New Books in Biography & Memoir15 Apr 2019

Margaret Leslie Davis , "The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey" (TarcherPerigee, 2019)

Of the millions of books that have been published, few are as renowned or as coveted today by collectors as the famous Bible printed in the 15th century by Johannes Gutenberg. In The Lost Gutenberg: The Astounding Story of One Book's Five-Hundred-Year Odyssey (TarcherPerigee, 2019), Margaret Leslie Davis traces the journey of one copy of this book – known as Number 45 – over the course of two centuries as it changed hands through a succession of owners. As Davis explains, at the start of the 19th-century Gutenberg Bibles were not as highly prized by the growing market of rare book collectors, which allowed Archibald Acheson, the third earl of Gosford, to acquire Number 45 for a relatively small sum in 1836. By the time it was sold nearly a half-century later, however, its status had skyrocketed and with it the price it commanded. After a succession of British owners, Davis describes the book’s acquisition in 1950 by the American heiress Estelle Doheny, which brought Number 45 across the Atlantic Ocean and into the hands of the only woman known to own a copy. Though the book was donated to a Catholic seminary upon her death along with the rest of her collection, its sale in 1987 to a Japanese publisher led to a second transoceanic journey that brought it to Japan. There Number 45 became the first Gutenberg accessible to millions as its pages were subsequently photographed and the images posted on the Internet for anyone online to see. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(2039)

Emile Chabal, "The Age of Hobsbawm: The Life of a Revolutionary Historian" (Harvard UP, 2026)

Eric Hobsbawm (1917–2012) was one of the foremost European intellectuals of the twentieth century. He published hundreds of articles on modern history and culture, and his books became canonical wo...

21 Aug 1h 33min

Andrew Fisher, "Nathan Straus: From Macy's Magnate to International Humanitarian" (Rutgers UP, 2026)

In New York City in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centauries, Nathan Straus was famous as a co-owner of the Macy’s and Abraham and Straus department stores. He was also a leading Zionist and...

21 Aug 43min

Sandip Roy, "Chapal Rani, the Last Queen of Bengal" (Seagull Books, 2026)

Chapal Rani was one of India’s most famous performers of jatra, Bengal’s popular theater. Traditionally, all the roles, including female roles, were played by men—and Chapal Rani was perhaps the most ...

20 Aug 43min

Happy to Help: Adventures of a People Pleaser

As a big sister, Girl Scout, personal assistant, sitcom sidekick, and, finally, mother of three, Amy believed it was her destiny to be a people pleaser. She learned to put others first and to look lik...

20 Aug 43min

Edward E. Andrews, "Newport Gardner's Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Early America" (Cornell UP, 2025)

Newport Gardner's Anthem: A Story of Slavery, Struggle, and Survival in Early America (Cornell UP, 2025) explores the remarkable life of Occramer Marycoo, an enslaved African who went on to become one...

17 Aug 47min

Scott Peeples, "How Many Roads: A Life of Bob Dylan" (Reaktion, 2026)

Scott Peeple's How Many Roads: A Life of Bob Dylan (Reaktion, 2026) chronicles Bob Dylan’s rise from apprenticeships in Minneapolis cafés and Greenwich Village folk clubs to international stardom as a...

17 Aug 1h 3min

Shimon Redlich, "Bridge Builder: My Life Since the Holocaust" (Academic Studies Press, 2026)

How do you build bridges after living through one of history's greatest ruptures? In this episode, Rabbi Marc Katz sits down with historian Shimon Redlich to discuss his memoir Bridge Builder: My Life...

16 Aug 43min

Echoes of Incense on the Shikoku Pilgrimage with Don Weiss

Amy Chavez talks to Don Weiss, currently mid-way through the Shikoku Pilgrimage — Japan's 1,300 km Buddhist route that has been walked for almost as many years. Pilgrims share their journey with Kobo...

16 Aug 35min