On April 26, Bookfinder.com released its 13th annual report of the 100 most coveted out-of-print books in the United States. The online book price comparison tool uses extensive search data to compile the list, and 2015 revealed some surprises. Notable absences from the lineup include The Jerusalem Bible, illustrated by Salvador Dali, and A Treasury of Great Recipes, by Vincent and Mary Price. These two titles had been regulars on the list, however, they are now back in print. "Both of these titles are proof that out-of-print does not mean out of mind," said Bookfinder's public relations specialist Scott Laming.

                                                                                                                                                                             

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The Jerusalem Bible. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

                                                                                                                                                                               Sex, art, and guns remain popular topics, though the order of desirability has shifted. Madonna's Sex was toppled from its number one perch last year, but it regained considerable ground. Read on to find out if her erotic biography is back on top, as well as what other books people wanted most in 2015. 

                                                                                                                                                                     Below are Bookfinder's top ten: 

10. Mastering Atmosphere & Mood in Watercolor, by Joseph Zbukvic; International Artist Publishing, 2002. Collected as a coffee table book and also used an instructional guide.

9.  Halloween, by Curtis Richards; Bantam; New York, NY, 1979. Richards' novelization of John Carpenter's creepy motion picture.

8. Permaculture: A Designers' Manual, by Bill Mollison; Island Press, 1990. Out of print since 1990 in the U.S., this book has been republished in Australia and remains the top resource for permaculture study.

7. The Vision and Beyond: Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come, by David R. Wilkerson; World Challenge Publications, 2003. Adamant that we are living in "the beginnings of sorrows," Wilkerson illustrates how mankind is racing towards the end days.

6. Finding the Winning Edge, by Bill Walsh; Sports Pub, 1998. San Francisco 49ers 3-time Superbowl winning coach chronicles how he molded a struggling team into the stuff of legend.

5. Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, by Richard Schmid; Stove Prairie Press, 1999. A comprehensive manual on oil painting by one of America's greatest living realists.

4. Promise Me Tomorrow, by Nora Roberts; Pocket Books, 1984. Considered by fans to be Roberts' worst book, this mass-market paperback remains highly coveted by collectors.

3. Unintended Consequences, by John Ross; Accurate Press, 1996. A novel on gun culture in the United States.

2. Rage, by Stephen King (as Richard Bachman); Signet, 1977. King's first book published under his pseudonym.

1. Sex, by Madonna; Warner Books, 1992. This spiral-bound biography earned Madonna her nickname, "Queen of the Obscene."

                                                                                                                                                                              

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Sex. Source: Wikimedia Commons.


See the full list here.

lithographshirt.jpgIf you've always longed to have your favorite words draped around your body, your dream can now come true. A current Kickstarter campaign from the company Litographs, which has already attracted $56,000 in pledges, transforms your own writing or the text from your favorite novel into a personalized scarf or t-shirt. 


You start by choosing either an infinity scarf or a t-shirt. Next, you pick your text, either submitting your own or choosing from some 200 books in the company's collection. If pursuing the former route, Litographs suggests sending in your own stories or poems, the words of a loved one or friend, or any piece of text in the public domain. (They also mention it would be possible to print the first 40,000 digits of the number pi). Then you customize your font. Options include Baskerville, Helvetica, Courier, or Snell Roundhand. Finally, you choose the font color and font size, ranging from 9 pt to 32 pt.


If you'd like a shirt or scarf printed with text in Litographs' collection, you will need to pledge $30 to the campaign. Want to submit your own text? The pledge needs to come in at $40.  


Litographs had an original goal of attracting $15,000 in pledges. With two weeks still remaining in the campaign, however, the company has already tripled its pledge goal. 




Earlier this year, Richard J. Ring reacquainted bibliophiles with the writing of an exemplary American librarian in his book, Lawrence C. Wroth's Notes for Bibliophiles in the New York Herald-Tribune, 1937-1947 (2016). Wroth not only served as librarian at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University from 1923 to 1957, but he was a serious scholar and author as well, focused primarily on colonial American printing. During this decade before and after World War II, Wroth accepted yet another assignment: he brought rare books and bibliography to the masses in a fortnightly column for a major city newspaper. In all, he wrote 237 columns.       

Wroth Covers.jpgHere selected, compiled, and introduced by Ring, the head curator and librarian of the Watkinson Library at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Wroth's columns are organized into four categories: people, exhibitions, institutions, and publications. Many names and places will be familiar to bibliophiles, who will relish encountering those giants of book collecting through Wroth's eyes. From Wilberforce Eames and Dr. A. S. W. Rosenbach to the collections at the Clements Library and the Huntington Library, Wroth provides a survey of the book world that he knew and loved. Ring deserves many thanks for mining these columns and bringing them to light.

Of particular interest are Wroth's columns on a "perfect" (imagined) exhibit on the tercentenary of printing in the U.S. in 1939 that would show off all the colonial "firsts," and, relatedly, his article on the 1947 sale of a Bay Psalm Book wherein his laments its pretty new binding. Wroth edifies with a light hand and in such a way that might remind readers of the work of Joel Silver, director of the Lilly Library at Indiana University, who writes a column for Fine Books every quarter.
 
Ring's new book is paperbound, 240 pages, and includes seven color illustrations and a full checklist of Wroth's columns. It was designed by Scott Vile of the Ascensius Press and printed in an edition of 200 copies. The price is $40; interested readers may contact Richard Ring (richard.ring2 at gmail.com).

Image courtesy of Richard Ring. 

1150.jpgIn a story well known to American literature enthusiasts, Harper Lee accompanied her childhood friend Truman Capote to Kansas in the wake of a brutal quadruple murder in 1959. Capote would later publish the hugely popular "nonfiction novel" about the Clutter Family murders entitled In Cold Blood seven years later.

                                                                                                                                                              Capote brought Lee with to Kansas to help him interview the locals about the murders, although he later downplayed her contribution, referring to her instead as a "research assistant." Lee, meanwhile, ramping up for the publication in 1960 of To Kill a Mockingbird, wrote her own article about the murders for Grapevine magazine, a periodical published for members of the FBI. Lee's article, which was published unsigned, has been re-discovered by Lee biographer Charles J. Shields.

                                                                                                                                                                 Lee's article appeared in the March, 1960 issue of Grapevine. While the article was unsigned, biographer Shields conducted some sleuthing and found evidence that he believes confirms Lee's authorship.

                                                                                                                                                              Shields found mention in a column in the Kansas newspaper the Garden City Telegram from February, 1960 which read, "The story of the work of the FBI in general and KBI Agent Al Dewey in particular on the Clutter murders will appear in Grapevine, the FBI's publication."

                                                                                                                                                               "Nelle Harper Lee, young writer who came to Garden City with Truman Capote to gather material for a New Yorker magazine article on the Clutter case, wrote the piece. Miss Harper's first novel is due for publication ... this spring and advance reports say it is bound to be a success."

                                                                                                                                                               How right the columnist was.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Image from Garden City Telegram.

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                                                                                                                                                              The 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare is tomorrow, and institutions around the globe have been preparing for the day with countless celebrations. And here's another way to savor the day: Les Enluminures, an international antiquarian bookseller dedicated to medieval and Renaissance-era manuscripts and miniatures, is offering a selection of posy rings in a nod to the Bard.

Sometimes spelled posie or posey (deriving from the French word for poetry, poésie), these gold rings were popular lover's gifts throughout France and England from the 12th through the 18th century. The bands were engraved on the inside with short inscriptions, usually expressing love, affection, or friendship. Many examples were written in French, then as now, the language of love. Some inscriptions were so popular that goldsmiths kept reference books full of stock quotations.

Screen Shot 2016-04-22 at 9.01.08 AM.png"A Loving Wife During Life," England, mid-18th century. Gold. $7,000. Courtesy of Les Enluminures.

                                                                                                                                                                    The posy rings at Les Enluminures date from the 17th to the 18th century and are inscribed in English, with phrases such as "I like my Choice," "As God decreed, so we agreed," and "In my sight is my delight." One of the more fashionable inscriptions (though not currently available through les Enluminures) was, "Love me and Leave me Not," a sentiment engraved on a band given by Nerissa to Gratiano in the Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare's characters often exchanged rings: the quote in this piece's title is from Richard III (i 2), where the king woos the widowed Lady Anne. (Richard killed her husband, and this hasty courtship is a brilliant example of the king's mastery of manipulation.) 

Les Enluminures gold posy rings are available for $5,000 to $7,500. See more here, or stop by their booth at the Salon International du Livre Rare if you happen to be in Paris this weekend. Further examples of posy rings may be found at the Ashmolean Museum and at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

1772.jpgThe Book of Margery Kempe, (between 1436 and 1438), is currently on display along with Julian of Norwich's Revelations of Divine Love (1373) at the Wellcome Collection in London. The two medieval manuscripts are particularly notable for their female authorship. Margery Kempe and Julian of Norwich are two of the earliest women writers in English.


The Book of Margery Kempe, widely considered the first autobiography in English, was dictated to a scribe by Kempe who, after birthing 14 children, became a pilgrim, traveling far from her Norfolk home to visit Jerusalem and Santiago de Compostela.


Julian of Norwich wrote Revelations of Divine Love in 1373 in the wake of spiritual epiphinanies while serving as an anchorite.  Revelations includes the oft-repeated line, "all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."


Both manuscripts are extremely rare -- The Book of Margery Kempe only existing in one copy thought lost for four hundred years before an accidental discovery in a British country house brought it back into the light.


In an interesting aside, Margery Kempe met Julian of Norwich while Julian was entombed as an anchorite, seeking advice on her own visions of God. Despite this historical meeting, their manuscripts were only brought together for display for the first time at the new exhibition from Wellcome Collection. The manuscripts are on loan from the British Library.


The Wellcome Collection exhibition, entitled This is a Voice, explores the human voice in its myriad forms and will continue through the end of July.


[Image from the British Library]






The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts (Simon & Schuster, $26) by former Newsweek foreign correspondent Joshua Hammer is the engrossing story of Abdel Kader Haidara, an archivist and historian who helped recreate Timbuktu's historic manuscript libraries in the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s, and then risked everything to rescue them from Islamic militants bent on destruction.  
                                                                                                                                                    the-bad-ass-librarians-of-timbuktu-9781476777405_hr.jpgBy 2012, 45 libraries existed in the city, holding 377,000 manuscripts, all of which needed to be saved from the looting that Haidara was sure would ensue after al Qaeda seized the city that spring. Volunteers met under cover of darkness to pack the volumes in footlockers. "One prize was a tiny, irregularly shaped folio that glittered with illuminated blue Arabic letters and droplets of gold--a single page from the twelfth-century Koran written on the parchment of a fish...," writes Hammer. For two hours each night, they packed books into chests with padlocks, "wrapped them in blankets and loaded them onto mule carts," after which they would be transported to dozens of safe houses. From there, trusted couriers smuggled the manuscripts out of Timbuktu to Bamako, Mali's capital--through dangerous jihadist checkpoints every day for months.                                                                                                                                                        To call this book a page-turner is to diminish it; the suspense that Hammer creates is vital, but it's his shrewd reporting on cultural terrorism--and those who fought against it--that makes The Bad-Ass Librarians so important. No book lover should miss it.
                                                                                                                                         Further reading: The Wall Street Journal published a mini-excerpt from the book and American Libraries posted an interview with the author.

                                                                                                                        

Image via Simon & Schuster.

Last month, I had the pleasure of receiving a personal tour of an exhibition at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia with curator David Whitesell. The exhibition, entitled "Fearsome Ink: The English Gothic Novel to 1830" will be on display through May 28th.


Below is a video of my exhibition tour with David Whitesell, created with my iPhone:




If you enjoyed the video tour, also be sure to check out our visit to the Innerpeffray Library in Perthshire, Scotland, last year.




Coming to auction this week at Freeman's in Philadelphia is this colorful embroidered map of Washington, D.C. created by teenager Susanna Wilkinson Atkinson in 1807.

                                                                                                                                                               

Screen Shot 2016-04-17 at 9.51.43 PM.pngUsing silk thread, watercolor, and ink, the fourteen-year-old needle-pointer from Alexandria, Virginia, followed a plan of the city drawn by Pierre Charles L'Enfant and Andrew Ellicott and published by James Thackara and John Vallance in 1792. (Seen below courtesy of the Library of Congress.)

LOC Map.jpgAccording to the auctioneer, this is the fourth-known 'Plan of the City of Washington' embroidery. The others are held by Dumbarton House (The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America), Winterthur Museum, and Colonial Williamsburg. Will George Washington University, home to Albert H. Small's amazing Washingtoniana collection, be the next? The auction estimate is $15,000-25,000.

                                                                                                                                                          Top image via Freeman's.

After centuries of revolution and unrest, you could say that the French know a little something about protesting. Employees of virtually every sector have spent some time picketing unacceptable changes in business policy--metro conductors, nurses, and now, middle-school classics professors. Last year, the French Ministry of Education released plans to overhaul the nationwide academic system. The "réforme du collège" or "middle school reform" has met with intense resistance among teachers, parents, unions, and politicians. One of the proposed changes includes the removal of compulsory ancient Greek and Latin from the middle school curriculum, to be replaced by sprinkling French language classes with the "fundamental elements that Greek and Latin bring to the French language," whatever that means. Full-credit language classes were reduced to electives taught one-hour-per week, but the outcry was so intense that the Ministry added an hour.

                                                                                                                                                        

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Dismayed, frustrated, but certainly not hopeless, a group of teachers nicknamed "The Immortals," reacted with a certain elan that only the French could pull off. In August of last year they created a parody calendar called "The Calendar of the Immortals," in which classicists portray Zeus, Hermes, Hera, and other Olympian gods. So far, it sounds tame enough, but it gets subversive once you start reading. Each month is accompanied by a parody of an "EPI," basically the French version of our Standards of Learning. (Zeus's dictum is unprintable here.) Needless to say, the calendar caught people's attention. Available for purchase online, the teachers expected modest sales, and were happily surprised when over 400 calendars were bought by loyal supporters. In an article published by the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, one Immortal responded to suggestions that Greek and Latin are dusty and useless with, "We aren't grumpy old dinosaurs. We are just classics professors...Greek and Latin will never die." The reform puts the entire academic system in jeopardy, the Immortals claim, by robbing children of the opportunity to immerse themselves in the fundamentals of Western literature and analytic thought. Indeed, how does a student approach Dante's Divine Comedy without first understanding the poetry of Virgil? Or Jean Anouilh's Antigone (1944) without reading Sophocles' (500 B.C) tragedy by the same name? 

                                                                                                                                                           As a former middle school French and Latin teacher, this revolt warms my heart. These teachers haven't given up on the hoi polloi just yet.

                                                                                                                                                               (A hearty merci beaucoup to bibliophile Jean-Paul Fontaine for sharing this story on Facebook. To see it in French, click here.)