- A new short film by D.W. Young focuses on the jargon of the antiquarian book trade; Susannah Kemple has a short introduction for the New Yorker (the film is embedded at the top of the page).
- Tony Grafton did a talk for Labyrinth Books and the Princeton Humanities Council about his new book Inky Fingers: The Making of Books in Early Modern Europe, published by Harvard University Press. Watch on YouTube.
- I was able to tune into Marina Rustow's excellent talk this week on "The Cairo Geniza in the Digital Age," which is now available on YouTube.
- A former University of Illinois employee was sentenced to two years of "second-chance probation" after he pleaded guilty to the theft of two rare books from the University of Illinois Music Library.
- There's a virtual book launch for Nick Basbanes' new biography of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on 2 June. Free, but registration is required.
- The submission deadline for this year's Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize is 1 June.
- From the Bodleian's Conveyor blog, the medieval manuscripts team talks about how they're able to work remotely during the pandemic.
- Biblio listings for used books are now available through the Bookshop.org platform (where new copies of a title are not available).
- The University of Buffalo has received a 30,000-edition collection of pulp fiction from alumnus George Kelley.
- Kevin Wisniewski has some updates on the AAS Program in the History of the Book, including that the program's newsletter from 1983 to 2008 is now available digitally, and that they'll be hosting their first virtual book talk on 28 May, with Derrick Spires talking about his book The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States (which I hope will be recorded, since I have to be in another meeting at the time).
- Speaking of AAS, they are selling one of their two copies of the first newspaper printing of the Star-Spangled Banner, with proceeds to benefit the collections fund. The auction ends on 18 June, and the newspaper issue is estimated at $300,000–500,000.
- From Sara Schliep at The Collation, "Inside the Folger Archives: Uncle Henry's Pipers."
- The BL's medieval manuscripts blog looks back at the 2018 Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms exhibition.
- Eric White writes for Notabilia about comparing multiple Princeton copies of 15th-century books.
- Aaron Pratt is in the "Bright Young Librarians" spotlight this week.
- UVA posted some last pictures of the now-empty Alderman Library before the renovations begin in earnest.
- Another provenance mystery from the Middle Temple Library.
- The Council of State Archivists have released a series of new emergency preparedness documents.
- Biblio-human Colin Franklin died this week. Peter Kraus has a memorial post on the ABAA blog.
Upcoming Auctions
- Books and Manuscripts: A Spring Miscellany at Sotheby's now ends on 27 May.
- Livres Rares et Manuscrits at Christie's on 27 May.
- Printed Books, Maps & Autographs at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 27–28 May.
- Art & Archaeology of Asia – Travel & Exploration – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 28 May.
- The Martin Magovsky Collection of Children's Books and Books & Manuscripts at Freeman's on 28 May.
