Abrams recently announced the forthcoming release of Western Illuminated Manuscripts in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Worldwide 74297), a new collection catalogue published by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, that is due out in September. This three-volume set documents the V&A's collection of illuminated manuscripts that date from the Middle Ages through the 19th century, and includes such works as the St. Denis Missal of 1350 and the Chambord Missal of 1844, the Sanvito Petrarch of 1463-64 and William Morris's Book of Verse of 1870.

Only 350 copies of this publication will be made available for sale in North America through Abrams, and we encourage customers to reserve their copies in advance. Orders can be placed through our Web site; approval plan customers who wish to have the title included in their regular shipments should contact David Fogel.

The V&A has also recently published a collection catalogue on Chinese export ceramics (Worldwide 74240), an exhibition catalogue on contemporary Japanese fashion by Yohji Yamamoto (Worldwide 74249), an exhibition catalogue on oil sketches by John Constable (Worldwide 74014), and the catalogue for an exhibition on masterpieces from its collection of European decorative arts from the 17th and 18th century that opened at the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth (Worldwide 74303). 

Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum

Administered by the Union Académique Internationale in Brussels, the series Corpus Vasorum Antiquorum (CVA) encompasses scores of volumes that have been issued since the first title appeared in the 1920s, with museums in at least 27 countries participating in this ongoing project to comprehensively document their collections of ancient Mediterranean pottery.

Because the volumes are not produced by a single publisher, but are instead published independently by the various museums participating in the project, it has traditionally been somewhat difficult for both booksellers and libraries to monitor release of new volumes. Worldwide has just solicited orders for one of the more recent titles, a 2008 publication documenting the collection of the Nicholson Museum at the University of Sydney (see Worldwide 74178) that was not distributed commercially in North America, and that relatively few American libraries had yet acquired. This is the first volume devoted to an Australian collection.

Worldwide alerted scores of library clients that had previously ordered selected titles in the CVA series from us that we would be placing a bulk order for this Australian title, so that we could accurately assess interest in advance of placing our order with the publisher. By soliciting advance orders for a title that would be very expensive for us to stock, we were able to confidently submit a more sizeable order to the publisher, which helped us to economize significantly on shipping charges. That in turn has enabled us to offer the title at a very competitive price to clients who responded to our offer. This is the sort of special-title alert that we plan to feature in future issues of the newsletter and that we encourage clients to consider.

Although Worldwide continues to accept orders for the Australian volume of the CVA, the cost of restocking in small quantities will likely be higher, and we do not anticipate being able to continue offering the title at the same initial price. 

Worldwide routinely monitors this series and plans to announce new volumes as they come to our attention. If you wish to receive these announcements, or if you would like to submit a series standing order to Worldwide, please contact us.

Since this newsletter is written for you, we are very interested in receiving your feedback. Perhaps you would like to learn more about individual publications, or find out about forthcoming titles that are particularly noteworthy, or that may have very limited print runs. Or you may be curious about the museums and galleries behind the exhibition catalogues. Or maybe you simply wish that we would finally decide on a color scheme for our newsletter. Whatever your thoughts may be, we welcome your feedback. Please e-mail us your comments and suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you.