Manuscript Digest: November – December 2025
This complimentary e-digest, now published bi-monthly, covers significant acquisitions and sales, manuscripts lost and found, rare books and ephemera, document conservation, and more news in this digest.
To start your free subscription click here. You’ll begin receiving the Digest with the next issue. Add Manuscript_Society@mail.vresp.com to your address book or the trusted senders list in your e-mail program to ensure delivery.
Columbus Letter Lands with Bidders
Fine Books & Collections, October 17, 2025
A copy of Columbus’s 1493 report to his royal benefactors has sold at auction for $1.65 million. What makes this copy special? They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
Look, Up in the Attic, It’s …
CNN, November 21, 2025
… a 1939 Superman No. 1, stashed in mom’s attic. She always said she had some valuable comics. Would a mother lie? That 10-cent comic book went on the block and soared to …
The Secret of Kryptos Changes Hands
Seattle Times | New York Times, November 20, 2025
For decades, the encoded Kryptos sculpture outside the CIA has defied decryption. Finally, its creator decided to auction off the secret. Someone paid nearly $1 million for it. But who?
Pocket Watch Brings Titanic Results
Times of India, November 24, 2025
Isador and Ida Straus went down with the Titanic. His gold pocket watch, later recovered, just sold for £1.78 million. A letter from Ida fetched much less. And said much more.
Irsay’s Collection Goes Up for Auction
Indy Star, October 30, 2025
Late Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay collected. A lot. Jack Kerouac’s typescript of On the Road. An Apple II manual signed by Steve Jobs. Rock instruments. All headed to auction.
• Kerouac story surfaces in mafia boss files.
Scholar Connects the Dots to Bach
The Guardian, November 24, 2025
A pair of manuscripts found in 1992 turn out to be lost organ works by a young J. S. Bach. How a musicologist sussed out the composer — and why it took 35 years and serendipity.
• Two unknown Purcell pieces turn up in legal records.
‘Mona Lisa’ of Manuscripts Goes Public
Artnet, November 14, 2025
At the dawn of the print era, “the Mona Lisa of illuminated manuscripts”came to life. But unlike the painting, the Borso D’Este Bible has spent years stored in a safe. Until now.
Authorities Probe the ‘Pushkin Job’
The Guardian, October 7, 2025
In 2022 and 2023, rare books vanished from libraries across Europe. The common denominator: writer Alexander Pushkin. Were the thefts the work of a gang or … what?
AI Aids Cairo Geniza Research
Reuters, November 26, 2025
A 16th-century Jerusalem widow writing to her son as he dodged the plague in Cairo. Just one piece of the Cairo Geniza, brought to life with AI. How scholars are using the new tool.
Can You Spot an Autopen Signature?
Washingtonian, November 6, 2025
Ever since Thomas Jefferson and his “polygraph,” US presidents have used autopens. The Manuscript Society’s own Ed Bomsey shares his pointers on telling autopen from wet ink.
