29.04.06.
Bedtime
stories become just fairy tales
According to a survey, parents start out
reading to small children but abandon it as they grow up, to the point where just
3% of children aged 12 say they are read to every day. Only one in 10 children
aged seven to 12 say they have a daily bedtime story or reading, but there is
clearly some embarrassment among parents over this. More than a third insisted
they did read to their seven to 12-year-olds every day … more
Add a comment Painting’s
owner pleads: Don’t frame me
A red-faced Cambridge (USA) antique books-dealer
owned up yesterday to the hideous pseudo-Picasso painting that had state officials
in a maze of confusion over whether the knockoff might have belonged to fugitive
mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. But before feasting his eyes on the long lost "chef
d’oeuvre," Robert Marshall, 64, rang the FBI to say reports of his ties to the
former Boston crime boss are as likely as the painting being a true Picasso …
more
Add a comment Book
Street, India
Aili McConnon on the booksellers of Mumbai … more
Add a comment Rare
book made of cloth among 70,000 manuscripts
A rare 800-year-old book made
entirely out of cloth is one among thousands of historic manuscripts housed at
the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Institute of Indology in Ahmedabad, where ancient book
preserving techniques are being used … more
Add a comment
28.04.06.
Treasure
at every turn
If you want to read about dentistry or the Bible, go to
any bookstore or library. If you want to read about dentistry written in Greek
or the Bible written in Gaelic, go to Books With a Past, in Concord … more
Add a comment Secrets
of the Booker king
Martyn Goff has run Britain's most prestigious literary
prize for 34 years. As he prepares to step down, John Walsh hears all the gossip,
scandal, rumours - and even the odd true story … more
Add a comment Not
novel enough
A teen novel by a Harvard student accused of plagiarizing
a successful author of young adult fiction was yanked Thursday from bookstores
by its publisher, Little, Brown & Co … more
Add a comment The
Morgan's treasures bedazzle in their new jewel box
It has been 2 years,
11 months, 3 weeks and 6 days since the Morgan Library closed for its expansion
by Renzo Piano. Not that I've been counting; I have a life. Still, the time has
not sped by. We revere the Met, we adore the Frick, but the Morgan is extra special,
in a class of its own. No place looks like it, feels like it or has what it has:
namely some of the most sensationally compact art treasures anywhere in this treasure-loving
town … more
Add a comment
27.04.06.
Book
lovers mourn changing face of Kramat Kwitang
In the old days, if you wanted
to get your hands on a first edition of Syumanjaja's Aku, or copies of the works
of Dickens or Camus, you would go to Kramat Kwitang in Central Jakarta. But market
demand has changed. Very few people go to Kwitang now for secondhand books in
good condition, they are mostly after cheap text books … more
Add a comment Bidding
for bookseller
Several Norwegian publishers are interested in trying to
secure the rights to bookseller of Kabul's own story … more
Add a comment Shock
appearance by award winner
History was made at the Freedom to Write awards
last week when, for the first time in the contest's history, the winner turned
up. Novelist and dissident Rakhim Esenov made a surprise appearance at the New
York ceremony following a week of intense diplomatic negotiations prompted by
the award sponsors, writers' organisation PEN America … more
Add a comment UCLA
Library Acquires Isadora Duncan Collection
The UCLA Library has acquired
the largest private collection ever assembled of rare materials by and about modern
dance pioneer Isadora Duncan (1877/78-1927). Built by Los Angeles attorney Howard
Holtzman over a 30-year period, the collection of some 1500 items includes manuscripts,
correspondence, photographs, artwork, contracts and box office statements and
ephemera … more
Add a comment
23.04.06.
No News today...
TheBookGuide is away again but he and the news
will return on April 27th.
22.04.06.
Erotic
sale of the century
Images from a Christie's catalogue are usually displayed
on the internet prior to a sale - but not in this case. "We do not want to attract
visits of the wrong kind," says books specialist Christoph Auvermann. I can understand
his caution. This week, I spent a day studying The Gérard Nordmann Library, which
contains more than 1,200 items. And if there is a difference between erotic art
and pornography, I have yet to find it … more
Add a comment Collecting
lust
The 46th annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair opens today. Among
the shelves of rare first editions and bespectacled booksellers, writer and would-be
collector Eve Claxton discovers, to her surprise, a distinct whiff of glamour
… more
Add a comment Babar
turns 75 this year
How does an elephant king celebrate a milestone birthday?
With a worldwide bash, of course! … more
Add a comment Josephine
Baker exhibit
"Josephine Baker: Image and Icon" makes vivid the visual
impact this cabaret performer had on French culture in the 1920s and '30s. The
title of the Sheldon Art Galleries exhibition, which includes more than 100 photographs,
prints, drawings, posters, sculpture and works of ephemera, is well-chosen. Its
theme is St. Louis native Baker's near constant self-transformation, and in three
chronologically installed galleries, you can see how she exploited her distinctive
image through the decades to become a style icon … more
Add a comment
21.04.06.
Cradle
of Italian printing feted
Italy's cradle of modern printing, a hilltown
near Rome, will be celebrating its history at a two-day conference this weekend.
The event, attended by a host of international scholars, will seek to answer fundamental
questions such as why two German understudies of Gutenberg chose Subiaco south
of Rome as their base when they left Germany … more
Add a comment 21.04.06.
Cradle
of Italian printing feted
Italy's cradle of modern printing, a hilltown
near Rome, will be celebrating its history at a two-day conference this weekend.
The event, attended by a host of international scholars, will seek to answer fundamental
questions such as why two German understudies of Gutenberg chose Subiaco south
of Rome as their base when they left Germany … more
Add a comment Century-old
book spreads lies, fear, hatred
When the secret police of czarist Russia
published "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a slim volume (still available
from many major booksellers) professing to reveal a Jewish master plan to rule
the world, they unleashed a monster that refuses to die. … more
Add a comment Posters
sell well?
Film posters up for auction near Swindon had mixed success when
they went under the hammer. Among them was a film poster of the Beatles film Help!
It sold for £480 and was the most successful out of all the movie memorabilia
… more
Add a comment Bookseller
will sue Seierstad
The real bookseller of Kabul is going to Norway to sue
publisher Cappelen and international bestselling author Åsne Seierstad for what
he feels has been a damaging invasion of his privacy … more
Add a comment
20.04.06.
County
Mayo to reap the benefit of Jackie’s legacy
Jackie Clarke was well-known
in his native Ballina as a collector of Irish artifacts. But no-one ever guessed
the full extent of his outstanding library … more
Add a comment Early
editions of Book of Mormon found
Four early editions of the Book of Mormon
stolen in two separate thefts have been recovered, police said … more
Add a comment Rowling
digs deep in memory of mother
The author JK Rowling has made a "major"
donation to fund research into multiple sclerosis, the disease from which her
late mother suffered, it was announced yesterday … more
Add a comment Lennon
book sells for £126,500
A John Lennon schoolbook containing a drawing of
a walrus was sold at auction last night for more than £125,000. The picture by
the late Beatle is an illustration of Lewis Carroll's poem, The Walrus And The
Carpenter … more
Add a comment
15.04.06
No
News today...
TheBookGuide is away for a few days but he and the news will
return on April 20th. However, desperate news junkies can find links to 1,000's
of book related stories and articles in our archives.
14.04.06.
Judas
Gospel figure has tainted past
In its unveiling of the Gospel of Judas
last week, the National Geographic Society credited Swiss antiquities dealer Frieda
Nussberger Tchacos with "rescuing" the ancient manuscript, described as one of
the most important archeological finds of the last century. But National Geographic
made no mention of a suspended sentence Tchacos received in Italy four years ago
for possession of looted antiquities, nor her alleged involvement for years in
antiquities trafficking … more
Add a comment V&A
exhibition cracks the real Da Vinci code
The Victoria and Albert Museum
insisted yesterday that its new exhibition had nothing to do with the Da Vinci
Code phenomenon, but the coincidence will certainly push up the visitor numbers.
It is to hold a major exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci drawings this autumn - the
first in London for almost two decades … more
Add a comment Kandinsky
notes get English debut
Letters from Russian-born 19th Century artist Wassily
Kandinsky to two of his patrons are to be published in English for the first time
later this year. The publication coincides with an exhibition of more than 55
of Kandinsky's paintings at the Tate Modern in London … more
Add a comment Revolutionary
atlas at book fair
Sometimes rare-book dealers love books so much that
they will act against their best commercial interest. Take William Reese of New
Haven, one of 195 international dealers at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair,
which opens Thursday night with a benefit for the New York Public Library and
runs through April 23 at the Seventh Regiment Armory, 643 Park Avenue, at 67th
Street … more
Add a comment
13.04.06.
Salute
to Beckett on 100th anniversary of writer's birth
Cities around the world
will today host events to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s
birthday. Beckett, who wrote most of his major work in French, was born in Foxrock,
Co Dublin on April 13, 1906. Dublin will today join London, Paris, New York and
Tokyo in organising centenary celebrations to honour the eccentric writer … more
Add a comment Rare
books stolen from Pioneer Museum
A dozen rare books, including two first-edition
copies of the Book of Mormon, have been stolen from the museum operated by the
Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, police said Wednesday. The museum told police
the value of the materials tops $100,000 but Salt Lake City rare book dealer Ken
Sanders said he believes their worth could be considerably more, because several
of the manuscripts bear inscriptions from early church leaders … more
Add a comment Rare
gardening book to fetch £350
A box of old books handed in to a charity
shop turned out to contain a 100-year-old book by the Lake District's most famous
gardener … more
Add a comment US
drops library gag order in Patriot Act dispute
The government has backed
down in at least one battle over the Patriot Act by dropping a gag order imposed
on a library that refuses to reveal a reader's borrowing habits. The library,
thought to be Connecticut, is resisting an FBI request to produce the records
of one of its patrons because the agency refuses to identify the threat posed
by the person … more
Add a comment
11.04.06.
Spectacular
manuscript and collectibles auction
Ableauctions.com, through their subsidiary
iCollector, announced yesterday that it will host the Goldberg Manuscript and
Collectibles Auction April 15, 2006. Highlighting this auction will be an American
flag signed by the last nine Presidents, from John F. Kennedy through George W.
Bush, and the famous stunt gun used by Al Pacino in the movie "Scarface". Other
items of interest are a Howard Hughes archive, a World War II Victory Proclamation
signed by Harry Truman, an original map from the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty,
letters and documents signed by scientists such as Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud,
and Marie Curie … more
Add a comment Why
Nigeria’s Literature is the best in Africa
Left to the Western world, they
would continue to insist that the black race has no history, culture tradition,
literature, philosophy, religion and arts. Even when the whites tend to believe
that Africans have all these, they describe them as crude, barbaric, raw, and
inferior to that of their race, which they see as refined … more
Add a comment Remembering
the look, the sound, the grit of a revolution
"Black Panther Rank and File"
at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts celebrates the founding of
the Black Panther Party 40 years ago. Reading or listening to the rhetoric of
the '60s Panthers can make a visitor cringe. Not merely because it sounds dated
or naive, though some of it does, but because today we so seldom hear in public
speech the plain-spoken anger over injustice that it voices … more
Add a comment The
house that Harry built
Once, Bloomsbury was a small, well-respected, independent
publisher. Now, thanks to JK Rowling's phenomenal success, it has more money than
it knows how to spend. But are the Potter millions distorting the British book
trade? And does the publisher risk losing its soul? Matt Seaton reports … more
Add a comment
10.04.06.
Mystery
photographs part of Ruskin collection
A set of more than 100 photographs
that The Daily Telegraph revealed had fetched £75,000 at a provincial auction
after being valued at £80 are almost certainly long-lost Daguerreotypes of Venice
taken by the critic, artist and social reformer John Ruskin … more
Add a comment Citizen
Kane? Don't bother to show it
For more than 30 years Britain’s most influential
reviewer supplied his opinions of new releases to cinema-owners who subscribed
to the service from the McCarthy agency, of London. The anonymous notices governed
what cinema audiences would - and would not - see.
Edward
Maggs, the antiquarian dealer, is to offer the collection for £12,500 at this
year’s Antiquarian Book Fair at Olympia in June. But he may well have sold it
beforehand, to judge by the interest expressed yesterday by the British Film Institute
… more
Add a comment Police
plea on macabre book find
Police are trying to locate the owner of a 300-year-old
ledger, bound in human skin, found in a Leeds road … more
Add a comment Library
handed 'rare' Dracula books
A rare collection of Dracula-related books
is to be handed over to Dublin City Library, it emerged yesterday. It includes
copies of books on vampires and Transylvanian history likely to have been used
by Dublin-born author Bram Stoker for his classic horror novel, foreign translations
of Dracula, and first editions of some of Stoker’s other books … more
Add a comment
08.04.06.
Tribe
gets copies of classic books
Two Sacramento residents have donated to the
Cherokee Nation historic books, including one written over a century ago. The
classics were given away "with the hope that the younger generation of Cherokees
will read and study them so that they can know and appreciate our great heritage,"
said Robert and Lois Whisenhunt … more
Add a comment Is
it really the Gospel truth?
The Gospel of Judas, whose crumbling fragments
were found in an Egyptian cave by illiterate peasants in the 1970s - and whose
exact contents were finally revealed at a press conference in Washington - is
one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries for decades.
It
is also one of the most disturbing for Christians, more than a billion of whom
are preparing to celebrate an Easter resurrection that, according to this second-century
document, never happened … more
Add a comment 'Stuff
of dreams' for book lovers
"This is the first time I've been to a bookstore
that I actually had to search for," said David Armstrong, a visitor from Colorado
who heard of the shop in Benson, Arizona … more
Add a comment Two
UK bookshops open
Yesterday saw the opening of Brownhills Books in the
West Midlands. And on Monday, Orange Skies Books will be the latest bookshop to
open in Sedburgh … more
Add a comment Brown
wins Da Vinci Code case
A high court judge yesterday rejected claims that
Dan Brown's bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code breached the copyright of an earlier
book … more
Add a comment
07.04.06.
'Da
Vinci' plagiarism suit spurs book sales
A judge in London is due to decide
today whether Dan Brown plagiarized the plot of his best-selling The Da Vinci
Code from two other writers. Judging by book sales, readers may not care. More
than 500,000 copies of Brown's thriller were sold in the first week after its
paperback release on March 28, Random House Inc.'s Anchor Books said Wednesday
… more
Add a comment Baghdad
bookshop burnt
Khalid Bookshop was the first target for the new insurgents’
strategy; it is the oldest bookshop at Rabi Street, west of Baghdad, it was set
on fire around 9 pm on Monday, no casualties but every thing in the book shop
was burned … more
Add a comment Unputdownable?
Bangalore's
near-legendary Premier bookstore faces closure. Book-lovers are distraught … more
Add a comment Library
guards stand up to gangs
Doormen are being employed to guard libraries
in Fallowfield after staff and visitors complained that they were being intimidated
by gangs of young yobs … more
Add a comment
06.04.06.
Rarity
speaks volumes
If you're looking for something to collect, with an eye
for investment, some depth and variety, think books. One of the most traditional
of collecting fields, books attract people for all kinds of reasons, but for a
seasoned collector the information contained in a book can sometimes be the least
reason to buy it … more
Add a comment DiMaggio
auction preview
Among the highlights of the Joe DiMaggio Collection to
be auctioned at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City on May 19-20, is a
Marilyn Monroe autographed photograph to Joe DiMaggio. The sepia tone 8x10 matted
and framed image of Marilyn reclining on a satin chair is signed across the front
in bold blue ink, "I love you Joe, Marilyn" … more
Add a comment Stealing
beats borrowing
Selfishness is trumping sharing as £150m worth of books
are filched from local libraries every year … more
Add a comment Tome
raiders
A project to connect all Australian libraries and their collections
of 40 million items on the internet will allow readers to find books, copy them
or even buy them from online stores … more
Add a comment
04.04.06.
Sony
e-book reader headed to Borders book stores
At CES last January, officials
from Sony told TG Daily that the company's digital book reader device, based on
E Ink's thin, very-high-definition "electronic ink" display, would be available
in the US this spring.
Yesterday morning, Sony took
the next step in delivering on that promise, announcing a marketing deal to sell
its Sony Reader portable electronic book device through Borders book stores in
the US, though Sony did not reveal many other details … more
Add a comment Heritage
presents a Daring Mystery!
"This was one of Timely’s earliest efforts,"
said Ed Jaster, Vice-President of Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, "following
their maiden title, Marvel Comics, by only a few scant months. While it doesn’t
hold as lofty a place in comics’ history as some of its Timely brethren, Daring
Mystery #1 has a lot to recommend it, not the least of which is a stunning cover
by the legendary Alex Schomburg featuring bondage, hooded bad guys and action
galore!" … more
Add a comment Arab
literary giant Mohammad al-Maghout dies
Syrian writer Mohammad al-Maghout,
whose poems and plays fiercely criticized Arab regimes, died on Monday aged 72,
the official news agency SANA said. "Syria and the Arab world lost a giant today,"
the agency said, adding that Maghout had died after a long illness … more
Add a comment Edible
book festival a delicious success
"On your marks! Get set! Get a plate!
Graze!" announced Edward Hoyenski, assistant to the curator in the Rare Book Room
to kick off the taste competition. The competition was part of NT’s seventh annual
Edible Books Festival Monday in Willis Library’s Rare Book Room … more
Add a comment
03.04.06.
US
cook wins blogging book prize
An American cook's adventures in the kitchen
have won the first literary prize for bloggers turned authors. Julie Powell's
tales of French cooking beat the intimate diary of a prostitute and a guide to
the UK's best "greasy spoon" cafes to take the Blooker Prize … more
Add a comment Egyptian
techniques to save China's ancient books
China will borrow Egyptian techniques
used to preserve the murals in the pyramids to save China's ancient books. "China's
ancient books may be destroyed by acidification within a hundred years if repair
techniques are not improved," said Zhang Zhiqing, director of the rare book department
of the National Library of China … more
Add a comment Traders
slam scheme to charge for pavement displays
Paul Wallace, manager of David’s
Bookshop in Eastcheap, Letchworth, said: "We’ve put trolleys of books outside
our shop for 40 years." He explained that cheaper books are generally on display
outside and if the council introduced the charge the practice would no longer
be financially viable … more
Add a comment Letters
show Brecht's talent for offending
A series of letters discovered in a
Swiss cellar reveal how Bertolt Brecht, Germany's famously uncompromising playwright,
fell out with some of the 20th century's most glittering literary figures, including
the novelist Christopher Isherwood … more
Add a comment | 
