Handle this Book!

In Handle this Book! the New York Times describes the presentation of rare books and manuscripts to History undergraduates. There's nothing like the smell of old books, the sound as you flick through the pages of a book made from cloth paper or reading the scribbled notes and signatures of previous owners!

This is the untidy scrawl of a previous owner of the 1640 edition of Parkinson's Herbal held in the Richardson Collection (263F). William Hopkins has practised his signature numerous times on the last page of the volume but what was he thinking when he scrawled the following lines...?

'Remember well and bear in mind
a faithful friend is hard to find
but how to find a friend so just
is first to try and then to trust'

Virtually recreating the Library of Sir Hans Sloane

A Press release from the Wellcome Trust and the British Library has announced the availability of the Sloane Printed Book Catalogue. This is a virtual reconstruction of the Library of Sir Hans Sloane ( 1660 - 1753) , one of Britain's most important collectors and founder of the British Museum. The comment by Alison Walker, Lead Researcher of The Sloane Printed Books Project...' We can learn much about Sir Hans Sloane, his career, and the intellectual and scientific circles in which he lived by looking at what material he acquired and how it was used, ' reminds us of how important it is that we continue the work from the David Scott Mitchell Project and include the provenance of items in our electronic records, particularly when they are related to significant people in the Library's history and the development of Australia.

You can read about the collection and the project from the website. The detail on identifying and interpreting the provenance of items is interesting. I know I have seen items in the Library's collections with this British Museum stamp. If we looked closer would we also find a Sloane shelfmark?
On a lighter note, did you know that Sir Hans Sloane 'discovered' Milk Chocolate?

An interactive timeline

This commercial site developed by Jeremy Norman has an amazing amount of information about the history of science, medicine and information. According to the 'blurb' on the site 'Historyofscience.com is more than a bookselling site. It is also about the culture of collecting the history of science, medicine, and technology.'
An interactive timeline now available on the site. It is a great resource for bits and pieces on rare books, printing, publishing!
Did you know that the first known medical work was printed in 1457. The Bloodletting calendar apparently listed the unlucky and lucky days to have your blood drained!