As Rebecca mentioned in the previous post, the New York Antiquarian Book Fair is being held this weekend. I'm very excited to be exhibiting for the first time at this event, where my fellow FB&C blogger Ian Kahn (of Lux Mentis) and I will be sharing a booth (B17). I know I speak for both of us when I say we hope readers will stop by and say hello.

We're coming upon one of (dare I say THE) best book fair of the year: The New York Antiquarian Book Fair. In our spring quarterly, writer Christopher Lancette talked to show organizers and booksellers who were confidently gearing up for the Big Apple. What are they bringing? Martin Luther's will, to name just one extraordinary piece (from Inlibris Gilhofer Nrg.). And today my inbox was flooded with booksellers' catalogues and emails related to the NY fair -- the book world is abuzz.

Here's something really interesting that I'd like to share. This year, the Philadelphia Rare Books & Manuscripts Company (PRB&M) is filling its front showcase entirely with books, manuscripts, and broadsides costing $500 and under! According to co-proprietor Cynthia Davis Buffington, the impulse isn't so much about the economy as it is about enticing younger book collectors and to promoting book-collecting to beginners. Bravo!

A sampling of what will be available in that PRB&M front case: an array of nineteenth- and twentieth-century "pamphlet scriptures," a group of seventeenth-century sermons, some fine bindings, a series of nineteenth-century American woodcut-illustrated "toy" books, illustrated books, and several volumes in travel, Mexicana, and Americana, including "a classic life of Washington in a gorgeous gilt-stamped striped cloth binding."

I'm planning to be at the show on Friday and Saturday and will post updates. Stay tuned.

Fourteen "exceptional creative writers, independent scholars and academics" have been named as the New York Public Library's 2010 Cullman Center Fellows. The group will get to spend a year in residence in September at the library's famous building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, where they will work on a variety of projects.

A new museum has opened in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Part of Luray Caverns, the Luray Valley Museum "is a collection of restored buildings representative of life on the frontier circa the 1800s, including the restored Dunkard Elk Run Meeting House which served as a hospital to Civil War soldiers from both sides during the conflict (their signatures can still be seen inscribed on the walls of the church). The cornerstone of the project, however, is the refurbished Stonyman building which houses an extensive collection of decorative arts, tools, literature, and artifacts that weave the tapestry of the region's rich history."

Of particular interest to FB&C readers might be a rare 1536 Swiss Bible, known as the
Abraham Strickler Bible (pictured here, credit: Tyler Driscoll Photography). Printed in Zurich by Christopher Froschauer, it was brought to America in the early 1700s by German-speaking Swiss immigrants. According to the press materials for the museum's grand opening this past weekend:

This Bible is one of the first printed in Europe that combines both the Old and New Testaments in one volume, and is printed in the vernacular language of German. The bible's woodblock illustrations were done by Hans Holbein, the Younger, better known for his paintings for the English court of King Henry VIII. The Bible came to the Luray Valley Museum collection from the Modisett family of Leaksville (Mill Creek), who also sold the Elk Run Meeting House to the Museum. Mennonite preacher, teacher and artist Jacob Strickler likely built the Meeting House about 1825. After his death in 1846, the building was conveyed to the Dunkard Brethren faith, and was moved to the Luray Valley Museum site in 2008.

Back in November, I blogged about Dr. Maureen E. Mulvihill's essay on the Peyraud collection sale, "Literary Property Changing Hands." Mulvihill has now written another piece of interest to FB&C readers, this one a multimedia exhibition review of the Morgan Library's recent Austen exhibit titled "Captured by Jane," published by the Jane Austen Centre Online Magazine in Bath. Writes Mulvihill, "The Morgan's Austen show was the literary success of New York City's 2009-2010 winter season; it also was the first major show on this English novelist in the United States." She later adds, "The exhibition's two busy curators did not merely 'hang a show': they created a portal--a ventricle--to Jane Austen and her Regency world."

If you missed it, Mulvihill's essay will take you there. An online version of the exhibit is available too.

Our spring quarterly--in the mail now, just received my copy yesterday--has a super cool resource called Biblio 360. Basically, it's a list of book clubs & societies, classes & seminars, exhibits, lectures, readings, symposia, etc. of interest to bibliophiles, happening this spring and summer (which complements the list of book fairs and auctions already available in our calendar). While compiling this guide, we also pulled together a list of about 80 of the best and most comprehensive online exhibits related to book collecting, bookbinding, printing, rare books, maps, publishing, and manuscripts. Take an educational jaunt -- you'll be glad you did.