THAT HAUNTED LIBRARY

Fascinated by the story of the hidden chamber that has been located in Belvedere House, the National Library of India, I have been impatiently awaiting news from the Archaeological Survey of India, which is cautiously opening a peephole.

The mystery of what is hidden inside the chamber -- skeletons?  a trove of treasure? -- is still unsolved.  There is also the mystery of its reputation of being haunted.  How did this come about?

It is longstanding, or so I find from IndiaMike's blog.

"The footsteps of the Governor's wife can still be heard," a student researcher told him.

A taxi-driver waxed garrulous on the subject.  The security staff keep on changing their shifts, he claimed, as they don't like to keep post at night.  They haven't complained, however, because they are afraid of losing their jobs.

Apparently some workers have been killed during the building of a new edifice on site, adding their ghosts to the legend.

Librarians staunchly deny that Belvedere House is haunted.  They apparently haven't said anything about the secret room, either.

NYT BOOK REVIEWERS LIST THEIR FAVORITES

The New York Times posted lists of top ten books from their individual book critics, along with the NYTBR's list of 100 notable books:

From Michiko Kakutani:

Nonfiction

LIFE by Keith Richards with James Fox

CLEOPATRA: A LIFE by Stacy Schiff

LETTERS by Saul Bellow. Edited by Benjamin Taylor

FRANK: THE VOICE by James Kaplan

CRISIS ECONOMICS: A CRASH COURSE IN THE FUTURE OF FINANCE by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm

YOU ARE NOT A GADGET: A MANIFESTO by Jaron Lanier



Fiction

SUPER SAD TRUE LOVE STORY by Gary Shteyngart

FREEDOM by Jonathan Franzen

THE LOST BOOKS OF THE ODYSSEY by Zachary Mason

THE THOUSAND AUTUMNS OF JACOB DE ZOET by David Mitchell



From Janet Maslin:

Nonfiction

JUST KIDS by Patti Smith

A GREAT UNRECORDED HISTORY: A NEW LIFE OF E. M. FORSTER by Wendy Moffat

FIFTH AVENUE, 5. A.M.: AUDREY HEPBURN, BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, AND THE DAWN OF THE MODERN WOMAN by Sam Wasson

THE WARMTH OF OTHER SUNS: THE EPIC STORY OF AMERICA'S GREAT MIGRATION by Isabel Wilkerson

THE DEATH OF AMERICAN VIRTUE: CLINTON VS. STARR by Ken Gormley



Fiction

THE IMPERFECTIONISTS by Tom Rachman

SAVAGES by Don Winslow

FAITHFUL PLACE by Tana French

61 HOURS by Lee Child

MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson



From Dwight Garner:

Poetry

THE BEST OF IT: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Kay Ryan



Nonfiction

HITCH-22: A MEMOIR by Christopher Hitchens

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS by Rebecca Skloot

SIMON WIESENTHAL: THE LIFE AND LEGENDS by Tom Segev

MOURNING DIARY by Roland Barthes

THE LAST HERO: A LIFE OF HENRY AARON by Howard Bryant

I.O.U.: WHY EVERYONE OWES EVERYONE AND NO ONE CAN PAY by John Lanchester

THE POSSESSED: ADVENTURES WITH RUSSIAN BOOKS AND THE PEOPLE WHO READ THEM by Elif Batuman

OPERATION MINCEMEAT: HOW A DEAD MAN AND A BIZARRE PLAN FOOLED THE NAZIS AND ASSURED AN ALLIED VICTORY by Ben Macintyre

PARISIANS: AN ADVENTURE HISTORY OF PARIS by Graham Robb.

Amazing Christmas story revealed in a suitcase of letters

Photograph by Bradley E Clift

A Yuletide Gift of Kindness

The Smithson Magazine (link embedded above) carries a heartwarming story by Ted Gup, who learned the truth behind a 75-year-old mystery when his mother took him up to her attic in Kennebunk, Maine, and gave him an old suitcase full of letters.

Back in 1933, when the Great Depression clutched the western world in its chilly grip, a mysterious "B. Virdot" placed an advert. in the Canton Repository, inviting those who were down on their luck to write him a letter.  "B.Virdot," the notice advised, was not a real name, but the nom-de-plume of someone who was willing to help.

Letters poured in, in their hundreds, and five-dollar checks were sent out to the 150 most beleaguered families.  Five dollars was a small fortune at the time, more money than most people had seen in months.  Unsurprisingly, the story became widely known, but while the generosity of "B.Virdot" was lauded, his identity remained anonymous.

And so it seemed destined to remain -- until the day Ted Gup was handed the suitcase of letters.  They were the original letters written in response to the newspaper advertisement, all dated December 1933, and addressed to B. Virdot.

B. Virdot was Ted Gup's grandfather, Sam Stone.  He had gone to his grave thirty years before, content to take the secret of his generosity with him.

Eighty-five-year-old is the third woman to win Cervantes Prize

The BBC reports that Spanish novelist Ana Maria Matute (pictured) has won the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honor.

Unsurprisingly, Mutute confessed that she is "enormously happy" to win the prestigious prize, along with the 125,000-euro purse.

I take it as a recognition, if not of the quality of my work, then at least of the effort and dedication that I have devoted to writing throughout my life," she added.

Three of her most popular novels, Los Abel, Los Soldados Lloran de Noche, and La Trampa, portray the era and atmosphere of the Spanish Civil War.

She is only the third woman to win the award since it was created in 1975.

The perfect Christmas gift for collectors

The Guardian newspaper has an intriguing item of interest to all book collectors.  Though not a likely wedding gift for Kate and Wills (assuming they are bibliophiles), the so-called "Wicked Bible" would merit pride of place on many a millionaire's bookshelf.

It was a printer's error ... or maybe not.

Back in 1631, Barker and Lucas, the royal printers, published a Bible with one of the most famous misprints (if it is that) in the whole of literature.

We all know the Ten Commandments, right?  (Don't all speak at once.)  In case you don't remember, you can find these rules in Exodus 20:14.  In Barker and Lucas's edition, Number Seven, which should scold one about sinning out of wedlock, reads, "Thou shalt commit adultery."  (My italics.)

Was it the work of some errant apprentice?  Or did Barker and/or Lucas feel like justifying some extramural fling?  Who knows?  What is on record is that the Bishop of London noticed and was deeply offended.  He immediately passed on the nasty news to the king, Charles I, who summoned the errant printers to the Star Chamber, fined them 300 quid, and revoked their licence.  (Pity it wasn't Charles II, who would have found it funny.)

Worse still, it put the whole of printer-hood into bad repute.  The Archbishop of Canterbury blamed it on shoddy standards. "I knew the tyme when great care was had about printing, the Bibles especially, good compositors and the best correctors were gotten being grave and learned men, the paper and the letter rare, and faire every way of the beste, but now the paper is nought, the composers boyes, and the correctors unlearned," he opined.

Naturally, the book became widely and popularly known as the Wicked Bible.  It was the kind of publicity modern publishers can only dream about.  The whole print run of 1,000 copies was supposed to be destroyed, but naturally some survived.  There are 11 Wicked Bibles officially in existence, but there are probably more.

So it is perfectly possible to find one -- but be prepared to shell out at least fifty thousand pounds, or the equivalent (about 90,000) in hard-earned greenbacks.

Finished copies of TUPAIA arrive

To my astonishment, my copies of the Praeger hardback of Tupaia, Captain Cook's Polynesian Navigator arrived this morning.  I hadn't expected them before the end of the year! 

Meantime, it looks terrific.  Beautifully designed and produced.  I'm sure Tupaia himself would be both surprised and pleased.

Department merger seen as threat to democracy in New Zealand

Veteran archivists Ray Grover and Kathryn Patterson have published an op-ed in the Dominion Post of Wellington, arguing that Government moves to subsume Archives New Zealand into the Dept of Internal Affairs threaten the basis of a healthy democracy.

As they go on to say, Accountability is a cornerstone of a working democracy, where politicians and officials are held responsible for their actions.  But for this accountability to be possible the nation's memory must be reliable, intact and available. There must be an impartial public record of decisions and the implementation of policies by government that is safe from interference.

This is what the independence of the Archives of New Zealand guaranteed.

Now, the situation is going to change.

Before Christmas the State Sector Management Bill is expected to return to the House for its second reading. Once this Bill is passed, after 1February 2011, preservation of the public record in New Zealand will have more in common with Third World states than Western-style democracies.

As the two writers go on to demonstrate, this is a worryingly retrograde step.

BOOK TRAILER FOR TUPAIA

Amazing techno-wizard and OldSaltBlogger Rick Spilman has been working on a book trailer for Tupaia.   Here is the brilliant result:

THE COMMISSIONER AND THE ARCHIVES

Archives faces the axe

Archives! The very word is redolent of dust and decay. Of pale-faced historians poring over faded documents as they fine-tune their latest theses. Human Rights Commissioner Jeremy Pope considers the effect of a bill to merge the New Zealand National Archives with the Department of Internal Affairs.

National Archives! The place where discarded government files go to die and receive a prolonged burial. Such, at least, is a widespread public perception. Unfortunately there seem to be those in positions of influence who share this view.

Unfortunately, because National Archives are very much more than a mere filing system. Yes, it has more documents than we could ever imagine, but the Chief Archivist is very much more than a grandiose filing clerk. Rather he or she has a role as an independent watchdog, presiding over the destruction of government records as well as the systems by which government departments store them. In a word, the Chief Archivist preserves the collective governmental memory, and in so doing protects us all.

If records are a shambles, Official Information Act requests cannot be met. If they can be destroyed willy-nilly by officials, misdeeds can be covered up and citizens can lose any chance of being able to sustain claims arising from breaches of their rights, human and otherwise. If members of the Executive have influence over what can, and what cannot, be kept, citizens generally are all at risk.

An effective Archives system, too, acts as a protection against corruption. Not for nothing has Transparency International accorded us the status of being the world¹s least corrupt country. Look at those less well regarded and you will see, universally, accountability systems in which effective government record-keeping is deficient. Archives New Zealand is a pillar of our national integrity system and of our constitution.

This is why there is considerable unease about a Bill now before parliament. True, this unease is mainly among historians and those few who are knowledgeable about Archives matters. It is, however, an unease that should be felt by us all.

Read on.

That New Zealand National Library and Archives New Zealand issue ...

Both the Labour Party and the Green Party think that amalgamating the National Library (together with the iconic Alexander Turnbull Library) and Archives New Zealand into the Department of Internal Affairs is a terrible idea.

The Government in March announced the two bodies would be integrated into the Department of Internal Affairs to save between $3 million and $9m, and assured critics the independence of their statutory roles would be protected.

Labour MP Grant Robertson strongly disagrees, saying it will undermine the independence and influence of both the Library and the Archives.

"The result of the bill will see the chief archivist and national librarian as third tier-managers who are not part of the leadership team at (the Department of Internal Affairs), with no guaranteed access to ministers," he says.

"All of this is being done for limited savings. The Government was not able to tell the select committee how much would be saved, or offer any real justification for the merger," he said.

"Labour will continue to oppose these aspects of the bill."
The Green Party said the change could have a disastrous effect on both the National Library and Archives NZ.
"We share some submitters' concerns that this process has been driven out of an ideological motivation to reduce the number of governmental departments rather than a desire for good archival or library outcomes," the party said.
"Sharing technology and digitisation, bureaucratic efficiencies and cost savings were presented as arguments in favour of proceeding with this bill.

"No evidence or robust analysis why this particular and very disruptive structural solution was needed to achieve essentially financial and technological policy aims was presented.
"The Green Party believes this is a retrograde step."