Manuscript Digest – September 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

Hamilton: The Next Stage
NPR, August 29, 2017
His name is up in lights on Broadway. What’s next for “A. Ham”? How about posting his letters online? Grab a hankie and read his final signoff to his beloved Eliza.

For the Records
New York Times, August 21, 2017
Abe Lincoln’s funeral plans. Boss Tweed’s accounting books. Oh yes, Alexander Hamilton’s death record. A final salute to the man who kept them all out of the shredder.

What Lies Beneath
The Atlantic, August 9, 2017
First a recipe from Hippocrates. Now whole languages, lost for centuries, revealed beneath ancient texts. The secrets of Saint Catherine’s Monastery continue to unfold.

Trig Happy
NT News, August 28, 2017
For years, it was a mathematical mystery. What did the marks on the Babylonian tablet mean? Finally, Australian scientists think they have the answer. But does it add up?

The Queen’s Pages
Antiques & the Arts Weekly, August 7, 2017
The venerable Maggs Bros is supposed to be Queen Elizabeth’s favorite bookshop. No pressure there! Go inside its world of rare books and rarefied clients.

Kate Middleton
Express, August 12, 2017
Made you look. Read about rules for royals and find out why collectors won’t be getting an autograph from the popular Duchess of Cambridge anytime soon.

Catch of the Day
Forbes, August 7, 2017
There it was, stashed in a scrapbook: a rare old baseball card. How old? “Pittsburg” was still spelled without an “h.” How rare? The auction price for this flea-market find was …
• Strange signs, sports edition

Living Color
Time, August 2, 2017
Coloring books for grown-ups are having a moment, and it isn’t the first time. Turn back the pages of history and trace their colorful, botanical — and sometimes satirical — past.

Course Catalog
Atlas Obscura, August 4, 2017
Frank Buttolph collected menus. Lots of menus. Together they fed a hunger to preserve the flavor of the early 20th century. Get a taste of the collection — and the times.

Fact or Grisham?
New York Times, August 27, 2017
John Grisham’s latest is about a heist at Princeton’s Firestone Library. The target: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s manuscripts. The question: Could the paper caper really happen?

In a Word

Cracking the Code
Foxing. Frank. Holograph. Encapsulation. AMuQS? Every field has its terms of art. Want the last word(s) on manuscripts? The Manuscript Society Criteria for Describing Manuscripts and Documents is a definitive source.

Web World
570 pages of … wow
Leonardo da Vinci manuscripts online
Genius!