This'll likely be the last post for 2021 - my very best wishes to each and every one of you for a restful and healthy holiday season. May 2022 be better for us all.
- The biggest biblio-news of the week is the acquisition of the Honresfield Library en bloc for a consortium of British libraries. The £15 million purchase price was funded by grants and donations, with half the cost given by Sir Leonard Blavatnik. More from Charlotte Higgins for the Guardian and from the BBC.
- There was far less coverage of it, but a $7 million default judgment against Dirk Obbink in federal court is also a very important story. Obbink failed to respond to allegations he had defrauded Hobby Lobby by selling $7 million worth of stolen papyrus fragments.
- From Karin Wulf at Scholarly Kitchen, "Reading About Libraries and Librarians."
- The Middle Temple Library has one last provenance mystery for us this year.
- The National Archives announced its plans for the release of the 1950 census, coming in April 2022.
- The Books and Borrowing team had a tour of Edinburgh's Signet Library.
Reviews
- David Pearson's Book Ownership in Stuart England; review by Adam Smyth in the LRB.
- Gary Goodman's The Last Bookseller; review by Timothy Francis Barry at the arts fuse.
Upcoming Auctions
- De Chateaubriand à Cioran – Raymond Queneau at Aguttes (Aristophil 45) on 20 December.
- Holy Family College Rare Book Collection (Part 1) at Eaton Hudson ends on 21 December.
- Fine Books and Ephemera at New England Book Auctions ends on 21 December.
