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29.05.10.
Everything
is illuminated
On July 7, Christie’s
is offering the finest collection of illuminated manuscripts to
appear on the market in a generation. It was assembled over three
decades by Ladislaus von Hoffmann, a secretive Washington-based
financier, and the 48 lots are expected to bring in up to £18m.
Two more tranches of the 150-strong collection will appear at Christie’s
over the next year, with the proceeds going to Hoffmann’s Arcana
Foundation ... more
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From Allen
Lane to Amazon
Publishers such
as Allen Lane and Paul Hamlyn revolutionised British publishing
in the 20th century, turning it from a cosy club serving the elite
into an industrial powerhouse. Iain Stevenson charts a century of
triumph for the printed word ... more
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26.05.10.
Lawrence
of Arabia 'corrected biography by Robert Graves'
Lawrence of Arabia
corrected a copy of a biography about him by Robert Graves, attacking
its contents as "superficial" and "not true", before giving it to
an RAF colleague ... more
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Original
'Life of Brian' script to be auctioned
An original script
of Monty Python's Life Of Brian, signed by John Cleese, Terry Jones,
Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin will be going up for auction at
the Great British Comedy Event early next month ... more
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Book Sale
Raises £106,000 For Charity
Imagine selling
53,000 secondhand books for £2.00 each in, and around the outside
of, a church in Edinburgh’s George Street in just short of a week.
By simple arithmetic that's £106,000 ... more
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25.05.10.
Grab
a towel in memory of Douglas Adams
Today (May 25th)
marks Towel Day, when fans of Douglas Adams show their respect to
the dead author ... more
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Century-long
wait for Mark Twain's autobiography is over
The University
of California is publishing Mark Twain's memoirs, after the author
requested that they be held by his estate until he was 'dead, unaware
and indifferent' ... more
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Martin Gardner,
95, revered author and 'Alice' expert, dies
Martin Gardner,
95, a journalist whose omnivorous curiosity gave rise to wide-ranging
writings that popularized mathematics, explored theology and philosophy,
debunked pseudoscience and dug into Lewis Carroll's beloved children's
books with the gusto of an investigative reporter, died May 22 at
a hospital in Norman, Okla ... more
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Lawyer airs
unpublished intro to Malcolm X classic
A lawyer who
bought the manuscript of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" says the
civil rights leader expressed hope that his tumultuous life story
could help blacks and whites in a never-published introduction to
the 1965 best-seller ... more
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21.05.10.
George
Washington's library book returned, 221 years late
It was over two
centuries late, but a copy of a library book George Washington borrowed
was returned yesterday to a New York library ... more
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Rare Tintin
artefacts to go under the hammer
Finding a safe
investment in crisis times may be tough, but just a year before
Hollywood takes Tintin to the big screen, collectors are vying for
rare memorabilia of the cub Belgian cartoon hero at a Paris auction
... more
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19.05.10.
British
Library to scan 40m newspaper pages
The library holds
52,000 national and international titles covering 300 years. Currently
researchers, 30,000 a year, have to go to Colindale in north London
to scan through microfilm or hard copies ... more
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18.05.10.
René
Magritte's letters and postcards up for sale
Richly illustrated
letters and postcards by the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, complete
with his trademark bowler hats, are to be sold at auction for an
estimated price of $400,000 (£275,000) ... more
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14.05.10.
Sylvia
Beach: her pioneering spirit lives on
Sylvia Beach’s
shop in Paris offered bed and board, and books. With $3,000 and
a passion for books, she made literary history ... more
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Royal and
religious documents shown
A collection
of rare documents, books and artefacts from English history, including
medical reports on the mental health of George III, will go on display
to the public. Books and illuminated Bibles dating back to the 9th
century are to be shown, some for the first time ever to the public,
as part of the exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of the foundation
of Lambeth Palace Library ... more
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11.05.10.
Frank
Frazetta, Illustrator, Dies at 82
Frank Frazetta,
an illustrator of comic books, movie posters and paperback book
covers whose visions of musclebound men fighting with swords and
axes to defend scantily dressed women helped define fantasy heroes
like Conan, Tarzan and John Carter of Mars, died on Monday in Fort
Myers ... more
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Author Scott’s
home set for £10m upgrade
Sir Walter Scott’s
Borders home is in line for a £10 million investment that will see
the construction of a visitor centre and fund much-needed renovations
to the famous A-listed building ... more
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Schindler’s
List auction thrown into doubt
The real Schindler’s
List is at the centre of a new legal battle - the heir of the manuscript’s
writer is taking court action to block the memorabilia going up
for auction ... more
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10.05.10.
Don't
judge a book by its cover, particularly in France
Books are routinely
given completely different covers abroad, often with baffling results.
Tom Lamont asks the designers responsible to explain why ... more
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08.05.10.
Roger
Deakin archives given to university
One of the most
eccentric literary archives ever assembled, a treasury of writings
on ancient trees, weedy ponds, rusting cars, sleepy cats, skylarks,
films and photographs, an old pair of swimming trunks and a bundle
of damp stained manuscript still smelling strongly of the fish it
once wrapped, has been presented to the University of East Anglia
... more
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07.05.10.
How
Peter Pan's author invented celebrity cricket
What is the connection
between Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes, Winnie the Pooh and the noble
sport of cricket? ... more
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Puffin marks
70 years by celebrating best ever books
Huckleberry Finn
rubs shoulders with Artemis Fowl, Charlie and Lola with Fungus the
Bogeyman, and Dick King Smith's Sheep-Pig with Gerald Durrell's
Family and Other Animals. A reading list drawn up to celebrate 70
years of the children's publisher Puffin throws up some odd pairings,
but highlights the rich heritage of the list that was founded in
1940 as a series of non-fiction picture books for children ... more
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150th anniversary
of JM Barrie's birth
The creator of
Peter Pan was born 150 years ago on Sunday, and to mark the anniversary
a priceless manuscript of one of the most famous children's stories
ever written is being shown to the public for the first time. John
McKenna, property manager of Barrie's birthplace in Kirriemuir,
where the manuscript was found, says: "It was an absolute crown
jewel hidden away in a cupboard" ... more
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06.05.10.
Prayers,
bangs and wimples
A prize collection
of manuscripts that throw valuable light on medieval religion, social
history and women's lives has gone on display at the University
of Nottingham. Highlights of the Saints, Sinners and Storytellers
exhibition include a collection by Geoffrey Chaucer's contemporary
John Gower, devoted to "sins of love" such as jealousy and hypocrisy,
and a French manuscript from about 1200, which may be the earliest
illustrated collection of romances in the world ... more
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04.05.10.
Spider-Man
comes to the rescue
A comic book
store owner dressed as Spider-Man became a real superhero for the
day when he caught an alleged thief trying to steal an X-Men omnibus
... more
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Collection
of fruit goes down well at book sale
George Brookshaw's
masterpiece, Pomona Britannica brought $65,000 at a New York sale
... more
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Trial for
man accused of stealing books
William Jacques
is charged with stealing 13 volumes of Nouvelle Iconographies des
Camellias by Ambroise Verschaffelt from the Royal Horticultural
Society's London library ... more
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