Member: whiteroseofyork

I did my Italian late medieval/renaissance graduate classes with Dino Geanakoplos and Robert S. Lopez at Yale, but that was thirty years ago. I did a paper on Venetian galley trade with Syria for Lopez, since he was chiefly an economic historian, and a paper on Pico della Mirandola for Geanakoplos. As my primary
interest was medieval English history, I never developed either of them to a publishable stage.
On Amazon, one aspect I like is that I can put in both the author and the title--and sometimes other data -- in one search, which helps narrow down the responses. Some of the scholarly libraries only accept one or the other in one search, at least as far as I have been able to discover. (I have only been cataloging since this summer myself, but I happened to have some free time, so I did about 3000 books. Since classes began in September, I've only done about 400 more,in small batches as time allowed.)

posted by antiquary at 9:54 am (EST) on Dec 21, 2007

Typing error. That should be Italian humanism.

posted by antiquary at 4:59 pm (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

When I was in graduate school, my major area was late medieval English history, but I had a minor area in renaissance humanis, chiefly Italian. On the spread of printing, I read and (at the time) largely agreed with Eisenstein's book on the subject, though I gather from a recent published exchange that her views are now questioned.
On the choice of cataloging data sources, I have found, perhaps because I have a wide range of rather unusual interests, that Amazon is much more likely to have
the relevant data than any single academic source I have tried. Amazon data appears to come largely from its links to used book sellers, so the quality of the entries varies considerably, and I routinely expect to make minor corrections.
On the other hand, it almost always lists at least one edition of any book I want to catalog (though not necessarily the edition I have), whereas the academic sources more often than not simply do not list the books I have.
Being an American, when I do use academic sources I have usually used American ones, notably the Library of Congress, University of California, and Washington (DC) library consortium. When I looked for British sources, I did not see Oxford listed; I included LSE on my list of sources to try, but have not found it very useful. I do not know whether I simply overlooked Oxford, or it had not been added as an option at the time I joined. I have now added it to my list of sources to check, and I thank you for calling it to my attention.

posted by antiquary at 4:56 pm (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

Hello whiteroseofyork
Nice to hear from you,and to hear that you have added me to your 'interesting libraries' list.I am always delighted when someone does this as it shows that over the years I have been doing something right with the way I am putting my collection together.I can tell you that it has taken a long time,but has been a labour of love.I see that you are from Cambridge,which is one of my main sources for book-buying.(see my profile page)
I notice that one of the books on your list is 'Travels in the Scriptorium' by Paul Auster. Sounds intreresting, could you tell me a bit about it please.
Anyway thanks again for contacting me and all the best.

posted by devenish at 2:57 am (EST) on Dec 20, 2007

I gather we share an interest in late medieval English history; though my primary professional specialty is Richard II --a bit early for you-- I have written on material going down to 1485. I also enjoy historical and crime fiction, as I see you do, though I have not yet cataloged my collection of it --I am trying to do my more serious books first.

posted by antiquary at 4:55 pm (EST) on Dec 19, 2007