- Your can't-miss post this week is Heather Wolfe's look at 17th-century filing practices.
- A fire broke out on Monday at the Walworth Town Hall building in Southwark, London, which houses the Newington Library and Cuming Museum in Southwark. There was some damage to the collections of the museum and library, but it sounds as though it could have been significantly worse.
- The Globe & Mail has published an update on the John Mark Tillman thefts case, including the little tidbit that Tillman's son Kyle, 23, also faces charges related to the thefts (obstruction of justice, possession of stolen property, and perjury). The CBC has posted a similar story, noting that the number of seized artifacts has now passed 2,000. And from the RCMP, a photo gallery of recovered items.
- They did it with menus, and now the NYPL has turned to crowdsourced transcription of playbills: head over to ensemble.nypl.org and help transcribe!
- Over at Fine Books Blog, Rebecca Rego Barry posted "Ten Reasons a Pessimist Can be Optimistic about the Future of the Book."
- Also from Canada, the Calgary Herald reports on the continuing troubles at LAC, which now include a troubling new "code of conduct" for archives staff.
- The New-York Historical Society's new Audubon exhibit is now open, and this week they also posted a very interesting piece that's also in the show: a Meiji-era woodcut depicting the episode when Audubon opens up a box of watercolors only to find they've been destroyed by rats.
- Jennifer Howard reported last week on the forthcoming edition of Willa Cather's letters. Read the whole thing, it's well worth it!
- And speaking of documentary editions, Jeff Looney of the Thomas Jefferson Papers was recently profiled in the Washington Post.
- From the Houghton blog, a neat new acquisition: a hollow-cut silhouette of Arthur Maynard Walter, one of the founders of the Boston Athenaeum. The silhouette was made by Moses Williams, one of the few known African-American silhouettists of the early 19th century.
- DPLA Director of Content Emily Gore is interviewed by Annie Schutte on the Knight Foundation blog.
- Dave Gary recently had the chance to visit and explore the library of William Seward, at his home in Auburn, NY. Not surprisingly, he found some absolutely great stuff.
- New developments in the de Caro case, too: he and fourteen accomplices have reportedly confessed to additional thefts from more libraries, including the Biblioteca dell’Osservatorio Ximeniano and the Biblioteca Scolopica San Giovannino, both in Florence.
- The Grolier Club's new exhibit on book thief Guglielmo Libri is reviewed by Eve M. Kahn in the NYTimes.
- There's a long profile of George R.R. Martin in the Telegraph.
- Others have already covered the Supreme Court's strong first-sale ruling more thoroughly than I need to, but do read Jennifer Howard's Chronicle report on the case.
- Bookseller Norman Kane (The Americanist) passed away on 23 March; he was 88. Fine Books Notes has a short notice, plus links to their profile and interview with Kane from 2011.
- A couple unpublished F. Scott Fitzgerald poems will go on the auction block this week.
- An update on a link I posted around this time last year: the 1555 copy of Vesalius containing the author's own annotations for a projected third edition is now being made available for study at the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, where it is on deposit. The library is planning an exhibition next year to mark the 500th anniversary of Vesalius' birth.
Reviews
- Steven Galbraith and Geoffrey Smith's Rare Book Librarianship; review by David Gary at Function Follows Forme.
- Joyce Carol Oates' The Accursed; review by Wendy Smith in the LATimes.
- Sandra Day O'Connor's Out of Order; review by Adam Liptak in the NYTimes.
- Andrea Stuart's Sugar in the Blood; review by Amy Wilentz in the NYTimes.
- Catherine Bailey's The Secret Rooms; review by Nicola Shulman in the TLS.
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Links & Reviews
I'm just back from the DH: The Next Generation symposium in Boston, which was invigorating and excellent. I'll working on a writeup of both this and the SEA meeting, and hope to have that up shortly.
You all probably heard the rotten news that Google has decided to phase out Google Reader in a few months. I've used Reader for years as the best way to sift through all the blogs, newspaper book review sections, and other resources I try to keep up with each week (starring items in Reader is one of the many ways I collect things for these weekly links posts, too). So I'm very disappointed that it's going away, and like many others I'll be looking for a suitable replacement. If you find one that you like, I'd love to hear about it, and when I find one I like, I'll let you know.
And now, on to the links:
- Marino Massimo de Caro was sentenced to seven years in prison this week as well as lifetime exclusion from holding any public office for his role in the thefts from the Girolamini Library in Naples. Others involved in the case received lighter sentences: Viktoriya Pavlovsky received a prison term of sixty-four months and permanent exclusion from public office; Alejandro Cabello and Mirko Camuri were sentenced to fifty-six months in person and a five-year exclusion from office; and Lorena Paola Weigandt Federico Roncoletti received sentences of thirty-two months in prison. Preliminary hearings in the next round begin on 26 March, when a judge will set a trial date for de Caro and thirteen others on conspiracy charges.
- Some really fantastic news from the University of Rochester: they're planning to digitize portions of the William Henry Seward and Seward Family Papers, after work by undergraduate and graduate students in what sounds like a great course sequence as well as some fantastic faculty-library collaboration.
- New blog: Medieval Bookbindings, which I certainly recommend adding to your reading list. See also Anthony Tedeschi's post on this one.
- New resource: DevDH.org, a site to collect "lectures, podcasts, and resources to aid humanists in initiating, developing, and sustaining projects." Follow them on Twitter at @DevelopDH, too.
- One of the Old South Church copies of the Bay Psalm Book has been digitized, so you can take a look at it here. I'm updating my Bay Psalm Book census post with some additional information gleaned from this scan.
- Whitney Trettien has a great post up with some really fascinating contextual information about the Little Gidding Harmony (the digitization of which I noted here last week).
- Library Journal covered the Maine Shared Collections Strategy this week, an eight-library consortium between public, academic, and government libraries.
- Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia will sell, in several parts, the library of the Mount St. Alphonsus Redemptorist seminary and retreat center in Esopus, NY which closed in 2012. The library includes some 4,000 books which may fetch up to $700,000 total.
- Dan Cohen talked to Library Journal this week about the DPLA and his vision for its future. In other DPLA news this week, the National Archives announced that it will contribute 1.2 million records as part of the pilot launch.
- The ABAA and other biblio-groups weighed in this week on Amazon's attempt to control the .book, .author, and .read top-level domain names, calling it anti-competitive. If you want to weigh in, there are some ways to contribute here.
- Japan's Toppan Printing has created what they're saying is the world's smallest printed book, with pages of .75mm.
Reviews
- Megan Marshall's Margaret Fuller: A New American Life; review by Dwight Garner in the NYTimes.
- Alister McGrath's C.S. Lewis: A Life; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Steve Ferguson highlights a very lovely and curious binding at Notabilia.
You all probably heard the rotten news that Google has decided to phase out Google Reader in a few months. I've used Reader for years as the best way to sift through all the blogs, newspaper book review sections, and other resources I try to keep up with each week (starring items in Reader is one of the many ways I collect things for these weekly links posts, too). So I'm very disappointed that it's going away, and like many others I'll be looking for a suitable replacement. If you find one that you like, I'd love to hear about it, and when I find one I like, I'll let you know.
And now, on to the links:
- Marino Massimo de Caro was sentenced to seven years in prison this week as well as lifetime exclusion from holding any public office for his role in the thefts from the Girolamini Library in Naples. Others involved in the case received lighter sentences: Viktoriya Pavlovsky received a prison term of sixty-four months and permanent exclusion from public office; Alejandro Cabello and Mirko Camuri were sentenced to fifty-six months in person and a five-year exclusion from office; and Lorena Paola Weigandt Federico Roncoletti received sentences of thirty-two months in prison. Preliminary hearings in the next round begin on 26 March, when a judge will set a trial date for de Caro and thirteen others on conspiracy charges.
- Some really fantastic news from the University of Rochester: they're planning to digitize portions of the William Henry Seward and Seward Family Papers, after work by undergraduate and graduate students in what sounds like a great course sequence as well as some fantastic faculty-library collaboration.
- New blog: Medieval Bookbindings, which I certainly recommend adding to your reading list. See also Anthony Tedeschi's post on this one.
- New resource: DevDH.org, a site to collect "lectures, podcasts, and resources to aid humanists in initiating, developing, and sustaining projects." Follow them on Twitter at @DevelopDH, too.
- One of the Old South Church copies of the Bay Psalm Book has been digitized, so you can take a look at it here. I'm updating my Bay Psalm Book census post with some additional information gleaned from this scan.
- Whitney Trettien has a great post up with some really fascinating contextual information about the Little Gidding Harmony (the digitization of which I noted here last week).
- Library Journal covered the Maine Shared Collections Strategy this week, an eight-library consortium between public, academic, and government libraries.
- Freeman's Auction House in Philadelphia will sell, in several parts, the library of the Mount St. Alphonsus Redemptorist seminary and retreat center in Esopus, NY which closed in 2012. The library includes some 4,000 books which may fetch up to $700,000 total.
- Dan Cohen talked to Library Journal this week about the DPLA and his vision for its future. In other DPLA news this week, the National Archives announced that it will contribute 1.2 million records as part of the pilot launch.
- The ABAA and other biblio-groups weighed in this week on Amazon's attempt to control the .book, .author, and .read top-level domain names, calling it anti-competitive. If you want to weigh in, there are some ways to contribute here.
- Japan's Toppan Printing has created what they're saying is the world's smallest printed book, with pages of .75mm.
Reviews
- Megan Marshall's Margaret Fuller: A New American Life; review by Dwight Garner in the NYTimes.
- Alister McGrath's C.S. Lewis: A Life; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Steve Ferguson highlights a very lovely and curious binding at Notabilia.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Links & Reviews
Apologies for the lack of a links & reviews post last weekend; I was traveling back from the SEA meeting in Savannah, and by the time I got home was too sleepy to get started on this. So consider this week's a double-feature (and I'll have more to say on SEA soon, too). If you want one perspective on Savannah in the meantime, as well as a link to the Twitter archive, see Rachel Herrmann's post over at The Junto.
- New: Manuscripts Online, a nifty search engine for written and early print culture in Britain through 1500.
- Another neat new resource: Six Degrees of Francis Bacon, on "reassembling the early modern social network."
- In a must-read post, Heather Wolfe takes a close look at a manuscript diary from the Folger collections and realizes that perhaps the authorial attribution of the diary had been mistaken at some point. Some great detective work here.
- A new Audubon exhibit (really the first installment of three) is now open at the New-York Historical Society. It was reviewed by Edward Rothstein in the NYTimes this week, and featured in the BBC Magazine.
- Some really great news this week: Dan Cohen has been named the executive director of the Digital Public Library of America. They couldn't have made a better choice. Dan posted about his decision to move to the DPLA here.
- An early Charlotte Brontë manuscript poem will go under the hammer at Bonhams on 10 April, and could fetch £40,000-45,000.
- John Palfrey writes in Library Journal about the importance of the first sale doctrine and how the digital shift has led to new, knotty issues in that area.
- If you'll be in Cambridge this summer, there's going to be what looks like a tremendously-interesting conference to celebrate the centenary of A.N.L. Munby, "'Floreat Bibliomania' - Great Collectors and their Grand Designs."
- The ABAA security blog has posted a list of books stolen from Lost Horizons Bookstore in Santa Barbara, CA.
- NARA hosted a presentation this week on the Landau-Savedoff thefts, which you can watch here (and I do recommend watching it if you can; it's well worth it).
- David Rubenstein has donated $10 million to the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mt. Vernon.
- Over at the Fine Books Blog, Zhenya Dzhavgova writes about the awesome efforts by booksellers and others to help out Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, OH, much-damaged by a burst water pipe.
- The Toronto Star reports today on what appears to be a severe reduction in acquisitions by Library and Archives Canada. Warning: includes some absolutely ridiculous statements by the head of LAC.
- Eric White has posted at CERL an introduction to and database of C15 print runs.
- Quite a strange story over a signed first edition of The Great Gatsby on offer by bookseller James Robert Cahill: William M. Hitchcock, son of the man to whom Fitzgerald signed the copy of the book, claims that the book was stolen from his home. The book was purchased by Cahill at a Bonhams auction in 2010 (lot description) for $61,000. The FBI reportedly investigated the case in 2012 but closed the case last month.
- Over on the Queens' Old Library Books Blog, a post by Lindsey Askin on Roger Ascham's marginalia.
- Erin Blake highlights a neat new Folger acquisition, one of ten theater "super-scrapbooks" that got away at the original sale, when the Folgers' agent bought the other nine.
- Newly-digitized at Houghton Library, a fascinating 1620s "gospel harmony," known as the Little Gidding Harmony.
- From the T Magazine blog, a profile of the very cool Monkey's Paw bookshop in Toronto (definitely on my list of places to visit someday!).
- In Slate, Matt Kirschenbaum offers a new preview of his forthcoming book Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing.
- Mark Hartsell guest-blogs on the LOC blog about scholars using Thomas Jefferson's books in the reading room.
- A lawsuit was filed this week by a Sherlock Holmes scholar, alleging that the detective is in the public domain and that the estate should not be able to continue to collect licensing fees.
- LATimes book critic David Ulin's essay "The weight of books" makes for essential reading for those of us with, um, many books.
- Over at the Religion in American History blog, Michael Altman offers up "Reading About the 'Hindoos' with John Adams," where he muses about John Adams' marginalia in Priestley's A Comparison of the Institutes of Moses with that of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations (scanned here).
- Via the Princeton Rare Books blog, a new study of the Kelmscott Chaucer copies at Princeton, by Robert J. Milevski.
- It was difficult to miss that photo of cat prints on a manuscript document which made the rounds recently. Emir O. Filipović, who took the original image, wrote about the experience over at The Appendix.
Reviews
- Susan Jacoby's The Great Agnostic; review by Jennifer Michael Hect in the NYTimes.
- Sandra Day O'Connor's Out of Order; review by Joan Biskupic in the WaPo.
- David D. Hall's Cultures of Print; review by David Gary at Function Follows Forme.
- Ernest Freeberg's Age of Edison; review by Wendy Smith in the LATimes.
- Andrew Pettegree's The Book in the Renaissance; review by David Gary at Function Follows Forme.
- Jonathon Keats' Forged; review by Catherine Schofield Sezgin at the ARCA blog.
- Jim Crace's Harvest; review by Philip Womack in The Telegraph.
- New: Manuscripts Online, a nifty search engine for written and early print culture in Britain through 1500.
- Another neat new resource: Six Degrees of Francis Bacon, on "reassembling the early modern social network."
- In a must-read post, Heather Wolfe takes a close look at a manuscript diary from the Folger collections and realizes that perhaps the authorial attribution of the diary had been mistaken at some point. Some great detective work here.
- A new Audubon exhibit (really the first installment of three) is now open at the New-York Historical Society. It was reviewed by Edward Rothstein in the NYTimes this week, and featured in the BBC Magazine.
- Some really great news this week: Dan Cohen has been named the executive director of the Digital Public Library of America. They couldn't have made a better choice. Dan posted about his decision to move to the DPLA here.
- An early Charlotte Brontë manuscript poem will go under the hammer at Bonhams on 10 April, and could fetch £40,000-45,000.
- John Palfrey writes in Library Journal about the importance of the first sale doctrine and how the digital shift has led to new, knotty issues in that area.
- If you'll be in Cambridge this summer, there's going to be what looks like a tremendously-interesting conference to celebrate the centenary of A.N.L. Munby, "'Floreat Bibliomania' - Great Collectors and their Grand Designs."
- The ABAA security blog has posted a list of books stolen from Lost Horizons Bookstore in Santa Barbara, CA.
- NARA hosted a presentation this week on the Landau-Savedoff thefts, which you can watch here (and I do recommend watching it if you can; it's well worth it).
- David Rubenstein has donated $10 million to the new Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington at Mt. Vernon.
- Over at the Fine Books Blog, Zhenya Dzhavgova writes about the awesome efforts by booksellers and others to help out Blue Jacket Books in Xenia, OH, much-damaged by a burst water pipe.
- The Toronto Star reports today on what appears to be a severe reduction in acquisitions by Library and Archives Canada. Warning: includes some absolutely ridiculous statements by the head of LAC.
- Eric White has posted at CERL an introduction to and database of C15 print runs.
- Quite a strange story over a signed first edition of The Great Gatsby on offer by bookseller James Robert Cahill: William M. Hitchcock, son of the man to whom Fitzgerald signed the copy of the book, claims that the book was stolen from his home. The book was purchased by Cahill at a Bonhams auction in 2010 (lot description) for $61,000. The FBI reportedly investigated the case in 2012 but closed the case last month.
- Over on the Queens' Old Library Books Blog, a post by Lindsey Askin on Roger Ascham's marginalia.
- Erin Blake highlights a neat new Folger acquisition, one of ten theater "super-scrapbooks" that got away at the original sale, when the Folgers' agent bought the other nine.
- Newly-digitized at Houghton Library, a fascinating 1620s "gospel harmony," known as the Little Gidding Harmony.
- From the T Magazine blog, a profile of the very cool Monkey's Paw bookshop in Toronto (definitely on my list of places to visit someday!).
- In Slate, Matt Kirschenbaum offers a new preview of his forthcoming book Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing.
- Mark Hartsell guest-blogs on the LOC blog about scholars using Thomas Jefferson's books in the reading room.
- A lawsuit was filed this week by a Sherlock Holmes scholar, alleging that the detective is in the public domain and that the estate should not be able to continue to collect licensing fees.
- LATimes book critic David Ulin's essay "The weight of books" makes for essential reading for those of us with, um, many books.
- Over at the Religion in American History blog, Michael Altman offers up "Reading About the 'Hindoos' with John Adams," where he muses about John Adams' marginalia in Priestley's A Comparison of the Institutes of Moses with that of the Hindoos and Other Ancient Nations (scanned here).
- Via the Princeton Rare Books blog, a new study of the Kelmscott Chaucer copies at Princeton, by Robert J. Milevski.
- It was difficult to miss that photo of cat prints on a manuscript document which made the rounds recently. Emir O. Filipović, who took the original image, wrote about the experience over at The Appendix.
Reviews
- Susan Jacoby's The Great Agnostic; review by Jennifer Michael Hect in the NYTimes.
- Sandra Day O'Connor's Out of Order; review by Joan Biskupic in the WaPo.
- David D. Hall's Cultures of Print; review by David Gary at Function Follows Forme.
- Ernest Freeberg's Age of Edison; review by Wendy Smith in the LATimes.
- Andrew Pettegree's The Book in the Renaissance; review by David Gary at Function Follows Forme.
- Jonathon Keats' Forged; review by Catherine Schofield Sezgin at the ARCA blog.
- Jim Crace's Harvest; review by Philip Womack in The Telegraph.
Friday, March 08, 2013
Auction Report: February Recap / March Preview
First, let's get February's sales recapped, then we'll take a look at March.
- Bonhams sold Fine Books & Manuscripts on 17 February, in 300 lots (results). A 1619 Mercator atlas sold for $27,500, and an inscribed original "Peanuts" strip fetched $25,000. The copy of Bien's Audubon failed to sell.
- PBA Galleries sold Rare Books & Manuscripts on 18 February, in 225 lots (results). The top lot was a copy of the second volume (only) of the first book edition of The Federalist, which sold for $16,800. The collection of all sixteen printings of the first edition of the Alcoholic Anonymous Big Book and the first issue King James Bible didn't sell.
- At Bonhams on 18 February, Printed Books and Maps, in 436 lots (results). A collection of ~70 maps of Germany and Eastern Europe (mostly C16-18) made £16,875.
- Bloomsbury sold the Beatrix Potter Collection of Mark Ottignon on 27 February, in 307 lots (results). A first issue of The Tale of Peter Rabbit sold for £20,000.
- Also at Bloomsbury, on 28 February, Literature, Manuscripts & Modern First Editions, in 386 lots (results). The two lots of Hester Thrale Piozzi letters were the main attraction, selling for £26,000 and £15,000.
- On 28 February at PBA Galleries, Rare Golf Books, Clubs & Memorabilia from the collection of Georgia Dyer Burnett, in 391 lots (results). A copy of History of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society was the top lot, at $8,400.
And here's what's coming up for the rest of March:
- On 11 March, ALDE sells the Bibliothèque du Chateau de La Plagne, in 331 lots.
- PBA Galleries sells Fine Literature, Children's Books, &c. on 14 March, in 621 lots. A Hemingway family photo album and a first printing of Tender is the Night with later jacket are each estimated at $10,000-15,000.
- There will be a Bibliophile sale at Bloomsbury on 14 March, in 579 lots.
- Bonhams sells Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Historical Photographs on 19 March, in 235 lots.
- Also at Bonhams, on 20 March, The Xi'an Incident: The Papers of Hyland "Bud" Lyon, in just eight lots.
- At Christie's London on 20 March, The Library of a Spanish Bibliophile, in 427 lots.
- Bloomsbury sells Travel, Topographical, Sporting and Natural History Books, Maps, Prints and Photographs on 21 March, in 366 lots.
- No preview yet for the PBA sale of Rare Americana and African American History on 28 March.
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Links & Reviews
Apologies for the somewhat abbreviated post: I've been busily preparing for this week's trip to Savannah for the Society of Early Americanists meeting, so I'm sure I missed a few stories as they whizzed by. If you're coming to the meeting or are in Savannah I hope I'll see you there (and if anyone has recommendations for restaurants or bookstores in the city, I'll be more than happy to receive them!)
- At ProfHacker this week, professor Jonathan Sterne discussed his and his partner's winter break project: organizing their library. This was particularly timely since I've been doing the same thing lately (I'll have more to say about it once I finally finish, which actually does seem like it may be a possibility at some point in the reasonably near future). It's quite a job, that's for sure!
- On Friday the White House announced a new policy with the goal of providing open access to federally-funded research. Link roundup here.
- The shortlist for the Oddest Book Title of the Year was announced this week. See them and vote here.
- Over at The Collation, Goran Proot analyzes a rare Dutch auction advertisement in the Folger's collections.
- The Justice Department has declined to weigh in on the GSU e-reserves case (that sound you hear is a deep sigh of relief from those on the good side of this appeal).
Reviews
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Alan Taylor in TNR.
- John Darwin's Unfinished Empire; review by Alex von Tunzelman in the NYTimes.
- Ellen Gruber Garvey's Writing with Scissors; review by Christopher Benfey in the NYRB.
- Ernest Freeberg's Age of Edison; review by Wendy Smith in the LATimes.
- Jim Crace's Harvest; review by Sam Leith in the TLS.
- At ProfHacker this week, professor Jonathan Sterne discussed his and his partner's winter break project: organizing their library. This was particularly timely since I've been doing the same thing lately (I'll have more to say about it once I finally finish, which actually does seem like it may be a possibility at some point in the reasonably near future). It's quite a job, that's for sure!
- On Friday the White House announced a new policy with the goal of providing open access to federally-funded research. Link roundup here.
- The shortlist for the Oddest Book Title of the Year was announced this week. See them and vote here.
- Over at The Collation, Goran Proot analyzes a rare Dutch auction advertisement in the Folger's collections.
- The Justice Department has declined to weigh in on the GSU e-reserves case (that sound you hear is a deep sigh of relief from those on the good side of this appeal).
Reviews
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Alan Taylor in TNR.
- John Darwin's Unfinished Empire; review by Alex von Tunzelman in the NYTimes.
- Ellen Gruber Garvey's Writing with Scissors; review by Christopher Benfey in the NYRB.
- Ernest Freeberg's Age of Edison; review by Wendy Smith in the LATimes.
- Jim Crace's Harvest; review by Sam Leith in the TLS.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Links & Reviews
I went down to Longfellow Books on Friday afternoon just to say hi to the staff and buy some books. The store was buzzing and I was amazed at how much progress had been made in just a couple days to get things back up and running. The booksellers were exhausted, but said all the support and energy from the community was keeping them going. The Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance has launched a three-pronged effort to help with recovery, and if you want to buy a few books from Longfellow you can order through their website or by phone.
- A new blog you should be following: Function Follows Form, by David J. Gary, who's been doing great work on Rufus King's library and other book history-related things. Some of the early posts take a close look at some aspects of King's library space, the travels of the library over the years, &c.
- The Private Libraries in Renaissance England database hosted by the Folger Library is newly updated and enlarged with material from the forthcoming eighth volume in the printed series.
- Over at The Cataloguer's Desk, looking back on forty-five years of Peter Harrington catalogues.
- A great new acquisition at Princeton highlighted in their Rare Books blog: a 1785 East India Company tea catalogue.
- Winterthur has acquired the John and Carolyn Grossman collection of printed ephemera, comprising some 250,000 items. The collection had been on deposit at Winterthur since 2008.
- David Levy has some interesting new information on a chess manuscript once believed to be in the hand of Oliver Goldsmith.
- Also from Princeton's Notabilia blog, the printed book label of the Wisbech Literary Society, and the very lovely 1694 printed book label of Margaret Harrington.
- On the JCB Books blog, a great new acquisition of a 1609 Mexican imprint with a gorgeous binding, one of the earliest woodcut illustrations produced in North America, and a neat overall story.
- A typewritten Gandhi letter sold for £115,000 at an auction in Shropshire this week.
- An interesting discovery this week pointed out by Book Patrol: Northern Kentucky University is selling off a collection of rare books appraised at $24,000 on the auction site GovDeals.
- In the NYTimes' Disunion blog, Louis Masur explores the reception of Les Miserables during the American Civil War.
- The AAUP has filed an amicus brief in the GSU e-reserves case, siding with the publishers.
- Oxford and Cambridge have launched a joint fundraising campaign to purchase a portion of the Hebrew manuscript trove from the Cairo Genizah. The 1,700 manuscript fragments in the "Lewis-Gibson" collection are currently held by Westminster College, and may be sold off and dispersed if the Oxbridge effort proves unsuccessful.
- Over at The Junto, Sara Georgini interviews Thomas Lannon, an NYPL curator who's worked on the Emmet Collection.
Reviews
- Todd Andrlik's Reporting the Revolutionary War; review by Michael Hattem at The Junto.
- John Burt's Lincoln's Tragic Pragmatism; reviews by Steven B. Smith in the NYTimes and Michael Dirda in the Washington Post.
- Paula Byrne's The Real Jane Austen; review by Maxwell Carter in the NYTimes.
- Daniel Stashower's The Hour of Peril; review by Del Quentin Wilber in the Washington Post.
- Jim Crace's The Harvest; review by David Ulin in the LATimes.
- A new blog you should be following: Function Follows Form, by David J. Gary, who's been doing great work on Rufus King's library and other book history-related things. Some of the early posts take a close look at some aspects of King's library space, the travels of the library over the years, &c.
- The Private Libraries in Renaissance England database hosted by the Folger Library is newly updated and enlarged with material from the forthcoming eighth volume in the printed series.
- Over at The Cataloguer's Desk, looking back on forty-five years of Peter Harrington catalogues.
- A great new acquisition at Princeton highlighted in their Rare Books blog: a 1785 East India Company tea catalogue.
- Winterthur has acquired the John and Carolyn Grossman collection of printed ephemera, comprising some 250,000 items. The collection had been on deposit at Winterthur since 2008.
- David Levy has some interesting new information on a chess manuscript once believed to be in the hand of Oliver Goldsmith.
- Also from Princeton's Notabilia blog, the printed book label of the Wisbech Literary Society, and the very lovely 1694 printed book label of Margaret Harrington.
- On the JCB Books blog, a great new acquisition of a 1609 Mexican imprint with a gorgeous binding, one of the earliest woodcut illustrations produced in North America, and a neat overall story.
- A typewritten Gandhi letter sold for £115,000 at an auction in Shropshire this week.
- An interesting discovery this week pointed out by Book Patrol: Northern Kentucky University is selling off a collection of rare books appraised at $24,000 on the auction site GovDeals.
- In the NYTimes' Disunion blog, Louis Masur explores the reception of Les Miserables during the American Civil War.
- The AAUP has filed an amicus brief in the GSU e-reserves case, siding with the publishers.
- Oxford and Cambridge have launched a joint fundraising campaign to purchase a portion of the Hebrew manuscript trove from the Cairo Genizah. The 1,700 manuscript fragments in the "Lewis-Gibson" collection are currently held by Westminster College, and may be sold off and dispersed if the Oxbridge effort proves unsuccessful.
- Over at The Junto, Sara Georgini interviews Thomas Lannon, an NYPL curator who's worked on the Emmet Collection.
Reviews
- Todd Andrlik's Reporting the Revolutionary War; review by Michael Hattem at The Junto.
- John Burt's Lincoln's Tragic Pragmatism; reviews by Steven B. Smith in the NYTimes and Michael Dirda in the Washington Post.
- Paula Byrne's The Real Jane Austen; review by Maxwell Carter in the NYTimes.
- Daniel Stashower's The Hour of Peril; review by Del Quentin Wilber in the Washington Post.
- Jim Crace's The Harvest; review by David Ulin in the LATimes.
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Auction Report: February
- PBA Galleries sold Angling/Sports & Pastimes/Natural History books on 7 February. Results are here. The top lot was an archive of letters to and from Randolph Huntington, the man who introduced Arabian horse breeding to the United States. The 1,000+ letters fetched $18,000.
- Bloomsbury held a Bibliophile Sale on 14 February; results are here.
- Skinner, Inc. had a Discovery Sale: Books and Manuscripts on 14 February. Results are here. An extensive collection of New England ephemera did unexpectedly well, fetching $11,000 on a $300-500 estimate (somebody found something delicious in there!).
- Bonhams sells Fine Books & Manuscripts on 17 February, in 300 lots. A copy of Bien's Audubon, missing two of the plates, is estimated at $80,000-120,000.
- PBA Galleries will sell Rare Books & Manuscripts on 18 February, in 225 lots. A collection of all sixteen printings of the first edition of the Alcoholic Anonymous Big Book rates a $200,000-300,000 estimate, while a first issue King James Bible is estimated at $100,000-150,000.
- At Bonhams on 18 February, Printed Books and Maps, in 436 lots.
- Bloomsbury will sell the Beatrix Potter Collection of Mark Ottignon on 27 February, in 307 lots.
- Also at Bloomsbury, on 28 February, Literature, Manuscripts & Modern First Editions, in 386 lots. Includes a collection of Hester Thrale Piozzi letters, among other items of interest.
- On 28 February at PBA Galleries, Rare Golf Books, Clubs & Memorabilia from the collection of Georgia Dyer Burnett, in 391 lots.
- Bloomsbury held a Bibliophile Sale on 14 February; results are here.
- Skinner, Inc. had a Discovery Sale: Books and Manuscripts on 14 February. Results are here. An extensive collection of New England ephemera did unexpectedly well, fetching $11,000 on a $300-500 estimate (somebody found something delicious in there!).
- Bonhams sells Fine Books & Manuscripts on 17 February, in 300 lots. A copy of Bien's Audubon, missing two of the plates, is estimated at $80,000-120,000.
- PBA Galleries will sell Rare Books & Manuscripts on 18 February, in 225 lots. A collection of all sixteen printings of the first edition of the Alcoholic Anonymous Big Book rates a $200,000-300,000 estimate, while a first issue King James Bible is estimated at $100,000-150,000.
- At Bonhams on 18 February, Printed Books and Maps, in 436 lots.
- Bloomsbury will sell the Beatrix Potter Collection of Mark Ottignon on 27 February, in 307 lots.
- Also at Bloomsbury, on 28 February, Literature, Manuscripts & Modern First Editions, in 386 lots. Includes a collection of Hester Thrale Piozzi letters, among other items of interest.
- On 28 February at PBA Galleries, Rare Golf Books, Clubs & Memorabilia from the collection of Georgia Dyer Burnett, in 391 lots.
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Links & Reviews
We got about 32 inches of snow here in Portland yesterday, and the snowbanks and drifts around the neighborhood are very impressive indeed. Thankfully the snow stayed fluffy and light, and though the wind gusts got pretty nasty for a few hours, the power stayed on, so it's been an enjoyable storm in this neck of the woods. Between bouts of shoveling and walking around to take pictures yesterday I got a another chunk of the book-reorganization accomplished, too.
- Unfortunately the storm proved particularly nasty for Longfellow Books downtown, where a burst pipe caused the sprinkler system to go off and led to widespread damage in the shop. They're closed until further notice. Stay tuned for ways to help as we get more information, or watch the shop's Facebook page.
- From Public Domain Review, Martin Spevack introduces Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature.
- Over at The Collation, part two of Erin Blake's series on myth-busting early modern book illustration, this time considering how many impressions one might get from an engraved copper plate.
- Jennifer Howard reported this week on upcoming appeals in the GSU e-reserves case, including concerns that the Department of Justice may get involved.
- Garrett Scott at Bibliophagist has a great post this week on how researching a particular book or pamphlet can often prove to add much to its value.
- Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" was damaged by a vandal this week at a museum in Lens, France. The woman who defaced the painting was detained and conservators indicated that the graffito could probably be "easily cleaned."
- From the Houghton blog, a look at some books from Herman Melville's library newly acquired for Harvard's collections.
- Maine State Archivist David Cheever is considering the pursuit of legal action against an auctioneer trying to sell what purports to be an original order for a military draft in Maine's 1st congressional district, signed in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. More on this as events warrant.
- At The Appendix, an interview with author Adam Hochschild.
- Quite an amazing story of a publisher suing a librarian for saying negative things about the publisher's product. Jessamyn West as a full roundup of links and coverage. Another report in The Chronicle.
- In the TLS, Sarah Knight and Mary Ann Lund explore how the now-confirmed remains of Richard III compare to traditional literary and historical descriptions of the monarch.
- A new online exhibition from the Library Company of Philadelphia: Black Founders: The Free Black Community in the Early Republic.
- The British Library has purchased approximately 100 diaries and some 900 letters of Sir Alec Guinness.
Reviews
- The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker; review by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post.
- Ad Stijnman's Engraving and Etching, 1400-2000; review by Elizabeth Upper in Apollo.
- Unfortunately the storm proved particularly nasty for Longfellow Books downtown, where a burst pipe caused the sprinkler system to go off and led to widespread damage in the shop. They're closed until further notice. Stay tuned for ways to help as we get more information, or watch the shop's Facebook page.
- From Public Domain Review, Martin Spevack introduces Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature.
- Over at The Collation, part two of Erin Blake's series on myth-busting early modern book illustration, this time considering how many impressions one might get from an engraved copper plate.
- Jennifer Howard reported this week on upcoming appeals in the GSU e-reserves case, including concerns that the Department of Justice may get involved.
- Garrett Scott at Bibliophagist has a great post this week on how researching a particular book or pamphlet can often prove to add much to its value.
- Eugene Delacroix's "Liberty Leading the People" was damaged by a vandal this week at a museum in Lens, France. The woman who defaced the painting was detained and conservators indicated that the graffito could probably be "easily cleaned."
- From the Houghton blog, a look at some books from Herman Melville's library newly acquired for Harvard's collections.
- Maine State Archivist David Cheever is considering the pursuit of legal action against an auctioneer trying to sell what purports to be an original order for a military draft in Maine's 1st congressional district, signed in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln. More on this as events warrant.
- At The Appendix, an interview with author Adam Hochschild.
- Quite an amazing story of a publisher suing a librarian for saying negative things about the publisher's product. Jessamyn West as a full roundup of links and coverage. Another report in The Chronicle.
- In the TLS, Sarah Knight and Mary Ann Lund explore how the now-confirmed remains of Richard III compare to traditional literary and historical descriptions of the monarch.
- A new online exhibition from the Library Company of Philadelphia: Black Founders: The Free Black Community in the Early Republic.
- The British Library has purchased approximately 100 diaries and some 900 letters of Sir Alec Guinness.
Reviews
- The Forgotten Writings of Bram Stoker; review by Michael Dirda in the Washington Post.
- Ad Stijnman's Engraving and Etching, 1400-2000; review by Elizabeth Upper in Apollo.
Friday, February 08, 2013
Call for Assistance: Tabulae Rudolphinae Census
The following announcement was posted on Ex-Libris this week and is reposted here with permission. I hope anyone with access to the book will respond to the query (as you all now, I'm a big fan of book censuses and love to help out with them in any way possible).
"My name is Stefano Gattei and I teach history and philosophy of science at the IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy.
I am currently working on a census of all existing copies of Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae, 1627. The first edition of this book presents components in 3 different states, which can be recognized by a few characteristics of the first few pages. My census aims at providing a precise descriptions of each copy, and therefore reconstruct the book's complex publication history.
In order to do that, I need answers to a list of 10 questions, which take just a few minutes to reply. My census will be published in a forthcoming book of mine on Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (published by Oxford University Press/)/ and will describe all available copies in public libraries. I have already seen a number of copies in private collections, but I know there are several more, either in private hands or on the antiquarian book market.
I would ask all members to let me know if they have copies of Kepler's book, and possibly help me get in touch with private collectors who bought them in the past. Of course, individual owners are free to indicate whether they want to be explicitly mentioned in my census or else prefer to be kept anonymous."
Please contact Stefano Gattei at stefano.gattei@imtlucca.it if you can assist with this important work.
"My name is Stefano Gattei and I teach history and philosophy of science at the IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, Lucca, Italy.
I am currently working on a census of all existing copies of Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae, 1627. The first edition of this book presents components in 3 different states, which can be recognized by a few characteristics of the first few pages. My census aims at providing a precise descriptions of each copy, and therefore reconstruct the book's complex publication history.
In order to do that, I need answers to a list of 10 questions, which take just a few minutes to reply. My census will be published in a forthcoming book of mine on Johannes Kepler's Tabulae Rudolphinae (published by Oxford University Press/)/ and will describe all available copies in public libraries. I have already seen a number of copies in private collections, but I know there are several more, either in private hands or on the antiquarian book market.
I would ask all members to let me know if they have copies of Kepler's book, and possibly help me get in touch with private collectors who bought them in the past. Of course, individual owners are free to indicate whether they want to be explicitly mentioned in my census or else prefer to be kept anonymous."
Please contact Stefano Gattei at stefano.gattei@imtlucca.it if you can assist with this important work.
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Links & Reviews
I've been reorganizing my books this weekend, after finding myself terribly frustrated when I couldn't immediately find a volume I wanted. Lots of moving and re-ordering and getting distracted by things I'd forgotten I had (and thus, great fun!).
- Two new arrests in the de Caro thefts: Bologna-based bookbinder has been arrested, charged with obscuring ownership marks in the books stolen from the Girolamini library. A man who acted as go-between for the thieves and the buyers of stolen books was also arrested.
- From Garrett Scott at Bibliophagist, a great ~1880 broadside from a Croyden flat earth group offering a £1,000 prize for anyone who could offer a "public and practical defence" of Newton's theory of gravity.
- The Boston Public Library has received an anonymous $500,000 gift to fund cataloging and conservation of its rare book collection.
- In the Chronicle this week, Geoffrey Nunberg looks back at the Radcliffe Take Note conference last November.
- Early this week some incredibly disturbing reports emerged from the Malian city of Timbuktu, where thousands of Arabic manuscripts were believed destroyed when retreating Islamist militants set fire to the Ahmed Baba library. As the week went on, the news improved: although the library building was damaged, the vast majority of the manuscripts seem to have been saved. More reports: Time, Simon Tanner, The Atlantic, The New Yorker.
- From Eleanor Shevlin at EMOB, "Digital Tools: Image Matching within Printed Materials."
- Kathryn Gucer guest-posts at The Collation on the Folger Library's impressive collection of mazarinades.
- Norman Foster's plans for the NYPL central branch got panned by Michael Kimmelman in the NYTimes this week.
- Over at Sarah's Books, a visit to an (unnamed) used bookstore where she found some great books and listened to the clerk's "familiar tales of woe."
- The Litchfield, CT Historical Society has launched a fantastic new database of those who attended Tapping Reeve's law school and Sarah Pierce's female academy.
- The Vatican Apostolic Library has uploaded the first 256 manuscripts of some 80,000 they plan to eventually digitize.
- Rhode Island marks 350 years of its colonial charter this year. A new website includes some interesting contextual essays.
- Emma Rothschild's book The Inner Life of Empires now has a very nice online complement, with maps, glossaries, notes and more.
- Alexis Madrigal writes in The Atlantic on Defoe's plague writings as a way to help us understand new media (newspapers were the "next big thing" right then).
- In Latham's Quarterly, Laurent Merceron writes on ergot poisoning.
- The Folger's Heather Wolfe, in New Zealand to teach at Dunedin Rare Book Summer School, spoke to Radio New Zealand about paleography. Listen here.
- A German auction house posted images of a poisons cabinet disguised as a book, which sold for 5,200 Euros.
- Via the new Slate history blog, the N-YHS looks back at the time when a committee tried to persuade the Society to back a move to change the country's name.
- Michael Dirda has posted his final American Scholar column (sadly).
- By far the most chuckled-about phrase in the bibliotwitterverse this week appeared in Jeffrey Rotter's Atlantic Cities post on data visualization in 19th-century census charts (which is quite interesting). The following sentence caused more than a few of us to think "say what, now?" when we read it: "While researching the spread of Chinatowns in New York City, he discovered a trove of maps and charts in a musty backroom of the Library of Congress web site" [italics are mine].
Reviews
- Michael Dean's I, Hogarth; review by Andrea Wulf in the NYTimes.
- Christoph Irmscher's Louis Agassiz; review by Rebecca Stott in the NYTimes.
- Susan Brigden's Thomas Wyatt; review by Alastair Fowler in the TLS.
- Roseanne Montillo's The Lady and Her Monsters; review by Deborah Blum in the NYTimes.
- Jenny Uglow's The Pinecone; review by Megan Marshall in the NYTimes.
- Two new arrests in the de Caro thefts: Bologna-based bookbinder has been arrested, charged with obscuring ownership marks in the books stolen from the Girolamini library. A man who acted as go-between for the thieves and the buyers of stolen books was also arrested.
- From Garrett Scott at Bibliophagist, a great ~1880 broadside from a Croyden flat earth group offering a £1,000 prize for anyone who could offer a "public and practical defence" of Newton's theory of gravity.
- The Boston Public Library has received an anonymous $500,000 gift to fund cataloging and conservation of its rare book collection.
- In the Chronicle this week, Geoffrey Nunberg looks back at the Radcliffe Take Note conference last November.
- Early this week some incredibly disturbing reports emerged from the Malian city of Timbuktu, where thousands of Arabic manuscripts were believed destroyed when retreating Islamist militants set fire to the Ahmed Baba library. As the week went on, the news improved: although the library building was damaged, the vast majority of the manuscripts seem to have been saved. More reports: Time, Simon Tanner, The Atlantic, The New Yorker.
- From Eleanor Shevlin at EMOB, "Digital Tools: Image Matching within Printed Materials."
- Kathryn Gucer guest-posts at The Collation on the Folger Library's impressive collection of mazarinades.
- Norman Foster's plans for the NYPL central branch got panned by Michael Kimmelman in the NYTimes this week.
- Over at Sarah's Books, a visit to an (unnamed) used bookstore where she found some great books and listened to the clerk's "familiar tales of woe."
- The Litchfield, CT Historical Society has launched a fantastic new database of those who attended Tapping Reeve's law school and Sarah Pierce's female academy.
- The Vatican Apostolic Library has uploaded the first 256 manuscripts of some 80,000 they plan to eventually digitize.
- Rhode Island marks 350 years of its colonial charter this year. A new website includes some interesting contextual essays.
- Emma Rothschild's book The Inner Life of Empires now has a very nice online complement, with maps, glossaries, notes and more.
- Alexis Madrigal writes in The Atlantic on Defoe's plague writings as a way to help us understand new media (newspapers were the "next big thing" right then).
- In Latham's Quarterly, Laurent Merceron writes on ergot poisoning.
- The Folger's Heather Wolfe, in New Zealand to teach at Dunedin Rare Book Summer School, spoke to Radio New Zealand about paleography. Listen here.
- A German auction house posted images of a poisons cabinet disguised as a book, which sold for 5,200 Euros.
- Via the new Slate history blog, the N-YHS looks back at the time when a committee tried to persuade the Society to back a move to change the country's name.
- Michael Dirda has posted his final American Scholar column (sadly).
- By far the most chuckled-about phrase in the bibliotwitterverse this week appeared in Jeffrey Rotter's Atlantic Cities post on data visualization in 19th-century census charts (which is quite interesting). The following sentence caused more than a few of us to think "say what, now?" when we read it: "While researching the spread of Chinatowns in New York City, he discovered a trove of maps and charts in a musty backroom of the Library of Congress web site" [italics are mine].
Reviews
- Michael Dean's I, Hogarth; review by Andrea Wulf in the NYTimes.
- Christoph Irmscher's Louis Agassiz; review by Rebecca Stott in the NYTimes.
- Susan Brigden's Thomas Wyatt; review by Alastair Fowler in the TLS.
- Roseanne Montillo's The Lady and Her Monsters; review by Deborah Blum in the NYTimes.
- Jenny Uglow's The Pinecone; review by Megan Marshall in the NYTimes.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Major New Theft Case in Canada
A new theft case has made the news: the CBC reported this week that the Fall River, Nova Scotia home of John Mark Tillmann, 51, contained more than 1,300 books, documents and other artifacts believed stolen from multiple collections. After a traffic stop back in June in which stolen documents (including a James Wolfe letter from the collections of Dalhousie University) were found in Tillmann's car, police searched his house and found the additional materials.
An RCMP investigator told the CBC "We believe that items such as books, documents, paintings, antiques were stolen from private collectors around Atlantic Canada, also from local universities, museums and even the legislature."
Tillmann has so far been charged with four counts of unlawful possession of materials worth more than $5,000:
- the 1758 James Wolfe letter from Dalhousie University
- two 19th-century marriage records from the Nova Scotia Provincial Archives
- four books from Mount St. Vincent University (these reportedly include a first edition of Darwin's The Origin of Species stolen from the university before 2009
- an 1819 painting from the collections of the Provincial Building Legislative Library
Nova Scotia police say they've been in contact with authorities in Newfoundland and with the FBI as they work to track down stolen items. News reports suggest that the thefts may have taken place over more than two decades. Police displayed some of the recovered items this week: video here. Dalhousie University archivists said this week that the Wolfe letter had been damaged by tearing off a section of the page which would have contained a library stamp.
Another item recovered is a piece of sheet music from the collections of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland believed stolen for "family reasons" (it was connected to the Tilman family). Joan Ritcey, head of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, said she recalled Tillmann's visit to the archive.
Tillmann's rap sheet includes fifteen convictions for such deeds as extortion, assault, and fraud. He was already due in court next month on additional charges of assault, forcible confinement, and uttering threats. In a report published Friday, it was revealed that in a parole hearing several years ago, Tillmann admitted that he frequently bought and resold stolen goods.
The RCMP are requesting the public's help in identifying the owners of some of the recovered items, and reportedly will be adding images of the materials here.
Tillmann currently remains in custody, with a bail hearing set for 27 February. Prosecutors oppose Tillmann's release.
An RCMP investigator told the CBC "We believe that items such as books, documents, paintings, antiques were stolen from private collectors around Atlantic Canada, also from local universities, museums and even the legislature."
Tillmann has so far been charged with four counts of unlawful possession of materials worth more than $5,000:
- the 1758 James Wolfe letter from Dalhousie University
- two 19th-century marriage records from the Nova Scotia Provincial Archives
- four books from Mount St. Vincent University (these reportedly include a first edition of Darwin's The Origin of Species stolen from the university before 2009
- an 1819 painting from the collections of the Provincial Building Legislative Library
Nova Scotia police say they've been in contact with authorities in Newfoundland and with the FBI as they work to track down stolen items. News reports suggest that the thefts may have taken place over more than two decades. Police displayed some of the recovered items this week: video here. Dalhousie University archivists said this week that the Wolfe letter had been damaged by tearing off a section of the page which would have contained a library stamp.
Another item recovered is a piece of sheet music from the collections of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland believed stolen for "family reasons" (it was connected to the Tilman family). Joan Ritcey, head of the Centre for Newfoundland Studies, said she recalled Tillmann's visit to the archive.
Tillmann's rap sheet includes fifteen convictions for such deeds as extortion, assault, and fraud. He was already due in court next month on additional charges of assault, forcible confinement, and uttering threats. In a report published Friday, it was revealed that in a parole hearing several years ago, Tillmann admitted that he frequently bought and resold stolen goods.
The RCMP are requesting the public's help in identifying the owners of some of the recovered items, and reportedly will be adding images of the materials here.
Tillmann currently remains in custody, with a bail hearing set for 27 February. Prosecutors oppose Tillmann's release.
Links & Reviews
- New and interesting: Letterpress Commons, a community-based website designed as an "up-to-date manual" of letterpress techniques and information. And from Enlightenment scholar James Schmidt, Persistent Enlightenment. I've added sidebar links to both.
- At Contents Magazine, a must-read interview with the founders of The Appendix, which I certainly encourage all readers of this blog to be paying attention to.
- From the Royal Society's blog, a post on recent discoveries about their copy of Boyle's Sceptical Chymist, made because a scholar (Greg Girolami at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is working on a census of extant copies of the book. As I've written before, I am a huge fan of book censuses in general, and encourage anyone who gets the opportunity to participate in them to do so!
- Over at Biblioguerilla, a book with Erasmus' name burned out wherever it occurred, "according to the prescriptions of the Expurgatory Index," and a fantastically-titled 1791 booksellers' catalog.
- This week's court of appeals decision on recess appointments [PDF] makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in arcane-but-important constitutional provisions. Over at Boston 1775, J.L. Bell has begun a series on the origins of the recess appointment power: here and here. NB: Jay Wexler's recent book The Odd Clauses also has a useful primer on recess appointments.
- The "Identifying the Unidentified" series continues over at Past is Present.
- From Kevin Smith at Duke, some notes on the key importance of the Wiley v. Kirtsaeng case now under consideration at the Supreme Court.
- PBA Galleries, the San Francisco-based auction house, is now under the ownership of Sharon L. Gee.
- In today's New York Times, Steve Lohr profiles some of the "big data" projects being carried out by Matthew Jockers and others in "Dickens, Austen and Twain, Through a Digital Lens."
- Georgia governor Nathan Deal's proposed budget contains $4.3 million to keep the Georgia Archives open and restore five jobs cut last fall. A task force charged with developing a plan to transfer management of the Archives from the Georgia Secretary of State's office to the University of Georgia held its first meeting this month.
- Meanwhile, north of the border in South Carolina, genealogists and historians are concerned that a long string of budget cuts at the Department of Archives and History is having severe consequences for access to archival research material.
Reviews
- Joyce Chaplin's Round About the Earth; review by Jeffrey Wassterstorm in the LA Review of Books.
- John W. O'Malley's Trent: What Happened at the Council; review by Michael Dirda in at Washington Post.
- Bram Stoker and the Stage, ed. Catherine Wynne; review by Tracy C. Davis in the TLS.
- At Contents Magazine, a must-read interview with the founders of The Appendix, which I certainly encourage all readers of this blog to be paying attention to.
- From the Royal Society's blog, a post on recent discoveries about their copy of Boyle's Sceptical Chymist, made because a scholar (Greg Girolami at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) is working on a census of extant copies of the book. As I've written before, I am a huge fan of book censuses in general, and encourage anyone who gets the opportunity to participate in them to do so!
- Over at Biblioguerilla, a book with Erasmus' name burned out wherever it occurred, "according to the prescriptions of the Expurgatory Index," and a fantastically-titled 1791 booksellers' catalog.
- This week's court of appeals decision on recess appointments [PDF] makes for fascinating reading for anyone interested in arcane-but-important constitutional provisions. Over at Boston 1775, J.L. Bell has begun a series on the origins of the recess appointment power: here and here. NB: Jay Wexler's recent book The Odd Clauses also has a useful primer on recess appointments.
- The "Identifying the Unidentified" series continues over at Past is Present.
- From Kevin Smith at Duke, some notes on the key importance of the Wiley v. Kirtsaeng case now under consideration at the Supreme Court.
- PBA Galleries, the San Francisco-based auction house, is now under the ownership of Sharon L. Gee.
- In today's New York Times, Steve Lohr profiles some of the "big data" projects being carried out by Matthew Jockers and others in "Dickens, Austen and Twain, Through a Digital Lens."
- Georgia governor Nathan Deal's proposed budget contains $4.3 million to keep the Georgia Archives open and restore five jobs cut last fall. A task force charged with developing a plan to transfer management of the Archives from the Georgia Secretary of State's office to the University of Georgia held its first meeting this month.
- Meanwhile, north of the border in South Carolina, genealogists and historians are concerned that a long string of budget cuts at the Department of Archives and History is having severe consequences for access to archival research material.
Reviews
- Joyce Chaplin's Round About the Earth; review by Jeffrey Wassterstorm in the LA Review of Books.
- John W. O'Malley's Trent: What Happened at the Council; review by Michael Dirda in at Washington Post.
- Bram Stoker and the Stage, ed. Catherine Wynne; review by Tracy C. Davis in the TLS.
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Auction Report: January Sales
A quick rundown of the January sales so far, and a look at what's coming up this week:
- PBA Galleries sold Architecture Books & Folios on 10 January, in 195 lots. Results are here. The top price, $8,400, went to a copy of Cornelius Gurlitt's Die Baukunst Konstantinopels (1912), a study of Istanbul architecture.
- Lyon & Turnbull held a Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs sale on 16 January, in 564 lots. Two lots fetched £7,500: an East India Company logbook of the Seaford (1703-1706), and another logbook, of HMS Kent (1800-1803).
- At Bloomsbury's Bibliophile Sale on 17 January, a partial set of Buffon's Histoire Naturelle (32 of 44 volumes) sold for £1,500.
- Swann held a Shelf Sale on 17 January. Ten volumes of reference books related to porcelain sold for $4,320.
- At Swann's 20th Century Illustration on 24 January, it was a set of 48 of Garth Williams/Rosemary Wells proof plates for the 50th Anniversary Edition of Charlotte's Web for the top price, at $28,800.
- Bloomsbury sold Antiquarian Books on 24 January, in 202 lots. Léon Bakst's Bakst: The Story of the Artist's Life (1923) came out on top at £7,000 (well above the £600-800 estimates).
- PBA Galleries sold Americana, Asian-American History, Travel, Maps & Views on 24 January, in 434 lots. Results are here. A copy of an early account of Frémont's expeditions (1847) fetched the highest price, at $14,400.
- Christie's sells Albrecht Durer Masterpieces from a Private Collection on 29 January, in 62 lots. A ~1501 St. Eustace rates the top estimate (so high that it's only available on request). Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) is estimated at $500,000-700,000, Melancholia I (1514) at $400,000-600,000, and St. Jerome in his Study (1514) at $300,000-500,000.
- Dominic Winter sells Printed Books, Maps & Ephemera on 30 January. A set of first impressions of each of the three Lord of the Rings books rates the top estimate, at £10,000-15,000.
- Bloomsbury sells Maps & Atlases, Drawings & Prints on 31 January, in 440 lots.
- PBA Galleries sold Architecture Books & Folios on 10 January, in 195 lots. Results are here. The top price, $8,400, went to a copy of Cornelius Gurlitt's Die Baukunst Konstantinopels (1912), a study of Istanbul architecture.
- Lyon & Turnbull held a Rare Books, Maps, Manuscripts & Photographs sale on 16 January, in 564 lots. Two lots fetched £7,500: an East India Company logbook of the Seaford (1703-1706), and another logbook, of HMS Kent (1800-1803).
- At Bloomsbury's Bibliophile Sale on 17 January, a partial set of Buffon's Histoire Naturelle (32 of 44 volumes) sold for £1,500.
- Swann held a Shelf Sale on 17 January. Ten volumes of reference books related to porcelain sold for $4,320.
- At Swann's 20th Century Illustration on 24 January, it was a set of 48 of Garth Williams/Rosemary Wells proof plates for the 50th Anniversary Edition of Charlotte's Web for the top price, at $28,800.
- Bloomsbury sold Antiquarian Books on 24 January, in 202 lots. Léon Bakst's Bakst: The Story of the Artist's Life (1923) came out on top at £7,000 (well above the £600-800 estimates).
- PBA Galleries sold Americana, Asian-American History, Travel, Maps & Views on 24 January, in 434 lots. Results are here. A copy of an early account of Frémont's expeditions (1847) fetched the highest price, at $14,400.
- Christie's sells Albrecht Durer Masterpieces from a Private Collection on 29 January, in 62 lots. A ~1501 St. Eustace rates the top estimate (so high that it's only available on request). Knight, Death and the Devil (1513) is estimated at $500,000-700,000, Melancholia I (1514) at $400,000-600,000, and St. Jerome in his Study (1514) at $300,000-500,000.
- Dominic Winter sells Printed Books, Maps & Ephemera on 30 January. A set of first impressions of each of the three Lord of the Rings books rates the top estimate, at £10,000-15,000.
- Bloomsbury sells Maps & Atlases, Drawings & Prints on 31 January, in 440 lots.
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Links & Reviews
- Federal judge Royce Lamberth held the Russian government in contempt on Wednesday, ordering payment of a $50,000-per-day fine until a collection of books and manuscripts held in Russia is returned to a Brooklyn-based Jewish group. Lamberth ruled in 2010 that the library should be returned. The Justice Department opposed the contempt finding, and the Russian government denies the authority of the court in this matter.
- From Erin Blake at The Collation, "Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part one," drawing on recent work by Blair Hedges and others on what causes lines in engravings to become thinner and paler over time.
- New from the Institute of Historical Research at UCL, InScribe, a free online paleography course.
- Over at Past is Present, a new series on "Identifying the Unidentified" launched this week, with former AAS intern Lucia Ferguson beginning a discussion on newly-identified diarist Henry Martin.
- At American Book Collecting, a truly frightening post about the erasure of an ownership signature from an important association copy.
- Library and Archives Canada has acquired a copy of the first complete bible printed in Canada, an early 1830s edition published by John Henry White. The purchase was funded by the Friends of Library and Archives Canada.
- From the University of Glasgow library blog, a look at a few items from their special collections from the library of Richard Stonley, an Elizabethan official (whose main claim to fame is that his signature in a copy of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis is the earliest-known signature in a Shakespeare work).
- The Library Copyright Alliance put out a paper this week responding to recent court rulings on fair use and other related copyright developments.
- Newly digitized by the New York Public Library, their Thomas Addis Emmet collection of Revolutionary-era American manuscripts.
- From the MIT Technology Review, "The Algorithms that Automatically Date Medieval Manuscripts."
- The much-damaged copy of the Book of Mormon stolen from Helen Schlie of Mesa, AZ by Jay Michael Linford earlier this year and later recovered was returned to Schlie this week.
Reviews
- Peter Ackroyd's Foundation; review by Walter Olson in the NYTimes.
- Ross King's Leonardo and the Last Supper; review by Michael S. Roth in the WaPo.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by David L. Ulin in the LATimes.
- From Erin Blake at The Collation, "Myth-busting early modern book illustration, part one," drawing on recent work by Blair Hedges and others on what causes lines in engravings to become thinner and paler over time.
- New from the Institute of Historical Research at UCL, InScribe, a free online paleography course.
- Over at Past is Present, a new series on "Identifying the Unidentified" launched this week, with former AAS intern Lucia Ferguson beginning a discussion on newly-identified diarist Henry Martin.
- At American Book Collecting, a truly frightening post about the erasure of an ownership signature from an important association copy.
- Library and Archives Canada has acquired a copy of the first complete bible printed in Canada, an early 1830s edition published by John Henry White. The purchase was funded by the Friends of Library and Archives Canada.
- From the University of Glasgow library blog, a look at a few items from their special collections from the library of Richard Stonley, an Elizabethan official (whose main claim to fame is that his signature in a copy of Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis is the earliest-known signature in a Shakespeare work).
- The Library Copyright Alliance put out a paper this week responding to recent court rulings on fair use and other related copyright developments.
- Newly digitized by the New York Public Library, their Thomas Addis Emmet collection of Revolutionary-era American manuscripts.
- From the MIT Technology Review, "The Algorithms that Automatically Date Medieval Manuscripts."
- The much-damaged copy of the Book of Mormon stolen from Helen Schlie of Mesa, AZ by Jay Michael Linford earlier this year and later recovered was returned to Schlie this week.
Reviews
- Peter Ackroyd's Foundation; review by Walter Olson in the NYTimes.
- Ross King's Leonardo and the Last Supper; review by Michael S. Roth in the WaPo.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by David L. Ulin in the LATimes.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
Book Review: "The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle"
Ava Chamberlain's The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle: Marriage, Murder, and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards (NYU Press, 2012) is an excellent example of just how interesting and worthwhile a microhistorical study can be if done well. Far too many books like this are either full of rampant and unjustified speculation or just pile tangential discussion atop tangential discussion for several hundred pages. Chamberlain's book suffers from neither of those faults, I'm very pleased to say.
Chamberlain's subject is the woman who has been described as the "crazy grandmother" of Jonathan Edwards, Elizabeth Tuttle (the first wife of Edwards' grandfather Richard). Concluding that the traditional interpretation of Tuttle was at the very least overly simplistic if not simply untrue, Chamberlain went in search of her side of the story, so to speak. The result is both a compelling exploration of the Edwards-Tuttle family story, and a deeply interesting look at the historio-genealogical treatment of Elizabeth Tuttle.
Elizabeth Tuttle's life works beautifully as Chamberlain's springboard to discuss a whole range of topics, from migration patterns to colonial laws on marriage, divorce and mental illness, to uses of the "insanity defense" in criminal trials (one of Tuttle's brothers killed one of her sisters, and another sister killed her own son - events which had no small impact on the family). Richard Edwards' petitions for divorce are carefully analyzed, but Chamberlain goes further in a successful attempt to read between the lines and understand how the same sequence of events might have been seen from Elizabeth Tuttle's perspective (noting, for example, that Richard Edwards had prior to the divorce been implicated in a case of fornication with Mary Talcott, the woman who would become his second wife).
By examining the entire two decades of the Edwards-Tuttle marriage, Chamberlain is able to contextualize the final breakdown of the union in a much clearer way, and offers a much more coherent and more complete picture of the relationship than previous studies have done. And the final chapters, which explore how genealogists and biographers of Jonathan Edwards have treated Elizabeth Tuttle (at first ignoring the issue, either implicitly or explicitly declaring that she had died rather than been divorced from Edwards' grandfather and then adopting the "crazy grandmother" motif found in the modern Edwards biographical studies) are masterfully done.
One aspect of this whole story that was completely and utterly new to me was that the Edwards family was held up as a particularly "good" line during the period of the eugenics movement, with Elizabeth Tuttle deployed by anti-eugenicists as a personification of the "misguided aims and potentially tragic consequences of eugenic legislation" (p. 182). The addition of this curious and quite fascinating element is yet another reason to like this already thoroughly worthwhile book.
Chamberlain's subject is the woman who has been described as the "crazy grandmother" of Jonathan Edwards, Elizabeth Tuttle (the first wife of Edwards' grandfather Richard). Concluding that the traditional interpretation of Tuttle was at the very least overly simplistic if not simply untrue, Chamberlain went in search of her side of the story, so to speak. The result is both a compelling exploration of the Edwards-Tuttle family story, and a deeply interesting look at the historio-genealogical treatment of Elizabeth Tuttle.
Elizabeth Tuttle's life works beautifully as Chamberlain's springboard to discuss a whole range of topics, from migration patterns to colonial laws on marriage, divorce and mental illness, to uses of the "insanity defense" in criminal trials (one of Tuttle's brothers killed one of her sisters, and another sister killed her own son - events which had no small impact on the family). Richard Edwards' petitions for divorce are carefully analyzed, but Chamberlain goes further in a successful attempt to read between the lines and understand how the same sequence of events might have been seen from Elizabeth Tuttle's perspective (noting, for example, that Richard Edwards had prior to the divorce been implicated in a case of fornication with Mary Talcott, the woman who would become his second wife).
By examining the entire two decades of the Edwards-Tuttle marriage, Chamberlain is able to contextualize the final breakdown of the union in a much clearer way, and offers a much more coherent and more complete picture of the relationship than previous studies have done. And the final chapters, which explore how genealogists and biographers of Jonathan Edwards have treated Elizabeth Tuttle (at first ignoring the issue, either implicitly or explicitly declaring that she had died rather than been divorced from Edwards' grandfather and then adopting the "crazy grandmother" motif found in the modern Edwards biographical studies) are masterfully done.
One aspect of this whole story that was completely and utterly new to me was that the Edwards family was held up as a particularly "good" line during the period of the eugenics movement, with Elizabeth Tuttle deployed by anti-eugenicists as a personification of the "misguided aims and potentially tragic consequences of eugenic legislation" (p. 182). The addition of this curious and quite fascinating element is yet another reason to like this already thoroughly worthwhile book.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Links & Reviews
- Via the ILAB Blog, a list of books believed stolen from the library of the Abbey of Montecassino by de Caro and/or his associates. They include at least six incunables, some of them Aldine imprints, and several early Galileo editions, among others.
- Over on the Appendix blog, a food and drug miscellany.
- At 8vo, Brooke tries out tapestry with "Don Saltero's Coffeehouse: Or a Secret History of the Museum."
- From Mills Kelly, "Back of the Book History," on physical data in books, with some analysis of what library circulation records might be able to tell us.
- Sarah Werner has posted her talk from this year's MLA, "Make Your Own Luck," at Wynken de Worde.
- The Bodleian Library is looking to raise £2.2 million to fund the purchase of an archive of material related to early photographer William Henry Fox Talbot.
Reviews
- Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday; reviews by David Brooks in the NYTimes and David Ulin in the LATimes.
- James O'Brien's The Scientific Sherlock Holmes and Maria Konnikova's Mastermind; review by Matthew Hutson in the WSJ.
- Antonio Forcellino's Raphael; review by James Hall in the TLS.
- Susan Rennie's Jamieson's Dictionary of Scots; review by Robert Crawford in the TLS.
- Over on the Appendix blog, a food and drug miscellany.
- At 8vo, Brooke tries out tapestry with "Don Saltero's Coffeehouse: Or a Secret History of the Museum."
- From Mills Kelly, "Back of the Book History," on physical data in books, with some analysis of what library circulation records might be able to tell us.
- Sarah Werner has posted her talk from this year's MLA, "Make Your Own Luck," at Wynken de Worde.
- The Bodleian Library is looking to raise £2.2 million to fund the purchase of an archive of material related to early photographer William Henry Fox Talbot.
Reviews
- Jared Diamond's The World Until Yesterday; reviews by David Brooks in the NYTimes and David Ulin in the LATimes.
- James O'Brien's The Scientific Sherlock Holmes and Maria Konnikova's Mastermind; review by Matthew Hutson in the WSJ.
- Antonio Forcellino's Raphael; review by James Hall in the TLS.
- Susan Rennie's Jamieson's Dictionary of Scots; review by Robert Crawford in the TLS.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Book Review: "The Barbarous Years"
The latest volume in Bernard Bailyn's cycle of books on the peopling of British North America is The Barbarous Years: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675 (Alfred A. Knopf, 2012). The timeframe in the subtitle proves important: some reviewers have questioned why Bailyn doesn't use this book to discuss French Canada or Spanish Florida, but those areas weren't British-controlled during the period covered here. The British settlements in the Caribbean also aren't considered, though they are often mentioned in the context of the mainland settlements.
The book opens with a short introduction to the project in general, in which Bailyn lays out what quickly becomes a major theme of the book: that the experiences of European settlers in mainland North America "were not mainly of triumph but of confusion, failure, violence, and the loss of civility as they tried to normalize abnormal situations and to recapture lost worlds, in the process tearing apart the normalities of the people whose world they had invaded" (xv). There follows a fascinating chapter on the native inhabitants of eastern North America in the years leading up to European settlement of the area, highlighting their vastly different cultures and lifestyles and the ways in which these were disrupted by the arrival of Europeans with their unquenchable desire for furs and with their virulent diseases.
Three sections on the major areas of European colonization are at the core of the book: Virginia and the Chesapeake region, the Dutch and Swedish settlements in what is now New York and along the Delaware River, and the Pilgrim/Puritan colonies in New England. For each, Bailyn focuses on the tenuous nature of the settlements: the mismanagement and demographic troubles that very nearly put a quick end to the Virginia endeavors, the religious and bureaucratic wrangling over the Chesapeake, the squabbly nature of the Dutch commercial outposts in New Amsterdam. He does a fine job of describing the interesting Swedish and Finnish settlements along the Delaware, first taken over by the Dutch and then reverting to English control in the 1660s.
It is the New England section, of course, where Bailyn is most at home and comfortable, and this section of the book is chock full of fascinating details (even more full than the other sections). He analyzes the origins of settlers in various towns, explores the trend of reverse migration back to England in the years following the fall of Charles I, and delves deeply into the great conflicts at the heart of early New England: how to divide up the land, how to establish new towns, how to deal with religious and political controversy, how to live a goodly and godly life. He delves deeply into the antinomian controversy, and explores the many criticisms of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies leveled by those who fell afoul of their civil and religious leaders. All the while Bailyn stresses the difficulties, the stresses, the conflict points that made life for the early generations of Europeans in America no cakewalk, and which destroyed the cultures of the region's prior inhabitants through brutal conflict.
As other reviews have pointed out, Bailyn doesn't do as much as he might have with the interactions (both peaceful and armed) between the Europeans and the American Indians, particularly in the sections on the Dutch-controlled region and New England. And while the practice of forcibly importing African slaves is mentioned (at 174-177; 242-243; 257-259; 508-510, for example), there are perhaps additional sources Bailyn might have drawn on to bring the experience(s) of the few thousand Africans brought to North America during this period more to the fore (likewise with the enslavement of Indians at various points, which is mentioned only in passing).
I don't normally read reviews of books prior to writing my own, but I made an exception in this case and looked at a couple. I found much of Charles C. Mann's critique in the New York Times to be fair (he mentions the lack of attention to enslaved Africans and the Indian conflicts), but must take issue with his statement that Bailyn "appears to give some credence to John Smith's story about Pocahontas saving his life, for instance, though most anthropologists dismiss it out of hand." Here's Bailyn on this point: "... Smith recorded the story of his captivity at first briefly and with little drama (he 'procured his owne liberty'), then elaborated it in retelling, finally embellished it as an elaborate ceremony centered on the tale of how Pocahontas 'the King's dearest daughter' (who was eleven at the time) 'got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death'" (58). I don't see this as giving credence to the story at all, merely pointing out how Smith's telling of it changed over time.
A thoroughly interesting and important book on the subject; not without faults, certainly, but filled with intriguing characters whose stories Bailyn has told clearly, well, and in the service of his larger study.
The book opens with a short introduction to the project in general, in which Bailyn lays out what quickly becomes a major theme of the book: that the experiences of European settlers in mainland North America "were not mainly of triumph but of confusion, failure, violence, and the loss of civility as they tried to normalize abnormal situations and to recapture lost worlds, in the process tearing apart the normalities of the people whose world they had invaded" (xv). There follows a fascinating chapter on the native inhabitants of eastern North America in the years leading up to European settlement of the area, highlighting their vastly different cultures and lifestyles and the ways in which these were disrupted by the arrival of Europeans with their unquenchable desire for furs and with their virulent diseases.
Three sections on the major areas of European colonization are at the core of the book: Virginia and the Chesapeake region, the Dutch and Swedish settlements in what is now New York and along the Delaware River, and the Pilgrim/Puritan colonies in New England. For each, Bailyn focuses on the tenuous nature of the settlements: the mismanagement and demographic troubles that very nearly put a quick end to the Virginia endeavors, the religious and bureaucratic wrangling over the Chesapeake, the squabbly nature of the Dutch commercial outposts in New Amsterdam. He does a fine job of describing the interesting Swedish and Finnish settlements along the Delaware, first taken over by the Dutch and then reverting to English control in the 1660s.
It is the New England section, of course, where Bailyn is most at home and comfortable, and this section of the book is chock full of fascinating details (even more full than the other sections). He analyzes the origins of settlers in various towns, explores the trend of reverse migration back to England in the years following the fall of Charles I, and delves deeply into the great conflicts at the heart of early New England: how to divide up the land, how to establish new towns, how to deal with religious and political controversy, how to live a goodly and godly life. He delves deeply into the antinomian controversy, and explores the many criticisms of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies leveled by those who fell afoul of their civil and religious leaders. All the while Bailyn stresses the difficulties, the stresses, the conflict points that made life for the early generations of Europeans in America no cakewalk, and which destroyed the cultures of the region's prior inhabitants through brutal conflict.
As other reviews have pointed out, Bailyn doesn't do as much as he might have with the interactions (both peaceful and armed) between the Europeans and the American Indians, particularly in the sections on the Dutch-controlled region and New England. And while the practice of forcibly importing African slaves is mentioned (at 174-177; 242-243; 257-259; 508-510, for example), there are perhaps additional sources Bailyn might have drawn on to bring the experience(s) of the few thousand Africans brought to North America during this period more to the fore (likewise with the enslavement of Indians at various points, which is mentioned only in passing).
I don't normally read reviews of books prior to writing my own, but I made an exception in this case and looked at a couple. I found much of Charles C. Mann's critique in the New York Times to be fair (he mentions the lack of attention to enslaved Africans and the Indian conflicts), but must take issue with his statement that Bailyn "appears to give some credence to John Smith's story about Pocahontas saving his life, for instance, though most anthropologists dismiss it out of hand." Here's Bailyn on this point: "... Smith recorded the story of his captivity at first briefly and with little drama (he 'procured his owne liberty'), then elaborated it in retelling, finally embellished it as an elaborate ceremony centered on the tale of how Pocahontas 'the King's dearest daughter' (who was eleven at the time) 'got his head in her armes, and laid her owne upon his to save him from death'" (58). I don't see this as giving credence to the story at all, merely pointing out how Smith's telling of it changed over time.
A thoroughly interesting and important book on the subject; not without faults, certainly, but filled with intriguing characters whose stories Bailyn has told clearly, well, and in the service of his larger study.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
Links & Reviews
Happening recently:
- Matthew Haley has been appointed head of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts for the UK wing of Bonhams, after four years in New York as a specialist in fine books for the auction house (during which time he also launched the annual Space History Sale for Bonhams). Congratulations to Matthew on this appointment!
- Bookseller Ken Karmiole has established a $100,000 endowment at UCLA to fund archival studies and lectures in the field.
- From the Rare Book Cataloging at Penn, blog, a student worker's perspective on jumping into the world of cataloging.
- The AE Monthly for January is up: it includes Michael Stillman's annual look at the top 500 auction items for 2012, a discussion of the recent Graham Arader sale and a piece on the Old South Bay Psalm Book decision by Bruce McKinney, among other articles.
- Reporting for the WSJ this week, Barry Newman explores the market for authors' archives, highlighting bookseller Ken Lopez and the recent acquisition by Yale of the papers of N. Scott Momaday.
- The British tabloid The Sunday Sun reports that authorities will hold an inquest into the apparent suicide of book thief Raymond Scott.
Reviews
- G. Thomas Tanselle's Book-Jackets: Their History, Form, and Use; review by Robin at Bookride.
- John Glassie's A Man of Misconceptions; review by Jad Abumrad in the NYTimes. Reviewed jointly with Lawrence M. Principe's The Secrets of Alchemy and John Freely's Before Galileo by Laura J. Snyder in the WSJ.
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Charles C. Mann in the NYTimes.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by Simon Winchester in the WaPo.
- Stephane Gerson's Nostradamus; review by Joshua Blu Buhs in the WaPo.
- Matthew Haley has been appointed head of Books, Maps, and Manuscripts for the UK wing of Bonhams, after four years in New York as a specialist in fine books for the auction house (during which time he also launched the annual Space History Sale for Bonhams). Congratulations to Matthew on this appointment!
- Bookseller Ken Karmiole has established a $100,000 endowment at UCLA to fund archival studies and lectures in the field.
- From the Rare Book Cataloging at Penn, blog, a student worker's perspective on jumping into the world of cataloging.
- The AE Monthly for January is up: it includes Michael Stillman's annual look at the top 500 auction items for 2012, a discussion of the recent Graham Arader sale and a piece on the Old South Bay Psalm Book decision by Bruce McKinney, among other articles.
- Reporting for the WSJ this week, Barry Newman explores the market for authors' archives, highlighting bookseller Ken Lopez and the recent acquisition by Yale of the papers of N. Scott Momaday.
- The British tabloid The Sunday Sun reports that authorities will hold an inquest into the apparent suicide of book thief Raymond Scott.
Reviews
- G. Thomas Tanselle's Book-Jackets: Their History, Form, and Use; review by Robin at Bookride.
- John Glassie's A Man of Misconceptions; review by Jad Abumrad in the NYTimes. Reviewed jointly with Lawrence M. Principe's The Secrets of Alchemy and John Freely's Before Galileo by Laura J. Snyder in the WSJ.
- Bernard Bailyn's The Barbarous Years; review by Charles C. Mann in the NYTimes.
- Simon Garfield's On the Map; review by Simon Winchester in the WaPo.
- Stephane Gerson's Nostradamus; review by Joshua Blu Buhs in the WaPo.
Tuesday, January 01, 2013
Literary Anniversaries 2013
Like last year, I'll highlight a few of the notable anniversaries coming up in 2013:
650 years ago (1363):
- Christine de Pizan born (approximate).
700 years ago (1313):
- Giovanni Boccaccio born, 16 June (uncertain).
50 years ago (1963):
- Yann Martel born, 25 June.
- Robert Frost dies, 29 January.
- Sylvia Plath dies, 11 February.
- William Carlos Williams dies, 4 March.
- Aldous Huxley dies, 22 November.
- C.S. Lewis dies, 22 November.
- Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar published.
- Thomas Pynchon's V. published.
- Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle published.
- Robert Frost dies, 29 January.
- Sylvia Plath dies, 11 February.
- William Carlos Williams dies, 4 March.
- Aldous Huxley dies, 22 November.
- C.S. Lewis dies, 22 November.
- Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar published.
- Thomas Pynchon's V. published.
- Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle published.
100 years ago (1913):
- Robertson Davies born, 28 August.
- Albert Camus born, 7 November.
- Willa Cather's O Pioneers! published.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Poison Belt published.
- D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers published.
- George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion published.
- Albert Camus born, 7 November.
- Willa Cather's O Pioneers! published.
- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Poison Belt published.
- D.H. Lawrence's Sons and Lovers published.
- George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion published.
150 years ago (1863):
- Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch born, 24 November.
- George Santayana born, 16 December.
- Jacob Grimm dies, 20 September.
- Frances Trollope dies, 6 October.
- William Makepeace Thackeray dies, 24 December.
- George Eliot's Romola published.
- Edward Everett Hale's The Man Without a Country published.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn published.
- George Santayana born, 16 December.
- Jacob Grimm dies, 20 September.
- Frances Trollope dies, 6 October.
- William Makepeace Thackeray dies, 24 December.
- George Eliot's Romola published.
- Edward Everett Hale's The Man Without a Country published.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's Tales of a Wayside Inn published.
200 years ago (1813):
- Otto Ludwig born, 12 February.
- Søren Kierkegaard born, 5 May.
- Christoph Martin Wieland dies, 20 January.
- J. Hector St. John de Crèvecouer dies, 12 November.
- Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published, 28 January.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley's Queen Mab published.
- Søren Kierkegaard born, 5 May.
- Christoph Martin Wieland dies, 20 January.
- J. Hector St. John de Crèvecouer dies, 12 November.
- Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice published, 28 January.
- Percy Bysshe Shelley's Queen Mab published.
250 years ago (1763):
- William Cobbett born, 9 March.
- Louis Racine dies, 29 January.
- William Shenstone dies, 11 February.
- George Psalmanazar dies, 3 May.
- James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson, 16 May.
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters published.
- Louis Racine dies, 29 January.
- William Shenstone dies, 11 February.
- George Psalmanazar dies, 3 May.
- James Boswell meets Samuel Johnson, 16 May.
- Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters published.
300 years ago (1713):
- Abbé Raynal born, 12 April.
- Denis Diderot born, 15 October.
- Laurence Sterne born, 24 November.
- Denis Diderot born, 15 October.
- Laurence Sterne born, 24 November.
- Joseph Addison's Cato debuts.
350 years ago (1663):
- Cotton Mather born, 12 February.
- Francis Atterbury born, 6 March.
- William Bradford (printer) born, 20 March.
- Francis Atterbury born, 6 March.
- William Bradford (printer) born, 20 March.
400 years ago (1613):
- François de la Rochefoucauld born, 15 September.
- Thomas Bodley dies, 28 January.
- Shakespeare (and Fletcher's?) Henry VIII debuts (at one performance of which the Globe burns).
- Thomas Bodley dies, 28 January.
- Shakespeare (and Fletcher's?) Henry VIII debuts (at one performance of which the Globe burns).
450 years ago (1563):
- Michael Drayton born.
- Jodocus Hondius born, 14 October.
- John Bale dies, November.
- Foxe's Book of Martyrs published in English by John Day.
- Jodocus Hondius born, 14 October.
- John Bale dies, November.
- Foxe's Book of Martyrs published in English by John Day.
500 years ago (1513):
- Jacques Amyot born, 30 October.
- Robert Fabyan dies.
550 years ago (1463):
- Giovanni Pico della Mirandola born, 24 February.
- Lorenzo de' Medici born, 4 August.
- Flavio Biondo dies, 4 June.
- Lorenzo de' Medici born, 4 August.
- Flavio Biondo dies, 4 June.
650 years ago (1363):
- Christine de Pizan born (approximate).
700 years ago (1313):
- Giovanni Boccaccio born, 16 June (uncertain).
What'd I miss? Let me know!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Year-End Reading Report 2012
I almost can't believe another year of reading has come to an end ... as usual, it fairly flew by.
In 2012 I joined one of the LibraryThing reading groups, the 75 Books Challenge for 2012, which was great fun: I enjoyed the group reads and the neat atmosphere (plus the semi-obsessive stats-keeping). The 2013 group is already getting active, so if you're keen on such things, join the fray!
At least partly due to the gentle competition of the reading challenge, but also since things were at least a bit more settled this year than last, I read 184 books in 2012, for an average of one every 2 days. That's by far the most I've read in a single year since I started keeping track, and the grand total surprised me greatly. It was also, I must say, one of the best reading years I've had in a while: it was difficult to come up with just ten "top" titles this time around.
As per last year's resolution, I did read more books published before the current year: 2012 publications made up just 52% of this year's total, but the vast majority of books read (84%) were published since 2000, so I'll maintain the same resolution for next year and try to continue reading more not-so-recent titles.
The titles broke down into 93 fiction and 91 non-fiction books, running just about even there this year. For the true stats geeks, I read 84 hardcovers, 50.5 paperbacks, 48 ARCs, and 2.5 e-books (the .5s are a book I started in paperback and left behind when I went on a trip, so I finished it in the e-version). For a full breakdown of 2012 reading stats, see Message 11 here).
Since I didn't manage it last winter, I still have to get all my books back into order on the shelves. We'll see if I can make more progress with that goal this year.
And now, my favorite ten fiction and non-fiction reads for 2012 (in no particular order within the lists):
Fiction
This Very Tree by Josephine Young Case (Houghton Mifflin, 1969). Review.
Charles Jessold, Considered as a Murderer by Wesley Stace (Picador, 2011). Review.
PYG: The Memoirs of a Learned Pig by Russell Potter (Canongate, 2011). Review.
The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (Ecco, 2012). Review.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (Picador, 2007). Review.
Arcadia by Lauren Groff (Voice, 2012). Review.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House, 2011). Review.
Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories (Library of America, 2010). Review.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt, 2012). Review.
Galore by Michael Crummey (Other Press, 2010). Review.
Non-Fiction
Books as History: The Importance of Books Beyond their Texts by David Pearson (Oak Knoll Press, revised edition 2011). Review.
The Rector and the Rogue by W.A. Swanberg (Collins Library edition published by McSweeney's, 2011). Review.
The Social Conquest of Earth by E.O. Wilson (W.W. Norton, 2012). Review.
The Passage of Power by Robert Caro (Knopf, 2012). Review.
The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom by Marcus Rediker (Viking, 2012). Review.
Writings from the New Yorker, 1927-1976 by E.B. White (Harper, 2006). Review.
The Dark Defile: Britain's Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1838-1842 by Diana Preston (Walker & Company, 2012). Review.
The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies by Allan Taylor (Knopf, 201). Review.
Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012). Review.
A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change by John Glassie (Riverhead, 2012). Review.
I also want to make a special mention of a literary podcast I discovered this year: A Podcast to the Curious, about the weird fiction of M.R. James. I've enjoyed making my way through all the episodes of this so far, and hope the hosts are able to keep up the great work.
My reading resolutions for 2013: continue reading more books published prior to the current year, and spend more time catching up on scholarly periodicals as they arrive.
Happy New Year, and may your 2013 be filled with good health, good fortune, and good books!
Previous year's reports: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.
In 2012 I joined one of the LibraryThing reading groups, the 75 Books Challenge for 2012, which was great fun: I enjoyed the group reads and the neat atmosphere (plus the semi-obsessive stats-keeping). The 2013 group is already getting active, so if you're keen on such things, join the fray!
At least partly due to the gentle competition of the reading challenge, but also since things were at least a bit more settled this year than last, I read 184 books in 2012, for an average of one every 2 days. That's by far the most I've read in a single year since I started keeping track, and the grand total surprised me greatly. It was also, I must say, one of the best reading years I've had in a while: it was difficult to come up with just ten "top" titles this time around.
As per last year's resolution, I did read more books published before the current year: 2012 publications made up just 52% of this year's total, but the vast majority of books read (84%) were published since 2000, so I'll maintain the same resolution for next year and try to continue reading more not-so-recent titles.
The titles broke down into 93 fiction and 91 non-fiction books, running just about even there this year. For the true stats geeks, I read 84 hardcovers, 50.5 paperbacks, 48 ARCs, and 2.5 e-books (the .5s are a book I started in paperback and left behind when I went on a trip, so I finished it in the e-version). For a full breakdown of 2012 reading stats, see Message 11 here).
Since I didn't manage it last winter, I still have to get all my books back into order on the shelves. We'll see if I can make more progress with that goal this year.
And now, my favorite ten fiction and non-fiction reads for 2012 (in no particular order within the lists):
Fiction
This Very Tree by Josephine Young Case (Houghton Mifflin, 1969). Review.
PYG: The Memoirs of a Learned Pig by Russell Potter (Canongate, 2011). Review.
The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (Ecco, 2012). Review.
The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King (Picador, 2007). Review.
Arcadia by Lauren Groff (Voice, 2012). Review.
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet (Random House, 2011). Review.
Shirley Jackson: Novels and Stories (Library of America, 2010). Review.
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt, 2012). Review.
Galore by Michael Crummey (Other Press, 2010). Review.
Non-Fiction
Books as History: The Importance of Books Beyond their Texts by David Pearson (Oak Knoll Press, revised edition 2011). Review.
The Rector and the Rogue by W.A. Swanberg (Collins Library edition published by McSweeney's, 2011). Review.
The Social Conquest of Earth by E.O. Wilson (W.W. Norton, 2012). Review.
The Passage of Power by Robert Caro (Knopf, 2012). Review.
The Amistad Rebellion: An Atlantic Odyssey of Slavery and Freedom by Marcus Rediker (Viking, 2012). Review.
Writings from the New Yorker, 1927-1976 by E.B. White (Harper, 2006). Review.
The Dark Defile: Britain's Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1838-1842 by Diana Preston (Walker & Company, 2012). Review.
The Civil War of 1812: American Citizens, British Subjects, Irish Rebels, & Indian Allies by Allan Taylor (Knopf, 201). Review.
Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile by Taras Grescoe (Times Books, 2012). Review.
A Man of Misconceptions: The Life of an Eccentric in an Age of Change by John Glassie (Riverhead, 2012). Review.
I also want to make a special mention of a literary podcast I discovered this year: A Podcast to the Curious, about the weird fiction of M.R. James. I've enjoyed making my way through all the episodes of this so far, and hope the hosts are able to keep up the great work.
My reading resolutions for 2013: continue reading more books published prior to the current year, and spend more time catching up on scholarly periodicals as they arrive.
Happy New Year, and may your 2013 be filled with good health, good fortune, and good books!
Previous year's reports: 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.
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