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Have just read the most terrific book on mediaeval libraries: Thompson, J. W. (1967). The medieval library. London: Hafner Publishing Company. Obviously a classic, one that any bibliophile would love, it is scholarly, detailed, and full of carefully constructed argument. Originally published in 1939, it ranges right across England and Europe, calling in some of the work of Thompson’s students for seven of the chapters, which expertise takes us into Scandinavian libraries in medieval Europe as well. To do this, of course, it had to go back in libraries of antiquity, and it does so with remarkable detail. It is astonishing just how the contents of libraries under consideration has been conjectured out of scraps of letters and parts of books written: reading Bede, for example, shows what books he must have access to, and probably from which libraries. Fascinating stuff, but one of the saddest things is in the last few lines of the book, which suggests that ‘the world War’ would have scattered some books which may not be recoverable. I mean not sad about the books being lost, but sad in that there is only ONE World War in history in 1939. Sad to think of what was about to happen to produce just another such event, and no hint of it as the book goes to press.

** Journal Award Winner **
Congratulations to Rosamund Davies, the winner of the International Award for Excellence for her top ranked article, "Narrating the Archive and Archiving Narrative: The Electronic Book and the Logic of the Index." For more information on this paper and on the runners-up for the Award and their papers, see:
http://ijb.cgpublisher.com/diary/110

** International Journal of the Book, Volume 6 **
Paper submissions are now open for Volume 6 of the Journal. If you wish to submit a paper to the Journal you will first need to submit a proposal:
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** International Journal of the Book, Volume 5 **
Three issues of Volume 5 of the International Journal of the Book have been published and are now available at: http://ijb.cgpublisher.com

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** Conference and Symposium Announcements **
The Culture of Print in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) Conference
12-13 September 2008, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
See: http://slisweb.lis.wisc.edu/~printcul/STEMConferencePage.html

BOBCATSSS Symposium
28-30 January 2009, Porto, Portugal
See: http://www.bobcatsss2009.org/

** Rare Book School **
Dunedin Rare Book Summer School
9-13 February 2009, Dunedin, New Zealand
See: http://ijb.cgpublisher.com/diary#p:27:105

** Sixth International Conference on the Book **
25-27 October 2008, Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., USA
See: http://www.book-conference.com

** Call for Papers **
If you intend to present a paper at the Conference, your participation begins with submission of a paper proposal. For information on proposals, presentation types, and other options, see: http://b08.cgpublisher.com/proposal_types.html. To submit a proposal: http://b08.cgpublisher.com/proposal_entry_intro. Please note that if your proposal is accepted, you will then need to register for the Conference.

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I am going to follow up on my last entry with a comment of my own following on from Virginia Woolf's. In a paper that was published in an Australian journal, so many of you will not know it, (Zeegers, M. (2006). Living in new worlds: Beyond the boundaries of literacy. Idiom, 42(2) 57-65), I duscussed the pleasure that comes from the sort of reading that Woolf seems to prefer: I said, 'It is the vicarious experience of lives in other times and other places; it is a stretch and exercise of the imagination; it is a means of developing empathy and understanding others; it is an escape from the reality of our daily lives; it shows how the world is, or was, or may be; it is a demonstration of how others have dealt with situations that may be difficult, or similar to, or different from our own; it is a means by which we may be inspired; it is a way of deriving sheer pleasure as we can laugh, cry, be outraged, or feel ennobled by engaging others’ human experience. The expression that we all know: ‘Curling up with a good book’ says it all: the comfort, the pleasure, the anticipation. This is well known by that reader who goes to the bookshelves or book piles to search out a book in confident anticipation that this will be a pleasurable thing on offer, better even than Survivor or American Idol: that’s how good it is. The dimension of that pleasure that extends and inspires needs must come from a role of a reader based on understanding and empathy that disavows prejudice and unfeeling distancing from other characters and their situations, be they actual or fictional'. Does anybody else have any thoughts on this?

This little piece comes from Virginia Woolf’s ‘Hours in a Library’ essay: ‘A learned man, concentrated solitary enthusiast, who searches through books to discover some particular grain of truth upon which he has set his heart. If the passion for reading conquers him, his gains dwindle and vanish between his fingers. A reader, on the other hand, must check the desire for learning at the outset; if knowledge sticks to him, well and good, but to go in pursuit of it, to read on a system, to become a specialist or an authority, is very apt to kill what it suits us to consider the more human passion for pure and distinguished reading.’ I came across this in Manguel’s new book [Manguel, A. (2008). The library at night. New Haven and London: Yale University Press] (p. 15).

It struck me because I have found my own reading similar bisected as to purpose. But it is the learning part of the reading that holds a strong attraction for me, every bit as much as that delightful reading for pleasure. The dichotomy is not very helpful, for it suggests a joy in one that is absent in the other, and the learning in one that is probably absent in the other, but it does remind me of two very different types of books engaged for very different purposes.

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It was years ago that I first fell in love with the old books produced by hand in scriptoria when I saw the Book of Kells in Dublin, and experienced what is for me a most unusual desire to possess it for myself. I visited a most wonderful illuminated manuscripts exhibition held in Melbourne, Australia. Called ‘The Medieval Imagination’, it surprised me a good deal in that it had such a wonderful collection of books available in Antipodean libraries and museums. I really did not expect to see such a collection at all in this part of the world ever, obviously assuming that anything before 1788 (when The First Fleet arrived) would just not be around. I thought that I would only ever see such things in Europe. This exhibition, though, was supplemented by works provided through the Melbourne Museum’s strong connections to Cambridge University, and also its links to institutions in New Zealand. The books of days, the breviaries, the bestiaries…what a wonderful experience! It was free to all comers, but I just had to purchase the catalogue: a truly magnificent production of nearly 300 pages detailing the wonderful works on display. The books themselves, and then of course reproductions of them as they appear in the catalogue, provided me with an experience that I will not get over in a hurry.

Well, last week’s episode of Austen’s ‘Persuasion’ was as disappointing as the one that dramatised ‘Emma’ the week before. If Emma Woodhouse is depicted in that version as a right cow, Anne Elliot is a timid deer who would never have captured the attentions of one such as Captain Wentworth. But perhaps such things are not so bad when they remind us of just how good the book is, and preferable to failed representations of dramatic versions. Last night’s Catherine in ‘Northanger Abbey’ did show a good deal of improvement on the other two, though, and this brings me to the Gothic Novel, one which Austen’s rather gentle send up of in ‘Northanger Abbey’ had always convinced me not to waste any time on. Nonetheless, I have to acknowledge that this reluctance of mine has left a gap in my reading, and while I did not wish to pick up Ann Radcliffe’s ‘The Mysteries of Udolpho’, when I came across one by Lewis, M. G. (2004 [1794]). The monk: A romance. Ontario: Broadview Literary Texts, and saw that its editors D. L. Macdonald and Kathleen Scherf had included extensive scholarly commentary and intriguing appendices, I took it up as a worthwhile exercise. But …what a dreadful read. Has anybody else picked up on this genre? It was the most tedious and fruitless exercise in the suspension of disbelief that I have ever come across. I did finish it, and I did try to engage the scholarly discussion on this work, but it was hard going. I will now declare that gap in my reading filled, and move on. Where I am moving on to is something that I am anticipating with a great deal of delight…illuminated manuscripts of old. Will let you know how I get on.