an endless recovery saga
The October 1731 number of the newly-established Gentleman’s Magazine included the following notice in its reports of ‘Casualties’ for the month:
“23 [Oct.]. A Fire broke out in the House of Mr Bently, adjoining to the King’s School near Westminster Abbey, which burnt down that part of the House that contained the King’s and Cottonian Libraries. Almost all the printed Books were consumed and part of the Manuscripts. Amongst the latter, those which Dr Bentley had been collecting for his Greek Testament for these last ten years, valued at 2000″
This short note, tucked away between reports of the discovery of a disfigured corpse near Bath and an accidental shooting at Hackney, records what was perhaps the greatest bibliographical disaster of modern times in Britain. It is difficult to quantify the scale of the losses to the Cotton library as a result of the fire at Bentley’s residence, Ashburnham House. A number of letters preserve colourful anecdotes about the fire, such as the famous story of Dr Bentley escaping from the flames in nightgown and wig with Codex Alexandrinus under his arms.
(restoration of the manuscripts)
unlost
earth to Clifford to Iowa
Clifford Lynch delivered the Stoflet Lecture at the University of Iowa Libraries. Topic: “The Future of the Book in a Digital Age”
The scenarios only increase the hyperventilation of the role of technologies needed to pose alternatives to the book. The real future strength of the paper book is its ability to diminish the technological mediation needed for delivery to the reader.
(more)
old in the new, new in the old
Comments on a recent binding project,
(more)
for the smokers on your list
This new Ethiopian binding kit is sized for a clean vend from a cigarette machine. The BookoMat idea comes from
ArtoMat and the binding type from desert sectarians of late Antiquity.
(store)