- Emily Wells writes for Past Is Present about the continuing work on transforming the AAS Printers' File into a linked open data resource.
- Over at The Collation, Meaghan Brown posts about assigning genres to early modern plays for the Folger's Digital Anthology of Early Modern English Drama.
- Barbara Basbanes Richter reports for the Fine Books Blog on the Met's recent symposium on American publishers' bookbindings.
- The Bodleian Library announced their purchases from last December's Pirie sale.
- Denis Joachim's major collection of rare books, art, and photographs will be sold over three days in Melbourne (19–21 June).
- A single buyer purchased all four Shakespeare folios (not, as the Press Association piece says, Shakespeare's "first four books") on the block at Christie's this week, for just under £2.5 million.
- Scott Reyburn reports for the NYTimes on another Christie's sale from this week: that of some thirty medieval manuscripts from the collection of Maurice Burrus.
- In the Dublin Inquirer, Louisa McGrath highlights the manuscript diary of the first Keeper of Marsh's Library.
- A new twist to the adult coloring book trend: Alison Flood writes for the Guardian about the coming republication of a series of 17th-century maps originally issued to accompany Michael Drayton's Poly-Obion.
- T.S. Eliot's rejection letter for Animal Farm has been making the rounds this week: it was among the items selected for the British Library's Discovering Literature: 20th Century online collection.
Reviews
- Denis Boyle's Everything Explained That Is Explainable; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Jill Lepore's Joe Gould's Teeth; review by Karen Long in the LATimes.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look it Up; review by Peter Thoneman in the TLS.
- Julie Fenster's Jefferson's America; review by Karin Altenberg in the WSJ.
- Matt Kirschenbaum's Track Changes; review by John Gilbey in the THE.
Sunday, May 29, 2016
Sunday, May 22, 2016
Links & Reviews
Lots of catching up to do: since my last I had the great pleasure and honoring of addressing the annual meeting of the Ticknor Society in Boston on the friendship between Thomas Jefferson and George Ticknor. The annual meeting was held at the Massachusetts Historical Society, where Ticknorites had the opportunity to view the excellent current exhibition, "The Private Jefferson" (which I commend to anyone who can get there to view it before it closes on 26 May). While in Boston I also got to make my semi-annual visits to the Brattle Book Shop and Commonwealth Books, and was able to work in a little research time at MHS (more about that latter soon; I located something I'm quite excited to share). All that plus a laptop meltdown! If I missed anything vital in this catch-up post, please don't hesitate to send it along.
- A copy of the "Plannck II" Columbus Letter donated to the Library of Congress in 2004 was repatriated to Italy this week; it had been stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence and replaced with a photographic facsimile. The letter was subsequently sold at Christie's in 1992 (lot description). See: Department of Justice press release; seizure warrant (this makes for fascinating reading - boy would I like to see what's underneath those redaction lines!); Elisabetta Povoledo's NYTimes article. For more: La Repubblica (in Italian); Italian Cultural Ministry statement (in Italian); LATimes. (Thanks to Nick Wilding and others for posting on ExLibris about this story). Volker Schroder also linked to a bookseller's description of the letter from before the 1992 Christie's sale.
- Jill Bourne, city librarian at the San Jose Public Library, will be the new president of the Boston Public Library.
- RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, is now officially fully open-access.
- Erin Blake has a great two-part series at The Collation this week: "Physical description in book cataloging," and "Signature statements in book cataloging."
- Christie's will sell a copy of the true first edition of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland on 16 June. More from the Fine Books Blog. Coming up on the same day, also at Christie's, Neal Cassady's famed letter to Jack Kerouac (more on this from Jennifer Schuessler in the NYTimes).
- Lara Putnam's American Historical Review article "The Transnational and the Text-Searchable: Digitized Sources and the Shadows They Cast" is currently available via the AHR.
- A 15-year-old's collection of more than 200 Apple computers may become the cornerstone of a planned Maine Technology Museum.
- Jerome McGann's ADE keynote, "Exceptional Measures: The Human Sciences in STEM Worlds," is now available online.
- An 11th-century letter known as the last surviving work of Chinese scholar Zeng Gong has set a new record price for an example of Chinese calligraphy, the BBC reports, selling for $32 million at a Beijing auction. The buyer was film mogul Wang Zhongjun.
- Last month the Princeton History Department hosted what looks like a great two-day conference in honor of Sidney Lapidus: "Fighting Words: Polemical Literature in the Age of Democratic Revolutions."
- Skinner is holding an online auction of fine books and manuscripts, which runs through 26 May.
- Matt Kirschenbaum has a short piece for the Paris Review: "Picturing the literary history of word processing."
- A manuscript Dutch East India Company map of the Java Sea from 1743 is coming up for auction at Swann Galleries.
- Tim Parks' T Magazine piece on the Corsini family archive is very much worth a read.
- In "A Melville Marginalia Mystery," NYPL's Thomas Lannon interviews Dawn Coleman about some erased Melville marginal notations she's been working on sussing out.
- At Smithsonian, Marissa Fessenden offers a brief history of traveling with books.
- Report is a little spotty, but "Ukraine Today" reports that a 1574 volume printed by Ivan Fedorov was stolen from Ukraine's Vernadsay National Library.
- NPR's "Parallels" reports on the ongoing work on the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.
- Mitch Fraas has a post up at Unique at Penn about a volume of government documents possibly once owned by Alexander Hamilton.
- Eric White writes for Princeton's Notabilia blog about the recent discovery that one of Princeton's copies of the 1545 Greek Bible bears the annotations of Martin Chemnitz.
- Digitized copies of the Boston Athenaeum's exhibitions catalogues from 1950 through the present are now available via the Athenaeum's website.
- From Atlas Obscura, Cara Giaimo profiles archaeological linguist Nora White and her work on Ireland's "Ogham" alphabet.
- New to me (and thanks to Tess Goodman for sending it along): a 1969 Paris Review interview with E. B. White.
- Friday, 20 May marked the premiere of a new opera, "The Book Collector." Ernest Hilbert of Bauman Rare Books wrote the libretto.
Reviews
- Bronwen Riley's The Edge of Empire; review by Jan Morris in the NYTimes.
- Nathaniel Philbrick's Valiant Ambition; reviews by David Waldstreicher in the NYTimes and Carol Berkin in the WaPo.
- Mark Kurlansky's Paper; review by Anthony Grafton in the NYTimes.
- Norma Clarke's Brothers of the Quill; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Carla Mulford's Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire and George Goodwin's Benjamin Franklin in London; review by T. H. Breen in the TLS.
- Michael Canfield's Theodore Roosevelt in the Field; review by Peter Coates in the TLS.
- A copy of the "Plannck II" Columbus Letter donated to the Library of Congress in 2004 was repatriated to Italy this week; it had been stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence and replaced with a photographic facsimile. The letter was subsequently sold at Christie's in 1992 (lot description). See: Department of Justice press release; seizure warrant (this makes for fascinating reading - boy would I like to see what's underneath those redaction lines!); Elisabetta Povoledo's NYTimes article. For more: La Repubblica (in Italian); Italian Cultural Ministry statement (in Italian); LATimes. (Thanks to Nick Wilding and others for posting on ExLibris about this story). Volker Schroder also linked to a bookseller's description of the letter from before the 1992 Christie's sale.
- Jill Bourne, city librarian at the San Jose Public Library, will be the new president of the Boston Public Library.
- RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage, is now officially fully open-access.
- Erin Blake has a great two-part series at The Collation this week: "Physical description in book cataloging," and "Signature statements in book cataloging."
- Christie's will sell a copy of the true first edition of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland on 16 June. More from the Fine Books Blog. Coming up on the same day, also at Christie's, Neal Cassady's famed letter to Jack Kerouac (more on this from Jennifer Schuessler in the NYTimes).
- Lara Putnam's American Historical Review article "The Transnational and the Text-Searchable: Digitized Sources and the Shadows They Cast" is currently available via the AHR.
- A 15-year-old's collection of more than 200 Apple computers may become the cornerstone of a planned Maine Technology Museum.
- Jerome McGann's ADE keynote, "Exceptional Measures: The Human Sciences in STEM Worlds," is now available online.
- An 11th-century letter known as the last surviving work of Chinese scholar Zeng Gong has set a new record price for an example of Chinese calligraphy, the BBC reports, selling for $32 million at a Beijing auction. The buyer was film mogul Wang Zhongjun.
- Last month the Princeton History Department hosted what looks like a great two-day conference in honor of Sidney Lapidus: "Fighting Words: Polemical Literature in the Age of Democratic Revolutions."
- Skinner is holding an online auction of fine books and manuscripts, which runs through 26 May.
- Matt Kirschenbaum has a short piece for the Paris Review: "Picturing the literary history of word processing."
- A manuscript Dutch East India Company map of the Java Sea from 1743 is coming up for auction at Swann Galleries.
- Tim Parks' T Magazine piece on the Corsini family archive is very much worth a read.
- In "A Melville Marginalia Mystery," NYPL's Thomas Lannon interviews Dawn Coleman about some erased Melville marginal notations she's been working on sussing out.
- At Smithsonian, Marissa Fessenden offers a brief history of traveling with books.
- Report is a little spotty, but "Ukraine Today" reports that a 1574 volume printed by Ivan Fedorov was stolen from Ukraine's Vernadsay National Library.
- NPR's "Parallels" reports on the ongoing work on the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae.
- Mitch Fraas has a post up at Unique at Penn about a volume of government documents possibly once owned by Alexander Hamilton.
- Eric White writes for Princeton's Notabilia blog about the recent discovery that one of Princeton's copies of the 1545 Greek Bible bears the annotations of Martin Chemnitz.
- Digitized copies of the Boston Athenaeum's exhibitions catalogues from 1950 through the present are now available via the Athenaeum's website.
- From Atlas Obscura, Cara Giaimo profiles archaeological linguist Nora White and her work on Ireland's "Ogham" alphabet.
- New to me (and thanks to Tess Goodman for sending it along): a 1969 Paris Review interview with E. B. White.
- Friday, 20 May marked the premiere of a new opera, "The Book Collector." Ernest Hilbert of Bauman Rare Books wrote the libretto.
Reviews
- Bronwen Riley's The Edge of Empire; review by Jan Morris in the NYTimes.
- Nathaniel Philbrick's Valiant Ambition; reviews by David Waldstreicher in the NYTimes and Carol Berkin in the WaPo.
- Mark Kurlansky's Paper; review by Anthony Grafton in the NYTimes.
- Norma Clarke's Brothers of the Quill; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Carla Mulford's Benjamin Franklin and the Ends of Empire and George Goodwin's Benjamin Franklin in London; review by T. H. Breen in the TLS.
- Michael Canfield's Theodore Roosevelt in the Field; review by Peter Coates in the TLS.
Sunday, May 08, 2016
Links & Reviews
- The Bodleian Library has acquired the Tolkien-annotated map of Middle Earth found last year.
- An Isaac Newton manuscript on Christianity and faith will be sold at PBA Galleries on 2 June.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum talked to Craig Fehrman of the Boston Globe about his new book Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing.
- John Jay's manuscript copy of "Federalist No. 2" has been identified at the Brooklyn Historical Society (where the staff didn't know this particular manuscript had been considered missing by editors).
- At The Collation, Paul Dingman takes a look at early modern account books.
- Launched this week, Women in Book History, an online bibliography that "lists secondary sources on women's writing and participation in the book trades."
- From Zoe Abrams Rare Books, "Lesson No. 1: Trust Your Instincts."
- Carl Montford writes for the APHA blog about printing from some original Bewick wood engraving blocks.
- A Napoleonic War manuscript diary was discovered amongst a storage cabinet full of unsorted books in a Hobart, Tasmania bookshop.
- Scholars argue about Shakespeare play.
- Via Dave Gary, Forbes is experimenting with putting video ad-players in their print magazine.
- New writings by Walt Whitman, a series of men's health columns, were identified by a University of Houston grad student. More from the NYTimes.
- Ted Underwood's "Versions of disciplinary history" is a good overview of the recent and ongoing arguments about "digital humanities." As he writes, "The good thing about DH is, it creates a lively community that crosses disciplinary lines to exchange ideas. The bad thing is, it also creates a community that crosses disciplinary lines to fight pointlessly over the meaning of 'digital humanities'."
- Alison Flood has more the Audubon hoax I mentioned recently, in a Guardian report.
Reviews
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing; review by Josephine Livingstone in TNR.
- J. Gerald Kennedy's Strange Nation; review by Michael Livingston in the WaPo.
- Letters of a Dead Man, edited by Linda B. Parshall; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Martin Seay's The Mirror Thief; review by Michael Magras at BookPage.
- Robert Michael Morrissey's Empire by Collaboration; review by Robert Englebert at Early Canadian History.
- Michael Patrick Lynch's The Internet of Us; review essay by David Weinberger in the LARB.
- An Isaac Newton manuscript on Christianity and faith will be sold at PBA Galleries on 2 June.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum talked to Craig Fehrman of the Boston Globe about his new book Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing.
- John Jay's manuscript copy of "Federalist No. 2" has been identified at the Brooklyn Historical Society (where the staff didn't know this particular manuscript had been considered missing by editors).
- At The Collation, Paul Dingman takes a look at early modern account books.
- Launched this week, Women in Book History, an online bibliography that "lists secondary sources on women's writing and participation in the book trades."
- From Zoe Abrams Rare Books, "Lesson No. 1: Trust Your Instincts."
- Carl Montford writes for the APHA blog about printing from some original Bewick wood engraving blocks.
- A Napoleonic War manuscript diary was discovered amongst a storage cabinet full of unsorted books in a Hobart, Tasmania bookshop.
- Scholars argue about Shakespeare play.
- Via Dave Gary, Forbes is experimenting with putting video ad-players in their print magazine.
- New writings by Walt Whitman, a series of men's health columns, were identified by a University of Houston grad student. More from the NYTimes.
- Ted Underwood's "Versions of disciplinary history" is a good overview of the recent and ongoing arguments about "digital humanities." As he writes, "The good thing about DH is, it creates a lively community that crosses disciplinary lines to exchange ideas. The bad thing is, it also creates a community that crosses disciplinary lines to fight pointlessly over the meaning of 'digital humanities'."
- Alison Flood has more the Audubon hoax I mentioned recently, in a Guardian report.
Reviews
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes: A Literary History of Word Processing; review by Josephine Livingstone in TNR.
- J. Gerald Kennedy's Strange Nation; review by Michael Livingston in the WaPo.
- Letters of a Dead Man, edited by Linda B. Parshall; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- Martin Seay's The Mirror Thief; review by Michael Magras at BookPage.
- Robert Michael Morrissey's Empire by Collaboration; review by Robert Englebert at Early Canadian History.
- Michael Patrick Lynch's The Internet of Us; review essay by David Weinberger in the LARB.
Sunday, May 01, 2016
Links & Reviews
The 4th Annual Virginia Antiquarian Book Fair was held this Friday and Saturday at the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond. If you have a chance to get to this one next year, give it a try: the venue is quite nice, admission is free, and there were some really interesting books and ephemera to be had.
- Rick Ring has edited a selection of Lawrence C. Wroth's "Notes for Bibliophiles" column and the volume is now available from Scott Vile's Ascensius Press.
- Over at medievalbooks, a look at the evolution of several forms of medieval scripts, including an image of a ~1450 advertising sheet for different types of script.
- Folger conservator Austin Planncurley writes for The Collation about creating a replica of John Wilkes Booth's diary for the current Folger exhibit, America's Shakespeare.
- The May Rare Book Monthly is out, with Bruce McKinney's report on the New York Book Fair and an open letter from McKinney to the president/executive producer of the Armory, a piece by Michael Stillman on the ongoing dispute over Maurice Sendak's estate, and a report on a comics book heist in Macon, Georgia.
- The Kislak Center at Penn has issued a call for papers for a March 2017 interdisciplinary conference, "To the Ends of the Earth."
- Jonathan Kearns has posted his look back at the New York shadow shows.
- The Shakespeare's Beehive authors were interviewed for "CBS Sunday Morning" last weekend. The interview also includes comments from Heather Wolfe and Michael Witmore of the Folger, and the news that Koppelman and Wechsler have loaned the volume to the Folger for study.
- Manuscript Road Trip heads to Newfoundland this week to survey the manuscripts at Memorial University in St. John's.
- Liam Moloney writes for the WSJ on the recent renovations to the Vatican's Gallery of Maps.
- The New York Library for the Performing Arts has digitized its collection of Shakespeare prompt-books.
- A new electronic catalog of 15th-century printed books is now available.
- Harvard's Weissman Preservation Center is highlighted in the Harvard Gazette.
- Peter Harrington is exhibiting (and selling) a remarkable collection of Alice in Wonderland-related rare books. Boudicca Fox-Leonard reports for the Telegraph.
- Library of Congress catalogers write about 18th-century medley prints for the Picture This blog.
- British Library conservator Flavio Marzo reports on some 2005 work he did on the 1603 Montaigne volume which is thought to contain a Shakespeare signature.
- Erik Ofgang writes about the Voynich Manuscript for Connecticut magazine, featuring lots of comments from Beinecke curator Ray Clemens.
- From the BBC magazine, Sarah Dunant on the "lost art of reading other people's handwriting."
- A new animated Watership Down adaptation is coming next year from Netflix and the BBC.
- Maybe not bookish, but still terribly cool: workers digging for water lines near Seville found 1,300 pounds of uncirculated Roman coins.
- Bibliophile Paul Ruxin died in mid-April following a tragic accident. See the Chicago Tribune obituary or Jerry Morris' reflections for the Florida Bibliophile Society. I had the great pleasure to hear a talk by Mr. Ruxin at the Boston Public Library in 2007, and enjoyed the experience tremendously. My condolences to his family and to those who knew him.
Reviews
- The exhibition on John Dee's library at the Royal College of Physicians; review by Sara Charles for Reviews in History.
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; review by Ben Macintyre in the NYTimes.
- Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's Most Blessed of the Patriarchs; review by David O. Stewart in the WaPo.
- Nicholas Guyatt's Bind Us Apart; reviews by Eric Foner in the NYTimes and Mark G. Spencer in the WSJ.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Micah Mattix in The New Criterion.
- Rick Ring has edited a selection of Lawrence C. Wroth's "Notes for Bibliophiles" column and the volume is now available from Scott Vile's Ascensius Press.
- Over at medievalbooks, a look at the evolution of several forms of medieval scripts, including an image of a ~1450 advertising sheet for different types of script.
- Folger conservator Austin Planncurley writes for The Collation about creating a replica of John Wilkes Booth's diary for the current Folger exhibit, America's Shakespeare.
- The May Rare Book Monthly is out, with Bruce McKinney's report on the New York Book Fair and an open letter from McKinney to the president/executive producer of the Armory, a piece by Michael Stillman on the ongoing dispute over Maurice Sendak's estate, and a report on a comics book heist in Macon, Georgia.
- The Kislak Center at Penn has issued a call for papers for a March 2017 interdisciplinary conference, "To the Ends of the Earth."
- Jonathan Kearns has posted his look back at the New York shadow shows.
- The Shakespeare's Beehive authors were interviewed for "CBS Sunday Morning" last weekend. The interview also includes comments from Heather Wolfe and Michael Witmore of the Folger, and the news that Koppelman and Wechsler have loaned the volume to the Folger for study.
- Manuscript Road Trip heads to Newfoundland this week to survey the manuscripts at Memorial University in St. John's.
- Liam Moloney writes for the WSJ on the recent renovations to the Vatican's Gallery of Maps.
- The New York Library for the Performing Arts has digitized its collection of Shakespeare prompt-books.
- A new electronic catalog of 15th-century printed books is now available.
- Harvard's Weissman Preservation Center is highlighted in the Harvard Gazette.
- Peter Harrington is exhibiting (and selling) a remarkable collection of Alice in Wonderland-related rare books. Boudicca Fox-Leonard reports for the Telegraph.
- Library of Congress catalogers write about 18th-century medley prints for the Picture This blog.
- British Library conservator Flavio Marzo reports on some 2005 work he did on the 1603 Montaigne volume which is thought to contain a Shakespeare signature.
- Erik Ofgang writes about the Voynich Manuscript for Connecticut magazine, featuring lots of comments from Beinecke curator Ray Clemens.
- From the BBC magazine, Sarah Dunant on the "lost art of reading other people's handwriting."
- A new animated Watership Down adaptation is coming next year from Netflix and the BBC.
- Maybe not bookish, but still terribly cool: workers digging for water lines near Seville found 1,300 pounds of uncirculated Roman coins.
- Bibliophile Paul Ruxin died in mid-April following a tragic accident. See the Chicago Tribune obituary or Jerry Morris' reflections for the Florida Bibliophile Society. I had the great pleasure to hear a talk by Mr. Ruxin at the Boston Public Library in 2007, and enjoyed the experience tremendously. My condolences to his family and to those who knew him.
Reviews
- The exhibition on John Dee's library at the Royal College of Physicians; review by Sara Charles for Reviews in History.
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; review by Ben Macintyre in the NYTimes.
- Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's Most Blessed of the Patriarchs; review by David O. Stewart in the WaPo.
- Nicholas Guyatt's Bind Us Apart; reviews by Eric Foner in the NYTimes and Mark G. Spencer in the WSJ.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Micah Mattix in The New Criterion.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Links & Reviews
- Shakespeare, Shakespeare, Shakespeare! Louis Bayard writes the Bard's obituary for the NYTimes. This week's "On the Media" is given over to him (and it's quite a good episode). Michael Pennington reflects on five decades of performing Shakespeare's plays for the TLS.
- The Shakespeare's Beehive authors respond to Adam Hooks (and others, in part).
- Sarah Laskow has a great piece at Atlas Obscura about Audubon's hoax species, created to fool Constantine Rafinesque. Sarah's piece is based on Smithsonian curator Neal Woodman's recent article in Archives of Natural History, "Pranked by Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque's description of John James Audubon's imaginary Kentucky mammals."
- The BL has launched a new Hebrew Manuscripts site.
- Carla Hayden appeared to breeze through her Senate confirmation hearing this week. Coverage from the Baltimore Sun, Roll Call.
- Nate Pedersen visited UVA last month and has posted a video of his tour with David Whitesell of David's exhibition on the gothic novel, "Fearsome Ink."
- The David Rumsey Map Center opened at Stanford last week.
- John Y. Cole has been appointed Library of Congress Historian, with Pam Jackson named as the new director of the Center for the Book.
- The Supreme Court denied cert this week in the Authors Guild v. Google case this week, ending that long saga once and for all (one can hope).
- Seth Gottlieb writes for the APHA blog about a recent "hand press crawl" he and some teammates took to research wooden common presses around New England. They are working this year on the design and construction of a press to be installed in RIT's Cary Graphic Arts Collection.
- Christopher Minty writes about New York printer James Rivington for The Junto.
- Anne Jarvis, currently university librarian at the University of Cambridge, will become university librarians at Princeton on 1 October.
- The Guardian has more on the dispute over the Birds' Head Haggadah, mentioned last week.
- Kayla Haveles posts at Past is Present about John Hancock's 26 April 1775 letter requesting that paper be sent to Isaiah Thomas at Worcester so that he can resume printing.
- State Library of Victoria cataloger Richard Overell writes about the process of cataloging the John Emmerson collection.
- Some 19th-century French woodblock-printed wallpaper is highlighted in the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog.
- Tom Teicholz writes about the Arthur Conan Doyle collection at the Toronto Reference Library for Forbes.
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg offers a "defense of the card catalog."
- John Schulman has a haggadah primer over at the ABAA blog.
- There's an excerpt from Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses in Tablet.
Reviews
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; reviews by David Wright in the Seattle Times and Rebecca Rego Barry at Fine Books Notes.
- David Cesarini's Disraeli: The Novel Politician; reviews by Jonathan Rosen in the NYTimes and Benjamin Balint in the WSJ.
- Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses; review by David Holahan in the CSM.
- Andrew Dickson's Worlds Elsewhere; review by Jonathan Bate in the WSJ.
- The Shakespeare's Beehive authors respond to Adam Hooks (and others, in part).
- Sarah Laskow has a great piece at Atlas Obscura about Audubon's hoax species, created to fool Constantine Rafinesque. Sarah's piece is based on Smithsonian curator Neal Woodman's recent article in Archives of Natural History, "Pranked by Audubon: Constantine S. Rafinesque's description of John James Audubon's imaginary Kentucky mammals."
- The BL has launched a new Hebrew Manuscripts site.
- Carla Hayden appeared to breeze through her Senate confirmation hearing this week. Coverage from the Baltimore Sun, Roll Call.
- Nate Pedersen visited UVA last month and has posted a video of his tour with David Whitesell of David's exhibition on the gothic novel, "Fearsome Ink."
- The David Rumsey Map Center opened at Stanford last week.
- John Y. Cole has been appointed Library of Congress Historian, with Pam Jackson named as the new director of the Center for the Book.
- The Supreme Court denied cert this week in the Authors Guild v. Google case this week, ending that long saga once and for all (one can hope).
- Seth Gottlieb writes for the APHA blog about a recent "hand press crawl" he and some teammates took to research wooden common presses around New England. They are working this year on the design and construction of a press to be installed in RIT's Cary Graphic Arts Collection.
- Christopher Minty writes about New York printer James Rivington for The Junto.
- Anne Jarvis, currently university librarian at the University of Cambridge, will become university librarians at Princeton on 1 October.
- The Guardian has more on the dispute over the Birds' Head Haggadah, mentioned last week.
- Kayla Haveles posts at Past is Present about John Hancock's 26 April 1775 letter requesting that paper be sent to Isaiah Thomas at Worcester so that he can resume printing.
- State Library of Victoria cataloger Richard Overell writes about the process of cataloging the John Emmerson collection.
- Some 19th-century French woodblock-printed wallpaper is highlighted in the Princeton Graphic Arts Collection blog.
- Tom Teicholz writes about the Arthur Conan Doyle collection at the Toronto Reference Library for Forbes.
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg offers a "defense of the card catalog."
- John Schulman has a haggadah primer over at the ABAA blog.
- There's an excerpt from Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses in Tablet.
Reviews
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; reviews by David Wright in the Seattle Times and Rebecca Rego Barry at Fine Books Notes.
- David Cesarini's Disraeli: The Novel Politician; reviews by Jonathan Rosen in the NYTimes and Benjamin Balint in the WSJ.
- Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses; review by David Holahan in the CSM.
- Andrew Dickson's Worlds Elsewhere; review by Jonathan Bate in the WSJ.
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Book Review: "The Poet of Them All"
The Poet of Them All is a stunningly beautiful volume published by the Yale Center for British Art to accompany exhibitions of miniature designer bindings from the collection of Neale and Margaret Albert at the Grolier Club and the Yale Center for British Art this spring and summer. If the book is any indication of the quality of the exhibitions—and I suspect it probably is—I recommend visiting either or both if you have the opportunity.
An opening essay by James Reid-Cunningham, "Enigmatic Devices: The Art of Contemporary Designer Bookbinding," is as good a survey of the subject as any I've read, and he ably relates the varieties and styles of bindings in the exhibition to the historical traditions of designer bindings over the decades.
At the heart of the exhibition and of the volume is a suite of thirty-nine copies of Brush Up Your Shakespeare, a miniature book designed and letterpress printed by Leonard Seastone and published by Neale Albert's Piccolo Press in 2009. The unbound sheets were sent to thirty-nine designer binders from around the world, with each given complete artistic freedom (with no time constraints) to create a binding inspired by the book.
Additionally, Albert commissioned new designer bindings for two multi-volume sets of Shakespeare in miniature: a 24-volume New York edition from around 1910 and an 1825 edition in nine volumes published by William Pickering. Each binder got one volume to work with, and the results, individually and severally, are little short of breathtaking.
Each volume from the exhibition is presented with expertly-shot photographs from several angles, a description of the binding, and often a short statement from the binder about their particular inspiration for the design. At several points we are also given a two-page spread of photographs showing the process of the construction of the binding, offering a very neat perspective on how these exquisite little volumes come together.
The way each of these bookbinders has interpreted, complemented, and enhanced the printed texts comes through very clearly in this well-designed volume; the sheer variety and unmissable talent on display here makes this book a real treat from start to finish.
An opening essay by James Reid-Cunningham, "Enigmatic Devices: The Art of Contemporary Designer Bookbinding," is as good a survey of the subject as any I've read, and he ably relates the varieties and styles of bindings in the exhibition to the historical traditions of designer bindings over the decades.
At the heart of the exhibition and of the volume is a suite of thirty-nine copies of Brush Up Your Shakespeare, a miniature book designed and letterpress printed by Leonard Seastone and published by Neale Albert's Piccolo Press in 2009. The unbound sheets were sent to thirty-nine designer binders from around the world, with each given complete artistic freedom (with no time constraints) to create a binding inspired by the book.
Additionally, Albert commissioned new designer bindings for two multi-volume sets of Shakespeare in miniature: a 24-volume New York edition from around 1910 and an 1825 edition in nine volumes published by William Pickering. Each binder got one volume to work with, and the results, individually and severally, are little short of breathtaking.
Each volume from the exhibition is presented with expertly-shot photographs from several angles, a description of the binding, and often a short statement from the binder about their particular inspiration for the design. At several points we are also given a two-page spread of photographs showing the process of the construction of the binding, offering a very neat perspective on how these exquisite little volumes come together.
The way each of these bookbinders has interpreted, complemented, and enhanced the printed texts comes through very clearly in this well-designed volume; the sheer variety and unmissable talent on display here makes this book a real treat from start to finish.
Sunday, April 17, 2016
Links & Reviews
- The 2016 iteration of Rare Book Week New York is in the books. As usual, there were great things to be had at each of the fairs, and it was lovely to see so many friends (as well as so many good books). Jonathan Kearns has a roundup of the writeups (and offers his own), and Ian Kahn posted a video booth tour. I'll have a post soon on my "find of the fair."
- Entries are currently being accepted for the 2016 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest (through 31 May).
- Oak Knoll Fest will be held this fall from 30 September to 2 October.
- Another First Folio has been identified, this one in the library at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute. The copy is believed to have belonged to 18th-century Shakespeare editor Isaac Reed. Emma Smith's identification, including a good amount of description, was published in the TLS. Lots of coverage, including from Jennifer Schuessler for the NYTimes and Sean Coughlan for the BBC.
- Emma Smith also has a feature on the OUP blog mapping the current locations of First Folios.
- Keith Houston offers a closer preview of his forthcoming book The Book.
- Lisa Fagin Davis visits Nova Scotia on her Manuscript Road Trip.
- Carla Hayden's confirmation hearings before the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration will be held on 20 April at 2:15 p.m. The hearing will be livestreamed here.
- The DPLA and Europeana have launched RightsStatements.org, "a collaborative approach to rights statements that can be used to communicate the copyright status of cultural objects."
- UVA announced that John M. Unsworth has been appointed University Librarian and Dean of Libraries.
- In other appointment news, Martin Antonetti is headed to Northwestern University this summer as Director of Distinctive Collections, and David J. Gary to the American Philosophical Society as Curator of Printed Materials. Many congratulations to John, Martin, and David!
- Smithsonian highlighted a revolving circular book case from 1894 this week. I Googled around and could find no photos of these monsters in action: can anyone locate such? Were they ever made?
- Also from Smithsonian, a report on recent work on literacy in biblical times.
- The Notre Dame magazine explores a 1504 book reportedly bound in human skin and owned by Christopher Columbus. Spoiler alert: not so much, but the story's worth a read.
- Watercolors by Maria Sibylla Merian are now on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
- APHA is seeking an editor for Printing History.
- Tamara Plakins Thornton has a post at the UNC Press blog about her new biography of Nathaniel Bowditch.
- DPLA executive director Dan Cohen writes in the Atlantic about an interesting wrinkle in the digital divide.
- The University of Delaware is searching for a postdoctoral fellow in special collections and digital humanities.
- The David Rumsey Map Center opens at Stanford University this week with a series of what look to be very interesting talks.
- David D'Arcy writes for The Art Newspaper about the ownership battle over the 13th-century Birds' Head Haggadah, currently in the collections of the Israel Museum but once owned by a German-Jewish family whose descendants would like their title recognized.
- From Colin Hill Urbina in the Guardian, "I'm a professional bookbinder. Amazon's new Kindle won't put me out of business."
- The William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan has reopened after a $17 million renovation.
- The KU Libraries blog highlights a Hinman Collator for "Flashback Friday."
- Stephen Milner gave the Hofer Lecture at Harvard last week to present findings from a project undertaken to determine the origin of the parchment used in book production in Europe. Milner also reports on a recent visit to the Morgan Library to sample their books on parchment.
- Over on the ILAB blog, an interview with Andy Stauffer about the Book Traces project.
- David Kipen writes for the LATimes about the parallels between Shakespeare and Cervantes.
- Over at Jot101, "A Byron forgery—rediscovered."
- The Book Club of California is issuing Robert Bringhurst's Palatino: The Natural History of a Typeface in an edition of three hundred copies with letterpress specimens.
- There's a call for proposals for a 2017 NYU colloquium, "Libraries and Archives in the Anthropocene."
Reviews
- Sarah Allan's Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Early Chinese Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts; review by Ian Johnson in the NYRB.
- Laura Claridge's The Lady with the Borzoi; reviews by Michael Dirda in the WaPo and Peter Lewis in the CSM.
- Laura Cumming's The Vanishing Velázquez; reviews by Jennifer Senior in the NYTimes and Henrik Bering in the WSJ.
- Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's Most Blessed of the Patriarchs; review by Peter Baker in the NYTimes.
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; review by Jeffrey Brown in the WaPo. Hammer has an essay/excerpt from the book in the WSJ.
- Samuel J. Redman's Bone Rooms: reviews by Barbara J. King in the WaPo and Edward Rothstein in the WSJ.
- Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses; review by Isaac Chotiner in the WSJ.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes; reviews by Dylan Hicks in the LARB and Eric Banks in Bookforum.
- Entries are currently being accepted for the 2016 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest (through 31 May).
- Oak Knoll Fest will be held this fall from 30 September to 2 October.
- Another First Folio has been identified, this one in the library at Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute. The copy is believed to have belonged to 18th-century Shakespeare editor Isaac Reed. Emma Smith's identification, including a good amount of description, was published in the TLS. Lots of coverage, including from Jennifer Schuessler for the NYTimes and Sean Coughlan for the BBC.
- Emma Smith also has a feature on the OUP blog mapping the current locations of First Folios.
- Keith Houston offers a closer preview of his forthcoming book The Book.
- Lisa Fagin Davis visits Nova Scotia on her Manuscript Road Trip.
- Carla Hayden's confirmation hearings before the Senate Committee on Rules & Administration will be held on 20 April at 2:15 p.m. The hearing will be livestreamed here.
- The DPLA and Europeana have launched RightsStatements.org, "a collaborative approach to rights statements that can be used to communicate the copyright status of cultural objects."
- UVA announced that John M. Unsworth has been appointed University Librarian and Dean of Libraries.
- In other appointment news, Martin Antonetti is headed to Northwestern University this summer as Director of Distinctive Collections, and David J. Gary to the American Philosophical Society as Curator of Printed Materials. Many congratulations to John, Martin, and David!
- Smithsonian highlighted a revolving circular book case from 1894 this week. I Googled around and could find no photos of these monsters in action: can anyone locate such? Were they ever made?
- Also from Smithsonian, a report on recent work on literacy in biblical times.
- The Notre Dame magazine explores a 1504 book reportedly bound in human skin and owned by Christopher Columbus. Spoiler alert: not so much, but the story's worth a read.
- Watercolors by Maria Sibylla Merian are now on display at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace.
- APHA is seeking an editor for Printing History.
- Tamara Plakins Thornton has a post at the UNC Press blog about her new biography of Nathaniel Bowditch.
- DPLA executive director Dan Cohen writes in the Atlantic about an interesting wrinkle in the digital divide.
- The University of Delaware is searching for a postdoctoral fellow in special collections and digital humanities.
- The David Rumsey Map Center opens at Stanford University this week with a series of what look to be very interesting talks.
- David D'Arcy writes for The Art Newspaper about the ownership battle over the 13th-century Birds' Head Haggadah, currently in the collections of the Israel Museum but once owned by a German-Jewish family whose descendants would like their title recognized.
- From Colin Hill Urbina in the Guardian, "I'm a professional bookbinder. Amazon's new Kindle won't put me out of business."
- The William L. Clements Library at the University of Michigan has reopened after a $17 million renovation.
- The KU Libraries blog highlights a Hinman Collator for "Flashback Friday."
- Stephen Milner gave the Hofer Lecture at Harvard last week to present findings from a project undertaken to determine the origin of the parchment used in book production in Europe. Milner also reports on a recent visit to the Morgan Library to sample their books on parchment.
- Over on the ILAB blog, an interview with Andy Stauffer about the Book Traces project.
- David Kipen writes for the LATimes about the parallels between Shakespeare and Cervantes.
- Over at Jot101, "A Byron forgery—rediscovered."
- The Book Club of California is issuing Robert Bringhurst's Palatino: The Natural History of a Typeface in an edition of three hundred copies with letterpress specimens.
- There's a call for proposals for a 2017 NYU colloquium, "Libraries and Archives in the Anthropocene."
Reviews
- Sarah Allan's Buried Ideas: Legends of Abdication and Ideal Government in Early Chinese Bamboo-Slip Manuscripts; review by Ian Johnson in the NYRB.
- Laura Claridge's The Lady with the Borzoi; reviews by Michael Dirda in the WaPo and Peter Lewis in the CSM.
- Laura Cumming's The Vanishing Velázquez; reviews by Jennifer Senior in the NYTimes and Henrik Bering in the WSJ.
- Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's Most Blessed of the Patriarchs; review by Peter Baker in the NYTimes.
- Joshua Hammer's The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu; review by Jeffrey Brown in the WaPo. Hammer has an essay/excerpt from the book in the WSJ.
- Samuel J. Redman's Bone Rooms: reviews by Barbara J. King in the WaPo and Edward Rothstein in the WSJ.
- Chanan Tigay's The Lost Book of Moses; review by Isaac Chotiner in the WSJ.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes; reviews by Dylan Hicks in the LARB and Eric Banks in Bookforum.
Wednesday, April 06, 2016
Links & Reviews
- From Amanda Bevan at the British Library's blog, "Shakespeare's Will: A New Interpretation," which contains some key new findings about the document based around recent conservation work.
- Erin Blakemore writes for Smithsonian about the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.
- From Exeter Working Papers in Book History, a detailed compilation of information about Gutenberg.
- Alix Christie writes for The Millions on the persistence of physical books.
- Dan Boudreau has a great post at Past is Present on paper marbling.
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg puzzles through some scraps of an unsent Henry Folger letter found inside a 1907 auction catalog.
- The New-York Historical Society is cataloging the 12,000 small collections that comprise its American Historical Manuscript Collection, thanks to a grant from the NEH.
- From Peter Miller at the Chronicle, "A New Republic of Letters."
- Ian Spellerberg, author of Reading & Writing Accessories: A Study of Paper-Knives, Paper Folders, Letter Openers and Mythical Page Turners (Oak Knoll) is profiled in Collectors Weekly.
- New from Unique at Penn, a Victorian lady's reading journal.
- Rebecca Rego Barry talks to "The Library Cafe" about her book Rare Books Uncovered.
- Jeremy Mikula writes for the Chicago Tribune about the authorship questions surrounding that Houdini-Lovecraft typescript that resurfaced recently.
- The MSU Map Library received a package in the mail containing several maps with a note "These were taken from the MSU Library many years ago. I'm sorry."
- Kevin Smith writes about the latest ruling in the Georgia State copyright case.
- The April Rare Book Monthly is out, with the usual range of interesting articles.
- From Serge Kovaleski in the NYTimes, a peek into a new book by Robert Wittman and journalist David Kinney about the search for Alfred Rosenberg's diary.
- Adam Smith's books at the University of Edinburgh have been fully cataloged for the first time.
- Public Domain Review Press has announced a new (and quite neat-looking) edition of Lucian's Dialogues of the Gods.
- Elahe Izadi writes for the WaPo about the Newton alchemical manuscript recently acquired by the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
- A chair used by J.K. Rowling when she was writing the first two Harry Potter books sold at auction today for $394,000.
- Jennifer Schuessler writes for the NYTimes about Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's new book Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.
Reviews
- James Traub's John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit; review by Joseph J. Ellis in the NYTimes.
- Louisa Thomas' Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams; review by Joanne Freeman in the NYTimes.
- Tim Blanning's Frederick the Great; review by Steve Donoghue in the CSM.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Carol Bundy in the WaPo.
- Erin Blakemore writes for Smithsonian about the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest.
- From Exeter Working Papers in Book History, a detailed compilation of information about Gutenberg.
- Alix Christie writes for The Millions on the persistence of physical books.
- Dan Boudreau has a great post at Past is Present on paper marbling.
- At The Collation, Abbie Weinberg puzzles through some scraps of an unsent Henry Folger letter found inside a 1907 auction catalog.
- The New-York Historical Society is cataloging the 12,000 small collections that comprise its American Historical Manuscript Collection, thanks to a grant from the NEH.
- From Peter Miller at the Chronicle, "A New Republic of Letters."
- Ian Spellerberg, author of Reading & Writing Accessories: A Study of Paper-Knives, Paper Folders, Letter Openers and Mythical Page Turners (Oak Knoll) is profiled in Collectors Weekly.
- New from Unique at Penn, a Victorian lady's reading journal.
- Rebecca Rego Barry talks to "The Library Cafe" about her book Rare Books Uncovered.
- Jeremy Mikula writes for the Chicago Tribune about the authorship questions surrounding that Houdini-Lovecraft typescript that resurfaced recently.
- The MSU Map Library received a package in the mail containing several maps with a note "These were taken from the MSU Library many years ago. I'm sorry."
- Kevin Smith writes about the latest ruling in the Georgia State copyright case.
- The April Rare Book Monthly is out, with the usual range of interesting articles.
- From Serge Kovaleski in the NYTimes, a peek into a new book by Robert Wittman and journalist David Kinney about the search for Alfred Rosenberg's diary.
- Adam Smith's books at the University of Edinburgh have been fully cataloged for the first time.
- Public Domain Review Press has announced a new (and quite neat-looking) edition of Lucian's Dialogues of the Gods.
- Elahe Izadi writes for the WaPo about the Newton alchemical manuscript recently acquired by the Chemical Heritage Foundation.
- A chair used by J.K. Rowling when she was writing the first two Harry Potter books sold at auction today for $394,000.
- Jennifer Schuessler writes for the NYTimes about Peter Onuf and Annette Gordon Reed's new book Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination.
Reviews
- James Traub's John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit; review by Joseph J. Ellis in the NYTimes.
- Louisa Thomas' Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams; review by Joanne Freeman in the NYTimes.
- Tim Blanning's Frederick the Great; review by Steve Donoghue in the CSM.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Carol Bundy in the WaPo.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Links & Reviews
- The AAS has launched a great new web exhibit: From English to Algonquian: Early New England Translations.
- Adam Hooks has added a new post at Anchora, "Shakespeare's Beehive 2.0." Take the time and read the whole thing.
- Coming up at the Bodleian Library at the end of May, a conference on "Mesoamerican Manuscripts: New Scientific Approaches and Interpretations."
- Jennifer Schuessler reports for the NYTimes on this year's Folger First Folio Road Show, dropping in on the Folio currently visiting South Dakota.
- The Oakland Tribune has a brief update on the case of the rare books stolen from North Oakland following the California Antiquarian Book Fair in February. A reward remains unclaimed and the books remain unrecovered.
- New York's Strand Bookstore is profiled in the "Interview with a Bookstore" series.
- Adrienne Lafrance writes for the Atlantic about a new project to figure out a way to preserve and visualize historic machine-programmed theater lighting designs.
- Peter Dobrin, reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has an update on the legal feud between the Maurice Sendak estate and the Rosenbach. The library has asked a Connecticut court to remove the estate's executors and compel the estate to turn over books from Sendak's collection to the Rosenbach. The new court proceedings follow a failed settlement attempt in January.
- Over at The Collation, Erin Blake writes about the Folger's current effort to systematically update call numbers to match the second edition of STC.
- Simon Beattie has turned up another fascinating biblio-curiosity: a guide for Soviet librarians on how to write catalog cards.
- John Dugdale writes for the Guardian about the recent run of "rediscovered" manuscripts, highlighting Michael Scammel's NYRB piece about Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, the original German manuscript of which was identified last year in a Zurich library.
- New from the NYPL, the Photographers' Identities Catalog, containing biographical data on more than "115,000 photographers, studios, manufacturers, dealers, and others involved in the production of photographs."
- Scholars are condemning plans by the trustees of the venerable Society of Antiquaries to reduce staff at the Society's library from 3.5 full-time positions to three part-time positions.
- Since it's making the rounds, I post this Telegraph slideshow of "the most valuable rare books in existence" only as a PSA to stay away from it, since it's chock-full of baloney.
Reviews
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; review by Elizabeth Toohey in the CSM.
- Abby Smith Rumsey's When We Are No More; review by Nicholas Carr in the WaPo.
- Frank Cioffi's One Day in the Life of the English Language; review by Mary Norris in the TLS.
- Piers Paul Read's Scarpia; review by Allan Massie in the WSJ.
- Iain Pears' Arcadia; review by Scott Bradfield in the NYTimes.
- Several new books on Samuel Pepys, including Kate Loveman's Samuel Pepys and His Books; review by Arnold Hunt in the TLS.
- Adam Hooks has added a new post at Anchora, "Shakespeare's Beehive 2.0." Take the time and read the whole thing.
- Coming up at the Bodleian Library at the end of May, a conference on "Mesoamerican Manuscripts: New Scientific Approaches and Interpretations."
- Jennifer Schuessler reports for the NYTimes on this year's Folger First Folio Road Show, dropping in on the Folio currently visiting South Dakota.
- The Oakland Tribune has a brief update on the case of the rare books stolen from North Oakland following the California Antiquarian Book Fair in February. A reward remains unclaimed and the books remain unrecovered.
- New York's Strand Bookstore is profiled in the "Interview with a Bookstore" series.
- Adrienne Lafrance writes for the Atlantic about a new project to figure out a way to preserve and visualize historic machine-programmed theater lighting designs.
- Peter Dobrin, reporting for the Philadelphia Inquirer, has an update on the legal feud between the Maurice Sendak estate and the Rosenbach. The library has asked a Connecticut court to remove the estate's executors and compel the estate to turn over books from Sendak's collection to the Rosenbach. The new court proceedings follow a failed settlement attempt in January.
- Over at The Collation, Erin Blake writes about the Folger's current effort to systematically update call numbers to match the second edition of STC.
- Simon Beattie has turned up another fascinating biblio-curiosity: a guide for Soviet librarians on how to write catalog cards.
- John Dugdale writes for the Guardian about the recent run of "rediscovered" manuscripts, highlighting Michael Scammel's NYRB piece about Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon, the original German manuscript of which was identified last year in a Zurich library.
- New from the NYPL, the Photographers' Identities Catalog, containing biographical data on more than "115,000 photographers, studios, manufacturers, dealers, and others involved in the production of photographs."
- Scholars are condemning plans by the trustees of the venerable Society of Antiquaries to reduce staff at the Society's library from 3.5 full-time positions to three part-time positions.
- Since it's making the rounds, I post this Telegraph slideshow of "the most valuable rare books in existence" only as a PSA to stay away from it, since it's chock-full of baloney.
Reviews
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; review by Elizabeth Toohey in the CSM.
- Abby Smith Rumsey's When We Are No More; review by Nicholas Carr in the WaPo.
- Frank Cioffi's One Day in the Life of the English Language; review by Mary Norris in the TLS.
- Piers Paul Read's Scarpia; review by Allan Massie in the WSJ.
- Iain Pears' Arcadia; review by Scott Bradfield in the NYTimes.
- Several new books on Samuel Pepys, including Kate Loveman's Samuel Pepys and His Books; review by Arnold Hunt in the TLS.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Links & Reviews
- Rare Book Week NYC is coming up soon! Book fairs, auctions, and exhibits galore.
- The Chemical Heritage Foundation has purchased Isaac Newton's manuscript copy of an alchemical treatise by George Starkey; the document also contains a record of one of Newton's own alchemical experiments. CHF curator James Voelkel says that digital images of the manuscript will soon be available via The Chymistry of Isaac Newton.
- The British Library has launched Discovering Literature: Shakespeare, a collection of articles, digitized materials from the library's collections, &c. Coverage from the Guardian.
- Hugh Schofield writes for the BBC Magazine about the Aristophil ponzi scheme.
- Eric Kwakkel's talk at the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, "Commercial Books Before Gutenberg," is now available for your listening pleasure (and there are lots of other good lectures available there too).
- The BBC reports on the Mapping Paper in Medieval England project, based at Cambridge.
- The Jewish Theological Seminary's Geniza Collection will be deposited at the Princeton University Library until the fall of 2019, when the JTS's renovated rare book room opens.
- Charlton Heston's collection of Shakespeariana (including two 17th-century quartos), plus a number of movie props and other materials, will be sold at Bonhams Los Angeles this week.
- Books on early American topics swept the Bancroft Prizes this year.
- Christie's London will sell copies of all four Shakespeare folios on 25 May; the First Folio is reportedly an unrecorded copy.
- On the Houghton Library Modern Books and Manuscripts blog, Ryan Wheeler highlights some books bequeathed to Houghton by Thomas Carlyle.
- Texas A&M has acquired an early map of Texas and related documents once in the collections of surveyor James M. Manning.
- The typescript of a history of superstition written at least in part by H.P. Lovecraft (under commission by Harry Houdini!) has been found, and will be sold by Chicago's Potter & Potter auction house on 9 April.
- From Exeter Working Papers in Book History, "Sir Walter Scott and the Parisian pirates: a bibliographical paddle in murky waters."
- The NYPL announced that digitization has been completed on a number of fascinating early American manuscript collections, including the papers and receipt book of printer Hugh Gaine.
- A volume of Grimm's fairy tales signed by Anne Frank will be sold at Swann on 5 May.
- The Diagram prize for oddest book title has been awarded to Too Naked for the Nazis.
Reviews
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; reviews by Deborah Friedell in the NYTimes and Jonathan Rose in the WSJ.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Rebecca Steinitz in the Boston Globe.
- John Aubrey's Brief Lives, edited by Kate Bennett; review by Ruth Scurr in the TLS.
- The Chemical Heritage Foundation has purchased Isaac Newton's manuscript copy of an alchemical treatise by George Starkey; the document also contains a record of one of Newton's own alchemical experiments. CHF curator James Voelkel says that digital images of the manuscript will soon be available via The Chymistry of Isaac Newton.
- The British Library has launched Discovering Literature: Shakespeare, a collection of articles, digitized materials from the library's collections, &c. Coverage from the Guardian.
- Hugh Schofield writes for the BBC Magazine about the Aristophil ponzi scheme.
- Eric Kwakkel's talk at the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, "Commercial Books Before Gutenberg," is now available for your listening pleasure (and there are lots of other good lectures available there too).
- The BBC reports on the Mapping Paper in Medieval England project, based at Cambridge.
- The Jewish Theological Seminary's Geniza Collection will be deposited at the Princeton University Library until the fall of 2019, when the JTS's renovated rare book room opens.
- Charlton Heston's collection of Shakespeariana (including two 17th-century quartos), plus a number of movie props and other materials, will be sold at Bonhams Los Angeles this week.
- Books on early American topics swept the Bancroft Prizes this year.
- Christie's London will sell copies of all four Shakespeare folios on 25 May; the First Folio is reportedly an unrecorded copy.
- On the Houghton Library Modern Books and Manuscripts blog, Ryan Wheeler highlights some books bequeathed to Houghton by Thomas Carlyle.
- Texas A&M has acquired an early map of Texas and related documents once in the collections of surveyor James M. Manning.
- The typescript of a history of superstition written at least in part by H.P. Lovecraft (under commission by Harry Houdini!) has been found, and will be sold by Chicago's Potter & Potter auction house on 9 April.
- From Exeter Working Papers in Book History, "Sir Walter Scott and the Parisian pirates: a bibliographical paddle in murky waters."
- The NYPL announced that digitization has been completed on a number of fascinating early American manuscript collections, including the papers and receipt book of printer Hugh Gaine.
- A volume of Grimm's fairy tales signed by Anne Frank will be sold at Swann on 5 May.
- The Diagram prize for oddest book title has been awarded to Too Naked for the Nazis.
Reviews
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; reviews by Deborah Friedell in the NYTimes and Jonathan Rose in the WSJ.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Rebecca Steinitz in the Boston Globe.
- John Aubrey's Brief Lives, edited by Kate Bennett; review by Ruth Scurr in the TLS.
Sunday, March 13, 2016
Links & Reviews
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Rosenbach Lectures are coming up this week in Philadelphia.
- Cambridge University Library is celebrating its 600th anniversary with a physical and online exhibition, "Lines of Thought: Discoveries that Changed the World." Sarah Knapton writes in the Telegraph about the show, focusing on Isaac Newton's copy of his Principia. Maev Kennedy covers the exhibit for the Guardian.
- Two Tel Aviv men have been indicted on charges of burglary, breaking and entering, conspiracy, and trespassing after they broke into the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv and stole 17th-century rabbinical manuscripts.
- The NYTimes editorial board weighs in on the ongoing budgetary battle that threatens the future of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln editorial project.
- Folger curator and RBS faculty member Heather Wolfe is profiled in the WSJ for some of her recent paleographical discoveries.
- Geoffrey Giller writes for the Yale Alumni Magazine about some of the copper plates from Audubon's Birds of America, several of which are at Yale's Peabody Museum.
- Anthropomorphic landscapes are the order of the day at Public Domain Review.
- The second portion of Hugh Selbourne's library was sold at Bonhams London this week; in total, the library realized more than £2.6 million.
- Tess Goodman has a post at Inciting Sparks on the creation of authorial personae, highlighting Elizabeth Gaskell and Walt Whitman.
- The new Common-place is up, and it includes Hilary Wyss on "Eighteenth-Century Letter-Writing and Native American Community."
- Also now available, the March 2016 issue of the AAS Almanac.
- Shakespeare's World is highlighted by Charlotte Salley for The American Scholar.
- The National Archives has released images and a transcription of a letter written by Walt Whitman acting as amanuensis for a dying Civil War soldier. More from Michael Ruane in the WaPo.
- The Boston Globe editorial board argues for changes at the BPL as a new leader is sought.
- Jonathan Guthrie, writing in the Financial Times, explains "Why collecting books can be a deep source of pleasure."
- Emory University has acquired W.E.B. DuBois' copy of David Walker's Appeal.
- Antiquarian bookseller Éamonn de Búrca is profiled in the Irish Times.
- Sarah Minegar is up next in the FB&C "Bright Young Librarians" series.
- From the New Yorker, Daniel Gross on "The Custodian of Forgotten Books."
- Alexander Historical Auctions will sell what's being described as Hitler's own copy of Mein Kampf.
- This week's "On the Media" is all about books, from publishing to theft to industrial bookselling.
- Missed this last month: Greg Cram writes for the NYPL blog on the process they undertook to evaluate the rights status of all those public domain images they released recently.
Reviews
- Anne Boyd Rioux's Constance Fenimore Woolson; review by Wendy Smith in the Boston Globe.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by David Hugh Smith in the CSM.
- Austin Reed's The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict; review by Annette Gordon-Reed in the WaPo.
- Eric Burns' The Golden Lad; review by Del Quentin Weber in the WaPo.
- Vanessa Ogle's The Global Transformation of Time; review by Thomas Meaney in the TLS.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes; review in Kirkus Reviews.
- Catherine Lowell's The Madwoman Upstairs; review by Rebecca Rego Barry at FB&C.
- Cambridge University Library is celebrating its 600th anniversary with a physical and online exhibition, "Lines of Thought: Discoveries that Changed the World." Sarah Knapton writes in the Telegraph about the show, focusing on Isaac Newton's copy of his Principia. Maev Kennedy covers the exhibit for the Guardian.
- Two Tel Aviv men have been indicted on charges of burglary, breaking and entering, conspiracy, and trespassing after they broke into the Rambam Library in Tel Aviv and stole 17th-century rabbinical manuscripts.
- The NYTimes editorial board weighs in on the ongoing budgetary battle that threatens the future of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln editorial project.
- Folger curator and RBS faculty member Heather Wolfe is profiled in the WSJ for some of her recent paleographical discoveries.
- Geoffrey Giller writes for the Yale Alumni Magazine about some of the copper plates from Audubon's Birds of America, several of which are at Yale's Peabody Museum.
- Anthropomorphic landscapes are the order of the day at Public Domain Review.
- The second portion of Hugh Selbourne's library was sold at Bonhams London this week; in total, the library realized more than £2.6 million.
- Tess Goodman has a post at Inciting Sparks on the creation of authorial personae, highlighting Elizabeth Gaskell and Walt Whitman.
- The new Common-place is up, and it includes Hilary Wyss on "Eighteenth-Century Letter-Writing and Native American Community."
- Also now available, the March 2016 issue of the AAS Almanac.
- Shakespeare's World is highlighted by Charlotte Salley for The American Scholar.
- The National Archives has released images and a transcription of a letter written by Walt Whitman acting as amanuensis for a dying Civil War soldier. More from Michael Ruane in the WaPo.
- The Boston Globe editorial board argues for changes at the BPL as a new leader is sought.
- Jonathan Guthrie, writing in the Financial Times, explains "Why collecting books can be a deep source of pleasure."
- Emory University has acquired W.E.B. DuBois' copy of David Walker's Appeal.
- Antiquarian bookseller Éamonn de Búrca is profiled in the Irish Times.
- Sarah Minegar is up next in the FB&C "Bright Young Librarians" series.
- From the New Yorker, Daniel Gross on "The Custodian of Forgotten Books."
- Alexander Historical Auctions will sell what's being described as Hitler's own copy of Mein Kampf.
- This week's "On the Media" is all about books, from publishing to theft to industrial bookselling.
- Missed this last month: Greg Cram writes for the NYPL blog on the process they undertook to evaluate the rights status of all those public domain images they released recently.
Reviews
- Anne Boyd Rioux's Constance Fenimore Woolson; review by Wendy Smith in the Boston Globe.
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by David Hugh Smith in the CSM.
- Austin Reed's The Life and the Adventures of a Haunted Convict; review by Annette Gordon-Reed in the WaPo.
- Eric Burns' The Golden Lad; review by Del Quentin Weber in the WaPo.
- Vanessa Ogle's The Global Transformation of Time; review by Thomas Meaney in the TLS.
- Matthew Kirschenbaum's Track Changes; review in Kirkus Reviews.
- Catherine Lowell's The Madwoman Upstairs; review by Rebecca Rego Barry at FB&C.
Sunday, March 06, 2016
Links & Reviews
I had the great pleasure of representing Rare Book School at the Washington Antiquarian Book Fair this weekend: it's the first time I've been able to attend this fair, and I found it very much worth the visit. There were some excellent books to be found, good crowds on Friday night and all day Saturday, and the fair was organized extremely well. The addition of the Typewriter Rodeo on Saturday afternoon was a nice touch, too.
Prior to the fair I stopped in at the Folger Shakespeare Library for their current exhibition, "Shakespeare, Life of an Icon." If you can go check that out before it closes at the end of this month, take the time and do it: the chances of all the great items included ever being in the same place again seem pretty slim.
- A reward has been offered for information leading to the return of the books stolen from bookseller Lawrence Van De Carr following the California Antiquarian Book Fair.
- The Lindau Gospels is currently on display at the Morgan Library, and in bright light too, so the details of the crazily jeweled binding are readily visible.
- A inscribed copy of Brideshead Revisited sold for £52,500 at the auction of the Duchess of Devonshire's estate.
- The National Library of Scotland has digitized more than 3,000 Scottish chapbooks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Simon Beattie highlights a German translation of an English novel, the original of which is known only from advertisements, reviews, and a single copy of the first volume of three.
- Teresa Breathnach has a new blog about shipboard printing, which seems like it'll be worth a follow.
- David Whitesell's new exhibition on gothic fiction is now up at UVA: he blogs about the show at Notes from Under Grounds. Another one worth a visit if possible.
- Some 6,000 items from an archive kept by Bob Dylan have been acquired by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa. The deal was brokered by Glenn Horowitz.
- Caroline Duroselle-Melish has a great Collation post up about fallen type in handpress-era books.
- Barbara Heritage writes on "New Directions in Bibliography and Critical Hermeneutics" for the JHIBlog.
- Tim O'Neill writes for Slate on a Quora question about what lost ancient works historians would most like to recover.
- Seamus Heaney's papers are now open to researchers at Emory University.
- Claire Voon writes about "blooks" for Hyperallergic.
- Alix Christie has a nice piece remembering Elizabeth Eisenstein for the Seattle Review of Books.
- A judge has agreed that Harper Lee's will can remain sealed.
- The March Rare Book Monthly articles are up: they include Michael Stillman on what AbeBooks is up to lately, a profile of Louis Weinstein (formerly of Heritage Book Shop and now a collector of Hawaiiana), and a quick overview of a sale of items from Charlton Heston's estate, soon going on the block at Bonhams.
- From Emily Rhodes in The Spectator, "A bookseller's guide to book thieves."
- The Hinckley family has donated five rare Mormon books from the library of Gordon Hinckley to BYU.
- Alexis Buchanan writes for Nonprofit Quarterly about severe building issues that threaten the collections at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Chicago.
- Amazon will open a second brick-and-mortar store in San Diego this summer.
- Diane Dias DeFazio is profiled in the FB&C "Bright Young Librarians" series.
Reviews
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Jill Lepore in the NYTimes.
- Ricky Jay's Matthias Buchinger; review by Jim Ruland in the LATimes.
- Fergus Bordewich's The First Congress; review by Carol Berkin in the NYTimes.
- Stephen Cross' The Fever of 1721; review by Joyce Chaplin in the NYTimes.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Alberto Manguel in the NYTimes.
- Claire Harman's Charlottë Bronte: A Fiery Heart; review by Michael Upchurch in the Boston Globe.
Prior to the fair I stopped in at the Folger Shakespeare Library for their current exhibition, "Shakespeare, Life of an Icon." If you can go check that out before it closes at the end of this month, take the time and do it: the chances of all the great items included ever being in the same place again seem pretty slim.
- A reward has been offered for information leading to the return of the books stolen from bookseller Lawrence Van De Carr following the California Antiquarian Book Fair.
- The Lindau Gospels is currently on display at the Morgan Library, and in bright light too, so the details of the crazily jeweled binding are readily visible.
- A inscribed copy of Brideshead Revisited sold for £52,500 at the auction of the Duchess of Devonshire's estate.
- The National Library of Scotland has digitized more than 3,000 Scottish chapbooks from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
- Simon Beattie highlights a German translation of an English novel, the original of which is known only from advertisements, reviews, and a single copy of the first volume of three.
- Teresa Breathnach has a new blog about shipboard printing, which seems like it'll be worth a follow.
- David Whitesell's new exhibition on gothic fiction is now up at UVA: he blogs about the show at Notes from Under Grounds. Another one worth a visit if possible.
- Some 6,000 items from an archive kept by Bob Dylan have been acquired by the George Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of Tulsa. The deal was brokered by Glenn Horowitz.
- Caroline Duroselle-Melish has a great Collation post up about fallen type in handpress-era books.
- Barbara Heritage writes on "New Directions in Bibliography and Critical Hermeneutics" for the JHIBlog.
- Tim O'Neill writes for Slate on a Quora question about what lost ancient works historians would most like to recover.
- Seamus Heaney's papers are now open to researchers at Emory University.
- Claire Voon writes about "blooks" for Hyperallergic.
- Alix Christie has a nice piece remembering Elizabeth Eisenstein for the Seattle Review of Books.
- A judge has agreed that Harper Lee's will can remain sealed.
- The March Rare Book Monthly articles are up: they include Michael Stillman on what AbeBooks is up to lately, a profile of Louis Weinstein (formerly of Heritage Book Shop and now a collector of Hawaiiana), and a quick overview of a sale of items from Charlton Heston's estate, soon going on the block at Bonhams.
- From Emily Rhodes in The Spectator, "A bookseller's guide to book thieves."
- The Hinckley family has donated five rare Mormon books from the library of Gordon Hinckley to BYU.
- Alexis Buchanan writes for Nonprofit Quarterly about severe building issues that threaten the collections at the Carter G. Woodson Regional Library in Chicago.
- Amazon will open a second brick-and-mortar store in San Diego this summer.
- Diane Dias DeFazio is profiled in the FB&C "Bright Young Librarians" series.
Reviews
- Elaine Showalter's The Civil Wars of Julia Ward Howe; review by Jill Lepore in the NYTimes.
- Ricky Jay's Matthias Buchinger; review by Jim Ruland in the LATimes.
- Fergus Bordewich's The First Congress; review by Carol Berkin in the NYTimes.
- Stephen Cross' The Fever of 1721; review by Joyce Chaplin in the NYTimes.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Alberto Manguel in the NYTimes.
- Claire Harman's Charlottë Bronte: A Fiery Heart; review by Michael Upchurch in the Boston Globe.
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Links & Reviews
- President Obama announced this week that he will nominate Carla Hayden as the next Librarian of Congress, to near-universal acclaim. Hayden must now be confirmed by the Senate.
- A new exhibition, "Shakespeare by the Book: Four Centuries of Printing, Editing, and Publishing" is now open at the Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library at UVA. I went to the opening on Friday night, and do encourage anyone in the area to come by and give the exhibit a look.
- Legal disputes over a cache of documents created by the Korean National Association in the early 20th century have ended in a settlement: USC will conserve and digitize the material, with the originals going to Korea until a proper facility can be constructed for their long-term storage.
- A great post by Susan Martin at The Beehive about the sleuthing it took to identify the author of a manuscript diary recently acquired by MHS. Well done!
- The Huntington Library has acquired by gift the Lawrence D. and Betty Jeanne Longo Collection on Reproductive Biology, a large collection of books, manuscripts, pamphlets, &c. related to the history of human reproduction.
- Eric Kwakkel's new post, "Dirty Old Books," surveys what signs of use on medieval manuscripts tell us about how these documents were used.
- Heather Wolfe explores the knotty question of textual variants in William Henry Ireland's forged Shakespeare documents.
- Keith Houston's forthcoming The Book: A Cover to Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time (W.W. Norton) is now available for pre-order.
- The Library of Congress has digitized the Rosa Parks papers currently on loan to LC from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
- Voting is now open for "Oddest Book Title of the Year 2015" contest.
- At Atlas Obscura, Natalie Zarrelli takes a look at lighthouse libraries.
- Christopher Minty talked to Ted O'Reilly of the N-YHS about the work done to process the N-YHS' institutional archives.
- Budget cuts are expected to hit the National Library of Australia extremely hard, according to a report in the Canberra Times.
- Historian Elizabeth Eisenstein died on 31 January: this week obituaries appeared in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
- Don't miss Rebecca Romney's excellent post memorializing Umberto Eco.
Reviews
- Manisha Sinha's The Slave's Cause; review by Ira Berlin in the NYTimes.
- Alison Weir's The Lost Tudor Princess; review by Philippa Gregory in the WaPo.
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; reviews by Laurie Stone in the WaPo and Julia M. Klein in the LATimes.
- A whole slew of recent Tolkien-related books; review by Roz Kaveney in the TLS.
- William Egginton's The Man Who Invented Fiction; review by David Wootton in the WSJ.
- Eric Burns' The Golden Lad; review by Roger Lowenstein in the WSJ.
- A new exhibition, "Shakespeare by the Book: Four Centuries of Printing, Editing, and Publishing" is now open at the Albert & Shirley Small Special Collections Library at UVA. I went to the opening on Friday night, and do encourage anyone in the area to come by and give the exhibit a look.
- Legal disputes over a cache of documents created by the Korean National Association in the early 20th century have ended in a settlement: USC will conserve and digitize the material, with the originals going to Korea until a proper facility can be constructed for their long-term storage.
- A great post by Susan Martin at The Beehive about the sleuthing it took to identify the author of a manuscript diary recently acquired by MHS. Well done!
- The Huntington Library has acquired by gift the Lawrence D. and Betty Jeanne Longo Collection on Reproductive Biology, a large collection of books, manuscripts, pamphlets, &c. related to the history of human reproduction.
- Eric Kwakkel's new post, "Dirty Old Books," surveys what signs of use on medieval manuscripts tell us about how these documents were used.
- Heather Wolfe explores the knotty question of textual variants in William Henry Ireland's forged Shakespeare documents.
- Keith Houston's forthcoming The Book: A Cover to Cover Exploration of the Most Powerful Object of Our Time (W.W. Norton) is now available for pre-order.
- The Library of Congress has digitized the Rosa Parks papers currently on loan to LC from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.
- Voting is now open for "Oddest Book Title of the Year 2015" contest.
- At Atlas Obscura, Natalie Zarrelli takes a look at lighthouse libraries.
- Christopher Minty talked to Ted O'Reilly of the N-YHS about the work done to process the N-YHS' institutional archives.
- Budget cuts are expected to hit the National Library of Australia extremely hard, according to a report in the Canberra Times.
- Historian Elizabeth Eisenstein died on 31 January: this week obituaries appeared in both the New York Times and the Washington Post.
- Don't miss Rebecca Romney's excellent post memorializing Umberto Eco.
Reviews
- Manisha Sinha's The Slave's Cause; review by Ira Berlin in the NYTimes.
- Alison Weir's The Lost Tudor Princess; review by Philippa Gregory in the WaPo.
- Claire Harman's Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart; reviews by Laurie Stone in the WaPo and Julia M. Klein in the LATimes.
- A whole slew of recent Tolkien-related books; review by Roz Kaveney in the TLS.
- William Egginton's The Man Who Invented Fiction; review by David Wootton in the WSJ.
- Eric Burns' The Golden Lad; review by Roger Lowenstein in the WSJ.
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Links & Reviews
- A bookseller's van containing 400 rare books worth some $350,000 was stolen from Oakland, CA following last weekend's California Book Fair. Alerts went out very quickly via the ABAA and other groups, and one man was quickly arrested after trying to sell several of the books at Moe's Books of Berkeley, CA. There's a lengthy report in Berkeleyside about the case. The van (2008 silver Ford Econoline with Illinois license plate E-914968) and most of the books are still missing, as is another man who got away from Moe's. The Oakland Tribune also has a report. Here's hoping the rest of the books can be recovered safely and soon.
- A large collection of material culled from John Updike's trash was up for sale at Boston's RR Auctions, but it appears not to have sold (see this Atlantic piece from August 2014 for more on the collection). At the same sale, a Mario Puzo archive fetched $625,000.
- The Scottish National Library has purchased a 14th-century breviary traced to Sweetheart Abbey (in Dumfriesshire). The manuscript's location had been unknown since it appeared in the 1715 catalog of Ralph Thoresby; it was sold at auction last year in Vienna to an American dealer, but subsequently offered to the National Library, which managed to raise £70,000 to make the acquisition.
- The Redwood Library and Athenaeum has acquired a collection of British architecture books and building manuals from antiquarian bookseller Charles Wood.
- There's a new group blog about humanities research, written by Ph.D. students at the University of Edinburgh: Inciting Sparks. Adding this to my reading list.
- Some books from the collection of Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, will be sold at Sotheby's London on 2 March.
- A large contingent of scholars have signed a letter to the NYRB protesting the decision of Boston University to admit no new doctoral students to BU's Editorial Institute.
- Abby Smith Rumsey talked to Arielle Pardes for Vice about her new book When We Are No More: How Digital Memory is Shaping our Future.
- The Bolton Library, a collection of some 12,000 early printed books, manuscripts, maps, and prints, will be transferred to the University of Limerick, where the material can be properly conserved, stored, and researched.
- Registration is now open for a conference this June at King's College, Cambridge: "Mania and Imagination: Perils and pleasures of the private collector, present and future." Looks like a great lineup of speakers!
- Whitney Trettien has announced the creation of a new hybrid print/digital zine, Pounce, as well as a collaborative digital journal, thresholds.
- Via John Overholt on Twitter: the Joel Barlow papers at Houghton Library have now been digitized.
- A paperback copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience donated to Oxfam by Radiohead's Thom Yorke (and found to contain Yorke's handwritten lyrics for the song "Airbag") will be sold at auction, with proceeds going to the Syrian relief effort.
- Quite a lot of coverage this week of the "discovery" of two J.R.R. Tolkien poems in a 1936 school annual. See the NYTimes and the Guardian.
- Umberto Eco died on Friday at the age of 84. See the NYTimes obituary.
Reviews
- The Essential Goethe, edited by Matthew Bell; review by Steve Donoghue in the CSM.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
- A large collection of material culled from John Updike's trash was up for sale at Boston's RR Auctions, but it appears not to have sold (see this Atlantic piece from August 2014 for more on the collection). At the same sale, a Mario Puzo archive fetched $625,000.
- The Scottish National Library has purchased a 14th-century breviary traced to Sweetheart Abbey (in Dumfriesshire). The manuscript's location had been unknown since it appeared in the 1715 catalog of Ralph Thoresby; it was sold at auction last year in Vienna to an American dealer, but subsequently offered to the National Library, which managed to raise £70,000 to make the acquisition.
- The Redwood Library and Athenaeum has acquired a collection of British architecture books and building manuals from antiquarian bookseller Charles Wood.
- There's a new group blog about humanities research, written by Ph.D. students at the University of Edinburgh: Inciting Sparks. Adding this to my reading list.
- Some books from the collection of Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, will be sold at Sotheby's London on 2 March.
- A large contingent of scholars have signed a letter to the NYRB protesting the decision of Boston University to admit no new doctoral students to BU's Editorial Institute.
- Abby Smith Rumsey talked to Arielle Pardes for Vice about her new book When We Are No More: How Digital Memory is Shaping our Future.
- The Bolton Library, a collection of some 12,000 early printed books, manuscripts, maps, and prints, will be transferred to the University of Limerick, where the material can be properly conserved, stored, and researched.
- Registration is now open for a conference this June at King's College, Cambridge: "Mania and Imagination: Perils and pleasures of the private collector, present and future." Looks like a great lineup of speakers!
- Whitney Trettien has announced the creation of a new hybrid print/digital zine, Pounce, as well as a collaborative digital journal, thresholds.
- Via John Overholt on Twitter: the Joel Barlow papers at Houghton Library have now been digitized.
- A paperback copy of William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience donated to Oxfam by Radiohead's Thom Yorke (and found to contain Yorke's handwritten lyrics for the song "Airbag") will be sold at auction, with proceeds going to the Syrian relief effort.
- Quite a lot of coverage this week of the "discovery" of two J.R.R. Tolkien poems in a 1936 school annual. See the NYTimes and the Guardian.
- Umberto Eco died on Friday at the age of 84. See the NYTimes obituary.
Reviews
- The Essential Goethe, edited by Matthew Bell; review by Steve Donoghue in the CSM.
- Jack Lynch's You Could Look It Up; review by Michael Dirda in the WaPo.
Monday, February 15, 2016
Links & Reviews
- It's not often that vellum makes headlines anymore, but it has recently done so: after an announcement last week that the British government had determined that the practice of printing laws on vellum would be ended in April (which got coverage in the NYTimes) word today that the decision may be reversed, with the Cabinet Office offering to pick up the £80,000 annual tab.
- DCRM(C)—that is, Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Cartographic)—for all your map-cataloging needs, is now available as a free PDF.
- Over at The Culture-ist, Ryan Bradley goes on a bookstore tour of Boston.
- From Cabinet, Geoff Manaugh writes on the 2003 case of a book thief who snuck into the locked library of a monastery using a long-forgotten secret passage he found on a floor plan. More from Atlas Obscura.
- Audio recordings of Anthony Grafton's Sandars Lectures, delivered in January, are now available.
- Alison Flood reports for the Guardian about a recent translation of early textbooks used to teach Latin to Greek speakers.
- At the Chapel Hill Rare Book Blog, Liz Ott with the first in a series on their current Wordsworth exhibition (which sounds like it must be fantastic, given the great new collection!).
- At JHIBlog, Brooke Palmieri writes on John Dee's library and the current exhibition on same at the Royal College of Physicians.
- Alison Booth has been appointed academic director of the Scholars' Lab at UVA.
- Hampshire College has received a $1.2 million Mellon grant to "reinvent" the college's library.
- Laura Massey at Alembic Rare Books has posted a primer on "How to start collecting rare books."
Reviews
- "The Private Jefferson" exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society; review by Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe.
- Brian Copenhaver's The Book of Magic; review by Diane Purkiss in the TLS.
- DCRM(C)—that is, Descriptive Cataloging of Rare Materials (Cartographic)—for all your map-cataloging needs, is now available as a free PDF.
- Over at The Culture-ist, Ryan Bradley goes on a bookstore tour of Boston.
- From Cabinet, Geoff Manaugh writes on the 2003 case of a book thief who snuck into the locked library of a monastery using a long-forgotten secret passage he found on a floor plan. More from Atlas Obscura.
- Audio recordings of Anthony Grafton's Sandars Lectures, delivered in January, are now available.
- Alison Flood reports for the Guardian about a recent translation of early textbooks used to teach Latin to Greek speakers.
- At the Chapel Hill Rare Book Blog, Liz Ott with the first in a series on their current Wordsworth exhibition (which sounds like it must be fantastic, given the great new collection!).
- At JHIBlog, Brooke Palmieri writes on John Dee's library and the current exhibition on same at the Royal College of Physicians.
- Alison Booth has been appointed academic director of the Scholars' Lab at UVA.
- Hampshire College has received a $1.2 million Mellon grant to "reinvent" the college's library.
- Laura Massey at Alembic Rare Books has posted a primer on "How to start collecting rare books."
Reviews
- "The Private Jefferson" exhibition at the Massachusetts Historical Society; review by Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe.
- Brian Copenhaver's The Book of Magic; review by Diane Purkiss in the TLS.
Sunday, February 07, 2016
Links & Reviews
- Andrew Shannon, 51, has gone on trial for the unlawful possession of books stolen from Carton House in County Kildare, Ireland. The books were found to be missing after being put in storage during renovations on the house. Shannon, who maintained that he had purchased the books, was found guilty on Tuesday and will be sentenced in April. Shannon was already in jail, serving time for vandalizing a valuable Monet painting in 2012; in 2011 he was convicted of handling stolen property involving a number of stolen maps.
- The Independent reports that a French court is struggling to find a single buyer for the massive collection of books and manuscripts owned by the Aristophil Group. See the call for buyers.
- Carolyn Kellogg covers the Huntington Library's acquisition of Paul Theroux's papers for the LATimes.
- Writing for Slate, Lydia Pyne has a very interesting piece on the Snead & Company bookshelves that populated many an American library for much of the twentieth century.
- The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired the Livre des fais de Jacques de Lalaing, a 16th-century secular illuminated manuscript.
- The records of the Bibliographical Society of America have been processed and are now available for research at the Grolier Club.
- Newly-launched, French Renaissance Paleography, featuring more than 100 manuscripts along with transcription tools, &c.
- Lots of coverage this week in the British media about Lady Isabella Hertford's use of birds clipped from Audubon's Birds of America to augment her drawing room wallpaper (note: this happened soon after the book was published, not recently).
- The University of Toronto Scarborough has purchased a collection of more than 10,000 Chinese restaurant menus.
- A 19th-century library record has been returned to Scotland's Innerpeffray Library after being found tucked into a secondhand book.
- The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a woman filing for bankruptcy can keep her first edition Book of Mormon and will not be required to sell it to pay creditors. Anna Robinson says she found the book while cleaning a library storage area in 2003, and that the director told her she could keep whatever books she found. [Shakes head incredulously].
- February's Rare Book Monthly is out, including a report on the lawsuit over books stolen from NYPL, a recap of the Pirie sale, and more.
- From Daniel Grant in the Observer, "The Rarefied World of Book Collecting Is Not a Dying Art."
- Reading Sheffield launched recently: it's a collection of interviews with readers born between 1919 and 1942, with much background and context. I encourage a look-round.
- J.L. Bell covers the lawsuit over the Franklin & Hall manuscript over at Boston 1775.
- Sarah Lyall profiles London bookshop Heywood Hill for the NYTimes' T Magazine.
- At Echoes from the Vault, Carina Müller writes about cataloging the John Sturgeon Mackay's collection of mathematical books.
Reviews
- "Blooks: The Art of Books That Aren't" (Grolier Club exhibition); reviews by Jennifer Schuessler in the NYTimes and Rebecca Rego Barry in the Guardian.
- Iain Pears' Arcadia; review by Steve Donoghue in the WaPo.
- Rebecca Rego Barry's Rare Books Uncovered; review by Bill Ruehlmann in the Virginian-Pilot.
- The Independent reports that a French court is struggling to find a single buyer for the massive collection of books and manuscripts owned by the Aristophil Group. See the call for buyers.
- Carolyn Kellogg covers the Huntington Library's acquisition of Paul Theroux's papers for the LATimes.
- Writing for Slate, Lydia Pyne has a very interesting piece on the Snead & Company bookshelves that populated many an American library for much of the twentieth century.
- The J. Paul Getty Museum has acquired the Livre des fais de Jacques de Lalaing, a 16th-century secular illuminated manuscript.
- The records of the Bibliographical Society of America have been processed and are now available for research at the Grolier Club.
- Newly-launched, French Renaissance Paleography, featuring more than 100 manuscripts along with transcription tools, &c.
- Lots of coverage this week in the British media about Lady Isabella Hertford's use of birds clipped from Audubon's Birds of America to augment her drawing room wallpaper (note: this happened soon after the book was published, not recently).
- The University of Toronto Scarborough has purchased a collection of more than 10,000 Chinese restaurant menus.
- A 19th-century library record has been returned to Scotland's Innerpeffray Library after being found tucked into a secondhand book.
- The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a woman filing for bankruptcy can keep her first edition Book of Mormon and will not be required to sell it to pay creditors. Anna Robinson says she found the book while cleaning a library storage area in 2003, and that the director told her she could keep whatever books she found. [Shakes head incredulously].
- February's Rare Book Monthly is out, including a report on the lawsuit over books stolen from NYPL, a recap of the Pirie sale, and more.
- From Daniel Grant in the Observer, "The Rarefied World of Book Collecting Is Not a Dying Art."
- Reading Sheffield launched recently: it's a collection of interviews with readers born between 1919 and 1942, with much background and context. I encourage a look-round.
- J.L. Bell covers the lawsuit over the Franklin & Hall manuscript over at Boston 1775.
- Sarah Lyall profiles London bookshop Heywood Hill for the NYTimes' T Magazine.
- At Echoes from the Vault, Carina Müller writes about cataloging the John Sturgeon Mackay's collection of mathematical books.
Reviews
- "Blooks: The Art of Books That Aren't" (Grolier Club exhibition); reviews by Jennifer Schuessler in the NYTimes and Rebecca Rego Barry in the Guardian.
- Iain Pears' Arcadia; review by Steve Donoghue in the WaPo.
- Rebecca Rego Barry's Rare Books Uncovered; review by Bill Ruehlmann in the Virginian-Pilot.
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