- Gordon College's planned sale of some 500 books with an estimated value of $2-3 million from the Edward Payson Vining collection at Doyle New York this fall (postponed from April) rated an article in the Boston Business Journal this week, as well as coverage in the Boston Globe. The college has not provided a final list of the books to be sold.
- Islamic State militants continued their assault on Iraq's cultural heritage, destroying archaeological relics and sites in and around Mosul.
- The Folger announced this week which institution in each state and Puerto Rico will host the First Folio going on the road in 2016 as part of their The Wonder of Will: 400 Years of Shakespeare initiative. I'm delighted that one will be coming to UVA, too!
- Maine governor Paul LePage has proposed to end state revenue sharing with municipalities, offering to "make up the difference" by allowing towns to levy property taxes against non-profit institutions, including hospitals, private colleges, museums, archives, historical societies, and historic sites with property assessed at more than $500,000. Maine Antiques Digest has editorialized against the proposal, and the Association of Maine Archives and Museums issued a strong statement opposing LePage's plan.
- Rich Rennicks has posted some background on the Doves Press to complement the recent discovery of some of the lost type.
- Tom Mashberg has a piece in the NYTimes about twenty-five years of theories about the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum thefts.
- ILAB has called for entrants for the 17th ILAB Breslaur Prize, to be awarded in 2018.
- Two books stolen from the Historical National Library of Agriculture in Italy (by somebody in the de Caro ring?) will be returned; they had been purchased by a buyer in San Francisco. There's a lengthy report in the San Francisco Chronicle about the books, but it's so full of eye-roll-worthy statements that it's probably not worth your time.
- A large collection of books by and related to Robert Graves has been donated to Illinois State University's Milner Library.
- Michael Rosenwald reports for the WaPo about a new finding: "digital natives" prefer reading in print.
- Bibliophile Frances Currer's copy of Bewicks British Birds has turned up and is now being offered for sale by Quaritch.
- Rare Book Monthly has posted its articles for March.
- The Telegraph ran an obituary this week for literary forger and confessed manuscripts thief Lee Israel, who died in December.
- Stephen Berry talked to Jessica Parr about his new book A Path in the Mighty Waters for The Junto.
- Anthony Tedeschi notes a neat event coming up in Sydney at the State Library of New South Wales in April: a "pop-up book fair" organized by ILAB, and a display of all four of the library's four Shakespeare Folios.
- Ruth Scurr previews her new biography of John Aubrey in The Guardian.
- A second copy of The Book o' the Brig, containing the "new" Sherlock Holmes story noted last week, has come to light: and this one appears to be signed by Arthur Conan Doyle on the cover!
- The finalists for the Diagram Oddest Book Title prize for 2015 have been revealed.
Reviews
- The new Aldus exhibit at the Grolier Club; review by Jennifer Schuessler in the NYTimes.
- James Fairhead's The Captain and "The Cannibal"; review by Gary Krist in the WaPo.
- Reif Larsen's I Am Radar; review by Carolyn Kellogg in the LATimes.
- Ruth Scurr's John Aubrey; review by Stuart Kelly in the TLS.
- Death Sentences, edited by Otto Penzler; review by Ted Fox in the Otago Daily Times.
