- New from Johanna Drucker and colleagues at UCLA, History of the Book, which looks like it will be a tremendously useful resource.
- Simon Beattie offers a "Beginner's Guide" to decorated book papers on the ABAA blog.
- Lorraine Berry writes for the Guardian about our fascination with lost books.
- A full article has now been published in Review of English Studies on the recent identification of a Donne manuscript in the collections of Westminster Abbey.
- At American Book Collecting, "Samuel Hand and the First American Edition of De Bury's Philobiblon."
- Erin Schreiner's in Atlas Obscura with a piece looking at the New York Society Library's circulation records over time.
- Alison Flood reports for the Guardian about a potential new source for some of Shakespeare's plays, identified using plagiarism-detection software. See also Michael Blanding's piece in the NYTimes.
- The Huntington Library has acquired an interesting Darwin family photo album.
- Keith Houston has a Miscellany post on French language rules and naming regulations.
- Ed Simon offers a 350th-anniversary Paradise Lost reading list at The Millions.
- The BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog highlights Æthelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, and another post examines the carpet pages in the Lindisfarne Gospels.
- Alexander Zawacki writes for Atlas Obscura about a book of arsenic-filled wallpaper samples and how various libraries have dealt with it.
- Pradeep Sebastian has a Q&A with the Heavenly Monkey blog about his The Bookhunters of Katpadi.
- The Friends of Dard Hunter and APHA have issued a call for proposals for their joint conference, to be held in October in Iowa City: "Matrices: The Social Life of Paper, Print, and Art."
- Another call for papers to note, this one for a January 2019 conference in Nijmegen, "Private libraries and private library inventories, 1665–1830:
Locating, studying and understanding sources, in Europe and beyond."
- Business Insider visits a Venice bookshop with a somewhat unconventional method keeping its books dry.
- Over on the Clements Library blog, "The Ins and Outs of Cataloguing Atlases."
Reviews
- Jon Stubbs' Jonathan Swift: The Reluctant Rebel; review by PD Smith in the Guardian.
- Serinity Young's Women Who Fly; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Unreserved Printed Books including books from The Alan & Joan Tucker Collection at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 14 February.
- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs at Lyon & Turnbull on 14 February.
- Collection d'un Bibliophile: Livres & Manuscrits Précieux, 1478–1977 at Binoche et Giquello on 14 February.
- Libri, Manoscritti e Autografi at Pandolfini on 14 February.
- Icons & Images: Photographs & Photobooks at Swann Galleries on 15 February.
- Political Memorabilia including the Daniel Schofield Collection at Eldreds on 16 February.
Sunday, February 11, 2018
Sunday, February 04, 2018
Links & Reviews
- The BPL has launched a crowdsourced transcription project for their collection of anti-slavery manuscripts.
- Two cultural thefts to report: the ARCA blog notes that CCTV footage was enough for authorities to quickly apprehend the man responsible for vandalism and theft at the Route 66 Museum, but more than 1,500 items remain missing after they were stolen from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust's storage facility.
- Aaron Pratt talks to Sarah Werner about early digital facsimiles for the Ransom Center's magazine in advance of Sarah's Pforzheimer lecture at the HRC later this month.
- David Pearson will deliver the Lyell Lectures in April, on Book Ownership in Stuart England. Sign up here for free tickets.
- New blog to watch: Sammelband: A Book History Pedagogy Blog, from Cait Coker and Kate Ozment.
- Alison Flood writes for the Guardian about the Tremulous Hand, highlighting the BL's newly released Discovering Literature: Medieval site. See the BL's announcement post, too.
- From Justin Tonra at RTÉ, "A short story about bookshelves."
- The ABAA has posted an "In Memoriam" page for bookseller William Dailey, who died suddenly last month.
- Michael Thompson and Boreas Fine Art are featured in Evanston Magazine.
- Smithsonian highlights a book bound in lab-grown jellyfish leather ...
- The Trinity College Dublin blog features their Gutenberg Bible fragment.
- An American bidder won a 13th-century illuminated Bible sold at auction in New Zealand this week.
Reviews
- Charles C. Mann's The Wizard and the Prophet; review by Fred Pearce in the WaPo.
- Mark Purcell's The Country House Library; review by Adrian Higgins in the WaPo.
- Several recent Jane Eyre studies; review by Kathryn Hughes in the TLS.
- Pradeep Sebastian's The Book Hunters of Katpadi; review by Ashwin Ahmad in DNAIndia.
Upcoming Auctions
- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 7 February.
- The Collection of Avis & Eugene Robinson at Skinner, Inc. on 9 February.
- Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 11 February (in Pasadena).
- Fine Books at Manuscripts at Bonhams on 11 February (in Pasadena).
- Two cultural thefts to report: the ARCA blog notes that CCTV footage was enough for authorities to quickly apprehend the man responsible for vandalism and theft at the Route 66 Museum, but more than 1,500 items remain missing after they were stolen from the Canterbury Archaeological Trust's storage facility.
- Aaron Pratt talks to Sarah Werner about early digital facsimiles for the Ransom Center's magazine in advance of Sarah's Pforzheimer lecture at the HRC later this month.
- David Pearson will deliver the Lyell Lectures in April, on Book Ownership in Stuart England. Sign up here for free tickets.
- New blog to watch: Sammelband: A Book History Pedagogy Blog, from Cait Coker and Kate Ozment.
- Alison Flood writes for the Guardian about the Tremulous Hand, highlighting the BL's newly released Discovering Literature: Medieval site. See the BL's announcement post, too.
- From Justin Tonra at RTÉ, "A short story about bookshelves."
- The ABAA has posted an "In Memoriam" page for bookseller William Dailey, who died suddenly last month.
- Michael Thompson and Boreas Fine Art are featured in Evanston Magazine.
- Smithsonian highlights a book bound in lab-grown jellyfish leather ...
- The Trinity College Dublin blog features their Gutenberg Bible fragment.
- An American bidder won a 13th-century illuminated Bible sold at auction in New Zealand this week.
Reviews
- Charles C. Mann's The Wizard and the Prophet; review by Fred Pearce in the WaPo.
- Mark Purcell's The Country House Library; review by Adrian Higgins in the WaPo.
- Several recent Jane Eyre studies; review by Kathryn Hughes in the TLS.
- Pradeep Sebastian's The Book Hunters of Katpadi; review by Ashwin Ahmad in DNAIndia.
Upcoming Auctions
- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London on 7 February.
- The Collection of Avis & Eugene Robinson at Skinner, Inc. on 9 February.
- Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 11 February (in Pasadena).
- Fine Books at Manuscripts at Bonhams on 11 February (in Pasadena).
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Links & Reviews
Just back from a trip to New York for the last couple days of Bibliography Week. Missed the booksellers' showcase on Thursday, which was a bummer, but it was very pleasant to see so many friends at the various events. I haven't been on Twitter much the last few days, so forgive me if this is a bit shorter than some weeks.
- The great Ursula K. Le Guin died this week. The roundup on Slate of writers reacting to the news is worth a look, I urge you to watch her speech at the 2014 National Book Awards ceremony (and Neil Gaiman's introduction). Her appearances on "TTBOOK" are also recommended. The Guardian has a full obituary.
- Oak Knoll Fest 2018 is a go: mark your calendars for 5–7 October 2018.
- Maev Kennedy writes for the Guardian about an upcoming sale of Sylvia Plath books and possessions to be sold at Bonhams in March.
- The odd volume from George Washington's library sold for $115,000 yesterday.
- The first-round deadline for admission to spring/summer Rare Book School courses is 19 February. Submission of your application(s) by then is encouraged.
- Rebecca Romney writes for Mental Floss about Poe's great "balloon hoax."
- Jerry Morris highlights some of his sources for keeping up to date on rare book news over at My Sentimental Library. Thanks to him for including this blog!
- Over on the Past is Present podcast, an interview with Gregory Nobles.
- The folks working on the Declaration Resources Project have identified an early broadside printing of the Declaration (unique copy at the BPL) as coming from the press of Thomas and Samuel Green in New Haven.
- Another month, another reported "solution" to the Voynich Manuscript.
Reviews
- Catherine Kerrison's Jefferson's Daughters; review by Mary Beth Norton in the NYTimes.
- Three recent books on birding; review by Richard O. Prum in the NYTimes.
- The new Library of American edition of John Quincy Adams' diaries; review by Diana Schaub at Law and Liberty.
- Henry Wessells' A Conversation Larger than the Universe; review by Michael Dirda for the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Printed Books & Manuscripts at Chiswick Auctions on 31 January.
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 31 January.
- Modern Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 31 January.
- The great Ursula K. Le Guin died this week. The roundup on Slate of writers reacting to the news is worth a look, I urge you to watch her speech at the 2014 National Book Awards ceremony (and Neil Gaiman's introduction). Her appearances on "TTBOOK" are also recommended. The Guardian has a full obituary.
- Oak Knoll Fest 2018 is a go: mark your calendars for 5–7 October 2018.
- Maev Kennedy writes for the Guardian about an upcoming sale of Sylvia Plath books and possessions to be sold at Bonhams in March.
- The odd volume from George Washington's library sold for $115,000 yesterday.
- The first-round deadline for admission to spring/summer Rare Book School courses is 19 February. Submission of your application(s) by then is encouraged.
- Rebecca Romney writes for Mental Floss about Poe's great "balloon hoax."
- Jerry Morris highlights some of his sources for keeping up to date on rare book news over at My Sentimental Library. Thanks to him for including this blog!
- Over on the Past is Present podcast, an interview with Gregory Nobles.
- The folks working on the Declaration Resources Project have identified an early broadside printing of the Declaration (unique copy at the BPL) as coming from the press of Thomas and Samuel Green in New Haven.
- Another month, another reported "solution" to the Voynich Manuscript.
Reviews
- Catherine Kerrison's Jefferson's Daughters; review by Mary Beth Norton in the NYTimes.
- Three recent books on birding; review by Richard O. Prum in the NYTimes.
- The new Library of American edition of John Quincy Adams' diaries; review by Diana Schaub at Law and Liberty.
- Henry Wessells' A Conversation Larger than the Universe; review by Michael Dirda for the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Printed Books & Manuscripts at Chiswick Auctions on 31 January.
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 31 January.
- Modern Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 31 January.
Sunday, January 21, 2018
Links & Reviews
- Over on the Smithsonian's Unbound blog, a really excellent post about the marginalia in a 1491 copy of Pliny's Naturalis Historia.
- Police have released some CCTV footage and appealed for information relating to the theft of rare books from a Norfolk bookshop's warehouse on 9 January. More.
- For "The Biblio File," Nigel Beale talked to David Esslemont about the Gregynog and Solmentes presses.
- Laura Wasowicz writes for Past is Present about her "Thirty Years Adventure with the McLoughlin Brothers" (see also the current Grolier Club exhibition, which I'm looking forward to viewing later this week).
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg looks at early book reviews in the Philosophical Transactions.
- A 1523 Hebrew-Latin grammar was returned to the Jewish Museum in Prague after its most recent owner agreed to withdraw it from auction. The volume had belonged to Prague's Jewish community prior to World War II. The anonymous owner, identified as a scholar in Jerusalem, said was returning the book because not to do so would be "an active continuity of those terrible thefts committed against Jewish property and cultural treasures perpetrated by the German Nazis."
- The first volume of George Washington's copy of the Massachusetts Magazine (1789) will be offered for sale on 27 January.
- Henry Bradshaw is the topic over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance.
- Rare Stephen King books and typescripts were damaged from flooding from a water main break in Bangor, Maine. Updates after initial recovery efforts revealed that a few of the rarer items were undamaged, which is very good news indeed.
- The Seattle Times has an obituary for bookseller Louis Collins.
- Hobby Lobby have returned more looted artifacts to federal authorities.
Reviews
- The new Penguin Classics edition of the 1818 text of Frankenstein; review by Genevieve Valentine for NPR.
- Robin Sloan's Sourdough; review by Suzy Feay for the Guardian.
- Martin Puchner's The Written World; review by Daisy Dunn in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Americana - Travel & Exploration - Cartography at PBA Galleries on 25 January.
- Fine Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 25 January.
- Historic Winter Fine Art and Antiques at Case Antiques, Inc. on 27 January (see the Washington book noted above).
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter on 27 January.
- Police have released some CCTV footage and appealed for information relating to the theft of rare books from a Norfolk bookshop's warehouse on 9 January. More.
- For "The Biblio File," Nigel Beale talked to David Esslemont about the Gregynog and Solmentes presses.
- Laura Wasowicz writes for Past is Present about her "Thirty Years Adventure with the McLoughlin Brothers" (see also the current Grolier Club exhibition, which I'm looking forward to viewing later this week).
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg looks at early book reviews in the Philosophical Transactions.
- A 1523 Hebrew-Latin grammar was returned to the Jewish Museum in Prague after its most recent owner agreed to withdraw it from auction. The volume had belonged to Prague's Jewish community prior to World War II. The anonymous owner, identified as a scholar in Jerusalem, said was returning the book because not to do so would be "an active continuity of those terrible thefts committed against Jewish property and cultural treasures perpetrated by the German Nazis."
- The first volume of George Washington's copy of the Massachusetts Magazine (1789) will be offered for sale on 27 January.
- Henry Bradshaw is the topic over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance.
- Rare Stephen King books and typescripts were damaged from flooding from a water main break in Bangor, Maine. Updates after initial recovery efforts revealed that a few of the rarer items were undamaged, which is very good news indeed.
- The Seattle Times has an obituary for bookseller Louis Collins.
- Hobby Lobby have returned more looted artifacts to federal authorities.
Reviews
- The new Penguin Classics edition of the 1818 text of Frankenstein; review by Genevieve Valentine for NPR.
- Robin Sloan's Sourdough; review by Suzy Feay for the Guardian.
- Martin Puchner's The Written World; review by Daisy Dunn in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Americana - Travel & Exploration - Cartography at PBA Galleries on 25 January.
- Fine Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 25 January.
- Historic Winter Fine Art and Antiques at Case Antiques, Inc. on 27 January (see the Washington book noted above).
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Potter & Potter on 27 January.
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Links & Reviews
- From the "special place in hell" department: a 33-year-old researcher, Antonin DeHays, entered a guilty plea on Thursday to theft of government property, admitting that he stole at least 291 military dog tags and "at least 134 other records" (including "identification cards, personal letters, photographs, a bible, and pieces of downed U.S. aircraft") from the National Archives' public reading room in College Park, Maryland. The thefts occurred over five years, and DeHays sold some of the stolen material on eBay and elsewhere, while retaining some and reportedly giving some as gifts (or, in one instance, trading a Tuskegee Airman's dogtag to a museum for the opportunity to sit inside a Spitfire airplane). DeHays will be sentenced on 4 April; according to the DOJ press release, he faces up to ten years in prison. David Ferriero told the AP "While I am pleased that we are one step closer to justice in this case, I remain shocked and angered that a historian would show such disregard for records and artifacts. As a veteran, I am disgusted that anyone would steal records and artifacts documenting those captured or killed in the service of their nation." He said that reading room policies have been changed in the wake of these thefts.
- American Libraries has an update on some of the catastrophic damage sustained by Caribbean libraries during and in the aftermath of this year's hurricanes.
- The CERL Heritage of the Printed Book Database (HPB) is now freely available for use. See this page for background, technical notes, &c.
- Hyperspectral imaging at the Library of Congress has revealed fourteen lines from a 1780 Alexander Hamilton letter to Elizabeth Schuyler (written prior to their marriage) presumably censored by their son prior to the letter's original publication.
- Atlas Obscura features the tiny "book village" of Hobart, New York - I've got to get over there and visit one of these days!
- A public forum in Salem about the status of the Phillips Library collections got a little heated, as might have been expected. See reports from the Salem News and the Boston Globe.
- You know you want a deep dive into those Jedi texts from the new Star Wars movie [here be spoilers].
- While I very much doubt that the map is actually kept in a "shoe box," a new Minneapolis Star-Tribune piece about the Waldseemüller map auction mentioned last month is worth a read. [Update: John Overholt notes that the piece seems to be describing the library as a shoe box - fair enough!]
- From the Hartford Courant, "University of Texas Wins Tussle with Yale Over Arthur Miller's Papers." Jennifer Schuessler has more on this in the NYTimes.
- I have some questions about this one, but pass it along anyway: Smithsonian reports on some new techniques of "protein analysis" being used on old paper. See also the research paper on which this report is based.
- UVA undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for the BSUVA Book Collecting Contest - the deadline for submission is 12 February.
- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has extended the $10 million reward for information leading to return of the stolen artwork indefinitely (it was due to expire at the end of 2017).
- Another nice provenance chase over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance this week.
Reviews
- Edward Brooke-Hitchings' The Phantom Atlas; review by James Keller for the Sante Fe New Mexican.
- Edward Ayers' The Thin Light of Freedom; review by Ronald White in the NYTimes.
- Marion Rankine's Brolliology; review by Shahidha Bari in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Books, Maps & Manuscripts at Freeman's on 17 January.
- Of Royal and Noble Descent at Sotheby's London on 17 January.
- Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana, including Cartography at Sotheby's New York on 17 January.
- Important Americana at Sotheby's New York from 18–21 January.
- Books and Ephemera at National Book Auctions on 20 January.
- American Libraries has an update on some of the catastrophic damage sustained by Caribbean libraries during and in the aftermath of this year's hurricanes.
- The CERL Heritage of the Printed Book Database (HPB) is now freely available for use. See this page for background, technical notes, &c.
- Hyperspectral imaging at the Library of Congress has revealed fourteen lines from a 1780 Alexander Hamilton letter to Elizabeth Schuyler (written prior to their marriage) presumably censored by their son prior to the letter's original publication.
- Atlas Obscura features the tiny "book village" of Hobart, New York - I've got to get over there and visit one of these days!
- A public forum in Salem about the status of the Phillips Library collections got a little heated, as might have been expected. See reports from the Salem News and the Boston Globe.
- You know you want a deep dive into those Jedi texts from the new Star Wars movie [here be spoilers].
- While I very much doubt that the map is actually kept in a "shoe box," a new Minneapolis Star-Tribune piece about the Waldseemüller map auction mentioned last month is worth a read. [Update: John Overholt notes that the piece seems to be describing the library as a shoe box - fair enough!]
- From the Hartford Courant, "University of Texas Wins Tussle with Yale Over Arthur Miller's Papers." Jennifer Schuessler has more on this in the NYTimes.
- I have some questions about this one, but pass it along anyway: Smithsonian reports on some new techniques of "protein analysis" being used on old paper. See also the research paper on which this report is based.
- UVA undergraduate and graduate students are eligible for the BSUVA Book Collecting Contest - the deadline for submission is 12 February.
- The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has extended the $10 million reward for information leading to return of the stolen artwork indefinitely (it was due to expire at the end of 2017).
- Another nice provenance chase over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance this week.
Reviews
- Edward Brooke-Hitchings' The Phantom Atlas; review by James Keller for the Sante Fe New Mexican.
- Edward Ayers' The Thin Light of Freedom; review by Ronald White in the NYTimes.
- Marion Rankine's Brolliology; review by Shahidha Bari in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Books, Maps & Manuscripts at Freeman's on 17 January.
- Of Royal and Noble Descent at Sotheby's London on 17 January.
- Fine Printed and Manuscript Americana, including Cartography at Sotheby's New York on 17 January.
- Important Americana at Sotheby's New York from 18–21 January.
- Books and Ephemera at National Book Auctions on 20 January.
Sunday, January 07, 2018
Links & Reviews
- Paper fragments found inside a cannon recovered from the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge (Blackbeard's ship) have been identified as coming from a copy of Edward Cooke's Voyage to the South Sea (1712).
- Michael Winship's keynote from this fall's APHA conference, "Good, But Not So Fast or Cheap," is now available on the APHA blog.
- January Rare Book Monthly articles include Michael Stillman's overview of the top 500 auction prices for 2017, and Bruce McKinney on buying an obscure Munsell imprint.
- Registration for the Scientific Illustration Renaissance to the Digital Age Symposium on 15 March at the Library of Congress is now open. This looks like a great program.
- Rebecca Rego Barry notes at the Fine Books Blog the deaths of three booksellers this week: the Strand's Fred Bass, Charlie Cox, and Louis Collins. They will be much missed. More about Louis from the Seattle Review of Books; I had the great pleasure of meeting him at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair in 2016, and I'm very glad that I did.
- More on Fred Bass from Tom Vanderbilt on the NYRB blog and Tom Verlaine in the NYTimes.
- For the New Yorker, Paul Collins takes a look at a 1968 conference and associated book which looked ahead to 2018.
- Three major CLIR-Mellon Hidden Collection grants will allow the Penn Libraries to digitize Islamic manuscripts, the Marian Anderson archive, and records of early Philadelphia religious congregations.
- WBUR aired a remembrance of Harvard Law Library curator David Ferris this week.
- The University of British Columbia has acquired a copy (in fact, the only known copy) of the first edition of The Vancouver Weekly Herald and North Pacific News, believed to be the first item printed in the city of Vancouver.
- Urvashi Chakravarty surveys apprenticeship indentures at the Folger for The Collation.
- I missed this in December, but the BBC reports on recent work using digital tools to read Sonderkommando evidence buried at Auschwitz and discovered in the 1980s during excavations there.
- In the Harvard alumni magazine, a profile of Columba Stewart, executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.
- Another one I missed in December (sorry!): Russell Maret on his weeks as the inaugural printer-in-residence at the Bodleian Libraries.
- The Association of European Printing Museums has launched a new map of printing museums, which looks to be quite handy. [via the Princeton Graphic Arts blog]
- Aaron Pratt writes for the HRC magazine about interactive designs (volvelles, &c.) in early printed books.
- Over at Making Manuscripts in the Medieval and Early Modern World, "Revealing the Secrets of an Early Coptic Manuscript." More on this project from Nicholas Wade in the NYTimes.
- Another good one in the Guardian books podcast: Stephen Fry on Saki's excellent "Sredni Vashtar."
Reviews
- Fiona Simpson's In Search of Mary Shelley; review by Rachel Cooke in the Guardian.
- Pradeep Sebastian's The Book Hunters of Katpadi; review by Rajdeep Bains in the Tribune. I'm looking forward to this one.
- Brenda Maddox's Reading the Rocks; review by Timothy R. Smith in the WaPo.
- Noah Feldman's The Three Lives of James Madison; review by Pamela Newkirk in the WaPo.
- Helen Smith's An Uncommon Reader; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Literature & Fine Books - Poetry from the Collection of Larry Rafferty - Miniature Books at PBA Galleries on 11 January.
- Rare, Out-of-Print and Used Books at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society on 12 January.
- Michael Winship's keynote from this fall's APHA conference, "Good, But Not So Fast or Cheap," is now available on the APHA blog.
- January Rare Book Monthly articles include Michael Stillman's overview of the top 500 auction prices for 2017, and Bruce McKinney on buying an obscure Munsell imprint.
- Registration for the Scientific Illustration Renaissance to the Digital Age Symposium on 15 March at the Library of Congress is now open. This looks like a great program.
- Rebecca Rego Barry notes at the Fine Books Blog the deaths of three booksellers this week: the Strand's Fred Bass, Charlie Cox, and Louis Collins. They will be much missed. More about Louis from the Seattle Review of Books; I had the great pleasure of meeting him at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair in 2016, and I'm very glad that I did.
- More on Fred Bass from Tom Vanderbilt on the NYRB blog and Tom Verlaine in the NYTimes.
- For the New Yorker, Paul Collins takes a look at a 1968 conference and associated book which looked ahead to 2018.
- Three major CLIR-Mellon Hidden Collection grants will allow the Penn Libraries to digitize Islamic manuscripts, the Marian Anderson archive, and records of early Philadelphia religious congregations.
- WBUR aired a remembrance of Harvard Law Library curator David Ferris this week.
- The University of British Columbia has acquired a copy (in fact, the only known copy) of the first edition of The Vancouver Weekly Herald and North Pacific News, believed to be the first item printed in the city of Vancouver.
- Urvashi Chakravarty surveys apprenticeship indentures at the Folger for The Collation.
- I missed this in December, but the BBC reports on recent work using digital tools to read Sonderkommando evidence buried at Auschwitz and discovered in the 1980s during excavations there.
- In the Harvard alumni magazine, a profile of Columba Stewart, executive director of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library.
- Another one I missed in December (sorry!): Russell Maret on his weeks as the inaugural printer-in-residence at the Bodleian Libraries.
- The Association of European Printing Museums has launched a new map of printing museums, which looks to be quite handy. [via the Princeton Graphic Arts blog]
- Aaron Pratt writes for the HRC magazine about interactive designs (volvelles, &c.) in early printed books.
- Over at Making Manuscripts in the Medieval and Early Modern World, "Revealing the Secrets of an Early Coptic Manuscript." More on this project from Nicholas Wade in the NYTimes.
- Another good one in the Guardian books podcast: Stephen Fry on Saki's excellent "Sredni Vashtar."
Reviews
- Fiona Simpson's In Search of Mary Shelley; review by Rachel Cooke in the Guardian.
- Pradeep Sebastian's The Book Hunters of Katpadi; review by Rajdeep Bains in the Tribune. I'm looking forward to this one.
- Brenda Maddox's Reading the Rocks; review by Timothy R. Smith in the WaPo.
- Noah Feldman's The Three Lives of James Madison; review by Pamela Newkirk in the WaPo.
- Helen Smith's An Uncommon Reader; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Literature & Fine Books - Poetry from the Collection of Larry Rafferty - Miniature Books at PBA Galleries on 11 January.
- Rare, Out-of-Print and Used Books at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society on 12 January.
Sunday, December 31, 2017
Links & Reviews
I hope you've all had a delightful holiday season, and here comes 2018, ready or not.
- A bit more on the Philips Library from the Salem News, and the petition mentioned in my last post continues to garner signatures, with 2,988 as of this morning.
- From Past is Present, a post by Kathleen Major about her work on attempting to identify the authors of anonymous diaries in the AAS collections.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased a 14th-century illuminated Hebrew Bible prior to its scheduled sale at Sotheby's.
- The Library of Congress highlights some of the maps scanned and made available this year.
- The National Library of Scotland has announced the availability of the Peter Sharratt Collection.
- Caleb Crain's "Notes, 2017" is a fascinating commonplace book of the year.
- The Guardian is running a fun end-of-year short stories podcast series; the first features Penelope Lively introducing M.R. James' wonderfully creepy "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," accompanied by Simon Callow's reading of the story.
- Police in Norwich are seeking information about the theft of several books from a delivery van.
- Amelia Hugill-Fontanel's "Mind Your Thorns & Eths," about a visit to bookshops and letterpress outfits in Iceland, has given me a few more things to add to my list of places to go when I'm there in March!
- At NPR, Victoria Schwab says "Just Trust Me: In Praise of Strange Books."
- Try your hand at the Guardian Christmas quiz and their big books quiz of the year.
- The Library of Congress has updated their policy on the Twitter archive. Dan Cohen has a post on "The Significance of the Twitter Archive at the Library of Congress."
- Hoaxter Clifford Irving of Autobiography of Howard Hughes fame died, aged 87. See the NYTimes obit.
- Katherine Skiba profiles Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden for the Chicago Tribune.
- In Signature, Lorraine Berry on "The Sensational Allure of Lost Books in Fiction and Nonfiction."
- Ian Cobain reports for the Guardian on the thousands of documents reported removed from public access at the National Archives (mostly by civil servants, it seems) and not returned.
- Mike Hanlon summarizes some of the end-of-year auction action at New Atlas.
- The Bodleian Library has announced that several previously unseen J.R.R. Tolkien "Father Christmas" letters to his children will be part of a major exhibition opening in May.
Reviews
- A.N. Wilson's Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker; review by Jerry Coyne in the WaPo. Wowsers. This and several other Darwin-related books are reviewed by Claire Pettit in the TLS.
- Christopher de Hamel's Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; review by Helen Castor in the NYTimes.
- Robert Irwin's Wonders Will Never Cease; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Martin Salisbury's The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920–1970; reviews by Ernest Hilbert in the WaPo and Agatha French in the LATimes.
- Anders Rydell's The Book Thieves; review by Ashley Valanzola in the LARB.
Upcoming Auction
- Books and Ephemera at National Book Auctions on 6 January.
- A bit more on the Philips Library from the Salem News, and the petition mentioned in my last post continues to garner signatures, with 2,988 as of this morning.
- From Past is Present, a post by Kathleen Major about her work on attempting to identify the authors of anonymous diaries in the AAS collections.
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art purchased a 14th-century illuminated Hebrew Bible prior to its scheduled sale at Sotheby's.
- The Library of Congress highlights some of the maps scanned and made available this year.
- The National Library of Scotland has announced the availability of the Peter Sharratt Collection.
- Caleb Crain's "Notes, 2017" is a fascinating commonplace book of the year.
- The Guardian is running a fun end-of-year short stories podcast series; the first features Penelope Lively introducing M.R. James' wonderfully creepy "Oh Whistle and I'll Come to You, My Lad," accompanied by Simon Callow's reading of the story.
- Police in Norwich are seeking information about the theft of several books from a delivery van.
- Amelia Hugill-Fontanel's "Mind Your Thorns & Eths," about a visit to bookshops and letterpress outfits in Iceland, has given me a few more things to add to my list of places to go when I'm there in March!
- At NPR, Victoria Schwab says "Just Trust Me: In Praise of Strange Books."
- Try your hand at the Guardian Christmas quiz and their big books quiz of the year.
- The Library of Congress has updated their policy on the Twitter archive. Dan Cohen has a post on "The Significance of the Twitter Archive at the Library of Congress."
- Hoaxter Clifford Irving of Autobiography of Howard Hughes fame died, aged 87. See the NYTimes obit.
- Katherine Skiba profiles Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden for the Chicago Tribune.
- In Signature, Lorraine Berry on "The Sensational Allure of Lost Books in Fiction and Nonfiction."
- Ian Cobain reports for the Guardian on the thousands of documents reported removed from public access at the National Archives (mostly by civil servants, it seems) and not returned.
- Mike Hanlon summarizes some of the end-of-year auction action at New Atlas.
- The Bodleian Library has announced that several previously unseen J.R.R. Tolkien "Father Christmas" letters to his children will be part of a major exhibition opening in May.
Reviews
- A.N. Wilson's Charles Darwin: Victorian Mythmaker; review by Jerry Coyne in the WaPo. Wowsers. This and several other Darwin-related books are reviewed by Claire Pettit in the TLS.
- Christopher de Hamel's Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; review by Helen Castor in the NYTimes.
- Robert Irwin's Wonders Will Never Cease; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Martin Salisbury's The Illustrated Dust Jacket, 1920–1970; reviews by Ernest Hilbert in the WaPo and Agatha French in the LATimes.
- Anders Rydell's The Book Thieves; review by Ashley Valanzola in the LARB.
Upcoming Auction
- Books and Ephemera at National Book Auctions on 6 January.
Year-End Reading Report 2017
I think it's somewhat fair to say that 2017 will be another year I won't be sad to see the back of, but I have high hopes for 2018.
I read 174 books this year, and here are my favorites (excluding re-reads). I went with ten each this year, for no real reason at all other than I wanted to. These are the books that made me think, or laugh, and/or cry this year.
Fiction
Kristin Lavransdottir by Sigrid Undset
Tales by H.P. Lovecraft (the Library of America edition)
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
When the English Fall by David Williams
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Non-Fiction
An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan
March by John Lewis (with graphics by Nate Powell)
The Early Life of James McBey: An Autobiography (edited by Nicolas Barker)
H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald
Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Watching the English by Kate Fox
Printer's Error by Rebecca and J.P. Romney
A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Memoirs of the Author of the 'Rights of Woman' by Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
The Victory with No Name by Colin Calloway
Happy New Year to you all, and good reading!
Previous year's reports: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.
I read 174 books this year, and here are my favorites (excluding re-reads). I went with ten each this year, for no real reason at all other than I wanted to. These are the books that made me think, or laugh, and/or cry this year.
Fiction
Kristin Lavransdottir by Sigrid Undset
Tales by H.P. Lovecraft (the Library of America edition)
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon
The Martian by Andy Weir
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
When the English Fall by David Williams
If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
Black Swan Green by David Mitchell
Non-Fiction
An American Family: A Memoir of Hope and Sacrifice by Khizr Khan
March by John Lewis (with graphics by Nate Powell)
The Early Life of James McBey: An Autobiography (edited by Nicolas Barker)
H is for Hawk by Helen McDonald
Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande
Watching the English by Kate Fox
Printer's Error by Rebecca and J.P. Romney
A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Memoirs of the Author of the 'Rights of Woman' by Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin
The Victory with No Name by Colin Calloway
Happy New Year to you all, and good reading!
Previous year's reports: 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.
Sunday, December 17, 2017
Links & Reviews
To start today, two petitions which may be of interest:
- First, Paul Lewis and others have written a letter and online petition to encourage Historic Boston, Inc. to explore the feasibility of turning the Old Corner Bookstore (currently housing a Chipotle) into a museum of Boston's literary history.
- Second, by way of followup to a story noted last week, there is an online petition calling on the Peabody Essex Museum to return the Phillips Library collections to Salem (with nearly 2,200 signatures as of this morning).
- Another excellent idea: in Smithsonian, Colin Dickey offers "A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories." I highly recommend reading some M.R. James this holiday season!
- A neat acquisition by the Princeton Graphic Arts collection, the foundry book for the 21 April 1945 issue of the New Yorker, showing copy edits and proofs for the magazine.
- The Junto celebrates its fifth birthday. Many congratulations to all who have made this excellent blog what it is, and here's to many more years.
- The BBC has a short report on the sale of Richard Adams' library last week.
- There's an update on the Shakespeare's World transcription efforts and how they in turn feed back into the overall EMMO project.
- More than 27,000 images from the Gabriel García Márquez archive are now available via the HRC.
- Katherine Ruffin reviews another APHA panel, on "Printerly Identity, Subversion, and Nation-Building."
- Michael Dirda offers his holiday book recommendations (including a couple from our friends at Oak Knoll Press).
- Erin McCarthy writes for Mental Floss about Audubon's Birds of America (with a particular focus on the furniture built to house copies of the volumes).
- In Smithsonian, Jo Marchant reports on an ongoing study of palimpsest texts at St. Catherine's Monastery. The work so far has "revealed more than 284 erased texts in ten languages, including classical, Christian and Jewish texts dating from the fifth century until the 12th century."
Reviews
- James Delburgo's Collecting the World; review by Suzanna Fischer in the LARB.
- Ursula Le Guin's No Time to Spare; reviews by Michelle Dean in the LATimes and Jason Heller for NPR.
Upcoming Auctions
- The Sherlock Holmes Collection of Daniel Posnansky at Profiles in History on 19 December.
- Important Judaica at Sotheby's New York on 20 December.
- First, Paul Lewis and others have written a letter and online petition to encourage Historic Boston, Inc. to explore the feasibility of turning the Old Corner Bookstore (currently housing a Chipotle) into a museum of Boston's literary history.
- Second, by way of followup to a story noted last week, there is an online petition calling on the Peabody Essex Museum to return the Phillips Library collections to Salem (with nearly 2,200 signatures as of this morning).
- Another excellent idea: in Smithsonian, Colin Dickey offers "A Plea to Resurrect the Christmas Tradition of Telling Ghost Stories." I highly recommend reading some M.R. James this holiday season!
- A neat acquisition by the Princeton Graphic Arts collection, the foundry book for the 21 April 1945 issue of the New Yorker, showing copy edits and proofs for the magazine.
- The Junto celebrates its fifth birthday. Many congratulations to all who have made this excellent blog what it is, and here's to many more years.
- The BBC has a short report on the sale of Richard Adams' library last week.
- There's an update on the Shakespeare's World transcription efforts and how they in turn feed back into the overall EMMO project.
- More than 27,000 images from the Gabriel García Márquez archive are now available via the HRC.
- Katherine Ruffin reviews another APHA panel, on "Printerly Identity, Subversion, and Nation-Building."
- Michael Dirda offers his holiday book recommendations (including a couple from our friends at Oak Knoll Press).
- Erin McCarthy writes for Mental Floss about Audubon's Birds of America (with a particular focus on the furniture built to house copies of the volumes).
- In Smithsonian, Jo Marchant reports on an ongoing study of palimpsest texts at St. Catherine's Monastery. The work so far has "revealed more than 284 erased texts in ten languages, including classical, Christian and Jewish texts dating from the fifth century until the 12th century."
Reviews
- James Delburgo's Collecting the World; review by Suzanna Fischer in the LARB.
- Ursula Le Guin's No Time to Spare; reviews by Michelle Dean in the LATimes and Jason Heller for NPR.
Upcoming Auctions
- The Sherlock Holmes Collection of Daniel Posnansky at Profiles in History on 19 December.
- Important Judaica at Sotheby's New York on 20 December.
Sunday, December 10, 2017
Links & Reviews
- Michael Blanding reports for the NYTimes on what looks like yet another modern forgery come to light: a ~1507 Waldseemüller
world map that was set to be sold by Christie's this week before doubts were raised about its authenticity by Alex Clausen, Barry Ruderman, Michael Peichl, and Nick Wilding. Christie's has withdrawn the map from this week's sale.
- News this week from Salem, MA, where local media is covering the story that the Phillips Library collections, removed from their building in 2011 for renovations and kept at a facility in Rowley since then, probably won't be returning to Salem. See the Salem News report or "Shameless Stewards" at streestsofsalem.
- Over at Mental Floss, Rebecca Romney offers some tips for taking care of your books (common-sense to most of us, but useful reminders).
- Elizabeth DeBold explains this month's Crocodile Mystery at The Collation.
- From American Book Collecting, "The Heroic Age: Dibdin, Heber, and Bibliomania."
- On the Library of Congress blog, John Cole reflects on his job as the Library's first official historian.
- Jennifer Howard highlights a few of her recent stories on the biblio-world.
- The LATimes profiles Whitmore Rare Books and other LA-area rare booksellers.
Reviews
- Ron Chernow's Grant; review by Padraic Scanlon for the Guardian.
- Carol Porter Grossman's The History of the Limited Editions Club; review by Lise Jaillant in the TLS.
- Gordon Wood's Friends Divided; review by Edith Gelles in the WaPo.
- Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris' The Lost Words; review by Meara Sharma in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Sotheby's New York on 11 December.
- English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations at Sotheby's London on 11 December.
- History of Science and Technology at Sotheby's New York on 12 December.
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 13 December.
- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 13 December.
- The Library of Richard Adams at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 14 December.
- Books and Works on Paper, Including Fine Photographs at Bloomsbury on 14 December.
- Fine Americana - Travel & Exploration - World History - Cartography at PBA Galleries on 14 December.
- Children's & Illustrated Books at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 15 December.
- News this week from Salem, MA, where local media is covering the story that the Phillips Library collections, removed from their building in 2011 for renovations and kept at a facility in Rowley since then, probably won't be returning to Salem. See the Salem News report or "Shameless Stewards" at streestsofsalem.
- Over at Mental Floss, Rebecca Romney offers some tips for taking care of your books (common-sense to most of us, but useful reminders).
- Elizabeth DeBold explains this month's Crocodile Mystery at The Collation.
- From American Book Collecting, "The Heroic Age: Dibdin, Heber, and Bibliomania."
- On the Library of Congress blog, John Cole reflects on his job as the Library's first official historian.
- Jennifer Howard highlights a few of her recent stories on the biblio-world.
- The LATimes profiles Whitmore Rare Books and other LA-area rare booksellers.
Reviews
- Ron Chernow's Grant; review by Padraic Scanlon for the Guardian.
- Carol Porter Grossman's The History of the Limited Editions Club; review by Lise Jaillant in the TLS.
- Gordon Wood's Friends Divided; review by Edith Gelles in the WaPo.
- Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris' The Lost Words; review by Meara Sharma in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Sotheby's New York on 11 December.
- English Literature, History, Children's Books & Illustrations at Sotheby's London on 11 December.
- History of Science and Technology at Sotheby's New York on 12 December.
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 13 December.
- Valuable Books and Manuscripts at Christie's London on 13 December.
- The Library of Richard Adams at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 14 December.
- Books and Works on Paper, Including Fine Photographs at Bloomsbury on 14 December.
- Fine Americana - Travel & Exploration - World History - Cartography at PBA Galleries on 14 December.
- Children's & Illustrated Books at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 15 December.
Sunday, December 03, 2017
Links & Reviews
- At Wynken de Worde, Sarah Werner on "creating a digitized facsimile wishlist," in which she calls for suggestions of early printed books that aren't yet available as open-access digital facsimiles.
- In December's Rare Book Monthly, Thibault Ehrengardt on the Aristophil aftermath, Susan Halas on "courtesy to the trade," a followup report from Michael Stillman about the auction of an early Declaration of Independence broadside ($1.8 million!), and more.
- Rebecca Romney is starting up a biblio-newsletter; I have subscribed in anticipation, and would encourage all readers of this blog to do the same.
- The Codex Amiatinus will return to Britain for an exhibition at the British Library in 2018. And the Codex Leicester will be displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence from October 2018.
- The Folger's Crocodile Mystery for December is up and awaiting your guesses.
- James Mitchell writes for the National Library of Scotland blog about cataloging what looks like a very interesting collection of Venetian chapbooks.
- Penelope Lively's papers have been acquired by the British Library.
- John Hodgman gets the "By the Book" treatment in the NYTimes.
- Sara Sauers has another APHA panel review, on "Transatlantic Connections."
- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Louise Ege, Book-Breaker."
Reviews
- Allan Young and Patrick Scott's The Kilmarnock Burns: A Census; review by Michael Stillman for Rare Book Monthly.
- Jorge Carrión's Bookshops: A Reader's History; review by Alan Riding in the NYTimes.
- Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney's The Collector of Lives; review by Deborah Solomon in the NYTimes.
- Kevin Young's Bunk; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- David E. Fishman's The Book Smugglers and Michele K. Troy's Strange Bird; review by Anna Katharina Schaffner in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana at Christie's New York on 5 December.
- Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books at Sotheby's London on 5 December.
- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 5 December.
- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 6 December.
- Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures at Bloomsbury on 6 December.
- History of Science and Technology at Bonhams New York on 6 December.
- Voices of the 20th Century at Bonhams New York on 6 December.
- Russian America & Polar Exploration: Highlights from the Martin Greene Library at Christie's New York on 7 December.
- In December's Rare Book Monthly, Thibault Ehrengardt on the Aristophil aftermath, Susan Halas on "courtesy to the trade," a followup report from Michael Stillman about the auction of an early Declaration of Independence broadside ($1.8 million!), and more.
- Rebecca Romney is starting up a biblio-newsletter; I have subscribed in anticipation, and would encourage all readers of this blog to do the same.
- The Codex Amiatinus will return to Britain for an exhibition at the British Library in 2018. And the Codex Leicester will be displayed at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence from October 2018.
- The Folger's Crocodile Mystery for December is up and awaiting your guesses.
- James Mitchell writes for the National Library of Scotland blog about cataloging what looks like a very interesting collection of Venetian chapbooks.
- Penelope Lively's papers have been acquired by the British Library.
- John Hodgman gets the "By the Book" treatment in the NYTimes.
- Sara Sauers has another APHA panel review, on "Transatlantic Connections."
- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, "Louise Ege, Book-Breaker."
Reviews
- Allan Young and Patrick Scott's The Kilmarnock Burns: A Census; review by Michael Stillman for Rare Book Monthly.
- Jorge Carrión's Bookshops: A Reader's History; review by Alan Riding in the NYTimes.
- Ingrid Rowland and Noah Charney's The Collector of Lives; review by Deborah Solomon in the NYTimes.
- Kevin Young's Bunk; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- David E. Fishman's The Book Smugglers and Michele K. Troy's Strange Bird; review by Anna Katharina Schaffner in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana at Christie's New York on 5 December.
- Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books at Sotheby's London on 5 December.
- Maps & Atlases, Natural History & Color Plate Books at Swann Galleries on 5 December.
- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 6 December.
- Western and Oriental Manuscripts and Miniatures at Bloomsbury on 6 December.
- History of Science and Technology at Bonhams New York on 6 December.
- Voices of the 20th Century at Bonhams New York on 6 December.
- Russian America & Polar Exploration: Highlights from the Martin Greene Library at Christie's New York on 7 December.
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Links & Reviews
- The Library of Congress has acquired the Codex Quetzalcatzin, a pre-1600 Mesoamerican codex.
- New from the wonderful Brattle Book Shop, Brattlecast, a short podcast about rare books and the business of selling them.
- Try out the Folger's new DIY First Folio site, where you can practice making your own in their virtual printing house.
- The new Magdalen College Oxford exhibition, "Fragments of Note: The Afterlives of Medieval Manuscripts" is now open - and the short video linked at the bottom of that page, "Singing the Collections," is well worth a look.
- Author Richard Adams' library will go on the block at Dominic Winter on 14 December. View the lots, or read a Guardian piece about the sale. I wish there was better cataloging on the group lots so that a full inventory of Adams' collection could be captured - if anybody reads this who is going to the preview and wants to spend a bit of them jotting down citations, I would be eternally grateful!
- Surekha Davies posts at The Collation on "Collecting the world in seventeenth-century London."
- Rebecca Rego Barry has the annual Fine Books Notes holiday roundup of books about books.
- The second installment in the Echoes from the Vault series on visualizing the St. Andrews biographical register is out.
- If you missed the Bibliography Among the Disciplines conference in October, there are 40+ hours of audio now available.
- Haven Hawley summarizes a visit to the Museum of Printing during this fall's APHA conference.
- Keith Houston writes about Thomas Jefferson's ivory notebook in a Miscellany post.
- A copy of Origin of Species annotated by Darwin is set to be sold at Christie's next month.
- Over at the Robb Report, "Harry Potter and the Ridiculous Run of Auction Records."
- From the Ransom Center magazine, a profile of translator Harriet de Ónis.
- Henry McGhie writes for the OUP blog about "The building blocks of ornithology."
Reviews
- Leslie Peirce's Empress of the East; review by Thomas Madden in the NYTimes.
- Caroline Fraser's Little House on the Prairie; review by Patricia Nelson Limerick in the NYTimes.
- Marion Rankine's Brolliology; review by Michael Lindgren in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Livres Rares et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 28 November.
- Musical Manuscripts at Sotheby's London on 28 November.
- Printed Books & Manuscripts at Chiswick Auctions on 29 November.
- The Richard E. Bateman Collection on Celestial Mechanics - Science, Medicine & Technology - Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 30 November.
- New from the wonderful Brattle Book Shop, Brattlecast, a short podcast about rare books and the business of selling them.
- Try out the Folger's new DIY First Folio site, where you can practice making your own in their virtual printing house.
- The new Magdalen College Oxford exhibition, "Fragments of Note: The Afterlives of Medieval Manuscripts" is now open - and the short video linked at the bottom of that page, "Singing the Collections," is well worth a look.
- Author Richard Adams' library will go on the block at Dominic Winter on 14 December. View the lots, or read a Guardian piece about the sale. I wish there was better cataloging on the group lots so that a full inventory of Adams' collection could be captured - if anybody reads this who is going to the preview and wants to spend a bit of them jotting down citations, I would be eternally grateful!
- Surekha Davies posts at The Collation on "Collecting the world in seventeenth-century London."
- Rebecca Rego Barry has the annual Fine Books Notes holiday roundup of books about books.
- The second installment in the Echoes from the Vault series on visualizing the St. Andrews biographical register is out.
- If you missed the Bibliography Among the Disciplines conference in October, there are 40+ hours of audio now available.
- Haven Hawley summarizes a visit to the Museum of Printing during this fall's APHA conference.
- Keith Houston writes about Thomas Jefferson's ivory notebook in a Miscellany post.
- A copy of Origin of Species annotated by Darwin is set to be sold at Christie's next month.
- Over at the Robb Report, "Harry Potter and the Ridiculous Run of Auction Records."
- From the Ransom Center magazine, a profile of translator Harriet de Ónis.
- Henry McGhie writes for the OUP blog about "The building blocks of ornithology."
Reviews
- Leslie Peirce's Empress of the East; review by Thomas Madden in the NYTimes.
- Caroline Fraser's Little House on the Prairie; review by Patricia Nelson Limerick in the NYTimes.
- Marion Rankine's Brolliology; review by Michael Lindgren in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Livres Rares et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 28 November.
- Musical Manuscripts at Sotheby's London on 28 November.
- Printed Books & Manuscripts at Chiswick Auctions on 29 November.
- The Richard E. Bateman Collection on Celestial Mechanics - Science, Medicine & Technology - Rare Books & Manuscripts at PBA Galleries on 30 November.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Links & Reviews
Another Boston Book Fair in the books (my thirteenth, I realized). Still—and I suspect, always—my favorite fair. Chilly this year, but that didn't stop people from coming out for the main fair or the very busy shadow show. There wasn't time enough to pack in everything I wanted to do in Boston this trip ... I'll just have to go back soon!
- Princeton has acquired a 1483 Horace which happened to contain as binding waste a leaf from a previously unknown ~1457 edition of Donatus' Ars minor (printed with the same type used for the Gutenberg Bible).
- Ian Jackson, Nick Aretakis, and Ben Kinmont have issued a very nice biography of bookseller Bernard Rosenthal.
- Molly Hardy has a really useful update on various projects linking printing trade prosopographies.
- UVA Today highlights some recent work on the SNAC Cooperative (Social Networks and Archival Context).
- Mike Widener's new exhibition at the Yale Law School's Lillian Goldman Law Library, "Around the World with Law's Picture Books," is featured in the New Haven Independent.
- Nora Benedict is featured in the FB&C "Bright Young Collectors" series.
- The BL has launched a new crowdsourced transcription project for its historical playbills collection.
- A quiz about books? You bet! I hadn't heard of Nemo's Almanac before, but editor Ian Patterson's piece in the Guardian had me intrigued right away. Anybody collecting these?
- An annotated copy of Ben Jonson's Workes has been placed under a UK export ban until at least February, to see if a domestic buyer can be found.
- Daniel Witek, a one-time volunteer at the Buffalo History Museum, has been sentenced to six months time served and a $2,100 restitution payment for the theft of documents from the museum, which he then attempted to sell.
- Michael Greshko writes for National Geographic about the possibility of biblical forgeries lurking in the collections of the new Museum of the Bible.
- At Clements Library Chronicles, an attempt to locate some Revolutionary War trunks used to transport the Thomas Gage papers.
- Elizabeth Savage posts on the Leiden Special Collections blog about a frisket sheet fragment recently found during conservation at Leiden University.
- Houghton Library undergraduate fellow Mario Menendez talks about his work on a fictional biography of William Henry Ireland.
- A series of what could be 300 auctions to sell the Aristophil collection will begin on 20 December at Drouot.
- Another great APHA panel review by Paul Gough on "Illustrating Typography and Typos," which featured papers by Lynne Farrington, Vince Golden, and Michael Russem.
- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a great piece by two 18th-century woman printmakers, Isabella Piccini and Angela Baroni.
- A 1659 Blaeu map showing Australia has gone on display at the National Library of Australia.
- William & Mary's Swem Library has received by donation the Civil War diary of a Union soldier captured and held prisoner at the college.
- Ben Breen asks at Res Obscura, "What Did 17th-Century Food Taste Like?"
- At Echoes from the Vault, the first in a series on "Visualising the Biographical Register of the University of St. Andrews."
- AAS student page Emily Isakson gives a brief overview of forgery-related material in the AAS collections.
Reviews
- Martin Puchner's The Written Word, Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes, and Thomas Mullaney's The Chinese Typewriter; review by Thomas Hale in the Financial Times.
- Kevin Young's Bunk; reviews by Jonathan Lethem in the NYTimes and Colin Dickey in the LATimes.
- John Crowley's Ka; reviews by Michael Dirda in the WaPo and Elizabeth Hand in the LATimes.
Upcoming Auction
- Library of M. R*** at Pierre Bergé on 22 November.
- Princeton has acquired a 1483 Horace which happened to contain as binding waste a leaf from a previously unknown ~1457 edition of Donatus' Ars minor (printed with the same type used for the Gutenberg Bible).
- Ian Jackson, Nick Aretakis, and Ben Kinmont have issued a very nice biography of bookseller Bernard Rosenthal.
- Molly Hardy has a really useful update on various projects linking printing trade prosopographies.
- UVA Today highlights some recent work on the SNAC Cooperative (Social Networks and Archival Context).
- Mike Widener's new exhibition at the Yale Law School's Lillian Goldman Law Library, "Around the World with Law's Picture Books," is featured in the New Haven Independent.
- Nora Benedict is featured in the FB&C "Bright Young Collectors" series.
- The BL has launched a new crowdsourced transcription project for its historical playbills collection.
- A quiz about books? You bet! I hadn't heard of Nemo's Almanac before, but editor Ian Patterson's piece in the Guardian had me intrigued right away. Anybody collecting these?
- An annotated copy of Ben Jonson's Workes has been placed under a UK export ban until at least February, to see if a domestic buyer can be found.
- Daniel Witek, a one-time volunteer at the Buffalo History Museum, has been sentenced to six months time served and a $2,100 restitution payment for the theft of documents from the museum, which he then attempted to sell.
- Michael Greshko writes for National Geographic about the possibility of biblical forgeries lurking in the collections of the new Museum of the Bible.
- At Clements Library Chronicles, an attempt to locate some Revolutionary War trunks used to transport the Thomas Gage papers.
- Elizabeth Savage posts on the Leiden Special Collections blog about a frisket sheet fragment recently found during conservation at Leiden University.
- Houghton Library undergraduate fellow Mario Menendez talks about his work on a fictional biography of William Henry Ireland.
- A series of what could be 300 auctions to sell the Aristophil collection will begin on 20 December at Drouot.
- Another great APHA panel review by Paul Gough on "Illustrating Typography and Typos," which featured papers by Lynne Farrington, Vince Golden, and Michael Russem.
- The Princeton Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired a great piece by two 18th-century woman printmakers, Isabella Piccini and Angela Baroni.
- A 1659 Blaeu map showing Australia has gone on display at the National Library of Australia.
- William & Mary's Swem Library has received by donation the Civil War diary of a Union soldier captured and held prisoner at the college.
- Ben Breen asks at Res Obscura, "What Did 17th-Century Food Taste Like?"
- At Echoes from the Vault, the first in a series on "Visualising the Biographical Register of the University of St. Andrews."
- AAS student page Emily Isakson gives a brief overview of forgery-related material in the AAS collections.
Reviews
- Martin Puchner's The Written Word, Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes, and Thomas Mullaney's The Chinese Typewriter; review by Thomas Hale in the Financial Times.
- Kevin Young's Bunk; reviews by Jonathan Lethem in the NYTimes and Colin Dickey in the LATimes.
- John Crowley's Ka; reviews by Michael Dirda in the WaPo and Elizabeth Hand in the LATimes.
Upcoming Auction
- Library of M. R*** at Pierre Bergé on 22 November.
Sunday, November 05, 2017
Links & Reviews
- Rebecca Romney has "13 Secrets of Rare Book Dealers" for Mental Floss.
- Noah Sheola's got a great post up on the Houghton blog about the importance of good cataloging.
- The November Rare Book Monthly includes Marc Sena Carrel on "Exiting the Bookseller Business," Michael Stillman on an upcoming auction of an early Declaration of Independence broadside, and a Bruce McKinney note about bookseller William Reese being honored by the AAS this week with the Christopher Columbus Baldwin medal (a well-deserved honor, to be sure).
- Hewlett-Packard's extensive archives were destroyed in the recent California wildfires.
- Cynthia Zarin writes for the New Yorker about "The Original Master of Ghost Stories" (M.R. James, of course).
- The manuscript of John Donne's "Courtier's Library" has been identified in the Westminster Abbey archives.
- Kurt Zimmerman is on "The Hunt for Early American Women Bibliographers" at American Book Collecting.
- MITH has launched Books.Files, a Mellon-funded project to "assess the potential for the archival collection and scholarly study of digital assets associated with today’s trade publishing and bookmaking."
- The Folger has launched Miranda, a new platform for the library's digital content. See the blog post for lots of good background.
- Tim Carmody writes for Kottke.org about "Card catalogs and the secret history of modernity."
- Several more panel overviews from the recent APHA conference in "The Process of Innovation."
- A Titanic letter (one of the last known to be written on the ship) sold at auction this week for £126,000.
- Booktryst will publish a fine-press book celebrating the late Martin Stone.
- A Thomas Bewick sketchbook has been identified and purchased by Bewick collector David Bolam.
Reviews
- Alison Weir's Queens of the Conquest; review by Dan Jones in the WaPo.
- Russell Shorto's Revolution Song; review by Lynne Cheney in the NYTimes.
- Walter Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci; review by Jennifer Senior in the NYTimes.
- Noah Feldman's The Three Lives of James Madison; review by Susan Dunn in the NYTimes.
- Gordon S. Wood's Friends Divided; review by Richard Brookhiser in the NYTimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- The Library of an English Bibliophile, Part VII at Sotheby's London on 7 November.
- Autographs at Swann Galleries on 7 November.
- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle New York on 7 November.
- Fine Golf Books at PBA Galleries on 12 November.
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner, Inc. on 12 November.
- Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History at Sotheby's London on 14 November.
- 19th & 20th Century Literature at Swann Galleries on 14 November.
- Fine Books, Atlases, Manuscripts, and Photographs at Bonhams London on 15 November.
- Noah Sheola's got a great post up on the Houghton blog about the importance of good cataloging.
- The November Rare Book Monthly includes Marc Sena Carrel on "Exiting the Bookseller Business," Michael Stillman on an upcoming auction of an early Declaration of Independence broadside, and a Bruce McKinney note about bookseller William Reese being honored by the AAS this week with the Christopher Columbus Baldwin medal (a well-deserved honor, to be sure).
- Hewlett-Packard's extensive archives were destroyed in the recent California wildfires.
- Cynthia Zarin writes for the New Yorker about "The Original Master of Ghost Stories" (M.R. James, of course).
- The manuscript of John Donne's "Courtier's Library" has been identified in the Westminster Abbey archives.
- Kurt Zimmerman is on "The Hunt for Early American Women Bibliographers" at American Book Collecting.
- MITH has launched Books.Files, a Mellon-funded project to "assess the potential for the archival collection and scholarly study of digital assets associated with today’s trade publishing and bookmaking."
- The Folger has launched Miranda, a new platform for the library's digital content. See the blog post for lots of good background.
- Tim Carmody writes for Kottke.org about "Card catalogs and the secret history of modernity."
- Several more panel overviews from the recent APHA conference in "The Process of Innovation."
- A Titanic letter (one of the last known to be written on the ship) sold at auction this week for £126,000.
- Booktryst will publish a fine-press book celebrating the late Martin Stone.
- A Thomas Bewick sketchbook has been identified and purchased by Bewick collector David Bolam.
Reviews
- Alison Weir's Queens of the Conquest; review by Dan Jones in the WaPo.
- Russell Shorto's Revolution Song; review by Lynne Cheney in the NYTimes.
- Walter Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci; review by Jennifer Senior in the NYTimes.
- Noah Feldman's The Three Lives of James Madison; review by Susan Dunn in the NYTimes.
- Gordon S. Wood's Friends Divided; review by Richard Brookhiser in the NYTimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- The Library of an English Bibliophile, Part VII at Sotheby's London on 7 November.
- Autographs at Swann Galleries on 7 November.
- Rare Books, Autographs & Maps at Doyle New York on 7 November.
- Fine Golf Books at PBA Galleries on 12 November.
- Fine Books & Manuscripts at Skinner, Inc. on 12 November.
- Travel, Atlases, Maps & Natural History at Sotheby's London on 14 November.
- 19th & 20th Century Literature at Swann Galleries on 14 November.
- Fine Books, Atlases, Manuscripts, and Photographs at Bonhams London on 15 November.
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Links & Reviews
- Forgot this last week so I'm putting it right at the top: there's a new issue of Common-place up, which is excellent as usual - I want to particularly point out Paul Erickson's piece "The Business of Building Books" and the "To Our Readers" note, which invites comments about the role and future direction of the journal.
- The New-York Historical Society will open a new gallery devoted to Audubon's Birds of America this fall.
- Joe Adelman asks at The Junto, "Did Hamilton Write Too Much For His Own Good?"
- Over at Echoes from the Vault, Caroline Douglas reports on her work researching women in the early history of photography.
- The Boston Public Library has announced a partnership with the Internet Archive to catalog and digitize a large portion of the library's Sound Archives Collection.
- Sarah Laskow has an interesting piece in Atlas Obscura about the "oldest" item in each of twelve libraries.
- The Louvre has launched a crowdfunding campaign to purchase a François I Book of Hours, after a British export ban was allowed to expire.
- From Science News, a debate over the dating of a manuscript which might contain the earliest known use of a zero.
- The National Library of Scotland blog highlights their current exhibition on the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Reformation. Ditto the Huntington Library.
- Richard Higgins writes for the WaPo on Luther as publishing phenom.
- Simon Beattie's turned up an absolutely wonderful little publication for his Boston Book Fair list - see his post "Fun and games in the British Museum Reading Room."
- Alexandra Alter reports for the NYTimes on a small collection of Harper Lee letters offered at auction; they sold for $12,500.
- Vittoria Traverso writes for Atlas Obscura about the travels of the Luneborch Prayer Book.
- Proposals for the 2018 RBMS conference program are due on 10 November.
- Mentioned this when it was in beta but the main release of a new photo-management program Tropy is now available for download; I'm looking forward to trying this out.
- On the APHA blog, Pam Barrie summarizes a panel at the group's recent conference: "Printing Conflict: The Civil War."
- At Boston1775, J.L. Bell comments on "False Anniversaries for Equiano and Wheatley."
Reviews
- Alan Jacobs' How To Think; review by Dan Cohen on his eponymous blog.
- Richard Beadle's Henry Bradshaw and the Foundations of Codicology; review by James Freeman on the Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog.
- Christopher de Hamel's Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; reviews by Helen Hazen for The American Scholar and Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Christopher Frayling's Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years; review by Zoë Lescaze in the NYTimes.
- Naomi Alderman's The Power; review by Bridget Read in Vogue.
- John Hodgman's Vacationland; review by Charles Thaxton in the WaPo.
- Ed Ayers' The Thin Light of Freedom; review by James Oakes in the WaPo.
- Eric Metaxas' Martin Luther and Brad Gregory's Rebel in the Ranks; review by Andrew Pettegree in the WaPo.
- Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices and The Book of Dust; review by Michael Saler in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Livres at Manuscrits at Sotheby's Paris on 30 October.
- Important Instruments of Science & Technology at Bonhams London on 31 October.
- The Library of a European Gentleman at Sotheby's London on 2 November.
- Illustrated Books - Childrens' Books - Books in All Fields at PBA Galleries on 2 November.
- The New-York Historical Society will open a new gallery devoted to Audubon's Birds of America this fall.
- Joe Adelman asks at The Junto, "Did Hamilton Write Too Much For His Own Good?"
- Over at Echoes from the Vault, Caroline Douglas reports on her work researching women in the early history of photography.
- The Boston Public Library has announced a partnership with the Internet Archive to catalog and digitize a large portion of the library's Sound Archives Collection.
- Sarah Laskow has an interesting piece in Atlas Obscura about the "oldest" item in each of twelve libraries.
- The Louvre has launched a crowdfunding campaign to purchase a François I Book of Hours, after a British export ban was allowed to expire.
- From Science News, a debate over the dating of a manuscript which might contain the earliest known use of a zero.
- The National Library of Scotland blog highlights their current exhibition on the 500th anniversary of the beginnings of the Reformation. Ditto the Huntington Library.
- Richard Higgins writes for the WaPo on Luther as publishing phenom.
- Simon Beattie's turned up an absolutely wonderful little publication for his Boston Book Fair list - see his post "Fun and games in the British Museum Reading Room."
- Alexandra Alter reports for the NYTimes on a small collection of Harper Lee letters offered at auction; they sold for $12,500.
- Vittoria Traverso writes for Atlas Obscura about the travels of the Luneborch Prayer Book.
- Proposals for the 2018 RBMS conference program are due on 10 November.
- Mentioned this when it was in beta but the main release of a new photo-management program Tropy is now available for download; I'm looking forward to trying this out.
- On the APHA blog, Pam Barrie summarizes a panel at the group's recent conference: "Printing Conflict: The Civil War."
- At Boston1775, J.L. Bell comments on "False Anniversaries for Equiano and Wheatley."
Reviews
- Alan Jacobs' How To Think; review by Dan Cohen on his eponymous blog.
- Richard Beadle's Henry Bradshaw and the Foundations of Codicology; review by James Freeman on the Cambridge University Library Special Collections blog.
- Christopher de Hamel's Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts; reviews by Helen Hazen for The American Scholar and Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Christopher Frayling's Frankenstein: The First Two Hundred Years; review by Zoë Lescaze in the NYTimes.
- Naomi Alderman's The Power; review by Bridget Read in Vogue.
- John Hodgman's Vacationland; review by Charles Thaxton in the WaPo.
- Ed Ayers' The Thin Light of Freedom; review by James Oakes in the WaPo.
- Eric Metaxas' Martin Luther and Brad Gregory's Rebel in the Ranks; review by Andrew Pettegree in the WaPo.
- Philip Pullman's Daemon Voices and The Book of Dust; review by Michael Saler in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Livres at Manuscrits at Sotheby's Paris on 30 October.
- Important Instruments of Science & Technology at Bonhams London on 31 October.
- The Library of a European Gentleman at Sotheby's London on 2 November.
- Illustrated Books - Childrens' Books - Books in All Fields at PBA Galleries on 2 November.
Sunday, October 22, 2017
Links & Reviews
- It was a great treat to see so many friends at last week's Bibliography Among the Disciplines conference in Philadelphia - see the #BxD17 hashtag for tweets from the meeting.
- The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is coming up on 10–12 November.
- From Archaeology, "The Hidden Stories of the York Gospel."
- Don't miss Aaron Pratt's new post on the HRC blog, "A baroness and her bookshelves in an English parish church."
- The Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division has released a new web portal for accessing digitized books from their collections.
- A security alert from the ABAA about some books stolen in Georgia and perhaps taken to California.
- Over on the Princeton Graphic Arts blog, a quick review of the APHA/CHAViC meeting in Worcester.
- The AP has a report on UVA's efforts to digitize books Jefferson recommended for law students.
- A John Calvin manuscript has been returned to the canton of Geneva by Sotheby's; it was found to have been stolen from the canton's archives.
- Leah Klement writes on the Huntington blog about her work with a much-used manuscript in the library's collections in "A Using Book."
- Ruth Ahnert has a report from the Folger's third Early Modern Digital Agendas gathering.
- The Folger and Wellesley co-sponsored a recent Transcribathon, which looks like grand fun!
- Over on the ABAA blog, Heather O'Donnell and Rebecca Romney offer "Notes from the 2017 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize."
- The Bookhunter on Safari offers up some thoughts on "The Fidelity of Engravers."
Reviews
- George William Van Cleve's We Have Not a Government; review by Jack Rakove in the WaPo.
- Walter Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci; review by Alexandra C. Kafka in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Autograph Letters and Manuscripts from a Distinguished Private Collection (Part I: Music) at Sotheby's London on 26 October.
- The Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen at Sotheby's New York on 26 October.
- Rare and Important Travel Posters at Swann Galleries on 26 October.
- The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is coming up on 10–12 November.
- From Archaeology, "The Hidden Stories of the York Gospel."
- Don't miss Aaron Pratt's new post on the HRC blog, "A baroness and her bookshelves in an English parish church."
- The Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division has released a new web portal for accessing digitized books from their collections.
- A security alert from the ABAA about some books stolen in Georgia and perhaps taken to California.
- Over on the Princeton Graphic Arts blog, a quick review of the APHA/CHAViC meeting in Worcester.
- The AP has a report on UVA's efforts to digitize books Jefferson recommended for law students.
- A John Calvin manuscript has been returned to the canton of Geneva by Sotheby's; it was found to have been stolen from the canton's archives.
- Leah Klement writes on the Huntington blog about her work with a much-used manuscript in the library's collections in "A Using Book."
- Ruth Ahnert has a report from the Folger's third Early Modern Digital Agendas gathering.
- The Folger and Wellesley co-sponsored a recent Transcribathon, which looks like grand fun!
- Over on the ABAA blog, Heather O'Donnell and Rebecca Romney offer "Notes from the 2017 Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize."
- The Bookhunter on Safari offers up some thoughts on "The Fidelity of Engravers."
Reviews
- George William Van Cleve's We Have Not a Government; review by Jack Rakove in the WaPo.
- Walter Isaacson's Leonardo da Vinci; review by Alexandra C. Kafka in the WaPo.
Upcoming Auctions
- Fine Autograph Letters and Manuscripts from a Distinguished Private Collection (Part I: Music) at Sotheby's London on 26 October.
- The Magnificent Botanical Library of D. F. Allen at Sotheby's New York on 26 October.
- Rare and Important Travel Posters at Swann Galleries on 26 October.
Sunday, October 08, 2017
Links & Reviews
- The "Bibliography Among the Disciplines" conference is coming up this week! Looking forward to seeing many of you there.
- Colleen Barrett of PRB&M gets the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight this week.
- At The Collation, Erin Blake explains this month's caption-contest Crocodile post.
- Trinity College Dublin is digitizing eight important medieval manuscripts as part of the "Beyond the Book of Kells" lecture series.
- The Yale Daily News reports that the Jonathan Edwards papers formerly held at the Andover Newton Theological Seminary will now join the other Edwards papers at the Beinecke.
- Quite an impressive showing at Swann this week for their Printed & Manuscript Americana sale!
Reviews
- Ron Chernow's Grant; review by T.J. Stiles in the WaPo.
- Robin Sloan's Sourdough; review by Jeff VanderMeer in the LATimes.
- James Atlas' The Shadow in the Garden; review by Jeffrey Meyers in the LATimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- Bibliothèque Romantique R. & B. L. at Sotheby's Paris on 10 October.
- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography at Lyon & Turnbull on 11 October.
- Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books at Swann Galleries on 17 October.
- The Marine Sale at Bonhams London on 18 October.
- The Richard Beagle Collection of Angling & Sporting Books, Part II. With Americana, Travel & Exploration, Cartography at PBA Galleries on 19 October.
- Books and Works on Paper at Bloomsbury Auctions on 19 October.
- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 19 October.
- Colleen Barrett of PRB&M gets the "Bright Young Booksellers" spotlight this week.
- At The Collation, Erin Blake explains this month's caption-contest Crocodile post.
- Trinity College Dublin is digitizing eight important medieval manuscripts as part of the "Beyond the Book of Kells" lecture series.
- The Yale Daily News reports that the Jonathan Edwards papers formerly held at the Andover Newton Theological Seminary will now join the other Edwards papers at the Beinecke.
- Quite an impressive showing at Swann this week for their Printed & Manuscript Americana sale!
Reviews
- Ron Chernow's Grant; review by T.J. Stiles in the WaPo.
- Robin Sloan's Sourdough; review by Jeff VanderMeer in the LATimes.
- James Atlas' The Shadow in the Garden; review by Jeffrey Meyers in the LATimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- Bibliothèque Romantique R. & B. L. at Sotheby's Paris on 10 October.
- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography at Lyon & Turnbull on 11 October.
- Early Printed, Medical, Scientific & Travel Books at Swann Galleries on 17 October.
- The Marine Sale at Bonhams London on 18 October.
- The Richard Beagle Collection of Angling & Sporting Books, Part II. With Americana, Travel & Exploration, Cartography at PBA Galleries on 19 October.
- Books and Works on Paper at Bloomsbury Auctions on 19 October.
- Historical Manuscripts at Heritage Auctions on 19 October.
Sunday, October 01, 2017
Links & Reviews
- From Sarah Werner, "book history questions and digital facsimiles."
- Former Lilly Librarian William Cagle died this week at the age of 83. Joel Silver has an "In Memoriam" post on the Lilly's blog.
- Among the Rare Book Monthly articles for October, Michael Stillman reports on the end of California's controversial autographed memorabilia law as it pertains to booksellers, Susan Halas profiles Nancy Pearl, and Michael Stillman covers a recent AbeBooks downtime.
- Rich Rennicks highlights a national scavenger hunt in Ireland for copies of Bill Drummond's The Curfew Tower is Many Things which have been hidden in each of the 32 counties in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- The National Library of Ireland announced a series of major Yeats-related acquisitions. More from RTÉ.
- Emory University has acquired the "Joan Anderson letter," sent from Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac and credited as the inspiration for On the Road.
- Betsy Walsh, head of reader services at the Folger Shakespeare Library, passed away on 22 September. There is a memorial post up at The Collation.
- An early Hemingway story (perhaps his first) was recently identified in a collection of material owned by the Bruce family, longtime Hemingway friends.
Reviews
- Stephen Taylor's Defiance; review by Lauren Elkin in the NYTimes.
- Jonathan Cott's There's a Mystery There; review by Jerry Griswold in the WaPo.
- Edward St. Aubyn's Dunbar; review by Bethanne Patrick in the LATimes.
- Maja Lunde's The History of Bees; review by Ellie Robins in the LATimes.
- Several recent books on Montaigne; review by Patrick J. Murray in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 4 October.
- Fine Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror at PBA Galleries on 5 October.
- Former Lilly Librarian William Cagle died this week at the age of 83. Joel Silver has an "In Memoriam" post on the Lilly's blog.
- Among the Rare Book Monthly articles for October, Michael Stillman reports on the end of California's controversial autographed memorabilia law as it pertains to booksellers, Susan Halas profiles Nancy Pearl, and Michael Stillman covers a recent AbeBooks downtime.
- Rich Rennicks highlights a national scavenger hunt in Ireland for copies of Bill Drummond's The Curfew Tower is Many Things which have been hidden in each of the 32 counties in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
- The National Library of Ireland announced a series of major Yeats-related acquisitions. More from RTÉ.
- Emory University has acquired the "Joan Anderson letter," sent from Neal Cassady to Jack Kerouac and credited as the inspiration for On the Road.
- Betsy Walsh, head of reader services at the Folger Shakespeare Library, passed away on 22 September. There is a memorial post up at The Collation.
- An early Hemingway story (perhaps his first) was recently identified in a collection of material owned by the Bruce family, longtime Hemingway friends.
Reviews
- Stephen Taylor's Defiance; review by Lauren Elkin in the NYTimes.
- Jonathan Cott's There's a Mystery There; review by Jerry Griswold in the WaPo.
- Edward St. Aubyn's Dunbar; review by Bethanne Patrick in the LATimes.
- Maja Lunde's The History of Bees; review by Ellie Robins in the LATimes.
- Several recent books on Montaigne; review by Patrick J. Murray in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 4 October.
- Fine Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror at PBA Galleries on 5 October.
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