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.
