The Fine Books & Collections October 2009 issue has an article on Jane Austen to announce the upcoming exhibit at the Morgan Library & Museum which will run from November 6, 2009 – March 14, 2010. 

See the full article here and see the Morgan information here [there will be a gallery talk on November 20th at 7 p.m.]  See also my post on this exhibition on my Jane Austen in Vermont blog.

Anonymous 19th-c miniature of Jane Austen - Morgan Library

The Boston Public Library is hosting “Bound for Success: Designer Bookbinders International Bookbinding Exhibition”, showcasing a selection of the entries in the 2009 competition:

The 117 bindings on display [first exhibited at the Bodleian Library] show remarkable ingenuity, technical skill, and sophistication. With its impressive range of cultural and geographical differences in the contemporary art of bookbinding, this exhibition offers a fascinating and beautiful overview of the work of 21st-century designer binders.

[from the BPL website] 

The exhibition catalogue, Bound for Success: Catalogue for Designer Bookbinders International Competition 2009, which presents nearly 400 of the contemporary bindings entered, is available for purchase at the  University of Chicago Press and through Amazon.com.

The exhibit runs through December 13, 2009 at the Boston Public Library.  Exhibition dates:

12 June – 1 August 2009                    Bodleian Library, Oxford
18 September – 13 December 2009   Boston Public Library
12 February – 6 March 2010              Bonhams & Butterfields, San Francisco
19 May – 31 July 2010                       The Grolier Club of New York

For more information, see the Designer Bookbinders website and click here for information on the 2009 international competition.

There are TWO copies of Jane Austen’s Emma to appear at auction in the next several weeks:

At Swann Galleries [NY] ~ 10/01/09:

19th & 20th Century Literature – Sale 2188, Lot 5 

AUSTEN, JANE. Emma. 3 volumes. 12mo, contemporary 1/4 brown calf over marbled boards, gilt lettering, bands, and volume numbers on spines, rubbing with loss at edges and tips (which are bumped), more so on volume 3; Volume 1 with creased and loose front endpaper, B3 with 1/4-inch hole affecting text, clean tears at B5 and C2, ink stain on G10, various short clean lower marginal tears throughout, several repaired; Volume 2, marginal repair to leaves M6 and 7, O9 stained, Q4 with 2-inch tear, Q5-8 with repairs to lower margins; Volume 3, chip to lower corner of G11 (affects text), page 215 wrongly numbered as 515 (noted in Gilson), marginal repair to O1; all volumes lack half-titles and contain 19th century booksellers ticket of M. Stapley, Tunbridge Wells, scattered light foxing, soiling. London: John Murray, 1816

Estimate $5,000-7,000

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and another at Bonhams [Los Angeles]~ 10/19/09

 Fine Books and Manuscripts – Sale 17520,  Lot 100

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[all information from the auction catalogues]

This just in from Publisher’s Weekly:

The U.K. online bookseller, BookDepository.co.uk, today opened a U.S. storefront at bookdepository.com. The company, which won Direct Bookseller of the Year at the British Book Awards, is looking to compete with the deeply entrenched Amazon.com (and behind it bn.com) on pricing. Among bestsellers The Shack, for example, is $8.24 at Amazon and $7.48 at BookDepository.

BookDepository.com’s Kieron Smith noted that the company is up against the same competition in the UK and has been making headway there. BookDepository.com had sales of $100 million last year with half of that generated from international sources. The U.S. site, which is a step in the company’s move to develop its brand internationally, offers a number of titles at cheaper prices than Amazon and, Smith pointed out, with 2.4 million titles available, BookDepository.com carries more books than Amazon.

Having an American site also allows the company to, as Smith put it, “sell US titles that we couldn’t before, due to rights restrictions in the UK.” The company is currently fulfilling U.S. orders from England and will reassess this practice when “volumes are a little higher.”

Further Reading:

• See the PW article here
• See the US website at Bookdepository.com
• See the UK website at Bookdepository.co.uk 

Today is the birthday of Ann (Ward) Radcliffe, author of various Gothic romances, one of the authors cited and parodied in Austen’s Northanger Abbey -  most known for The Mysteries of Udolpho [1794] and The Romance of the Forest [1791], where “terrified heroines hold on to their religion and reason; natural laws are never infringed; human imagination creates the apparent supernatural, and audio-visual effects are important…” [1]

Ann Radcliffe was born in London on July 9, 1764, the only child of a tradesman, and a well-connected mother.  She married William Radcliffe in 1787 – he was a journalist who later edited and owned The English Chronicle.  Radcliffe began to write to pass the time, and her first novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne, A Highland Story, was published anonymously in 1789.  This was followed by A Sicilian Romance in 1790.  But is was The Romance of the Forest, published in 1791 that generated a public following – it was “one of the earlier novels to construct a narrative of mystery, suspense, and ever-impending horror and terror.” [2]  Romance is today less well known that her two subsequent novels, The Mysteries of Udolpho in 1794 [which earned the author £500] and The Italian in 1797 [earning an unprecedented £800] – made famous of course as two of the “horrid” novels noted by Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey [see my post on these novels here].

Not much is known of Radcliffe’s life – she was very private and shunned the spotlight  – indeed there is no extant portrait or likeness of her.  She did travel with her husband, writing A Journey made in the Summer of 1794 through Holland and the Western Frontiers of Germany [published in 1795].  The Italian was her last published work in her lifetime; she wrote her last novel in 1802, Gaston de Blondeville, which was published posthumously in 1826.  Her later years were as mysterious as the tales in her novels – there were many rumors of her death, her mental illness, but it is likely she suffered a fatal asthma attack in 1823 – she is buried in a vault in the Chapel of Ease belonging to St. George’s, Hanover Square in London.

Radcliffe “created the novel of suspense by combining the Gothic romance of Horace Walpole [The Castle of Otranto, 1765] with the novel of sensibility, which focused on the proper, tender heroine and emphasized the love interest.” [3]  She was an innovator in her use of the supernatural and landscape [4] [see Radcliffe's work  "On the Supernatural in Poetry"], while making “strong political statements on the oppression of women in patriarchal society,” [5] but in her particular form of the Gothic, mysteries may confound for pages, spectral figures, distant groans and ghostly music may haunt the heroine, but eventually all is explained and reason prevails.” [6]  Today, Radcliffe is not widely read – but in her day, she was one of the most popular of novelists, and her work lies at the forefront of the Gothic tradition.  Time for a re-read I think!

1. Blain, Virginia, Patricia Clements, Isobel Grundy. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English  [Yale University Press,  1990] p. 884
2.  Radcliffe, Ann; edited by Chloe Chard. The Romance of the Forest [ Oxford University Press, 1986]  p. viii.
3.  Melani, Lilia.  “Ann Radcliffe” at: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/novel_18c/radcliffe/index.html, p.1
4.  Ibid, p. 6.
5.  Facer, Ruth.  “Ann Radcliffe”, Chawton House Library Biographies at: http://www.chawton.org/library/biographies/radcliffe.html, p. 2.
6.  Ibid, p. 4.

Further reading:

The Works:

• The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789) -  e-text at Internet Archive and UPenn.edu
• A Sicilian Romance (1790) – e-text at the Literature Network
• The Romance of the Forest (1791) – e-text at Adelaide.edu.au and Questia.com
• The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794) – e-text at the Literature Network, and atGirlebooks
• The Italian (1797) – e-text at Adelaide.edu.au
• Gaston de Blondeville (1826) – e-text at Internet Archive [ The Posthumous Works of Anne Radcliffe ]
• Journey through Holland and the Western Frontier of Germany (1795) – e-text at Internet Archive [vol.1], and e-text at Internet Archive [vol. 2]
• Poems of Mrs. Ann Radcliffe [London 1816] – the collected poems from the novels  [a pirated edition],  e-text at upenn.edu
• “On the Supernatural in Poetry”  [from The New Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, vol 16, no. 1, 1826, 145-152]

Online Sources:

• Ann Radcliffe Biographyby Ruth Facer at the Chawton House Library
• Ann Radcliffe at the Victorian Web
• Ann Radcliffe at The Literary Gothic
• Ann Radcliffe overview by Lilia Melani at CUNY/ Brooklyn College
• Reference Sources at Infography
• “Mrs. Radcliffe’s Novels” by Andrew Lang at Adelaide.edu.au
• Smith, Chris. “Raising Radcliffe: The Roots of Gothic Tradition,” The University of Maine [2003]

We all love booklists – over at The Bookshop Blog, Nora O’Neill has posted a summer reading list, a compilation from various high schools in Connecticut.  I post here just the books listed – see the full post for her commentary on each title. [I was especially pleased to see my two favorite books on the list :  The Grapes of Wrath and Pride and Prejudice!] – there is hope in the land!

1. John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath  [“This is by far the runaway winner for reading assignments.  Big surprise with it being about the Great Depression. East of Eden and Of Mice and Men also made it onto the list this year.  Several years ago, the only Steinbeck to make it onto the lists was Travels With Charlie”]
2. Ellison: Invisible Man
3. Mark Haddon: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime
4. John Irving: A Prayer for Owen Meany 
5. Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice  [“Jane Austen seems to be a hot topic of late, spawning various modern… variations.  The most bizarre of these is Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I did actually see on one reading list.”] 
6. Friedman: The World is Flat
7. Alvarez: In the Time of the Butterflies
8. Larson: The Devil in the White City
9. Martel: The Life of Pi
10. Sinclair: The Jungle
11. Picoult: My Sister’s Keeper
12. Thomas Hardy: Jude the Obscure
13. Albom: Tuesdays with Morie
14. Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying
15. Bill Bryson: A Walk in the Woods
16. Baker: Growing Up
17. Hosseini:  Kite Runner
18. Angelou: “I Know why the Caged Bird sings”
19. Wilder:  Our Town
20. Rand:  Anthem, The Fountainhead, & Atlas Shrugged
21. Golding:  Lord of the Flies
22. Orwell:  1984
23. Adams:   Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
24. Brown:  Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
25. Guterson:  Snow Falling on Cedars
26. Hugo: Hunchback of Notre Dame
27. Junger: The Perfect Storm
28. McCourt: Angela’s Ashes
29. McEwan: Atonement
30. Morrison: The Bluest Eye
31. Remarque: All Quiet on the Western Front
32. Stoker:  Dracula
33. Walker: The Color Purple
34. Plath: The Bell Jar
35. Courtenay: The Power of One

The Steinbeck Bear Flag Cafe manuscript I posted on here did not sell at the Bloomsbury Auction on June 23, 2009.  Of Mice and Men did sell over the estimate of $2000 – $3000 for $3200.

433. STEINBECK, John (1902-1968). Of Mice and Men. New York: Viking, 1937. Original black and orange-decorated tan cloth with dust jacket. Condition: tape residue to free endpapers; slight rubbing at head of jacket spine.  First edition, first issue inscribed by Steinbeck, “For Katherine Lowry/ John Steinbeck” on endpaper. With the bullet on p. 88. Goldstone & Payne A7a.

est. $2000 – $3000  Sold for $3200

For full auction results, go to the Bloomsbury Auctions website.

[The Sea of Cortez I mention in the previous blog will be for sale at the June 30th New York Bloomsbury Auction.  The catalogue for this sale can be found at the No Reserve Bibliophile Sale, featuring property from Heritage Book Shop, Colonial Williamsburg and The Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Bloomsbury Auctions has announced the availablility of the following Steinbeck manuscripts for sale at auction on June 23, 2009, New York:

432.  STEINBECK, John (1902-1968). The Bear Flag Cafe/Sweet Thursday Archive Steinbeck’s abandonment of his libretto for a stage musical based on his book “Cannery Row” yielded instead a sequel to that novel, published as “Sweet Thursday….”
an extraordinary collection of primary material from May to September 1953 including two manuscripts relating to the development and writing of the work originally begun as the stage production “Bear Flag/Cannery Row” and transformed by Steinbeck into “Sweet Thursday.”

Containing two manuscripts of major importance, including a virtually complete original typescript of the novel chapters 1-28 and 33-40, and an earlier, substantially complete holograph manuscript of either complete chapters or major portions of 29 of the published novel’s 40 chapters, the archive represents a fascinating insight into Steinbeck’s composition and revision of a work from its initial outline to its final completion. Writing in a self-imposed seclusion in Sag Harbor, the author’s struggle with the work’s major transformation is evident from letters within the archive as is his sadness and depression at finally finishing the manuscript, ending his relationship with the characters.
Major character and plot changes are represented in both the typescript and the manuscript with 35 pp. of original or carbon typescript of unused material including an unpublished introduction to the novel, a another involving illegal Mexican immigrant workers, a different version on Joseph and Mary’s run-in with the Los Angeles police and lengthy scene with most of the major characters in Doc’s laboratory
.
Steinbeck’s initial vision of the work, begun as the play “The Bear Flag Café” is extensively represented with over 120 pp. of the initial plot outlines and characters for the play in two titled versions (as “Bear Flag” and as “Cannery Row”) and includes both original holograph manuscripts and original or carbon typescripts as well as untitled or unassigned material originally meant for the stage production, the dialogue from some of which appears in the published novel. Included also are Steinbeck’s sketches for the stage design.
Adding to the depth of material are 12 letters written towards the novels completion to a variety of correspondents providing further insights to Steinbeck’s emotional connection to the work and its characters as well partial fragments and notes unrelated to the novel or play.
Given the institutional holdings of original manuscripts of Steinbeck’s major works, the present represents the most comprehensive and important archive of any remaining in private hands and provides remarkable opportunities for research into the author’s process.

estimate:  $200,000 – $300,000

• For further details see the Bloomsbury sale catalogue
• An article in the New York Times on the manuscript

There are also two other Steinbeck works in the sale:

134. STEINBECK, John. Sea of Cortez. NY: The Viking Press, 1941. 8vo. Original plain brown wrappers in half morocco clamshell case. Condition: Slightly rubbed. advance copy of the first edition. The result of Steinbeck and Rickett’s trip to the Gulf of California on the Western Flyer. This printing is not the “first edition in wrappers” described in Goldstone & Payne, but rather an advance issue omitting the illustrations and scientific appendix. Goldstone & Payne A15a. — America and Americans. NY: The Viking Press, 1966. 4to. Photographically illustrated. Publisher’s cloth in dust jacket. Condition: jacket with small chip to outer corner, light darkening. first edition. — The Collected Poems of Amnesia Glasscock. San Francisco: Manroot, 1976. Original printed wrappers, paper dustwrapper. Condition: one minor chip to upper panel at foot. one of 250 numbered copies. (3)  [estimate:  $800. - $1200. ]

433. STEINBECK, John (1902-1968). Of Mice and Men. New York: Viking, 1937. Original black and orange-decorated tan cloth with dust jacket. Condition: tape residue to free endpapers; slight rubbing at head of jacket spine.
first edition, first issue inscribed by steinbeck, “For Katherine Lowry/ John Steinbeck” on endpaper. With the bullet on p. 88. Goldstone & Payne A7a. [Estimate:   $2000 – $3000 ]

[all data from the Bloomsbury Auctions Sale Catalogue - New York, June 23, 2009 ]

Further Reading:

• The National Steinbeck Center
• The Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University

[Personal note:  Steinbeck is my favorite author AFTER Jane Austen - a sure sign of my sagitarrian / schizoid personality (he was after all my undergraduate / graduate thesis and one does not forget this immersion), and a collection of his books sits proudly on the shelves next to "Dear Jane" [though I will not be adding any $300,000.  manuscripts anytime soon!], but I am surprised not to find a blog solely devoted to him – lots of posts, just no blog [there IS a Facebook Page with over 14,000 fans!, as well as numerous blogs on "Steinbeck ruined my summer" etc...] – if there is one out there that I have not stumbled upon, please let me know…! [I cannot possibly take on yet another blog...]

Britain’s Orange Prize, an annual literary award for women writers, was bestowed this evening on Marilynne Robinson for her novel Home.  Robinson, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2005 for her novel Gilead, revisits the setting and some of the characters from her previous work, creating in Home, as described by the judges,  “a kind, wise, enriching novel, exquisitely crafted.”

Click here for more information on the Orange Prize.

 Some reviews:

• The New Yorker review by James Wood
• The New York Times Book Review by A.O. Scott
•  NPR review
• an article on the Orange Prize award at Bloomberg.com
• reviews and information at Amazon.com

The five other finalists were:

Ellen Feldman – “Scottsboro” (Picador/Norton), a fictionalized account of a notorious Depression-era event in Alabama in which nine black youths were accused of gang-raping two white women.

Samantha Hunt - “The Invention of Everything Else” (Harvill Secker/Houghton Mifflin) imagines the last weeks of the Serbian- born scientist Nikola Tesla and his odd relationship with a chambermaid at the Hotel New Yorker.

Samantha Harvey – “The Wilderness” (Cape/Talese), the story of a man in his 60s who struggles to hold onto his memories and identity under the onslaught of Alzheimer’s disease.

Deirdre Madden - “Molly Fox’s Birthday” (Faber), a meditation on the nature of identity and relationships built around the lives of a playwright, an actor and a mutual friend.

Kamila Shamsie - “Burnt Shadows” (Bloomsbury), an epic narrative stretching from Nagasaki in 1945 to the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay after 9/11.

[from Bloomberg.com]

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)—one of the greatest moralists, poets, biographers, critics, essayists, and correspondents of all time—so dominated literary and intellectual life in the last half of the 18th century that the era is frequently referred to as the “Age of Johnson.”  As a conversationalist and writer he was so insightful and adept in the use of language that only Shakespeare and the Bible are quoted more often.

Samuel Johnson: Literary Giant of the 18th Century, a new exhibition opening May 23 and continuing through Sept.  21 in the West Hall of the Library, tells the story of Johnson’s life and achievements through a display of rare books, manuscripts, and portraits drawn from The Huntington’s holdings and from the Loren and Frances Rothschild Collection.  The exhibition is curated by noted Johnson scholar O. M. “Skip” Brack, professor emeritus of English at Arizona State University.

[from the Huntingon Library Website - see for more information on the exhibit]

[title page of Johnson's Dictionary from the Vassar Library website]

Further Reading:

• The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite page
• Samuel Johnson Page by Jack Lynch [updated to 2005] – see also Lynch’s introductory Guide to Samuel Johnson
• Johnson E-Texts online [by Jack Lynch at 18th-century e-texts]
• E-text of Dr. Johnson and Fanny Burney 
• Boswell’s Life of Johnson at Google Books
• Article at the Pasadena Star-News.com
• Review of the two new biographies of Johnson by Peter Martin and Jeffrey Meyers at the NYTimes.com
• And, because I must, one article on Jane Austen and her “Dear Dr. Johnson” at Persuasions, No. 11, 1989, by Gloria Gross

Johnson Portrait by Reynolds