National Book Award winners
20 Thursday Nov 2008
Posted in Literature, News
Monthly Archives: November 2008
A Milton Marathon and a few other book bits…
19 Wednesday Nov 2008
Posted in Antiquarian Books, Literature
See this article in the Chronicle of Higher Education about a marathon reading of Milton’s Paradise Lost at St. Olaf College in Minnesota - a celebration of the author’s upcoming 400th birthday (December 9, 1608); there are other such plans at several colleges. Not sure I could sit through such a day!
Legacy Libraries Project at Library Thing: ”I See Dead People’s Books,” the cataloguing of famous people’s libraries. See the lists of those “completed” and those in process, and learn how to start your own project on your favorite author (I see none yet for Jane Austen but she is listed in the Proposed Libraries.)
And is it true? and so very sad to hear that Fine Books & Collections will be going solely digital beginning January 2009. And so it, too, goes the way of Biblio. See this link at Lux Mentis, Lux Orbis, with whom I heartily agree… I, too, ”want” the hard copy of these journals on my shelf. Why can we not sustain such a journal as this I wonder??
Is a Kindle still a Book?
18 Tuesday Nov 2008
Posted in Antiquarian Books, News
Tags
See this article by Bob Welch from a Eugene, Oregon online paper Register-Guard.com about the technology of the new Kindle - the author asks “are downloadable books still books? ” I open it up for debate here, or you can go to the author’s blog site and respond to him directly (there are already 16 comments.)
Vermont Historical Society: 10 Treasures of the VHS Library
18 Tuesday Nov 2008
Posted in News, Vermont Resources
Friday, November 21, 2008,
Ten treasures of the VHS Library: Celebration of Reiko and Charles E. Tuttle, Jr. Fund
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm • VHS Leahy Library, 60 Washington St., Barre, VT
Come see Ethan Allen’s “Reason, the Only Oracle of Man,” the earliest photographic images of Vermont, the original map for the proposed highway across the tops of the Green Mountains, plus seven other priceless materials in the VHS Leahy Library vaults! We will celebrate the launch of the Reiko and Charles E. Tuttle, Jr. Fund, which will benefit the library for years to come, making it possible to preserve and share treasures like these. Free – all are welcome. See the VHS website for more information.
On Bibliophiles and browsing…
18 Tuesday Nov 2008
Posted in Antiquarian Books, Bookshops
Here is an interesting article by Theodore Dalrymple “Of Bibliophilia and Biblioclasm” at New English Review. A look back at the lost art of book store browsing … and the “sacred quality of books.”
“Handle this Book!”
17 Monday Nov 2008
Posted in Antiquarian Books, News
TOUCHING HISTORY at the University of Pennsylvania: Students can now peruse ancient texts at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at the University of Pennsylvania. “We’re not running a museum,” says John Pollack, one of the library’s specialists. See this article with photos in the NY Times “Handle This Book!” by Roger Mummert about the trend in Rare Book Libraries and Special Collections to encourage this”hands-on” experience … no more white gloves!
Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”
17 Monday Nov 2008
Posted in Book History, Women Writers
A new edition of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein again raises the question of how much of the work was that of Shelley’s husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. Read this article by Jennifer Howard at the Chronicle of Higher Education.
The Bodleian Library has published Charles E. Robinson’s edition of The Original Frankenstein, “a version of the novel that probably comes as close as it’s possible to get to the draft that Mary first handed Percy to read.” See this review from the publisher.
Featured Title: Shakespeare
11 Tuesday Nov 2008
Posted in Antiquarian Books, Featured Titles for sale
The Complete Works of Shakespeare [ Limited Edition ]
William Shakespeare, George Lyman Kittredge [editor]
Price: $400.00
Publisher: Ginn and Company
Publisher Location: Boston
Book Condition: Collectible; LIKE NEW
Binding: Hardcover
Limited edition: “Of this First Edition of The Complete Works of Shakespeare, Two Hundred and Fifty Copies are printed on All-Rag paper. This Copy is No. 121″ SIGNED BY THE EDITOR G.L. Kittredge. The present edition includes all the plays and poems that are ascribed to him, in whole or in part, on satisfactory evidence…The text has been determined by a fresh collation of the original editions…” [from the Preface] 8vo, full cream-colored leather with gilt lettering and decoration on front cover and spine, all edges gilt, 1561 pages, frontispiece of Shakespeare “after the Droeshout Copperplate Portrait of the First Folio.” FINE condition is a VERY GOOD slipcase: book is like new; slipcase (numbered 121) has a few scuff marks and light edgewear, a small red spot on front panel. An absolutely gorgeous copy of this title.
Nov 11 ~ Literary Calendar
11 Tuesday Nov 2008
Posted in Literary calendar, News
- Fyodor Dostoevsky, born 1821in Moscow
- Louisa May Alcott, 1854, first published story “The Rival Prima Donnas” appears under the pen name Flora Fairfield in the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette
- Kurt Vonnegut, born 1922, in Indianapolis
- James Baldwin, in 1948 sails for Europe with a one-way ticket
“I think the health of our civilization … and our concern for the future can be tested by how well we support our libraries.” [Carl Sagan]
Nov 10 ~ Literary Calendar
10 Monday Nov 2008
Posted in Literary calendar
- William Hogarth, born 1697 in London
- Oliver Goldsmith, born 1730 in Ballymahon
- Samuel Richardson begins his first book, Pamela, at age 50
- Friedrich von Schiller, born 1759 in Wurttemberg
- Vachel Lindsay, born 1879 in Springfield, Illinois
“I think the health of our civilization … and our concern for the future can be tested by how well we support our libraries.” [Carl Sagan]
