Devin Fitzgerald, bibliothot

I was not made for capitalism, I was made for Sunday morning coffee and reading a little book, as the California autumn sun hits the cactus in the front yard.

I read about these historical salons full of poets and intellect, and they seem so amazing. And in my real life, full of poets and intellect, I'm like "can you all just go home? Or maybe talk a bit less?" I don't care how influential you are, you are probably still annoying.

Sort of wild how enslaved people really were in many of the Iberian and Latin American presses. Include the Antebellum US, Goa, Manila, even the Jesuit press in Japan. That puts slavery at the center of multiple national book histories.

I really wish people would get out of the national historiographies more often.

So here's data from the recent monograph "La alhaja más preciosa: Historia de la Biblioteca de la Real Universidad de México (1761-1815)" (second prize for Breslauer) and the earlier data from UST (only up to 1700). Just to give you some big views of colonial holdings and their places of origin.

One nice thing is that when you look at data through the 18th century, that's when Iberian books explode in number. Basically a Bourbon phenomenon.

So here's data from the recent monograph "La alhaja más preciosa: Historia de la Biblioteca de la Real Universidad de México (1761-1815)" (second prize for Breslauer) and the earlier data from UST (only up to 1700). Just to give you some big views of colonial holdings and their places of origin.

So here's data from the recent monograph "La alhaja más preciosa: Historia de la Biblioteca de la Real Universidad de México (1761-1815)" (second prize for Breslauer) and the earlier data from UST (only up to 1700). Just to give you some big views of colonial holdings and their places of origin.

Every library is being consumed by a nihilistic obsession with backlog and it is merely the hubris of man to think we should keep up with the amount of material needing saving = automatic and immediate discoverablity

Does it suck that many of say, our Islamic manuscripts were never described? Sure. But it sucks a lot more that institutions across the country have decided to stop collecting to "assess backlogs" at the precise moment we also decided to diversify collecting practices.

For those following along, the scholar who seems to have put the most together - from Lyon to Medina del Campo to New Spain is Natalia Maillard-Álvarez (a number of good articles and chapters). The Philippines is does not appear in her work (that I can see).

I've written and presented a bit on (2) - something I call the global Sammelband - and now I think it will be interesting to zoom between the micro and the macro. Of course, there are huge missing pieces - i.e. the complete absence of remaining Chinese collections in the Philippines.

For those following along, the scholar who seems to have put the most together - from Lyon to Medina del Campo to New Spain is Natalia Maillard-Álvarez (a number of good articles and chapters). The Philippines is does not appear in her work (that I can see).

I've worked through probably 20 articles and 2 books this week, in French, Spanish, and English, and so now have a better handle on what's going on. Thanks especially to @lankian.bsky.social @pedrorueda.bsky.social and @rmourr.bsky.social for putting me on the right bibliographical tracks.

At the airport to go to MA to sit in @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social house for a week to try, for the love of god, to get any writing done. Taking time off to have time to get work done is peak silly.

My brain is already melting with doing work on holdings in Manila. Here is a chart with places of publication for 16th century books. I have some major news for you about the reading habits of Iberian colonial worlds.

You all may enjoy me earning some brian damage. I believe Andy Kong punched an entire language out of my head during my boxing debut. (I thought it would be funny to be a boxing rare book librarian, and I did about as well as the title implies)