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30.11.10.
A
monster of an exhibition
The handwritten
first draft of Mary Shelley's masterpiece, Frankenstein, has gone
on display in Britain for the first time. The exhibition also includes
a never before seen portrait of the author alongside belongings
and literary work from her family - one of Britain's most renowned
literary dynasties ... more
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Inside the
new Burns museum
He’s been used
and abused by the tourist tat industry but will the Robert Burns
Birthplace Museum create a more grown-up understanding of the Bard
... more
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29.11.10.
Make
a DIY holiday wreath out of old books
All you need
for this remarkably cheap-yet-cool-looking wreath is a 10" foam
wreath and a paperback book or two ... more
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25.11.10.
Heartbreak
behind Wind in the Willows
His enchanting
tales of the adventures of Mr Toad, Mole and Ratty have been engrossing
bedtime reading for generations of children. But the warmth shown
by Kenneth Grahame in the pages of The Wind In The Willows was not
reflected in his relationship with the boy for whom they were written
– his only child Alastair ... more
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Benevento
Missal returns home
Sixty-five years
after the end of the World War II, the precious manuscript is the
first item of Nazi-era loot to be returned by a UK national museum
... more
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24.11.10.
My
book cull: a loss of shelf esteem
Disposing of
my personal library was painful, in more ways than one. But do we
really need such a space-consuming resource? ... more
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23.11.10.
Quentin
Blake rallies illustrators for auction
Quentin Blake,
one of the UK's best-known illustrators, has rallied his fellow
artists to help raise funds for a centre dedicated to the art of
illustration ... more
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Rare Orwell
first edition donated to Oxfam
An anonymous
donor has given a valuable first edition of George Orwell’s Animal
Farm to an Oxfam bookshop ... more
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22.11.10.
Calligraphy
scroll goes for $46.40 million
A rare hand scroll
copy of ancient Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi's work fetched a
staggering 308 million yuan ($46.40 million) at the China Guardian
autumn auction in Beijing on Saturday ... more
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Police keep
stolen Potter book 'in custody'
The publicity
surrounding the theft meant a number of collectors contacted book
dealer Mr Greenwood, and he was eager to make the most of the coverage.
But when he spoke to officers earlier this week, he was told he
could not have the book back as it was evidence ... more
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Censorship
dolled up as consumer activism
The controversy
over The Paedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure shows how empty
the concept of ‘freedom of expression’ has become for many American
liberals. It is true that Amazon’s decision to remove The Paedophile’s
Guide from its site this month, under the pressure of a consumer
boycott, was not state censorship. It was, however, the consequence
of something equally problematic today: the use of pressure by advocacy
groups to squish ideas that they don’t like, while presenting themselves
as warriors for consumer choice ... more
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15th Century
Manuscript Returned to Lyme Park
The library at
the National Trust’s Lyme Park has been restored and is home once
again to the Caxton Missal. A three year project to return a unique
book to the library at Lyme Park and restore the room to its 19th
century glory has finally been realised ... more
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19.11.10.
1939
Batman Comic Sells for Nearly $500k
A rare comic
book an 84-year-old California man bought for a dime when he was
a teen has been sold in Texas for $492,937 ... more
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Avedon photos
go to auction in Paris
Christie's in
Paris will auction some of Richard Avedon's most prized photographs
Saturday to raise money for the foundation set up by the influential
American portrait and fashion photographer before his death in 2004
... more
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New world
record set for sale of cricket book
The sale of a
selection of items from the Marylebone Cricket Club Collections
at Christie’s totalled 685,225 pounds and resulted in a new world
record being set for the sale of a single cricket book ... more
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Vivaldi sonatas
found in archive
Two previously
unknown violin sonatas by Antonio Vivaldi have been uncovered after
lying hidden in a collection of manuscripts for 270 years ... more
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Women held
over rare Potter book theft
A 36-year-old
woman was arrested today by police investigating the theft of a
limited first edition of a Harry Potter book ... more
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18.11.10.
Bookdealer
discovers new meaning to 'buy low, sell high'
The day after
voters in California rejected an initiative to legalize marijuana,
a package arrived at the bookstore I own with my husband: 8 ounces
of premium bud. This was not a gift from a grateful customer, nor
was it a new product we'd brought in for the holiday season. The
package came from a grower here in Humboldt County who had decided
it would be amusing to use our bookstore as the return address ...
more
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National
library set to 'lose £1m'
The National
Library of Wales claims it is set to lose £1m over the next three
years under the Welsh Assembly Government's draft budget ... more
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15.11.10.
£6,000
Harry Potter book stolens
These are the
faces of two people being sought by police after they apparently
walked off with a first edition Harry Potter book worth £6,000 from
an exhibition ... more
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Oxfam finds
signed Logie Baird book
Oxfam in Morningside
is hoping to raise £1000 from the sale of the earliest book on television
signed by inventor John Logie Baird ... more
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In Jordan,
a bookstore devoted to forbidden titles
Banned books
— on sex, politics, religion — are a specialty at Sami Abu Hossein's
shop in Amman. 'We have them,' he says with a grin, 'but don't tell
anyone' ... more
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13.11.10.
France
loans back stolen manuscripts
France agreed
to loan back to South Korea a collection of antique manuscripts
stolen in the 19th century, in a deal struck by their presidents
at the G20 summit in Seoul, officials said Friday ... more
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11.11.10.
The
bookseller who doesn't read novels
Most people would
be loath to admit that they had never read a book, especially those
employed in a bookshop. Yet Sam Husain, the chief executive of London's
best-known book store, Foyles, has no such compunction. "I do not
think I have ever really read a book from cover to cover," confesses
the Pakistan-born accountant ... more
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Balancing
the books
Our dilemma is
a middle-aged one but I suspect, on the basis of conversations with
like-minded friends, a common one. Our books are taking over our
house and, it sometimes seems, our lives ... more
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09.11.10.
Batman
and Superman under the hammer
The market for
original artworks used to create Batman, Superman and other classic
early comic books is catching up with already thriving sales of
the books themselves ... more
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Maps to places
real and places richly imagined
Never heard of
the Hand Drawn Map Association? You're not alone, though dedicated
map followers know it well ... more
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Rupert Bear
turns 90
Cartoon character
becomes a nonagenarian, leaving young ursine rivals Winnie the Pooh
and Paddington Bear in the shade ... more
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V&A starts
campaign to save Dickens manuscripts
A new campaign
has been launched by the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) to save
handwritten manuscripts of some of Charles Dickens' most famous
novels ... more
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07.11.10.
Bookdealer
suspends publication
Hot on the heels
of the news that Book &
Magazine Collector will cease publication at the end of the
year, comes the announcement that Bookdealer is to suspended publication.
In a brief note on the Bookdealer
website, editor Richard Sawyer writes: "In the light of recent
events, and other personal circumstances, it has been necessary
to give serious consideration to the future of Bookdealer. After
numerous discussions with advisors and colleagues, the decision
has been taken to suspend publication for three months (December
2010, January and February 2011) while a way forward is sought.
Talks are already taking place with another publishing concern and
it is hoped that the above will be only a temporary measure. A letter
will be sent to our subscribers and regular advertisers later in
the month."
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05.11.10.
Book
fair was not for the light of wallet
Paul Foster,
a bookseller from London had brought a selection of what he called
"top of the tree" materials, including four first-edition Winnie
the Pooh books, with dust jackets, signed by A.A. Milne. They were
priced at £29,000 (or about $47,200) for the set. Foster, a large,
good-natured guy, said he'd been selling books for twenty years.
His prior job was as a drummer in a rock band, but he'd had to give
that up ... more
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Bookshop
Manager (17.5 hours a week)
Books can change
lives. In fact, if they’re in our well-stocked second-hand bookshops,
they can help end human rights abuses the world over. Manage the
Newcastle branch of Books for Amnesty and you’ll generate vital
funds as well as awareness of our work ... more
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First Scots
printed book on show
The Aberdeen
Breviary, a prayer book compiled by Bishop William Elphinstone,
founder of King’s College in Old Aberdeen, was printed in 1509-10
... more
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04.11.10.
Taking
a page from history
Why bother turning
over a new leaf when you can turn over an old one - a very old one
- build a collection and save money at the same time? ... more
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New view
of English life under the Normans
A new study of
early medieval manuscripts written in the English language has revealed
that the Normans, who conquered England in 1066, were not the destructive
force of popular belief, sweeping away everything that had gone
before ... more
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02.11.10.
Raymond
Scott working in prison library
The shamed "fantasist"
is loaning out texts to fellow prisoners inside Acklington jail
just three months after he was locked up for eight years ... more
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Norfolk shopkeepers
back ‘real books’ campaign
Independent bookshop
owners across Norfolk have backed a new movement that has waged
war on electronic books and aims to preserve nostalgic second-hand
stores ... more
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The anniversary
of the Chatterley ban
50 years ago
today, a unanimous verdict of "not guilty" was arrived at in the
Central Criminal Court, Old Bailey, in the case against Penguin
Books under the Obscene Publications Act 1959 for publishing DH
Lawrence's novel, Lady Chatterley's Lover ... more
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A rare view
of Egyptian Book of the Dead
The British Museum's
major autumn exhibition this year examines ancient Egyptian beliefs
about life after death ... more
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