Livre d’artiste

March 7, 2014
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The art and craft of the book is as broad in content as the human mind over the course of centuries itself. Throughout history, the production of the book has spanned from manuscripts to avant-garde, from traditional forms of design, art techniques and hand-manufacture to the latest technologies, imaging sciences, and automated printing machines. Whether […]

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Elementa Geometriae – the oldest mathematical textbook

February 28, 2014
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The field of mathematics has a long and fascinating origin. Its foundation is based in logic, which has greatly enhanced its significant development.  This invaluable foundation in logic is seen in a work that took place in ancient Greece in the centuries preceding Euclid. I am currently reading a very interesting commentary on the history […]

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The 1501 Aldine Edition of Petrarch (vellum) or The Rhetorical Delivery of a New Practice: Printing Modern Poetry

February 21, 2014
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It is never easy to deliver a new idea, a new invention, or a new product. In his famed article, “Is Google Making us Stupid?”[1] Nicholas Carr notes that Guttenberg’s invention was met with anxiety by many, who worried that “cheaply printed books would undermine religious authority, demean the work of scholars and scribes, and spread […]

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Love is a Pink Cake

February 10, 2014
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Almost all Christian wedding ceremonies include the favorite Bible verse which includes the phrase “Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8a), to convey the essence of love.  During the month of February, many of us try to find the perfect opportunity to rekindle a romance or strengthen a bond amid the commercialized chocolate […]

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A Piece On Paper

February 7, 2014
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  The history of paper is well known to anyone dealing with manuscripts, books and other similar material. Paper was the preferred option in Europe due to its cost, which was lower than that of vellum, adopted earlier as the primary writing material. It quickly became known in Western Europe, having travelled from China through the […]

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Two prayer books, two auctions, same result

January 30, 2014
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Yesterday, the Christie’s auction house sold The Rothchild Prayerbook, a Book of Hours, illuminated manuscript for $13,605,000 with the buyer’s premium. The auction held at the Rockefeller Plaza in New York had  an estimated sale value of $12,000,000-$18,000,000. The book, a masterpiece of Renaissance art, contains lavish  and extensive miniature illustrations of unsurpassed beauty in […]

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Commuter Libraries and their Effect on Scarcity

January 24, 2014
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The short-lived publishing house of William Godwin formally started operations in 1930 in New York. Talk about bad timing; the depression that began around September 4, 1929 had caused the famous Black Tuesday market crash of October 29, 1929, setting a bleak backdrop for the publishing house’s humble beginnings. For a small publisher looking to […]

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Rare Book Sale Monitor update – 4th Quarter 2013

January 10, 2014
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In last quarter’s Rare Book Sale Monitor (RBSM) update we outlined how the RBSM handles the ranking of a book’s condition. In this update we will go over some of the workings of the RBSM engine in ranking special features of an antiquarian volume. More specifically, we will cover modeling aspects used to identify data […]

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Robert Crumb – book Vs underground comic

January 3, 2014
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The first book illustrated by Robert Crumb does not rank as high by his large group of followers, as some of his underground comic magazines.  However, the controversial, American cartoonist and musician released his first book as well as the first issue of his first comic book around the same time. The year was 1967 […]

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Happy New Rare Book Year – 2014

December 27, 2013
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How often do you discover a book of interest in a bricks and mortar bookstore and, instead of buying it on the spot, you complete the purchase of that same book online? According to a recent survey by the Codex Group, approximately a quarter of all books purchased online fall into that category. Bookshops have […]

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