Month: February 2011

Thomas Jefferson's Lost Books Found in Missouri Library

Source: LA Times.com
By:Carolyn Kellogg

Books from President Thomas Jefferson's personal library that had long been thought missing have turned up -- in the rare book division of the library at the Washington University in St. Louis.

The Associated Press reports:

Dozens of Thomas Jefferson's books, some including handwritten notes from the nation's third president, have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis.

Now, historians are poring through the 69 newly discovered books and five others the school already knew about, and librarians are searching the collection for more volumes that may have belonged to the founding father.

It turns out they've been there since 1880, when Jefferson's granddaughter, Ellen Wayles Randolph Coolidge, and her husband donated them to the university. They were part of a collection sold two years after Jefferson's death, and acquired by Ellen's husband through a friend; the family was particularly interested in books in which Jefferson had made notes.

Although a pair of scholars turned up the 69 new books, more researchers than that have been on the case. Like many historical and well-known readers, Jefferson's library has been reconstructed online by volunteers at LibraryThing. There you can find the details of Jefferson's own cataloging of his books, as well as more information about his collections, sales and distributions.

In 1815, Jefferson sold his book collection to the Library of Congress -- but that collection has been lost. In an online exhibit, the LOC explains:

By 1814 when the British burned the nation's Capitol and the Library of Congress, Jefferson had acquired the largest personal collection of books in the United States. Jefferson offered to sell his library to Congress as a replacement for the collection destroyed by the British during the War of 1812. Congress purchased Jefferson's library for $23,950 in 1815. A second fire on Christmas Eve of 1851 destroyed nearly two thirds of the 6,487 volumes Congress had purchased from Jefferson.

The Library of Congress is working to reassemble the books of Jefferson's that were lost. Maybe Washington University can help.

Photo: Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, crica 1805. Credit: Associated Press

Department of Justice and Ebay Book Fraud

Fake Kurt Vonnegut Signature

Fake Kurt Vonnegut Signature

I thought I'd give yaw'll a firsthand look at EBay book fraud and its persecution. A few years ago (about 3 years, I think) I bought a "signed" first edition copy of Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. I do not remember what I paid for it but I assume it was not cheap. When it arrived, I checked the signature (I have many other signed Vonneguts from Franklin & Easton Press so had a good signature to compare it to.) Six or eight months later I received an email from the U. S. Department of Justice telling me that I was part of a case of a fellow who was charged with selling books with fake signature on EBay. They told me his name, FORREST SMITH, but not which book he had sold me. I asked very nicely but could not get the info from them. I was left looking at my bookshelves wondering which of my precious books it could be. I had never had much luck calling EBay but thought I'd give it a try. The man I spoke with at EBay started out giving me a run around but eventually cooperated and gave me the name of the book in the one transaction I had with Forrest Smith - Breakfast of Champions. Needless to say I was very disappointed (in part) but another part of me was relieved to have that resolved and my relationship with my collection rejuvenated. I received emails from the Department of justice every few months as the cheat went to court, was tried and sentenced to prison. He spent the last couple of years in jail and I just heard from them today telling me he is to be released to a "half way house" and will be there until November 13th. After that date he will be released with no parole. During the court case, I was always notified when he was due in court - time, date and location. I have never posted about this before because I find the whole affair to be a bit embarrassing...

Vonnegut First Edition with fake signature.

Today's email told me, "This notice is to inform you that FORREST SMITH has been approved for placement in a Community Corrections Center (CCC), otherwise known as a halfway house, and will transfer from this institution on May 18, 2011. After the transfer, the inmate will be located at CAPITOL PAVILION COMM CORR CTR in HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania."

Apparently he sold many books on EBay along with a female partner. He will have spent about 2 1/2 years in jail. I have no idea how many other fraudulent sellers there are on EBay but it feels pretty good to see this one prosecuted. EBay and other online resources can be very handy but we should all keep in mind that we could be buying fakes.

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The Nemesis of Book Collectors - Dust

Speck by Speck, Dust Piles Up
By MICHAEL TORTORELLO, The New York Times
Source: Post-Gazette.com

Book Collecting Nemesis - Dust

Book Collecting Nemesis - Dust

THE world has a dust problem. There is more of it than there used to be. Apparently, the amount of airborne dust doubled in the 20th century, according to a recent scientific paper in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The claim sounds outlandish. The amount of dust in the world -- like the amount of sin or acne -- must be a constant. The finding was somewhat surprising even to Natalie Mahowald, the lead researcher on the study and an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Cornell University.

Although she was working with inchoate historical data, Dr. Mahowald said, "Nobody has come up to me and said, 'I don't believe you.' " Climate change seems to be one source for all the new dust. Human land use is another. Anyone looking for a scapegoat -- and that's all of us, isn't it? -- can start with the droughts and desertification in North Africa, she said...

THE term "dustjacket" is typically written as one word, said Bryan A. Garner, editor in chief of "Black's Law Dictionary" and author of "Garner's Modern American Usage." He would know. The 52-year-old keeps a personal library of 31,000 volumes -- or 31,100 if you count the titles he has bought in the last two weeks.

In recent years, Mr. Garner has begun wrapping his dustjackets in their own clear Mylar dustjackets. This precaution would seem to be the equivalent of washing soap with soap. So far, some 20,000 of his books have been Mylared. "I'm typically one who is reluctant to make proper nouns into verbs," he said. "But this is certainly a very convenient one, and we do it."

Mr. Garner stores most of his collection at the offices of his company, LawProse, including dictionaries and grammar books that date from 1491. A mere 4,500 volumes reside with him and his wife, Karolyne Garner, at their French Country Revival-style home in north Dallas.

The most effective dust management starts before a book ever reaches the shelf. "When I buy a book, I will carefully open it and slam it shut several times," he said. "Sometimes these big balloons of dust will cascade to the floor." This is where dust belongs, he said, down at vacuum level. Next, "you sort of riffle the pages." Finally, he will run a dry paintbrush along the edges.

As protocols go, it's a good one, Mr. Garner said. Yet at the same time he is dusting his books, many thousands of them are actually turning to dust. Acid paper, which was ubiquitous between 1870 and 1970, "tends to self-destruct," he said.

There can be a gloom to antiquarian book collecting -- the authors are dead, we are dying -- and the dust doesn't help. Mr. Garner likes to place musty books of questionable provenance in the sun to cure. And he opens the windows and airs out the house every fortnight, preferably after a good rain has knocked down the dust outside.

He discovered this advice in Cheryl Mendelson's "Home Comforts," he said, "which is my favorite book on housekeeping."

Mr. Garner hesitated for a moment, as if picturing the book on the shelf. "It's been a long time since I read it," he said. "Mine is probably gathering a little bit of dust."


Read more:


This article goes into a lot of detail about dust and is interesting. I suggest you read it in full...

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Voynich Manuscript Carbon Dated to 15th Century

Source: Daily Mail UK

Scientist working at University of Arizona on four 1mm X 6mm sections from four different pages in the manuscript using the carbon dating process, which is where scientists measure the amount of radioisotope Carbon 14 which occurs naturally in objects and decays at a predictable rate, making it possible to use it to date things. The sections used to carbon date were provided by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University, which is where it is being stored.

Voynich Manuscript

The manuscript was discovered by rare book dealer Wilfrid Voynich in the Villa Mondragone near Rome in 1912 as he was trawling through a chest of books.

He spent the remaining 18 years of his life trying to decipher its mixture of plants, circles and humans praying to the fountain of youth but died before completing his task.

The manuscript has been passed down through generations of scientists since then who have concluded that it is some kind of language - even if they don’t know what it means.

I have always found the mystery surrounding this book to be fascinating and have searched for a copy in book form for years. I do have a link that takes you to a pdf download of the entire book. Please note... it is in excess of 53 Mega Bytes. You can download it here: Voynich Manuscript PDF

Read more:

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