The bookbinding work of Philip Smith will be on display at the Collins Gallery of the Portland Central Library (Portland, Oregon) from 19 May through 11 July. There will be opening remarks by curator Jim Carmin and an 'illustrated lecture' by Smith on 19 May; events will begin at 2 p.m. Contact information, locations, &c. are here.
From the announcement: "Philip Smith is one of today's most unusual and extraordinary bookbinders. Born in 1928, he combines unorthodox materials and approaches, sometimes creating sculptural assemblages using multiple copies and volumes of books. His influence is far and wide. He has served as Past President of Designer Bookbinders (UK), written books and articles on bookbinding, and lectured extensively around the world on bookbinding as an art form."
Some of Smith's work - which looks quite extraordinary indeed - is shown here.
[h/t Jim Carmin, Ex-Libris]
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Bible Theft Outbreak in England
The Independent reports that at least eight rural churches in Hampshire, England have experienced thefts of rare Bibles in recent weeks: St. John's Church in Farley Chamberlyne lost seven volumes of the Old and New Testaments around the end of last month, and at St. Mary the Virgin Chuch in Church Lane, Twyford, thieves removed a rare Bible "from a locked display case and put a different book in its place."
The pilfered Twyford Bible, a large folio published in 1717 by John Baskett, is known as a "Vinegar Bible" for a distinctive printer's error: in a headline above Luke XX, "The Parable of the Vineyard" was printed as "The Parable of the Vinegar."
Another Vinegar Bible has been reported stolen from Clyst St. Lawrence Church in Devon, where it was snatched "from the lectern ... some time between 15 April and 6 May."
These cases are far too similar to be unconnected.
[Update: This is London notes that the theft from St. Mary the Virgin was captured on closed-circuit t.v., and the culprit is described as "a white middle-aged male who was wearing a panama hat."]
The pilfered Twyford Bible, a large folio published in 1717 by John Baskett, is known as a "Vinegar Bible" for a distinctive printer's error: in a headline above Luke XX, "The Parable of the Vineyard" was printed as "The Parable of the Vinegar."
Another Vinegar Bible has been reported stolen from Clyst St. Lawrence Church in Devon, where it was snatched "from the lectern ... some time between 15 April and 6 May."
These cases are far too similar to be unconnected.
[Update: This is London notes that the theft from St. Mary the Virgin was captured on closed-circuit t.v., and the culprit is described as "a white middle-aged male who was wearing a panama hat."]
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Writing in Miniature
As a neat complement to the miniature books exhibit at the BPL I wanted to pass along an article from the most recent issue of Cabinet Magazine, "A Minor History of Miniature Writing" by Joshua Foer.
[h/t Bibliophile Bullpen via BoingBoing]
[h/t Bibliophile Bullpen via BoingBoing]
On Google Books
Several posts in the last few weeks on the subject of Google Books (as well as some personal experiences with the site) have prompted this post, in which I will consider what I see as the major pros and cons of the Books Project as it's currently manifested and/or as it may manifest itself in the future.
Michael Lieberman wrote recently at Book Patrol that the buzz at the London Book Fair was all about two future Google initiatives (more on both here): "a book rental program that will let you rent the content of a book on a weekly basis" and a "book retail program that will allow users lifetime access to the texts they purchase." These potential programs (which apparently may appear before the end of 2007) will apply to books still in copyright; those out of copyright will remain freely downloadable and accessible to the extent that they already are/will be.
Michael's very concerned about the impact of these projects, and as a bookseller I suspect he's right to be; in many cases, people will be more likely to 'rent' a book (practically the equivalent of borrowing it from a library, but with what I presume would be full-text searchability - always handy) than go out and buy it from a bookseller. Putting on my researcher hat, I might be tempted in some limited circumstances to do that myself (but since I'm afflicted with the rather odd, antiquated notion that prompts me to buy any of the books I'm using for research it probably wouldn't have a tremendous impact on me).
By making some sort of revenue-sharing deal with with publishers that will allow copyrighted titles to be part of the "rent or buy" program, Google will probably quiet much if not all of the publisher hubbub surrounding the project (that whole "what's in it for me?" question being resolved to the publisher's advantage, at least partially). True, these programs are not 'altruistic' in that they'd ask searchers to pay for content, but on copyrighted materials, paid access would - in a pinch - be better than the non-access some people have at present. Not altruistic, but still a useful service all the same. Michael's right, however, that the impact on booksellers may be unpleasant.
Another critique of Google Books in its current form comes from Robert Townsend at the AHA Today blog: "Google Books: What's Not to Like?" He's got several major criticisms, all of which are quite valid: poor scanning quality, faulty metadata, and truncated public domain.
It's quite common to find several pages within a scanned item which are either wholly or partially unreadable. Common, and annoying. It remains to be seen how Google is responding to reports of unreadable text, duplicate or missing pages; I have not seen any reports of 'repairs' being made yet (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Faulty metadata is another reasonably common and very frustrating problem. Particularly for publications which comprise parts of a series or were issued periodically, the metadata on the particular copy scanned and available is often just plain wrong. We've seen this very often with copies of the Proceedings and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, where just one metadata record was created for the many different volumes that have been scanned (entirely unsystematically of course). This is, theoretically, a fairly simple matter of connecting correct metadata records to each title, but it will still be a huge project and would be better done from the front end rather than retroactively.
As Townsend notes, this often bleeds into the third problem - faulty metadata often means that items which are in the public domain aren't being made fully available because the date attached to the record is incorrect (again I can use the Proceedings example - though the vast majority of those volumes scanned are in the public domain, they are only available in snippet view at present because the date in the single metadata record is from a copyright-protected year). So when researchers have found the snippet, it's a matter of having to reverse-engineer the search and then try to determine from the snippet what actual issue the text is from so that we can get the information to the researcher.
In his post, Townsend points out the difficulties of going back and fixing things once they've been done, and he's quite correct to ask "what's the rush?" Isn't it better to take more time and do it right than to tromp ahead willy-nilly and then have to either go back and fix things on a huge scale or leave incorrect and useless materials in place?
Commenters to Townsend's post have also noted the annoying nature of the current "snippet" view, which often doesn't even show you the search terms it says are there (I've found it tends to display the next sentence, or an adjacent line).
All these criticisms made, however, I think Google Books is fast becoming one of the most useful tools on the internet, both in terms of preservation and access. I see it as a sort of ever-expanding character-string index, and have used it myself to great effect on several research projects ... finding instances where my subjects were mentioned that don't appear in indexes, OCLC subject headings or other traditional sources. Sometimes they weren't full text, and sometimes they weren't even visible in snippet view and prompted a trip to the library or an ILL request - but in all cases they were leads to things I might not have found otherwise.
For reference, I've found in several cases that I'm able to answer an off-site researcher's question by pointing them to a scanned Google Books page or full-text source when they aren't able to come into the library and use our copies of the material (many of our research requests at MHS are from non-local researchers). And for preservation, I have in at least three cases recently been able to save photocopying fragile materials by pointing the researcher to Google Books (first making sure, of course, that the entire text they needed was readable).
On the whole, I think Google Books is and will continue to be an invaluable resource. No, it's not perfect, and yes, clearly they've made some serious and regrettable mistakes along the way (which hopefully can be mended). All concerned should certainly continue to push for improved quality control, enhanced metadata and better responsiveness from the Google folks, and as Michael notes we should beware of future actions which may sacrifice usefulness to profit-making. But as far as I'm concerned, the benefits far outweigh the deficiencies and, with any luck at all, things can only improve from here.
Michael Lieberman wrote recently at Book Patrol that the buzz at the London Book Fair was all about two future Google initiatives (more on both here): "a book rental program that will let you rent the content of a book on a weekly basis" and a "book retail program that will allow users lifetime access to the texts they purchase." These potential programs (which apparently may appear before the end of 2007) will apply to books still in copyright; those out of copyright will remain freely downloadable and accessible to the extent that they already are/will be.
Michael's very concerned about the impact of these projects, and as a bookseller I suspect he's right to be; in many cases, people will be more likely to 'rent' a book (practically the equivalent of borrowing it from a library, but with what I presume would be full-text searchability - always handy) than go out and buy it from a bookseller. Putting on my researcher hat, I might be tempted in some limited circumstances to do that myself (but since I'm afflicted with the rather odd, antiquated notion that prompts me to buy any of the books I'm using for research it probably wouldn't have a tremendous impact on me).
By making some sort of revenue-sharing deal with with publishers that will allow copyrighted titles to be part of the "rent or buy" program, Google will probably quiet much if not all of the publisher hubbub surrounding the project (that whole "what's in it for me?" question being resolved to the publisher's advantage, at least partially). True, these programs are not 'altruistic' in that they'd ask searchers to pay for content, but on copyrighted materials, paid access would - in a pinch - be better than the non-access some people have at present. Not altruistic, but still a useful service all the same. Michael's right, however, that the impact on booksellers may be unpleasant.
Another critique of Google Books in its current form comes from Robert Townsend at the AHA Today blog: "Google Books: What's Not to Like?" He's got several major criticisms, all of which are quite valid: poor scanning quality, faulty metadata, and truncated public domain.
It's quite common to find several pages within a scanned item which are either wholly or partially unreadable. Common, and annoying. It remains to be seen how Google is responding to reports of unreadable text, duplicate or missing pages; I have not seen any reports of 'repairs' being made yet (please correct me if I'm wrong).
Faulty metadata is another reasonably common and very frustrating problem. Particularly for publications which comprise parts of a series or were issued periodically, the metadata on the particular copy scanned and available is often just plain wrong. We've seen this very often with copies of the Proceedings and Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, where just one metadata record was created for the many different volumes that have been scanned (entirely unsystematically of course). This is, theoretically, a fairly simple matter of connecting correct metadata records to each title, but it will still be a huge project and would be better done from the front end rather than retroactively.
As Townsend notes, this often bleeds into the third problem - faulty metadata often means that items which are in the public domain aren't being made fully available because the date attached to the record is incorrect (again I can use the Proceedings example - though the vast majority of those volumes scanned are in the public domain, they are only available in snippet view at present because the date in the single metadata record is from a copyright-protected year). So when researchers have found the snippet, it's a matter of having to reverse-engineer the search and then try to determine from the snippet what actual issue the text is from so that we can get the information to the researcher.
In his post, Townsend points out the difficulties of going back and fixing things once they've been done, and he's quite correct to ask "what's the rush?" Isn't it better to take more time and do it right than to tromp ahead willy-nilly and then have to either go back and fix things on a huge scale or leave incorrect and useless materials in place?
Commenters to Townsend's post have also noted the annoying nature of the current "snippet" view, which often doesn't even show you the search terms it says are there (I've found it tends to display the next sentence, or an adjacent line).
All these criticisms made, however, I think Google Books is fast becoming one of the most useful tools on the internet, both in terms of preservation and access. I see it as a sort of ever-expanding character-string index, and have used it myself to great effect on several research projects ... finding instances where my subjects were mentioned that don't appear in indexes, OCLC subject headings or other traditional sources. Sometimes they weren't full text, and sometimes they weren't even visible in snippet view and prompted a trip to the library or an ILL request - but in all cases they were leads to things I might not have found otherwise.
For reference, I've found in several cases that I'm able to answer an off-site researcher's question by pointing them to a scanned Google Books page or full-text source when they aren't able to come into the library and use our copies of the material (many of our research requests at MHS are from non-local researchers). And for preservation, I have in at least three cases recently been able to save photocopying fragile materials by pointing the researcher to Google Books (first making sure, of course, that the entire text they needed was readable).
On the whole, I think Google Books is and will continue to be an invaluable resource. No, it's not perfect, and yes, clearly they've made some serious and regrettable mistakes along the way (which hopefully can be mended). All concerned should certainly continue to push for improved quality control, enhanced metadata and better responsiveness from the Google folks, and as Michael notes we should beware of future actions which may sacrifice usefulness to profit-making. But as far as I'm concerned, the benefits far outweigh the deficiencies and, with any luck at all, things can only improve from here.
LoC Blog Wants to Know
Matt Raymond, who's been doing a great job with the new Library of Congress blog, has a question for you: "What are you reading?" Feel free to submit your current reading to Matt via the comments feature on his post.
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Book Review: "Possession"
A.S. Byatt's novel Possession (which won the Booker Prize in 1990) finally made it off the "to be read" pile recently ... and as usual with books that have languished there for a long time, I regret not having read it sooner. This is a brilliantly-crafted story, filled to the brim with literary allusions, poetical mysteries, trenchant critiques of academic culture, and a long-ago romance - an all-too-human romance - which finds an unlikely parallel in the present day.
Notwithstanding the fact that Possession is bookended by two acts which are morally reprehensible to say the least (my views on library theft are fairly well known, and while I won't mention the other act and spoil the plot for anyone, suffice it to see it's not very pleasant), I enjoyed this book and had much trouble putting it down. Highly recommended.
Notwithstanding the fact that Possession is bookended by two acts which are morally reprehensible to say the least (my views on library theft are fairly well known, and while I won't mention the other act and spoil the plot for anyone, suffice it to see it's not very pleasant), I enjoyed this book and had much trouble putting it down. Highly recommended.
Links & Reviews
- Via fade theory, the second Literature Compass cluster on "Print Culture & Book History" has been released, and there are some interesting articles with limited-time free access on their homepage. I've saved a couple of them to read.
- Travis McDade reports further on book thief Paul William Powell and the bizarre "willingness of people to believe that these thieves are actually just caught up in some big misunderstanding."
- Paul Collins had some goodies for us over the weekend, highlighting Powell's epigram contest for the nonexistent Jim Crace book Useless America (hilarious background here and here). He also comments on 1903 New York City automobile speed limits.
- In the Independent, Christopher Hawtree reviews Emily Cockayne's Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England 1660-1770. Another one I'm passing along without reading since I've got the book to read very soon.
- From Book Trout, Rachel asks about the creeping obsolescence of the paper dictionary. She writes (beautifully) "I've tried the Internet dictionary route and it just isn't satisfying. Where's the serendipitous pleasure of having your eye stray to neighboring words and archaic phrases? Where are the interesting engraved illustrations? What will happen to the ennobling profession of lexicography? Will our language be dumbed down to a few thousand words of vocabulary and text message-style spelling? And am I the only one who really needs to have more than one dictionary in my house?"
No, Rachel, I don't suspect you are (although I confess the only paper dictionaries I have in my apartment at present are a facsimile of Websters first from 1828 and a couple editions of selections from Johnson's). I often use the online dictionary when I can (having access to the online OED makes that a one-stopper for most things), but indeed, the paper version does tend to be infinitely more satisfying.
- Travis McDade reports further on book thief Paul William Powell and the bizarre "willingness of people to believe that these thieves are actually just caught up in some big misunderstanding."
- Paul Collins had some goodies for us over the weekend, highlighting Powell's epigram contest for the nonexistent Jim Crace book Useless America (hilarious background here and here). He also comments on 1903 New York City automobile speed limits.
- In the Independent, Christopher Hawtree reviews Emily Cockayne's Hubbub: Filth, Noise and Stench in England 1660-1770. Another one I'm passing along without reading since I've got the book to read very soon.
- From Book Trout, Rachel asks about the creeping obsolescence of the paper dictionary. She writes (beautifully) "I've tried the Internet dictionary route and it just isn't satisfying. Where's the serendipitous pleasure of having your eye stray to neighboring words and archaic phrases? Where are the interesting engraved illustrations? What will happen to the ennobling profession of lexicography? Will our language be dumbed down to a few thousand words of vocabulary and text message-style spelling? And am I the only one who really needs to have more than one dictionary in my house?"
No, Rachel, I don't suspect you are (although I confess the only paper dictionaries I have in my apartment at present are a facsimile of Websters first from 1828 and a couple editions of selections from Johnson's). I often use the online dictionary when I can (having access to the online OED makes that a one-stopper for most things), but indeed, the paper version does tend to be infinitely more satisfying.
NYPL's Best of Reference List
The New York Public Library has released its "Best of Reference 2007" list, which includes a few surprises among the more expected titles (and proves that there really is/will be a reference book/site for just about anything. Here's a sampling:
- Encylopedia of Feminist Literature. Mary Ellen Snodgrass; Facts on File, 2006.
- Forensic Science: An Encyclopedia of History, Methods, and Techniques. William Tilstone, Kathleen Savage and Leigh Clark; ABC-Clio, 2006. For the "CSI" wannabees out there.
- America's Historical Newspapers. Selected full-text newspaper images (very handy, actually).
- The eBay Price Guide. Julia Wilkinson; No Starch Press, 2006. The "going-rate" for various eBayable items (and what isn't, these days?).
- An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World. Geoffrey Hughes; M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2006. Origins, usages, and even illustrations, notes the NYPL.
- Encylopedia of Feminist Literature. Mary Ellen Snodgrass; Facts on File, 2006.
- Forensic Science: An Encyclopedia of History, Methods, and Techniques. William Tilstone, Kathleen Savage and Leigh Clark; ABC-Clio, 2006. For the "CSI" wannabees out there.
- America's Historical Newspapers. Selected full-text newspaper images (very handy, actually).
- The eBay Price Guide. Julia Wilkinson; No Starch Press, 2006. The "going-rate" for various eBayable items (and what isn't, these days?).
- An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-Speaking World. Geoffrey Hughes; M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2006. Origins, usages, and even illustrations, notes the NYPL.
Monday, May 07, 2007
Book Review: "The Summer of 1787"
The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (2007, Simon & Schuster) is an updated narrative account of the Constitutional Convention and its participants. Like Catherine Drinker Bowen's classic Miracle at Philadelphia and Clinton Rossiter's The Grand Convention (both 1966 originally), David Stewart's book breaks little new ground, but is a useful introduction to the Convention for the general reader.
I didn't find myself in agreement with every characterization Stewart makes: I don't believe that Hamilton's famed "monarchy speech" was much more than a foil to make the Virginia plan more palatable, and I think his treatment of the Convention's construction of the executive branch is far too conclusion-driven (he doesn't like the electoral college). Nonetheless, I think on the whole Stewart's captured the people, mood and importance of that summer quite well.
Recommended as an adequate starting point. As usual with Simon & Schuster I must comment on the non-optimal citation style (though the notes are fairly good) and the unfortunate lack of a bibliography.
I didn't find myself in agreement with every characterization Stewart makes: I don't believe that Hamilton's famed "monarchy speech" was much more than a foil to make the Virginia plan more palatable, and I think his treatment of the Convention's construction of the executive branch is far too conclusion-driven (he doesn't like the electoral college). Nonetheless, I think on the whole Stewart's captured the people, mood and importance of that summer quite well.
Recommended as an adequate starting point. As usual with Simon & Schuster I must comment on the non-optimal citation style (though the notes are fairly good) and the unfortunate lack of a bibliography.
Now That's a Strange Bookmark
The Scotsman reports today on the upcoming sale of artist Robert Lenkiewicz's library. Lenkiewicz, who died in 2002, was a prodigious collector of books on "philosophy, witchcraft, superstition and the occult." The major witchcraft books were sold back in 2003, but some 12,000 additional texts will be sold on 9-10 May at Edinburgh's Lyon & Turnbull auction house.
In cataloging the collection for Lyon & Trumbull, their books department discovered a few, eh, oddities among the books. The Scotsman article leads this way: "When Alex Dove opened the 16th-century book on witchcraft, something black and scaly fell out into her hands. Dove, who works in the books department at auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, was horrified when she realised it was the body of a frog, wizened by time and pressed flat between the pages." [Note: If that line doesn't become the premise of a new 'literary thriller' novel within five years I'll be very surprised].
But the reptiles didn't end there: "By the time the Lyon & Turnbull team had finished cataloguing the books, they had unearthed a frog, two toads and a lizard." The library, described by one cataloguer as a "rabbit warren," had also at one point contained the embalmed body of one of the collector's friends and at least one other human skeleton.
The collection is estimated at £150,000-200,000, but perhaps the collector's own wishes would have been more appropriate: he desired that "his library, artefacts and unsold paintings would be kept together and made into a museum and research resource." Unfortunately the £40 "legacy" he left behind "(in a saucepan)", says the paper, wasn't enough to cover the £2 million debt he had amassed along with the book collection.
By the way, having just finished my preservation class, I should note that frogs - even dried ones - should not in any circumstances be used as bookmarks. Bad for the paper.
In cataloging the collection for Lyon & Trumbull, their books department discovered a few, eh, oddities among the books. The Scotsman article leads this way: "When Alex Dove opened the 16th-century book on witchcraft, something black and scaly fell out into her hands. Dove, who works in the books department at auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull, was horrified when she realised it was the body of a frog, wizened by time and pressed flat between the pages." [Note: If that line doesn't become the premise of a new 'literary thriller' novel within five years I'll be very surprised].
But the reptiles didn't end there: "By the time the Lyon & Turnbull team had finished cataloguing the books, they had unearthed a frog, two toads and a lizard." The library, described by one cataloguer as a "rabbit warren," had also at one point contained the embalmed body of one of the collector's friends and at least one other human skeleton.
The collection is estimated at £150,000-200,000, but perhaps the collector's own wishes would have been more appropriate: he desired that "his library, artefacts and unsold paintings would be kept together and made into a museum and research resource." Unfortunately the £40 "legacy" he left behind "(in a saucepan)", says the paper, wasn't enough to cover the £2 million debt he had amassed along with the book collection.
By the way, having just finished my preservation class, I should note that frogs - even dried ones - should not in any circumstances be used as bookmarks. Bad for the paper.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Book Review: "Alexis de Tocqueville"
Hugh Brogan's masterful new biography Alexis de Tocqueville: A Life (Yale University Press, 2007) earned many plaudits across the Pond last year, and after completing my read of it I can only conclude that they were justified indeed. Brogan's research was exhaustive, and his richly detailed account of Tocqueville's life, works and thoughts proves it.
Many of us in America know Tocqueville - if at all - as the chronicler of 'our' culture in Democracy in America. But that book, researched when the author was just 26 and written just a few years thereafter, formed only a small portion of Tocqueville's intellectual life (though I suspect the observations he made in America stuck with him for the duration). Tocqueville's life in France, during one of the most turbulent and unsettled periods in that nation's long history, must of necessity claim pride of place in any complete biography (of course whole books have been written just about Tocqueville's trip to America).
I learned much from Brogan about AT's role in the various French governments up to the establishment of the Second Empire, and even more about the troubled family dynamics and near-constant health problems which clearly had a tremendous impact on the man's works throughout his career (the ultimate chapters covering his final illness and death, it must be said, are grippingly vivid). Here was a man who truly didn't know what place he was to hold in a society which seemed to be changing around him with shocking frequency - it's a great wonder that he ever got any work done at all.
Brogan's book is a hefty volume, and its 644 pages of narrative are densely packed (the notes are excellent too, but then I'm a sucker for those). This is not a book to read over a weekend (even a long weekend), but one which I enjoyed in short bursts of about one chapter at a time. If you read it, take your time with it as well; like Tocqueville's own writings, I think this book rewards the careful reader. It's no breezy biography - it's more, and it's better for being so.
Many of us in America know Tocqueville - if at all - as the chronicler of 'our' culture in Democracy in America. But that book, researched when the author was just 26 and written just a few years thereafter, formed only a small portion of Tocqueville's intellectual life (though I suspect the observations he made in America stuck with him for the duration). Tocqueville's life in France, during one of the most turbulent and unsettled periods in that nation's long history, must of necessity claim pride of place in any complete biography (of course whole books have been written just about Tocqueville's trip to America).
I learned much from Brogan about AT's role in the various French governments up to the establishment of the Second Empire, and even more about the troubled family dynamics and near-constant health problems which clearly had a tremendous impact on the man's works throughout his career (the ultimate chapters covering his final illness and death, it must be said, are grippingly vivid). Here was a man who truly didn't know what place he was to hold in a society which seemed to be changing around him with shocking frequency - it's a great wonder that he ever got any work done at all.
Brogan's book is a hefty volume, and its 644 pages of narrative are densely packed (the notes are excellent too, but then I'm a sucker for those). This is not a book to read over a weekend (even a long weekend), but one which I enjoyed in short bursts of about one chapter at a time. If you read it, take your time with it as well; like Tocqueville's own writings, I think this book rewards the careful reader. It's no breezy biography - it's more, and it's better for being so.
Book Review: "The Children of Húrin"
Elements of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Húrin (Houghton Mifflin, 2007) have appeared in shorter form before, in The Silmarillion and later in The Book of Lost Tales. For this edition, however, Tolkien's son Christopher has diligently reworked the disparate threads of his father's narratives of Túrin Turambar into a coherent whole for the first time. The text is accompanied by a marginally useful introduction placing the story into context with the better-known tales of Middle Earth (it occurs more than six thousand years before the events in The Lord of the Rings), and by an enlightening appendix after the text in which Christopher delineates the process by which he came to create this version of the work.
The tale of Túrin, deeply rooted in the Norse myths and largely a product of Tolkien's early writing years, will seem vastly different to those who know Tolkien from The Hobbit and LotR. The writing style is more formalized, but I think Christopher has done an admirable job of teasing out the narrative elements here and shaping the tale into readable form. This is a very different animal than what many casual Tolkien readers (like me; although I've slogged through Silmarillion and some of the histories I have rarely found it particularly enjoyable)
might be expecting, but I recommend giving it a chance. I won't spoil the ending, but I warn you not to be prepared for any happy homecomings.
Alan Lee's beautiful illustrations (both black/white and color) complement the text nicely, and are a welcome addition.
The tale of Túrin, deeply rooted in the Norse myths and largely a product of Tolkien's early writing years, will seem vastly different to those who know Tolkien from The Hobbit and LotR. The writing style is more formalized, but I think Christopher has done an admirable job of teasing out the narrative elements here and shaping the tale into readable form. This is a very different animal than what many casual Tolkien readers (like me; although I've slogged through Silmarillion and some of the histories I have rarely found it particularly enjoyable)
might be expecting, but I recommend giving it a chance. I won't spoil the ending, but I warn you not to be prepared for any happy homecomings.
Alan Lee's beautiful illustrations (both black/white and color) complement the text nicely, and are a welcome addition.
Anne Bradstreet Manuscript on Display
The Boston Globe reports that the only known manuscript by early Massachusetts poet Anne Bradstreet will go on display at the Robert Lehman Art Center at Brooks School in North Andover. The exhibit will run from 8 May through 18 May.
Bradstreet's manuscript is a 41-page collection of meditations and poems dedicated to her son Simon in 1644. North Andover's public library, Stevens Memorial, purchased the document in the 1950s and it has been deposited at Harvard since 1972. This is believed to be the first time the manuscript has been publicly displayed; trustees of the library have opted to do so in honor of the library's 100th anniversary.
As would be expected, elaborate preservation and security procedures are in place at the Art Center to protect the manuscript during the exhibit period.
Bradstreet's poetry is a fascinating window into the mind of an upper-class Puritan women during the first decades of English settlement in Massachusetts. Unexpectedly personal and poignant (her poems on the deaths of several grandchildren would move a stone to tears), her works have deservedly stood the test of time. If you have the opportunity to get out to North Andover for this important exhibit, jump at it.
Bradstreet's manuscript is a 41-page collection of meditations and poems dedicated to her son Simon in 1644. North Andover's public library, Stevens Memorial, purchased the document in the 1950s and it has been deposited at Harvard since 1972. This is believed to be the first time the manuscript has been publicly displayed; trustees of the library have opted to do so in honor of the library's 100th anniversary.
As would be expected, elaborate preservation and security procedures are in place at the Art Center to protect the manuscript during the exhibit period.
Bradstreet's poetry is a fascinating window into the mind of an upper-class Puritan women during the first decades of English settlement in Massachusetts. Unexpectedly personal and poignant (her poems on the deaths of several grandchildren would move a stone to tears), her works have deservedly stood the test of time. If you have the opportunity to get out to North Andover for this important exhibit, jump at it.
Saturday, May 05, 2007
1823 Tanner Atlas Stolen
The following announcement appeared on Ex-Libris this afternoon:
"Atlas description: Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner, 1823. Folio (22 5/8 x 15 3/4 inches). Letterpress half-title, 1p. index and 18pp. text. Engraved title with vignette of the "First Landing of Columbus in the New World", 22 fine hand-coloured double-page engraved maps. Contemporary red half morocco, the flat spine divided into six compartments by double fillets, lettered in the second, the other compartments with repeat decoration of a single centrally-placed square arabesque tool, modern cloth box with morocco lettering-piece on its spine.
The atlas was stolen between April 20 and April 22, 2007. Unfortunately, our institution had yet to agree on what to do with the atlas (keep or deaccession/sell at an auction), so it does not have any markings on it. It does have a library catalog sticker with a number (we did not have a chance to record this number) on its binding a quarter of the way from the top. There are specific condition notes to this atlas: a majority of the pages have some sort of water-like stains both large and small throughout, which are mostly contained along the edges of the 18 pages of text. All of the maps are in good condition with a few water stains, with the exception of the large map on the last pages. This fold-out map has binding tape holding it together, when folded open the pages are crisp along the creases. The exterior has general wear throughout both red leather coverings. The binding has some damage and a library catalog sticker. As expected with a piece this old, there are the usual fading and yellowing marks throughout.
We are working with the Clarkstown Police Department of Rockland County, NY. Their general line is (845) 639.5800. This incident has been reported to the FBI, who will report it to Interpol among other international forces they work with. We highly suspect it is still in the downstate NY region and if sold, among the same region."
"Atlas description: Philadelphia: H.S. Tanner, 1823. Folio (22 5/8 x 15 3/4 inches). Letterpress half-title, 1p. index and 18pp. text. Engraved title with vignette of the "First Landing of Columbus in the New World", 22 fine hand-coloured double-page engraved maps. Contemporary red half morocco, the flat spine divided into six compartments by double fillets, lettered in the second, the other compartments with repeat decoration of a single centrally-placed square arabesque tool, modern cloth box with morocco lettering-piece on its spine.
The atlas was stolen between April 20 and April 22, 2007. Unfortunately, our institution had yet to agree on what to do with the atlas (keep or deaccession/sell at an auction), so it does not have any markings on it. It does have a library catalog sticker with a number (we did not have a chance to record this number) on its binding a quarter of the way from the top. There are specific condition notes to this atlas: a majority of the pages have some sort of water-like stains both large and small throughout, which are mostly contained along the edges of the 18 pages of text. All of the maps are in good condition with a few water stains, with the exception of the large map on the last pages. This fold-out map has binding tape holding it together, when folded open the pages are crisp along the creases. The exterior has general wear throughout both red leather coverings. The binding has some damage and a library catalog sticker. As expected with a piece this old, there are the usual fading and yellowing marks throughout.
We are working with the Clarkstown Police Department of Rockland County, NY. Their general line is (845) 639.5800. This incident has been reported to the FBI, who will report it to Interpol among other international forces they work with. We highly suspect it is still in the downstate NY region and if sold, among the same region."
More on the Alnwick Theft
Yesterday I briefly mentioned the theft and ultimate return of a stolen book to a shop in Alnwick, England; Travis McDade has much more backstory on the case here.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Links & Reviews
- Joyce points us to the "Mini-Bookshop," a kind of bestseller vending machine. Not sure how I feel about this one.
- Via fade theory, I give you Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader's Quarterly, which bills itself as "the lively quarterly book review for non-conformists – people who don’t want to read only what the big publishers are hyping and the newspapers are reviewing." Good name, as ft notes, and a good idea too.
- In the London Review of Books, Michael Dobson has a fascinating essay on the new Royal Shakespeare Company edition of the Bard's complete works.
- Reading Copy notes a Northumberland Today report about a stolen book which made its way home after more than two years missing. An alert Alabama bookseller thought the guy trying to sell it to him was a little suspicious, and thankfully the original owner had thought to post a description on the ABA site. The thief, who was caught, received a year of probation for his crime, since we all know how seriously book theft is taken by the courts.
- The LA Daily News reports that a missing John Steinbeck draft of "Sweet Thursday" was discovered - along with a draft of "The Bear Flag Cafe," an "unperformed musical comedy collaboration," an unpublished short story, and some additional Steinbeckiana - among the possessions of the late producer Ernest H. Martin. The materials will be auctioned on 24 May in San Francisco, in what a PBA official says "might well be the Steinbeck sale of the century." [h/t Rare Book News].
- In the Telegraph, Malcolm Gaskill reviews The Noble Revolt: The Overthrow of Charles I by John Adamson, which he seems to have liked quite well; also in the Telegraph, Noel Malcolm reviews Heather Ewing's The Lost World of James Smithson.
- Hugh Hollowell wants to know: anyone out there blogging about their search for particular titles? I wrote briefly about one such hunt (here), but if you've got other stories, do pass them along to Hugh.
- GalleyCat notes that the new Tolkien title is selling like hotcakes, and points out that we shouldn't be all that surprised. I think it helps that the book's not bad at all (I'm nearly through, and will have a review up soon).
- Almost forgot, Smithsonian this month has a piece by David Damrosch about the Epic of Gilgamesh which is very much worth reading. His book, The Buried Book, is - ironically - buried somewhere amongst the piles waiting for me to read it.
- Via fade theory, I give you Slightly Foxed: The Real Reader's Quarterly, which bills itself as "the lively quarterly book review for non-conformists – people who don’t want to read only what the big publishers are hyping and the newspapers are reviewing." Good name, as ft notes, and a good idea too.
- In the London Review of Books, Michael Dobson has a fascinating essay on the new Royal Shakespeare Company edition of the Bard's complete works.
- Reading Copy notes a Northumberland Today report about a stolen book which made its way home after more than two years missing. An alert Alabama bookseller thought the guy trying to sell it to him was a little suspicious, and thankfully the original owner had thought to post a description on the ABA site. The thief, who was caught, received a year of probation for his crime, since we all know how seriously book theft is taken by the courts.
- The LA Daily News reports that a missing John Steinbeck draft of "Sweet Thursday" was discovered - along with a draft of "The Bear Flag Cafe," an "unperformed musical comedy collaboration," an unpublished short story, and some additional Steinbeckiana - among the possessions of the late producer Ernest H. Martin. The materials will be auctioned on 24 May in San Francisco, in what a PBA official says "might well be the Steinbeck sale of the century." [h/t Rare Book News].
- In the Telegraph, Malcolm Gaskill reviews The Noble Revolt: The Overthrow of Charles I by John Adamson, which he seems to have liked quite well; also in the Telegraph, Noel Malcolm reviews Heather Ewing's The Lost World of James Smithson.
- Hugh Hollowell wants to know: anyone out there blogging about their search for particular titles? I wrote briefly about one such hunt (here), but if you've got other stories, do pass them along to Hugh.
- GalleyCat notes that the new Tolkien title is selling like hotcakes, and points out that we shouldn't be all that surprised. I think it helps that the book's not bad at all (I'm nearly through, and will have a review up soon).
- Almost forgot, Smithsonian this month has a piece by David Damrosch about the Epic of Gilgamesh which is very much worth reading. His book, The Buried Book, is - ironically - buried somewhere amongst the piles waiting for me to read it.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Vatican Library To Close Until 2010
The BBC is reporting that the Vatican Library will close for its annual summer break in mid-July, and then not reopen until September of 2010. The announcement was entirely unexpected. Renovation plans include the installation of air conditioning and dust protection units.
Readers will "still be able to obtain digital copies of ancient manuscripts in the Vatican library that they can study at home," according to the BBC report, but it's unclear how that process will work.
Expect much scholarly outrage.
[h/t Germaine Warkentin, Ex-Libris]
Readers will "still be able to obtain digital copies of ancient manuscripts in the Vatican library that they can study at home," according to the BBC report, but it's unclear how that process will work.
Expect much scholarly outrage.
[h/t Germaine Warkentin, Ex-Libris]
Georgetown Library Update
The Washington Post has an update for us today on the status of the Georgetown Public Library, which contains some good news along with the bad. While rebuilding costs are estimated at $15-20 million, Georgetown's mayor has pledged to make those funds available quickly and get the library open again "as quickly as possible."
Even better news about the library's irreplaceable Peabody Room collections of materials related to the history of Georgetown; "Perhaps 80 percent of the collection, housed on the library's east side, suffered far less harm than initially feared. The ceiling there held, and the archives escaped smoke and flames." Chief librarian Ginny Cooper told the Post "The material is wet but not burned. We can deal with wet."
The case of the conflagration remains undetermined but the Post report says that officials believe it to have been accidental, probably something electrical.
Damaged materials are headed for places where they can be carefully restored: rare items have gone to the Smithsonian, while a freezer truck has taken other items to the Belfor Property Restoration complex in Fort Worth, Texas for "freeze-drying."
It could have been worse, I guess. Still an awful thing any way you slice it, but at least many of the items thought lost forever managed to escape the flames after all.
Even better news about the library's irreplaceable Peabody Room collections of materials related to the history of Georgetown; "Perhaps 80 percent of the collection, housed on the library's east side, suffered far less harm than initially feared. The ceiling there held, and the archives escaped smoke and flames." Chief librarian Ginny Cooper told the Post "The material is wet but not burned. We can deal with wet."
The case of the conflagration remains undetermined but the Post report says that officials believe it to have been accidental, probably something electrical.
Damaged materials are headed for places where they can be carefully restored: rare items have gone to the Smithsonian, while a freezer truck has taken other items to the Belfor Property Restoration complex in Fort Worth, Texas for "freeze-drying."
It could have been worse, I guess. Still an awful thing any way you slice it, but at least many of the items thought lost forever managed to escape the flames after all.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Jack the Ripper ID'd?
South African historian Charles van Onselen claims to have made a circumstantial stance for the identity of Jack the Ripper in his book The Fox and The Flies: The World of Joseph Silver, Racketeer and Psychopath (published in April by Random House). van Onselen has come to believe that Joseph Silver, a notorious Johannesburg pimp who was in London at the time of the Ripper killings, may be the long-sought culprit.
"Ripperologists" call the identification far too tenuous, to which van Onselen replies "How many coincidences do you want to mount up in your mind simultaneously until you start saying this is a real possibility?"
"Ripperologists" call the identification far too tenuous, to which van Onselen replies "How many coincidences do you want to mount up in your mind simultaneously until you start saying this is a real possibility?"
Calvin Buys Calvin
Calvin College's H. Meeter Center for Calvin Studies has acquired a copy of John Calvin's Congrégation faite en l'église de Geneue (Geneva: Vincent Bres, 1562), a true rarity (there are five copies known in Europe and just this one in the U.S.).
The college was recently contacted by a retired theology professor who asked if they'd be interested in the book, which "presents Calvin’s teaching on election, particularly the issue of universal salvation against particular election (Calvin came down on the side of particular election)."
More background on the book and the acquisition here.
The college was recently contacted by a retired theology professor who asked if they'd be interested in the book, which "presents Calvin’s teaching on election, particularly the issue of universal salvation against particular election (Calvin came down on the side of particular election)."
More background on the book and the acquisition here.
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