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Qatar Tribune
12 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Qatar Tribune
NU-Q Media Majlis to explore meme culture in ‘Memememememe' expo
Tribune News Network Doha The Media Majlis Museum at Northwestern University in Qatar (NU-Q) will open its 10th exhibition, 'Memememememe', on September 1, running tillDecember 4. Curated by Jack Thomas Taylor, curator of art, media and technology, with Assistant Curator Amal Zeyad Ali, the exhibition investigates how digital memes serve as cultural barometers, emotional shorthand, and vehicles for political commentary that influence contemporary consciousness. Organised around four themes—Mass, Length, Time, and Volume—it explores how memes spread, mutate, and act as measures of collective thought. 'As a university museum integrated in NU-Q's academic mission, the Media Majlis Museum blends scholarship, art, and media to make a fuller sense of the world we live in,' said Marwan M Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar. 'Memememememe takes something we encounter every day—memes—and asks us to look deeper at how they shape the way we think, connect, and communicate. It's a critical conversation about digital culture that bridges global and regional voices, and one that expands our understanding of the forces shaping the digital world.' The exhibition transforms the familiar setting of a laundromat into a metaphor for how memes circulate through endless digital cycles, gradually shedding their original meaning in pursuit of virality. Featuring established and emerging artists from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, and beyond, it prompts reflection on the fragility of meaning in the digital age. Anchoring the show is Dutch artist Jeroen van Loon's Permanent Data (2020), a 12-kilometre fibre-optic cable imprinted with the entire Gutenberg Bible and thousands of YouTube comments on data loss and digital decay. The work meditates on what, if anything, truly survives in the churn of digital preservation. Also featured is The Last Jedi (2013) by Saudi artist Abdullah Al Jahdhami, which highlights how memes transcend their fleeting digital origins to gain cultural significance. In Sarcastic Willy Wonka (2020), American artist Christine Tien Wang reimagines a viral meme as a monumental acrylic painting, exploring the tension between internet ephemera and enduring art. Internet art duo Eva and Franco Mattes present Roomba Cat (2023), a playful yet poignant commentary on blurred boundaries between emotional attachment and technological dependence. 'Memememememe invites visitors to rethink what we consider meaningful communication,' said Taylor. 'Memes are cultural signals shaped by geography, language, politics, trauma, joy, and shared experience. They aren't just entertainment; they're evidence of how we connect, critique, and construct identity in the digital age.' Newly commissioned works by Alia Leonardi, Andreas Refsgaard, Anne Horel, Eman Makki, Mauro C. Martinez, Orkhan Mammadov, and Seo Hyojung address themes from digital devotion to the fragility of data preservation. Together, they interrogate how memes function as ideological tools—shared, remixed, and repurposed to communicate, amplify dissent, mock authority, and influence identity, self-reflection, and collective consciousness. 'By bringing memes into a museum setting, we're asking who gets to shape culture and how ideas ripple through our digital lives,' said Ali. 'The exhibition challenges visitors to slow down and examine the hidden mechanics of memes, revealing how they spread, stick, or slip away.' Memememememe will be open Sunday to Thursday, 10am to 8pm, at the Museum's exhibition space on NU-Q's campus in Education City.
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Most expensive first-edition children's books in 2025
Could there be hidden gold amongst your bookshelves, or the pile propping up a door in your home? Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... That quick cleaning of the loft or the garage over the August Bank Holiday weekend might be more bountiful than you think. A number of 'true' first edition classics are still earning huge sums through online marketplaces, with some commanding five-digit sums. So what are the 10 most valuable first edition books, and what are those average asking prices people are asking for, and others are willing to pay? We've looked at vinyl, cassettes, CDs, weird pieces of music memorabilia, including a Spice Girls-affiliated scooter, but for bibliophiles waiting for their turn, today is that day. The huge values that first edition books fetch at auction houses very much rival, if not surpass, those of their twelve-inch counterparts. While we've seen through Discogs several records fetch well over sums of £2000 or more, it pales in comparison to how much some 'true' first editions have sold for. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book printed with movable type in the West. Complete copies are rarely sold, but a single volume once sold for over $2 million, with complete copies estimated to be worth over $35 million. However, we're aware not everyone has a copy of that or da Vinci's The Codex Leicester, but how about some Lewis Carroll or Margery Williams instead? From Jane Austen to Jules Verne and J.R.R. Tolkien; what are some of the most valuable first-edition books sitting on bookshelves in 2025? | Getty Images/Canva Homeprotect conducted a study to identify the most valuable first-edition listings of classic children's books that, if sold, could earn you extra money amid the cost-of-living crisis, and potentially be put towards something like, oh, say some lucrative vinyl once again? The science part (Methodology) The study investigated the value of first-edition children's books by analysing a sample of 66 titles. The sample was created by selecting the first 59 books from the Penguin 'Top 100 Children's Books' list and adding seven children's classics from a prior 2019 study. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Prices were determined by searching for first-edition copies on AbeBooks, an online marketplace for rare and out-of-print books. For each title, the first five most recently listed first-edition books were recorded. Listings for books in extremely poor condition or those with bespoke author signatures or personal letters were excluded from the analysis. All prices are estimates and do not account for taxes or shipping fees. What are the most expensive first edition books in 2025? Jane Austen's hugely influential and widely adapted Pride and Prejudice takes the top spot, according to the study, with first edition books of the classic selling, on average, for £139,356. The amount, despite the value of the other books, overshadows the other authors based on the scarcity and importance of the work in the literary world - it is almost worth what the next four books in Homeprotect's study. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, released in 1719, comes in second with an average listing price of £39,221, while that is closely followed by The Hobbit (£27,125), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (£20,381) and Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol (£18,735). The most recent book on the list was released in 1947, with an average listing price of £13,335; that would be the haunting Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which not only holds a value due to, again, scarcity and age but also its fundamental place in world history. The 10 most expensive first edition books in 2025 Pride and Prejudice (1813) - Jane Austen - £139,356 Robinson Crusoe (1719) - Daniel Defoe - £39,221 The Hobbit (1937) - J.R.R. Tolkien - £27,125 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) - Lewis Carroll - £20,381 A Christmas Carol (1843) - Charles Dickens - £18,735 The Velveteen Rabbit (1922) - Margery Williams - £16,935 Swallows and Amazons (1930) - Arthur Ransome - £15,133 The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) - Anne Frank - £13,353 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (1870) - Jules Verne - £12,383 Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812) - The Brothers Grimm - £10,008 Get six months of Amazon Prime Student free – then just £4.49 a month (aff) £ 0.00 Buy now Buy now Amazon Prime Student is one of the best-value perks available to anyone in full-time higher education. You get a six-month trial completely free, with all the benefits of Prime - including unlimited one-day delivery, Prime Video, Amazon Music Prime and exclusive student discounts on everything from textbooks to tech. After the trial, you'll pay just £4.49 a month or £47.49 a year for as long as you remain a student. There's no catch and no long-term tie-in - just serious savings when you need them most. Click here to start your free six month Prime Student Trial
Scotsman
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
Most expensive first-edition children's books in 2025
Could there be hidden gold amongst your bookshelves, or the pile propping up a door in your home? Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... That quick cleaning of the loft or the garage over the August Bank Holiday weekend might be more bountiful than you think. A number of 'true' first edition classics are still earning huge sums through online marketplaces, with some commanding five-digit sums. So what are the 10 most valuable first edition books, and what are those average asking prices people are asking for, and others are willing to pay? We've looked at vinyl, cassettes, CDs, weird pieces of music memorabilia, including a Spice Girls-affiliated scooter, but for bibliophiles waiting for their turn, today is that day. The huge values that first edition books fetch at auction houses very much rival, if not surpass, those of their twelve-inch counterparts. While we've seen through Discogs several records fetch well over sums of £2000 or more, it pales in comparison to how much some 'true' first editions have sold for. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Take, for example, the Gutenberg Bible, the first major book printed with movable type in the West. Complete copies are rarely sold, but a single volume once sold for over $2 million, with complete copies estimated to be worth over $35 million. However, we're aware not everyone has a copy of that or da Vinci's The Codex Leicester, but how about some Lewis Carroll or Margery Williams instead? From Jane Austen to Jules Verne and J.R.R. Tolkien; what are some of the most valuable first-edition books sitting on bookshelves in 2025? | Getty Images/Canva Homeprotect conducted a study to identify the most valuable first-edition listings of classic children's books that, if sold, could earn you extra money amid the cost-of-living crisis, and potentially be put towards something like, oh, say some lucrative vinyl once again? The science part (Methodology) The study investigated the value of first-edition children's books by analysing a sample of 66 titles. The sample was created by selecting the first 59 books from the Penguin 'Top 100 Children's Books' list and adding seven children's classics from a prior 2019 study. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Prices were determined by searching for first-edition copies on AbeBooks, an online marketplace for rare and out-of-print books. For each title, the first five most recently listed first-edition books were recorded. Listings for books in extremely poor condition or those with bespoke author signatures or personal letters were excluded from the analysis. All prices are estimates and do not account for taxes or shipping fees. What are the most expensive first edition books in 2025? Jane Austen's hugely influential and widely adapted Pride and Prejudice takes the top spot, according to the study, with first edition books of the classic selling, on average, for £139,356. The amount, despite the value of the other books, overshadows the other authors based on the scarcity and importance of the work in the literary world - it is almost worth what the next four books in Homeprotect's study. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, released in 1719, comes in second with an average listing price of £39,221, while that is closely followed by The Hobbit (£27,125), Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (£20,381) and Dickens' classic A Christmas Carol (£18,735). The most recent book on the list was released in 1947, with an average listing price of £13,335; that would be the haunting Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, which not only holds a value due to, again, scarcity and age but also its fundamental place in world history. The 10 most expensive first edition books in 2025 Pride and Prejudice (1813) - Jane Austen - £139,356 Robinson Crusoe (1719) - Daniel Defoe - £39,221 The Hobbit (1937) - J.R.R. Tolkien - £27,125 Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) - Lewis Carroll - £20,381 A Christmas Carol (1843) - Charles Dickens - £18,735 The Velveteen Rabbit (1922) - Margery Williams - £16,935 Swallows and Amazons (1930) - Arthur Ransome - £15,133 The Diary of a Young Girl (1947) - Anne Frank - £13,353 Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (1870) - Jules Verne - £12,383 Grimm's Fairy Tales (1812) - The Brothers Grimm - £10,008
Wall Street Journal
30-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
‘Noble Fragments' Review: Scripture in Pieces
In 1921 a rare-book dealer in New York acquired a Gutenberg Bible, one of only about four dozen believed to exist at the time. The dealer, the Hungarian émigré Gabriel Wells, disassembled his copy and sold it off in pieces, an act that scholars and book conservators have labeled vandalism, sacrilege and even a tragedy. Wells marketed the individual leaves as 'Noble Fragments,' a phrase the journalist Michael Visontay borrows for the title of his absorbing investigation into the fates of the separated pages. The search was prompted by the author's discovery of yellowed legal documents suggesting a connection between his grandfather and Wells. In his book, Mr. Visontay weaves his family history into an account of Wells's brazen business move. As a child in Australia, Mr. Visontay knew something of his Jewish-Hungarian family's experiences in the Holocaust. His paternal grandfather, Pali, was sent to the Mauthausen concentration camp and survived the war. His father, Ivan, and his paternal grandmother, Sara, were transported to Auschwitz, where Sara was killed. Shortly after the war, Pali married a woman named Olga, who died not long after she, Pali and Ivan emigrated to Australia. While Olga had been erased from the family memory, Mr. Visontay discovered that Wells was her uncle and that she had inherited a share of his estate (but alas, no Gutenberg leaves) upon the bookseller's 1946 death. This windfall enabled the small, battered family to begin anew in Australia.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Magna Carta 'copy' sold for $27 found to be priceless original
A document bought in 1946 for $27.50 has been confirmed as an original royal issuing of Magna Carta potentially worth millions. Harvard Law School purchased the copy in 1946, completely unaware that it was in fact a priceless original. London booksellers Sweet & Maxwell had previously bought the document from First World War flying ace Air Vice-Marshal Forster 'Sammy' Maynard for £42. For context, an issuing of Magna Carta sold at Sotheby's in 2007 commanded a price of some $21 million. READ MORE: Dad slit throats of his kids to prevent their screams after being 'caught red-handed' READ MORE: Where failed Soviet spacecraft hit as it crashed back to Earth after 53 years in space Join the Manchester Evening News WhatsApp group HERE At its cataloguing in 1946 the document was believed to be a copy made in 1327, and described as "somewhat rubbed and damp-stained." Tests were carried out on the document including a comparison of the handwriting and the text, as well as scans using UV light and multi-spectral imaging. These confirmed that it was indeed the real deal, becoming only the 25th original issuing of Magna Carta by an English king known to still exist. For comparison the Gutenberg Bible, one of the most highly sought after books in the world, has 49 copies in existence, while around 235 first folios of Shakespeare are thought to survive. The task to identify the document was undertaken by Professors David Carpenter of King's College London and Nicholas Vincent of the University of East Anglia. 'Harvard's Magna Carta deserves celebration, not as some mere copy, stained and faded, but as an original of one of the most significant documents in world constitutional history, a cornerstone of freedoms past, present and yet to be won,' said Prof Carpenter. Prof Vicent highlighted just how rare the extraordinary document actually is. 'The comparison I would draw is the rarest painter known to everybody is Vermeer,' he said. 'There are I think, it's disputed, there are over 30 Vermeer paintings in existence and yet he is seen as the rarest painter in history. 'There are only now 25 of these Magna Carta originals. It is an extraordinary thing for anyone to possess.' Magna Carta was first signed by King John at Runnymede in 1215 after a years-long war against his own barons. Despite King John, known as "Lackland" due to his territorial losses, trying to walk back on the document just weeks later his son Henry III would reissue it during his own reign. Successive kings would then issue their own hand-copied originals of Magna Carta. The last of these was commissioned by Edward I in 1300, and it's this last original issuing of the charter that the Harvard document was found to be. The version issued by Henry III in 1225 would become the "definitive" text of Magna Carta, a charter which laid out key legal principles that would become foundational to UK law. "Whenever in the 13th Century there was a dispute between the king and the nation, kings reissued Magna Carta on at least three occasions after 1225," said Prof Vincent. This could have been a way for the king to try to placate any unruly barons by reaffirming the crown's commitment to the charter, which limited the crown's power and protected barons' interests. 'This one (Harvard's Magna Carta), the 1300 issue, is the last time it was issued as a single sheet document under the king's seal as an official endorsement of the settlement of Magna Carta, said Prof Vincent. He added: 'Every county of England would originally have had a Magna Carta of each of those issues." As for how the priceless document was mistaken for a later copy, Prof Vincent said: 'I think everyone was knackered at the end of the Second World War. 'I think whoever read it at Sotheby's and looked at it, I suspect what they thought was 'oh it can't be an original Magna Carta because we'd know about it'. 'They misread the date, they got the wrong king. They catalogued it as if it was a charter of Edward III, but in fact it's Edward I. 'For an amateur that's a fairly easy mistake to make."
