Well, not literally. But the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers has announced the winner of the 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography, and the prize goes to Jon Gilbert for his bibliography on Ian Fleming (Jon Gilbert. Ian Fleming: The Bibliography. Preface by Fergus Fleming. Foreward by Michael L. Vanblaricum. Edited by Brad Frank. London, Queen Anne Press, 2012). Gilbert's bibliography had stiff competition, but the Jury could not ignore his "outstanding work of meticulous scholarship." Arnoud Gertis, the Secretary of the ILAB Breslauer Prize, said that Gilbert's bibliography not only covers all aspects of "gives insight into the conception of a book, the editorial process, in short, this book covers&all one can possibly know about Fleming and his writings." Gertis continues, "It not only shows that modern authors are collectible, but also that modern authors merit exhaustive bibliographical scholarship." The award ceremony will take place during the 41st Congress of ILAB in April 2014. Congratulations! [more And the winner is: Bond, James Bond]

Happily, this item was recovered in 2014. The following item has been reported missing: 1791 version of Boydell's “Illustrations to Shakespeare-Proofs and Etchings”, Volume II. The book is large, maybe 20” by 20” and weighs around 20 pounds. The loss occurred approximately July 9, likely in the Memphis Area while it was being transported for rebinding. If you have any information on this item, please contact ABAA Headquarters at hq@abaa.org or 212-944-8291. [more Missing: 1791 version of Boydell’s “Illustrations to Shakespeare-Proofs and Etchings”, Volume II]

Steve Green, President of the U.S. arts and crafts retailer Hobby Lobby, recently revealed his purchase of what some scholars believe may be the oldest known Jewish prayer book. The 11 x 10 centimeter, 50 page book is a siddur, a Jewish prayer book that contains daily prayers. It dates from 840 and is written in an ancient form of Hebrew that includes Babylonian vowel marks. This indicates that it is likely from the Babylonian region, but the siddur's origin has yet to be determined. The book is complete and appears to still be in its original binding, which of course adds additional value to the volume. Green acquired the book as an addition to the Green Collection, his family's extensive collection of biblical texts and artifacts. (Containing more than 40,000 items, it is the largest privately owned collection in the world.) The Greens are Evangelicals and they plan to house the collection in a Biblical museum scheduled to open in Washington, DC sometime in 2017. The Green Scholars Initiative is the Collection's research arm and conducted the academic research and carbon dating of the siddur. Green and his company have recently been featured in the news for unrelated stories. Citing their religious convictions, Hobby Lobby filed a lawsuit in protest of the Affordable Care Act's mandate that private companies must offer employees coverage for birth control. The case is expected to come before the Supreme Court during its upcoming term, which starts today. The Oklahoma based... [more Hobby Lobby President Acquires Rare Siddur]

ABAA Member Dan Wechsler's film 'More Than the Rainbow' won the prize for Best Documentary Feature at the 13th Annual Coney Island Film Festival last month. The film was previously posted about on our blog and you can watch the trailer at the link. Kudos, Dan! [more 'More Than the Rainbow' Won Best Documentary Feature at Coney Island Film Festival]

The following item has gone missing during transit from the UK to the US: Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937), 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, New Zealand-born British physicist, winner of Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1908   Autograph Letter Signed ('Rutherford') from 'the father of nuclear physics' Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson, inviting the anthropologist J. H. Driberg to dinner in Cambridge. On letterhead of Newnham Cottage, Queen's Road, Cambridge. 17 January 1937. 1p., 12mo. Good, on lightly-aged paper. He invites Driberg to dine with him 'in Trinity on Tuesday Feb 2 on the occasion of the Candlemas Feast. He gives further details before ending 'I hope you can come.' If you have any information regarding this item, please contact Gerard Stodolski at gs@gajs.com [more Missing: Ernest Rutherford Letter]

This item is still missing as of 5/28/2019. The following item was reported stolen: Mellis, Daniel. Nothing Beside Remains. Chicago, IL: Daniel Mellis. Limited Edition. Tight, bright, and unmarred. Black cloth boards. 4to. np. Numbered limited edition, one of 25 copies. Fine. If you have any information regarding this item, please contact Brian Cassidy at (301) 589-0789. [more Stolen: Limited Edition of 'Nothing Beside Remains']

In the recording below, F. Scott Fitzgerald reads part of Othello's speech to the Venetian senators in Act 1, Scene 3 (if you have the text in front of you, you'll notice that it is edited). Near the end of his life, Fitzgerald was broke and resorted to writing screenplays for money. He also made recordings of himself reading literary greats like Shakespeare and Keats, but it's unclear who produced the recordings and why. Whatever the details surrounding the recordings are, it's a treat to hear Fitzgerald's sonorous voice. After the jump is a recording of Fitzgerald reading the first three stanzas of Ode to a Nightingale (also slightly altered from the original text). [more Fitzgerald Reading Shakespeare and Keats]

Who would have thought that the University of Pennsylvania's PennApps competition would produce an app beneficial to the rare book world? PennApps is touted as the "premiere college hackathon" and it brings together 1,000 university students from more than 100 institutions across the globe for a 48-hour competition to create hacks and apps for web or mobile platforms. This year three students from the University of SwarthmoreAmy Jin, Sam Zhang, and Zachary Lockett-Streiffwere awarded first place in the Data Visualization category for an app that tracks the provenance of rare manuscripts in the Schoenberg Database of Manuscripts. The concept came to the team in a serendipitous manner. On the way to their work space, the team rode the elevator with a few of UPenn's librarians and chatted about the Schoenberg database. The librarians mentioned that the Van Pelt Library was working to improve and expand the database, and off the cuff asked the students if they were interested in making an app for the database. Jin, Zhang, and Lockett-Streiff jumped at the idea and created an application that tracks the provenance of the manuscripts in the database. The data is presented visually so that scholars can spot patterns in the manuscripts' movement. "Our goal was to try and visualize the data.. mak it sexy," Zhang said. "It's kind of our attempt to give&a new perspective on all this old data that's been collecting over the years," said Jin. I would love to take a look at the app! Thi... [more New App Tracks Provenance]

In addition to being a top-notch bookseller, member Dan Wechsler (Sanctuary Books) is also a filmmaker. His latest film is More Than the Rainbow, a documentary chronicling the life of Matt Weber, a NYC taxi driver turned street photographer. The film premiered at New York's documentary film festival DOC NYC last year and was featured as an official selection. It was awarded the same honor at the San Francisco DocFest. Set to the music of jazz legend Thelonious Monk and contemporary jazz musician Keith Gurland, the film goes beyond a character study and "becomes a vibrant conversation about the photographic medium, artistic expression, and New York City." Check out the trailer below. If you're in the NY area, you can see the film tonight, the inaugural night of the Coney Island Film Festival. The screening will take place at the Coney Island Museum (1208 Surf Ave., 2nd Floor) at 7:30pm. You can purchase tickets ($7) by clicking here. As a NYC resident, photography fan, and documentary enthusiast, I'm eager to see the film. Cheers to Dan! I'm constantly amazed by the rich lives and myriad of accomplishments our members have outside of the rare book world. [more Screening Tonight of Dan Wechsler's Film 'More Than the Rainbow']

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is a museum in Hartford, CT located in the house where Stowe and her family moved to in 1873. She resided there for the final 23 years of her life, during which Stowe continued to write, lecture, and made considerable contributions to local art institutions. The Center has a worthy collection: over 12,000 books, 4,000 pamphlets, 180,000 manuscripts, and 12,000 images that illustrate critical issues in nineteenth century American history like abolition and suffrage. It boasts the largest collection of items related to the Beecher and Stowe families as well as prominent members of Hartford society, and, of course, resources related to Uncle Tom's Cabin. The Stowe Center recently received a $150,000 federal grant from the Museums for America program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services to preserve the Center's collections. The grant will go toward the acquisition and implementation of new climate control and fire suppression systems. The Center has already invested $400,000 for these new systems in addition to other interior renovations and conservation of items in the collection. Katherine Kane, Executive Director of the Harriet Beecher-Stowe Center said, "The Stowe Center is delighted to receive this public support for a project preserving Harriet Beecher Stowe's Hartford home for our diverse international audiences. This grant is a significant investment in Center's historic collections, which tell a national story important for al... [more Harriet Beecher Stowe Center's Future Secured with Federal Grant]