Manuscript Digest – August 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

Jane Austen’s Fan Fiction
Antiques Trade Gazette, July 10, 2017
Not quite, but close. Seems Austen penned a parody of gothic novels in a letter to her niece. Dear reader, imagine if you will what happened when chick lit met chick wit.
• #TheDarcyLook campaign to save Jane’s “Great House”

Honestly Abe?
Atlas Obscura, July 20, 2017
Lincoln’s Bixby letter has gone down in history as one of the great condolence notes of all time. But did he really write it? Scholars are pointing to another hand — close at hand.
• Glory be: Robert Gould Shaw’s sword found in the attic

Wild Find
Publishers Weekly, July 6, 2017
And now for the latest installment of “Look Before You Toss.” That musty old pile of papers in Maurice Sendak’s files? We hate to spoil the surprise. But you’ll eat it up.

The Secret in J.K.’s Closet
HuffPost, July 10, 2017
Wizards, bah. This may be J.K. Rowling’s strangest tale yet. For her big 5-0 bash, she wrote a story. Right, she’s a writer. But what she wrote it on is … going to be hard to print.

Writing on the Wall
Live Science, July 11, 2017
It’s a slice of life in Roman Britain: a fresh cache of letters found at Hadrian’s Wall. Birthday invites. A plea for leave. Local slurs. And Real Housewives of Vindolanda.

Finding the Cure
National Geographic, July 11, 2017
A medical recipe passed down from no less than Hippocrates has surfaced in a palimpsest in South Sinai. No, it is not in the good doctor’s handwriting. Yes, it is legible.

Blues Clues
Laboratory Equipment, July 20, 2017
Barium pops up in modern paints. But in medieval texts? New tests found bits of it in the blues of illuminated manuscripts. How a trace element can help trace their sources.
• A monk’s kiss: biology meets bibliology

News of Note
Classic FM, July 18, 2017
British composer Gustav Holst is best known for The Planets. But what were two of his original scores doing on the other side of the planet in New Zealand?

Peace Signs
WBUR, July 7, 2017
Can America’s pastime bring world peace? One man covered the bases getting world leaders to sign baseballs. Then he tried to score a signature from the pope.

Graphic Encounters
NPR, July 10, 2017
Action Comics #1. Zap Comix. Persepolis. These are not the Sunday funnies. Ten that changed the game for comics and graphic novels.