Manuscript Digest – January 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

Priceless Talmud Goes for $9.3 Million
Tablet, December 22, 2015
The 16th-century Talmud was the prize of Jack Lunzer’s Valmadonna Trust Library. He’d hoped to keep the collection together. This is what happened.

Mali’s Manuscripts and the Minnesota Monks
The Economist, December 19, 2015
Loyal volunteers spirited a historic trove out of Timbuktu steps ahead of the fighting. Then helping hands reached out from half a world away.
• In Jerusalem, a library of Arabic manuscripts reopens after 50 years. >>

Turning a Weather Eye to Whaling Logs
USA Today, December 19, 2015
What can old whaling logs tell us about our future climate? Plenty, it turns out. Want to know more? You can help scientists transcribe the records.

Beethoven Under Glass in Greenwich
Greenwich Time, December 20, 2015
A woman with curios to sell. An appraiser with a music background. That “God-awful handwriting.” Move over, Antiques Roadshow, it’s …

Ireland’s Revolution Will Be Digitized
Irish Times, December 11, 2015
Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it. Taking no chances, Ireland is preparing to post 10 million documents from 1916–23.

Vichy Revealed
France24, December 28, 2015
Seventy years after World War II, France is opening the files from the Vichy regime’s collaboration with the Nazis. Caution advised.

12 Surprises in Margaret Thatcher’s Secret Papers
The Independent, December 30, 2015
The UK National Archives has released more of the PM’s papers. Highlights: Reagan’s recommended reading and the fate of Nixon’s moon rocks.

Many Happy Returns
Maclean’s, December 14, 2015
The Mounties got their man — an infamous antiques thief. The bigger challenge: returning the goods to the owners. Yard sale, anyone?

BPL’s Rare Books Back in Action
Boston Globe, December 2, 2015
Humidity, construction, and rare books don’t mix. Find out what it took to beat back a mold outbreak at the Boston Public Library.

Letters to Santa, Saved From the Chimney
New York Times, December 21, 2015
Written a century ago, the letters to “Raindeerland” had been hidden behind a wall for decades. Have a hankie handy when you read little Mary’s PS.

EVENTS

Catholics in the New World
A selection of 16th–18th century texts
Ends January 31, closed Mondays
The Rosenbach, 2008–2010 Delancey Place, Philadelphia
Adults $10, seniors $8, students $5, under 5 and members free

The Grolier Club Collects II
Ends February 6 closed Sundays
The Grolier Club, 47 E. 60th St, New York
Free

Collecting for the Boston Athenæum in the 21st Century:  Maps, Charts, & Plans
Ends February 28
Boston Athenæum, 10½ Beacon St., Boston
$5, members free

The Edible Monument: The Art of Food for Festivals
Ends March 13, closed Mondays
Getty Research Institute, 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles
Free