Hand assembled book from the 1626 printing.
The BookFish Returneth!
Inspired by a post by @jessemlocker.bsky.social, my #NewberryLibrary Edible Book Festival entry today channels this well-nigh unbelievable story about a fish found in 1626 with a book inside it. A Big Fish portending ALL sorts of things. Here's the source material. 📚🐟🧵 1/?
Apply! Our Summer Paleography Institute is in Italian this year!
#NewberryLibrary
www.newberry.org/calendar/sum...
Detail of velvet bound book with pearl encrusted bookmark top, and gilt gauffered edges. Owner is oddly wearing one glove as he pretends to read.
Green gilt leather book binding with a metal bookmark ribbon holder.
Mark My Words...
This multi-ribbon, bejeweled bookmark book bling craze has gone far enough! And don't get me started about those gloves!(Left, Amberger portrait of Charles V; Right, portfolio of 16th c. documents from #NewberryLibrary (VAULT Case MS folio J 035 .182))
#ThingsInBooks #Bookmark
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Alciati emblem for in silentium, with scholar standing by large book and putting a finger to his lips. Oddly, he looks more like he is shushing the book or is feeling indecisive about which part to read.
Ssshh?
Not a fan of silent libraries , myself... But I suppose we came by the stereotype honestly?
1536 Alciato emblem. #NewberryLibrary
(Case W 1025 .0165)
Parfois j’aimerais vivre à #Chicago et me dire que ça serait chouette d’aller voir cette expo « Mapping Outside the Lines » 🗺️
#NewberryLibrary 🙌
Letter written in English round hand in gold ink. At the top is the salutation “Madam” written in more of a black letter style, with a very decorative “M”.
For #NationalHandwritingDay -18th c writing master Ralph Snow’s letter to his future wife, written in gold ink. Classy! #NewberryLibrary
Sheet show construction of uppercase letters on a grid system
The Jammes item I probably show most often is the (20th c) prints from the original 17th c Grandjean Romain du Roi plates. Such a treat, always. Love. 💗 #NewberryLibrary
White uppercase letters on a pink background. The letters appear to be bending or twisting up off the page
A variety of lettering for different signs. Includes a delightful printer’s fist for a Sortie sign.
Another item I acquired more recently from Jammes is this suite of model letters from L. Labbé, c. 1900, including these fun Lettres Tordues. #NewberryLibrary
Prospectus of Journal Polytype in a script font.
Opening of day book from 1787, showing manuscript entries
One of my fave #NewberryLibrary acquisitions from Jammes is a collection from L’Imprimerie Polytype, the 37th of 36(!) presses in Paris -allowed only because of its use of a new polytype method of printing-incl. the 1786-7 day-book which somehow survived the dramatic shutdown of the press in 1787.
Initial with spurred boots in a 19th c. German poem about Frankfurt.
Boots Aren't Made for Walking
Still wish I had THESE in my closet for that fancypants dinner on Thursday...
#NewberryLibrary (VAULT Case MS Y 952 .S3575)
André Jammes was immensely important in the building of the Wing collection at the #NewberryLibrary….
Full view of handkerchief with Teddy Roosevelt and his vice president candidate Charles W Fairbanks. Very red white and blue. Lots of flags. Motto at the bottom reads: "Protection to American Industries."
1904 Roosevelt-Fairbanks Campaign handkerchief at #NewberryLibrary!
Book Guts!
Lately I've been looking through our WAMS (tm), aka Weird-Ass Manuscripts. And with the binding waste, repurposed cover (who DOES horizontal roller stamping anyway?) and doodles, this one on the sacraments could definitely use some deeper cataloging!
#newberrylibrary (Case MS C 82 .886)
Corner of the sheet with 26 hatch marks.
Printed sheet with a literal red cross at the top and title Man's Sock, followed by details about how to knit it.
Knitting Nurses!
Prompted by @sarahebull.bsky.social yesterday I poked around #NewberryLibrary for 20th c. knitting patterns. These WWII Red Cross directions for a MAN'S SOCK from May 1942 looks to have been used by nurses or housewives to create at least 13 pairs for the war effort! #FiberArts
Pink drawing of Three Graces with the words HAS TIBI above.
Open book with round drawing on the right with a Latin text below.
Those Organized Gangs of Wine Moms are EVERYWHERE!
#NewberryLibrary (Case MS W 1025 .709) #SheIsGrace
Manuscript page with a drawn column in honor of a William Russell, topped by the figure of a goat in silhouette.
A different column with variable text and no goat.
Gone GOAT?
I know fame is fleeting, but this is ridiculous! When the victory column for one William Russell is joined by another one a page later, the jaunty beast on top has disappeared! #NewberryLibrary (Case MS Y 762 .M465) What's the story here?
Black bordered title page with red text and drawing of floral elements and a shell. Text says Raccolta di Vario Sonetti, collection of various sonnets.
Detail of the first sonnet, with an outstanding set of tabs on the right for organizing them.
Shall I Compare Thee to an ABC?
I've never seen poetry indexed and tabbed quite so thoroughly as in this 18th c. Italian collection of various sonnets at #NewberryLibrary! (Case MS 3A 22)
So, did the owner(s) complete the set?
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Front opening of book with much brighter floral design in red, purple and yellow, with a Newberry bookplate, a bit of reddish orange sealing wax and a round exlibris with a helmet on it.
Back of book with another sheet of the floral paper, blank margin on the right.
Nope! No moldy books at #NewberryLibrary!
Here are the actual designs on the front sides of the decorative paper!
Loooooooooooooooong Book
#NewberryLibrary (Vault Case MS minus VM 1619 M98) #shelfie
Full image of page with a round diagram with sun, hands, etc and a naked couple standing under a column with a rooster on it. Greek text throughout.
And THIS is why I occasionally browse entire sections of #NewberryLibrary shelves!
It's a new-to-me Greek alchemical manuscript, possibly 17th c., with text from the 7th c. scholar Stephen of Alexandria...
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...
Black and white woodcut of teacher with a bird on his shoulder, checkered floor, window.
Woodcut of teachers and students with some red accents.
Brightly colored woodcut in red and yellow of teacher and students on title page.
One Woodcut Three Ways
Here's to more studious attention to detail at #NewberryLibrary in 2026!
Page one with dates extended by hand from 1482 to 1522.
1523 to 1605. Emperor Ferdinand I to Rudolph II; Pope Clement V to Leo XI.
Last added entry, from 1621, opposite printed index with a bunch of additions about Pope Leo X, Julius III and Paul III.
Now 2025 is nearly History...
Here's a 1482 chronology of the world with a slight update... All the way to 1621! Most books become outdated in a few decades, but this one seems to have beaten the odds... Here's to slightly fewer interesting times in 2026 and beyond!
#NewberryLibrary (Inc. 2772)
Tower woodcut with letterpress saying Turris babel, aka Tower of Babel.
Tower woodcut with letterpress saying Templum Domini, aka Temple of God.
Honest mistake...
#NewberryLibrary (Inc. 2772)
Playing card with top half peeled down to reveal a map.
Portrait of a woman sitting.
King of hearts.
Cards FOR Humanity!
My colleagues added a card to the collection that may have saved lives in WWII! Underneath the Queen Consort is part of a map of Southern Germany, which British and Canadian seamen may have used to escape a POW camp!
#NewberryLibrary #newacq
December 24 (24/24)
#AdventCalendar
A 18th century illustration with a man holding a signboard while a small group of women and children crowd around him. The sign proclaims “Soap, candles, shrimps, gooseberries, and treacle “
My Trader Joe’s shopping list for later today;-)
From the hugely enjoyable Typographic Advertiser (London, 1863), a type specimen masquerading as a magazine. #NewberryLibrary
Games of Cats and Mice box.
Vertical spines with game titles.
Marbled page like edges to the two "books."
Games of Cats & Mice!
Triple the fun in a c. 1877 blook gamebox from McLoughlin Bros, NY!
#NewberryLibrary (Wing oversize ZP 883 .M2285)
December 22 (22/24)
#AdventCalendar
Twelve piece block puzzle with two missing pieces, in a box for 10 pieces. Pink paper showing with text of the Annunciation.
Chip off the Old
Block Puzzle from the Bielo Materializing the Bible Collection
#NewberryLibrary (Case GV1507.B5 P37 1945)
December 21 (21/24)
#AdventCalendar #HailMary
i-share-nby.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01...
Book board with a 4x4 grid inside the front cover, a collection label inconveniently stuck inside of it.
Image of game starting position, with 10 black pieces at the top and bottom 10 white, with the middle row split between them with the central spot left open. Image from Wikipedia.
Wrong Turn at Alquerque?
This 15th c. book hides a gameboard for a Middle Eastern game c. 1000! Many books were bound with leather-covered wooden boards, so you could bring these proto-checkers along. 🧵
#NewberryLibrary (Inc. 5029)
December 20 (20/24)
#AdventCalendar
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alquerque
We may even have a rabbit-chewed book chez #NewberryLibrary, though incant find a photo at the moment...
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