Manuscript Digest – February 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

Finding Franklin’s First
Philly.com, January 17, 2017
Ben Franklin’s first print job was a runaway success. But all copies had vanished without a trace until one turned up in an unlikely place.

A. Ham’ing It Up
Bloomberg, January 18, 2017
With “Hamilton” fever at it peak, the Founding Father’s family cleaned out the attic. See what they sold, what it brought, and where it’s going next.

New York Minutes
New York Times, January 5, 2017
The city’s court records go back to 1674. They feature names like Hamilton and Burr. They swear allegiance to George III. And they’re on the move.

Soldiers’ Tales
Washington Post, January 8, 2017
Bound for a Japanese POW camp, a WWII soldier left his diary with a buddy. Today, their writings are reunited. Read the stories they fought to tell.

The World Outside The Globe
The New Yorker, January 16, 2017
Did Shakespeare really invent all those words? Or were they common parlance in his day? Linguists turn to old texts to hear the voices of his world.

Queen Victoria’s Secrets
Daily Mail, January 4, 2017
When Victoria’s new biographer got hold of a juicy tidbit, royal archivists went into control mode. Find out what they didn’t want you to know.

Circus Mining
Wisconsin State Journal, January 22, 2017
As a time-honored circus folds up its tents, take a peek under the big top at a Wisconsin museum. It celebrates circuses going back to 1793.

Compulsory Reading
The Guardian, January 26, 2017
In the 1800s, book collecting was a mania. By the 1900s, it was respectable. But rational? Browse through the history of “bibliomania.”

Take One Tablet
The Atlantic, January 9, 2017
Digitizing makes documents easier to share. But to keep? Not with digital rot. In Austria, one ceramist has an answer, and it’s as old as …

Merian’s Metamorphosis
New York Times, January 23, 2017
After 300 years, the magnum opus of naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian is back in print. See what the buzz is about.