Very Short List, a website about which I knew absolutely nothing until today but which I'm already quite keen on (and have signed up for), covers the Legacy Libraries projects today. And they do it in style:
"Buried inside the LibraryThing website (think MySpace for OCD literati) is 'I See Dead People’s Books,' a catalogue of the libraries of 33 deceased luminaries, including Marie Antoinette, Thomas Jefferson, Ezra Pound, Theodore Dreiser, and Tupac Shakur.
While browsing, you may discover some excellent books you hadn’t heard of (like Aboard the Flying Swan, by Stanley A. Wolper, found in Ernest Hemingway’s library). Also, by peeking at the titles in a dead person’s library, you’ll get fresh insight into his or her intellectual nooks and crannies — sure, we more or less get why Aspects of Chinese Painting, by Alan Priest, was found in e. e. cummings’s library, but Machiavelli’s The Prince in Tupac’s library? Who knew?"
I really like the graphics they include, and check out that banner at the top of the page!
[Update: Jane Ciabatti at Critical Mass comments as well.]
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Concerns over Church Library Deaccessions
Some recent articles have brought the issue of church library deaccessions back to the surface (after the discussions last fall of the Truro sale things went quiet for a bit). Writing in the Church Times, ("The C of E is losing its own history") Jonathan Clark argues that recent sales of books and manuscripts from churches are a major and troubling symptom of the decline of the Church of England:
"Unremarked, Anglican institutions are selling the contents of their ancient libraries. A search on Abebooks.com shows a swath of volumes for sale from cathedral libraries: Bangor, Canterbury, Ely, Lincoln, Llandaff, Lichfield, Exeter, St Asaph, Wells. Even at Oxford, Pusey House, established as a think tank with a scholarly as well as a pastoral remit, in 2005 sold much of the ancient contents of its library for the years before the Tractarians. A friend, viewing this sale at Christie’s, and appalled at the rows of venerable volumes, described it as 'like a scene from the dissolution of the monasteries'. Yet that, in present-day form, is too close to the truth.
One can imagine it. Accountants add up the retail value of the collections, calculate the number of borrowers or readers, and advise that there is no option but liquidation. Senior clergy, who no longer read the books, are all too happy to accept expert advice. The auction houses promise a professional service, and the best prices (which are not always realised). The Charity Commissioners make no complaint. There is little publicity.
Such sales are more than minor inevitabilities: together, they become a historical phenomenon. They signify the Church of England losing the argument, and turning away from an attempt to sustain a heavyweight historical rationale for itself. One wonders whether the libraries of most Anglican clerics now consist not of formidable works of scholarship, but of paperbacks from the 1970s, already disintegrating."
David Shaw comments on Ex-Libris that "many of the cases reported are simply housekeeping operations. It is in no way true that the cathedral libraries listed have been sold (as opposed to disposal of some items)." Shaw adds that at Canterbury, for example, some modern duplicates and out-of-scope items have been sold in recent years, but not the whole library.
It's important not to be alarmist about all this. All libraries must weed their collections. I don't know enough about the non-Truro cases listed here to make much comment on them, but I do think it's important to be cautious before leaping to unfounded conclusions (just because there's a listing on ABE doesn't mean that the entire library is being sold off piecemeal).
"Unremarked, Anglican institutions are selling the contents of their ancient libraries. A search on Abebooks.com shows a swath of volumes for sale from cathedral libraries: Bangor, Canterbury, Ely, Lincoln, Llandaff, Lichfield, Exeter, St Asaph, Wells. Even at Oxford, Pusey House, established as a think tank with a scholarly as well as a pastoral remit, in 2005 sold much of the ancient contents of its library for the years before the Tractarians. A friend, viewing this sale at Christie’s, and appalled at the rows of venerable volumes, described it as 'like a scene from the dissolution of the monasteries'. Yet that, in present-day form, is too close to the truth.
One can imagine it. Accountants add up the retail value of the collections, calculate the number of borrowers or readers, and advise that there is no option but liquidation. Senior clergy, who no longer read the books, are all too happy to accept expert advice. The auction houses promise a professional service, and the best prices (which are not always realised). The Charity Commissioners make no complaint. There is little publicity.
Such sales are more than minor inevitabilities: together, they become a historical phenomenon. They signify the Church of England losing the argument, and turning away from an attempt to sustain a heavyweight historical rationale for itself. One wonders whether the libraries of most Anglican clerics now consist not of formidable works of scholarship, but of paperbacks from the 1970s, already disintegrating."
David Shaw comments on Ex-Libris that "many of the cases reported are simply housekeeping operations. It is in no way true that the cathedral libraries listed have been sold (as opposed to disposal of some items)." Shaw adds that at Canterbury, for example, some modern duplicates and out-of-scope items have been sold in recent years, but not the whole library.
It's important not to be alarmist about all this. All libraries must weed their collections. I don't know enough about the non-Truro cases listed here to make much comment on them, but I do think it's important to be cautious before leaping to unfounded conclusions (just because there's a listing on ABE doesn't mean that the entire library is being sold off piecemeal).
Recent Catalogues
- I got a chance to browse through Stuart Bennett's fiftieth catalogue: Unique? A Catalogue of Apparently Unrecorded or Unlocated English and American Books, Pamphlets and Broadsides printed between 1670 and 1851. Some really interest offerings, including the 'lost' first edition of Ann Fisher's An Accurate New Spelling Dictionary (1772) and some neat little chapbooks.
- Helen R. Kahn's Catalogue 73: Voyages and Travels is now available for browsing.
- Margolis & Moss offer a catalogue of 19th-century American imprints: "266 books, pamphlets and ephemeral items, published in the United States during the 19th century. An eclectic mix, the annotated catalog includes works on physical culture, letter-writing, school texts, theater, photography, literature, children's books, history, politics, etiquette, economics, theology, book-keeping, travel, the conduct of life, and much more." Free to interested librarians; drop them an email.
- The good folks at Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts announced a text-only Civil War list yesterday [PDF].
- Helen R. Kahn's Catalogue 73: Voyages and Travels is now available for browsing.
- Margolis & Moss offer a catalogue of 19th-century American imprints: "266 books, pamphlets and ephemeral items, published in the United States during the 19th century. An eclectic mix, the annotated catalog includes works on physical culture, letter-writing, school texts, theater, photography, literature, children's books, history, politics, etiquette, economics, theology, book-keeping, travel, the conduct of life, and much more." Free to interested librarians; drop them an email.
- The good folks at Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts announced a text-only Civil War list yesterday [PDF].
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Bloomsbury Pulls Book Over Citation Snafu
Over at the Guardian book blog, Claire Armitstead reports on one of those cringe-worthy moments: British publisher Bloomsbury has recalled a printing of Veronica Buckley's Madame de Maintenon (scheduled for release on 5 May) because it contained two citations from Le Journal Secret de Louis XIV, a putative diary of the Sun King "reconstructed" (read "created") in 1998 by French author Francois Bluche.
Armitstead writes "The first inklings that all was not quite right came when a distinguished biographer declined to review it for us on the grounds that it was 'not up to the high standards I impose on books I review.' Shortly afterwards an erratum slip arrived, to which I paid little attention until it was followed by a fretful email saying that the book was going to be recalled and republished later in the summer. This piqued my interest: after all, what mistake could be so terrible that it warranted pulping a whole edition? It wasn't as if anyone involved with Louis XIV was in a position to sue for libel."
Citing a fake diary, that's what mistake.
After what I'm guessing will be quite a few close reads, the book is now due for release in a few months.
Armitstead writes "The first inklings that all was not quite right came when a distinguished biographer declined to review it for us on the grounds that it was 'not up to the high standards I impose on books I review.' Shortly afterwards an erratum slip arrived, to which I paid little attention until it was followed by a fretful email saying that the book was going to be recalled and republished later in the summer. This piqued my interest: after all, what mistake could be so terrible that it warranted pulping a whole edition? It wasn't as if anyone involved with Louis XIV was in a position to sue for libel."
Citing a fake diary, that's what mistake.
After what I'm guessing will be quite a few close reads, the book is now due for release in a few months.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Stolen Maps Database Launched
The Missing and Stolen Maps Database, supported by the International Antiquarian Mapsellers Association (IAMA) is now live. First announced back in February, the database was designed by a large group of librarians, map collectors, dealers, and others. It is "free of charge, fully searchable, international in scope, and accessible using individual usernames and passwords." Registration is required to post information about a missing map, but not to search or browse the database.
I strongly urge librarians at institutions where maps have been reported missing to add information about them to this database. It can only function successfully if it is populated, and I think I join all those involved with its creation in hoping that it realize its potential.
I've added a link to the sidebar.
I strongly urge librarians at institutions where maps have been reported missing to add information about them to this database. It can only function successfully if it is populated, and I think I join all those involved with its creation in hoping that it realize its potential.
I've added a link to the sidebar.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Lepore on the Founders' Faiths
In the 14 April New Yorker, Jill Lepore offers a review essay examining several recent books on the faith(s) of the founding fathers, including Martha Nussbaum's Liberty of Conscience, Garry Wills' Head and Heart: American Christianity, Frank Lambert's Religion in American Politics: A Short History, Forrest Church's So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State, and Steven Waldman's Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America.
The entire essay is both timely and very much worth reading, so I won't summarize it here, but I do want to note Lepore's very apt (if a bit succinct) formulation about the religious tendencies of a few of the major founders: "They approached religion in more or less the same way they approached everything else that interested them: Franklin invented his own; Washington proved diplomatic; Adams grumbled about it; Jefferson could not stop tinkering with it; and Madison defended, as a natural right, the free exercise of it."
The entire essay is both timely and very much worth reading, so I won't summarize it here, but I do want to note Lepore's very apt (if a bit succinct) formulation about the religious tendencies of a few of the major founders: "They approached religion in more or less the same way they approached everything else that interested them: Franklin invented his own; Washington proved diplomatic; Adams grumbled about it; Jefferson could not stop tinkering with it; and Madison defended, as a natural right, the free exercise of it."
Book Review: "The Monk"
First published in 1796 (after being written over a ten-week period by 20-year old Matthew Lewis), The Monk is one of the most gripping 18th-century novels I've ever read. Taking the Gothic narrative devices introduced by Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe and stretching them to their most graphic and horrifying extremes, Lewis' book is a ghastly tale featuring fallen priests (and their subsequent depravity) mistaken identities, uncanny predictions, bloody riots, violent plots and subplots aplenty, a fair helping of ghosts, and even the devil himself. Even today some of its language would be considered fairly extreme - in its own day it was, as Coleridge wrote, a book "which, if a parent saw it in the hands of a son or daughter, he might reasonably turn pale."
Fascinatingly digressive (several long stories, usually having something to do with ghosts but having to do only tangentially with the main plot, are recounted in the middle) and at times quite funny (when it's not being wincingly disturbing), The Monk is not quite like anything else I've ever read. Some elements of it have reappeared in countless Gothic stories since, but its preeminence in the field deserves wider acknowledgment.
I read the Oxford World's Classics edition, which was perfectly acceptable except for the fact that while certain passages were glossed with asterisks, there were no notes or annotations to be found anywhere in the volume: an unfortunate omission indeed from a fascinating volume.
Fascinatingly digressive (several long stories, usually having something to do with ghosts but having to do only tangentially with the main plot, are recounted in the middle) and at times quite funny (when it's not being wincingly disturbing), The Monk is not quite like anything else I've ever read. Some elements of it have reappeared in countless Gothic stories since, but its preeminence in the field deserves wider acknowledgment.
I read the Oxford World's Classics edition, which was perfectly acceptable except for the fact that while certain passages were glossed with asterisks, there were no notes or annotations to be found anywhere in the volume: an unfortunate omission indeed from a fascinating volume.
Book Review: "The Purpose of the Past"
This volume, The Purpose of the Past: Reflections of the Uses of History (Penguin, 2008) collects twenty-one of Gordon S. Wood's essay-length book reviews, written over the past two and a half decades for the New York Review of Books, The New Republic, The Atlantic and other publications. With these essays Wood, one of America's most critically-acclaimed academic historians, offers little less than a thorough review of recent historical scholarship, with enhancements in the form of a thoughtful introduction and short afterwords appended to each essay.
One of the threads running through these selections is Wood's discomfort with the intrusion of literary theory into historical writing. He declares bluntly that "the epistemological skepticism and blurring of genres that seem to have made sense for some literary scholars had devastating implications for historians .... The result of all this postmodern history, with its talk of 'deconstruction,' 'decentering,' 'textuality,' and 'essentialism,' has been to make academic history writing almost as esoteric and inward directed as the writing of literary scholars. This is too bad, since history is an endeavor that needs a wide readership to justify itself" (4-6).
I couldn't agree more with this view - I share Wood's intense dislike for historical writing so filled with jargony gobbledygook that whatever narrative might be lurking within is utterly obscured by language which means absolutely nothing to anyone not in tune with the babble of befuddling banality unleashed on society by the theoreticians. I also happen to agree with Wood on another of his major points (that history "may not teach us particular lessons, but it does tell us how we might live in the world", that a historical sense "will give us the best guide we'll ever have for groping our way into an unpredictable future").
Wood is nothing if not very a careful historian, and many of the reviews included here offer cautionary notes for would-be writers of history. He argues against the practice of offering exaggerated claims of how x influenced y ("in most cases tracing the source of broadly shared ideas is a fool's errand" - 29); urges historians to be conscious of - and quite wary of - inserting anachronism and/or presentism into their writing; and suggests that historical writing should be seen as less a vehicle for imparting lessons than the opportunity to explain, to tell a story.
There weren't all that many things said in Wood's reviews that I found myself in strong disagreement with, one important exception being his 1991 NYRB review of Simon Schama's Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations). In this very non-traditional book, which the author himself described as something of an experiment, Schama inserted fictional musings and "novelistic devices" into his narrative: Wood was profoundly disturbed by this, and both in his review and in the afterword to it printed here decries the "devastating effects such a work by a distinguished historian could have on the conventions of the discipline" (109). Since I feel myself completely capable of distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction (and perhaps because I do like a bit of historical fiction if it's written well), I had no problem with Schama's experimentation in Dead Certainties, and wouldn't mind reading more of it (I do agree, however, with Wood's criticism about the book being classified as history by the Library of Congress and not fiction - that is problematic).
When my copy of The Purpose of the Past arrived, I immediately opened to the last review to see if it was the one I hoped it would be: Wood's 28 June 2007 NYRB review of two recent books (Lawrence Goldstone's Dark Bargain and Robin Einhorn's American Taxation, American Slavery). I had reviewed Goldstone's book almost a year earlier, and was pleased to see many of my own criticisms echoed by Wood (who offered what I think was a very fair and even-handed treatment of a truly misguided book). Goldstone's vituperative response to Wood's review is a prime example of how not to react to criticism: he suggests that Wood "dismisses" his work as that of an amateur, when (as Wood replied) Goldstone's lack of "academic appointment" has nothing whatever to do with the failings of Dark Bargain.
Writers and readers of American historical scholarship will find Wood's essays enlightening, clearly-written, and at time provocative. I recommend them highly.
One of the threads running through these selections is Wood's discomfort with the intrusion of literary theory into historical writing. He declares bluntly that "the epistemological skepticism and blurring of genres that seem to have made sense for some literary scholars had devastating implications for historians .... The result of all this postmodern history, with its talk of 'deconstruction,' 'decentering,' 'textuality,' and 'essentialism,' has been to make academic history writing almost as esoteric and inward directed as the writing of literary scholars. This is too bad, since history is an endeavor that needs a wide readership to justify itself" (4-6).
I couldn't agree more with this view - I share Wood's intense dislike for historical writing so filled with jargony gobbledygook that whatever narrative might be lurking within is utterly obscured by language which means absolutely nothing to anyone not in tune with the babble of befuddling banality unleashed on society by the theoreticians. I also happen to agree with Wood on another of his major points (that history "may not teach us particular lessons, but it does tell us how we might live in the world", that a historical sense "will give us the best guide we'll ever have for groping our way into an unpredictable future").
Wood is nothing if not very a careful historian, and many of the reviews included here offer cautionary notes for would-be writers of history. He argues against the practice of offering exaggerated claims of how x influenced y ("in most cases tracing the source of broadly shared ideas is a fool's errand" - 29); urges historians to be conscious of - and quite wary of - inserting anachronism and/or presentism into their writing; and suggests that historical writing should be seen as less a vehicle for imparting lessons than the opportunity to explain, to tell a story.
There weren't all that many things said in Wood's reviews that I found myself in strong disagreement with, one important exception being his 1991 NYRB review of Simon Schama's Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations). In this very non-traditional book, which the author himself described as something of an experiment, Schama inserted fictional musings and "novelistic devices" into his narrative: Wood was profoundly disturbed by this, and both in his review and in the afterword to it printed here decries the "devastating effects such a work by a distinguished historian could have on the conventions of the discipline" (109). Since I feel myself completely capable of distinguishing between fiction and non-fiction (and perhaps because I do like a bit of historical fiction if it's written well), I had no problem with Schama's experimentation in Dead Certainties, and wouldn't mind reading more of it (I do agree, however, with Wood's criticism about the book being classified as history by the Library of Congress and not fiction - that is problematic).
When my copy of The Purpose of the Past arrived, I immediately opened to the last review to see if it was the one I hoped it would be: Wood's 28 June 2007 NYRB review of two recent books (Lawrence Goldstone's Dark Bargain and Robin Einhorn's American Taxation, American Slavery). I had reviewed Goldstone's book almost a year earlier, and was pleased to see many of my own criticisms echoed by Wood (who offered what I think was a very fair and even-handed treatment of a truly misguided book). Goldstone's vituperative response to Wood's review is a prime example of how not to react to criticism: he suggests that Wood "dismisses" his work as that of an amateur, when (as Wood replied) Goldstone's lack of "academic appointment" has nothing whatever to do with the failings of Dark Bargain.
Writers and readers of American historical scholarship will find Wood's essays enlightening, clearly-written, and at time provocative. I recommend them highly.
Links & Reviews
- Ed Pollack has some Special Exhibition highlights up on his website, including some of the items he'll be bringing to the Boston Print Fair next weekend.
- Michael Lieberman notes that the McHenry Library at UC Santa Cruz will house an archive of Grateful Dead material. The library now has a webpage up for the archive, which includes "original documents, clippings, media, article and other publications about the Dead and its individual members, its tours and performances, productions, and business. Among the resources that will be invaluable for researchers are show files, programs, newsletters, posters, cover art, photographs, tickets and stickers. These artifacts document three decades of the band’s recordings and its performance of thousands of concerts. A collection of stage props, tour exhibit material, and, of course, tee-shirts gives dimension and visual impact to the collection." Processing is expected to take about two years.
- From BibliOdyssey, calligraphic portraits from the British Museum Prints Database. Peacay writes of trying to search for images in this style "The more esoteric and specific the style or theme, the harder it is to find desirable images, seems to me. More image captions and metadata please!"
- Congrats to PKS on his one-year blogiversary at Sylvia Plath Info.
- Writing for the AP, Natasha Robinson discusses the way fragile books are being scanned for Google Books; at the end, she includes comments from Brewster Kahle, founder of the open-source Internet Archive Text Archive.
- In the 1 May New York Review of Books, Garry Wills compares Lincoln's 1860 Cooper Union speech with Barack Obama's speech on race at the National Constitution Center earlier this year.
- J.L. Bell examines a 1741 set of informal rules for incoming Harvard freshmen, which are quite amusing. He also links to a lengthy discussion that's been going on over at The New Republic about the HBO "John Adams" mini-series.
Reviews
- Peter Conrad reviews Alberto Manguel's The Library at Night in The Guardian.
- In the NYTimes, Joyce Hor-Chung Lau reviews Don Jordan and Michael Walsh's White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America. I haven't read too many other reviews of this one, but their thesis sounds rather contentious to me.
- For The Scotsman, Michael Pye reviews Lisa Jardine's Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory. He didn't much care for this one.
- John Spurling reviews Arturo Perez-Reverte's most recent Captain Alatriste novel, The King's Gold.
- Michael Lieberman notes that the McHenry Library at UC Santa Cruz will house an archive of Grateful Dead material. The library now has a webpage up for the archive, which includes "original documents, clippings, media, article and other publications about the Dead and its individual members, its tours and performances, productions, and business. Among the resources that will be invaluable for researchers are show files, programs, newsletters, posters, cover art, photographs, tickets and stickers. These artifacts document three decades of the band’s recordings and its performance of thousands of concerts. A collection of stage props, tour exhibit material, and, of course, tee-shirts gives dimension and visual impact to the collection." Processing is expected to take about two years.
- From BibliOdyssey, calligraphic portraits from the British Museum Prints Database. Peacay writes of trying to search for images in this style "The more esoteric and specific the style or theme, the harder it is to find desirable images, seems to me. More image captions and metadata please!"
- Congrats to PKS on his one-year blogiversary at Sylvia Plath Info.
- Writing for the AP, Natasha Robinson discusses the way fragile books are being scanned for Google Books; at the end, she includes comments from Brewster Kahle, founder of the open-source Internet Archive Text Archive.
- In the 1 May New York Review of Books, Garry Wills compares Lincoln's 1860 Cooper Union speech with Barack Obama's speech on race at the National Constitution Center earlier this year.
- J.L. Bell examines a 1741 set of informal rules for incoming Harvard freshmen, which are quite amusing. He also links to a lengthy discussion that's been going on over at The New Republic about the HBO "John Adams" mini-series.
Reviews
- Peter Conrad reviews Alberto Manguel's The Library at Night in The Guardian.
- In the NYTimes, Joyce Hor-Chung Lau reviews Don Jordan and Michael Walsh's White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America. I haven't read too many other reviews of this one, but their thesis sounds rather contentious to me.
- For The Scotsman, Michael Pye reviews Lisa Jardine's Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland's Glory. He didn't much care for this one.
- John Spurling reviews Arturo Perez-Reverte's most recent Captain Alatriste novel, The King's Gold.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Auction Report
- Christie's South Kensington had a Landmarks of Science and Medicine sale (5542) on 23 April. Rare Book Review notes that some of the lots were from the collection of Swedish collector Andras Gedeon. The high spot was a copy of Pierre Borel's 1655-56 treatise on telescopes and microscopes, which made almost $44,000. Works by Newton and Huygens also sold well. A 1974 offprint from IEEE Transactions on Communications, "A Protocol for Packet Network Intercommunications," signed by the authors (Cerf and Kahn), fetched $21,000: this article is considered the foundational text of the Internet.
- Earlier in the day (23 April) Christie's had a general Travel, Science & Natural History sale (5428). The top-selling printed item was a collection of 101 John Gould plates (mostly hummingbirds), which fetched just over $32,000. A set of James Cook's voyage accounts made $23,000.
Christie's has a new, Flash-based website, which is delightful when it works but a pain when it won't load on older computers.
- Swann Galleries held a Literature, Art and Illustrated books sale on 24 April, but nothing seemed to generate much interest. Their next book sale (Printed & Manuscript Americana) will be held on 5 June.
- Sotheby's London will hold a sale of Natural History, Travel, Atlases and Maps on 8 May.
- Earlier in the day (23 April) Christie's had a general Travel, Science & Natural History sale (5428). The top-selling printed item was a collection of 101 John Gould plates (mostly hummingbirds), which fetched just over $32,000. A set of James Cook's voyage accounts made $23,000.
Christie's has a new, Flash-based website, which is delightful when it works but a pain when it won't load on older computers.
- Swann Galleries held a Literature, Art and Illustrated books sale on 24 April, but nothing seemed to generate much interest. Their next book sale (Printed & Manuscript Americana) will be held on 5 June.
- Sotheby's London will hold a sale of Natural History, Travel, Atlases and Maps on 8 May.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Penalty Revoked for Indian National Library Employee
The Calcutta Telegraph reported yesterday that the "culture ministry has revoked the penalty of an official of the National Library who was caught smuggling out photocopies of rare books and periodicals in December 2005." The employee, Ashok Kumar Nath, an assistant library and information officer, was penalized by having his pay cut, but that sanction was recently and inexplicably revoked by higher-ups within the government.
"It is strange that the ministry wants to revoke the charges against him. This has never happened in the history of the National Library," said R. Ramachandran, the director-in-charge and principal library and information officer. The paper reports "Dark hints are being dropped that Nath has got away because he belongs to the CPM-backed National Library Employees’ Association."
I'm not entirely clear on why the culture ministry would interfere with what seems to be an administrative matter, but it certainly is curious.
"It is strange that the ministry wants to revoke the charges against him. This has never happened in the history of the National Library," said R. Ramachandran, the director-in-charge and principal library and information officer. The paper reports "Dark hints are being dropped that Nath has got away because he belongs to the CPM-backed National Library Employees’ Association."
I'm not entirely clear on why the culture ministry would interfere with what seems to be an administrative matter, but it certainly is curious.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Extra Links
It's getting down to crunch-time in the last couple weeks of grad school (but who's counting?), so I am afraid I must throw out some really interesting links with much less commentary for each than I'd really like to be able to provide. But oh, that glorious day is coming when the class-chains will be lifted from my shoulders and I'll be able to read guiltlessly, and blog guiltlessly, and, well, you get the idea.
- Julia Keller's Chicago Tribune essay on the future of the book has been getting much and well-deserved attention - it's a funny and provocative piece, and comes as close to a bulls-eye about this oft-discussed question as anything I've read recently.
- The BPL's Norman Leventhal Map Center has unveiled a redesign of its website, which is quite nice.
- For reasons entirely passing understanding, the New York Times devoted a rather excessive number of column-inches to this story, about an "anomaly" (read: "ghost") which appeared on the security tapes from the New Paltz Public Library one night last October. See the video here, complete with what looks to me very much like an out-of-focus spider.
- Toronto's Globe and Mail has been running a series of interesting essays highlighting the "Fifty Greatest Books." This week's installment, by Jonathan Swift biographer Victoria Glendenning, covers Gulliver's Travels. It doesn't take much to make a good case for Gulliver's importance, but Glendenning does that one better and makes a great one. "Swift, his rage and despair barely controlled by his art, exposes what we humans do, and what we are like. Even though some of the political and doctrinal references were designed to be decoded by his contemporaries, the implications are disturbingly universal. Swift demonstrates the ludicrousness of conflict by substituting everyday issues — like the bitter dissension in Lilliput between the wearers of high heels and the wearers of low heels, and the war between Lilliput and Blefescu, costing thousands of innocent lives, about whether boiled eggs should be opened at the little end or at the big end." I think I shall reread the book this summer - it's been a couple of years, and if there's ever a book that warrants frequent rereadings, it is this one.
- Some interesting goodies from the most recent TLS: Margaret Drabble reviews Frances Wilson's The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, while Jonathan Bate examines a recent collection of the works of Shakespeare contemporary Thomas Middleton. I hadn't heard of Middleton: Bate describes him as particularly adept at "more-than-Shakespeareanly inventive bawdy wordplay," among other things. Also from the TLS, a review of Richard Fortey's Dry Store Room No. 1, a behind-the-scenes look at a career in the [London] Natural History Museum.
- GalleyCat notes the ongoing struggle to save Edith Wharton's Lenox, MA home, The Mount, from foreclosure. The foundation in charge of the house is trying to raise $3 million by Thursday, which seems like a fairly tall order.
- Garrett at Bibliophagist offers up some delightful musings on booksellers' catalogs, writing "My aim here isn’t to give an exhaustive review of each catalogue but rather to try to start to figure out what pushes a catalogue out of the realm of simple commercial utility into the realm of quasi-literature. Perhaps the interesting catalogue sits somewhere in the intersection of curious material pointed up by obvious learning and a certain restrained enthusiasm. (Is an interesting title in a catalogue still interesting if you are not shown why it is of interest?) A brief explanation of the merits of a late 18th c. chapbook edition of Tom Jones is a tonic to the implicit rhodomontade of glossy auction or high-spot catalogues." [NB: I had to look up rhodomontade: the OED says "A vainglorious brag or boast; an extravagantly boastful or arrogant saying or speech; an arrogant act."]
- Travis provides some totally surprising (but noteworthy nonetheless) new facts from the James Brubaker case: he went around ripping off libraries because he needed some cash. Travis adds that Brubaker's trial date is set for 10 June.
- The University of Iowa's Digital Library Web now contains more than 100,000 items.
- Apropos of the above, NPR's "All Things Considered" ran a segment this week discussing libraries and their non-Google, non-Microsoft digitization efforts.
- J.L. Bell was on the radio this week discussing "John Adams" the mini-series. Listen here.
- The Guardian ran a lengthy article yesterday on "academic search engines," which I highly recommend. The list of links at the bottom is awfully handy as well.
- Mars Hill College (NC) has received a donated copy of a 1686 edition of Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German.
- Julia Keller's Chicago Tribune essay on the future of the book has been getting much and well-deserved attention - it's a funny and provocative piece, and comes as close to a bulls-eye about this oft-discussed question as anything I've read recently.
- The BPL's Norman Leventhal Map Center has unveiled a redesign of its website, which is quite nice.
- For reasons entirely passing understanding, the New York Times devoted a rather excessive number of column-inches to this story, about an "anomaly" (read: "ghost") which appeared on the security tapes from the New Paltz Public Library one night last October. See the video here, complete with what looks to me very much like an out-of-focus spider.
- Toronto's Globe and Mail has been running a series of interesting essays highlighting the "Fifty Greatest Books." This week's installment, by Jonathan Swift biographer Victoria Glendenning, covers Gulliver's Travels. It doesn't take much to make a good case for Gulliver's importance, but Glendenning does that one better and makes a great one. "Swift, his rage and despair barely controlled by his art, exposes what we humans do, and what we are like. Even though some of the political and doctrinal references were designed to be decoded by his contemporaries, the implications are disturbingly universal. Swift demonstrates the ludicrousness of conflict by substituting everyday issues — like the bitter dissension in Lilliput between the wearers of high heels and the wearers of low heels, and the war between Lilliput and Blefescu, costing thousands of innocent lives, about whether boiled eggs should be opened at the little end or at the big end." I think I shall reread the book this summer - it's been a couple of years, and if there's ever a book that warrants frequent rereadings, it is this one.
- Some interesting goodies from the most recent TLS: Margaret Drabble reviews Frances Wilson's The Ballad of Dorothy Wordsworth, while Jonathan Bate examines a recent collection of the works of Shakespeare contemporary Thomas Middleton. I hadn't heard of Middleton: Bate describes him as particularly adept at "more-than-Shakespeareanly inventive bawdy wordplay," among other things. Also from the TLS, a review of Richard Fortey's Dry Store Room No. 1, a behind-the-scenes look at a career in the [London] Natural History Museum.
- GalleyCat notes the ongoing struggle to save Edith Wharton's Lenox, MA home, The Mount, from foreclosure. The foundation in charge of the house is trying to raise $3 million by Thursday, which seems like a fairly tall order.
- Garrett at Bibliophagist offers up some delightful musings on booksellers' catalogs, writing "My aim here isn’t to give an exhaustive review of each catalogue but rather to try to start to figure out what pushes a catalogue out of the realm of simple commercial utility into the realm of quasi-literature. Perhaps the interesting catalogue sits somewhere in the intersection of curious material pointed up by obvious learning and a certain restrained enthusiasm. (Is an interesting title in a catalogue still interesting if you are not shown why it is of interest?) A brief explanation of the merits of a late 18th c. chapbook edition of Tom Jones is a tonic to the implicit rhodomontade of glossy auction or high-spot catalogues." [NB: I had to look up rhodomontade: the OED says "A vainglorious brag or boast; an extravagantly boastful or arrogant saying or speech; an arrogant act."]
- Travis provides some totally surprising (but noteworthy nonetheless) new facts from the James Brubaker case: he went around ripping off libraries because he needed some cash. Travis adds that Brubaker's trial date is set for 10 June.
- The University of Iowa's Digital Library Web now contains more than 100,000 items.
- Apropos of the above, NPR's "All Things Considered" ran a segment this week discussing libraries and their non-Google, non-Microsoft digitization efforts.
- J.L. Bell was on the radio this week discussing "John Adams" the mini-series. Listen here.
- The Guardian ran a lengthy article yesterday on "academic search engines," which I highly recommend. The list of links at the bottom is awfully handy as well.
- Mars Hill College (NC) has received a donated copy of a 1686 edition of Martin Luther's translation of the Bible into German.
Book Review: "Once Upon a Time in the North"
Philip Pullman's latest short story is Once Upon a Time in the North, sort of a prequel to the His Dark Materials trilogy in that it relates the story of the fateful first meeting between Texan aeronaut Lee Scoresby and armored bear-warrior Iorek Byrnison. I preferred this one to Lyra's Oxford, the other 'companion volume' - this one had more oomph and, well, I was rather more partial to the characters.
That said, this has all the limitations of a short story. I found myself wanting more character development, more plot, &c. For what's here, though, Pullman's done a good job.
The small volume is nicely designed, with appropriately-murky engravings by John Lawrence. A must-read for the HDM completist or die-hard Scoresby fans, but probably not a requirement for others.
That said, this has all the limitations of a short story. I found myself wanting more character development, more plot, &c. For what's here, though, Pullman's done a good job.
The small volume is nicely designed, with appropriately-murky engravings by John Lawrence. A must-read for the HDM completist or die-hard Scoresby fans, but probably not a requirement for others.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Auction Report: PBA
PBA Galleries held a sale of Americana, Travel & Exploration, Cartography and Natural History books on 17 April (last Thursday). I paid more attention to this sale than I do to most since I actually had a bid in on something (the first time I've ever bid in a live auction, and successfully too!), but I've neglected to report back on the results. Better late than never, right?
The sale's high spot was an 1877 photographic panorama of San Francisco published by Edward Muybridge; it made $51,000 with premiums. A copy of the government-printed report of Zebulon Pike's expedition to the southwest (181) fetched $21,600. A first edition of William Bligh's Voyage to the South Sea (1792) and an 1846 Mitchell map of Texas and the West sold for $11,400 apiece.
Beyond these, there were some impressive bargains to be had at this sale, with many items selling well below expected prices or in the lower range of their estimates.
The sale's high spot was an 1877 photographic panorama of San Francisco published by Edward Muybridge; it made $51,000 with premiums. A copy of the government-printed report of Zebulon Pike's expedition to the southwest (181) fetched $21,600. A first edition of William Bligh's Voyage to the South Sea (1792) and an 1846 Mitchell map of Texas and the West sold for $11,400 apiece.
Beyond these, there were some impressive bargains to be had at this sale, with many items selling well below expected prices or in the lower range of their estimates.
Nabokov's Last Novel to be Published
Vladimir Nabokov's son will not destroy his father's last, unpublished novel (The Original of Laura), The Guardian reports today. Dmitri Nabokov told the German magazine Der Spiegel that he decided to publish the book after his father appeared to him in a vision: "I'm a loyal son and thought long and seriously about it, then my father appeared before me and said, with an ironic grin, 'You're stuck in a right old mess - just go ahead and publish!'"
Publishing details to be announced.
Publishing details to be announced.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Book Review(s): "Bizarre Books" and "Scouts in Bondage"
I don't usually write joint book reviews, but since Russell Ash and Brian Lake's Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities and Michael Bell's Scouts in Bondage and Other Violations of Literary Propriety cover much the same ground, it seemed only appropriate to write just one review rather than two. Both books provide a sampling of book titles/cover/authors which are innocent enough, but which have either fallen prey to changes in word usage over time, ("entendres that have double'd over the years", as Bell puts it) or simply serve to amuse and puzzle.
Ash and Lake's book is the larger of the two; it contains several chapters of subject-oriented titles complemented by the occasional black-and-white image or excerpt. Bell's sample size is smaller, but the book is hardbound and contains lovely full-color illustrations of the book covers in question (many of the titles are also to be found in Bizarre Books).
Interestingly, the LC classifies Bell's book in PN (Wit and Humor), while Ash and Lake's is shelved in Z (Books on Books). Both are quite funny and well worth a good browse-through.
Ash and Lake's book is the larger of the two; it contains several chapters of subject-oriented titles complemented by the occasional black-and-white image or excerpt. Bell's sample size is smaller, but the book is hardbound and contains lovely full-color illustrations of the book covers in question (many of the titles are also to be found in Bizarre Books).
Interestingly, the LC classifies Bell's book in PN (Wit and Humor), while Ash and Lake's is shelved in Z (Books on Books). Both are quite funny and well worth a good browse-through.
On Patriots' Day
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps;
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We set to-day a votive stone;
That memory may their deed redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.
Spirit, that made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free,
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raise to them and thee.
Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn," sung on 4 July 1837 at a ceremony marking the dedication of the memorial Obelisk at Concord. Saturday was the 233d anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord, which we celebrate in Massachusetts today as Patriots' Day.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Book Review: "Lincoln and Douglas"
I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to be seeing a sharp increase in the already-astronomical number of books about various aspects of Abraham Lincoln's life over the next year or so as we approach the bicentennial of his birth. Authors will almost certainly continue to leave no Lincoln stone unturned (rail unsplit?) as they work over old ground and/or attempt to tread new paths.
Allen C. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (Simon & Schuster) takes a narrow look at the seven debates waged between Lincoln and incumbent Stephan A. Douglas during the senatorial contest of 1858. Guelzo argues, quite fairly, that the debates were largely responsible for Lincoln's elevation onto the national stage which resulted in the delivery of his famous Cooper Union speech in early 1860 and allowed him to be seen as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination that year.
The book is focused, providing just barely enough background information on the issues, the run-up to the campaign and even the non-debate portion of the contest. Guelzo hones in on each debate with an examination of the setting, the various arguments made and the perceptions left by Lincoln and Douglas. It's a well-written and well-researched book with fine footnotes and a good historiographical wrap-up.
Allen C. Guelzo's Lincoln and Douglas: The Debates that Defined America (Simon & Schuster) takes a narrow look at the seven debates waged between Lincoln and incumbent Stephan A. Douglas during the senatorial contest of 1858. Guelzo argues, quite fairly, that the debates were largely responsible for Lincoln's elevation onto the national stage which resulted in the delivery of his famous Cooper Union speech in early 1860 and allowed him to be seen as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination that year.
The book is focused, providing just barely enough background information on the issues, the run-up to the campaign and even the non-debate portion of the contest. Guelzo hones in on each debate with an examination of the setting, the various arguments made and the perceptions left by Lincoln and Douglas. It's a well-written and well-researched book with fine footnotes and a good historiographical wrap-up.
Book Review: "Extra Nutty"
Three volumes of Ted L. Nancy letters may be just one too many. While the content of Extra Nutty: Even More Letters from a Nut remained amusing, I didn't laugh nearly as much at these as I did at the letters in the first and second collections. I should probably have allowed more time to elapse between readings, maybe my feelings are the simple result of a slight Nut overdose.
Jerry Seinfeld (the assumed author of these books) provides the "backword" to this one, in which he writes his own Nancyesque letter to Mr. Nancy.
Jerry Seinfeld (the assumed author of these books) provides the "backword" to this one, in which he writes his own Nancyesque letter to Mr. Nancy.
Links & Reviews
- Tim notes two LT PALINET Podcasts from this week: Part one; Part two.
- Paul Collins has taken up Caleb Crain's 2006 challenge to find an earlier usage of the phrase "Mad--mad, I tell you!" than James Herne's 1879 play "Within an Inch of His Life." Paul discovered the phrase used in Caroline Hyde Butler Laing's 1855 novel The Old Farm House. Good find! Caleb comments here.
- Getting very meta here, but Laura at bookn3rd had a good links post this week; I recommend them all. In another post she mentioned a great piece from Deeplinking that I had saved up for today: "Glosses through the Ages," with some excellent images of marginalia. It also includes some interesting links to new sorts of online marginalia-makers that I hadn't seen before.
- Jim Watts reports that a Torah scroll was stolen from a Kenosha, WI synagogue recently, just before the Passover holiday. A neighboring synagogue loaned another Torah so that services could proceed as scheduled.
- Over at the Guardian book blog, Claire Armitstead asks "are there 'historic' moments that a bookish fly on the wall could actually see?"
Reviews
- Richard O'Mara reviews The Archimedes Codex in The Christian Science Monitor.
- Ralph Luker points out some good recent reviews on a number of topics, including Rick Brookhiser's NYT review of Steven Waldman's Founding Faith.
- Linc Chafee was on NPR's "Fresh Air" this week to discuss his new book, Against the Tide.
- Scott Douglas, author of the delightful McSweeneys feature "Dispatches from a Public Librarian" and of the new memoir Quiet Please, did a Q&A this week with PopMatters. He's also been blogging at Speak Quietly. And there's a Stuart Kelly review of Quiet Please in today's Scotsman.
- Richard Cox comments on Jeannette Bastian and Donna Webber's new SAA publication: Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students. He notes the tension between practical training and theoretical education, which is at the heart of archival (and library) education.
- Danny Heitman's new book about an episode in Audubon's life, A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House, is reviewed by Ed Cullen.
- Paul Collins has taken up Caleb Crain's 2006 challenge to find an earlier usage of the phrase "Mad--mad, I tell you!" than James Herne's 1879 play "Within an Inch of His Life." Paul discovered the phrase used in Caroline Hyde Butler Laing's 1855 novel The Old Farm House. Good find! Caleb comments here.
- Getting very meta here, but Laura at bookn3rd had a good links post this week; I recommend them all. In another post she mentioned a great piece from Deeplinking that I had saved up for today: "Glosses through the Ages," with some excellent images of marginalia. It also includes some interesting links to new sorts of online marginalia-makers that I hadn't seen before.
- Jim Watts reports that a Torah scroll was stolen from a Kenosha, WI synagogue recently, just before the Passover holiday. A neighboring synagogue loaned another Torah so that services could proceed as scheduled.
- Over at the Guardian book blog, Claire Armitstead asks "are there 'historic' moments that a bookish fly on the wall could actually see?"
Reviews
- Richard O'Mara reviews The Archimedes Codex in The Christian Science Monitor.
- Ralph Luker points out some good recent reviews on a number of topics, including Rick Brookhiser's NYT review of Steven Waldman's Founding Faith.
- Linc Chafee was on NPR's "Fresh Air" this week to discuss his new book, Against the Tide.
- Scott Douglas, author of the delightful McSweeneys feature "Dispatches from a Public Librarian" and of the new memoir Quiet Please, did a Q&A this week with PopMatters. He's also been blogging at Speak Quietly. And there's a Stuart Kelly review of Quiet Please in today's Scotsman.
- Richard Cox comments on Jeannette Bastian and Donna Webber's new SAA publication: Archival Internships: A Guide for Faculty, Supervisors, and Students. He notes the tension between practical training and theoretical education, which is at the heart of archival (and library) education.
- Danny Heitman's new book about an episode in Audubon's life, A Summer of Birds: John James Audubon at Oakley House, is reviewed by Ed Cullen.
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