Thursday, October 8, 2009

Google Books Project Discovers Rare Librarian's Almanack

A student library assistant working on the Google Books Project at Harvard University Libraries has discovered a rare pamphlet entitled The Old Librarian's Almanack. Steven D. Norman, the student worker, came across the pamphlet while preparing vertical file material for scanning by the University's digital conversion laboratory. The very rare pamphlet was first published in New Haven, Connecticut in 1773. The only other known copy of the pamphlet was discovered in a private library in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1907 by Edmund Lester Pearson (1880-1937). That copy is now in the possession of the Newburyport Antiquarian Society. In 1909, one hundred years ago, the almanack was reprinted by The Elm Tree Press in Woodstock, Vermont as number one of The Librarian's Series edited by John Cotton Dana and Henry W. Kent. The reprint of the almanack had been previously scanned and is already available through Google Books. Noted library historian Wayne A. Wiegand has expressed doubts about the authenticity of the almanack. Please be advised that this post is a hoax about a hoax.

1 comment:

Lake Mills Library said...

Yourself must judge the books to buy
And let the vulgar rabble cry.