full RIT press release.
- Alan Jacobs covers the rise of JSTOR (and its ilk) and why educators (and their students) shouldn't fall into the trap of relying on this sort of site.
- The British Library released a million images from scanned books in its collections this week, to the delight of the internet. More from Benjamin Breen at The Appendix.
- The seventeenth part of the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources was published this week, completing a project begun in 1913.
- Random House has acquired the rights to publish what is believed to be the first prison memoir of an African-American, Austin Reed's "The Life and Adventures of a Haunted Convict, or the Inmate of a Gloomy Prison." Julie Bosman reported on the manuscript earlier this week.
- Mitch Fraas talked with the LC blog The Signal about his use of Viewshare as a tool to visualize library book markings and other useful things.
- Richard S. Newman has been appointed the next director of the Library Company of Philadelphia. Newman will take up the reins at the LCP in June.
- The National Library of Wales has digitized the 13th-century Book of Aneirin, the last of the four Ancient Books of Wales to be presented online.
- James W.P. Campbell and Will Pryce share some photos from their new book The Library: A World History over at The Atlantic.
- In The Chronicle of Higher Education, Jen Howard reports on the status of the DPLA seven months after its official launch.
Reviews
- Diane Setterfield's Bellman and Black; review by Yvonne Zipp in the WaPo.
- Bart van Es' Shakespeare in Company; review by Charles Nicholl in the TLS.
- Richard Holmes' Falling Upwards; review by Daniel Stashower in the WaPo.
- John Ferling's Jefferson and Hamilton; review by Carl Berkin in the WaPo.
- Joyce Appleby's Shores of Knowledge; review by Marcia Bartusiak in the WaPo.
Showing posts with label Raymond Scott. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raymond Scott. Show all posts
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Links & Reviews
- Over at Slate, you an watch an 18-minute silent movie from 1925 about the making of the OED.
- The Internet Archive's San Francisco scanning center was badly damaged by a fire; there were no injuries or loss of material being scanned, though much equipment was destroyed. They're asking for donations to help them recover.
- Amazon brought belly laughs to indie booksellers all over the country this week when they announced that they planned to allow indies to sell Kindles. Melville House collected some of the best responses.
- Eric Kwakkel asks "Where are the scriptoria?" in medieval images.
- The Appendix has launched a new blog series called Magic Lantern, in which they will spotlight a particularly singular image. The inaugural example is an 1870s Japanese woodblock print of Audubon opening a box of his watercolors which had been eaten to pieces by rats.
- From Notabilia, a nice example of a paper ream wrapper being used as a component of pasteboard.
- Anna Baddeley profiled The Public Domain Review in The Guardian this week.
- The November AEMonthly is out; it includes a short piece on the resignation of the Senate House librarian over that attempted sale of Shakespeare Folios.
- Scott Brown of Eureka Books announced his purchase of the remaining stock of Serendipity Books in Berkeley, amounting to some 100,000 items. Much of this will be sold off at bargain sales over the next few weeks.
- ARCA CEO Lynda Albertson has a very thorough essay on the many questions raised by the discovery of a "lost horde" of Nazi-confiscated art.
- The McGregor Fund has pledged $245,000 to allow select materials from the Tracy W. McGregor Library for digitization and online presentation. The grant will also allow for metadata enhancements and other improvements.
- Jordan Goffin, Special Collections Librarian at Providence Public Library, is highlighted in the Bright Young Librarians series over at FB&C.
- Millions of documents from Bletchley Park are to be digitized and made available online.
- As we wait for the Bay Psalm Book sale later this month, the BL's Head of Hispanic Studies points out that there was a press at Mexico City nearly a century earlier and highlights some of the earliest printing in the Americas. And over on the Sotheby's blog, a very worthwhile post on "Printing the Bay Psalm Book."
- The NYTimes published a roundup of authors' views on how the internet has changed storytelling.
- Raymond Scott confessed to the theft of the Durham University First Folio shortly before he was acquitted of the charge, according to a report in the Sunday Sun tabloid. The confession is to be detailed in a book by Mike Kelly, Shakespeare & Love, scheduled for publication later this month (and, it should be noted, Scott told Kelly in a subsequent text message that he was just joking).
- The record for the longest book domino chain was recently broken at the Antwerp Book Fair. Video here.
- The library school program at Southern Connecticut State University has lost its ALA accreditation.
- Nick Basbanes talked to Jackie Atkins about On Paper for The Philadelphia Junto.
Reviews
- Simon Winchester's The Men Who United The States; review by Stephen Mihm in the NYTimes.
- Jill Lepore's Book of Ages; review by Joanna Scutts in the WaPo.
- Keith Houston's Shady Characters; review by Jon Day in the Telegraph.
- Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit; review by Heather Cox Richardson in the WaPo.
- Tom Standage's Writing on the Wall; review by Frank Rose in the NYTimes.
- The Internet Archive's San Francisco scanning center was badly damaged by a fire; there were no injuries or loss of material being scanned, though much equipment was destroyed. They're asking for donations to help them recover.
- Amazon brought belly laughs to indie booksellers all over the country this week when they announced that they planned to allow indies to sell Kindles. Melville House collected some of the best responses.
- Eric Kwakkel asks "Where are the scriptoria?" in medieval images.
- The Appendix has launched a new blog series called Magic Lantern, in which they will spotlight a particularly singular image. The inaugural example is an 1870s Japanese woodblock print of Audubon opening a box of his watercolors which had been eaten to pieces by rats.
- From Notabilia, a nice example of a paper ream wrapper being used as a component of pasteboard.
- Anna Baddeley profiled The Public Domain Review in The Guardian this week.
- The November AEMonthly is out; it includes a short piece on the resignation of the Senate House librarian over that attempted sale of Shakespeare Folios.
- Scott Brown of Eureka Books announced his purchase of the remaining stock of Serendipity Books in Berkeley, amounting to some 100,000 items. Much of this will be sold off at bargain sales over the next few weeks.
- ARCA CEO Lynda Albertson has a very thorough essay on the many questions raised by the discovery of a "lost horde" of Nazi-confiscated art.
- The McGregor Fund has pledged $245,000 to allow select materials from the Tracy W. McGregor Library for digitization and online presentation. The grant will also allow for metadata enhancements and other improvements.
- Jordan Goffin, Special Collections Librarian at Providence Public Library, is highlighted in the Bright Young Librarians series over at FB&C.
- Millions of documents from Bletchley Park are to be digitized and made available online.
- As we wait for the Bay Psalm Book sale later this month, the BL's Head of Hispanic Studies points out that there was a press at Mexico City nearly a century earlier and highlights some of the earliest printing in the Americas. And over on the Sotheby's blog, a very worthwhile post on "Printing the Bay Psalm Book."
- The NYTimes published a roundup of authors' views on how the internet has changed storytelling.
- Raymond Scott confessed to the theft of the Durham University First Folio shortly before he was acquitted of the charge, according to a report in the Sunday Sun tabloid. The confession is to be detailed in a book by Mike Kelly, Shakespeare & Love, scheduled for publication later this month (and, it should be noted, Scott told Kelly in a subsequent text message that he was just joking).
- The record for the longest book domino chain was recently broken at the Antwerp Book Fair. Video here.
- The library school program at Southern Connecticut State University has lost its ALA accreditation.
- Nick Basbanes talked to Jackie Atkins about On Paper for The Philadelphia Junto.
Reviews
- Simon Winchester's The Men Who United The States; review by Stephen Mihm in the NYTimes.
- Jill Lepore's Book of Ages; review by Joanna Scutts in the WaPo.
- Keith Houston's Shady Characters; review by Jon Day in the Telegraph.
- Doris Kearns Goodwin's The Bully Pulpit; review by Heather Cox Richardson in the WaPo.
- Tom Standage's Writing on the Wall; review by Frank Rose in the NYTimes.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Links & Reviews
Happening recently:
- Matthew Haley has been appointed head of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts for the UK wing of Bonhams, after four years in New York as a specialist in fine books for the auction house (during which time he also launched the annual Space History Sale for Bonhams). Congratulations to Matthew on this appointment!
- Bookseller Ken Karmiole has established a $100,000 endowment at UCLA to fund archival studies and lectures in the field.
- From the Rare Book Cataloging at Penn, blog, a student worker's perspective on jumping into the world of cataloging.
- The AE Monthly for January is up: it includes Michael Stillman's annual look at the top 500 auction items for 2012, a discussion of the recent Graham Arader sale and a piece on the Old South Bay Psalm Book decision by Bruce McKinney, among other articles.
- Reporting for the WSJ this week, Barry Newman explores the market for authors' archives, highlighting bookseller Ken Lopez and the recent acquisition by Yale of the papers of N. Scott Momaday.
- The British tabloid The Sunday Sun reports that authorities will hold an inquest into the apparent suicide of book thief Raymond Scott.
Reviews
- G. Thomas Tanselle's Book-Jackets: Their History, Form, and Use; review by Robin at Bookride.
- John Glassie's A Man of Misconceptions; review by Jad Abumrad in the NYTimes. Reviewed jointly with Lawrence M. Principe's The Secrets of Alchemy and John Freely's Before Galileo by Laura J. Snyder in the WSJ.
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Charles C. Mann in the NYTimes.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by Simon Winchester in the WaPo.
- Stephane Gerson's Nostradamus; review by Joshua Blu Buhs in the WaPo.
- Matthew Haley has been appointed head of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts for the UK wing of Bonhams, after four years in New York as a specialist in fine books for the auction house (during which time he also launched the annual Space History Sale for Bonhams). Congratulations to Matthew on this appointment!
- Bookseller Ken Karmiole has established a $100,000 endowment at UCLA to fund archival studies and lectures in the field.
- From the Rare Book Cataloging at Penn, blog, a student worker's perspective on jumping into the world of cataloging.
- The AE Monthly for January is up: it includes Michael Stillman's annual look at the top 500 auction items for 2012, a discussion of the recent Graham Arader sale and a piece on the Old South Bay Psalm Book decision by Bruce McKinney, among other articles.
- Reporting for the WSJ this week, Barry Newman explores the market for authors' archives, highlighting bookseller Ken Lopez and the recent acquisition by Yale of the papers of N. Scott Momaday.
- The British tabloid The Sunday Sun reports that authorities will hold an inquest into the apparent suicide of book thief Raymond Scott.
Reviews
- G. Thomas Tanselle's Book-Jackets: Their History, Form, and Use; review by Robin at Bookride.
- John Glassie's A Man of Misconceptions; review by Jad Abumrad in the NYTimes. Reviewed jointly with Lawrence M. Principe's The Secrets of Alchemy and John Freely's Before Galileo by Laura J. Snyder in the WSJ.
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Charles C. Mann in the NYTimes.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by Simon Winchester in the WaPo.
- Stephane Gerson's Nostradamus; review by Joshua Blu Buhs in the WaPo.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Links & Reviews
- The biggest splash in the biblioblogosphere this week was a joint effort by Brooke Palmieri of 8vo and Daryl Green of Echoes from the Vault): "Bloggers of the World Unite: Rare Book Bloggers and the Links They Build." It's as excellent a discussion on the topic as any of us are likely to see, and I'm absolutely thrilled to see that it circulated so widely! Rebecca Rosen used the post as a jumping-off point for an Atlantic piece, Jennifer Schaffner added additional thoughts at hangingtogether.org, and there was much good discussion on Twitter as well. Fantastic stuff.
- Rare Book School has posted some plans and images of their big renovation project, part of which will be ready for this summer's sessions!
- Mills Kelly's George Mason University Lying About the Past course finished up this week, and he revealed the two hoaxes unleashed by his students this time around. Yoni Applebaum wrote up the story for the Atlantic, and that led to some incredibly nasty comments (plus a remarkable discussion on Wikipedia's admin forums about the site's response). Kelly noted Applebaum's piece (and its comments) on 15 May, and responded to some of the comments he was receiving the following day. Frankly I think Kelly's class is a tremendously useful one for both his students and for the world at large, and I hope he's able to teach it again in the future. Mark Sample weighed in on this as well, in "Scholarly Lies and the Deformative Humanities."
- Robert Darnton penned a defense of the NYPL's renovation plans in the NYRB. Jennifer Maloney covered the controversy over the plans for the WSJ.
- Cullen Nutt writes on the Wilson Quarterly blog about the current Smithsonian exhibit highlighting "Jefferson's Bible."
- The Folger announced this week that its Folger Shakespeare Editions texts of Shakespeare's plays will be released for free ("minus glosses, notes and interpretive material").
- From Jen Howard at the Chronicle, updates on plans to create a "central clearinghouse" for archival collections. Such a beast would be terribly useful!
- A watercolor painting believed to be of the Bronte sisters will be up for auction this week, with an estimate of £20,000-30,000.
- A new Tumblr launched this week: "Really Long Titles of Really Old Books."
- AbeBooks UK has launched a blog of their own, Pages & Proofs. I've added a link on the sidebar.
- Jen also filed a story early this week on the GSU copyright case which I mentioned in last weekend's Links. Hers is an excellent overview of the ruling and its implications. She followed up later in the week as responses rolled in. The ARL released an "issue brief" [PDF] on the case on 15 May.
- The Sunday Sun reports today that investigators from the office of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman have asked the newspaper to hand over letters written to the paper by Raymond Scott from prison prior to his suicide on 14 March.
- Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger argue in Technology Review for a de-centralized digital library, created by "lots of publishers, booksellers, authors and readers - and lots of libraries." They write "If many actors work together, we can have a robust, distributed publishing and library system, possibly resembling the World Wide Web."
- There's quite a storm brewing around Naples' historic Girolamini Library. In March an art professor, Tomaso Montanari, charged in an Il Fatto op/ed that the library's manager, Mariano Massimo De Caro, wasn't academically fit for the job. A petition to the Minister of Culture, Lorenzo Ornaghi, asked how the government could entrust the management of the Girolamini to "a man bereft of even the minimum academic qualifications or professional competence to honour the role." It had been signed by more than 2,000 academics by mid-April, when De Caro suddenly showed up at a prosecutor's office to report more than 1,500 books "missing" from the library. Gian Antonio Stella's 17 April Corriere della Sera article takes us that far. By 20 April the library had been seized, De Caro suspended on suspicion of embezzlement, and a caretaker head appointed. This week reports indicated that some 240 books with Girolamini library stamps had been found at a storage facility in Verona, where De Caro lives, and that police believe many others had already been sold abroad.
De Caro is described as a "former partner" in the Buenos Aires bookshop Imago Mundi. That shop is owned by Daniel Guido Pastore, who was reportedly involved in the 2007 theft of maps from Spain's national library by César Gómez Rivero. Jennifer Lowe of the RBMS Security Committee has been doing a great job posting updates to this case on Ex-Libris, so keep an eye out there; I'm sure there are more shoes yet to drop.
Reviews
- Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies; reviews by Catherine Taylor in the Telegraph and Martin Rubin in the LATimes.
- Richard Fortey's Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms; review by Constance Casey in the NYTimes.
- Katherine Frank's Crusoe; review by Joanna Scutts in the WaPo.
- Andrea Wulf's Chasing Venus; review by JoAnn C. Gutin in the NYTimes.
- Rare Book School has posted some plans and images of their big renovation project, part of which will be ready for this summer's sessions!
- Mills Kelly's George Mason University Lying About the Past course finished up this week, and he revealed the two hoaxes unleashed by his students this time around. Yoni Applebaum wrote up the story for the Atlantic, and that led to some incredibly nasty comments (plus a remarkable discussion on Wikipedia's admin forums about the site's response). Kelly noted Applebaum's piece (and its comments) on 15 May, and responded to some of the comments he was receiving the following day. Frankly I think Kelly's class is a tremendously useful one for both his students and for the world at large, and I hope he's able to teach it again in the future. Mark Sample weighed in on this as well, in "Scholarly Lies and the Deformative Humanities."
- Robert Darnton penned a defense of the NYPL's renovation plans in the NYRB. Jennifer Maloney covered the controversy over the plans for the WSJ.
- Cullen Nutt writes on the Wilson Quarterly blog about the current Smithsonian exhibit highlighting "Jefferson's Bible."
- The Folger announced this week that its Folger Shakespeare Editions texts of Shakespeare's plays will be released for free ("minus glosses, notes and interpretive material").
- From Jen Howard at the Chronicle, updates on plans to create a "central clearinghouse" for archival collections. Such a beast would be terribly useful!
- A watercolor painting believed to be of the Bronte sisters will be up for auction this week, with an estimate of £20,000-30,000.
- A new Tumblr launched this week: "Really Long Titles of Really Old Books."
- AbeBooks UK has launched a blog of their own, Pages & Proofs. I've added a link on the sidebar.
- Jen also filed a story early this week on the GSU copyright case which I mentioned in last weekend's Links. Hers is an excellent overview of the ruling and its implications. She followed up later in the week as responses rolled in. The ARL released an "issue brief" [PDF] on the case on 15 May.
- The Sunday Sun reports today that investigators from the office of the Prison and Probation Ombudsman have asked the newspaper to hand over letters written to the paper by Raymond Scott from prison prior to his suicide on 14 March.
- Brewster Kahle and Rick Prelinger argue in Technology Review for a de-centralized digital library, created by "lots of publishers, booksellers, authors and readers - and lots of libraries." They write "If many actors work together, we can have a robust, distributed publishing and library system, possibly resembling the World Wide Web."
- There's quite a storm brewing around Naples' historic Girolamini Library. In March an art professor, Tomaso Montanari, charged in an Il Fatto op/ed that the library's manager, Mariano Massimo De Caro, wasn't academically fit for the job. A petition to the Minister of Culture, Lorenzo Ornaghi, asked how the government could entrust the management of the Girolamini to "a man bereft of even the minimum academic qualifications or professional competence to honour the role." It had been signed by more than 2,000 academics by mid-April, when De Caro suddenly showed up at a prosecutor's office to report more than 1,500 books "missing" from the library. Gian Antonio Stella's 17 April Corriere della Sera article takes us that far. By 20 April the library had been seized, De Caro suspended on suspicion of embezzlement, and a caretaker head appointed. This week reports indicated that some 240 books with Girolamini library stamps had been found at a storage facility in Verona, where De Caro lives, and that police believe many others had already been sold abroad.
De Caro is described as a "former partner" in the Buenos Aires bookshop Imago Mundi. That shop is owned by Daniel Guido Pastore, who was reportedly involved in the 2007 theft of maps from Spain's national library by César Gómez Rivero. Jennifer Lowe of the RBMS Security Committee has been doing a great job posting updates to this case on Ex-Libris, so keep an eye out there; I'm sure there are more shoes yet to drop.
Reviews
- Hilary Mantel's Bring Up the Bodies; reviews by Catherine Taylor in the Telegraph and Martin Rubin in the LATimes.
- Richard Fortey's Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms; review by Constance Casey in the NYTimes.
- Katherine Frank's Crusoe; review by Joanna Scutts in the WaPo.
- Andrea Wulf's Chasing Venus; review by JoAnn C. Gutin in the NYTimes.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Links & Reviews
- Quite a sad end to the Raymond Scott case this week: the man sentenced to serve an eight-year prison term in relation to the theft of the Durham University First Folio was found dead in his cell on 14 March, having apparently committed suicide. Today's Sunday Sun prints what they say is Scott's final letter to the paper, dated 4 and 10 February, in which he admits that he's on suicide watch and writes "What a waste this all is. I'll not bounce back from this." Obituaries: The Telegraph.
- More good stuff at American Circus (which if you're not reading, you should be), including a very interesting look at this year's SXSW conference.
- The Harvard Gazette highlights the early years of printing at Cambridge.
- A copy of the 1555 edition of Vesalius De Humani Corporis Fabrica, with Vesalius' own annotations for a possible later edition, has been identified.
- In the Oxford Times, Chris Koenig profiles 17th-century antiquarian John Aubrey.
- Jason Epstein's "Publishing: The Revolutionary Future" in the NYRB is entirely worth a read (I love the last paragraph).
- Israeli antiquities dealer Oded Golan was acquitted this week of charges that he'd forged historical artifacts, including the "James Ossuary."
- The SHARP-L discussion list celebrated its 20th birthday yesterday. The listserv's editor, Patrick Leary, reflects on the first two decades.
- I enjoyed Michael Dirda's "This Is a Column," in the new American Scholar.
- Zhenya Dzhavgova guest-posts on the Fine Books blog about "book scouting in Bulgaria."
- From Echoes from the Vault, a follow-up on a conundrum they posted back in January.
- Charles Dickens' house at Gad's Hill Place will open to visitors this summer.
- If you're headed for the ASECS 2012 conference this week, check out the list of digital humanities/book history topics.
- In the "You've Got Mail" series, a look inside the Universal Register Office.
- Peter Harrington partner Adam Douglas guest-posts at The Cataloguer's Desk to explain why the first English book was printed in Bruges. Nice post, with some fabulous illustrations.
- Sarah Werner posts at The Collation about printing with her students.
- Via Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie, word that the University of British Columbia has digitized their bookplate collection.
Reviews
- Myra B. Young Armistead's Freedom's Gardener; reviewed by Andrea Wulf in the NYTimes.
- Gail Collins' William Henry Harrison; reviewed by Justin Moyer in the WaPo.
Sunday, January 09, 2011
Links & Reviews
Happy Sunday from San Diego, where ALA Midwinter continues apace! Apologies for the abbreviated L&R this weekend; I'll catch up more next Sunday.
- Over at the Princeton Rare Books blog, Steve Ferguson writes on the dispersal of the book collection(s) of Sylvia Beach.
- Raymond Scott has now said he will launch an appeal against his conviction and sentence.
- The OED is offering a month's free trial to their online version, good through 5 February only.
- J.L. Bell notes the major mistake made this week during the symbolic reading of the Constitution by the new House of Representatives (hint: they skipped a page).
- Zotero welcomed Debbie Maron as their new Community Lead.
- In the Boston Globe, Katherine Powers takes a look at some books on the King James Bible, published 400 years ago. There's more on the KJV from Peter Ross in The Scotsman.
- Also in the Globe, Erica Noonan writes on Rob Martello's new book Midnight Ride, Industrial Dawn, which looks at Paul Revere as an industrial pioneer.
- The Little Professor reviews the new movie "The King's Speech."
Reviews
- James Shapiro's Contested Will; review by David Evans in the Independent.
- A Dodo at Oxford; review by Nick at Mercurius Politicus.
- Graham Moore's The Sherlockian; review by Diane White in the Boston Globe.
Sunday, January 02, 2011
Links & Reviews
- The panels from this fall's "Why Books?" conference (my report) are now available in iTunes, so if you missed it, you can catch up on the excellent talks.
- One of the Transylvania Four thieves has self-published a book about the heist, Mr. Pink (available from several Kentucky bookstores, not that I'm recommending purchasing it). Travis McDade recaps the thefts and comments on Allen's book in an NPR segment (mp3).
- In the Telegraph, a look ahead to the new books that will hit (UK) shelves in 2011.
- AE Monthly reports that Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and the auction house Dominic Winter have settled their lawsuit, which stems from the David Slade thefts.
- The NYTimes "Windows on the World" series features Jorge Luis Borges' library window.
- Also in AE Monthly, Bruce McKinney reflects on the "American Experience" sale at Bonhams in December (my report), noting that overall the sale brought a 20% premium over the original purchase prices, and that the "high spots" continued to sell well while "less rare" items fell behind.
- In the NYTimes this week, some excellent coverage for the Bentham Project's crowdsourced transcription efforts.
- From BibliOdyssey, some early natural history watercolors from a South Carolina artist.
- "Arts & Letters Daily" editor Denis Dutton has died. The Chronicle of Higher Education has signaled that it will continue the site.
- Alberto Manguel has posted a list [PDF] of his hundred favorite books.
- The Top 500 Auction sales for 2010, as tracked by Michael Stillman. Number 500 sold for $47,806, an 8.5% rise over last year.
- Durham University has revealed its plans for restoration work on its recovered First Folio, including paper repairs and a new binding. Meanwhile, Raymond Scott speaks to the Sunday Sun about his time in prison, noting a visit to the prison library where he jokingly tried to make off with a copy of Shakespeare's works. This interview seems to contradict the last Scott rumor we had, that he was working in the prison library).
- Daniel Mendelsohn's piece in this week's New Yorker on the Vatican Library and its staff is absolutely a must-read (it's not all online, so go buy the magazine or subscribe online). Also check out the slideshow of Vatican manuscripts.
Reviews
- Robert Morrison's The English Opium-Eater; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- The Autobiography of Mark Twain; review by James Campbell in the Telegraph.
- Pauline Maier's Ratification; review by Rosemary Zagarri in the WaPo.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Links & Reviews
- The 2011 Bibliography Week schedule is up: of particular interest is G. Thomas Tanselle's 25 January talk "A Defense of Association Copies."
- On 8-9 January 2011 the New Bedford Whaling Museum will host the 15th annual marathon reading of Moby Dick. Full info on the reading and associated events here.
- On 28 January 2011 the Eighteenth-Century Worlds Research Centre at the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Athenaeum will co-host a free one-day conference, "Institutions of Associational Reading: New Perspectives on Library History, c. 1750-1850."
- On 28 January 2011 the Eighteenth-Century Worlds Research Centre at the University of Liverpool and the Liverpool Athenaeum will co-host a free one-day conference, "Institutions of Associational Reading: New Perspectives on Library History, c. 1750-1850."
- Much continued discussion this week about the new Google Ngram viewer. I've been adding links to my post over the last few days, so there's more there than before.
- Laura at The Cataloguer's Desk has some lovely pictures of snow around Peter Harrington Rare Books in London.
- ACRL has received a grant to digitize and make available the back issues of RBML and RBM.
- The now-recovered Durham First Folio will be on display at the university after 15 January as part of a "Treasures of Durham University" exhibit.
- A fantastic collection of cover images for booksellers' first catalogs. Speaking of which, Rick Gekoski's Guardian column "Taking stock of rare book catalogues" is this week's must-read.
- Paul Collins has a new essay in Lapham's Quarterly, about child author Barbara Follett, who eventually disappeared without a trace. It's a haunting story, well told as always by Collins.
- Nigel Beale has posted an audio interview with Roderick Cave about the Golden Cockerel Press.
- OCLC asked a judge [PDF] to dismiss the anti-trust lawsuit filed against it by SkyRiver.
- Christie's unveiled an iPad app.
- On the AAS blog, Caroline Sloat writes about why they don't have an Audubon elephant folio Birds of America. Their story is not as sad (or as disappointing) as the MHS' Audubon tale: they did have an elephant folio, but sold it in the early years of the 20th century to a dealer who broke it apart and sold the plates piecemeal. Sigh.
- Some useful (very useful) new resources from CERL: Paul Needham's Index Possessorum Incunabulorum (IPI contains "some 32,000 entries relating to the ownership of incunabula,
including personal names, institutional names, monograms, and arms") and Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI, "a new database specifically designed to record and search the material
evidence (or copy specific, post-production evidence, provenance information) of 15th-century printed books: ownership, decoration, binding, manuscript annotations, stamps, prices, etc.").
- There was much amusement in bookville this week after a story that new Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford would be opening an antiquarian bookshop in Boston proved a (very well played) hoax. Probably.
- Fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are working to try and save the author's sometime Surrey home, Undershaw, from being turned into apartments.
- The unpublished manuscript of an unfinished Roald Dahl short story sold on eBay this week for £1,200.
- From last weekend's LATimes, Tim Rutten's column "Why Print Survives" is well worth a read.
- The now-recovered Durham First Folio will be on display at the university after 15 January as part of a "Treasures of Durham University" exhibit.
- A fantastic collection of cover images for booksellers' first catalogs. Speaking of which, Rick Gekoski's Guardian column "Taking stock of rare book catalogues" is this week's must-read.
- Paul Collins has a new essay in Lapham's Quarterly, about child author Barbara Follett, who eventually disappeared without a trace. It's a haunting story, well told as always by Collins.
- Nigel Beale has posted an audio interview with Roderick Cave about the Golden Cockerel Press.
- OCLC asked a judge [PDF] to dismiss the anti-trust lawsuit filed against it by SkyRiver.
- Christie's unveiled an iPad app.
- On the AAS blog, Caroline Sloat writes about why they don't have an Audubon elephant folio Birds of America. Their story is not as sad (or as disappointing) as the MHS' Audubon tale: they did have an elephant folio, but sold it in the early years of the 20th century to a dealer who broke it apart and sold the plates piecemeal. Sigh.
- Some useful (very useful) new resources from CERL: Paul Needham's Index Possessorum Incunabulorum (IPI contains "some 32,000 entries relating to the ownership of incunabula,
including personal names, institutional names, monograms, and arms") and Material Evidence in Incunabula (MEI, "a new database specifically designed to record and search the material
evidence (or copy specific, post-production evidence, provenance information) of 15th-century printed books: ownership, decoration, binding, manuscript annotations, stamps, prices, etc.").
- There was much amusement in bookville this week after a story that new Red Sox outfielder Carl Crawford would be opening an antiquarian bookshop in Boston proved a (very well played) hoax. Probably.
- Fans of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are working to try and save the author's sometime Surrey home, Undershaw, from being turned into apartments.
- The unpublished manuscript of an unfinished Roald Dahl short story sold on eBay this week for £1,200.
- From last weekend's LATimes, Tim Rutten's column "Why Print Survives" is well worth a read.
Reviews
- Richard Archer's As If in an Enemy's Country; T.H. Breen's American Insurgents, American Patriots; and Ben Carp's Defiance of the Patriots; review by Caleb Crain in the New Yorker. Caleb has also posted a bibliographic essay related to the review.
- Several recent books on higher education are reviewed by Anthony Grafton in The National Interest.
- Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg's Madison and Jefferson; review by Pauline Maier in the WaPo.
- Virginia Scharff's The Women Jefferson Loved; review by Andrea Wulf in the NYTimes.
- Kathleen Kent's The Wolves of Andover; review by Liz Raftery in the Boston Globe.
- Susan Cheever's Louisa May Alcott; review by Elaine Showalter in the WaPo.
- Susan Cheever's Louisa May Alcott; review by Elaine Showalter in the WaPo.
- Pauline Maier's Ratification; review by Gordon Wood in the TNR.
- The Autobiography of Mark Twain; review by Garrison Keillor in the NYTimes. Best line: "Think twice about donating your papers to an institution of higher learning, Famous Writer: someday they may be used against you."
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Links & Reviews
- In today's Globe, Jill Lepore talks about her new book In the Whites of Their Eyes, and about the Tea Party's use of what she terms "antihistory" in their political rhetoric. There's also an interview with Lepore by Lin Fisher on the Religion in America blog.
- Bouncing off a link in last week's L&R, Mike Widener has compiled a great guide to "research opportunities" based on the Joseph White murder case.
- The NYPL's Schomburg Center has acquired a large collection of Maya Angelou's personal papers (some 343 boxes' worth).
- Powell's Books will be selling some 7,000 books from the personal library of author Anne Rice.
- If you read one of the many "wow, Jane Austen had an editor?!" articles, make it Jen Howard's in the Chronicle. And be sure to check out the underlying project, the new Jane Austen's Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition.
- Raymond Scott, serving an 8-year prison term for handling the stolen Durham First Folio, has reportedly landed a job in the prison library.
- No word yet on what was removed from former NARA department head Leslie Waffen's home this week under the conditions of a sealed search warrant.
- Some thoughts on "Sherlock" by Miriam at The Little Professor (I've now watched the first episode twice, and look forward to the second tonight).
- Some really interesting discoveries by Ben at Res Obscura, including a fascinatingly detailed index.
- Michael Kenney notes a few recent books on Boston's literary and political history.
- The ABAA blog uncovers a very rare early Mormon text for sale on eBay.
- Of great use to me and hopefully to many others as well, the Bermuda National Library has mounted a digital collection of the island's early newspapers.
- Paul Collins finds a very unfortunate millinery mishap.
- You think this year's political campaign is nasty? Someone's made some "attack ads" from the 1800 election.
Reviews
- Several recent books on ghosts and ghost stories, including Peter Ackroyd's The English Ghost; review by Jonathan Barnes in the TLS.
- Stacy Schiff's Cleopatra; review by Buzzy Jackson in the Boston Globe.
- Lewis Hyde's Common as Air; review by Michael Hitzik in the LATimes.
- Geoffrey Wolff's The Hard Way Round; review by Nathaniel Philbrick in the NYTimes.
- Pauline Maier's Ratification; review by Rick Brookhiser in the NYTimes.
- Susan Fletcher's Corrag; review by Ron Charles in the WaPo.
- Peter Ackroyd's The Death of King Arthur; review by David Robson in the Telegraph.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Links & Reviews
- This coming Thursday, 29 September, the Ticknor Society will host author Katherine Wolff for a talk, "Boston's Early Bibliophiles and Their Athenaeum." Info here.
- From today's Globe, an interesting piece on slavery in the American north, including comments on several recent books.
- Houghton Library launched a new special collections request system this week.
- There's a new issue up of "Republics of Letters" (in fact it's been out for a while, but I just noticed. Sorry about that).
- A new blog from the ABAA. I've added a sidebar link.
- SHARP has started a LibraryThing account, where they'll be listing books of interest to members.
- Ron Chernow, writing in the Times, comments on the Tea Party's attempt to claim the imprimatur of the founding generation.
- Browse through the CUNY Digital Humanities Guide when you've got some time; there's some amazing stuff there.
- More than forty of Garth Williams' original illustrations for Charlotte's Web (including the image used for the cover) will be sold at Heritage Auction's 15 October sale.
- In today's Globe, an interview with John Hodgman - not surprisingly, much of it is about books.
- Google Books staffers want you to report books that come up in GBS searches that should be full-view, but aren't. And it actually looks like they're being fairly responsive. This probably would have been more useful several years ago, but maybe better late than never?
- The BBC's documentary on Raymond Scott will be aired in the US by Smithsonian Networks.
- Many headlines this week about a bawdy poem supposedly by John Milton - but, funnily enough, the actual scholars working on the project pretty much reject the idea that Milton had anything to do with it.
- Big news from Zotero this week as they officially announced Zotero Everywhere (which promises to be awesome).
- Oak Knoll Fest XVI: Celebrating the Book Arts, Artists' Books and Fine Press Printing will be held 1-3 October. Info here.
- The New England Archivists will meet on 5-6 November in Keene, NH (theme: Looking Inward/Looking Outward: Changing Roles and Expectations in Archival Settings). Info here.
Reviews
- Eric Jay Dolin's Fur, Fortune, and Empire; review by Kirk Davis Swinehart in the WaPo.
- Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life; review by Jill Lepore in the New Yorker.
Monday, August 02, 2010
Scott Sentenced to Eight Years
Raymond Scott was sentenced today to eight years in prison: six for handling stolen goods and two for removing stolen property from Britain, to run consecutively.
Judge Richard Lowden told Scott "You are to some extent a fantasist and have to some degree a personality disorder and you have been an alcoholic. It is clear that from the (psychiatric) report you are not suffering from any mental disorder."
Of the First Folio, Lowden said "It would be regarded by many as priceless but to you it was definitely at a very big price and you went to very great lengths for that price. Your motivation was for financial gain. You wanted to fund an extremely ludicrous playboy lifestyle in order to impress a woman you met in Cuba. Your Cuban friends were brought in to provide support for your elaborate scheme. Of the theft itself, for which Scott was acquitted, Lowden remarked "You either did it or you embraced the obvious fact that someone had already done it."
Of Scott's efforts to fool Folger experts and have the book authenticated, "This was an attempt by you to take on the world's experts at their own expertise. You were confident that that balance had been achieved. You were, however, over-confident."
At court today Scott also admitted stealing two paintings from a Newcastle department store in 2008 - he received six-month sentences for each of those, to run concurrently with the longer terms.
I'm surprised (and gratified) at the length of this sentence.
Sunday, August 01, 2010
Links & Reviews
- Raymond Scott is to be sentenced tomorrow. BBC1 ran a documentary about his case last night, which apparently we're not allowed to view on this side of the pond.
- Word this week that John James Audubon's first published engraving of a bird has been discovered - it's a heath hen, drawn for a New Jersey bank note in 1824.
- Nick Basbanes started quite a discussion on Ex-Libris with his fascinating post on single-title book collections - folks emailed in with lots of other such collections they've known (and my own collection of Fenelon's Telemachus, which I own in some forty-odd different editions, very much paled in comparison ... I've got much work to do!).
- The National Library of Wales has purchased Dylan Thomas' last, unfinished poem.
- I enjoyed Anne Trubek's history of the Interrobang, a 1960s typographical symbol combining a question mark and an exclamation point (image here). Why this didn't catch on is totally beyond me.
- From Laura at The Cataloguer's Desk, a very cool Poe first edition plus part of a literary review manuscript.
- At Wynken de Worde, Sarah Werner writes about reading on the iPad and how it's profoundly different from reading a codex (and more like reading a scroll).
- OCLC was sued for antitrust violations this week by SkyRiver, a competitor. Read the lawsuit here. I also recommend K.G. Schneider's take. This will certainly be fascinating to watch, whatever happens.
- Dublin was named a UNESCO "City of Literature" this week, joining Edinburgh, Iowa City and Melbourne.
- Another famous library, this one of the author David Markson, has been sold off piecemeal before proper documentation could be made of its contents. Sigh. A Facebook group is trying to re-document the books, and I've offered to set up a Legacy Library for the contents.
- Check out London Lives, a new digital collection highlighting archival documents from various collections. Much background and context at AHA Today.
- From The Little Professor, a very funny blow-by-blow look at her research process.
- The National Library of Medicine has received a $360,000 grant to digitize selected titles from its collection of early medical books. All told, the $1.5 million grant will fund the digitization of 30,000 titles from five institutions (the others are the medical libraries at Yale, Harvard and Columbia, as well as the NYPL).
- Susan Orlean posted her findings after she put out a call on Twitter for #booksthatchangekidsworlds. It's a very good list indeed.
- Simon Schama is profiled in the Telegraph. I like what he says about popular history writing: "Anyone can write an academic piece directed at other academics. To write something that delivers an argument and a gripping storyline to someone’s granny or eight-year-old takes the highest quality of your powers. I am completely unrepentant. One should not feel shifty." And his comment on aging: "The older I get, the more I want to do. It beats death, decay or golf in unfortunate trousers. Peace and quiet depress me."
- The August Americana Exchange is up, here. It includes the first installment of a Bonhams video to highlight the December sale of Bruce McKinney's American Experience colllection.
- From Res Obscura, some cool early signatures ... and a dolphin.
- For some very lovely images, visit the Flickr site for the Yale Law Library's Rare Books Collection -
- A 2,500-box archive of Winston Churchill's papers will be digitized by the summer of 2012 by the Churchill Archives Centre; it will be available on a "pay-as-you-go" model.
- The White House released President Obama's vacation reading list.
- Penguin Books turned 75 this week.
Review
- Nicholas Phillipson's Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life; review by Noel Malcolm in the Telegraph.
- Julie Flavell's When London was Capital of America; review by Andrea Wulf in the NYTimes.
- Beverly Jensen's The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay; review by Richard Russo in the NYTimes.
- Richard Holmes' The Age of Wonder; review by Algis Valiunas in The New Atlantis.
- Joel Mokyr's The Enlightened Economy; review by Trevor Butterworth in the WSJ.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Links & Reviews
- The deadline for the Bibliographical Society of America's New Scholars Program is approaching - get your materials in by 31 July!
- With the necessary caveat that it's in The Sun, there's a long writeup of Raymond Scott today, in which he describes his last-ditch maneuver as a chess move designed to "confuse his opponents." The author, Mike Kelly, has been following Scott for the last 18 months, having been engaged by published Tonto Books to write a book about the case.
- Waterstone's founder Tim Waterstone has written a novel, In For a Penny, In For a Pound, described as "a searing treatment of the world of books that contains recognisable caricatures of several figures in publishing, newspapers and high finance." It's due for release in September.
- Waterstone's founder Tim Waterstone has written a novel, In For a Penny, In For a Pound, described as "a searing treatment of the world of books that contains recognisable caricatures of several figures in publishing, newspapers and high finance." It's due for release in September.
- David's Grann's New Yorker piece on art investigator Steve Biro is well worth a read.
- Beverly Jensen's husband Jay Silverman writes in the Huffington Post about bringing his late wife's stories to publication as The Sisters from Hardscrabble Bay, which I reviewed this week.
- The July Common-place is out, and includes an essay on using the "More Product, Less Process" method at the Connecticut Historical Society, among other features (it's an excellent production, as usual).
- In Slate, Jan Swafford writes about print vs. e-books, and why the latter won't be supplanted.
- Jim Lindgren has some new concerns about a recent Michael Bellesiles essay in the Chronicle of Higher Ed.
- From the Simmons GSLIS gang, a podcast on the history of the Boston Athenaeum.
- Writing in Slate, Paul Collins covers the fascinating German project Lost Films, a wiki-attempt to identify unknown early films.
- Writing in Slate, Paul Collins covers the fascinating German project Lost Films, a wiki-attempt to identify unknown early films.
Reviews
- Michael Jarvis' In the Eye of All Trade; review by Charles Foy in Common-place.
- Andrew Graham-Dixon's Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane; review by Michael Prodger in the Telegraph.
- James Shapiro's Contested Will; review by Sophia Lear in TNR.
- G.W. Bernard's Anne Boleyn; review by Philippa Gregory in the LATimes.
- Daisy Hay's Young Romantics; review by Ben Dowing in the NYTimes.
- Robert Wittman's Priceless; review by Sarah Halzack in the WaPo.
- Nick Bunker's Making Haste to Babylon; review by David Wallace-Wells in TNR.
Friday, July 09, 2010
Scott Cleared of Theft, Guilty of Other Charges
Well, I saw this one coming. The jury in the Raymond Scott case cleared him on the charge that he stole the First Folio from Durham University in 1998, but found him guilty of handling stolen goods and removing criminal property from the United Kingdom.
Scott was remanded to custody, and Judge Richard Lowden stated after the verdict that there will be "an inevitable substantial custodial sentence." In the meantime, he has ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
I was afraid this was how the verdict was going to play out - the charges on which Scott was convicted were fairly airtight (he did walk into the Folger with the stolen Folio), but it seemed to me (at least based on the reports of the prosecution's case that I've been able to read) that there was some question about the theft itself.
How this'll all shake out now, nobody knows - but I'm glad of the guilty verdicts that we got, and more than anything else, what's important is that the Folio is back where it belongs, at Durham University.
Scott was remanded to custody, and Judge Richard Lowden stated after the verdict that there will be "an inevitable substantial custodial sentence." In the meantime, he has ordered a psychiatric evaluation.
I was afraid this was how the verdict was going to play out - the charges on which Scott was convicted were fairly airtight (he did walk into the Folger with the stolen Folio), but it seemed to me (at least based on the reports of the prosecution's case that I've been able to read) that there was some question about the theft itself.
How this'll all shake out now, nobody knows - but I'm glad of the guilty verdicts that we got, and more than anything else, what's important is that the Folio is back where it belongs, at Durham University.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Defense Rests in Scott Trial; Jury Out
Raymond Scott's case went to the jury this afternoon after closing arguments were completed. Jurors will consider the charges of theft, handling stolen goods, and removing criminal property.
Scott's defense lawyer offered little more than a strategy of insulting his own client. Toby Hedworth, QC said that Scott is "genuinely some sort of fantasist" and compared him to Walter Mitty.
In his closing argument, Hedworth told the jury "You may have done a bit of a doubletake when you saw Mr Scott. So much of what he is and what he does is outwith our normal expectations. Yes, he’s a petty shoplifter. But does that mean he’s guilty of any other type of theft? Yes, he’s feckless and a spendthrift. He is, you may think, of questionable taste. Yes, he’s had his head turned – he fell into a honey trap. But is he just the sort of bizarre, naive, out-of-the mainstream type of character who could be taken in by someone much more worldly and cynical in Cuba? Is this naive mummy’s boy simply out of his depth? He’s someone who genuinely believes a 21-year-old dancer is his fiancee. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no fool like an old fool."
Feckless. Petty shoplifter. Naive mummy's boy. Old fool. And, depending on what the jury decides, we may be able to add "convicted First Folio thief" to that list.
Scott's defense lawyer offered little more than a strategy of insulting his own client. Toby Hedworth, QC said that Scott is "genuinely some sort of fantasist" and compared him to Walter Mitty.
In his closing argument, Hedworth told the jury "You may have done a bit of a doubletake when you saw Mr Scott. So much of what he is and what he does is outwith our normal expectations. Yes, he’s a petty shoplifter. But does that mean he’s guilty of any other type of theft? Yes, he’s feckless and a spendthrift. He is, you may think, of questionable taste. Yes, he’s had his head turned – he fell into a honey trap. But is he just the sort of bizarre, naive, out-of-the mainstream type of character who could be taken in by someone much more worldly and cynical in Cuba? Is this naive mummy’s boy simply out of his depth? He’s someone who genuinely believes a 21-year-old dancer is his fiancee. Ladies and gentlemen, there’s no fool like an old fool."
Feckless. Petty shoplifter. Naive mummy's boy. Old fool. And, depending on what the jury decides, we may be able to add "convicted First Folio thief" to that list.
Wednesday, July 07, 2010
Scott Declines to Take Stand
Raymond Scott has declined to give evidence in his own defense, according to British media reports this morning. Prosecutor Robert Smith told the jury "You are entitled to ask yourself why, had he had an explanation, he has not gone into the witness box and told you what the explanation is. You are entitled therefore to conclude there is no explanation that might sensibly be offered by Raymond Scott, otherwise he would have told you. If there is none, there is only one conclusion, the prosecution say the circumstances he had the folio were dishonest and he knows so."
He added "This is quite a small court room, it is not far to walk from the dock where the defendant is sitting to the witness box, where all the witnesses in the case have stood to give their evidence, facing you. It is plainly a step too far for Mr Scott, for he is unwilling to enter the witness box, take the oath and give evidence in front of you. Of course, he is not obliged to give evidence, no one can compel him to do so and it is his entitlement, if he wishes, to remain where he is, but his unwillingness to enter the witness box carries with it certain consequences."
Yesterday afternoon, the judge told jurors that if Scott declined to appear on the witness stand, they could "draw such inferences as appear proper."
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Jury Hears of Scott's Prior Thefts
The latest dispatches from the Raymond Scott trial: so far this week jurors have gotten to hear of Scott's long record of shoplifting and attempted theft. He's got more than a dozen convictions under his belt, dating back to the early 1990s. Among the things he's swiped: whiskey and brandy, a smoke alarm, a crystal vase and clock, £150 of figurines, two books from a Waterstone's (the latter two thefts occurred while out he was out on bail for the Durham folio charges), &c. &c.
Scott was expected to begin presenting its case today.
Friday, July 02, 2010
Scott Case Takes Another Strange Turn
Just when we thought the Raymond Scott trial couldn't possibly get any stranger ... last night he walked into the Peterlee police station and handed over a 1627 dictionary (possibly the Oxford edition of Rider's Dictionary, published that year, although the reports don't say). Today in court a police detective said that Scott showed up last evening at around 6:45 p.m., with the book in a "Vivienne Westwood carrier bag." He told police that he had acquired the book in Cuba in January 2008, and did not know whether it had been stolen. Pc Julie Fox told prosecutors "He stated to me that he brought the book back from Cuba in 2008 with a set of Shakespeare volumes."
The judge examined the volume in court today, and then passed it amongst the jurors (although just what it has to do with the charges at issue in the current trial is not entirely clear). It's hard to tell from what we currently know whether this might be another of the items stolen from Durham in 1998.
Today's reports, piggybacking on those from earlier in the week, suggest that Scott has now admitted that it was the Durham Folio that he took to the Folger in 2008, but that he continues to deny stealing it. The trial resumes on Monday.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Scott's Statements to Police Revealed
Dispatches from yesterday's resumption of the Raymond Scott trial focus on statements Scott made to police following his arrest.
The Independent reports that Scott told detectives he believes that "experts" are attempting to frame him for the theft of the Durham First Folio: "I am not saying that the experts are lying or that they are being deceptive but it rather looks as if their brief has been to compare the Cuban copy* with known records of the Durham copy and look for similarities. It is all a very cosy world. It is sort of like a conspiracy; they are ganging up against me."
Scott also reportedly asked detectives "Do you seriously think I'm going to walk into the foremost Shakespeare library in the world and using my own name and address, with my fingerprints all over it, hand them a copy knowing and believing that it's got a doubtful provenance? A book worth millions - that I'm going to walk into such a place with such a book and ask to see the head librarian? There is no way if I had any knowledge that this was the Durham folio or a stolen copy that I would walk into the Folger Library, show the book to the head librarian and then leave all my bank details, my own name and address and show them my British passport. To suggest I would do that; it is tantamount to walking into the Louvre in Paris with the Mona Lisa under my arm, ten years after it had been stolen."
Intriguingly, the report also includes the line "Scott has now accepted that the book he handed to the Folger staff was the stolen Durham folio."
There's another report today in the Durham Times (which continues to describe the Folio incorrectly as a manuscript). This one focuses on the £90,000 in credit card debt Scott had racked up prior to his appearance at the Folger in July 2008.
Estimates now have the trial lasting through next week.
* Scott has maintained that the copy of the Folio he took to the Folger for authentication had been found in Cuba.
The Independent reports that Scott told detectives he believes that "experts" are attempting to frame him for the theft of the Durham First Folio: "I am not saying that the experts are lying or that they are being deceptive but it rather looks as if their brief has been to compare the Cuban copy* with known records of the Durham copy and look for similarities. It is all a very cosy world. It is sort of like a conspiracy; they are ganging up against me."
Scott also reportedly asked detectives "Do you seriously think I'm going to walk into the foremost Shakespeare library in the world and using my own name and address, with my fingerprints all over it, hand them a copy knowing and believing that it's got a doubtful provenance? A book worth millions - that I'm going to walk into such a place with such a book and ask to see the head librarian? There is no way if I had any knowledge that this was the Durham folio or a stolen copy that I would walk into the Folger Library, show the book to the head librarian and then leave all my bank details, my own name and address and show them my British passport. To suggest I would do that; it is tantamount to walking into the Louvre in Paris with the Mona Lisa under my arm, ten years after it had been stolen."
Intriguingly, the report also includes the line "Scott has now accepted that the book he handed to the Folger staff was the stolen Durham folio."
There's another report today in the Durham Times (which continues to describe the Folio incorrectly as a manuscript). This one focuses on the £90,000 in credit card debt Scott had racked up prior to his appearance at the Folger in July 2008.
Estimates now have the trial lasting through next week.
* Scott has maintained that the copy of the Folio he took to the Folger for authentication had been found in Cuba.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
More News from the Scott Trial
The trial of Raymond Scott continued this week in Newcastle. Folger librarian Richard Kuhta testified about Scott's arrival at the library with the stolen folio, noting that the man's entrance was very much a memorable one: "He was dressed in tropical clothing; he had on a kind of oversized tee shirt with a very large fish on the front, lightweight slacks and loafers with no socks and a lot of jewellery - rings and bracelets.
"He apologised for his clothing and said if he'd had time he'd have worn a suit, but that he'd just flown in from Cuba, where he had a villa.
"He said he liked to fish there and that he was a person of independent means.
"He said he'd inherited his father's construction building supplies business and had sold it and as a result he was very comfortably off.
"He said he had something to show me."
That something was a First Folio, which Scott casually pulled out of a messenger bag. Kuhta told the court he "was startled by the way in which the book was being handled and by the sudden realisation that the man seemed to know it was a first edition." When Kuhta realized that Scott had brought in the stolen Durham University folio, he said, "My heart sank. It was a feeling of sadness to think we were dealing with stolen property. The collections are what we live for, preserving them, building them, making them accessible. It is an emotional thing in our world, the loss and recovery of this precious material."
The trial resumes on Tuesday, presumably with more witnesses for the prosecution.
That something was a First Folio, which Scott casually pulled out of a messenger bag. Kuhta told the court he "was startled by the way in which the book was being handled and by the sudden realisation that the man seemed to know it was a first edition." When Kuhta realized that Scott had brought in the stolen Durham University folio, he said, "My heart sank. It was a feeling of sadness to think we were dealing with stolen property. The collections are what we live for, preserving them, building them, making them accessible. It is an emotional thing in our world, the loss and recovery of this precious material."
The trial resumes on Tuesday, presumably with more witnesses for the prosecution.
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