This year marks the 350th anniversary of the publication of John Milton's Paradise Lost. The sixteenth-century Buckinghamshire house where he completed the epic poem is now a museum known as Milton's Cottage, which debuts today an exhibition titled Paradise Lost & the Private Presses. Curated by James Freemantle, who collects private press books (see his Bright Young Collector profile), the exhibition focuses on editions of Paradise Lost from the likes of Doves Press, Golden Cockerel Press, and Arion Press, among others. 
As stated in the introduction to the 80-page illustrated exhibition catalogue: "The aim of this exhibition is to show a selection of fine printing produced during the twentieth century ... through the choicest private press editions of Milton's Paradise Lost."
In addition to the books on display, broadsides specially commissioned for the exhibition will be on show from Nomad Letterpress and The Salvage Press, as well as artwork by Florian Bertmer. The exhibition also features ephemeral items, such as vellum printed leaves, trial pages, prospectuses, and original artwork. 
In the catalogue's Curator's Note, Freemantle explained his reason for undertaking such an exhibition: "My own interest in Paradise Lost began at school, whilst studying Books I and II as part of my English Literature A-levels. We were using an edition edited by John Broadbent (Cambridge Milton Series for Schools and Colleges) and the cover featured an illustration by William Blake. The image fascinated and stayed with me, as did the story and the imagery it evoked, and in the years following I began to collect antiquarian illustrated copies of Paradise Lost. I had never heard of the Golden Cockerel Press before, nor the Doves Press, but on discovering their editions of the poem I was transported into the world of private press printing and it has become a passion ever since. It is therefore a pleasure to be combining these two passions, Paradise Lost and private presses, into one exhibition."
Both the exhibition and the limited edition catalogue were sponsored by Maggs Bros. and Bonhams.
The exhibition remains on view through September 30.
Images: Renderings from the exhibition catalogue, courtesy of James Freemantle.
Most children and adults of a certain age in this country have read The Poky Little Puppy, Scruffy the Tugboat, The Shy Little Kitten, or one of the many dozens of other titles that make up the popular Little Golden Books series. Founded in 1942, the Golden Books series has featured beloved authors like Margaret Wise Brown, Janette Sebring Lowrey, and illustrators like Richard Scarry and Garth Williams, and today continues to publish enjoyable and affordable books for young readers.
Now through October 15, UCLA Library Special Collections is hosting an exhibit celebrating seventy-five years of Golden Books. The show highlights the twelve original titles Golden Books published, which, in the throes of World War II, collectively sold 1.5 million copies within the first five months of publication.
A selection of Little Golden Books like The Three Little Kittens and The Little Red Hen are on display in a variety of formats and sizes. The pieces hail from UCLA's Children's Book Collection which focuses primarily on English and American children's publications before 1840 as well as runs of Newbery and Caldecott medal winners.
The exhibit is free to the public. Contact the UCLA special collections library at (310) 825-4988 for more information.
While many of us are not quite ready for summer to end, here's the good news: the autumn issue of Fine Books & Collections mails this week. In it you will find a feature on photobook collecting (hence Richard Avedon on the cover, pictured below), as well as articles about Sylvia Plath, Henry D. Thoreau, Chawton House Library, and Harry Potter's 20th anniversary. Plus our usual columns, auction reports, and our (free) fall auction guide. 
And, with fall in mind, check out "Heirloom Fruit, Vintage Books" about Colorado apple orchardists and how they use antiquarian books.
"I cannot live without books," Thomas Jefferson famously declared, whose library at Monticello (now at the Libary of Congress) is an enduring testament to one of America's best-read presidents.
For the past few decades, right around this time, presidents taking a few days of well-earned respite have released their summer reading lists. Former president Obama famously shared his copious and wide-ranging selections and was often photographed at independent bookstores like Bunch of Grapes on Martha's Vineyard carefully choosing from among the stacks.
Back in 2006, George W. Bush read for pleasure all year, having made a New Year's resolution to read one book a week, which eventually led to a spirited reading duel with Karl Rove to see who could rack up the most reads. Rove barely squeezed out a victory, with 110 books to Bush's 95. During his summer vacation at his home in Crawford, Texas, Bush was spotted reading The Stranger by Albert Camus between ranch-related duties.
An avowed anti-intellectual, president Nixon proclaimed in his farewell speech to the nation that, "As you know, I kind of like to read books. I am not educated, but I do read books." Tolstoy was a favorite author.
Lincoln often quoted Shakespeare in his personal correspondence and among friends, showing a preference for Macbeth. He also enjoyed reading and writing poetry--the Gettysburg Address contains many poetic elements no doubt pulled from his reading.
Of course, this all leads up to what our current president reads for pleasure. When asked in March by television host Tucker Carlson what he likes to read, president Trump responded, among other things, that "I love to read. Actually, I'm looking at a book--I'm reading a book-I'm trying to get started." Trump went on to say that he doesn't read much because he's always facing global emergencies. Yet, a profile in the Washington Post from July 2016 highlighted a presidential candidate who didn't read, and didn't much care for it--"I never have. I'm always busy doing a lot. Now I'm more busy, I guess, than ever before."
USA Today recently reported that Trump will not be releasing a reading list for his current seventeen-day vacation at one of his New Jersey golf clubs because he's too busy for such pursuits.
So, what's the point here? Trump's reading habits don't place him among the top ten in the pantheon of presidential readers. Does a president's reading habits impact whether he will effectively govern?
It's a safe assumption that a wide-ranging and prolific reader will have a greater breadth of knowledge for any subject at hand, whether that's policy making or political ideology.
To wit, last summer, the Vineyard Gazette hosted a roundtable with presidential scholars David McCullough and Evan Thomas just after the Republican National Convention. "The idea that the party of Abraham Lincoln has nominated this totally unhinged man, Donald Trump: Unacceptable, unqualified and uninterested in knowing more than he already knows, which is virtually nothing. I find that one of the most maddening qualities about the man," said McCullough. "When he was asked if he'd ever read a book about the presidency, or a presidential biography, he said no. And he didn't seem the least bit bothered by that, or understand why he would be asked that question." Thomas offered that a president who reads is "reminded that however bad things seem now, they were pretty bad in other times."
Lifting the veil on a president's personal reading habits is humanizing as well--we, the public, get a better sense of who the leader of the free world is, and perhaps even share in the joys of having read the same books. It's not often the average American can look to a president and share something in common.
Trump doesn't read, which speaks volumes.
Looking forward to the fall season, there are several major exhibitions of books and art to put on your schedule. We list notable current and forthcoming exhibitions in our online calendar, but here are six not to miss. 
Painting Shakespeare
Through Feb. 11, 2018, the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. presents twenty-one paintings from its collection, all with interesting tales to tell, like the one recently found at an estate sale that had been part of the famous Boydell Shakespeare Gallery.
Eloise's Hometown
Whether or not you stay at the Plaza, if you're in Manhattan before Oct. 9, check out Eloise at the Museum, an exhibit at the New-York Historical Society that focuses on the ever-charming collaboration between Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight.
Sex & Drugs at Harvard
Altered States: Sex, Drugs, and Transcendence in the Ludlow-Santo Domingo Library, on view at the Houghton Library from Sept. 5 - Dec. 16, focuses on eight main topics: opium, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, sex, social protest, underground comix, and ephemera.
FSA Photography
Through Nov. 26, the Netson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, spotlights the photography of Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, Marion Post Wolcott, and other Depression-era photographers in Dignity vs. Despair.
Takamiya's Manuscripts
From Sept. 1 - Dec. 9, Yale will showcase "the most impressive collection of medieval English manuscripts in private hands," on view in the U.S. for the first time in Making the English Book: The Takamiya Deposit at the Beinecke Library.
The Written Word
The Reformation: From the Word to the World, an exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's "95 theses," opens at the Huntington Library & Museum on Oct. 28.
Image: David Garrick Leaning on a Bust of Shakespeare, after 1769, currently on exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Unknown British painter after Thomas Gainsborough, oil on canvas, Folger FPb27. Purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Folger, 1926.
The Miniature Book Society (MBS) Grand Conclave pops up in a different city every year. This year, its 35th, finds familiar book fair ground: Oakland, California. From Friday, August 11, through Monday, August 14, bibliophiles with a penchant for tiny tomes will congregate at the Oakland Marriott City Center for meetings, workshops, book swaps, and a book fair (open to the public on Sunday from 11-4). John Howell for Books will be bringing between 300 and 400 miniature books to the fair, including a limited edition 3-volume boxed set of Charles Dickens miniatures from Black Cat Press (pictured here at left).
Jill Timm of Mystical Places Press will present her limited edition "Color Craze" miniature flag book and "Color Accord" miniature accordion folded book (pictured below). With a nod to the adult coloring book fad, each book contains actual hand-colored pages. 
On Saturday, from 2-4 p.m., PBA Galleries will host a special reception and preview for Conclave attendees of its upcoming August 24 auction of "Miniature Books: The Library of a Gentleman Collector."
Images courtesy of Jill Timm and John Howell for Books
The house that inspired E.B. White's classic children's book Charlotte's Web is for sale. Including a circa 1795 farmhouse and 40+ acres of farmland nestled on Allen Cove in Blue Hill Bay with views of Acadia National Park, the property is listed with Downeast Properties for $3.7 million. White's story of how a spider named Charlotte convinced a farmer to save the Wilbur the pig from the dinner table was published in 1952, earning a Newbery Honor in 1953 and named the top-selling paperback of all time by Publishers Weekly in 2000.
E.B. and Katherine White purchased the farm in 1933. Town & Country and New England Today both recently ran extensive pieces on the property, the current owners, and the history of the place.
White adored the farm and lived there until his death in 1985. The current owners, Robert and Mary Gallant, purchased the property from the White family and have scrupulously maintained the farm for the past thirty years; in fact, the rope swing that makes a cameo in Charlotte's Web still hangs in the barn doorway. The wooden desk, workbench, and wastepaper basket are still in the boathouse where White composed his stories.
Serious inquirers are invited to contact Martha Dischinger at Downeast Properties in Blue Hill, Maine, at 207-266-5058 or by email at msd@brooksvillemaine.com.
Glad tidings from London, Ontario, where Bright Young Booksellers Vanessa Brown and Jason Dickson have just published London: 150 Cultural Moments (Biblioasis, $22.95 CAD). From the first map ever made of their little city, to pop culture, art, literature, theatre, film, and music, the book celebrates the interesting and unexpected in this lively locale.
Brown & Dickson plan to celebrate with a launch party in their shop on Thursday, August 10 from 7-9 p.m.
Image courtesy of Brown & Dickson
From noon July 31 through noon August 1, the Mystic Seaport Maritime Museum in Mystic, CT, held its 32nd annual Moby-Dick reading marathon. Visitors were invited aboard the ninteenth-century whaleship (and now teaching vessel) Charles W. Morgan and read Herman Melville's (1819-1891) nautical adventure.
The nonstop reading of all 133 chapters commemorated Melville's 198th birthday. Originally published in 1851, Moby-Dick sank commercially during the author's lifetime and went out of print in 1891. The book was revived in the twentieth century as an example of "The Great American Novel," helped in no small part by writers like William Faulkner, who wished he had written it, and Hemingway who said he was still trying to "beat" Melville at the writing game.
Nearly forty participants read from their own copy of Moby-Dick, ranging from dog-eared, yellowed paperbacks to fancy commemorative hardcovers. The honor of reading the opening lines of "Call me Ishmael" went to an actor portraying Melville, who recited chapter one from memory. Chelmsford, Massachusetts, resident Nikki Richardson read read chapter two, The Carpet Bag, "one of the shortest chapters," she said. Many readers came and went during the 24-hour reading, while sixteen reserved lodgings below deck in the Morgan's forecastle.
Readers came to remember Melville, to enjoy time on the water, and to honor family. "I read because literature was part of my double major," explained Richardson. "Also, I am the daughter of a submariner who installed a love of the ocean and its tales in his children. I particularly love whaling stories and this is one of the greatest, incorporating fictionalized details of the story of the whale that rammed and sank the Essex."
Some readers had participated in marathon reading sessions at other New England ports like New Bedford and on Nantucket. "It's an addictive experience to be among people with a singular love for literature," said Richardson. "People come back again and again."
Participants received a commemorative bookmark handset and printed on a nineteenth-century press located at Mystic.
Images (top): Herman Melville (Public domain); (middle) Nikki Richardson reading chapter 2 of Moby Dick. Credit: Elissa Bass.
Furthermore, the grants in publishing program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund, announced its fifth annual shortlist for an award called The Alice. Created by Joan K. Davidson in honor of Alice M. Kaplan, this award honors books that fuse scholarly value with high production values. The jury includes illustrator R.O. Blechman, gallerist Paula Cooper, publisher David Godine, and director of the Yale University Art Gallery, Jock Reynolds. One of the jurists commented, "Our hope is that the Alice will buttress the kind of slow reading movement that can encourage readers to recognize and cherish the undying qualities of the well-made book: beyond ideas, its shape and heft, the aptness of its paper and typography and design, and the special sense of intimacy it affords--and will help to keep such books coming in the years ahead."
The winner receives $25,000. Additionally, this year Furthermore announced that each of the short-listed books would walk away with $5,000 apiece. Prizes will be announced on October 9, and a ceremony at the Strand Book Store will follow in November. 
This year's shortlist consists of four titles:
Robert Winthrop Chanler: Discovering the Fantastic edited by Gina Wouters and Andrea Gollin. In association with the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Miami FL. Published by The Monacelli Press.
Charles Percier: Architecture and Design in an Age of Revolutions edited by Jean-Philippe Garric. Co-published by the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, Château de Fontainebleau, Réunion des musées nationaux--Grand Palais, and Yale University Press.
Conflicts of Interest: Art and War in Modern Japan by Philip K. Hu and Rhiannon Paget. Co-published by the Saint Louis Art Museum and the University of Washington Press.
Inventing Downtown: Artist-Run Galleries in New York City, 1952-1965 by Melissa Rachleff. Co-published by the Grey Art Gallery and DelMonico Books--Prestel.
Last year, Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture won; in 2015, David Campany's The Open Road: Photography & The American Road Trip earned the top spot. Read more about Joan Davidson and the Alice Award here.
Image via the Monacelli Press
