Saturday, May 5, 2007

My First Decision as a Bibliographer and Collector

And here's the Beginning of my New life as a Bibliographer. I have decided that I will collect and write about Bibliography. BOOKS ABOUT BOOKS. Books about Book collecting, Manuscripts, Libraries, Illumination, Book Binding, Rare Books, Bibliographies and so on. That will be my genre.

I already have all 5 of Nicholas Basbanes books, so thats a start. So I think I will start off with - Basbanes and Stern/Rostenberg plus John Dunning, and the Goldstones.

Rostenberg & Stern issued at least 84 catalogues (maybe more) for more than 40 years. I would like to document the catalogues that Stern & Rostenberg issued, maybe collect them if possible. And record everything else that Stern & Rostenberg ever wrote, including books, lectures and articles. Write a Bibliography for Rostenberg & Stern. (see below)

The Changing Rare Book Trade (PDF)

A Lecture on Louisa May Alcott by Madeleine Stern at Brigham Young University, March 1991 (PDF)

And I just found a lovely interview with Leona & Madeleine recorded in 1997.
City Arts Uncut Interview

I also have a number of books about the Shakespeare authorship debate. I'd like to write a bibliography on all the books that have been and are being written about the Shakespeare authorship question. It will be identifying those novels and biographies that support Shakespeare as the author, and those that support someone else.

See my Blog BiblioShakespeare

Oh yes, and eventually record everything on a Bibliography webpage - like this one.
A Bibliography for Book Collectors

6 comments:

AGL said...

Bibliography. How perfectly wonderful. You could not choose a more perfect subject for study.

When you are ready, think about taking one (or all) of the courses at the Rare Book School :

http://www.virginia.edu/oldbooks/

Subscribe to the oldest journal devoted to Book Collecting :

http://www.thebookcollector.co.uk/

Become a subscriber to the online discussion group "Exlibris."

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/1991/12/msg00029.html

Here is an archive of pass discussion, etc. to help you decide if you want to join :

http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byform/mailing-lists/exlibris/

Oak Knoll will help you acquire the Stern/Rostenberg catalogues you want to collect. They are still the one stop bookseller for all things bibliographical.

A lifetime is not long enough to learn and study this subject. Good luck with your studies. It is a delight watching the blossoming of a bibliophile.

P.S. On the subject of Shakespeare, have you seen this website :

http://www.shakespeareauthorship.org/Forum%20and%20Bibliography/Forum%20and%20Bibliography.htm

Francesca Thomas said...

Would love to do the Rare Books course - if I could afford it. Oak Knolls - some of those prices look quite reasonable. And the Shakespeare information Centre - a new site I haven't seen. Thank you.

Thanks for the best wishes and support. Now I just need to find a job to support my new (and somewhat expensive) study.

H

Laura said...

Could you please help me Historia? I saw the documentary about Rostenberg and Stern when it first aired. The two women talked about this great German expression for loving the feel and smell of books or the excitement you get from feeling and smelling books.

It was something like ungeshptensprritzen or spotzenshrpritz or something like that. I mentioned it to my sister the other day and she said "Oooh I need a word like that!"

Anyway, I can't access the link to the documentary. Do you know what the word is?

It is really driving me crazy that I can't remember . . . . . . .

Thanks!

Francesca Thomas said...

The word is - "fingerspitzengefuhl”
and you can read all about it on Book Hunter's Blog - link below

fingerspitzengefuhl

Laura said...

Thank you Historia!! Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I had spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure it out. And thanks for the link.

Francesca Thomas said...

You're most welcome, Laura.

At least now you won't be going crazy any more.