Google Introduces Universal Search -- What's the Difference?
- by Michael Stillman
Now when you search Google for "Mona Lisa," you actually find her picture.
By Michael Stillman
Google took a quantum leap forward in its search listings this past month, though it was a stealth leap. One look at Google's very simple search page, virtually unchanged in a decade, makes clear that Google is determined to maintain an image of consistency, even as its world spins forward at a dizzying pace. Nevertheless, the old Google search you have known for years has been replaced by something called "universal search," even if you didn't immediately notice the difference.
What has changed is that Google has integrated several of its separate searches into the main search. So now when you do an internet search on Google, it will also list matches from their videos, images, maps, news, and books. If you didn't think you were getting enough matches before, there will be many more now. Of course many searches were already bringing in millions of matches, and if you try to make your way to the end, you will find that after maybe a thousand, Google won't show you any more anyway. Quantity was never much of an issue. What universal search adds are matches that may (or may not) be more in line with what you want.
For example, if you search for "Mona Lisa," you will now find, at the top of the listings, pictures from Google Images. Prior to May 15, you would not have found these unless you searched Google Images separately. You would only have seen text. A little further down the results, you will find matches from YouTube. Who would have thought YouTube would be ranked with the Louvre website in searches for "Mona Lisa?" Actually, YouTube ranks higher! Our culture is rapidly changing.
You can still search images or videos separately to better target your results. What's odd is that you can't search websites for standard matches alone such as Google previously provided. It's either a niche or all. For most searchers, this is probably a plus, although some may prefer not to have these other types of listings mixed in.
Book collectors can compare the changes to one that has happened in many collections. Think of the old Google search as a collection of books; books, that is, and nothing else. The new Google search is more like a collection that is focused on books, but also includes broadsides, manuscripts, photographs and other forms of ephemera. It is more, though traditionalists may not wish to broaden their horizons. Certainly it adds greatly to the convenience of those who wish to find everything, as what was half a dozen searches are now combined into one.
Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
Sotheby's Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 7: Thomas Fisher, The Negro's Memorial or Abolitionist's Catechism, London, 1825. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 78: Victor H. Green, The Negro Travelers' Green Book, New York, 1958. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 99: Rosa Parks, Hand-written recollection of her first meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., autograph manuscript, Detroit, c. 1990s. $30,000 to $40,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 154: Frederick Douglass, Autograph statement on voting rights, signed manuscript, 1866. $20,000 to $30,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 164: W.E.B. Du Bois, What the Negro Has Done for the United States and Texas, Washington, circa 1936. $3,000 to $4,000.
Swann Printed & Manuscript African Americana March 20, 2025
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 263: Susan Paul, Memoir of James Jackson, Boston, 1835. $6,000 to $9,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 267: Langston Hughes, Gypsy Ballads, signed translation of García Lorca's poetry, Madrid, 1937. $1,500 to $2,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 274: Malcolm X, Collection from Alex Haley's estate, 38 items, 1963-1971. $4,000 to $6,000.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 367: Solomon Northup, Twelve Years a Slave, Auburn, NY, 1853. $2,500 to $3,500.
Swann, Mar. 20: Lot 402: Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice from the South, Xenia, OH, 1892. $2,000 to $3,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: Wit, Frederick de. Atlas. Amsterdam, de Wit, [1680]. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Merian, Maria Sibylla. Der Raupen wunderbare Verwandelung, und sonderbare Blumennahrung. Nürnberg, 1679; Frankfurt a. M. und Leipzig, 1683. CHF 20,000 to 30,000
Koller, Mar. 26: GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. Faust. Ein Fragment. Von Goethe. Ächte Ausgabe. Leipzig, G. J. Göschen, 1790. CHF 7,000 to 10,000
Koller, Mar. 26: Hieronymus. [Das hochwirdig leben der außerwoelten freünde gotes der heiligen altuaeter]. Augsburg, Johann Schönsperger d. Ä., 9. Juni 1497. CHF 40,000 to 60,000.
Koller, Mar. 26: BIBLIA GERMANICA - Neunte deutsche Bibel. Nürnberg, A. Koberger, 17. Feb. 1483. CHF 40,000 to 60,000
Koller, Mar. 26: HORAE B.M.V. - Stundenbuch. Lateinische Handschrift auf Pergament, Kalendarium französisch. Nordfrankreich (Rouen?). CHF 25,000 to 40,000