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29.06.09.
Hard times or great expectations?
I have just been
sent a rare books catalogue from RA (Rick) Gekoski, the former Booker
Prize judge and distinguished antiquarian bookseller ... more
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Man balances
204 book on head
An Ilkeston man
has set a new world record for balancing a tower of books on his
head. John Evans balanced 204 books, which stood at a height of
one metre and 24.8cm ... more
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Indy book
market returns to Manchester
The Manchester
Book Market, which first took place in 2006, is to return this summer
as part of the Manchester International Festival. The three-day
market, the largest outdoor market for independent publishers in
the UK, will take place from 17th–19th July ... more
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Oxfam's bookfest
opens in Leeds
Oxfam loves books
and to prove it has planned its first ever book festival. Oxfam
Bookfest is a national two week event packed full of competitions,
workshops and meetings that launches on Monday July 4th ... more
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26.06.09.
'Priceless' Roe papers fetch $300,000
A collection
of 200 letters from WA’s first surveyor-general, John Septimus Roe,
became one of the most expensive archives of early Australian history
to be sold at auction when it was bought for $300,000 yesterday
... more
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Cambridge
bids to acquire wartime Sassoon archive
£1.25m appeal
launched to buy journals, letters, poems and photographs by much
loved first world war poet ... more
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Auld Lang
Syne could fetch £50,000 at auction
The original
manuscript of one of the world's best-known songs could fetch £50,000
when it goes under the hammer later this year, auctioneers have
said ... more
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Digital age
provides hope for ancient manuscripts
The case of ancient
manuscripts being found missing or damaged at the Radyapustaka Museum
in Solo, Central Java, has drawn world attention and prompted efforts
to digitize the collection to help preserve it ... more
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24.06.09.
£300,000 in library fines
Liverpool's universities
raked in more than £300,000 in library fines from its students in
just one year. A lack of certain books to go around and a reluctance
to relinquish sought-after titles were today partly blamed for the
huge arrears. ... more
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Lancashire's
'web over books' policy blasted
A council leader
has criticised a Lancashire-wide decision to replace library reference
books with an online service. A restructure of Accrington Library’s
services by Lancashire County Council has seen the reference book
section at Accrington Library removed and replaced with an online
database ... more
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23.06.09.
The Tome Lord
Before video
and DVD, Dr Who fans who wanted a fix of the Time Lord in between
the TV shows relied on a series of official novels. Writing for
the Magazine, Mark Gatiss recalls his love of Dr Who's adventures
in print ... more
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Shelved,
the book that outraged the Orkneys
Publisher bins
manuscript about 'repressed drunks stuck in the 1950s' after threats
of legal action and MP's complaint ... more
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King works
return to bookshelves
Books written
by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr, which have not been available
for nearly 20 years, are set to be republished again next year ...
more
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Ray Bradbury
rides out in defence of libraries
The science fiction
writer Ray Bradbury launches a series of fund-raisers with a passionate
defence of the US public library system ... more
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1776 Black
Document Discovered
Dated July 4th,
1776, a handwritten document relates to the life of Cuff Dole, who
was sold into slavery as a young child. A Yonkers dealer has identified
it as the earliest known manuscript about an African-American in
the new United States ... more
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Berger donates
to British Library
The archive of
Booker prize-winner John Berger is to be transferred from his French
home to the British Library ... more
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19.06.09.
Happy Father’s Day ... enjoy the Fritzl book
High Street giants
WH Smith were blasted yesterday for plugging a book on cellar monster
Josef Fritzl as a Father's Day gift. Appalled shoppers could not
believe their eyes when they saw it on a “Top 50 Books for Dad”
display which also proclaimed “Dads Are Heroes” ... more
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A trove of
Steinbeck
Declan Kiely,
a curator at the Morgan Library, which has a large collection of
late Steinbeck manuscripts, said, “It is the largest and most important
collection of Steinbeck manuscripts to come on the market in 20
years” ... more
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Gemlike paintings,
set free from words
Most people would
agree that tearing up an illuminated manuscript to sell it by the
page is vandalism. But might it also liberate the art on those pages?
That’s the underlying question of “Pages of Gold,” the Morgan Library
& Museum’s quietly compelling show of leaves separated from manuscripts
and sold to collectors of medieval art ... more
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Rare prices
for rare books
Despite the ravages
of the recession and the advances of the digital age, prices of
high-end rare books are holding firm ... more
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18.06.09.
The £1 million book is saved
The team behind
the production of the world’s most expensive sports, arts and fashion
books, which sell for up to £1 million, have led a management buyout
of their company after a shortfall in funding ... more
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Oxfam book
auction raises £20,000
The highest bid
was made for a copy of the History of the Second World War, signed
by Sir Winston Churchill, which fetched £800 at Bonhams on Tuesday
... more
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Catcher in
the act
Reclusive writer
J.D. Salinger might not have published a book in years, but his
legal schedule has kept him busy enough: The author of Catcher in
the Rye has filed a handful of lawsuits to protect the classic novel
he wrote nearly six decades ago, remaining otherwise absent from
public life in the years since. On Thursday his lawyers were scheduled
to launch the first hearing of a copyright infringement lawsuit
against alleged copycat author Frederik Colting ... more
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BL publishes
online archive of 19th-century newspapers
Bad news is never
new, but anyone overwhelmed by today's political scandals, wars,
financial disasters, soaring unemployment and drunken feral children
can take refuge in the 19th century – and its wars, financial disasters,
political scandals, soaring unemployment and drunken feral children.
Over two million pages of 19th and early 20th century newspapers
go online today, part of the vast British Library collection ...
more
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15.06.09.
Better late ...
Sorry about my
belated return to the keyboard. An otherwise delightful trip to
Cornwall cost us the car and I've had to spend much of the time
since my return finding a replacement.
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Shakespeare accused misses court
An antique dealer
accused of stealing a Shakespeare folio worth £3m from Durham University
missed a court appearance because he was undergoing surgery ...
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My ebook
epiphany
A public transport
encounter has convinced me there's no need to fear for the future
of reading. If you don't believe it, just ask William Caxton ...
more
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Early pyramid
photo revealed
Images of Egypt
dating from the 'early 1850s' will go on sale at an auction this
week. The six unsigned 20x24cm salt prints - which include views
of the pyramids and the Sphinx - will form part of a Vintage Photography
sale at Dominic Winter Book Auctions in Gloucestershire on Wednesday
... more
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French bookbinder
scores Bodleian prize
The inaugural
Sir Paul Getty Bodleian Bookbinding Prize has been awarded to a
French bookbinder. Frst prize went to Alain Taral of France and
second prize to UK bookbinder Jenni Grey. The award recognises the
best of craftsmanship and creativity in the contemporary art of
bookbinding ... more
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Edward Lear's
vision of the Lakes goes on show
Paintings, drawings
and letters describe author's impressions of a region where 'the
dear little babies are born with fins – webbed feet – & umbrellas
under their arms' ... more
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FBI sending
back stolen artifacts
The secret collection
John Sisto kept in his Berwyn bungalow had letters written by kings,
Vatican documents penned by Catholic popes and even a handwritten
book preface by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini. In all, federal
officials found an astounding treasure-trove of about 3,500 ancient
artifacts, religious relics, rare manuscripts and other historic
items after Sisto's death in March 2007 ... more
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