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31.05.11.
President gave Queen 'speake Iryshe' book
A copy
of a 500-year-old manual on how to “speake Iryshe” was presented
to Queen Elizabeth just hours before she used her cúpla focal to
open her speech at Dublin Castle ... more Add
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Scandal of
the homes with not a single book to read
When
a teacher asked his pupils to bring in a book from home, one nine-year-old
brought the Argos catalogue, saying: 'It's the only one we've got'
... more Add
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Meet the
anti-Kindle crowd
The Seattle
Center for Book Arts cares as much about the tactile medium as the
message, exalts the page as much as the word. Their mission is to
preserve traditional printing, bookbinding and related crafts while
connecting book lovers of all kinds, and their dedication is clear
in the breadth of their programs, as beautifully and creatively
evidenced by the entries in this year’s Edible Book Festival ...
more Add
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Sculptor
turns books into art
The destruction
of a book is considered by many to be an act of sacrilege. But for
Brian Dettmer slicing through the cover is an extraordinary act
of creation. The 36-year-old Atlanta based artist has carved dozens
of intricate sculptures from volumes dumped in charity shops or
at bookstores ... more Add
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Rare books
aren’t endangered
In one
niche of the literary marketplace, print still rules — and always
will. Rare book dealers and experts don’t necessarily agree about
how the digital future will affect their business, but few say they
are threatened by it — especially since the price of rare books
is usually based on their availability ... more Add
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27.05.11.
King of Hay's castle sells
George
Greenway, who owns one of the second-hand bookshops within the castle
grounds, says he intends to approach the new owner about extending
his lease, which is renewed annually ... more Add
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Ancient manuscript
honoured
An illustrated
Indian manuscript recounting the history of Mughal ancestor Timur
has been inscribed on Unesco's Memory of the World Register, an
official has said. The Tarikh-E-Khandan-E-Timuriyah was written
and created during the reign of Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Mohammad
Akbar, a descendant of Timur, in 1577-78 AD and is one of the 45
new documents and documentary collections selected from all over
the world ... more Add
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900-year-old
Quran manuscript found in Pakistan
A Pakistani
archaeologist has found a 900-year-old manuscript of the Quran.
Archaeologist Ghulam Akbar Malik found the valuable manuscript of
the Quran, dating back to the 12th century, during an excavation
trip to the Pakistani city of Jhelum ... more Add
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James Beattie
work found in Sir Walter Scott's library
A "significant"
9,000-word poem by Scottish scholar James Beattie has been discovered
in Sir Walter Scott's library in the Scottish Borders ... more Add
a comment
Medieval
style files
Can you
judge a hunter by his houpeland, or a prince by his pouleines? You
certainly can in “Illuminating Fashion: Dress in the Art of Medieval
France and the Netherlands” at the Morgan Library & Museum ... more Add
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Durham University
receives Poor Clares library
Among
the collection are works saved by nuns in the 18th Century when
they were expelled from their convents in northern France during
the revolution ... more Add
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Do rare books
appreciate in value?
I was
recently asked by a reporter to comment on this question, and I
offered some specific examples. As is often the case, my comments
in the article, as well as an explanation of the examples, were
very much cut for space (no hard feelings, I understand how these
things go). But I thought I would provide the examples here, as
well as a fuller answer to this question of how much rare books
appreciate in value ... more Add
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Will we ever
be able to read this book?
A 15th-century
manuscript is written in a language that has baffled every expert.
Is it just a brilliant hoax, or will someone eventually decipher
its meaning, asks Michael Day ... more Add
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26.05.11.
No news today either ...
I got
back from Devon and a day later was flat on my back with some gastric
bug, and only able to prise myself out of bed on Monday. Since then
I've had to spend all my time doing serious stuff, like trying to
earn a living and getting the rest of the site back up to date.
Hopefully, I will be able to find the time in the couple of days
to round up all the stories you may have missed in the last week
or so. Add a comment
14.05.11.
No news today ...
I'm out
of the office for most of next week so you will have to make your
own entertainment until l return on Monday May 23rd :) Add
a comment
13.05.11.
Rare Edward Ardizzone illustrations rediscovered
An extremely
rare collection of drawings by the much-loved children's illustrator
Edward Ardizzone for Mark Twain's novel The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn has been discovered in a publisher's study. The daughters of
the late Anthony Beal, chairman of Heinemann Education and founder
of the progressive New Windmill series of books, were clearing out
their father's study when they stumbled across the complete set
of 37 drawings. First published in 1961, the pen and ink pictures
are currently being displayed at the Illustration Cupboard gallery
... more Add
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U.S. returns
smuggled Peruvian manuscript
The repatriated
items -- worth approximately $43,000 -- were handed over at the
Peruvian Embassy in Washington ... more Add
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Tourist sells
€3 first edition of Wuthering Heights for €8,000
It is
one of the best-selling novels of all time. But a sharp-eyed bargain
hunter has managed to turn a €8,000 profit on a copy of a book that
is found in homes up and down the country ... more Add
a comment
09.05.11.
New leaves for old recipes
There
has always been a tendency in the food world to look backwards for
inspiration. The antiquarian cookery book dealer's best customer
is often the chef looking for a forgotten text from which the odd
idea can be plundered. However, would-be looters beware; this trend
is becoming more mainstream as publishers with illustrious histories
in reissues are joined by others keen to introduce classic texts
to domestic cooks and food enthusiasts ... more Add
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Sculptor
turns books back into trees
Innovative
artist Kylie Stillman has turned dusty old encyclopaedias into stunning
'picture books' by carving images into them ... more Add
a comment
07.05.11.
Batman drawing sets world's record
“Frank
Miller's The Dark Knight Returns defined the best of 1980s comics,
and has since been universally acknowledged as one of the most important
and influential stories ever published ,” said Ed Jaster, Senior
Vice President of Heritage Auctions, “and no image from that important
comic series is more iconic than this Splash Page. It’s a little
surprising, yes, but fitting that this piece is now the most expensive
piece of American comic art ever sold at auction” ... more Add
a comment
Children's
authors rail against reading lists
Children's
authors are gearing up for a fight over whether schools should be
given government-approved lists of books that children should have
read by the time they reach a certain age. Authors Michael Rosen
and Alan Gibbons appear first in line in the latest round of what
has almost become a national sport in England over the last 25 years
– criticising ministers for seeking to prescribe what they see as
the best texts ... more Add
a comment
05.05.11.
Children's books are 'sexist'
Kids'
books are almost twice as likely to feature a male hero than a female
heroine and could be reinforcing gender inequality, new research
warns ... more Add
a comment
Rare books
to be auctioned in Brisbane
A collection
of rare books, including an original copy of Matthew Flinders 'A
Voyage to Terra Australis' will be auctioned in Brisbane this week
... more Add
a comment
03.05.11.
Closing the book on ownership
If you
have a new Kindle or an iPad, then you are probably still grinning
at the ease with which you can buy an electronic book (ebook) and
glowing with the prospect of owning a whole new library. But you
won’t be buying and owning those ebooks so much as renting them
... more Add
a comment
Ketterer
Kunst auctions absolute rarity
The complete
series of John Hill’s masterpiece ”The Vegetable System,“ one of
the 18th century's greatest and most elaborate botanical publications,
is of outmost rarity. Carrying an estimate of € 80,000, the book
will be called up at Ketterer Kunst in the auction of Rare Books
in Hamburg on 23/24 May ... more Add
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Boswell's
own life set to be celebrated
Book
festival in his honour inaugurated at his Ayrshire home, and plans
tabled for dedicated museum ... more Add
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Boswell's
Scots dictionary found after 200 years
A lost
dictionary of the Scots language compiled by the famous 18th century
biographer James Boswell has been rediscovered after more than 200
years ... more Add
a comment
71 unknown
manuscripts discovered in Huelva
Experts
from Huelva University have discovered 71 unknown manuscripts of
Roman poet Ovid (43BC-17AD). The manuscripts, most of them codices
and fragments which were not known to even exist, have been found
in different libraries around the world and most of them belong
to Ovid’s greatest work, The Metamorphosis ... more Add
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