“There were only two people to make free of the Company this morning; Peter Blayney who wrote the two volume work The Stationers’ Company and the Printers of London, 1501-1557 and who had travelled all the way from Canada with his wife Leslie Thomson for the Freedom Ceremony … Peter Blayney will be matching his research trips to the UK with events at the Hall and has managed to make this one cover his Freedom Ceremony and the Archive Evening next week.” You can read more here.

“Those Who Write for Immortality is part of a larger genre of literary criticism. It’s sometimes called book history, or (if we’re being formal) the history of the book. Sometimes, book history focusses on the physical aspects of reading. Often, though, the history of the book is actually the history of the people who work with books—publishers, editors, reviewers, booksellers, librarians, and so on. Literary fame, Jackson writes, is not a disembodied process; it’s created by people who, sometimes without knowing it, coöperate across time in a vast reputational enterprise.” You can read more here (New Yorker) and here (Times Higher Education).

“From turning points in pre-Nazi Germany and the rise of eugenics in Bolshevik Russia, to traces of libel and sedition in 18th-century British literature, three promising humanities projects at the University of Toronto are getting a boost from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. James Retallack of the Department of History, Nikolai Krementsov of the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology, and Thomas Keymer of the Department of English were among 175 scholars, artists and scientists from across the United States and Canada recently named fellows of the foundation, chosen from over 3,100 applicants.” You can read more here.

“At a time when universities are attempting to respond to the demand for ‘job-ready’ graduates with statistics proving their alumni’s skills, one university has gladly chosen a humanities teacher and learner as its new president. William Robins, a Chaucer expert whose research has focused on the development of medieval literature from popular story-telling to high art, will become the president of Victoria University in the University of Toronto.” You can read more here.

“I am staring into the eyes of Harry Houdini. Here he stands, taller than me, with arms casually folded. I move closer to determine the colour of his irises. Our faces are just centimetres apart. Then it happens: he blinks.” You can read more here.

“In a city as massive and concentrated as Toronto, people find themselves bombarded with typography at every turn. From the innumerable books students are expected to read for class to the billboards and advertisements that cover Yonge Street, typography is inescapable. It’s no surprise, then, that many are interested in the process of letterpress. There are numerous presses spanning the city that offer a variety of services for education in the art of letterpress.” You can read more here.

“As Canada comes closer to its sesquicentennial in 2017, what kinds of stories and memorializations of the nation’s past will take centre stage? And what role does religion play in these projects of public memory when today’s public is made up of people from many different countries, cultures and religions?” You can read more here.

“As a newly minted citizen, Thomas Keymer takes pleasure in the Canadian symbolism on view from his University College office windows: birch trees, Convocation Hall and the CN Tower.” You can read more here.

“The 23rd annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading & Publishing (SHARP) will be held in Longueuil/Montreal (Canada), Tuesday, 7 July, to Friday, 10 July 2015. Hosted by the Groupe de recherches et d’études sur le livre au Québec, the University of Sherbrooke, McGill University and the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, SHARP 2015 is a bilingual event. The program will include lectures, keynote addresses, a digital projects showcase, roundtables, lightning papers presented by doctoral students, a poster exhibition featuring the work of master’s students, as well as workshops and excursions.” You can find out more here.