#rarebooks

[curiouscatalog]

Amazing avian friends to brighten your day.

Godey’s Lady’s Book (Philadelphia, Pa. : 1840). Philadelphia, Pa: L.A. Godey. January 1843

Poe, Edgar Allan (editor). Graham’s Magazine. Philadelphia: G. R. Graham]. July 1848, July 1850.

#birds #bird of paradise #cardinal #Baltimore oriole #illustration #nature illustration #nature #magazines #19th century #1800s #libraryofva #specialcollections #rarebooks #Edgar Allan Poe #Graham's Magazine #Godey's Lady's Book

[dustyatticrarebooks]

Paris.📚📚📚

#rarebooks #beautiful #vintage #history #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #bibliophile #booklover #books #bookworm #antique #library #antiques #bookstore #bookish #bookstagram

[beautynthebook]

#women reading #rarebooks

[michaelmoonsbookshop]

Magic? or Coincidence?

Yes we sold a book online to a customer who lives hundreds of miles away - upon reciept she dropped us a line to say it was not only the same edition as one she had previously purchased but in fact it was the very same copy she had gifted to her father amost forty years before with her gift inscription.

#old #books #old bookshop #bibliophile #old books #michael moon's bookshop #antiquarian #antique books #michaelmoonsbookshop #moonsbookshop #antiquarianbookshop #findingnewhomesforoldbookssince1970 #rarebooks #whitehaven

[muspeccoll]

#WordyWednesday

Perfect binding: A misleading term for books that have been “bound” by gluing a series of independent sheets directly to the spine of the book rather than sewing or gluing gatherings in place. (A perfect-bound book effectively has all of its pages tipped in.) This is common in modern paperbacks and results in books that can easily fall apart once the glue gives out and are nearly impossible to repair afterwards. It is a pernicious practice that only has its cheapness to recommend it.

Image: Packer, Nancy Huddleston. Small moments. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1976. PS3566.A318 S5 1976

(via Page — Pulpboard · Rare Books: A Glossary · Special Collections and Archives)

#wordy wednesday #wordywednesday #john henry #special collections #specialcollections #rare books #rarebooks #bookhistory #bookbinding #perfect bound

[hdslibrary]

Tiny Thumb Tuesday

This little guy is an 1849 printing of a very condensed version of the Bible. Commonly known as “thumb bibles” these tiny books were (and are) popular gift items. Despite the small physical size of the pages, the print itself is not tiny, and easy to read.

The Thumb Bible: Verbum sempiternum. John Taylor, ed. The third edition, with amendments.  London: Longman and Co., 1849.

#tiny tuesday #thumb bible #miniature books #bookhistory #rarebooks #19th century #bibles

[philaathenaeum]

The Athenaeum of Philadelphia

Philadelphia, PA

#library #librarylife #ilovelibraries #books #rarebooks #ilovebooks #libraries #philly #philadelphia #reading #literature

[alexlibris-bookart]

One more the 'Anatomia' book is finished and listed to the shop. Rarely have opportunity to see it on bookshelf. It's beautiful!

#anatomy #medicine #doctor #pathology #surgery #clinic #hospital #bookworm #art #handmade #leatherwork #divine #unique #rarebooks #darkart #anatomia #medieval #retro #humanbody #perfection #goldenratio #alexlibris #bookart #etsy #etsyshop #proud #homedecor #beautiful #precious #leathercraft

[ndpreservation]

Old Book, New Boards

Following our visit to paper maker extraordinaire Andrea Peterson in the fall (see our November blog post), we were eager to find opportunities to use her handmade papers in our conservation work. Of particular interest was her ABM binders board, which recycles phase box off-cuts to make a delightfully pulpy binders board that is reminiscent of boards used on books throughout the 16th through 19th centuries. Essentially a thick, dense sheet of handmade paper, Andrea’s ABM board is lightweight, alkaline, and comes in a variety of thicknesses that allow for a sympathetic pairing to an older text-block when a new case or binding is necessary. 

Hesburgh Libraries recently acquired a c. 15th century manuscript on paper of theological works by Denys the Carthusian. While the manuscript itself dates to the 15th century, it arrived in a much later binding that had broken sewing and very thin detached boards covered in brittle marbled paper.

Though we prefer reattaching loose boards where possible, in this case it was determined that splitting or lifting the covering material from these very thin, irregular boards would cause damage. We therefore decided, in collaboration with the curator, that the marble paper covered boards would be retained loose with the manuscript in a cloth-covered clamshell box, and the manuscript would be mended, resewn, and given a new binding. 

In the process of cleaning and mending the paper in preparation for resewing, a fragment of light blue paper was discovered adhered to one of the inner folios of the manuscript.

Though it is unclear why and when this paper fragment came to be attached to the manuscript, it is similar to the blue “sugar bag” paper found on many books from the 17th and 18th centuries. In constructing a new case for the manuscript, we used a thin (0.06”) piece of ABM board and covered it with Ruscombe Mills Sesley Sugar Bag handmade laid paper, which closely resembles the fragment of blue paper found inside the manuscript. 

Although the new binding does not attempt to be a facsimile of any particular binding, the new case stabilizes the manuscript for use while echoing elements of the manuscript’s history with its thin, textured boards and light blue covering paper. 

#ndpreservation #conservation #bookconservation #manuscriptmonday #handmadepaper #paperlove #bookbinding #denysthecarthusian #manuscript #rarebooks #NDLibraries

[noelcollection]

Gothic Literature

As All Hallow’s Eve approaches with much anticipation of costumes, candies, and candles; we are reminded of strange tales that float from ear to ear as the sun sets earlier and the moon rises sooner. Some of the most popular works of literature created the genre of gothic literature, Stoker's Dracula, Shelly’s Frankenstein, and Walpole’s Castle of Otranto.

Horace Walpole’s novel The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story, first published in 1764, is considered to be the first gothic work in literature. The mention of gothic literature brings up images of foggy moors, castle ruins, dark romances, and flocks of black birds. This is due to the major contributors of the gothic literary canon from the early Victorian period from both the United Kingdom and America; Charles Dickens, the Bronte sisters, Edgar Allen Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. The gothic literary canon has continued to expand with the works of Bram Stoker, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Annie Rice. There is a modern gothic canon that houses authors such as Stephen King, Anne Rice, and Dame Daphne du Maruier. Beyond the illustrations of vampires, night sisters, and dangerous tinctures, what creates a gothic novel? 

There are three main elements that are needed for a gothic novel: an environment of fear, supernatural events, and an intrusion of the past on the present. This differs from traditional fairy tales because the main theme is the present being haunted by the past or past event. The character’s environment contains physical reminders of the past by utilizing dark but picturesque scenery with melodramatic narratives. The central environment can be castle ruins, ancient houses, or encircling forests which all contain some terrible secret. An example of this is Poe’s short story “Fall of the House of Usher.” There are several earlier novels that set the foundation for early gothic literature that were published in the late 1700s. The featured novel The Castle of Otranto by Walpole in 1764; along with other works like Ann Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho, (1794), Matthew Lewis’s The Monk (1796), and Charles Brockden Brown’s American tale Wieland (1798). In the case of Walpole’s novel which is considered to be the first gothic novel, the subtitle “a Gothic story” was applied to the second edition.

This is likely due to the setting of the novel being in a haunted castle which is said to be inspired by a nightmare that Walpole had while sleeping in his own gothic revival style home, called Strawberry Hill House, in London. Horace Walople was taken with medieval history. The novel itself deals with a castle lord named Manfred and his family and opens with an ominous wedding. The sickly son of Manfred, Conrad is meant to be marrying princess Isabella but is crushed to death by a large helmet that falls from above him. This event is tied to an ancient prophecy:

“that the castle and lordship of Otranto should pass from the present family, whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it”

The story follows through a series of events that feels reminiscence of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as Manfred attempts to leave his current wife for his son’s betrothed is fear that the prophecy means the end of his family’s line. The full prophecy comes to play out when Manfred mistakenly kills his daughter, Matilda, and a giant ghostly apparition appears to announce that the prophecy has been fulfilled after Matilda’s death and the former peasant Theodore is revealed to be the true prince of Otranto. Manfred repents for his actions and retires to religion alongside his wife, Hippolita.

While much of the story is dramatic, it was well received after its original publication. The portions being featured from the 1800’s edition of Walpole novel with the full title: The Castle of Otranto, A Story. Translated by William Marshal, Gent. From the Original Italian of Onuphrio Muralto, Canon of the Church of St. Nicholas at Otranto. The title was meant to give the reader’s the impression that the story was much older by seeming that it was found manuscript written in Naples in 1529, to better enforce this notion Walpole chose an archaic style of writing for the novel. The edition in the James Smith Noel Collection also has a frontispiece which is featured with this post.

Walpole, H. (1800). Jeffery's edition of the Castle of Otranto: A Gothic story. Jeffery. https://bit.ly/3rMxwNw

#rarebooks #special collections #gothic literature #october

[greatpacificbooks]

Elsa Ditmars 1994 California Under Sail * Travel Guide Beaches Boats Islands ++ | eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/266048683392

#travel #california #sailing #boating #RV #recreation #socal #tallships #adventure

#travel #california #sailing #boating #RV #recreation #socal #tallships #adventure #bookseller #books #reading #rarebooks #book buyers #vintage #rare books #book shop #read

[curiouscatalog]

From: Wilson, Alexander, 1766-1813. American ornithology, or, The natural history of the birds of the United States. Philadelphia : Bradford and Inskeep, 1808-1825

QL674 .W76

#motivationowlmonday #owl #littleowl #birdsofprey #finches #early19thcentury #ornithology #natureillustration #birds #alexanderwilson #rarebooks #specialcollections #libraryofva #northamericanbirds

[dustyatticrarebooks]

Berlin.📚📚📚

#rarebooks #antiquarian #antiquarianbooks #bibliophile #bookworm #library #booklover #books #bookstore #bookshop

[upennmanuscripts]

Today's #FloraFriday is a page from LJS 62, an herbal in the tradition of Dioscorides, a Greek pharmacologist who wrote his De Re Medica in the first century CE. This text including the illustrations were translated and copied for over 1500 years.

Online: https://bit.ly/3iT6Hq8

#medieval #manuscript #herbal #illustrations #flowers #plants #botany #history of botany #bookhistory #rarebooks

[usmspcol]

We’re starting National Poetry Month with our first 'Sonnet' Sunday featuring the macabre, Edgar Allan Poe, and one of our favorite poems, Annabel Lee.

This is the 1857 Poetical Works of Edgar Allan Poe and Richard H. Dana.

This book is part of our Rare Book Collection here in the Southern Miss Archives!

#i cry everytime i read annabel lee #national poetry month #sonnetsunday #books #literature #rarebooks #vintage book #vintage #poetry #archives #special collections #usmspcol #edgar allan poe #dark romanticism #books and libraries

[muspeccoll]

Happy New Year! We hope your 2023 is as sparkly as this 1771 French almanac. Click through to our website to see the mirror hidden inside the front cover.

Image description:  Front and back covered in red foil, overlaid with colored metallic paper elements covered with a thin sheet of mica. Intricate gold tooled cut outs of red leather are overlaid on the mica. The covers feature centered oval miniature paintings of couples walking arm-in-arm.

(via Almanach iconologique, année 1771 : septieme suite, les XII. mois de l'année / par M. Gravelot.by Gravelot, Hubert François, 1699-1773, artist, author. A Paris : Chez Lattré, Graveur, rue S. Jacquesa la ville de Bordeaux, 1770. · Special Collections and Archives)

#special collections #specialcollections #rare books #rarebooks #old books #pretty books #rococo #happy new year #bookhistory #kelli h #mizzou #university of missouri #libraries #muspeccoll #columbia mo