Links & Reviews

Lots to catch up on; I took some time away from the computer for a while so I'm sure I've missed a few things here - feel free to send them along.

- The LDS Church has paid $35 million for the printer's manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon.

- From the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, "How many copies of Birds of America does a family need?" and "Havell's Copper."

- At The Collation, "Consuming the New World."

- From Rachael Herrmann at The Junto, "How not to write your first book."

- The BL is asking for crowdsourcing help with its 19th-century playbills.

- Sandra L. Brooke has been appointed Avery Director of the Library at the Huntington Library.

- The winner's of this year's National Collegiate Book Collecting Competition and the inaugural Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize have been announced.

- From the Village Voice, "Keepers of the Secrets."

- The AAS has launched an illustrated inventory of their watch paper collection.

- A first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone sold for $81,000.

- John Crichton will deliver the inaugural Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trade in California and the West at the Book Club of California on 30 October.

- From Erin Schreiner at JHIBlog, "You Should Learn Descriptive Bibliography."

- In the TLS, Dimitra Fimi asks "Why build new worlds?"

- Now on display at Yale's Beinecke Library, "Making the Medieval English Manuscript."

- Another Voynich Manuscript "solution" has been proposed.

- Jonathan Senchyne's identification of a George Moses Horton essay at the NYPL is featured in the NYTimes.

- From Jot101, "Fakery, forgery and the fore-edge painter."

- At American Book Collecting, "Book Hunter Bypaths Explored & Exposed."

- The OUP Blog has an excerpt from Kevin Hayes' new book George Washington: A Life in Books.

- Prince Rupert's Drops are the order of the day at The Collation.

- The Library of Congress' collection of James K. Polk papers are now available online.

- The Junto has a Q&A with Coll Thrush about his new book Indigenous London.

- Over at Notes from Under Grounds, a look at early UVA library shelfmarks.

- Emily Yankowitz writes for JHIBlog on "William Plumer and the Politics of History Writing."

Reviews

- A new film on the NYPL, "Ex Libris"; review by Jordan Hoffman in the Guardian.

- Michael Sims' Frankenstein Dreams; review by Genevieve Valentine for NPR.

- Walter Stahr's Stanton; review by David Holahan for the CSM.

- Coll Thrush's Indigenous London; review by Sara Georgini at The Junto.

Upcoming Auctions

- Fine Books and Manuscripts Featuring Exploration & Travel at Bonhams New York on 26 September.

- The Vivien Leigh Collection at Sotheby's London on 26 September.

- The Library of John and Suzanne Bonham at Sotheby's London on 26 September.

- The Yeats Family Collection at Sotheby's London on 27 September.

- Printed and Manuscript Americana at Swann Galleries on 28 September.

Links & Reviews

- Rare Book School scholarship and fellowship applications are now available, with a due date of 1 November.

- The Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair is coming up on 8–10 September. Purchase of an opening night preview ticket benefits the RBS Scholarship Fund. Hope to see some of you there!

- Scans of the Library of Congress' collection of Alexander Hamilton papers are now available online.

- A hard drive containing unpublished works by Terry Pratchett was destroyed by steam roller this week, per the author's wishes.

- Ithaka S+R and the Mellon Foundation have released a report on employee diversity in ARL libraries.

- Jeanette Lerman writes on the current LCP exhibition "The Living Book" for the Philadelphia Inquirer, highlighting the (utterly wonderful) leaf books of Joseph Breintnall.

- David Fuchs talked on "Morning Edition" this week about Walter and Graham Judd's Flora of Middle Earth.

- Miriam Katazawi reports in for the Globe and Mail from an ongoing inventory at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto.

- Books from Vivien Leigh's library will go on the auction block on 26 September at Sotheby's London.

Reviews

- Two Walt Whitman texts recently identified and edited by Zachary Turpin; review by Ted Genoways in the NYTimes.

- David Williams' When the English Fall; review by Abigail Deutsch in the NYTimes.

- Lawrence P. Jackson's Chester B. Himes: A Biography; review by Robert B. Stepto in the WaPo.

- Helen Pilcher's Bring Back the King and Ursula K. Heise's Imagining Extinction; review by Colin Dickey in the LARB.

- Carol Berkin's A Sovereign People; review by Monica Rico in the LARB.

Upcoming Auctions

- Printed Books, Maps & Documents at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 6 September.

- Rare Books & Manuscripts, with the Fred Bennett Collection of the Book Club of California at PBA Galleries on 7 September.

- Eric C. Caren – How History Unfolds on Paper at Cowan's Auctions on 8 September.

- Books and Ephemera at National Book Auctions on 9 September.

- Fine Books and Manuscripts at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 13 September.

- Books at Heritage Auctions on 14 September.

- The Glory of Science at Bloomsbury on 14 September.

- Rare Cartography – Americana – Travel & Exploration at PBA Galleries on 21 September.