Manuscript Digest – January 2017 – This complimentary e-digest, launched in 2012, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more.

In the News

Trump’s Signature Value
Forbes, December 8, 2016
What’s a Trump autograph worth? It depends. Six things to consider, from content and quality to authenticity and autopen.

Obama’s Library Fund
Chicago Tribune, December 23, 2016
The race is on to raise funds for the Obama Presidential Center on Chicago’s South Side. Why it could be an uphill climb.

Hamilton Fever Spikes at Auction
Philly.com, December 8, 2016
Hamilton the Broadway musical heated up interest in Revolutionary Americana. Three dealers take the temperature of the market.

Clash over Beethoven Score
New York Times, December 18, 2016
A Beethoven “autograph manuscript” failed to sell after a scholar questioned the handwriting. Then more questions arose.

The High Price of Potter-y
The Guardian, December 13, 2016
A bejeweled book of fairy tales, handwritten by JK Rowling, just sold at auction. The price proves the power of Harry Potter’s magic.

New Works from Old Books
Irish Times, December 10, 2016
The Jesuit Order of Ireland is auctioning off its O’Brien Library collection. Estimated value: €2 million. Funding for charitable works: priceless.

Who Invented the Alphabet?
PRI’s The World, December 28, 2016
Conventional wisdom credits scribes in the Sinai. But one Hebrew scholar has mined the evidence and unearthed a different idea.
• Another scholar, another theory

Scrapyard Salvage
Daily Mail, December 10, 2016
A Norfolk farmer went to a scrapyard looking for a mudflap. What he found made a British Library archivist come running.
• Finds from a Dublin dumpster

Exit Strategy
Atlas Obscura, December 20, 2016
The Germans thought playing Monopoly would keep their POWs out of trouble. But hidden inside the boards were …

Around the World in 10 Libraries
BlouinArtinfo, December 21, 2016
From El Escorial to the NYPL, the marriage of art and architecture speaks volumes about the hunger for beauty and the thirst for knowledge.