Thursday, May 14, 2015

Antiquarian Book News

A rare 400-year-old Bible discovered in a Lancashire village church.

A copy of a  Bible known as known as the "Great She Bible", which was printed 1611, and is one of the earliest known copies of the King James Version was found in a Lancashire village church. 

It is called a "She Bible" because Chapter 3, Verse 15 of the Book of Ruth mistakenly reads: "She went into the city". Thought to be typographical mistake, this verse was changed from another KJV edition which said "He". The Bible has been assessed and authenticated by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association.

Only a handful of the "She Bibles" still exist. Oxford and Cambridge Universities have one, as do Salisbury, Exeter and Durham cathedrals. The Bible has been valued at about £50,000.
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Earthquake destroys Library.

The Kaiser Library in Kathmandu, which until the time of the recent earthquake attracted students, academics and tourists to visit the collection of rare books, maps and ancient manuscripts, now lies in ruins.

The 120-year-old building was gifted to the nation by the Rana dynasty that ruled Nepal for more than a century before losing power in 1951. It is estimated that the quake damaged around a third of the 28,000 books in the Kaiser Library. It housed rare South Asian manuscripts on Buddhism, Tantrism and astrology, some so old they are written on palm-leaves.

The Government is urgently seeking somewhere safe to store the valuable contents of the building, which is so badly damaged that staff have been advised not to enter.

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Found - One Hundred Years of Solitude

We reported last week that a first-edition copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude had been stolen whilst on display at the Columbian Book Fair in Bogata and this week we are pleased to report that it has been recovered. At a press briefing hours later, the official said the copy was found at a store that sells artworks and antiquities in the La Perseverencia neighborhood of downtown Bogota, after the thieves saw there were police on the premises and abandoned the book.

Investigations indicate that the copy, which was not damaged because it was in a box, would likely have been sold to a foreign collector for around 120 million pesos (close to $51,000).

The owner of the work, bookseller and collector Alvaro Castillo, thanked the country for its solidarity and said that he will donate the book to the Colombia National Library because he felt that it was a national heritage.”
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Baseball signed by Franklin Roosevelt the day Babe Ruth "Called his shot"

On May 28th, 2015, PBA Galleries in San Francisco will offer at auction a rare baseball signed by then-Presidential candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt and by six members of the 1932 Chicago Cubs, almost certainly signed at the World Series game between the Cubs and the New York Yankees where Babe Ruth famously "called his shot" before hitting a home run into the center-field bleachers. The baseball is an official National League ball, evidently "game-used" before it was signed. The six Cubs who signed it were all on the Chicago ball club at the same time only during the 1932 season, which was the only year they were all on the same team, confirming the 1932 date. Franklin Roosevelt, an avid baseball fan, had traveled to the Midwest from San Francisco at the end of September, 1932, in an effort to increase his profile in the American heartland where his rival Herbert Hoover still had a fairly robust following.

With Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak, FDR attended the October 1st opening game of the series in Chicago following two losses by the Cubs in New York. Roosevelt would throw out the first ball, but that action would be little-remembered when contrasted with the heroics of George Herman "Babe" Ruth, the Great Bambino. With the scored tied 5-5 in the fifth inning, and the Babe at the plate, he made a gesture toward center field, some say pointed, and then launched a solo home run into the bleachers to break the tie. Lou Gerhig, next up, hit a second home run, the Yankees won the game 7-5, and went on to sweep the series. This would be the last home run Ruth hit in the post-season.

Franklin Roosevelt was not alone among U.S. Presidents with a love for the American pastime, but he was definitely among the more enthusiastic of fans. He, along with other presidents (or in this instance, presidential candidates), was not averse to signing souvenir balls, but the association of this ball with not only the longest-serving president in American history but also with one of the most famous episodes in World Series lore, make it a unique and extraordinarily desirable memento. The baseball is conservatively estimated at $2,000 to $3,000, but might very likely sell for a good deal more.

The baseball will be sold in PBA Galleries' auction of Rare Books & Manuscripts with The Paulette & Stephen Modiano Roycroft Collection, on May 28, 2015.
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