Two recent books may be of interest to book collectors, dealers, and historians. Book Makers: British Publishing in the Twentieth Century was just released by the British Library. In the press release, the author, Iain Stevenson, commented:

"Publishing people are fascinating, interesting, occasionally horrifying and astounding.  This book shows that their contribution to twentieth century British history and intellectual life was enormous and my research has forced reassessments of people like Robert Maxwell and Allen Lane as well as re-introducing many lesser-known individuals whose roles were important in shaping what we read."

The pub details: Book Makers: British Publishing in the Twentieth Century by Iain Stevenson, Hardback, 336 pages, 244 x 172 mm, £25.00. It can be purchased from the British Library Shop (tel: +44 (0)20 7412 7735 / e-mail: bl-bookshop@bl.uk) and online as well as other bookshops throughout the UK.

Another just-issued title will be of particular interest to Francophiles -- it's a new English-French, French-English glossary of terms by Roland Herrmann. From the press release: "More complete, more precise, more realistic than anything that exists so far, it contains approx. 1300 entries each way. A handy and elegant volume, it will prove of considerable help in your understanding and/or drafting of book descriptions."

Available at: Librairie de l'Amateur, Strasbourg (France), or e-mail: libamat@wanadoo.fr. Price 23 ?? plus postage. 

If you find yourself driving through New Jersey and have a couple of free hours on your hands, you might consider visiting the Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, a truly remarkable concentration of material objects from the golden age of invention, and for scholars and researchers the repository of what is estimated to be five million papers and documents relating to the work of a self-educated creative genius. As national parks go, this one might not share top billing with the Grand Canyon, Yosemite or Niagara Falls, but it lacks nothing in the form of illuminating the can-do spirit of the American Industrial Revolution and showcasing the marvels of gee-wizardry. Most of the 1,093 patents granted to Edison were for inventions that were developed here

Recently reopened after a six-year $13 million renovation that included the installation of an elevator and various interactive displays, the complex--known informally in its time as Edison's "invention factory"--is now welcoming the public once again, and allowing visits throughout the various working spaces and laboratories, where teams of innovators once worked to develop such modern marvels as the phonograph, a fluoroscope to view x-ray images, machines to extract iron from ore, processes to streamline the manufacture of cement, cylinder recorders for office dictation, and nickel-iron-alkaline storage batteries. A motion picture projector synchronized with a phonograph that he called the kinetophone was developed here as well; it led to the opening of the world's first movie studio, which visitors can see on the third floor, complete with an original Steinway piano used to audition show-biz hopefuls.

Built in 1887, this facility was ten times larger than the one Edison had used for ten years at nearby Menlo Park, where he invented the electric light system. If you had no idea what is contained on these grounds--and if there were no signs to identify it as a national park--the temptation would be to drive right by the three-story brick structure, assuming it to be one of many nineteenth-century industrial sites so typical of the northeast.

Schooled at home as a child by his mother, Edison was a largely self-taught autodidact, and among the many fascinating holdings here is a 10,000-volume library still shelved in his personal working area. Between two book cases in an alcove off to one side is a small bed, placed there by Edison's wife so the great thinker could take an occasional catnap. An inveterate note-taker and doodler, Edison was forever sketching away in his notebooks, of which 3,500 survive; seeing some of these, in fact, was my primary interest in a recent visit, graciously arranged and hosted by Leonard  DeGraaf, archivist for the Thomas Edison National Historical Park.

The Edison site is one of three National Park Service properties that maintains substantial collections of original manuscripts and archives, and functions as a research facility for scholars; others include the Colonial home of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in Cambridge, Mass., and the house of master garden architect Frederick Law Olmsted in the Boston suburb of Brookline. Also part of the Edison complex--which was presented to the National Park Service by the Edison family in 1962--is the family mansion, Glenmont, set atop a scenic hill just a couple blocks away, and open to visitors as well. Well worth a trip.

An update to Rebecca's post from Monday:

The New York Times has posted a series of emails between accused archives thief William John Scott and Norm Conrad, described by the Times as "the curator of the Christian Heritage Museum and marketing director of an affiliated dealer in religious artifacts called 'Rare Bibles and More,' both in Hagerstown, Md." You can read the annotated emails here.

In the tenth email uploaded by the Times, Conrad asks Scott to provide provenance information about the letters (Scott had claimed to have inherited them from his grandfather). Scott replies saying that he's "unsure where he acquired them, sorry."

Conrad told the Times he learned only Monday (when Scott was arrested) that the documents had been stolen, and that they would be returned to Drew University. The FBI is planning to retrieve the items from Maryland. "Calling Mr. Scott 'too bright for his own good,' Mr. Conrad said, 'he definitely has to do some time because it's a major mistake. But, man, what a waste of a life.'"

In other news, another former employee of the United Methodist Archives at Drew, Swetha Iyengar, has an essay at CNN.com about the case, which includes quotes from several other former archives employees.

Yale Alumni Magazine has a very cool little essay about the bookplate, subtitled "Why book owners mark their literary territory with personalized art," written by Alex Beam in its current issue. 

The Museum of American Finance in New York City is giving away books! It's an online special sale on books and exhibit catalogues, some of which may be of interest, particularly to collectors of financial books, documents, stock/bond certificates, etc. The only cost to buyers is $7.75 for shipping & handling. I can personally vouch for one of the books -- I relied on Scripophily: The Art of Finance by Keith Hollender when I wrote a feature on scripophily in the May/June 2008 issue of FB&C (a version of which can still be read online at the International Bond and Share Society's website.) The other titles include Financing the American Revolution by Udo Hielscher, Document Stories by Sanford Mock, America, Money and War: Financing the Civil War (catalogue), and Rags to Riches (catalogue).

Today I am shocked to learn that a Drew University student is accused of stealing several historic letters from Drew University. Not only is Drew my graduate alma mater, but I worked in the preservation department and university archives for a number of years. I know those collections, those vaults, those librarians, and I am aghast.

According to yesterday's New York Times, the student, a freshman named William John Scott, had a part-time job in the archives when he began stealing letters. An antiques dealer in England alerted library officials after he bought ten Charles and John Wesley letters from the student and was suspicious of the way the delicate letters had been packaged and mailed. Scott was arrested on Sunday, after the F.B.I. found more stolen documents in his dorm room, including letters from Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Richard Nixon.

What is unclear from the NYT report is that the student did not work in the university archives; he worked in the Methodist Archives. At Drew, there is the Library, which houses the university archives and special collections, and then there is a separate structure, the United Methodist Archives Center, that holds the records of the Methodist Church as well as related rare and historical collections. In any case, the student was given a key to a locked special collections room, which, unfortunately, raises a BIG security question. The press release issued by the university is brief.  

It is said Ireland's greatest contribution to the world of arts and culture has been its literature. Always known for a rich oral and storytelling tradition, Ireland transformed into a literate island with the coming of Christianity in 400-500 AD (heralded by St. Patrick himself). Monks were hard at work illuminating Gospel manuscripts, such as the Book of Kells, while the rest of Europe began its descent into the Dark Ages...

Featured this week in ABE's Rare Books Room is Literature from the Emerald Isle just in time for St. Patrick's Day later this week. There's a short feature on Collecting the Irish, from Jonathan Swift to Roddy Doyle, James Joyce to Edna O'Brien. Are you a collector of Celts? Perhaps you'll find a pot of gold waiting for you here. 

The ABA and PBFA joined forces for the sixth annual Edinburgh Premier Book Fair held at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh's New Town.  The fair, which began yesterday and concludes today, saw about 60 dealers exhibiting.

Today is Jack Kerouac's birthday. Read/listen about him on NPR's "Writer's Almanac." Or, if you missed it, read about him and his troubled estate, from our January issue. 

Spare an hour or two to browse Harvard's new interactive "Reading" website:

Reading: Harvard Views of Readers, Readership, and Reading History is an online exploration of the intellectual, cultural, and political history of reading as reflected in the historical holdings of the Harvard Libraries. For Internet users worldwide, Reading provides unparalleled digital access to a significant selection of unique source materials--more than 250,000 pages from 1,200 individual items, including 800 published books and 400 manuscript selections.

For a quick wow, click on the Collection Highlights, where you can literally flip through 15 fantastic finds, including Dibdin's Library Companion (1824), The Country Book-Club (1788), or the manuscript charging record from the Harvard library showing which books Henry D. Thoreau checked out from 1836-37.

Said FB&C columnist (and assistant reference librarian at the Massachusetts Historical Society) Jeremy Dibbell: "It's really a perfect example of how libraries can use current technology to highlight their collections and make things available at the same time. Really nicely done."

I couldn't agree more.