Thursday, August 11, 2016

Antiquarian Book News


Comic Book for $1m!

A very rare copy of a comic book, which marked the first appearance of ‘Superman’, has sold for nearly one million US dollars at an auction in America. Action Comics #1, which was published in 1938 was expected to sell for $750,000 but fetched $956,000 instead. About 100 copies of the comic book, which marks the first appearance of ‘Superman’, are believed to exist decades after production.

The comic book auctioned last Thursday was part of a collection owned by a fan who bought it in the 1990s for $26,000, Heritage Auctions said. When it first came out in 1938, Action Comics #1 cost 10 cents.

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Richard Le Gallienne: Liverpool’s Wild(e) Poet

An exhibition at the Liverpool Central Library
William Brown Street, Liverpool L3 8E, UK

5 August–31 October 2016

Admission is free

Liverpool Central Library commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth in Liverpool of Richard Le Gallienne (1866–1947) — poet, critic, and novelist — with an exhibition in its Hornby Library. On display are over 50 rare or unique items, many highlighting his lifelong connections to Oscar Wilde (1854–1900). Original photographs, drawings, manuscripts, unpublished letters, Victorian periodicals, and first editions tell the story of Le Gallienne’s successful literary career, which took him from Liverpool to London, the US, and France. Drawn from public and private collections and local institutions (including family papers in the Liverpool Record Office of Liverpool Central Library), these materials show his importance to the Aesthetic and Decadent movements, his involvement with the Yellow Book, his intimate ties to late-Victorian feminists known as “New Women,” and his links to artists such as Max Beerbohm and Walter Sickert.

Most of all, this exhibition illuminates the role that Oscar Wilde played as his idol, mentor, and friend — a relationship that began when 17-year-old Dick Gallienne, clerk in a Liverpool office, heard Wilde lecture in 1883 at the Claughton Music Hall in Birkenhead. Inspired by Wilde’s personal style and ideas about art, he renamed himself “Richard Le Gallienne,” wore long hair and artistic clothes, and dedicated himself to becoming an equally flamboyant figure and unconventional writer, devoted to Beauty in all its forms.

Symposium in conjunction with the exhibition:
“Late-Victorian Literary Liverpool: A Symposium” Saturday, 29 October 2016

Liverpool Central Library will bring together scholars and collectors from the UK and the US for a one-day symposium about Liverpool as a literary and cultural centre at the end of the 19th century. This event is free and open to the public.

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Beinecke at Yale re-opens

The Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Yale University will re-open on Tuesday, 6 September, following a 16-month renovation that upgraded the library’s climate-control system, expanded its classroom space, and restored the architectural landmark to its original luster.

The building’s architectural features — its exterior grid of granite and Vermont marble panels, six-story glass stack tower, and sculpture garden by sculptor Isamu Noguchi — have been refurbished to fully preserve architect Gordon Bunshaft’s modernist masterpiece, which opened in October 1963. The bulk of the comprehensive renovation project concerned replacing the library’s mechanical infrastructure — its plumbing, electrical, heating, and cooling systems — much of which was original to the building. Machinery in the building’s sub-basement, including room-sized air handlers and chillers, was replaced with state-of-the-art equipment. The building’s security and fire-suppression systems were also upgraded.

The building closed for renovation in May 2015. In preparation for the project, five miles worth of collection material, the equivalent of about 255,000 books, was relocated to the Yale University Library Shelving Facility. The six-story stack tower was cleared of its 180,000 volumes, which were moved to protected areas within the building.

Yale’s copy of the Gutenberg Bible and John Audubon’s Birds of America which were temporarily housed at the Yale University Art Gallery and Peabody Museum of Natural History, respectively, will return to permanent display in the Beinecke’s public exhibition space.

To give library staff time to prepare for the reopening, there will be no access to the Beinecke’s collections until the doors open on 6 September. The library will host an open house for the public on Saturday, October from 10 am. to 4 pm.

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Opening of Society of Bibliophiles

The University of London’s Society of Bibliophiles is open to all and aims to provide an opportunity for those who are interested in bibliophilia, to meet up with like-minded people.
The society aims to:

  1. Promote all aspects of books, book-collecting and material texts.
  2. To raise awareness and improve knowledge of bibliophilia.
  3. To encourage people to collect books.

Meetings will be held monthly and a programme of events will run throughout the year, including round table discussions, lectures by guest speakers and collection visits.

The details for the launch party have now been finalised and all are welcome to come together for a glass of wine to celebrate the launch of the University of London’s first Society of Bibliophiles on Friday 28th October from 7-9pm at the Keynes Library, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PD.

If you’re a collector or just want to see what it is all about, just go along!
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