- Penn has acquired the only known copy of "Elegy on the Death of Aquila Rose," printed by Benjamin Franklin shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia in 1723. See coverage in Philly.com, the WaPo, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. The broadside was included in a scrapbook of material collected by Samuel Hazard in the 19th century and later purchased by manuscripts dealer Carmen Valentino. Both the broadside and the scrapbook are currently on display at Penn's Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center.
- The strong showing for Hamilton manuscripts at Sotheby's this week made the NYTimes, Bloomberg, and even SNL's "Weekend Update."
- The EMMO beta site is now live. See the Collation post for more info.
- Roberta Kwok writes about the Folger's Shakespeare's World crowdsourced transcription project for the New Yorker.
- Rare Book Week West 2017 is coming up soon!
- Heather Wolfe and Michael Witmore have a joint Collation post, "William Shakespeare, Scholar and Gentleman."
- The Jay I. Kislak Foundation has made a major gift of some 2,300 rare books and manuscripts to the University of Miami and Miami Dade College.
- Kathleen Lynch takes a deep dive into Folger First Folio number 54.
- Ana Marie Cox interviewed Carla Hayden for the NYTimes.
- Leo Cadogan is profiled in the "Bright Young Booksellers" series.
- The National Library of Israel has acquired the remainder of the Valmadonna Trust Library.
- Bookseller Ed Smith interviewed Kurt Brokaw about selling books on the sidewalks of New York.
- Michael J. Barsanti has been named director of the Library Company of Philadelphia.
- Nate D. Sanders Auctions will sell a copy of the 1494 Basel edition of the Columbus letter on 30 January.
- Several photographs from the 1911 Scott expedition will be sold at Bonhams next month.
Reviews
- Randall Fuller's The Book That Changed America; review by Eric Foner in the NYTimes.
- Robert Gottlieb's Avid Reader: A Life; review by J. Michael Lennon in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers, 25 January.
- Fine Literature and Modern First Editions at PBA Galleries, 26 January.
- Travel & Exploration at Bonhams London, 1 February.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Monday, January 16, 2017
Links & Reviews
- This week's Sotheby's sale of a remarkable collection of Hamilton manuscripts garnered a NYTimes report and a Fine Books Blog post by Rebecca Rego Barry.
- The BPL has digitized their copy of Moxon's Mechanick Exercises (1683).
- Over at Literary Hub, Rebecca Rego Barry previewed the sale of some important pieces of Doubleday publishing history at Doyle this week.
- A "Book History Unbound" section has been added to the SHARP website, as a space for Book History contributors to post additional materials.
- ILAB released a warning this week about a book circulating with a forged Darwin inscription.
- The California International Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates fifty years this February; I'm looking forward to attending for the first time!
- Early American bookplates are the order of the day on the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog.
- A new digital collation tool is now available for download.
- Bruce Springsteen's archive is going to Monmouth University.
- The Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture at the University of Wisconsin Madison will host what looks like a fascinating conference in September, "BH and DH: Book History and Digital Humanities." See the page for the call for papers, &c.
- The new journal Libraries: Culture, History, and Society is now accepting submissions for the second issue.
- Nancy Campbell writes on the "Beauty of Books" for the TLS.
- On the OUP blog, James Cortada asks how map reading has changed over the past several centuries.
- A new podcast from AAS features interviews with AAS research fellows.
- A Watertown, NY woman was arrested after attempting to steal rare books from the Flower Public Library in Watertown.
- From Michiko Kakutani, "Obama's Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books," as well as the transcript of the interview for the piece.
Reviews
- A new translation of Dumas' The Red Sphinx; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Ruth Franklin's Shirley Jackson and Miles Hyman's recent graphic adaptation of "The Lottery"; review by Emilie Bickerton in the TLS.
- Kevin Dann's Expect Great Things; review by John Kaag in the NYTimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- Alexander Hamilton: An Important Family Archive of Letters and Manuscripts at Sotheby's New York, 18 January
- Books, Art and Ephemera: Whaling, Horror, 16th Century, &c. at National Book Auctions, 21 January
- The BPL has digitized their copy of Moxon's Mechanick Exercises (1683).
- Over at Literary Hub, Rebecca Rego Barry previewed the sale of some important pieces of Doubleday publishing history at Doyle this week.
- A "Book History Unbound" section has been added to the SHARP website, as a space for Book History contributors to post additional materials.
- ILAB released a warning this week about a book circulating with a forged Darwin inscription.
- The California International Antiquarian Book Fair celebrates fifty years this February; I'm looking forward to attending for the first time!
- Early American bookplates are the order of the day on the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog.
- A new digital collation tool is now available for download.
- Bruce Springsteen's archive is going to Monmouth University.
- The Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture at the University of Wisconsin Madison will host what looks like a fascinating conference in September, "BH and DH: Book History and Digital Humanities." See the page for the call for papers, &c.
- The new journal Libraries: Culture, History, and Society is now accepting submissions for the second issue.
- Nancy Campbell writes on the "Beauty of Books" for the TLS.
- On the OUP blog, James Cortada asks how map reading has changed over the past several centuries.
- A new podcast from AAS features interviews with AAS research fellows.
- A Watertown, NY woman was arrested after attempting to steal rare books from the Flower Public Library in Watertown.
- From Michiko Kakutani, "Obama's Secret to Surviving the White House Years: Books," as well as the transcript of the interview for the piece.
Reviews
- A new translation of Dumas' The Red Sphinx; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Ruth Franklin's Shirley Jackson and Miles Hyman's recent graphic adaptation of "The Lottery"; review by Emilie Bickerton in the TLS.
- Kevin Dann's Expect Great Things; review by John Kaag in the NYTimes.
Upcoming Auctions
- Alexander Hamilton: An Important Family Archive of Letters and Manuscripts at Sotheby's New York, 18 January
- Books, Art and Ephemera: Whaling, Horror, 16th Century, &c. at National Book Auctions, 21 January
Sunday, January 08, 2017
Links & Reviews
- Joseph Berger's NYTimes report "A Secret Jew, the New World, a Lost Book: Mystery Solved," on the identification of manuscript stolen from the National Archives of Mexico, is not to be missed.
- Heather Wolfe's recent Shakespeare discoveries are highlighted in The Guardian.
- The Grolier Club is hosting a mini-symposium on Wednesday, 11 January, "The World of Bookplates," drawing on their current exhibition, "Bookplates at the Grolier Club."
- Alex Shashkevich writes for the Stanford News website about a recent collaborative initiative to get students using materials from the university's special collections and archives.
- Among the Rare Book Monthly pieces for January are the annual look at the top 500 auction prices for works on paper (2016), Bruce McKinney on Sven Becker's appointment as head of books and manuscripts at Christie's New York, and Michael Stillman on the badly-done California law governing the sale of signed materials.
- Speaking of AB 1570, there's a Change.org petition up now urging its repeal, which had more than 800 signatures as of this morning.
- The BPL has started a new blog series in unique items in their collections, and I'd missed a pre-Christmas post from Jay Moschella about the BPL's important Americana purchases at the 1896 sale of the library of S.L.M. Barlow.
- Georgianna Ziegler notes a beautiful new Folger acquisition: a tiny manuscript presented to the eldest son of James I in 1607 by calligrapher Esther Inglis.
- Kirk Johnson highlights the work of bookbinder Donald Vass, who has worked for the King County Public Library system for more than a quarter-century.
- New and with all kinds of interesting things to be found, Early Modern Typography.
- This year marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of Harvard's Houghton Library.
- Rick Rojas reports for the NYTimes on the big move for a large collection of New York City court archives.
- Pradeep Sebastian surveys 2016's books about books for The Hindu.
- The British Library has returned a book from its collections after determining that it was stolen from an earlier owner by the Nazis.
- Jay Sylvestre of the University of Miami gets the "Bright Young Librarians" treatment at the Fine Books Blog.
- The Kelmscott Chaucer census blog notes that two copies have recently found new institutional homes.
- Two librarians in Florida have been suspended for apparently falsifying circulation records by creating fake patron accounts. Reportedly they did this to avoid the books being "automatically culled," but it poses a problem since the libraries receive some funding based on circulation.
Reviews
- Robert Parkinson's The Common Cause; review by Annette Gordon-Reed in the NYRB.
- Lawrence Bergreen's Casanova; review by Anthony Gottlieb in the NYTimes.
- Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe; review by Eileen Pollack in the WaPo.
- David Silverman's Thundersticks; review by Casey Sanchez in the LATimes.
- Alison Bradford and Joyce Chaplin's The New Worlds of Thomas Robert Malthus; review by Mark Micale in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography at Lyon & Turnbull, 11 January
- Rare Medicine & Science: Inventory of Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books (with additions) at PBA Galleries, 12 January
- Heather Wolfe's recent Shakespeare discoveries are highlighted in The Guardian.
- The Grolier Club is hosting a mini-symposium on Wednesday, 11 January, "The World of Bookplates," drawing on their current exhibition, "Bookplates at the Grolier Club."
- Alex Shashkevich writes for the Stanford News website about a recent collaborative initiative to get students using materials from the university's special collections and archives.
- Among the Rare Book Monthly pieces for January are the annual look at the top 500 auction prices for works on paper (2016), Bruce McKinney on Sven Becker's appointment as head of books and manuscripts at Christie's New York, and Michael Stillman on the badly-done California law governing the sale of signed materials.
- Speaking of AB 1570, there's a Change.org petition up now urging its repeal, which had more than 800 signatures as of this morning.
- The BPL has started a new blog series in unique items in their collections, and I'd missed a pre-Christmas post from Jay Moschella about the BPL's important Americana purchases at the 1896 sale of the library of S.L.M. Barlow.
- Georgianna Ziegler notes a beautiful new Folger acquisition: a tiny manuscript presented to the eldest son of James I in 1607 by calligrapher Esther Inglis.
- Kirk Johnson highlights the work of bookbinder Donald Vass, who has worked for the King County Public Library system for more than a quarter-century.
- New and with all kinds of interesting things to be found, Early Modern Typography.
- This year marks the 75th anniversary of the opening of Harvard's Houghton Library.
- Rick Rojas reports for the NYTimes on the big move for a large collection of New York City court archives.
- Pradeep Sebastian surveys 2016's books about books for The Hindu.
- The British Library has returned a book from its collections after determining that it was stolen from an earlier owner by the Nazis.
- Jay Sylvestre of the University of Miami gets the "Bright Young Librarians" treatment at the Fine Books Blog.
- The Kelmscott Chaucer census blog notes that two copies have recently found new institutional homes.
- Two librarians in Florida have been suspended for apparently falsifying circulation records by creating fake patron accounts. Reportedly they did this to avoid the books being "automatically culled," but it poses a problem since the libraries receive some funding based on circulation.
Reviews
- Robert Parkinson's The Common Cause; review by Annette Gordon-Reed in the NYRB.
- Lawrence Bergreen's Casanova; review by Anthony Gottlieb in the NYTimes.
- Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe; review by Eileen Pollack in the WaPo.
- David Silverman's Thundersticks; review by Casey Sanchez in the LATimes.
- Alison Bradford and Joyce Chaplin's The New Worlds of Thomas Robert Malthus; review by Mark Micale in the TLS.
Upcoming Auctions
- Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography at Lyon & Turnbull, 11 January
- Rare Medicine & Science: Inventory of Edwin V. Glaser Rare Books (with additions) at PBA Galleries, 12 January
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