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31.07.08.
Potter fairytales
to be published
A collection of fairytales penned by Harry Potter author JK Rowling
is to be published to raise money for a children's charity. The
Tales of Beedle the Bard, which Rowling first mentioned in The Deathly
Hallows, will go on sale on 4 December
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Blokes bribed
with beer to read books
Organisers of New Zealand Book Month are offering free beer to try
to entice blokes to read books
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Leading French
rare books collector Pierre Beres dies
Pierre Beres, one of France's greatest private collectors of manuscripts
and rare editions, has died at the age of 95, his family said Wednesday
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30.07.08.
30,000 Books
Burn in House Fire
Barry Cavanaugh collapsed on his front lawn as he watched his entire
life's work burn before his eyes. It was all too much for the 64-year-old
book dealer and his artist wife, Peg. They held each other and wept
as their circa 1740 Plumstead home and 30,000 rare books were consumed
by flames
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Vintage six
months for 007 publisher Penguin
Penguin has seen sales rise by 9% and operating profit by 22% in
its first half, in what its chief executive John Makinson called
a "vintage six months". The results were revealed in its parent
Pearson's six month update, with the breakdown of sales indicating
that Pearson Education was the group's strongest performer with
a 17% increase on last year, while FT Group sales were up 11% -
reports The Bookseller
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Thin’s name
to disappear
The name James Thin - for more than 150 years renowned as Edinburgh’s
foremost bookseller - will disappear after the last remnants of
the financially struggling company were today bought by publishing
and bookselling giant Blackwell’s
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Getty Museum
adds rare Ethiopian book
The J. Paul Getty Museum has added a rare Ethiopian Gospel book
to its collection of illuminated manuscripts. Created around 1504-05
with five full-page paintings and many ornamental touches, it is
one of the few such volumes to have survived wars and a Muslim purge
of early Christian imagery in Ethiopia
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29.07.08.
Women and the
Book
The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association and the Women's Library are
presenting a major selling exhibition entitled Women
and the Book. 370 items cover all aspects of woman and the printed
word, and range from Dame Juliana Berners' Boke of St Albans printed
by Caxton's successor Wynkyn de Worde at Westminster in 1496 to a
1997 proof copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K.
Rowling. Literary heavyweights such as Jane Austen, Mary Wollstonecraft
and Virginia Woolf will rub shoulders with presentation and association
copies, as well as ephemeral items such as Suffragette board games.
The price range is £40.00-£75,000, the exhibition runs from August
8th-20th, and you can read the full press release here. Add
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Cook's endeavour
Australia - Rare recipe books entice collectors to embark on voyages
of discovery, says Jenny Tabakoff
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Author honoured
with blue plaque
More than 40 CS Lewis fans gathered for the unveiling of a blue
plaque to honour the famous Oxford author
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New Naturalists:
from mumps to badgers
The NN series has always seemed to get it exactly right with what
the public wanted. Indeed, looking back from what is on sale today,
it seems surprising that some of the early volumes did so well.
The very first, Butterflies, by E. B. Ford, contained quite serious
stuff, including sections on genetics and evolution – more than
one would expect today for a book that sold more than 50,000 copies.
Ford’s second contribution, Moths (number thirty in the series),
was even more demanding of the reader, yet it still sold 14,000
copies
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Swift sale
for Michel Foot’s collection
The former leader of the Labour Party, Michel Foot, who will be
95 this month, has recently sold his entire collection of books
by and about Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). The books by Anglo-Irish
author of the infamous Gulliver’s Travels were snapped up before
the catalogue produced by Jarndyce Booksellers was even sent out.
It was Hesburgh Library, Notre Dame University, Indiana who purchased
the Swift collection and already have an extensive rare books collection
of some 125,000 volumes
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24.07.08.
Do electronic
books threaten traditional publishing?
Why are we asking this now? Because we are about to see a big step
forward in the development of an electronic book that might actually
rival the traditional way in which we consume literature. From today
Waterstone's is to offer Sony's e-book reader for pre-order from its
stores
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Author's
estate wins battle of Narnia domain name
A couple who bought a web domain name as a birthday present for
their 11-year-old son have lost a battle with the estate of C.S.
Lewis to keep it. Richard and Gillian Saville-Smith, from Edinburgh,
paid £70 for the name www.narnia.mobi in September 2006 so that
their son Comrie, who is a fan of C.S. Lewis, could use it as an
e-mail address. The author's estate lodged a complaint with the
World Intellectual Property Organisation, which ruled yesterday
that the domain name should be transferred
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She says
it’s true, her memoir of forging
Despite her admitted fakery of more than 400 letters, Ms. Israel
insists that her own memoir, which will be published by Simon &
Schuster in August, is true to the facts. Her editor, Sarah Hochman,
said the publisher had thoroughly vetted the book and stands by
its accuracy
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23.07.08.
Harry Potter
fans pay £1000 to stay in JK Rowling's suite
The Edinburgh hotel suite where JK Rowling completed the Harry Potter
series has become a Mecca for fans across the world – at almost £1000
a night. Formerly known simply as room 552 at The Balmoral Hotel,
it has been renamed the JK Rowling Suite
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Sony Reader
e-book device arrives in UK
Sony has announced that its Reader - a portable device designed
to store and display electronic books - will be available to pre-order
from tomorrow. Devices will be fully available from September
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Spanish book
fair and street party draws a million
Spain's annual Semana Negra book fair has for more than 20 years
combined a week-long street party with a literary festival and this
year drew a million visitors in what organisers say is one of the
biggest cultural events in Europe.
This year's festival site is the beach at
Gijon, with a group of marquees housing book launches, film screenings
and exhibitions in the middle of a wider summer fairground, with
a Ferris wheel and stalls selling traditional food from the local
Asturias region.
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Newly found
'Genji' texts apparently oldest
Another full set of chapters of "The Tale of Genji," an 11th-century
romance authored by Murasaki Shikibu, have been discovered, the
director general of the National Institute of Japanese Literature
said in a lecture in Osaka on Monday
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22.07.08.
World's oldest
Bible to go online
The world's oldest surviving semi-complete copy of the Bible, a 4th-century
manuscript in ancient Greek that was discovered in a waste-paper bin
by a German scholar, is set to be published online
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Big draws
for comic buffs
Mark Juddery discovers the American museums dedicated to that country's
inked cultural giants
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Hadrian:
Empire and Conflict at the British Museum
Most of us know one thing about Hadrian: he built the wall that
crosses the north of England. After that, his achievements blur.
But the overall message of the historical mega-biogs the BM has
taken to mounting is that one man can change the world. The First
Emperor did it. Hadrian did it. Karl Marx, who wrote Das Kapital
in these same rooms, did it
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21.07.08.
"Gateway
to Narnia" to get plaque
Author CS Lewis will be honoured with a blue plaque at his former
Oxford home, described as the gateway to Narnia
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"Free
the books"
The man accused of stealing a £15million Shakespeare First Folio
made an emotive plea on Saturday night to ‘free the books’ from
Durham University’s library
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Dripping
water pipes plague leaky archives building
Canada's national archives building is so prone to leaks that it
sprang another one last month just as workers were cleaning up the
mess from a flood days earlier
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Mount Vesuvius
scrolls still an enigma
What's written on some of the ancient scrolls buried when Mount
Vesuvius erupted in Italy in A.D. 79 still is a mystery, despite
the best efforts of the director of MRI and radiology at Kadlec
Medical Center in Richland
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18.07.08.
What, exactly,
is an artist book?
While working at the Walker Art Center as one of the 2006-07 design
fellows, I greatly appreciated the Walker's amazing library resource.
A trip to the library was always a welcome break from the heavy
workload in the design department, but also an excuse to visit to
Rosemary Furtak, the Walker's librarian for 25 years. Rosemary always
had wonderful stories to tell, and in particular I enjoyed her commentary
on the extensive artist book collection. Recently I decided to ask
her a few more questions
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Folioed again!
Why Shakespeare is the world's worst stolen treasure. Here's why:
The 230 surviving First Folios are now the most minutely studied
published works in history. The folio is unusual in that two centuries
of records trace the path of specific copies
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Birthday
books for Mandela's 90th
Glasgow is sending 50,000 books to South Africa to mark Nelson Mandela's
90th birthday today
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More Shakespeare
Folio: The Cuban lover's tale
The Cuban beauty embroiled in the mystery of the £15million Shakespeare
manuscript has spoken of her shock at the arrest of her British
boyfriend
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17.07.08.
New chapter
for rare books
Robert McDowell -- who's vice president of Massachusetts and Rhode
Island Antiquarian Booksellers -- runs a rare book business out
of his home. WBUR's Bob Oakes started by asking him how the Internet
has transformed the rare book industry
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Auction of
Jacques Brel's private collection
Sotheby’s is pleased to announce the sale of a private collection
devoted to Jacques Brel (1929-1978) who, thirty years after his
death, remains one of the world's most admired singers. This sale
brings to life the greatest moments in the career of this towering
artiste, via 94 lots including around thirty manuscripts, 7 records,
5 lots devoted to photographs, and around 50 other items. It is
estimated between €340,000 to 470,000
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The bookseller
of Baghdad
Despite the loss of both his brother and his son, Nabil al-Hayawi
has reopened the Renaissance Bookshop on Mutanabi Street in Baghdad.
His family has been running the shop since 1957, catering to eager
Iraqi readers, in line with an Arab tradition that insists that,
“Cairo writes. Beirut publishes. Baghdad reads
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Some technology
mavens prize a good old book
A computer professional who prefers words on paper rather than on
laptop screens? Such a combination might seem contradictory, but
Bowen is far from an anomaly in his field. Perhaps surprisingly,
many people who make their living in the computer world are fierce
defenders of traditional books
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12.07.08.
No news today
...
I'm off to wander about the north coast of Devon and Cornwall
for a few days -- so no news until my return on July 17th. I'm sure
I will stumble into some of the few bookshops in the area -- if
only to avoid the rain -- and will give you the skinny on my return. Add
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11.07.08.
Man held
over theft of Shakespeare first folio
A tale of greed, woe and comic folly - not unlike those contained
within its ancient pages – appeared to be nearing its final act
today after the recovery of a "priceless" edition of Shakespeare's
plays stolen a decade ago
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Getty Research
Institute exhibition
Los Angeles - Two illuminated manuscripts of extraordinary importance,
along with books, prints, maps, watercolors, and photographs that
illustrate the history and culture of Peru will be on display in
The Marvel and Measure of Peru: Three Centuries of Artists’ Histories,
1550–1880, at the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Center, July
8–October 19, 2008
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'Everybody
needs to get thicker skins'
Readers have voted Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children
their favourite Booker prize-winner of all time - and it's not even
his best-known work. He talks to Stuart Jeffries about The Satanic
Verses, surviving a fatwa, and why free speech is as important as
ever
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Six jobs
go at BookRabbit
Social shopping website BookRabbit has made six of its 10 staff
redundant, including managing director Kieron Smith
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Give Peace
a Chance
John Lennon's lyrics for Give Peace a Chance sold for £421,250 at
the rock memorabilia sale at Christie's. The entire collection,
which included photos never seen in public before, fetched more
than £1.5m
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Library thief
gets 10 years
A book bandit who checked out hundreds of books and DVDs from area
libraries and then sold them online will be going to prison. Thomas
Pilaar, 34, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison and ordered
to pay $53,549 in restitution. He pleaded guilty to theft in May
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09.07.08.
Russia bans
book on Hitler
A Russian court has banned a book about Adolf Hitler by the late
historian Hugh Trevor-Roper, saying quotes attributed to the Nazi
leader insult Russians and Jews, prosecutors said on Tuesday
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Tolkien postcard
found behind fireplace
A demolition worker has discovered a postcard which was written
to JRR Tolkien 40 years ago stuck behind a fireplace.
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Sci-fi author's
estate embroiled in will dispute
Andre Norton, one of science fiction's most prolific female writers
until she died three years ago, intrigued her readers by creating
hundreds of fantasy worlds during her 70 years of writing. And in
a decision that may have been accidental or calculated, the Ohio
native left her friends and fans a final puzzle: Who should control
the rights to her more than 130 books, including the popular "Witch
World" series
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Unpublished
Pablo Neruda poems highlight last romance
A series of unpublished poems by Chile's late Pablo Neruda, winner
of the 1971 Nobel prize for literature, are shedding light on his
last romance with his wife's niece more than 40 years his junior,
a collector said
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08.07.08.
Obituary:
Thomas M. Disch
Even in the genre of science fiction, writer Thomas M. Disch was
considered unconventional. The strange new worlds he created were
an odd mix: dark and horror-filled, humorous and playful. His work
outfoxed readers' expectations, one critic said, and made labeling
a chore for publishers
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Uncovering
an old leaf
What have documents, letters, postcards, sketches and other personal
items of the famous Czech writer Franz Kafka been doing for decades
in a private apartment in Tel Aviv?
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$1000 banknotes
sets auction record
In a banknote auction in Singapore on 5 July, bidders from around
the world witnessed Spink’s sale of a $1000 Straits Settlement banknote
for £230,000 ($452,421 USD), a new world record price for an Asian
Banknote. It is completely unique and numbered 00001, a highly sought
after number for collectors. The banknote was recently discovered
by an antiquarian bookseller between the pages of a book purchased
in a small provincial auction house in the United Kingdom
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07.07.08.
Larry McMurtry's
'Books': rambling, disorganized, dull
The 'Lonesome Dove' author leads us through a disappointing tour
of his life as a bookseller
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Top bidding
for Queen Mother mementoes
Throughout his half-century of loyal service to the royal household,
William Tallon kept every little memento, never wanting to put a
price on the memories each held for him. To him they were priceless.
But on Saturday the public did just that at an astonishing auction
of personal notes, letters, photographs and gifts bestowed on him
by royalty during his 51 years of serving the Queen Mother, in a
bidding war which exceeded all expectations
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Ancient tablet
ignites debate on Messiah and resurrection
A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe
dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing
a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially
because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after
three days
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04.07.08.
Rare song
manuscript found in flea market
A rare and original manuscript of one of America's most patriotic
songs has been discovered in a flea market bargain. A shopper browsing
through the market in New York bought a framed picture of a flower
for $10 and found handwritten manuscript of "America" (My Country
'tis of Thee) tucked behind the picture, the manuscript's owner
said Thursday
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War poet
Robert Graves 'stole work from his mistress'
Few would doubt the brilliance of Robert Graves, a man considered
to be one of Britain's foremost war poets whose verses on Greek
mythology and frontline conflict cemented his name in literary history.
But one academic has accused the poet of stealing ideas, literary
criticism and poetry from his one-time American mistress and passing
them off as his own
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03.07.08.
Private detectives
hunt for late library books
Private detectives are being drafted in by Norfolk County Council
to track down people with unpaid bills for overdue library books
and school transport
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Rowling blow
to plans to age-band books
Publishers’ plans to make all children’s books carry age guidance
were in tatters last night as JK Rowling came out in opposition
to the move. The support of the Edinburgh-based Harry Potter creator
was welcomed by authors determined to sabotage moves to introduce
age-banding on all children’s titles by the autumn
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Convention
books Superman artist
Superman comic book artist Frank Quitely is one of the guests booked
for next year's Highlands comic convention
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Book arbitrage
In our blitzkrieg assault on a town’s thrift stores, we didn’t bother
with the clothes, shoes, or bric-a-brac. We were interested in books,
and only books. Working methodically, shelf by shelf through whatever
chockablock collection of battered, secondhand bookcases the store
had marshaled to house its collection, we would pull out any title
that appeared to have value
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01.07.08.
Long-lost
journal will stay in NZ
A Dunedin private book dealer says he will not now be selling overseas
a long-lost journal of Edward Jerningham Wakefield, one of New Zealand's
best-known early colonists
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The return
of the bookseller catalog
Publishers might be considering giving up on the printed catalogs
but bookseller catalogs are making a comeback. Since the early days
of bookselling the catalog was the cornerstone of a bookseller's
business. It was the premier sales channel for the trade. They became;
however, an early casualty of online bookselling. Many booksellers
completely abandoned the catalog format while focusing on developing
an online presence. Most of us thought they were no longer necessary.
Now, a little over a decade later, most have returned to the catalog
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Historic
central library in shambles
The biggest library of Hyderabad boasting of majestic architecture
of the Nizam's times now greets its over 700 daily visitors with
crumbling walls, dust-laden books, rickety chairs with seats hanging
loose and book shelves with broken glass panes that make a mockery
of the locks guarding them. The original 'grand' counter is no more
in use because "the ceiling above can fall any time"
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The world
of the used book
“I love inscriptions on flyleaves and notes in margins. I like the
comradely sense of turning pages someone else turned, and reading
pages someone long gone has called my attention to.” So wrote Helene
Hanff, author of 84 Charing Cross Road, the definitive novel about
the lure and grip of used books. Hanff knew the power of the musty
book smell, the red-pen underlines, the bent-down pages that meant
someone, somewhere marked that spot as the phone rang, the baby
cried, or the clock ticked well past bedtime
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