This week's podcast comes from our popular Polar issue of Autumn 2018. 'Scribes in Ice and Darkness' was written by Fergus Fleming, a renowned travel writer who has penned several books about polar exploration, including Ninety Degrees North, and Barrow's Boys.
This article looks at the Polar...
In March 1789, a weekly journal edited by James Austen, The Loiterer, received a long letter criticising its lack of suitable and engaging content for women. The letter was signed by 'Sophia Sentiment', though the true identity of the writer has never been firmly established.
Our latest Podcast...
While flicking through the latest Quaritch catalogue, 'The English & Anglo-French Novel 1740-1840', I spotted a footnote that took me back to my student days and I thought it was worth using this as an opportunity to highlight the importance of reference books to collectors and dealers alike.
The...
This weekend would have seen the opening of the Salon International Du Livre Rare in the Grand Palais in Paris, but it is of course now postponed to September, 4th to 6th.
Hervé Valentin, President of SLAM, announced that SLAM will create a Virtual Grand Palais on the fair website, this special...
Published in our Summer issue for 2011, the obituary of Burton Weiss - the eccentric San Francisco bookseller - was written by Ian Jackson and is read here by John Windle.
If you enjoyed this Podcast, you may be interested in this profile of Burton Weiss from Curtis Faville at The...
‘A letter from the Lazaretto’ was researched, written and is read by Sheila Markham, the librarian at the Travellers’ Club in London. This piece, which has not yet appeared in The Book Collector, looks at quarantine conditions for 19th Century travellers, including those kept in isolation at the...
Book dealers around the world have adapted to life in Corona quarantine. One of the projects which probably best sums up how dealers have embraced the current situation and embarked on a catalogue project across two continents is the aptly called 'At Home with Books'. A collaboration of Heather O'...
Tickets are now on sale for Spencer W Stuart's one-hour webinar, Lifecycles: Collecting and Collections, on 24 April 2020 at 5pm GMT (1pm EDT), which draws from his three-part Lifecycles program, focusing on collecting fine art and private libraries.
Lifecyles covers the complete timeline of a...
Katherine Purcell, one of the directors of London-based jeweller Wartski, identified the enamelled plaque inlaid in the cover of the lavishly bound author’s copy of ‘Les Emaux Cloisonnés Anciens et Modernes’ by Philippe Burty (1830-1890) as a work by Alexis Falize. It features the Shinto deity...
Another extract from our popular Polar Special Issue from Autumn 2018.
This article explores the life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard, who, at 24 years old, was one of the youngest members of Captain Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition.
In 1922, encouraged by his friend George Bernard Shaw, Cherry...