First Edition Cover Art of 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe' by C.S. Lewis A rare inscribed first edition of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe will be auctioned in London this Thursday, July 19. This copy is especially rare because the author inscribed it with his nickname, Jack, which only close friends and family called him. No other copy of the book with an inscription of Lewis's nickname has ever gone on sale. The inscription reads, "Nicholas Hardie, with love from Jack Lewis", and was given to the son of Colin Graham Hardie, one of Lewis's best friends. Lewis would often visit the Hardie household, Nicholas Hardie, now 66, remembers, and spent many evenings reading Dante aloud with his father. "He was a distinguished old man," Mr. Hardie said. "I remember being eight years old and my mother telling me I had to be on my best behavior because C.S. Lewis was coming around." It was on a Christmas visit for tea in 1950 when Lewis gave Mr. Hardie the copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Max Hasler, a modern first editions expert at Bloomsbury Auctions, said the book is "an exciting find" because "only a few books signed by C.S. Lewis have ever come to auction, and none of them have been signed 'Jack'". The book is valued to be worth up to almost $19,000. Rare first-edition Narnia book given to your boy by C.S. Lewis up for auction at £12,000 [more First Edition Narnia Book Inscribed by 'Jack' Lewis Goes to Auction]

Check out this vintage vending machine for books. A great new idea for the battle against sugary beverages: replace all Coke and Pepsi machines with Book-O-Mats! Smarter and healthier people will ensue! Image via Book Riot (click photo to enlarge) [more Book-O-Mat]

Boston in Autumn (image by Rebecca Kennison via Wikipedia Creative Commons) There's still plenty of summer ahead, but it's the perfect time to plan a weekend getaway for the fall, when heat and summer holidays seem a distant memory. Where to head, you ask? New England is the place to be in autumn, and the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is the perfect reason to plan a long weekend in the historic city. Just released details on this year's fair are below. The annual fall gathering for booklovers, the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, will return to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston's beautiful Back Bay, November 16-18, 2012. The offerings are wide and diverse from over 120 dealers from the United States, England, Canada, France, Hungary, The Netherlands, and Argentina who will exhibit and sell rare, collectible and antiquarian books, illuminated manuscripts, autographs, maps, atlases, modern first editions, photographs, and fine and decorative prints. Seminars and events punctuate the weekend, including, The Annual Ticknor Society Roundtable, a panel discussion of collectors talking about their collections. More events will be announced, and folks can visit www.bostonbookfair.com for up to the minute details. Friday, November 16 5:00-9:00pm Tickets: $15.00 - Opening Night (tickets valid throughout the weekend) Saturday, November 17 12:00-7:00pm Tickets: $8.00 each day Sunday, November 18 12:00-5:00pm Tickets: $8.00 each day Hynes Convention Center 900... [more Autumn, Books & Boston? Yes, please!]

Last year the city of Troy, Michigan was facing a serious funding deficit and considered closing the town's public library. Funding to save the library could have been raised through a "minuscule" tax increase, but powerful anti-tax groups in the area joined together to oppose it. That's when Leo Burnett Detroit, a local advertising agency, decided to support the library by creating a reverse psychology campaign that promoted closure of the library and a subsequent book burning party. Residents of the town were outraged and the campaign ending up saving the library from closure. Watch below. via ilovelibraries.org [more Reverse Psychology Saved a Michigan Library]

Bookmark and page from 'The Sound and the Fury' color coded Folio Society edition (via Folio Society) While William Faulkner was working on his masterpiece The Sound and the Fury in the 1920s, he corresponded with his editor about how to make the mutli-narrative clearer for readers. "I wish publishing was advanced enough to use colored ink&as I argued with you and Hal in the Speakeasy that day," he wrote. "I'll just have to save the idea until publishing grows up." What Faulkner was specifically referring to was the Benji section of the book: "If I could only get it printed the way it ought to be with different color types for the different times in Benjy's section recording the flow of events for him, it would make it simpler, probably." It's taken a while, but the Folio Society has worked hard to fulfill Faulkner's request. Last week they released a special edition of The Sound and the Fury in 14 colors. As the LA Times reports, "It's a fine press edition, quarter-bound in leather, with a slipcase and an additional volume of commentary. It also includes a color-coded bookmark that reveals which time period is designated by each color." The Folio Society worked with two Faulkner scholars to determine how to color code the text. It was decided that only one character's section will be colored, Benji's, a mentally disabled man whose narrative can be difficult to follow because it shifts between different time periods. The color coding will allow for a greater comprehension of... [more Faulkner in Color: Special Edition of 'The Sound and the Fury']

Sketch leaf of piano exercises by Beethoven, once owned by Chopin (image via Sotheby's) André Meyer (1884-1974) assembled one of the most significant private collections devoted to music, which Sotheby's will be offering at auction in Paris on October 16 and 17. Comprised of manuscripts, printed music, paintings, furniture, sculpture, drawings, and musical instruments, Meyer's collection was acquired during the first half of the twentieth century. (He began collecting in 1899 when he was only 15 years old.) Meyer devoted his entire life to music as a critic, patron, and collector, and generously opened his library to anyone with interest. The most exciting piece in the collection is a sketch leaf of piano exercises by Ludwig van Beethoven that was once owned by Frédéric Chopin, a Beethoven enthusiast. Other exciting items include: the first collected edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's Six Partitas for Keyboard; a signed autograph manuscript of Arnold Schoenberg's String Quartet; a first edition of Jean-Philippe Rameau's Traité de l'Harmonie, Corrected & Annotated by Rameau prior to the 2nd Edition in 1726; a variety of portraits of composers, including Chopin, Schubert, and Schumann; and a piece of pearwood paneling that is decorated with musical trophies, circa 1730. The viewing will take place at Sotheby's Paris on October 12, 13, and 15. Sotheby's to offer the most important private collection of printed musical scores in private hands in Europe Collection Musicale An... [more Sotheby's to Offer André Meyer's Remarkable Collection of Musical Scores]

Shakespeare in O.P. (that's original pronunciation, FYI)! Below is a really interesting video that examines the original pronunciation of Shakespeare's plays in juxtaposition with our modern pronunciation, and explores how hearing the o.p. leads to a greater understanding of, and appreciation for, the texts. Enjoy! [more Shakespeare Original Pronunciation (Video)]

The new edition of 'A Farewell to Arms', with original cover art (via NY Times) Ernest Hemingway famously told George Plimpton, in a 1958 interview with the Paris Review, that he had re-written the ending to A Farewell to Arms "39 times before I was satisfied." For Hemingway, it was all about "getting the words right." Now readers will have the chance to read all the alternate endings in a new edition of A Farewell to Arms, which will be released by Scribner this week. In addition to the alternate endings, of which there are closer to 47 than 39, this edition will also include early drafts of other passages from the novel and will bear the artwork from the original cover. The endings range in length, from a brief sentence to several paragraphs. One of the endings, No. 34 dubbed "the Fitzgerald ending", was suggested by Hemingway's good friend and fellow author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It held that the world "breaks everyone" and whomever "it does not break it kills." Hemingway continued, "It kills the very good and very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry." The publication of this edition is a result of an agreement between Scribner and Hemingway's estate and is partially an attempt to redirect attention back to Hemingway's writings from the focus in recent years to his larger-than-life persona. Seán Hemingway, a grandson of Hemingway and a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of A... [more Hemingway's Alternate Endings to 'A Farewell to Arms' to be Published]

Jane Austen's Gold Ring, via Sotheby's Sotheby's London will be auctioning a ring that belonged to Jane Austen on July 10. The lovely gold and turquoise ring has remained in the Austen family and its provenance is substantiated by an accompanying note from Jane's sister-in-law, Eleanor Austen. The note was written to Jane's niece Caroline in November of 1863 and read: My dear Caroline, The enclosed ring once belonged to your Aunt Jane. It was given to me by your Aunt Cassandra as soon as she knew that I was engaged to your uncle. I bequeath it to you. God bless you! Austenites will be giddy over this piece, as it is very rare to come across any of Jane Austen's personal possessions (and extremely uncommon for something previously unknown to be 'discovered'Austen has had a longrunning rabid following). The most intriguing question regarding the ring is who gave it to Jane. (A question which prompts me to ask, why couldn't she have purchased it herself? But then perhaps my knowledge of Jane and her time is too superficial. Any insights much appreciated!) Dr. Gabriel Heaton, Sotheby's literature expert, has two possibilities in mind. The first is Tom Lefroy, Jane's "Irish friend", who she had a particular fondness for and who is theorized to have been the basis of Mr. Darcy's character. The second candidate is Jane's brother Henry. Dr. Heaton favors the latter theory because "the ring is in a box fashioned by a goldsmith in the City of London, and Henry worked as a banker ther... [more Jane Austen's Ring Up For Auction at Sotheby's]

'Observations in Midwifery' Percival Willughby Perceival Willughby's Observations in Midwifery, a rare book circa 1670, gives a unique look at seventeenth century midwifery&and it's not pretty. Willuhgby had been working as an obstetrician for 40 years when his 600+ page manuscript was written. In the book he recorded 200 cases with the intent to "inform the ignorant common midwives with such wayes as I have used with good successe ... shewing the wayes how to deliver any difficult birth, bee it naturall, or, unnaturall". Willughby was disturbed by the often horrific practices of contemporary midwivessuch as removing babies before labor had even begun or the use of a hooked stick in place of forcepsand went into grisly detail about the cases he observed and took part in. There are only two known complete copies of the manuscript in existence: one is in the Royal Society of Medicine and the other is waiting to go under the hammer at the Dominic Winter auction house in Cirencester. Chris Albury, of Dominic Winter, notes that the rare book is "not just of medical interest," but that it provides "an insight into 17th century society, in that it gives you details of these families and homes he is visiting, and their circumstances". Albury is less sure why the book was never published, as the author's intent to provide guidance and help others is so evident. The guide price of Observations in Midwifery is £20,000 to £30,000 and it will be sold July 26 as part of an auction of th... [more Yikes: Rare 17th Century Book on Midwifery Up for Auction]