A friend helpfully pointed out to me the other night that I am, beyond any doubt, the most utterly nerdy example of uncoolness. I recommend this website to you with his words ringing in my ears. BibliOdyssey is without a doubt a nerdy website, but it is also a treasure trove of human accomplishment and imagination that sheds light on some of the dustiest corners of some of the world’s best museums, libraries, and other institutions that have any interest in the somewhat obscure discipline of book arts.
BibliOdyssey, which won a Cliopatria Award in 2005 for the Best New Blog, is a blog whose curator (because that is, indeed, what this person should properly be called), "Peacay," combs the Internet for online book art collections that would, if not highlighted on this blog, go almost entirely unnoticed, or at the very least unappreciated. BibliOdyssey posts pages from books such as artist and naturalist James Sowerby’s Mineral Conchology of Great Britain (1837) or Biblical Ethiopian manuscripts commissioned towards the end of the 1600s by the Emperor Iyasu I Yohannes. With each post on a specific book, Peacay includes at least a few paragraphs giving the book’s history, purpose and cultural context, so that the blog is not just about sharing pretty pictures, but about creating a discussion about those pictures as well. But the pictures sure are pretty, so even if all you want is eye candy, that’s O.K., too.
It’s not all single books, however. Peacay also highlights entire collections that are available online. One of the most recent posts, and one about which Peacay is clearly delighted, is a post announcing the online launch of The British Museum’s prints, drawings and paintings collection. "In my opinion," writes Peacay, "this is the equivalent of the NYPL or the Library of Congress online," and clearly Peacay knows what he’s talking about, so I’ll take him at his word.