Finding aids for four newly cataloged collections have been added to the OASIS database this month, most notably the John Updike Papers, a major collection of some 300 linear feet, which has been under way since its acquisition in 2009. Photo © Martha Updike Processed by Jennifer Lyons and others: John Updike Papers, 1940-2009 (MS Read More
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Circulating libraries
I recently had the great pleasure of assisting a Jane Austen scholar who was looking for book evidence of English circulating libraries during Austen’s lifetime. At first I thought that the assignment would be a piece of cake, since I’d run across a fair amount of 18th and 19th century French subscription library evidence in Read More
Urdu Punch
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring material from the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection. Punch, the seminal British satirical magazine, is credited with popularizing the use of ‘cartoon’ to mean a comic drawing, rather than a preliminary sketch for a painting or tapestry. During the time of the British Raj, a number of publications Read More
Myths of London
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection. Although at first glance London Walkabout by Andrew Collins looks like a typical pamphlet for a tourist it actually is much more unusual. Subtitled “Your guide to discovering the myths and legends of ten mystical sties in and Read More
Shall I read your future?
This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Julio Mario Santo Domingo Collection. Death. Typically depicted as a skeleton with a sickle, one might suppose that if this card appeared in a tarot reading that you should prepare for an untimely demise, but it rarely signifies a physical death. Tarot card Read More