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— Robert Darnton has a thought-provoking essay on Google Book Search in the most recent New York Review of Books, in which he compares the modern information economy to that of the Enlightenment.

— The Guardian’s excellent series on the 1000 novels you must read is, indeed, available online.  Check it out!

— Jeremy points out a massive Ebay autograph forgery scam as well as Obama’s first executive orders related to Presidential records policies.

— The Cynic Sang points out that Google Maps has teamed up with the Prado to display extremly high-resolution photos of fourteen paintings.  I checked this out and it is really cool; you can get close enough to see individual brushstrokes and tiny cracks.

— William found something wonderful in the back of a book.

— From the Book Cover Archive, Great War Dust Jackets.

— Via Morbid Anatomy, images from a French hypnotism manual.

— Also from the Guardian, Virginia Woolf on reading.

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My only New Year’s resolution was to do a better job getting links posts up every week.

— I’ve mentioned that I’m working on a paper on medieval bestiaries.  With excellent timing from Cake Wrecks, (though this one isn’t a wreck) here is what might be my favorite cake ever.  This might be a slightly creepy sentiment for a modern wedding, so I’m happy to report that it was actually for an SCA event.  The same artist has created some very cool cakes that look like old books, using edible prints made from digital editions of early printed works.  Maybe I should consider this for my book history graduation party.

— Via Deeplinking, the new Book Cover Archive.  Beautifully designed, you can browse based on a number of categories like genre, author, artist, and publisher.  I could look at these all day.  They have a blog, and did I mention that you can make suggestions?

— Audra shares some awesome clips of parchment production from the TV show Dirty Jobs.

— I knew The Secret must have some use.

— From Paper Cuts, stray questions for Paul Collins.  You’ll definitely want to read this short piece for the bit about the bald mice.

— The Guardian begins a seven-part series on the 1000 novels you must read, starting Saturday, 17 January.  It’s free with the paper copy, but not sure if it will be online, as well – probably not?

—  From Bibliodyssey, The Jewel Book and the Birds of New Zealand (you can check out some of my older posts for a bit of background on this book – Part I and Part II).

— I walked down to Gosh! comics yesterday morning and requested a copy of this awesomeness, which should be available next week.  Now if only Spider-Man were regulating the banks.

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— One of my favorite things this week, the winners have been selected in Bookninja’s book re-branding competition.  The first-place entry had me doubled over laughing.

— Also in humor, the New Yorker discusses literary Halloween costumes and invites readers to submit their own.

— On the bizarre side of things, Richard Dawkins makes cringe-inducing statements about children’s literature.  There’s an opinion piece on this in the Guardian, as well, with lots heated of commentary.

— Audra of The Vespiary presents an excellent list of web resources for learning about book structure and care.

— Jeremy keeps us up-to-date on the bizarre Durham Folio case.

— William shows off a sweet thift-shop find: a copy of Treasure Island printed for the Taft Hotel in New York City.  I had no idea that books like this even existed.  Might be fertile ground if you need a dissertation topic!

— Another brilliant, retro book cover shared by Ministry of Type, Our Friend the Atom.

— Vintage Halloween ephemera on flickr, via Morbid Anatomy.

— Slate has a nice slideshow on Art Spiegelman.

— Also at the Guardian, London’s finest bookshops.  If only I had time and money!

— This has nothing to do with book history, but it made me laugh, so enjoy.

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I’ve been bad about doing link posts the last few weeks.  Things have been a bit hectic around here lately, but they’re starting to calm down, at least until I leave the country on the 18th of September!

— Via Lifehacker: ebook software called GutenMark which formats Project Gutenberg downloads for easier reading.  It’s free and works in Windows, Mac and Linux, but I haven’t tried it yet so I can’t say how well it works.

— Jeremy offers his thoughts on a newly discovered early facsimile copy of the Declaration of Independence.

— Audra shares information and links regarding important Chinese conservation work.

— This week at Bookride, Bastards with Bookshops!  Need I say more?

— On that note, The danger of laughing at your customers, from Signal vs. Noise.

— Ministry of Type discusses the Faber Finds imprint, which publishes out of print works on-demand with completely unique cover designs.  It’s an interesting concept, but I can’t say that I like the design; it’s a bit busy for me.

— BibliOdyssey shares the Codex Manesse, a lovely 14th century illuminated work which he describes as perhaps “the quintessential Medieval manuscript.”

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Tons of links this week!

— So, the Olympic opening ceremony!  The very beautiful first half of the show featured ancient Chinese paper and printing technology, including a giant LED scroll, human calligraphy, a troop of dancers dressed as Confucian disciples carrying bamboo scrolls, and a truly amazing homage to movable type.   (I certainly never thought that I would hear an NBC announcer talking about “movable printing.”)  Unfortunately I, and it seems no one else, can find any video online.  So check out this BBC page for photos (they captured more of the book history stuff than NBC or CNN).  If you want to take a shot with video here’s the Wired guide to watching the Olympics online.

— Hoefler & Frere-Jones point out the intensely beautiful work of typographer and graphic designer Janno Hahn.  Do check out the gallery on Hahn’s website.  I will probably make some desktops for my computer from these images.

— Acephalous discusses the 1934 obscenity case that was decided in favour of Ulysses.

— PhiloBiblos and Upward Departure report on the sentencing of Richard Delaney, an electrician who stole £89,000 worth of rare materials from the Birmingham University Library.  Apparently the guy claimed he was going to read and then return them?!  Terrible.

— Morbid Anatomy shares some wonderfully creepy images from The Dances of Death Through the Various Stages by Hans Holbein the Younger reproduced as copperplate engravings by Dabid Deuchar in 1803.

— Satirical maps of World War I at BibliOdyssey.

Bookride continues a great series called “Where Do You Get These Books?”  This week’s installment is on the perils and pleasures of Book Towns.

— Book Patrol farewells skilled marbler Ann Muir.

— The Exile Bibliophile gets the prize for discovering the best toy ever.  If only I had several hundred extra dollars lying around.

— Hoefler & Frere-Jones also point us to an awesome pencil collection website.  I have to stop looking before I drool on the keyboard.

— The New York Times presents a sideshow titled “Book Ads: The Golden Age, 1962-1973.  Via Quillblog.

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— The AHA blog shares a really cool interactive map of Early Modern London, created by Dr. Janelle Jenstad of the University of Victoria.

— At The Guardian, an interview with Salman Rushdie that focuses on Midnight’s Children and his early struggles as a writer, plus some good questions from the audience.

— Also from The Guardian, a list of the top ten graphic novels chosen by Danny Fingeroth, author of the Rough Guide to Graphic Novels.

— For more graphic novel goodness check out the Onion AV Club’s “Drawing Board Confessional: 22 Unflattering Moments from Autobiographical Comics.”  It includes enlargeable images that are quite cool but decidedly NSFW.

— An interview with Ray Bradbury, via Book Patrol.

— News for Medievalists points out an International Herald Tribune article on a rediscovered manuscript of The Tale of Genji.

— Ace Jet 170 shares some neat vintage Penguin covers and has an excellent Found Type Friday this week.

Happy 4th of July!

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Obviously I’m very busy mixing fireworks and alcohol this weekend, but I’ve somehow managed to squeeze in a links post.

— You’ve likely seen this already, but a bookseller in Georgia (represent!) discovered an amazing porn stash in hollowed out books.  Booksaga is definitely a new favorite, featuring great writing and really funny stories of life as a small town bookseller.  Thanks to William for the link.

— Bibliophile Bullpen went to the thrift store and found the coolest thing ever.  I want one.

I went to the thrift store a couple of weeks ago.  Found an awesome old Polaroid camera set for a couple of bucks.  Bummer.  Bought it anyway.

— It sounds like Jeremy had a great trip to Charlottesville!

— More amusing housecalls from Bookride.

— Hoefler & Frere-Jones present a 223-year old specimen sheet featuring the “smallest letter in the world” at 4 points.

— Instructables has a nice article on getting started with wood block printing.  Via Moleskinerie

— Be sure to check out the excellent multi-part Slate piece on the troublesome science of gender differences.  There’s an entire page on the supposed gap in verbal abilities between men and women.  Good stuff.

— Bill Gates gets his old textbook back.  Aww.  Via Book Patrol.

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— I recently discovered the aptly titled blog Do I really want to touch that with my hand? This week Holly, who works as a conservator at the University of Virginia, discusses the recent (and timely) water damage training simulation which she coordinated.  It’s really fascinating and there are lots of great pictures at Flickr.

— Check out Paul Collins’s Slate piece on the rise and fall of the semicolon.

— This week Ace Jet 170 has an awesome Found Type Friday – take a look!

— More graphic goodness from Book Patrol – a  lovely, typetastic poster for the M25 in London.

— Michael of The Dispersal of Darwin points out some very funny/sad mistakes in an exhibit of scientists’ portraits at a museum in Valencia, Spain.  Fail!

— Richard at Reading Archives offers a thought-provoking post on digital curation.

— Via Morbid Anatomy, an incredible photo exhibit, Picturing the Museum, at the American Museum of Natural History.  Also images from the newly digitized Die Kleyner Chirurgie, an anatomy book published in 1542.

— More on the library rescue (and photos) at the University of Iowa, from the Fine Books Blog.

— Video of a CNN commentator calling books for boys “emasculating.”  Via Quillblog.

— From the NY Times, a piece on the last volume of Camus’s notebooks to be translated into English.

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— Deeplinking points to an interesting, photo-filled piece in the Quarterly Conversation on three book artists.

— Via Ministry of Type, a set of truly amazing 3D foam letters.

— Bibliodyssey posts an eclectic and beautiful set of newly digitized Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library.

— From the FAIL Blog, how did you get that backwards b? Pwned.

— New York Times article (with photos) on the upcoming auction of the Richard Green collection of scientific books at Christies.

— I recently discovered the hilarious blog Got Medieval, which makes me want to apologize to my own readers for being so horribly unfunny all the time. This week Carl has some excellent comments regarding Sydney Shep’s recent work on emoticons and the possibility of medieval precursors to the :-).

— With the arrival of summer everyone is getting all crafty. William at Hang Fire Books created his own corkboard, and Bibliophile Bullpen posts YouTube instructions for making an origami book.

— Bookride discusses a childhood classic, The Velveteen Rabbit.

— Brian Cassidy investigates his Kindle with a loupe and ponders the uncanny valley hypothesis. Also via Book Patrol, a neat Guardian article on writers’ rooms (with lots of pictures,) and a link to the online version of the art exhibition, People Reading.

— Philobiblos has a great links list this weekend – do check out the NPR story on the rescue of rare books from flooding at the University of Iowa.

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— I have a close friend who’s lived in Knoxville for several years, and one of our favorite places in town is the print shop Yee-Haw Industries. I was happy to see it profiled in yesterday’s New York Times travel article 36 Hours in Knoxville, which describes Yee-Haw as “part gallery, part stationery shop, all handmade coolness.” They’re right on the money with this piece – the owners will, in fact, happily take you through the workshops showing off all the wonderful antique types and printing equipment they’ve collected, which is just what happened the first time I visited. I’m particularly taken with their greeting cards, especially Feathered Friends, which I’ve had framed as a set.

Oh, and my friend works at one of the restaurants mentioned in the article.  She actually got to talk to the Times fact-checker, how cool is that?  Unfortunately, they should have asked her how to spell y’all.

— Jeremy of Philobiblos has a great in-depth look at Robert Darnton’s recent NY Review of Books piece, discussing points where he agrees and disagrees with Darnton.

— Hang Fire Books is giving away ephemera!  I have to say, that’s definitely the weirdest found note I’ve ever seen.  The giveaway is going to be a regular feature, so keep your eyes open.

— At Book Patrol, Brian Cassidy chronicles his adventures with his new Kindle.  I have similar mixed feelings about the Kindle, and while I think that it’s a great idea (especially for magazines,) they could have done more work on the design.  (I’m a total Apple snob, what can I say?)  I haven’t used one yet though, so it’s nice to read his initial impressions in the follow-up post.

— BibliOdyssey posts nice images from a newly digitized 1719 edition of Maria Sybilla Merian’s Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium.

— Notes for Bibliophiles, the blog of the Providence Public Library Special Collections Department, shares Heath’s Infallible Counterfeit Detector, at Sight.

— What may be Jane Austen’s hair is going up for auction on June 18.

— I’ve been following the on-going controversy over proposed age banding of children’s books by British publishers.  Author Meg Rosoff seems to be the only voice in support of the plan, but I found her reasoning pretty insipid.  Speaking from my experience as a kid who was reading adult books from a very young age, I can only say this is a bad idea.  Even without age banding on books I still had trouble with the local librarians who, shooing me from the adult stacks, completely ignored my protestations that I’d already read all the good stuff in the children’s section.  Fortunately, my parents were much more enlightened, and I’m definitely a better person for it.  So three cheers for Philip Pullman!

Mr. Pullman told The Daily Telegraph: “I don’t mind anybody having an opinion about my books. I don’t mind a bookseller deciding they are for this age group or that, or a teacher giving one of my books to a child because they think it is appropriate.

“But I don’t want to see the book itself declaring officially, as if with my approval, that it is for readers of 11 and upwards or whatever. I write books for whoever is interested. When I write a book I don’t have an age group in mind.