Book Review: "Shipwrecks, Sea Raiders and Maritime Disasters"

Donald Shomette's Shipwrecks, Sea Raiders and Maritime Disasters along the Delmarva Coast, 1632-2004 (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2007) is a meticulously-researched anthology of, well, exactly what its title suggests it is. Drawing on archival sources Shomette offers vignettes of a small portion of the shipwrecks that have occurred off the coast of Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. He devotes significant space to the American Revolution, several major storms in the late 1880s, and the German U-boat attacks during WWII, but Shomette also discusses many lesser-known events and happenings, and closes by outlining some of the great ongoing battles over salvage rights and treasure-hunting.

An impressive work, all the more so when coupled with the extensive list of all known wrecks in the region, which follows the text. Focusing on fewer wrecks in more detail might have improved the book, but the approach Shomette took works fairly well. Recommended for maritime aficionados, treasure hunters, or others with an interest in the subject.

Bet He's Not Laughing Now

The Sunday Mail reported this week that a stand-up comic has been pleaded guilty to stealing more than £100,000 worth of books from HarperCollins UK, where he worked part-time as a forklift operator. Gary Little, 44, lifted the books and sold them on eBay at bargain prices: a friend of Little's told the paper "Thousands of books were going out the back door and straight on to eBay. Many of them commanded premium retail prices. So when they were offered cut-price on the internet, there was still good money to be made."

He's to be sentenced shortly.

[h/t Shelf:Life]

Massachusetts History Book Fair

If you're in need of something bookish to do this weekend, and you live reasonably close to Boston, read on!

The Massachusetts Historical Society (1154 Boylston Street in Boston) is hosting its first Massachusetts History Book Fair this Friday evening and Saturday (30 November and 1 December). The speaker lineup is as follows:

Friday, 6 p.m. - Robert Allison, The Boston Massacre and The Boston Tea Party

Friday, 7 p.m. - Eric Jay Dolin, Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America

Saturday, 10 a.m. - Stephanie Schorow, The Cocoanut Grove Fire and The Crime of the Century

Saturday, 11 a.m. - Susan Wilson, The Literary Trail of Greater Boston

Saturday, 12 p.m. - Bonnie Hurd Smith, "Mingling Souls Upon Paper": An Eighteenth-Century Love Story (Judith Sargent and John Murray)

Saturday, 1 p.m. - Diane Rapaport, The Naked Quaker: True Crimes and Controversies from the Courts of Colonial New England (or NakedQuaker.com)

Saturday, 2 p.m. - James A. Craig, Fitz H. Lane: An Artist's Voyage Through Nineteenth-Century America

Saturday, 3 p.m. - Eve LaPlante, Salem Witch Judge: The Life and Repentance of Samuel Sewall and American Jezebel: The Uncommon Life of Anne Hutchinson

Authors will be signing books after their discussions, and copies of all the books will be available for purchase. Free and open, so drop by for one talk or come for them all!

Garnet Book Images

By way of follow-up to yesterday's post regarding the rare book up for auction on Sunday which may bear the image of its subject, the good folks at Wilkinson's Auctioneers in Doncaster have sent me some further information about the book and some images, which are used here with permission.

There are two key issues here from the original press report: is the book bound in human skin, and does the front cover bear the image of a man's face? Wilkinsons' description of the book reads that the volume is "believed to be bound in human skin, possibly that of the aforementioned Jesuit priest Father Henry Garnet."

I have some concerns on both points. First, the classic article on the use of human skin in bookbinding, "Tanned Human Skin" (1946) notes that the practice was quite uncommon until the time of the French Revolution, though not entirely unknown before that time, as some seventeenth-century examples have been found. Also, Dr. John Stockon-Hough, who experimented with anthropodermic binding during the late nineteenth century reported that most human skin is fairly coarse-grained; he had managed to obtain a sample which was "almost indistinguishable" from pigskin, but that came from a woman's thigh. The material used to bind the Garnet book appears quite fine-grained from the photographs, and without evidence to the contrary it seems just as likely that it's a standard form of vellum rather than treated human skin. I suppose a close examination would answer this question, so if any experts in vellum bindings near Doncaster have a go at it, I'd appreciate your thoughts.

Further, I have been unable to discover any evidence that Garnet's skin was removed from his body following his execution (unlike his head, which was placed atop a pole near London Bridge and shocked people by remaining lifelike and refusing to rot; contemporaries reported crowds of up to 500 people coming to stare at the macabre object). Such things are generally kept quite close track of (witness the bloody cornhusk which supposedly bore Garnet's image - that was kept in a crystal case and smuggled out of England!), so the fact that no mention can be found of Garnet's skin being used to bind a copy of the account of his trial is rather telling. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I would certainly like to see more evidence before I accept it.

To the second question, of whether a face appears on the unbacked front cover of the book, I'll let the pictures speak. There are clear areas of discoloration on the cover, which appear from the second picture to be the result of thinner vellum there (notice how more light shines through the "face" area when the cover is held open). Grisly supernatural phenomenon, or not? You'll have to be the judge of that.

Regardless, the auctioneers have played this up well, and certainly gotten some attention for the sale of this book. Whether or not it's bound in human skin (let alone that of Garnet), and whether or not bears a ghostly image, A True And Perfect Relation Of The Whole Proceedings Against The Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet A Jesuit And His Confederates is a rare title by any measure, and an interesting copy like this should sell strongly. After Sunday's bidding I'll pass along the results.

[Update: Sky News' article on the book contains some comments from the volume's current (anonymous) owner, including a translation of the Latin inscription on the front cover: "severe penitence punished the flesh." The owner "believes that marks on the leather are evidence of torture" (Garnet is not known to have been tortured, although he was certainly threatened with the rack as part of extensive interrogations). The owner also told Sky that he hopes the book will go to a museum so that it can be viewed by the public (if that's the case, why he decided to have it sold rather than donating it he doesn't say).]

[Further update: Sales info here]

New Timewasters!

As if we all needed some more distractions, right?

Between the Covers Rare Books has unveiled its newest biblio-game, Letter-ature (lower right). It's like Wheel of Fortune, but with books. They also have Famous First Lines (upper right), which I confess to being completely and utterly terrible at.

Another one that's making the rounds lately and which has proven rather addictive for me is FreeRice, a vocab game where for every correct answer, ten grains of rice are purchased (by advertisers) and donated through the World Food Program. A neat idea, nicely executed.

More on Reading

Two things to point out in the wake of my weekend post "Is the Sky Falling?". First, NYTimes book critic Motoko Rich had an essay on Sunday tackling the question of why and how people "become readers." She writes "The gestation of a true, committed reader is in some ways a magical process, shaped in part by external forces but also by a spark within the imagination. Having parents who read a lot helps, but is no guarantee. Devoted teachers and librarians can also be influential. But despite the proliferation of book groups and literary blogs, reading is ultimately a private act." Rich also suggests "the right book at the right time," "the discovery that a book’s character is like you, or thinks and feels like you", or "the embrace of the Other."

Then David Mehegan over at the Globe went after the question in an Off the Shelf post yesterday; his theory about why people read centers on "power, in that when you read, you are aggressively seeking and getting the learning or the story, rather than sitting passively and being told, as the illiterate person must learn by being told. If you can read, you can go on your own to find out a truth, but if you are not a reader, you can only hope that you hear it, in person or on television or radio. This is what people mean when they say that reading is a kind of adventure. People who love to read, in my hypothesis, tend to be the kind who crave adventure, even if they're too shy to go abroad, or lack the funds."

I'm not sure Mehegan's theory is universal (I know plenty of 'adventurers' who also read voraciously, and some readers who seem quite craving-free), but I think he's onto something for many of us. Reading is a way to experience times, places, people, events that we cannot physically reach, whether that's Hogwarts, or colonial New England, or the French Revolution, or the parallel universes in Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy (my current read, incidentally), or whatever strikes your fancy. It can be difficult to explain to non-readers the rush - yes, the power, that a good story well told can bring to bear.

But we know it well, don't we? And although it might not be easy, as I said the other day, we must do our best to share it, that others might join our adventures.

Spooky Find, or Auctioneer's Gimmick?

The Press Association (UK) reports that a rare volume "believed to be bound in the skin of a priest executed for treason appears to bear a 'spooky' image of his face on the cover, according to the auctioneers who are selling the book."

The book, A True And Perfect Relation Of The Whole Proceedings Against The Late Most Barbarous Traitors, Garnet A Jesuit And His Confederates (London: Robert Barker, 1606) is an 'official' account of the trial and execution of Father Henry Garnet, hanged for treason after the Gunpowder Plot (he claimed to have known of the plot but that he did nothing to support it).

Soon after Garnet's execution, a piece of bloodstained straw from the hanging site was found which supposedly bore the image of the priest (called a martyr by some Catholics). The straw is known to have existed through the time of the French Revolution.

The article does not indicate why the book is believed to be bound in Garnet's skin, but it does include a comment from Sid Wilkinson, who'll be selling the volume at auction in South Yorkshire on Sunday. "It's a little bit spooky because the front of the book looks like it has the face of a man on it, which is presumed to be the victim's face," Wilkinson says.

I've been unable to locate a description of the book on the auction house website, so I've shot off an email to Mr. Wilkinson asking for provenance information about the book and for any images of the 'spooky face.' Stay tuned.

[Update: Images and more discussion, here]

Carol Costs Rise

[Since it's now after Thanksgiving and Christmas carols are allowed ... ]

The good folks at PNC Wealth Management apparently have a bit of extra time on their hands at this time of year, so they've computed the costs of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (that is, what it would take to purchase the partridge, the leaping lords, the milking maids, &c.). This year, they report, the total cost is up 4.1% from 2006, to $78,100 (that's if you buy each thing as many times as it's mentioned in the song).

"Buying each item in the song just once would cost $19,507, up 3.1 percent from last year's $18,921. And shopping online would be costlier, with the total for the 364 items costing $128,886, up 2.5 percent from last year's $125,767. You would spend $31,249 online for each item just once this year."

The federal minimum wage hike and higher costs for food and gold this year pushed prices higher. "The price of a partridge ($15), two turtle doves ($40) and three French hens ($40) remained the same, as did seven swans a-swimming, at $4,200, and nine ladies dancing, at $4,759."

PNC first began calculating the costs of Christmas back in 1984; you can see trend-lines here. You can even listen to an mp3 of this year's results, in a form of a "breaking news" alert (here).

Links & Reviews

- In today's New York Times, an article of historic if not necessarily book-related interest: amateur investigators in Russia have apparently discovered the remains of two of Tsar Nicholas II's children, buried just 70 yards from the site where the rest of the royal family was found in 1991. DNA testing is being done now to confirm the find.

- Yesterday, the Worcester Telegram & Gazette reported on the Shrewsbury Historical Society's decision to sell their broadside Declaration of Independence. Leaders of the society were very surprised at the price the document brought; the Telegram quotes president Dorby Thomas as saying "We had no idea it was worth that much. ... We knew it was worth more than we could afford to just put it on the wall. So no one could see it, and we couldn’t show it to anyone because it was so valuable. What was the point in having it if we just kept it hidden?" Buyer Seth Kaller told the paper that he is working with his client to determine the best way to display the Declaration: "We are discussing exhibit possibilities, and most likely will end up lending it to a major historical institution."

- Ed passes along a really creepy 1953 animated adaptation of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart."

- Paul Collins notes a Guardian piece on some of the weirdest book titles of 2007, including Do Ants Have Arseholes?, How to Fossilise Your Hamster and Potty, Fartwell and Knob: From Luke Warm to Minty Badger - Extraordinary But True Names of British People. Of the latter, Amazon's description notes "Every single one has been checked for authenticity and its source is given, as well as extra notes where further fascinating illumination is possible. The book provides a rigorously researched yet laugh-out-loud overview of Britain's eccentricity through the ages."

- A mystery in Waltham Forest (England), where 250,000 library books have gone missing. A library worker told the Guardian "the books were dumped to make space in the refurbished Walthamstow Central Library and, by the time work was finished, there was not enough staff left in employment to sort them, give them away or sell them." Word is that at least two vanloads of the books were destroyed. Library patrons confronted Cllr Geraldine Reardon, cabinet member for libraries, about the rumored destruction; she told them she would answer questions at the next meeting on 28 January. (h/t Reading Copy)

- Also from the Guardian this week (they've really had some excellent book coverage lately), A.B. Byatt has a very worthwhile essay on fairies in English literature, coupled with a review of "The Age of Enchantment: Beardsley, Dulac and their Contemporaries 1890-1930", an exhibit at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London.

- Richard Cox comments on two recent historical literacy studies: E. Jennifer Monaghan's Learning to Read and Write in Colonial America and Hillary E. Wyss' Writing Indians: Literacy, Christianity, and Native Community in Early America. He writes "Such works on historical literacy reflect scholarship that archivists and others interested in archives can mine for references to the generation of texts that ultimately end up in archival repositories. Careful reading of such work will help archivists to interpret more effectively the sources they are managing, and, perhaps, will assist them in preparing more richly detailed representations of these sources."

- And another Guardian article, this one an interview with essayist Anne Fadiman about her newest collection, At Large and At Small, just out in Britain. Some excellent quotes, but my favorite is this one: "I am very grateful to the electronic world for making my life easier but there is something about holding a book - the smell and the world of association. Even when e-books are perfected, as they surely will be, it will be like being in bed with a very well-made robot rather than a warm, soft, human being whom you love."

- In the Boston Globe, Philip McFarland reviews Philip Gura's American Transcendentalism. In the Times, Peter Ackroyd reviews Charles Nicholl's The Lodger.

- The year-end "best of" lists are starting to appear, so I'll begin adding a few of them to this post each week, even though I have serious reservations about all of them. The NYTimes has posted its 100 Notable Books of 2007, and the Guardian has several writers and other literary figures pick their favorites. The Times' Peter Kemp picks his favorite novels of 2007.

Book Review: "Unruly Americans"

In Unruly Americans and the Making of the Constitution (Hill and Wang, 2007), Woody Holton continues a trend be began in his first book, Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia (1999), examining how "ordinary" Americans impacted "great events".

At the outset, Holton rejects the so-called "ideological interpretation" of the Constitution's roots, taking the alternative view that the impetus behind the Philadelphia Convention were chiefly economic. At times he seems to flirt with Beardism, but never quite gets there - instead of ascribing purely cynical motives to the Framers, Holton's interpretation grants that they were "motivated by a sense of grievance that was genuine and questionable at the same time" (p. 87).
Holton is fond of the kind of overarching blanket statements that I find just as troubling in my own writing as I do in that of others. Of James Madison, Holton says, "More than anything else, it was the desire to overturn state laws that set him on the road to Philadelphia" (p. 7). "No piece of legislation - at either the state or federal level - did more to advance the movement for the Constitution" than a 1785 congressional requisition for $3 million (p. 66). And then there's Holton's conclusion that "Rhode Islanders, quite inadvertently, did more to boost the momentum for the Constitution than their counterparts in any other state" (p. 77). These statements many all be true (to some extent), but I'm reluctant to accept such strong statements without much more evidence.

One of the most salient points from this book is, ironically, one of those which Holton could have made rather more strongly. In Chapter 12, as he discusses the constitutional provisions designed to insulate the federal government from popular influence, he notes the many additional "antidemocratic" proposals which were discussed and rejected by the Framers because they diminished the chances that the states would ratify the the Constitution. These decisions, he writes, "were compromises between the Framers and the American people" (p. 211).

Holton's concerns being primarily economic, there is much detail here on the debates over paper money, bond speculation, debt assumption, taxes and other financial matters. The research is impressive and the writing clear, but it is very difficult to make such issues particularly engrossing except to the most committed reader. I had to take this book quite slowly to make sure I didn't miss anything hidden within the dense chapters on monetary policy. Nonetheless, Holton's managed to find some interesting sources (including Abigail Adams as bond speculator and the very odd Herman Husbands, who seemed to weigh in on just about everything), and used them well.

I simply cannot share Holton's overall conclusions about the Constitution, which he says contains "insidious ... safeguards against grassroots pressure" (p. 273). I do not believe that the Framers intended their government as a "slur on the capacities of ordinary citizens" (p. 278), because I don't believe they could have ever imagined how long their Constitution would last and the changes America and the world have seen since 1787. I do believe there was significantly more at play in Philadelphia than economic concerns; though those certainly had some effect, I'm unwilling to grant them the primacy Holton does.

A well-written book, and I recommend it highly even though I have reservations about its message.

Audubon Exhibit in Seattle

Seattle's Museum of History & Industry has mounted an exhibit titled "John James Audubon: American Artist and Naturalist," which runs through 6 January 2008. The show includes 60 birds from the double-elephant folio, as well as a selection of letters, paintings and personal artifacts. Seattle Times art critic Sheila Farr has a short writeup.

Is the Sky Falling?

This week, the National Endowment for the Arts issued its latest report on Americans' reading habits, ominously titled "To Read or Not to Read: A Question of National Consequence" [PDF]. The report compiles data from studies conducted by various government, academic and business surveys, and the results, NEA chairman Dana Gioia says, "are startling in their consistency. All of the data combine to tell the same story about American reading."

"To Read or Not to Read" finds that Americans - particularly younger Americans - are spending less time reading. In a 2002 survey, 48% of people in the 18-24 age bracket said they read no books not required for work or school, a 7% decline over the previous decade. In 1984, just 9% of 17-year olds said they never read for pleasure; by 2004 that number had risen to 19%, almost matching the decline in the percentages who said they read almost every day.

A fair portion of this trend seems entirely attributable to the simple diversification of activities. So much now occupies every second of young peoples' lives that it's hardly surprising that pleasure reading has declined. Very few if any colleges want to know how many books you read in your spare time last year, but they do want to know how heavily involved you were with various clubs and sports and volunteer activities. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Reading is no longer the default recreational activity for many young people, who now have the vast reaches of the Internet to explore, or their iPods to organize, or ... you get the idea. There's simply too much going on.

More reading is now taking place in different ways than before - look, you're reading this blog, which the NEA apparently doesn't consider reading at all. And I'm writing it, which means I'm not reading either (the six or seven articles plus the NEA report I read just to prepare the composition of this post? they don't count). The statistics may be scary, but they fail to accurately capture the whole picture, and they're overly simplistic. Troubling trends in attendance at cultural events, volunteerism and voting patterns cannot be solved by just encouraging people to read more books; there must be a concomitant shift in mindset. As Timothy Shanahan, past president of the International Reading Association and a professor of urban education and reading put it in an interview with the NYTimes, "I don’t think the solutions are as simple as a report like this might be encouraging folks to think they might be."

There's another important aspect of all this too, and I'm glad Pat Schroeder - president and chief executive of the Association of American Publishers - mentioned it in the Boston Globe article on the report. She "said part of the problem could be that adults can make children feel that reading is a duty. A common complaint she hears from children and young adults is that few books relate to their lives or interests." Children (heck, even adults) have to want to read - they should be given every opportunity, lots of options, and the freedom to choose their own books (or blogs, or audio-books, or whatever!) at their own pace, but they should not ever be guilted or forced or cajoled into reading.

I think those of us who do read have a duty here as well, and that is to talk about what we learn, experience, enjoy about the universes we travel to when we read. Share with your friends, in a casual way, what you're reading - ask what they like, and see if there's anything you can recommend. Loan a copy of your favorite novel to a coworker or a classmate if you think they might enjoy it as much as you did ... but then let them read it in their own way.

The sky's not falling, but the stars are realigning, and things will never be the way they were. That doesn't mean we shrug our shoulders and huff about in high dudgeon, it means we get to work and make the best of it.

Miller Pleads Guilty

Travis reports that Jay Miller, arrested back in August for the theft of rare books from the estate of retired Harvard professor William Ernest Hocking, has pleaded guilty to "one count of Interstate Transport of Stolen Goods." He'll be sentenced on 8 February, 2008. Travis provides some details on what happens between now and then.

Book Review: "Turning Back the Clock"

Umberto Eco's latest translated collection of essays is Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars and Media Populism (Harcourt, 2007). Loosely connected as a reaction to some of the leaders (Bush, Blair and Berlusconi) and events (terrorism, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, &c.) of the first years of the present century and the media's involvement in those events, Eco's essays are all thought-provoking and make for fascinating reading, even if all of his conclusions might not be what we want to hear. Some of the selections seem a bit dated or rather parochial (a few deal solely with Italian political campaigns, which while interesting didn't seem timely at this stage), but on the whole this volume is highly relevant. Typically even when Eco's making a point about Italian politics it's perfectly reasonable to extend it to American life, so even if you don't recognize the names, pay attention to the message.

In "Some Reflections on War and Peace," Eco makes the point that a truly global war in this day and age would be utterly disastrous for every culture, while adding that a truly global peace is as unlikely now as it's ever been. Our only hope for any lasting peace, he suggests, is to focus on making local peace and slowly extending it outward. "Enlightenment and Common Sense" is a fascinating look at the legacies of the Enlightenment based around the fundamental assumption of that movement: "there is a reasonable way to reason."

Eco takes on cellphones in "From Play to Carnival" and expresses his concern at what he calls "the joyous renunciation of privacy" so many of us have allowed ourselves to become a part of. I found his views on political correctness rather useful: "Let us stick to the fundamental principle that it is humane and civilized to eliminate from current usage all those words that make our fellow beings suffer" seems a good rule to live by to me. I also quite enjoyed his take on what he sees as Americans' "tacit rules for coexistence," including our extreme patience with waiting in lines and our assumption that everyone's telling the truth (except advertisers).

"Back to the Seventies" was one of my favorite essays included here; in it Eco reacts to what he calls the "dangerous principle" that "Because terrorists exist, anyone who attacks the government is encouraging them." This is "moral blackmail, holding up to civic disapproval all those who express (nonviolent) disagreement with the government." We don't have to look far to see this in practice every day, and I agree wholeheartedly with Eco that it's a terrifically dangerous thing.

Always witty, with some of the best analogies and pithy comments in the business, Eco's pulled off another win with Turning Back the Clock.

Beedle the Bard Photos

In case you've been waiting with bated breath for more information on the newest J.K. Rowling work, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, I can offer up some photographs today, courtesy of The Guardian. Remember, this copy - the only one offered for sale - will go under the hammer at Sotheby's on 13 December, with proceeds going to charity.

Declaration Was Shrewsbury's Copy

The Boston Herald reveals that it was the Shrewsbury Historical Society whose early broadside copy of the Declaration sold big at Skinner on Sunday.

Hear John and Abigail's Letters Tonight

This evening (Monday, 19 November) at 7 p.m., there will be a public reading of selected letters from My Dearest Friend, the newly-published collection of John and Abigail Adams correspondence. The event will be at Boston's Faneuil Hall, and will feature Governor and Mrs. Patrick, Senator and Mrs. Kennedy, and former Governor and Mrs. Dukakis as readers. It's free and open to the public, so do join us for what promises to be an exciting time.

The event is co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Historical Society and Harvard University Press.

The entire John-Abigail correspondence is also available on the MHS website (here).

Links & Reviews

Sorry this is late - the major biblio-activities in Boston kept me busy this weekend. After the auction this morning I spent the afternoon at the Hynes fair again until closing time. I made my one small purchase (more on which later) and enjoyed some more chatting-time with various dealers and other folks. A pretty exhausting weekend, but a good one for sure.

- The Free Library of Philadelphia's Rare Book Department has mounted an exhibition titled "Wonders of the Invisible World: The Spiritual Life of a Young Nation." The show "traces the growth and development of religion and spirituality in the United States from colonial times through the Civil War using imprints and manuscripts from several of the Rare Book Department's collections, along with significant texts and images from the collections of various other departments throughout the Library." Exhibit hours are 9-5 M-F, and it runs through 28 March, 2008.

- In The Times, Ben Macintyre has an essay on some false etymologies (etymytholgies), including crapper, "rule of thumb" and kangaroo. Very much worth reading.

- Paul Collins notes a Guardian report about the ridiculously low percentages of translated fiction in English-language bookshops. Really sad, actually.

- Michael Lieberman comments on the London Library. Also this week, Michael interviewed Jenny Hamilton, co-owner of Rogue Book Exchange.

- John reports that his Edward Gibbon exhibit at Houghton rated a piece in the Harvard University Gazette; I've still got to get out there and see that - after this week for sure.

- Travis' take on the TransyThieves Vanity Fair debut is here.

- News has finally broken about David McCullough's newest book project: he'll be writing about Americans in Paris.

- Tim fired another salvo in the book-site wars this week, presenting exhaustive evidence of a Shelfari astroturfing campaign (where an employee posts positive comments about the site on other blogs/&c. without disclosing the connection). Shelfari blames this on an overzealous intern.

Reviews

- Joseph Ellis' American Creation is reviewed by Randy Dotinga in the Christian Science Monitor.

- Kate Mosse's new novel Sepulchre is 'reviewed' by John Crace in the Guardian.

- Over in the Washington Post, Pauline Maier reviews Woody Holton's Unruly Americans.

- John Gray reviews George McKenna's The Puritan Origins of American Puritanism in the Financial Times.

Declaration Sells Big at Skinner

A hush fell over the room at today's Skinner auction in Boston when Lot 11 came up - that was the early Boston-printed Declaration of Independence broadside I mentioned here on Friday. Presale estimates on the broadside were $70,000-90,000, but those quickly fell by the wayside as a flurry of bids from the floor and the phones drove the price up rapidly ... and they kept coming. Most of us were occupied with just looking around trying to see who was bidding in the room, totally dizzied by the numbers we heard.

When the hammer finally fell, the price was $625,000 before premium (Update: Skinner's saying the total was $693,500). The buyer was Seth Kaller, Inc. out of White Plains, NY - before the end of the day the broadside was in their booth at the Hynes fair, marked "sold." I asked who the client was and they told me they'd purchased it for an individual, not an institution. That will, I believe, make this the only known copy of the imprint in private hands [correct me if I'm wrong].

Once the bidding ended most of the spectators clapped, many went up and congratulated Mr. Kaller, and the auctioneer - Stuart Whitehurst - quipped "Okay, let's all go get a drink. We're buying." It was quite a thing to see.

The Boston Herald ran a short piece on the auction today with a bit more background on the selling organization, which is described as "a central Massachusetts historical society." The article notes that the society has owned the broadside since the late 1800s, but felt that due to the risk of theft, it was more a liability than an asset. Whitehurst told the paper "They realized they couldn’t display it because of how expensive it was. So it’s being sold to benefit a trust fund for a historical society. But it was a tough decision for them, I imagine."

Whitehurst bobbled a bit when introducing the item, first saying it was being sold to benefit "the Massachusetts Historical Society," then adding "no, no a Massachusetts historical society, not the Massachusetts Historical Society."

If I find out any more information I'll be sure to pass it along.

Book Weekend Update

My apologies for not posting more regular dispatches from the front this weekend, but better late than never, right?

Things got started on Friday night with the Big Show; we got there just after opening (so we wouldn't have to wait in line) and I was there until close at 9. The crowd was impressive, and for a while it was tricky to browse in some booths. The stock was great, some really interesting little items scattered throughout.

Bill Reese had some of the great New England history high spots and a first edition of The Power of Sympathy, generally considered the "first" American novel (and a bit out of my price range at $10,000); one of the science dealers had a case of fake eyeballs that were quite an attraction. A gorgeous five-volume English translation of Bayle's Dictionary also caught my eye (but again, slightly out of reach). Oh well, it's fun to look.

Friday tends to be the browse/chat night so it was nice to walk around and talk with the dealers and the other fair-goers. I made a small purchase; the Brattle had Barry Moser Bibles for $20 so I grabbed one of those (I gave one as a gift last Christmas and liked it so much I almost couldn't part with it). I've got my eye on a couple other things but we'll see if they're still there this afternoon.

Yesterday morning (Saturday) I headed out to the Radisson show at 9, joining the throng of book dealers waiting to get through the doors when they opened. The space was a little cramped there during the first rush, but I took my time and browsed through pretty carefully. Again, some good things, but also quite a bit of stuff that didn't seem show-worthy. Ian's booth (which he's blogged about, with some pics) looked amazing, and I was glad to have a few minutes to chat with him. A new outfit I'm really impressed by is Robert McDowell Antiquarian Books out of Concord - he had some really neat items.

I had a break for lunch and then headed off to the Hynes again, where I circulated until 2:30 (spending some time with the good folks from the Ticknor Society, discussing career-related-things with Terry Belanger from Rare Book School and doing a bit more browsing). From 2:30-5 I manned the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section table over in Cultural Row, answering questions and distributing pamphlets.

Today it's off to the Skinner sale in a little while to watch the first few lots sell, then I'll go back to the fair for the afternoon. Tim and Abby from LT are going to be there today so I'll try to run into them and finish up the visiting (and we'll see if the books I've been watching are still there waiting for me).

You've still got time to hit the fair - 12-5 today, so come by and enjoy the atmosphere. I'll do a full wrap later and finish up this weekend's links and reviews.