No comments about Miller's: Collecting Modern Books.

No comments about How to Buy Rare Books: A Practical Guide to the Antiquarian Book Market (Christie's Collectors Guides).

No comments about Greetings from Houston, Texas.

5 comments about The Voynich Manuscript: The Unsolved Riddle of an Extraordinary Book Which has Defied Interpretation for Centuries.

1. The best and most well-written source about the elusive voynich manuscript. This book covers the alleged owners, possible clues to the cypher, the history of the manuscript itself, and so much more.



2. The Voynich manuscript remains one of the most puzzling artifacts handed down to us from antiquity. It is in an unknown language, using an unknown script, and not so much as a word has been successfully translated (though many have tried). It is filled with whimsical illustrations of plants that cannot be identified, stars that do not exist, and astrological diagrams unlike anything seen elsewhere. It is also filled with drawings of naked women cavorting in vessels of green liquid for purposes which cannot be fathomed. The author is unknown, the date is unknown (although figured to be between 1250-1450), and how the manuscript came to be preserved for the past 650 years is also a mystery.
   
   It has been suggested by some researchers, and the authors of this book tentatively agree, that the whole thing might be an elaborate Medieval fake. Yet the sheer magnitude of it -- 272 pages, 211 illustrations, 170,000 characters, all carefully arranged and consistently produced -- would seem to argue against that. Add to that the statistical analysis of the text, which indicates that it probably *is* a legitimate language, and you have a real puzzle on your hands.
   
   Since so little has been gleaned from the manuscript itself, the authors take the reader on a tour through Medieval scholarship, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, religious history and cryptology (since many have speculated it could be in some kind of code). The lives of several of the proposed authors are studied, along with many people who may have had a hand in preserving it. Thus the book is about a lot more than the manuscript itself, and indulges in many fascinating digressions along the way.
   
   In the end, the riddle remains unsolved. The Voynich is probably a minor alchemical text of no particular import, perhaps the last surviving text in this language after the Crusades destroyed nearly 80% of the world's non-Christian libraries. For a fascinating glimpse into the superstitious Medieval world and the learning lost through subsequent winnowing by rampaging zealots, this book offers an excellent read.



3. The Voynich manuscript remains one of the most puzzling artifacts handed down to us from antiquity. It is in an unknown language, using an unknown script, and not so much as a word has been successfully translated (though many have tried). It is filled with whimsical illustrations of plants that cannot be identified, stars that do not exist, and astrological diagrams unlike anything seen elsewhere. It is also filled with drawings of naked women cavorting in vessels of green liquid for purposes which cannot be fathomed. The author is unknown, the date is unknown (although figured to be between 1250-1450), and how the manuscript came to be preserved for the past 650 years is also a mystery.
   
   It has been suggested by some researchers, and the authors of this book tentatively agree, that the whole thing might be an elaborate Medieval fake. Yet the sheer magnitude of it -- 272 pages, 211 illustrations, 170,000 characters, all carefully arranged and consistently produced -- would seem to argue against that. Add to that the statistical analysis of the text, which indicates that it probably *is* a legitimate language, and you have a real puzzle on your hands.
   
   Since so little has been gleaned from the manuscript itself, the authors take the reader on a tour through Medieval scholarship, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, religious history and cryptology (since many have speculated it could be in some kind of code). The lives of several of the proposed authors are studied, along with many people who may have had a hand in preserving it. Thus the book is about a lot more than the manuscript itself, and indulges in many fascinating digressions along the way.
   
   In the end, the riddle remains unsolved. The Voynich is probably a minor alchemical text of no particular import, perhaps the last surviving text in this language after the Crusades destroyed nearly 80% of the world's non-Christian libraries. For a fascinating glimpse into the superstitious Medieval world and the learning lost through subsequent winnowing by rampaging zealots, this book offers an excellent read.



4. This book is a very interesting read for persons of a certain education. Not easily understood by many readers.



5. I was very excited to read this book, as I very much enjoy learning the path of mysterious texts. This book presents many possibilities for the origins of the codex. I personally don't have patience to cipher the many options the authors gave in cracking the text, but I appreciated the layers of work they put into presenting them. Also, I was pleased that they did not shy away from esoteric possibilities. The description of it being a written account of glossolalia was particularly interesting. All the same, this book is more about the figures around the manuscript. Whatever you come away believing about the source of the text, it's path has been colorfully impressive.

2 comments about Greetings from Ocean Grove, New Jersey.

1. Ocean Grove is a mixture of traditions and enjoyment. "Greetings..." provides significant glimpses of the Grove's past, and essentially binds them with today's Ocean Grove experience. The third graphic book about Ocean Grove, this is the best. Unfortunately, a number of images had been incorporated into previous volumns...causing me to think some images were withheld that could otherwise have made it to the pages of "Greetings..." Well known fire apparatus photographer and historian Wm.N.Schwartz's work is represented herein, but no credit given his photos. This is a must for all who care about Ocean Grove and its history, but certainly lends itself to all seeking the nostalgia of time gone by.



2. Wonderful book beautifully put together by Chris Flynn. For fans of Ocean Grove, NJ, you will love it. I spent my childhood there, and it was just great looking at all the postcard and photo memories. Highly recommend it for Ocean Grove "fanatics".

1 comments about Celebration of Miracles.

1. Celebration of miracles is a book surely made from the heart of true and heart-shattering stories. I would reccomend it to anyone.

No comments about A Book of Booksellers: Conversations With the Antiquarian Book Trade, 1991-2003.

1 comments about Medieval Rural Life in the Luttrell Psalter (Medieval Life in Manuscripts).

1. A lovely book with large color photos of some of the pages of the original Luttrell Psalter. Wonderful representation of rural life in the 13th century. My only quibble is that some of the nicer larger images stradle two pages which means that some of the details are lost in the gap between the pages.

2 comments about Comics Values Annual 2006: The Comic Book Price Guide (Comics Values Annual).

1. Comics Values Annual 2006 is Krause Publications, publishers of the long-running Comic Buyer's Guide. I've been a big fan of KP's comic price guides as a great alternative to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide. My main problem with Overstreet is the endless pages of ads you get in each new edition that grows longer each year. I don't need 150 pages of dealer ads and with eBay, who really needs these dealers anyway? I just want prices and information which is what Comics Values Annual 2006 delivers in a no-frills package.
   
   This edition gives a brief overview of the industry, a grading guide, and features an interview with Ghost Rider artist Mark Texeira, before getting right to the guide and prices. The CV Annual is very different from the Overstreet in its layout, Rather than simply list each title alphabetically, this guide lists titles alphabetically by MAJOR publisher beginning with DC and then continuing with Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, Classics Illustrated, and then tossing in miscellaneous Golden Age titles, Misc. B & W, titles, and misc. color titles from modern publishers like Valiant, Gold Key, Gladstone, Malibu, etc...Now this may not be to every collector's liking as we've been conditioned to one type of delivery, but I personally like it. I mean it's still a Marvel and DC world to most collectors, especially in regards to Silver and Golden Age books so why have to thumb through all the junk no one's interested in when Marvel and DC have their own sections.
   
   The editors have obviously ordered the book by importance with the DC and Marvel sections first, followed by the miscellaneous Golden Age titles, followed by the Dark Horse and Image sections before the final misc. section with Classics Illustrated bringing up the rear. The other major difference is that the Comic Values Annual lists each issue (almost) separately, rather than just a span of issues. This allows the book to list important information for each issue such as the initials of a noted artist or writer, the story title, special character appearances, etc...
   
   If I had to say the one huge advantage that the Comics Values Annual 2006 has over the Overstreet guide its that it is more user-friendly. The Guide lists only a NM value for each book but the grading guide in the back of the book easily allows you to figure out prices for any grade of comic. In all there are over 94,000 comics listed. Krause keeps putting out great comic book price guides and they have become my book of choice and I've been a collector for over thirty years!
   
   Reviewed by Tim Janson



2. Receiving my copy of this book is always a good day. The book has real (not articificially inflated) prices of actively-traded comics, as well as credible insights into the marketplace and readable interviews with industry pros. I highly recommend it.
   
   The Perfessor

1 comments about Practice to Deceive: The Incredible Story of Literary Forgery's Most Notorious Practitioners.

1. Convoluted stories of master criminals whose devious and clever schemes hoodwinked people for centuries. Sounds like a good plot for a novel, but it also accurately describes those 'stranger than fiction' types of stories to be found in Rosenblum's book.

   Focusing on literary forgeries, he enlightens us to both the motives and the methods used by nine talented if devious men: George Psalamanzar, James Macpherson, Thomas Chatterton, Willim-Henry Ireland, John Payne Collier, George Gordon Byron, Vrain-Denis Lucas, Thomas James Wiese and Mark William Hoffman. While Rosenblum acknowledges that most of them worked for financial gain, the other complicated motives, fooling colleagues with whom they had grudges, manufacturing evidence to support a critical thesis, and just seeing if it could be done, make for interesting reading. I was especially fascinated with the first story in the book as George Psalamanzar manufactured 'information' about China and Formosa at t time when little actual information was available in Europe.

   As a Sinologist by training, I have been much fascinated by early travel accounts of Europeans in the far East whose worldviews limited them interpreting the evidence before them in very peculiar ways.like the British who compared the 'red Indian's' to the Irish in the 18th and 19th centuries. George must have seem just as valid to his readers and auditors as many of those actual travelers, even though he had never left England. Rosenblum's introduction places these rogues in the context of other famous forgers, "From Antiquity to 1700", and reminds us that the current, financially-motivated reasons for forgery are time-bound. We think of literature too much as a financial property to really understand historical views of this activity such as 1) that it takes a great deal of talent to forge Shakespearean dramas such as did Ireland and Collier or to forge something in Ancient Greek or Latin that will be convincing to educated scholars. 2) That for many eras and civilizations plagiarism and forgery were considered a kind of compliment and the literary text was not separated from history, philosophy and other 'belles lettres' until very recently in the history of civilization.

   While entertaining to read, then, Rosenblum's book is also extremely interesting and full of insights on the nature of authentication and the literary text. It should be required reading in library schools and graduate literary programs, and, I think, would be more useful and educational than many of the critical works that make up reading lists for MA's and Ph.D.s in our universities.

   Jan Bogstad, Reviewer