Links & Auctions

On the weekend when the schedule as originally planned for 2020 would have seen many of us gathering in Boston, we must instead look forward to the ABAA Virtual Boston Book Fair on 12–14 November, and hope that by next year, circumstances will permit us to gather in person again. I'm very much feeling the loss of not being able to see so many friends this weekend, browsing the shelves at the Brattle and Commonwealth, and enjoying the main fair, the shadow show, and the associated delights of chatting with booksellers from around the world and viewing the biblio-delights they've brought with them to Boston. Next year!

- Not unrelatedly, a reminder to support your local or favorite independent new/used/rare bookshop as you think about your holiday shopping (and allow plenty of time for shipping).

- Christina Faraday covers the Royal College of Physicians' plan to sell rare books for Apollo. There is also a Change.org petition opposing the sale, started by two former curators of the RCP collection.

- Daniel Boffey writes for the Guardian about a recent series of thefts of Nazi artifacts from Dutch war museums, prompting new security measures, &c.

- The lineup for Princeton's "The Virtual Materiality of Texts: Book History during a Pandemic" symposium on 20 November looks really excellent (registration at the link).

- From Timothy Gress for the NYPL blog, "A Manuscript Mystery: The Fragment Within Browning's 'Columbe's Birthday.'"

- Over at the Met, they've started up a Museum of Obsolete Library Science (I love this idea).

- The BL's Untold Lives blog continues their look at the colonial legacy of the Mayflower voyage with a fifth installment in the series by Maddy Smith.

Review

- Megan Rosenbloom's Dark Archives; review by Connor Goodwin for NPR.

Upcoming Auctions

- Books and Manuscripts at Tajan on 3 November.

- Livres rares et Manuscrits at Christie's Paris on 3 November.

- Bibliothèque Guy Gaulard - Deuxième Partie at Rossini on 4 November.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 5 November.

- History of Science and Technology, including Air and Space at Bonhams Los Angeles on 5 November.

- Americana – Travel, Exploration, Space – World History – Cartography at PBA Galleries on 5 November.

- Bibliothèque du Docteur Poirier II at Pierre Bergé & Associés on 6 November.

Links & Auctions

- An excellent and important acquisitions story from Vince Golden for Past is Present. 

- Over on the Grolier Club blog, a compilation of "Research Resources on Black American Book Collectors and Book Collecting."

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Angels in Manuscripts."

- Some success stories from the LC's Mystery Photo Contest (with many still left to solve!)

- Over on the APHA blog, "A Golden Hind Artifact."

- It's all "Ottley-Simes-Murray" at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance this week.

- Articles from the first issue of Inscription are now available - and I highly recommend getting a physical copy while they're still available - it's a stunning production!

- New to me (and via Beth DeBold on Twitter), the great WPI Digital Archives site of pre-1945 auction catalogs (including quite a few book sales).

- Richard Ovenden will do a virtual book talk for Princeton about his new book Burning the Books on 16 November.

- From the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog, "Don't Touch the Money."

- Very surprising not to see more coverage of the proposed sale of books from the Royal College of Physicians library, mentioned here last week. There was one followup piece in the Times on Friday about a letter from more than 400 RCP members protesting the sale, at least. Let's shine some more sunshine on this, reporters!

Upcoming Auctions

- Early Printed Books at Swann Galleries on 27 October.

- Literature, Science Fiction, Americana, Books in All Fields on PBA Galleries ends on 29 October.

Links & Auctions

- Rare Books LA continues today over on Getman's Virtual platform - don't miss that!

- I was very sorry to hear of the death of antiquarian bookseller Bob Rubin of Brookline, MA (see his Boston Globe obituary as posted on the Bowdoin College website, forwarded to ExLibris with added remembrances by Garrett Scott). I met Bob years ago when I was living in Boston, and always enjoyed learning from him when we ran into each other at book fairs. I regret that I never had the chance to buy a book from him: I tried for one back in 2007, but it had already sold (and showed up later in a UK dealer's catalog for triple the price). I will miss impromptu breakfasts at the Au Bon Pain on Boylston Street before the Boston shadow show, his great stories, and his thoroughly interesting catalogs.

- The Mills College First Folio sold at Christie's this week for $9,978,000 (including premiums), to Stephan Lowentheil.

- From The Collation, "Introducing the Folger Reference Image Collection" (2,600+ images!).

- Aaron Pratt has a post in the HRC Magazine's "What is Research?" series: "Learning how to read again."

- The ARCA blog has a report on the recovery of the London warehouse theft books.

- Coming up this week, RBS' panel discussion "Race and the Boundaries of the Book" - click the link to watch the seven pre-circulated presentations prior to the live event on 20 October.

- Many congratulations to Lindsay DiCuirci, winner of the 2020 Library Company of Philadelphia First Book Award for Colonial Revivals.

- Over at Medieval Manuscripts Provenance, a two-parter on Felix Joubert: Forger and Collector?

- Hilary Mantel's in the Guardian's "You Ask the Questions" column.

- From UC Davis, "Historians to Digitize Endangered Peruvian Archive."

- The Princeton Graphic Arts collection blog highlights some of their Mame et Compagnie "chocolate box" bindings.

- Mostly paywalled, but there's a report in the Times that the Royal College of Physicians is planning an auction of "non-medical" rare books from the collection bequeathed by the Marquess of Dorchester in 1680.

- Conservator Barbara Adams Hebard takes a look at some wooden bindings in the John J. Burns Library.

- Don't miss the @RareUVA Twitter thread honoring Gayle Cooper on the occasion of her fiftieth year as UVA's Rare Book Cataloger. Huzzah, Gayle!

- Over on the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "Early medieval interlace."

- This month's Middle Temple Library provenance mystery is another good puzzler!

- On the SHARP blog, "On Decolonising Book History."

- From Books & Borrowing, "Broughton House Visit."

- The Bibliographical Society (UK) has announced a couple of upcoming Zoom talks, with more to follow in the spring.

- From Carolien Stolte for the Leiden University Special Collections blog, "The Esperanto textbooks that never were."

Reviews

- Susanna Clarke's Piranesi; review by Alex Preston in the Guardian.

- Ariel Sabar's Veritas; review by David Conrads in the CSM.

Upcoming Auctions

- Livres anciens du XVe au XIXe siècle at ALDE on 20 October.

- Americana, Travel, and Natural History at Bonhams New York on 21 October.

- Books and Works on Paper at Forum Auctions on 22 October.

- Fine Photographs at Swann Galleries on 22 October.

- Fine Books – Fine Press – Fine Bindings at PBA Galleries on 22 October.

Links & Auctions

- The October Getman's Virtual fair starts on 6 October at noon.

- Everything on Oak Knoll's website is 20–50% off through 5 October.

- Twelve Romanians held responsible for the January 2017 London warehouse theft of rare books were each sentenced to 3–5 years in prison this week.

- Submissions are now being accepted for the 2020 SHARP DeLong Book Prize.

- Rebecca Rego Barry notes that two Audubon letters about his books are coming up for auction this week at Hindman.

- Over on the Leiden Special Collections blog, Doris Jedamski posts about a recent donation of several letters written during an 18th-century voyage to the Dutch East Indies.

- From the BL's Medieval Manuscripts blog, "The Bamberg Book of Relics."

- Among the Rare Book Monthly articles this month, Clarence Wolf offers a "personal history and perspective" of his decades in the book trade, and Michael Stillman has an obituary note for map collector and scholar Dr. Seymour Schwartz.

Upcoming Auctions

- Printed Books, Maps & Documents, Travel, Science & Engineering at Dominic Winter Auctioneers on 7 October.

- Maps & Atlases at Forum Auctions on 8 October.

- Selections from the Library of Gerald and Barbara Weiner at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on 8 October.

- Fine Literature – Science Fiction – Illustrated Books at PBA Galleries on 8 October.

- October Sale at Arader Galleries on 10 October.