by jim on December 10, 2020
Recently, book collectors, book dealers, auctioneers and book trade organizers, connected in three virtual spaces for the annual Rare Book Week, which usually take place in the month of November, in Boston. The new virtual platform settings had the obvious benefits of enhanced reach, scalability and cost-effectiveness, for the organizers, and the potential of boosting […]
Tagged as:
book auction,
book fairs,
Rare Book Sale Monitor
by Admin on October 31, 2020
Aaah, it’s that wonderful time of the year when New England puts out its glorious foliage as billions of leaves change from green to a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors. The air is crisp and cool — perfect for hiking, and biking along back roads, where farm stands are piled high with crunchy apples and orange […]
Tagged as:
book auction,
book fair,
book trade
The unison of three greatly provocative and time-changing minds were responsible for the bestseller Candy, which on one hand greatly influenced popular culture of the 1960’s, and on the other, caused furor for its vulgar take on contemporary culture. The work of writer Terry Southern, poet Mason Hoffenberg and publisher Maurice Girodias, was originally pseudonymously […]
Tagged as:
banned books,
censorship,
Olympia Press
by Liz on November 12, 2019
The women’s liberation movement during the 1960’s propelled feminist intellectualism which brought us wonderful modern women writers, such as J.K. Rowling, Hilary Mantel, Ursula K. Le Guin and Margaret Atwood. The boys’ club definitely was broken, and is even more apparent when looking back! Critic Sarah Weinman, argues in an essay published by the Library […]
Tagged as:
feminism,
Jane Austen,
women authors
Issued in the aftermath of the Council of Trent (1545-63), the Index of Forbidden Books maintained by the Inquisition became an obstacle to the circulation of books and ideas in Europe and its colonies well into the 20th century – it is only in 1966 that the Catholic Church formally abolished it. Among the famous […]
Tagged as:
censorship,
Forbidden Books. Medieval
by Admin on February 27, 2018
Bookplates or Book Labels1 are nearly as old as printed books themselves. Going as far back as 500 years ago, bookplates, tell us interesting stories that provenance marks in historical books about books and their owners. The earliest known examples of printed bookplates are German, and date from the 15th century. Hand-colored woodcuts, pasted into […]
Tagged as:
bookplates,
forgery,
provenance
by Admin on November 28, 2017
More than 100 years before the invention of educational gaming software, there were “novel and game,” educational board games which came complete with game pieces and instruction booklets, and were often accompanied by the novels which provided the basis of such creations. Educational resources that combine gaming and education into one can be very effective […]
Tagged as:
antiquarian,
chromolithographs
We recently had the opportunity to speak with Laurent Ferri, Curator of the pre-1800 Collections Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, at Cornell University. RBD: Within the scope of your definition of a book [“a closed/bound container of ideas and symbols which reflects and supports the intentions and worldview of its “author(s)”], what are some […]
Tagged as:
institutional collections,
priceless rare books
by Liz on January 10, 2017
I was born in Mainz, Germany. I lived for the first month of my life in a printing plant before being brought to a merchant. I can remember very little about that time, for as soon as I left the plant I was securely stored away in a bookcase outside of town. I was very […]
Tagged as:
book conservation,
Gutenberg Bible,
library
by Admin on December 15, 2016
At a local book trade show not more than three months ago, I had the opportunity to meet up with a few old friends and exchange some provocative conversations relating to my favorite topic – books. The antiquarian book dealer in this particular conversation was delighted to bring up some quite interesting points on the […]
Tagged as:
Christmas gift,
Movie adaptation,
Rare Books