Links & Auctions

- The big news this week is the surprise return of two Charles Darwin notebooks that had been reported stolen from the Cambridge University Library. Coverage from the BBC, the Guardian, and a well-illustrated piece from the university library.

- Dartmouth College will repatriate the papers of Samson Occom to the Mohegan Tribe at a ceremony later this month.

- From the Middle Temple Library blog's Provenance Mysteries series, "Further Investigations into The Use of Passions."

- The UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport has placed a temporary export ban on an early seventeenth-century manuscript volume of Italian and French lute music. See also the official press statement.

- From The Bookhunter on Safari, the first part in a series on "Becoming a Cataloguer."

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Unnoticed Leaves of Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon."

- Bookseller Dennis Melhouse of First Folio Rare Books is profiled in the Paris (TN) Post-Intelligencer.

- Like the rest of the bibliosphere, I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of book collector Jerry Morris at the Florida Antiquarian Book Fair last weekend. Jerry's blog posts at My Sentimental Library and his other blogs always make for fascinating reading, and I had known him through various LibraryThing projects for some years now. He was a delight to chat with at book fairs, where he enjoyed sharing his finds and hearing about those of others. I will miss him tremendously, and send my deep condolences to his family and friends. More from Rebecca Rego Barry on the Fine Books Blog.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books and Manuscripts, featuring the Library of Roman Vishniac at Bonhams New York on 12 April.

- Literature, Illustrated, Graphics & Photography at New England Book Auctions on 12 April.

- History in Manuscript: Letters and Documents from a Distinguished Collection at Sotheby's ends on 13 April.

- Manuscrits Anciens & Livres Anciens et Modernes at Ader on 14 April.

- Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries on 14 April.

Links & Auctions

- Todd Peak, the man charged with the theft of rare comics from FSU, entered a not guilty plea earlier this month.

- Coming up on 17 - 20 March, the conference of the Ephemera Society of America, "Creating Places and Spaces."

- The ABAA will hold the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair on 21–24 April.

- LSU has acquired the Wyatt Houston Day Collection of Poetry by African Americans.

- A new website, Mali Magic, features more than 40,000 digitized pages from the Timbuktu manuscripts. See also coverage on the BBC.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Antiphonal of Berardo da Teramo in 1924."

- The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien released some previously-unpublished images of Tolkien's manuscripts and paintings.

- Michael Durrant writes for Early Modern Female Book Ownership about Bangor University's copy of the 1540 Great Bible.

- Over on the NLS blog, "Sir Walter Scott and the historical novel."

- For The Millions, Lenny Picker talked to Dennis Duncan about his new book Index, A History of the.

- The University of Liverpool blog notes a new acquisition of an 1878 travel diary.

- From Christine Jacobson for the Fine Books Blog, "At Risk: Ukraine's Museum of the Book and Printing."

- Susan Martin writes for the Beehive on "Behind the Scenes: Challenges in Processing."

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres de Photographies at Ader on 14 March.

- Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle, Voyages, Sciences & Médecine at ALDE on 16 March.

- Two Day Book Sale at Keys Auctioneers on 16–17 March.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reviews

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

- At The Collation, Heather Wolfe has a wonderful post on a 1602 book theft and its aftermath.

- Jennifer Schuessler writes for the NYTimes on the recent donation of the production archive, props, costumes, &c. used in the Apple TV+ series "Dickinson" to Harvard's Houghton Library.

- Over on the Ransom Center blog, Aaron Pratt on a recent donation of rare books from the Vaughn Foundation Fund, including a first edition of Newton's Principia with an early presentation inscription and early annotations.

- Ken Sanders Rare Books will reopen in 2022 in The Leonardo, a Salt Lake City science and technology museum.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts: 19th and 20th Century at Sotheby's London ends on 14 December.

- Early Printing, Americana & Rare Books at New England Book Auctions ends on 14 December.

- Printing & Bookbinding Equipment and Supplies at New England Book Auctions ends on 14 December.

- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 15 December.

- Printed Books, Maps, Historical Documents & Ephemera, Bookbinding Tools & Materials, Vinyl Records at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 15 December.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Bonhams New York on 15 December.

- Children's Books & Illustrations, Playing Cards, Modern First Editions & Autographs at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 16 December.

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

- Books and Manuscripts Online at Bonhams New York ends on 16 December.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – Maps & Views at PBA Galleries on 16 December.

Links & Auctions

- Oak Knoll's sitewide sale is happening now, until 6 November (everything 20–50% off).

- Much of the material in the New England Book Auctions sale of Printing & Bookbinding Equipment and Supplies (ending 14 December) comes from the collection of our friend Vince Golden - there's some really excellent wood type and border material in this sale.

- Emory University has acquired Irish bibliophile John Moore's impressive collection of Bram Stoker material.

- The ABAA blog has an update on some stolen books recently returned to the National Library of Sweden.

- A copy of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part One extracted from the First Folio sold this week for $35,000.

- Over on The Conveyor, "Medieval Cookbooks: A Student Collection," and "Copper Plates in the Bodleian Libraries."

- The Middle Temple Libraries blog has posted a new provenance mystery for us this month.

- The Clements Library has digitized the William Howe Orderly Book, covering the period 1776 to 1778.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blogs, "Afterlives and Otherworlds: Three Ghost Stories from Medieval Ireland."

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Provenance of a Lombard Cutting [I]."

Upcoming Auctions

- History of Science and Technology at Bonhams Los Angeles on 3 November 2021.

- Livres Anciens du XVe au XIXe Siècle (Part I, Part II) at ALDE ends on 4 November.

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

- Art, Illustration & Dr. Seuss – British Prime Ministers – Antiquarian Books at PBA Galleries on 4 November.

- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 6 November.

Links & Auctions

- The Lilly Library has acquired the marvelous dictionary collection of Madeline Kripke.

- Paul Needham's Lyell Lectures continue, and are viewable here as they are delivered.

- The ABAA's Diversity Initiative is hosting a panel, "Everyone is Welcome Here: Building Better Relationships in Book Communities" on 26 October. 

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Otto Ege's Armenian Lectionary Dated '1121.'"

- Heather Wolfe will be the Munby Fellow at Cambridge University Libraries for 2021–22, working on a project titled "Decoding early modern writing paper."

- On the Swann Galleries blog, Devon Eastland writes about Harvard librarian George Parker Winship.

- Carla Cevasco writes for the Collation on "Picturing Children's Food in Early Modern Europe."

- There is still time to register for the APHA conference on 22–23 October, "Impresos: Printing Across Latin American and Caribbean Cultures."

- The bat signal has gone out for a number of Mark Twain legal documents which are believed to have been acquired by the Detroit Public Library in 1966 but were not found when a researcher looked for them in 2010. Barbara Schmidt has a feature on this over on Twain Quotes.

- A First Circuit panel has ruled that a 1780 Alexander Hamilton letter to Lafayette is the clear property of the Massachusetts Archives, and the letter has now been returned. It was stolen by employee Harold Perry sometime between 1938 and 1946 and later sold. Read the full decision here.

Upcoming Auctions

- The Luzzatto High Holidays Mahzor: A Magnificent Ashkenazic Prayer Book at Sotheby's New York on 19 October.

- Travel including a single owner collection of books on mountaineering at Bloomsbury Auctions (Dreweatts) ends on 20 October.

- A third selection of 16th and 17th English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library at Forum Auctions on 21 October.

- Fine Literature – Bukowski, Beats & the Counterculture at PBA Galleries on 21 October.

- Literature, Social Activism, Counterculture at Second Story Books on 23 October.

Links & Auctions

- Rare Books Santa Monica continues through 3 October over on Getman's Virtual.

- A number of stolen manuscripts have been returned to the National Archives of Mexico.

- Over on Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Manuscripts Written at Rome in 1465, now at the V&A and Houghton."

- October's Rare Book Monthly articles include Joe Fay's "The Luckiest Bookseller Alive."

- The Modern Endangered Archives Program now includes "Independence and Beyond: Ephemera from the Barbados Department of Archives."

- In the Guardian, Stephen Fry writes on the enduring appeal of Georgette Heyer.

Upcoming Auctions

- Illustration Art Signature Auction at Heritage Auctions on 4 October.

- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 6 October.

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

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

- A major theft from the Robert M. Ervin Jr. Collection at Florida State University's Special Collections & Archives was announced this week. Some 4,996 items are believed to have been stolen between 17 March 2020 and 10 February 2021. See the ABAA post for a notice and a spreadsheet of the items known to be missing, and for relevant contact information.

- Next up on Getman's Virtual, the Virtual Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair, 23–26 September and Rare Books LA, 30 September–3 October.

- From Julie Swierczek at The Collation, "The Folger G.K. Hall Catalogs, or How to fit an entire card catalog on your bookshelf."

 - Brewster Kahle is profiled in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Upcoming Auctions

- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 22 September.

- The Library at Howth Castle at Fonsie Mealy's on 22–23 September.

- De Cranach à Picasso (Aristophil 43) at Aguttes on 23 September.

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

- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle on 23 September.

- Books and Manuscripts at Freeman's on 23 September.

- September Auction at Arader Galleries on 25 September.

Links & Auctions

- The Virtual Ephemera Fair runs through 8 p.m. EDT today (15 August). Coming up next on 1–2 September is the New York City Virtual Book and Ephemera Fair.

- The planned in-person New York fair for September has been cancelled, with a new planned date of April 2022.

- I missed this Atlas Obscura piece last November, looks like: Jeffrey Arlo Brown on "How German Librarians Finally Caught an Elusive Book Thief."

- Over at Penn Today, a look at the Penn Libraries' participation in a multi-institution project to digitize materials documenting early medical education.

- A very happy tenth birthday to The Collation, the excellent Folger blog. They've got a neat "by the numbers" post to celebrate. And also from them this week "Book History, Manuscript Studies, and Navigating Special Collections During COVID-19."

- On the University of Glasgow archives and special collections blog, "The Foulis Brothers Book Receipts Project: how much can an invoice tell us?"

- The St Andrews special collections blog continues their series on the recent USTC conference on gender and the book trades.

- From the Columbia University rare books blog, "Two ancient papyrus fragments and their very modern reunion." 

- Madison Rootenberg Schwartz is in the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight this week.

- The NYPL has acquired a collection of Russian zines.

- Newly published by Quaritch, Arthur Freeman's Historical Forgery in Romanophobe Britain: Robert Ware's Irish Fictions Revisited.

- CNBC will be airing an episode of "Super Heists" this week focusing on the 2004 Transylvania University Library thefts.

Upcoming Auctions

- LGBTQ+ Art, Material Culture & History at Swann Galleries on 19 August.

- Apple and Steve Jobs at RR Auction on 19 August.

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – Space – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 19 August.

- American Historical Ephemera & Photography at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 20 August.

Links & Auctions

- Coming up on 14–15 August, the Virtual Ephemera Fair (summer edition).

- Christie's will sell the private collection of the late and much-missed Bill Reese in a series of four sales beginning in May 2022.

- A 3,600-year-old tablet containing a portion of the Gilgamesh epic was seized from Hobby Lobby's Museum of the Bible by the Department of Justice in 2019, and a court ordered its forfeiture this week based on the tablet's illegal importation into the United States (first in 2003 and then with false provenance in 2014).

- Over on the Notre Dame Special Collections blog, "Preparing a Parchment Fragment for Posterity."

- The lineup for the 42nd Annual Conference on Book Trade History, "The Humours of Collecting," was announced this week.

Upcoming Auctions

- Modern Literature at Forum Auctions on 5 August.

- Vintage Posters at Swann Galleries on 5 August.

- Fine Literature – Beats & the Counterculture at PBA Galleries on 5 August.

Links & Auctions

- Mary Hamilton French writes for the NEDCC blog about her recent work to conserve a fifteenth-century manuscript Vitae Augustini from the BPL collections. A really excellent and beautifully illustrated walk through the process.

- News that the Honresfield Library will be sold at Sotheby's across three auctions (see the introduction to the first part, scheduled to be sold in July) prompted much coverage: see Alison Flood's piece in the Guardian and Jennifer Schuessler's in the NYT. A followup piece by Alison Flood for the Guardian reports on the immediate calls from the Brontë Society and others for the collection to be kept intact and made publicly available for research. See also Francesca Collins' post for the Museums Association.

- Stephen Hawking's Cambridge papers and personal memorabilia have been acquired for the British nation, and will be housed at the Cambridge University Library and the Science Museum.

- Hobby Lobby has sued Dirk Obbink to recover some of the $7 million reportedly paid for ancient gospel fragments which Obbink allegedly had stolen. See also the official complaint.

- The National Library of Scotland has acquired a sixteenth-century Perthshire manuscript, the "Chronicle of Foringall."

- Candida Moss has a roundup of some recent book thefts from libraries in the Daily Beast.

- Chiara Betti writes for the St John's College blog about the collection of some 750 copper plates given by Richard Rawlinson to the Bodleian Library. This is an introductory post about a new project to really study this collection for the first time, which promises to be extremely useful!

- From Aaron Pratt, "Paper Pitfalls."

- Notre Dame's Hesburgh Library has acquired a rare early Civil War lithograph of Jefferson Davis metamorphosed into a donkey.

- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog has a roundup of their Pandemic-Times webinars, and also a new post on "Typographic Necrology."

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "A New Leaf from the Pontigny Copy of Florus & Didymus" and "Otto Ege's 12th-Century Italian Gospel Lectionary."

- Heather Wolfe writes for The Collation, "Malicious Teaseling: Or, how a simple reference question got complicated."

- Over on the Bodleian blog, "A Pirate's Life?"

- The Franz Kafka collection held by the National Library of Israel is now online in digital form.

- From Adam Smyth at TEXT!, "Family Bibles."

- The Middle Temple Library has another provenance mystery for this month.

Upcoming Auctions

- Music: Books & Manuscripts at Sotheby's London ends on 8 June.

- Early Printing, Americana (Printed and Manuscript) at New England Book Auctions on 8 June.

- TCM Presents ... Mavericks at Bonhams Los Angeles on 8 June.

- Travel Books, Maps & Atlases at Forum Auctions on 9 June.

- Rare Books Signature Auction at Heritage Auctions on 9–10 June.

- Americana – Zamorano 80 – Travel – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 10 June.

- Bibliothèque Théâtrale du Comte Emmanuel D'André – Livres at Manuscrits at Binoche et Giquello on 11 June.

- Summer Auction at Arader Galleries on 12 June.

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upcoming Auctions

- Autographes & Manuscrits at Aguttes on 29 March.

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Review

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

Upcoming Auctions

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links & Auctions

- The Cambridge University Libraries have now reported the apparent theft of two Charles Darwin notebooks ("B" and "C") to the police, two decades after the notebooks were last seen (until a recent review, it was apparently thought that the notebooks had been misshelved). See the CUL public appeal for more information and images, as well as links to the digitized versions of the notebooks.

- Alea Henle writes for the NCPH blog, "Road Not Taken: Record-Making in Historical Perspective."

- Bookseller Shaun Bythell asks in the Guardian "what's the worst kind of book thief?"

- From Rebecca Rego Barry for the Fine Books Blog, "Collecting & Repatriation."

- A collection of Bob Dylan documents and manuscripts were sold at auction last week, with the individual lots realizing about $495,000.

- Alexandra Sampson has another provenance mystery from the Middle Temple Library.

- APHA is accepting applications for the 2021 Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship in Printing History.

- From Adam Clulow for Not Even Past (as part of their Primary Source series with the HRC), "Pamphlets, Propaganda, and the Amboina Conspiracy Trial in the Classroom."

Upcoming Auctions

- Zwiggelaar Auctions will hold a three-part sale this week: Part I (Children's books, Literature, Old books, Manuscripts, Cookbooks, Amsterdam, Topography) on 30 November; Part II (Topography, Atlases, Comics, Asian arts, Fine arts) on 1 December; Part III (Photography, Sports, Chess books, Picture postcards, Erotica, Various) on 2 December.

- Music, Continental Books and Medieval Manuscripts at Sotheby's London ends on 1 December.

- Books & Works on Paper at Chiswick Auctions on 2 December.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 3 December.

- Fine Art – Photography & Prints at PBA Galleries on 3 December.

- December Sale at Arader Galleries on 5 December.

Links & Auctions

- The ABAA Boston Virtual Book Fair continues through the end of the day today: don't miss either the books or the associated events.

- Swann Galleries' autographs specialist Marco Tomaschett takes a deep dive into "The Voice & Hand of Frederick Douglass."

- From James Tarmy at Bloomberg, "Retail Might be Struggling, But the Rich Are Buying Rare Books."

- Cushing Memorial Library & Archives at TAMU have launched a new blog, The Cushing Collective.

- Some of the books stolen from a London warehouse in 2017 and recovered recently in Romania were returned to their owners this week.

- Eric White writes for Princeton's Notabilia blog "Mystery Solved: A Long-Lost Spanish Vocabulario (ca. 1492–93) Comes to Light at Princeton."

- Alex Johnson highlights a new crowdfunding effort to preserve the St. Bride Library for the Fine Books Blog.

- In the NYT, William J. Broad reports on a new census of Newton's Principia. As you all know I am a huge fan of book censuses, so I am delighted to see another out in the world (and if you have an uncounted copy, please do contact the researchers). See also the Caltech press release.

- A neat offering from Peter Harrington: an illustrated script for the second theatrical adaptation of The Hobbit, a 1967 school production.

- Over at Early Modern Female Book Ownership, a fascinating-looking 1655 volume of Dickson's explications of the psalms, with lots of usage marks.

- Another interesting new blog to keep an eye on, The Fate of Books, which will focus on book history in Slovenia and central Europe. 

- Books & Borrowing has a very good breakdown of the different sorts of eighteenth-century libraries.

- The British Library has managed to secure funding to keep the 15th-century Lewis of Caerleon manuscript in the UK, and the BL has digitized the manuscript.

- It's all about the asterisk over at Shady Characters.

- A WWI carrier pigeon message has been found in France.

- Rugby School is selling off some of its rare books this week. More from the BBC.

- And from the Royal College of Physicians, after the recent outcry over their proposed plan to auction off rare books from their library, word that "no firm decision" has yet been made about the potential sale.

Upcoming Auctions

- Dada Data: Books and Boîtes by Marcel Duchamp and Others at Sotheby's New York ends on 16 November.

- Littérature: Boris Vian et les Maudits (Aristophil 33) at Aguttes on 17 November.

- Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History at Sotheby's London ends on 17 November.

- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Swann Galleries on 17 November.

- Histoire Postale: Guerre de 1870–1871 & Aviation (Aristophil 34) at Artcurial on 18 November.

- Littérature: Fonds Romain Gary & Littérature du XVIIe au XXe Siècle (Aristophil 35) at Artcurial on 18 November.

- Selected Books from Rugby School Library at Forum Auctions on 18 November.

- Livres, Lettres et Manuscrits Autographes (Aristophil 36) at Druout on 19 November.

- Histoire (Aristophil 37) at Aguttes on 19 November.

- Fine Books, Manuscripts, and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 19 November.

- Comics and Comic Art at Heritage Auctions on 19–22 November.

- Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 19 November.

- Musique (Aristophil 38) at Ader on 20 November.

- Musique (Aristophil 39) at Aguttes on 20 November.

- Rare Books & Ephemera at Addison & Sarova on 21 November.

- Histoire Postale: Guerre de 1870–1871 (Aristophil 40) at Aguttes on 24 November.

Links & Auctions

On the weekend when the schedule as originally planned for 2020 would have seen many of us gathering in Boston, we must instead look forward to the ABAA Virtual Boston Book Fair on 12–14 November, and hope that by next year, circumstances will permit us to gather in person again. I'm very much feeling the loss of not being able to see so many friends this weekend, browsing the shelves at the Brattle and Commonwealth, and enjoying the main fair, the shadow show, and the associated delights of chatting with booksellers from around the world and viewing the biblio-delights they've brought with them to Boston. Next year!

- Not unrelatedly, a reminder to support your local or favorite independent new/used/rare bookshop as you think about your holiday shopping (and allow plenty of time for shipping).

- Christina Faraday covers the Royal College of Physicians' plan to sell rare books for Apollo. There is also a Change.org petition opposing the sale, started by two former curators of the RCP collection.

- Daniel Boffey writes for the Guardian about a recent series of thefts of Nazi artifacts from Dutch war museums, prompting new security measures, &c.

- The lineup for Princeton's "The Virtual Materiality of Texts: Book History during a Pandemic" symposium on 20 November looks really excellent (registration at the link).

- From Timothy Gress for the NYPL blog, "A Manuscript Mystery: The Fragment Within Browning's 'Columbe's Birthday.'"

- Over at the Met, they've started up a Museum of Obsolete Library Science (I love this idea).

- The BL's Untold Lives blog continues their look at the colonial legacy of the Mayflower voyage with a fifth installment in the series by Maddy Smith.

Review

- Megan Rosenbloom's Dark Archives; review by Connor Goodwin for NPR.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts at Tajan on 3 November.

- Livres rares et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 3 November.

- Bibliothèque Guy Gaulard - Deuxième Partie at Rossini on 4 November.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 5 November.

- History of Science and Technology, including Air and Space at Bonhams Los Angeles on 5 November.

- Americana – Travel, Exploration, Space – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 5 November.

- Bibliothèque du Docteur Poirier II at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 6 November.

Links & Auctions

- Rare Books LA continues today over on Getman's Virtual platform - don't miss that!

- I was very sorry to hear of the death of antiquarian bookseller Bob Rubin of Brookline, MA (see his Boston Globe obituary as posted on the Bowdoin College website, forwarded to ExLibris with added remembrances by Garrett Scott). I met Bob years ago when I was living in Boston, and always enjoyed learning from him when we ran into each other at book fairs. I regret that I never had the chance to buy a book from him: I tried for one back in 2007, but it had already sold (and showed up later in a UK dealer's catalog for triple the price). I will miss impromptu breakfasts at the Au Bon Pain on Boylston Street before the Boston shadow show, his great stories, and his thoroughly interesting catalogs.

- The Mills College First Folio sold at Christie's this week for $9,978,000 (including premiums), to Stephan Lowentheil.

- From The Collation, "Introducing the Folger Reference Image Collection" (2,600+ images!).

- Aaron Pratt has a post in the HRC Magazine's "What is Research?" series: "Learning how to read again."

- The ARCA blog has a report on the recovery of the London warehouse theft books.

- Coming up this week, RBS' panel discussion "Race and the Boundaries of the Book" - click the link to watch the seven pre-circulated presentations prior to the live event on 20 October.

- Many congratulations to Lindsay DiCuirci, winner of the 2020 Library Company of Philadelphia First Book Award for Colonial Revivals.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, a two-parter on Felix Joubert: Forger and Collector?

- Hilary Mantel's in the Guardian's "You Ask the Questions" column.

- From UC Davis, "Historians to Digitize Endangered Peruvian Archive."

- The Princeton Graphic Arts collection blog highlights some of their Mame et Compagnie "chocolate box" bindings.

- Mostly paywalled, but there's a report in the Times that the Royal College of Physicians is planning an auction of "non-medical" rare books from the collection bequeathed by the Marquess of Dorchester in 1680.

- Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard takes a look at some wooden bindings in the John J. Burns Library.

- Don't miss the @RareUVA Twitter thread honoring Gayle Cooper on the occasion of her fiftieth year as UVA's Rare Book Cataloger. Huzzah, Gayle!

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Early medieval interlace."

- This month's Middle Temple Library provenance mystery is another good puzzler!

- On the SHARP blog, "On Decolonising Book History."

- From Books & Borrowing, "Broughton House Visit."

- The Bibliographical Society (UK) has announced a couple of upcoming Zoom talks, with more to follow in the spring.

- From Carolien Stolte for the Leiden University Special Collections blog, "The Esperanto textbooks that never were."

Reviews

- Susanna Clarke's Piranesi; review by Alex Preston in the Guardian.

- Ariel Sabar's Veritas; review by David Conrads in the CSM.

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle at ALDE on 20 October.

- Americana, Travel, and Natural History at Bonhams New York on 21 October.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 22 October.

- Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries on 22 October.

- Fine Books – Fine Press – Fine Bindings at PBA Galleries on 22 October.

Links & Auctions

- First, there was actually a bit of surprising good news this week: the rare books stolen from a London-area warehouse in early 2017 have been recovered intact in the Romanian county of Neamt.

- Some more good news: the next Getman's Virtual event will be the CABS Virtual Antiquarian Book Fair, on 25–27 September.

- And a bit more, even! The winners of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest and the Honey & Wax Prize were announced this week.

- The Scottish Borrowers' Registers project will soon include the loans register of Craigston Castle in Turriff, Aberdeenshire.

- The Library of Congress has launched a new tool for searching images in historical newspapers.

- At The Collation, Sujata Iyengar offers "A Guided Tour of an Incunabulum from 1478."

- Rebecca Rego Barry rounds up some new biblio-fiction on the Fine Books Blog.

- On the Shakespeare & Beyond blog, an "Up Close" look at a 1797 caricature of the Shakespeare-forging Ireland family.

- From Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "The Antiphonary of Marguerite de Baconel."

- Swann withdrew a 16th-century manuscript copy of an order to Cortes and Pedro de Alvorado from their 24 September sale after researchers suggested that it had very likely been stolen from the national archives of Mexico.

- Rosa Lyster writes on "Lost Libraries" for the Paris Review.

- A new virtual exhibition focuses on book edges in the KU Leuven libraries and other Belgian collections.

- "Whacky Victorian Imagery" is the order of the day on the Ephemera Society blog.

- Penn's Workshop in the History of Material Texts now has a YouTube channel, and their first talk of the season, on Milton's copy of Shakespeare with Claire Bourne and Jason Scott-Warren, is now available.

- Rare Book School's "Black Print Culture" discussion from earlier this month is also now online.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books & Manuscripts at Artcurial on 22 September.

- Books and Manuscripts at Il Ponte on 22 September.

- A Further Selection of 16th & 17th-Century English Books from the Fox Pointe Manor Library at Forum Auctions on 24 September.

- Printed & Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 24 September. 

- Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 24 September.

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

VOTE