Manuscript Digest – September 2015 – This complimentary e-digest, launched in 2012, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, replevin activity, and more.

IN THE NEWS

A Brand New Day for the Book of Kells
Irish Independent, August 9, 2015
Trinity College has branded Ireland’s great illuminated manuscript for merchandising. Why is a US burger chain broiling over that? >>

How Huck Finn Landed in Buffalo
Amherst Bee, August 26, 2015
Those lucky enough to be at the Manuscript Society’s midyear meeting saw Twain’s manuscript and heard its story. Missed it? Check it out! >>

MI5 Reveals the Sixth Man
Sputnik International, August 21, 2015
Remember the Cambridge Four? No, Five. Make that Six. The British Secret Service has declassified another dossier, and it’s a dilly. >>

Novelist, Nobelist … Surveillance Subject
The Telegraph, August 21, 2015
More recently released files show MI5 spied on Doris Lessing for decades. But the real eyebrow-raisers come from her nosy neighbors. >>

Can Tennessee History Be Saved? In Deed
The Tennessean, August 1, 2015
Conservationists are plowing through stacks of land records dating back to 1779. Along the way, they’ve unearthed some surprises. >>

Living Color
Open Culture, August 14, 2015
For as long as scholars can remember, the world’s first multicolor printing was too fragile to view. Now it’s an open book for all to see. >>

When the Rains Came — or Didn’t
Newsweek, August 16, 2015
China’s next drought? Maybe the writing’s on the wall. Turns out those centuries-old cave inscriptions were trying to tell us something. >>
• How a 12th-century manuscript could raise water quality in rural India >>

What Remains and Where It Went
Austin Chronicle, August 25, 2015
Novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki and lives in London. So when he wanted to get his papers out of his attic, where did they go? One guess. >>

Courting a ‘Happy’ Ending
New York Times, August 4, 2015
“Happy Birthday to You” has a contentious copyright case with a paper trail that leads to a 1922 songbook. Find out if you still have to pay to play. >>

Pencils Down? Not Just Yet
HuffPost Parents Canada, August 28, 2015
More words. More ideas. More recall. When keyboard users compete with note jotters, who scores higher? A UCLA study shows … >>
• Did the ballpoint pen kill cursive? >>

EVENTS

Library of Congress National Book Festival
September 5, 10 a.m.–10 p.m.
Walter E. Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC
Free >>
Join the conversation on social media with #NatBookFest15.

One Hundred Books Famous in Children’s Literature
Ends September 26, closed Labor Day
Lilly Library, Indiana University Bloomington, 1200 E. Seventh St.
Free >>

Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World
Ends November 8, closed Mondays and September 26–27
Penn Museum, 3260 South Street, Philadelphia
Adults $15, seniors $13, students $10, members and under 6 free >>
• Read more. >>

An Illumination: The Rothschild Prayer Book
Ends November 15, closed Mondays
Ian Potter Museum of Art, University of Melbourne, Australia
Free >>