Associazione Librai Antiquari d'Italia

3rd Milan International Antiquarian Book Fair, 27-29 March 2015

22 March 2015

For the third time antiquarian booksellers and collectors will meet at the Palazzo Mezzanotte in Milan from Friday 27 March to Sunday 29 March to celebrate the Milan International Antiquarian Book Fair. The fair will be officially opened on Friday 5.30 pm in the presence of the great bibliophile, author and scholar Umberto Eco. Organized by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Italy (ALAI) and supported by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) this high class event will attract bibliophiles, traders, journalists, collectors, intellectuals and many curious to come to Milan and to enjoy three wonderful days of browsing the shelves and exploring the fascinating world of the rare book. All the variety which has been brought up through five centuries of printing will be showcased: from incunabula and milestones of 16th and 17th century printing to modern artists books, from mediaval manuscripts to handwritten letters and documents by famous authors, artists and scientists, from children's books to natural history works to modern first editions to avant-garde.

Aldus Manutius

2015 sees the 500th anniversary of the death of the famous Venetian printer Aldus Manutius. On this occasion Bibliopathos Rare Books presents a catalogue of 500 Aldine editions - indeed a highlight of this year's Milan Book Fair. It is the most extensive collection of Aldine editions ever shown on the rare book market and it offers a unique opportunity to see some of the most important masterpieces of typography of all time: the first appearance of italics, the first Greek grammars, the refined editions of Dante and Petrarch, the editiones principes of Aristotle, Plato, and Aristophanes along with the famous portable Aldine volumes that revolutionized not only the history of printing, but also the history of reading.

And there will be a great deal more about rare books, the rare book trade and reading during the 3rd Milan International Antiquarian Book Fair.

ILAB Pop Up Fairs on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day

On 23 April - the World Book and Copyright Day celebrated worldwide under the auspices of UNESCO - ILAB booksellers will hold Pop Up Fairs all across the world from Sydney to Tokyo to Cape Town, Moscow, London and all the major European capitals to New York, Washington, Chicago, Seattle and Portland at the American west coast. In woolsheds, on central stations, on boats, in museums, libraries, streets, cocktail clubs, brew pubs or even on skyscraper roofs ILAB booksellers will bring the books to the people by popping up on four continents and in every imaginable places, putting a stunning selection of rare books on display and raising money for a UNESCO project to buy books for schools in South Sudan.

ALAI and the Italian booksellers will strongly support this worldwide initiative from the first day of the Milan Antiquarian Book Fair, 27 March, up to UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day, 23 April. At Palazzo Mezzanotte ALAI will present to the public the official poster of the worldwide campaign - a symbolic bookcase which will be filled with symbolic books by donating money to UNESCO. From then on people will have the possibility to donate money to UNESCO via the ALAI website www.alai.it, until 23 April 2015, when ALAI joins the worldwide series of more than 20 ILAB Pop Up Fairs within 24 hours with two exciting Pop Ups in Lucca at Corte del Biancone and in Milan at Biblioteca Chiesa Rossa.

What a great idea and what a powerful launch of a worldwide campaign to support literacy and to promote the power of books on UNESCO World Book and Copyright 2015!

ILAB Conference "Security and Protection of Cultural Property"

On Friday, the ILAB Committee will be holding its annual meeting in Milan. For the following day, 28 March, ILAB has invited librarians, archivists, politicians, and booksellers to a workshop "Security and Protection of Cultural Property" - a strong sign that ILAB and the international rare book world will do everything to fight book thefts, fraud and forgeries.

Exhibition - Guided Tour - Book Launch

Also on Saturday, the well-known collector Alberto Milan, will lead book fair visitors on a guided tour through the exhibition ""COLPORTEURS, I venditori di stampe e libri e il loro pubblico, da lui curata", while on Sunday book visitors may witness the official launch of the first issue of the new journal "Rivista di cultura del libro", edited by ALAI.