Manuscript Digest – August 2016 – 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

Bach Rocks the Block
Deutsche Welle, July 13, 2016
Roll over, Beethoven. A manuscript in Bach’s handwriting, last sold in 1969, has scored big at auction, to the tune of…

Beinecke’s Reboot Is One for the Books
Wall Street Journal, July 21, 2016
After more than a year, and $73 million, Yale University is set to reveal its renovated rare books library. Get a preview.

A Look Ahead at African American History
Washington Post, July 11, 2016
The National Museum of African American History and Culture opens next month. Can’t wait? Take a virtual tour today.
• Visit the website. >>

‘Charley Loves His Father Very Much’
Atlas Obscura, July 26, 2016
Few letters to the front survived the Civil War. Four-year-old Charley’s “mostly illegible scribbles” did. But how about his dad?

Take Two Bored Kids, One Medieval Manuscript, and —
The Guardian, July 12, 2016
You get a doodle eruption, ca. 15th or 16th century. See what happened when juvenilia met marginalia in the early modern era.

Solved: The Mystery of Van Gogh’s Ear
Artsy, July 26, 2016
Why — and how — did Van Gogh cut off his ear? Finally, a scholar has found the answers in Irving Stone’s papers. Say what?
• Learn more online. >>

Virgil Goes to Cyberspace
Hyperallergic, July 13, 2016
Virgil’s hero Aeneas went from Troy to Italy. Thanks to the Vatican, a 1,600-year-old manuscript of the Aeneid has gone much farther.

Beatrix Potter’s Day Off
BBC, July 5, 2016
Four unpublished Potter drawings have turned up in one of England’s stately homes. Find out what Peter Rabbit’s “mom” was up to.

Lampooning Harvard
Harvard Gazette, July 21, 2016
In 1876 seven Harvard undergrads took a page from Punch and started a magazine. How’s it going? Hold for laughter.

Hamilton’s Heirs
Smithsonian, July 7, 2016
Sojourner Truth. Nelly Bly. Benedict Arnold? Smithsonian panelists name their picks for history’s next star turn on Broadway.

EVENTS

32nd Annual Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair
August 5–6
Denver Mart, I-25 and 58th Avenue, Denver
Friday $7, Saturday $7, both days $12

Cave Temples of Dunhuang: Buddhist Art on China’s Silk Road
Featuring the “Diamond Sutra,” the world’s oldest dated complete printed book
Ends September 4, closed Mondays
Getty Research Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles
Free
• Read the New York Times review.

Summer of Hamilton
Ends September 25, closed Mondays
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West
Adults $20, seniors $15, students $12, kids $6, under 5 free
• Learn more from Fine Books & Collections.

COLOUR: The Art and Science of Illuminated Manuscripts
Ends December 30, closed Mondays
Fitzwilliam Museum, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, UK
Free.