30.10.07.
Enola Gay navigator's flight log realizes $358,500
The flight log kept
by navigator Dutch Van Kirk onboard the Enola Gay during its fateful August 1945
flight to drop the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan sold for $358,500 in
a public auction conducted by Heritage Auction Galleries of Dallas, Texas on October
25 ... more Add
a comment Evangelicals
call for ban on Harry Potter books
America's largest conservative organisation
has called for the banning of the Harry Potter books and films after author JK
Rowling revealed that main character Albus Dumbledore was a gay wizard ... more Add
a comment The
reminiscences of a Seattle bookseller
"That was the day that I really
understood I could buy books and sell them for more money. That was the day I
got hooked by books" ... more Add
a comment Shakespeare
& Co
An afternoon between the oldest shelves of Paris with the ninety-plus
George, his burnt hair and his caramelised apples ... more Add
a comment
I
should perhaps warn you that George Whitman's barbering demonstration is not for
that fainthearted. :) - TBG.
29.10.07.
Citizenship book becomes best seller
A book designed to help immigrants
pass the UK citizenship test has become an unlikely publishing phenomenon. The
Home Office's Life in the UK is the bestselling political book of the year, selling
more than 80,000 copies and outselling Alastair Campbell's diaries ... more Add
a comment Iran's
police take aim at popular 'book-cafes'
Iranian police have ordered shut
and sealed several Tehran bookshops which also provide coffee and snacks to their
customers, because of what one officer termed "a clash of professions." "Based
on the [bookseller's] union law, owners of one type of business are not allowed
to practice two different professions at the same time," head of Tehran police
information, Colonel Mehdi Ahmadi, said Saturday ... more Add
a comment Mayan
manuscript returned (in replica)
A Mayan manuscript known as the Dresden
Codex was acquired by the Royal Library of the court of Saxony in 1739. As of
this week, an exact replica of the precious manuscript is on display in Guatemala,
donated by the Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany, which holds the original
... more Add
a comment Synagogue
unfurls piece of Jewish history
A 400-year-old Torah, saved from the sands
of Iraq, has found its way to a synagogue in western Howard County. The scroll
of Hebrew scripture, containing the first five books of the Bible, was found by
U.S. soldiers among the ruins of a synagogue in Mosul, Iraq ... more Add
a comment
26.10.07.
Scouts in Bondage
For many years Michael Bell ran a used-book shop
in Lewes, England, and had an eye for old books with titles that seem provocative
to us now. The result is Scouts in Bondage ... more Add
a comment Breaking
the Rules
The British Library’s major exhibition, ‘Breaking the Rules:The
Printed Face of the European Avant Garde 1900-1937’ explores the creative transformation
which took place in Europe during the first four decades of the 20th century –
a revolution which encompassed visual art, design, photography, literature, theatre,
music and architecture. Each style is traditionally regarded as a movement in
itself but for the first time they are brought together to explore common themes
and the creative transformation which took place at the time as well its continuing
impact on contemporary culture ... more Add
a comment Collectors
go Wilde about rare book
A valuable rare book created a media circus at
the Oxfam Books and Music shop, Nantwich after it was snapped up for £650 within
minutes ... more Add
a comment
25.10.07.
$227,000 paid for Spiderman's first appearance
In a ComicLink Auction
that closed on October 19, a 1962 Amazing Fantasy #15 comic book (the comic book
that introduced Spider-Man to the world) broke records when it sold for $227,000.
It is the highest auction price ever achieved by a comic book from the 1960s (a
k a the Silver Age of comics) ... more Add
a comment Celebrating
the infancy of photography
Within a half-hour's drive of Concord it is
possible to see original photographs of men who lived at the time of the American
Revolution, a rare real-life glimpse into history captured under glass in a new
collection housed at the New Hampshire Institute of Art ... more Add
a comment Amazon
sells 2.5 million Harry Potters
Amazon beat the Street's expectations
for its third quarter but still seemed to disappoint traders yesterday. Shares
fell sharply in after-hours trading after rising more than ten per cent during
the day. The bookseller also showed exactly how low-margin a low-margin web business
can be. Despite turnover of more than $3bn the company made just $80m in profit
... more Add
a comment Historic
library rises from the ashes after £10m of repairs
Fire that swallowed
up the Anna Amalia library in Weimar ranked as the most devastating blow to German
culture since the Second World War.
Three years after
the blaze the Rococo library, which Germans view as a national icon in the manner
of the Bodleian in Oxford University, was reopened yesterday after a restoration
project costing £10m. The ceremony triggered a debate about the need to head off
the threatened demise of libraries ... more Add
a comment China's
earliest household registers deciphered
China's earliest household registers
have been deciphered from a bunch of Qin dynasty (221 BC-207 BC) bamboo slips
excavated from Liye, in Hunan province in Central China ... more Add
a comment
21.10.07.
No news today ...
I'm away mother-minding and it's unlikely I will be
able to offer you the usual book-related detritus before the end of the week. Add
a comment
17.10.07.
Mobile bookshop search launched
The company behind retail chain Samedaybooks
has launched a new service to help consumers locate bookshops on their mobile
phones. The BookRabbit service can be used by any internet accessible mobile phone
and uses Google Maps to give the location of bookshops ... more Add
a comment Boss
steps in at bookstore
A bookshop which faced a crisis when all its staff
walked out is open as normal - after its president stepped in at the last minute.The
SPCK religious bookshop in Catherine Street is still trading after all seven of
its employees, including the manager, handed in their notice following a dispute
over new contracts ... more Add
a comment Treasured
Pages
Treasured Pages: Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from the Free
Library of Philadelphia at the Arthur Ross Gallery through January 6, features
codices and single leaves from one of the most significant collections of Western
European illuminated manuscripts in the US ... more Add
a comment Housekeeper
reveals home life of Günter Grass
As he celebrates his 80th birthday,
the Nobel laureate's erstwhile housekeeper has published a touching insight into
his domestic side ... more Add
a comment
16.10.07.
Genius declared: Wilde tops the wit list
Placing rock star Liam Gallagher
in the same exalted company as silver-tongued genius Oscar Wilde would seem to
many to be a long bow to draw. But according to a new collation of Britain's greatest
wits, their wry observations are among the cleverest of all time ... more Add
a comment Stolen
by Nazis, donated to Juilliard
A collection of manuscripts and musical
scores stolen from Arthur Rubenstein's Paris apartment by the Nazis has been donated
to the Juilliard School by the late pianist's family ... more Add
a comment FBI
recover stolen Ptolemy map
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
has located an ancient world map stolen from Spain's National Library along with
other extremely valuable documents in August, the daily El Pais reported Tuesday.
The map torn from a 16th-century edition of Ptolemy's Geographia was found in
the possession of a New York collector ... more Add
a comment
15.10.07.
Germany and Poland in tussle over treasures
Treasures in the vaults
of the Jagiellonian Library, including original music manuscripts from Bach, Beethoven
and Mozart, have become the subject of a bitter diplomatic debate between Poland
and Germany. The Germans claim these items -- hidden here during World War II
-- are legally and morally part of their national patrimony and should be returned.
Poland insists Germany forfeited any legal and moral claim to the collection long
ago ... more Add
a comment "Most
stolen book" index
The Frankfurt Book Fair has an indicator to help publishers
gauge public interest in the new offerings presented at the annual exhibition
-- the unofficial "most stolen book" index ... more Add
a comment Bookseller
will innovate beyond online in stores
Borders, the USA's second-largest
bookseller is in the midst of a turnaround that will hinge on marrying the past
and the future of retail in a dozen concept stores and its new Web site ... more Add
a comment Treasure
hunting
Treasure hunts never go out of style, especially when a friend
gives you an irresistible challenge. "Do you mind looking for a first edition
of any of the works of Rider Haggard while you're in Hay-on-Wye?" he asked. "It
should only be about 20 to 30 pounds" ... more Add
a comment
12.10.07.
Dublin displays unique manuscript
A hugely influential chronicle of
Irish history has gone on display in its full form in Dublin - for the first time
in nearly 400 years ... more Add
a comment Book
author wins historic libel case
The author of a book about police corruption
has won a ground-breaking libel case in the Court of Appeal ... more Add
a comment Religious
bookshop staff resign in row over new contracts
One of Exeter's oldest
shops is facing upheaval after all its staff resigned in a row over new contracts.All
seven employees with the SPCK bookshop, in Catherine Street, handed in their notice
and are due to work their last day on Saturday ... more Add
a comment A
pleasure for the stomach and the mind
Months after I first noticed Cook
& Book, I stumbled upon it in a book I purchased on cool places to eat in Belgium.
I was instantly intrigued… a restaurant AND bookstore… all in one?! It sounded
too good to be true. To be honest, it was even better than I imagined ... more Add
a comment
11.10.07.
Book brings letters to Hitler to light
At first glance, the letter
carefully printed in a child's hand seems innocuous, nothing more than the expression
of a young crush: "I love you so much. Write me — please. Many greetings. Your
Gina." But the note takes on a more sinister tone when its recipient is known:
Adolf Hitler ... more Add
a comment
Manuscript
discovery brings medieval music to life
Medieval history comes to life at Harvard University on Oct. 18, when students
and guest musicians collaborate in the North American premiere of an 800-year-old
chant repertory from Harvard’s Houghton Library ... more Add
a comment
Manuscript
found after 70 year wait
Would-be author Pauline Housman has been reunited with the book she wrote as a
teenager - 70 years after she sent it to America to be published ... more Add
a comment
Holy illusions,
Batman rare find may not be as it appears
Todd McDevitt, owner of a string of New Dimension Comic stores in Ellwood City,
recently purchased a Detective Comics #27 from 1939 that features the first appearance
of Batman. According to countless comic book Web sites such as Metropolis Comics
and Nostomania, this particular comic is the second most valuable comic book in
the world, and a mint condition copy is supposedly valued around $500,000. Near-mint
condition copies are priced around $250,000 ... more Add
a comment
10.10.07.
Bookseller of Kabul extends his trade with a mobile shop
The Bookseller of Kabul has a new literary ambition: to take a bus across the
rubble-strewn roads of his war-torn homeland offering a "mobile" bookshop service
to those living in the most remote regions ... more Add
a comment A
very British pornographer
Actor Neil Pearson has just written a scholarly book about a risque publisher
and his extraordinary output. But, he explains, he's not giving up the day job
... more Add
a comment Short
shelflife for booksellers, industry figures claim
The book will still be with us in 50 years time, but the high street bookseller
may not be. That, at least, is the verdict of the top book industry professionals
surveyed at the start of this year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the key annual book
trade event which opened today ... more Add
a comment
09.10.07.
Carbon neutral shipping at Biblio.com
Biblio.com announced on Monday that it has launched a program to offset the carbon
emissions of the shipment of every book sold through its site, making it the first
major book marketplace in the world to become carbon neutral ... more Add
a comment The
book arch of Romainmôtier
After the yearly bookfair held in Romainmôtier, a small quiet Swiss town near
the border with France, artist Jan Reymond takes the remaining books and creates
an installation. Reymond says he wanted to give the unsold books "a last life"
before they got thrown away ... more Add
a comment You
can't use the O-word
Take care. In reading this article, you may be in receipt of stolen goods. In
fact, the organising committee for a certain upcoming sporting event has decided
it would be "disproportionate" to prosecute the author of a book called Olympic
Mind Games for breach of copy-right. But, under no less than two acts of parliament,
it could if it wanted to ... more Add
a comment Robert
Hooke, Britain's Leonardo, papers go online
The papers of Robert Hooke, a 17th century scientist hailed as Britain's answer
to Leonardo, have gone on line so that his pioneering work can now be appreciated
by a global audience ... more Add
a comment Book
madness in Seattle
There is so much book related stuff going on this week in Seattle that Mayor Greg
Nickels has designated it "Book Collecting Week." Here's what's happening ...
more Add
a comment
08.10.07.
World's biggest book fair stirs cultural spat
The Frankfurt Book Fair kicks off on Tuesday amid a searing row about Spanish
regional identity sparked by its decision to choose Catalonia as this year's guest
of honour ... more Add
a comment The
good and the grief
'Peanuts' creator Charles Schulz emerges as insecure and an emotionally distant
father and husband in a new biography and documentary ... more Add
a comment Dark
side of bibliomania
In the late evenings of the spring of 1994, Daniel Spiegelman, a small man in
his late thirties, stole several rare manuscripts and maps from Columbia University’s
Butler Library. By the time the thefts were discovered, Spiegelman was already
in Europe, trying to sell them on the open rare book market.
Spiegelman’s
crime, his eventual capture and trial is the subject of Travis McDade’s riveting
book, The Book Thief: The True Crimes of Daniel Spiegelman ... more Add
a comment Literature
museum has the last word
The Museum of Modern Literature at Marbach am Neckar in Germany has won this year's
Stirling prize for architecture, presented by the Royal Institute of British Architects
in association with the Architects' Journal ... more Add
a comment
05.10.07.
Ricky Jay collection at Hammer Museum
The exhibition, which runs until November 25th, features over 100 examples of
fascinating printed ephemera known as broadsides, dating from the 1600s to the
1800s. They are drawn exclusively from the collection of Ricky Jay, the Los Angeles–based
performer ... more Add
a comment Give
a tome a home
This Christmas the British Library offers you the chance to give your loved one
tc12831-12.JPGhe gift of a lifetime, which will also last a lifetime! With the
Adopt a Book scheme you can give a unique gift as well as help to protect the
world’s greatest book collection for future generations ... more Add
a comment USC
acquires first edition book written by slave author
University of South Carolina officials say they have acquired a first edition
book by an African-born slave who published her first poem when she was 13-years-old
... more Add
a comment Archive
to honour Scots Makar
The Scottish poet Edwin Morgan is to be honoured with a dedicated archive at the
Scottish Poetry Library.
Morgan, who was appointed
Scots Makar - the national poet - by the Scottish parliament in 2004, is a leading
Scottish poet of the 20th century as well as a strong presence internationally
through his connections with the concrete poetry movement ... more Add
a comment Handwritten
Beatles lyrics expected to fetch $2 million
A stained sheet of handwritten Beatles lyrics went on display on Tuesday before
a sealed-bid auction where it was expected to sell for at least $2 million.
The
draft of the words to A Day in the Life, from the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band, were written by John Lennon and are considered one of the most
valuable musical manuscripts of the 20th century to be offered for sale ... more Add
a comment
04.10.07.
Bookdealer magazine relaunch
Bookdealer, the trade magazine for the antiquarian and second hand book market
is to rebrand with the publication of the October 2007 edition ... more Add
a comment Signed
set of Harry Potter books at auction
The online auction, featuring a rare complete edition of the Harry Potter novels
signed by J.K. Rowling, is now open. This auction, to support the Hands On! Books
for Blind Children gala, will be open from October 3rd through October 25th, at
which time it will be featured LIVE at the gala on October 26th ... more Add
a comment Verse-slinging
Poets have always been a touchy bunch. But the latest wrangle in the US reflects
a wider problem in deciding what's good poetry and what's not, explains John Freeman
... more Add
a comment Behind
the scenes at the British Library
The British Library is opening the doors of its state-of-the-art Centre for Conservation
to the general public for behind the scenes tours from Thursday October 4th ...
more Add
a comment
03.10.07.
Collecting rare books and documents on Thang Long
VietNamNet Bridge - The Hanoi Publishing House has announced a campaign to collect
rare books and documents about Thang Long – Hanoi as a part of a project to build
a bookcase on the thousand years of the Thang Long culture ... more Add
a comment A
picture’s worth a thousand covers
Photography on book covers has become so common that most of us don’t even think
about the connection between the image being used and the purpose it’s being used
for. Not so for Karl Baden, an artist and photographer living in New York. Baden
is in the process of compiling and annotating a huge collection of book covers
that use photos, the whole thing part of an online archive at Covering Photography
... more Add
a comment Muslim
comic book heroes inspired by Allah
A new comic book featuring superheroes drawn from the 99 names of Allah has been
launched in Indonesia. Although the book begins in 13th century Baghdad, its Kuwaiti-born
creator Naif Mutawa says the comic is a metaphor for what is happening in the
Islamic world ... more Add
a comment Sony
unveils latest Reader Digital Book
While it may not pack the sales bang of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,
the latest edition of Sony Electronics Inc.'s Reader Digital Book could turn some
heads among gadget lovers when it is released this month ... more Add
a comment Spam
weapon helps preserve books
A weapon used to fight spammers is now helping university researchers preserve
old books and manuscripts ... more Add
a comment
02.10.07.
Books return to restored German library
Thousands of restored books returned Monday to the shelves of a newly renovated
historic library in eastern Germany that was gutted by a fire more than three
years ago ... more Add
a comment
Book industry resists free internet access to text
Frankfurt - Fearing that it will lose out financially, much of the book industry
is resisting internet pioneers' vision of putting the world's entire store of
published information online. Some European libraries have portrayed the bid to
digitize 500 years of books and newspapers as an imperialist plot, because the
big players such as Google are based in the United States ... more Add
a comment Books
or boutiques: a battle for the Left Bank's soul
On the corner of the Boulevard St Germain and the Rue St Benoit, in the heart
of Paris's Left Bank and just a few yards from where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone
de Beauvoir sipped their cafe cremes, a 56-year-old newspaper seller is preparing
to go down fighting ... more Add
a comment Quest
to view the one and only manuscript of ‘Beowulf’
For years — decades — I have wanted to see the “Beowulf” manuscript. Like “Gawain,”
only a single copy exists. Unlike “Gawain,” “Beowulf” was written in Old English;
it is centuries older. But my quest to see it has become a comedy of errors that
began before we even left the States. “‘Beowulf’? It’s in the British Museum,”
a well-meaning friend from St. Louis said when I told her we’d be spending a week
in London ... more Add
a comment
01.10.07.
Autographed Potter books sold on eBay
A British charity has sold a complete set of Harry Potter books autographed by
their author JK Rowling on eBay for 18,200 pounds ($41,926) ... more Add
a comment "A
book in a store is worth 20 on a web site"
Holland Cotter has an inspiring review of the NY Art Book Fair in Saturday's New
York Times. His piece titled Art Between Covers, on Walls and in Your Hands is
a refreshing reminder that there is still life in books ... more Add
a comment Videographer
tries to sell 9/11 memorabilia
Michael Ragsdale, a videographer at New York's Columbia University Medical Center,
tried for a year to sell a collection of 9/11 memorabilia. At least six auction
houses said the material was too recent or "sensitive" to be converted into cash,
even after the sixth anniversary ... more Add
a comment Universities
use computers to catch plagiarists
A letter has been sent to every UK school warning sixth-form students that if
they cheat on their university applications by copying material from the internet,
they will be caught ... more Add
a comment Italian
police investigate book thief
An Italian man who sometimes disguised himself as a priest and even locked himself
in a bathroom for a day managed to sneak away with dozens of 300-year-old books,
drawings and watercolors from top libraries and public archives in Rome, authorities
said Monday ... more Add
a comment | 
