Author Archives: Simon Beattie

Another oddly-shaped book

Posted on 9 August 2018 by Simon Beattie

Last week, I mentioned the appeal of the oblong format.  (I once had an oblong 12mo in half-sheets, but that’s very nerdy…)  Here’s another which recently caught my eye: We’ve catalogued it as ‘oblong slim folio’, as it measures 260 × … Continue reading →

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Mixed formats

Posted on 2 August 2018 by Simon Beattie

People sometimes ask how I go about looking for books.  Why do I pull off one book in a bookshop rather than another?  I’m not sure I have an immediate answer to this question, but one type of book I … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | Leave a comment

A blind lexicographer

Posted on 18 May 2018 by Simon Beattie

I have long been interested in dictionaries, even before I completed my MA in Lexicography twenty years ago.  One book we shall be exhibiting at the London Rare Book Fair next week is this: It’s a copy of the first … Continue reading →

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The Death Song of the Cherokee Indian

Posted on 11 May 2018 by Simon Beattie

We are currently preparing for the London book fair, and here’s one item we shall be exhibiting.  It’s a volume of manuscript music compiled in the 1820s containing approximately seventy pieces, one of which is ‘The Death Song of the … Continue reading →

Posted in America, Cross-cultural material, Music | Leave a comment

An unrecorded song, from an unrecorded publisher

Posted on 4 May 2018 by Simon Beattie

As I wrote last week, we have been working on a new catalogue, British Music: 200 years of performance, public and private.  It’s been enjoyable putting it together, doing the necessary research, and making some discoveries.  Here’s one: This little … Continue reading →

Posted in Music | 3 Comments

Birthday tunes for a new King

Posted on 27 April 2018 by Simon Beattie

We are currently cataloguing recently-acquired material for a new list, “English Music”.  One book which will feature is this, some birthday minuets for George III.  In fact, it is the first such annual collection published during his reign, apparently known … Continue reading →

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An 18th-century dust-wrapper

Posted on 19 April 2018 by Simon Beattie

A fascinating survival: the plates for the first volume of Georgi’s Beschreibung aller Nationen des Russischen Reichs (4 vols, 1776–80), ‘the first demographic study of the peoples of Russia’ (Howgego I-G36), still loose and yet to be coloured, in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-cultural material, Russia | 2 Comments

An early publisher’s printed endpaper?

Posted on 22 February 2018 by Simon Beattie

As many of you many know, I have an interest in endpapers (unusual or attractive ones, anyway), as my recent piece for the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America, and my creation of the Facebook group We Love Endpapers will show.  … Continue reading →

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‘An artist full of charm and verve’

Posted on 20 December 2017 by Simon Beattie

Apologies for the recent lack of blog posts.  Things have been so busy: exhibiting at the Boston book fair, processing some recently acquired collections, trying to find someone to come and work for me, and preparing for California.  In cataloguing … Continue reading →

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Fun and games in the British Museum Reading Room

Posted on 25 October 2017 by Simon Beattie

I’m just putting together my list for the forthcoming Boston Book Fair, as my books will be leaving early next week.  It’s always nice to be able to show new stock, freshly catalogued, and I shall have quite a bit … Continue reading →

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