The Einbanddatenbank A Key Resource for Identifying German Bookbindings of the 15th and 16th Centuries The Einbanddatenbank, hosted by the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, provides access to collections of rubbings held in large German libraries. The Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin holds the Schwenke-Schunke Sammlung; the Württembergische Landesbibliothek in Stuttgart has the [...]
According to the Society's constitution, three Council members are due to step down at the Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 28 October 2025. Nominations for Council will therefore be considered at the Council meeting on Wednesday 10 September 2025 and should be submitted to the Hon. Secretary (secretary@bibsoc.org.uk) no later [...]
Buntpapier: Beschreibung, Terminologie, Abbildungen [Coloured paper: description, terminology, illustrations] https://provenienz.gbv.de/Portal:Buntpapier Decorative papers used in the book trade is an area of book history and bibliography that offers the most ambiguity in catalogue and metadata descriptions. Each country or region has different names for different techniques, and no one tool has [...]
The Return of ESTC For many members of the Bibliographical Society, the loss of the ESTC was one of the most keenly felt consequences of the cyber-attack on the British Library in 2023. After a few months the Print & Probability website at Carnegie Mellon University came to the rescue [...]
The Bibliographical Society and CILIP Rare Books and Special Collections Group and have joined together for an event on acquisitions, aimed at librarians, archivists and curators although all are welcome! The event will feature the Society's President Nicolas Bell providing an overview of the Acceptance-in-Lieu and Cultural Gifts Scheme and [...]
The Bibliographical Society is pleased to welcome the announcement of the relaunch of the English Short-Title Catalogue (ESTC), now accessible on the servers of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL). The ESTC team is delighted to launch the Beta version of the new English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC), the [...]
Cambridge Bookbinding 1450-1770 Cambridge has been a centre of book-making for as long as it has maintained a university. Over one hundred named bookbinders are known to have worked there between the 15th and 18th centuries, and, although examples of their work have travelled far and wide, many others have [...]
Anthony Hobson, DECORATED BOOKBINDINGS in Renaissance Italy Outside Rome and Venice - A Catalogue Edited by Edward Potten and Mirjam Foot; Preface by Christopher de Hamel An essential reference for anyone interested in the history of bookbinding in the Italian Renaissance. Anthony Hobson (1921-2014), former Director of Sotheby's and past [...]
Lewis Carroll Resources Lewis Carroll (1832—1898) is best known as the author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), its sequel Through The Looking Glass (1865) and his poems Jabberwocky and The Hunting of the Snark. Carroll’s creative output was enormous: a noted mathematician, he published on linear algebra, probability and the study of election under [...]
From time to time the Society awards a Gold Medal for distinguished services to bibliography to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the development of the subject and the furtherance of the Society’s aims. Over forty awards have been made since the Medal Fund was established in 1929 [...]
Fragmentarium: Laboratory for Medieval Manuscript Fragments Inspired by the Council’s Choice for January 2025 (Digital Scriptorium), I would like to highlight another online resource for the study of medieval manuscript culture. Fragmentarium, begun as a trial project in 2015, is a consortial portal and database that ‘enables libraries, collectors, researchers [...]
On Thursday, 27 February, at 17.00 GMT, the Bibliographical Society travels virtually to visit the library at St Catherine’s Monastery, Mt Sinai. The virtual visit will take place on Zoom and will comprise a pre-recorded introduction to the library and its collections, followed by live discussion and Q&A. Our host [...]
