Busy weeks for ILAB booksellers. The ILAB Committee was invited to Budapest for their annual meeting. The Hungarian Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (MAE) joined the League in 2010. It is the youngest, a small and nevertheless one of the most active member associations of ILAB, and Budapest, with lots of wonderful antiquarian bookshops, deserves to belong to the most attractive destinations for book lovers worldwide.
After the successful and delightful fairs in New York and Paris in April, dealers and collectors now head for London where the 55th London International Antiquarian Book Fair opens its doors from 24th to 26th May at the National Hall at Olympia. It will be the biggest and best fair yet, with more exhibitors, more books, maps, prints, ephemera and manuscripts in a bigger and better location.
From Dickens to Hitchcock to the Sex Pistols! - "Written" Highlights at the London International Antiquarian Book Fair 2012
A hand-written account of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens and the original illustrations for Roald Dahl's Danny, Champion of the World are among the "written" wonders that will be on sale at the 55th London International Antiquarian Book Fair.
Consider the Harry Potter collections, the giant books full of intricate and wondrous engravings of long disappeared mathematical and navigational instruments, the multi-volumed histories of lands that have been engulfed by tides both literal and metaphorical, the first editions of Dracula and Pride and Prejudice and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Then there's Samuel Pepys, and Oliver Cromwell and Jules Verne and Charles Dickens and some utterly bizarre paintings of sea monsters by a man whose relationship with sanity was clearly more of an acquaintance. As a very last resort you can laugh at bookdealers, just supposing any of them are doing anything funny.
Whatever you collect, whatever your subject, curiosity or indulgence, you will find something to capture your imagination and interest at the Olympia Fair - and not only there. The 55th International Antiquarian Book Fair - organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (ABA) - is the most outstanding in a series of book fairs held in London at the end of May.
ABAA and ILAB honouring Sid Lapidus and Jay and Jean Kislak
"To me, collecting has been a voyage of discovery of part of me that I didn't know existed. It has been a fascinating intellectual voyage, and although I normally suffer from motion sickness, this voyage has been mostly smooth and, at times, exhilarating. I meet so many interesting people, and I encounter so many concepts that continue to intrigue and challenge me. And what I find boring, I ignore."
40th ILAB Congress and 24th International Antiquarian Book Fair - September 2012
"It is very pleasant on the first day to look around to see who has come from the other national associations; one looks for friends one met in Paris, in London, in Copenhagen ..." What we call a global network today, has been ILAB's nature from the beginning. You meet old friends and colleagues from all over the world and have the opportunity to establish new friendships and good business relations.
The 40th ILAB Congress in Lucerne and the 24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair in Zurich will be ILAB's events of the year.
It's that time of year when many of us begin to get that itch to get away. Summer is right around the corner, and with it the mystical promise of summer travel. If you're stuck at home this holiday season, or looking for a little inspiration for this year's travels, you may find help from a seemingly unlikely source: Mark Twain.
Ever wonder what rare booksellers do after a book fair? If you guessed "almost anything" you'd probably be correct. But one particular past-time that rare booksellers pursue is music.
After the doors closed on the Friday of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, several dozen rare booksellers reconvened in a subterranean cavern at New York City's Lit Lounge to take in a performance by Dear Althea, a nearly all-girl punk band, featuring:
Busy weeks for ILAB booksellers. 
A hand-written account of Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens and the original illustrations for Roald Dahl's Danny, Champion of the World are among the "written" wonders that will be on sale at the 55th London International Antiquarian Book Fair.
Consider the Harry Potter collections, the giant books full of intricate and wondrous engravings of long disappeared mathematical and navigational instruments, the multi-volumed histories of lands that have been engulfed by tides both literal and metaphorical, the first editions of Dracula and Pride and Prejudice and Nineteen Eighty-Four. Then there's Samuel Pepys, and Oliver Cromwell and Jules Verne and Charles Dickens and some utterly bizarre paintings of sea monsters by a man whose relationship with sanity was clearly more of an acquaintance. As a very last resort you can laugh at bookdealers, just supposing any of them are doing anything funny.
Whatever you collect, whatever your subject, curiosity or indulgence, you will find something to capture your imagination and interest at the Olympia Fair - and not only there. The 55th International Antiquarian Book Fair - organised by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (ABA) - is the most outstanding in a series of book fairs held in London at the end of May.
"To me, collecting has been a voyage of discovery of part of me that I didn't know existed. It has been a fascinating intellectual voyage, and although I normally suffer from motion sickness, this voyage has been mostly smooth and, at times, exhilarating. I meet so many interesting people, and I encounter so many concepts that continue to intrigue and challenge me. And what I find boring, I ignore."
"It is very pleasant on the first day to look around to see who has come from the other national associations; one looks for friends one met in Paris, in London, in Copenhagen ..." What we call a global network today, has been ILAB's nature from the beginning. You meet old friends and colleagues from all over the world and have the opportunity to establish new friendships and good business relations.
It's that time of year when many of us begin to get that itch to get away. Summer is right around the corner, and with it the mystical promise of summer travel. If you're stuck at home this holiday season, or looking for a little inspiration for this year's travels, you may find help from a seemingly unlikely source: Mark Twain.
Ever wonder what rare booksellers do after a book fair? If you guessed "almost anything" you'd probably be correct. But one particular past-time that rare booksellers pursue is music.
This ILAB Newsletter is made up of the most successful articles on our website.
