40th ILAB Congress & 24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair
Lucerne - Zurich, September 22nd - 30th 2012
Two more weeks to register!
Welcome to Lucerne in September 2012!
ILAB Congresses are an important part of the infrastructures and networking possibilities of all dealers, the place where friendships are made or renewed and where we have the possibility of visiting libraries and seeing books not always very easily accessible while the fair offers the possibility to meet new customers in a country not all of us visit regularly. In a globalizing world that seems to become smaller and smaller we sometimes tend to forget that personal contacts, that meeting real people, is still of greatest importance: the ILAB Congress offers precisely that opportunity.
I look much forward to seeing many of you in September in Lucerne and Zurich!
Arnoud Gerits
ILAB President
Meet Collectors, Colleagues and Friends in Switzerland!
Many of us remember the wonderful events in Madrid in 2008 and Bologna in 2010. This year ILAB booksellers will certainly have a great time in Switzerland.
ILAB antiquarian booksellers from 32 countries worldwide will enjoy a spectacular programme highlighting the variety of art, architecture, culture, and history. And they will, of course, see lots of amazingly rare books.
Saturday, September 22, 2012, Lucerne
ILAB Committee Meeting
Sunday, September 23, 2012, Lucerne
ILAB Presidents' Meeting and Welcome Reception
Monday, September 24, 2012, Lucerne: Library, Rosengart Museum, Hergiswald
Visit of the Lucerne Central & University Library
The Lucerne Central & University Library owns a marvellous collection of manuscripts and early printings, and the estates of scholars, artists, printers and politicians who played an important role in the cultural history of Switzerland.
Visit of the Rosengart Museum
The Rosengart Collection was originally the private art collection of Siegfried Rosengart and his daughter Angela. It comprises more than 300 works by 23 artists with an emphasis on Modernism. Along with Pablo Picasso and Paul Klee, the Collection features exceptional works of the highest artistic quality by artists like Bonnard, Braque, Cézanne, Chagall, Dufy, Kandinsky, Laurens, Léger, Matisse, Miró, Modigliani, Monet, Renoir, Rouault, Soutine, Utrillo and Vuillard.
Transfer by bus to Hergiswald, visit of the baroque church with its unique emblematic ceiling decoration
The "Bilderhimmel von Hergiswald" is a painted ceiling which spans the entire interior of the baroque church, It was decorated by the Swiss artist Caspar Meglinger in 1654 with 324 wood framed panels, all showing symbolic scenes related to the life of Mary. It is the world's largest cycle of its kind and a monumental testimony of baroque art and piety in Switzerland.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012, Lake Lucerne, Rütli, Vitznau
Boat trip on the Lake Lucerne, ILAB General Assembly on the boat, lunch near the "Rütli" with folkloristic attractions. The trip continues during the afternoon, rustic dinner at Vitznau, return to Lucerne
Rütli is a meadow mountain at the Lake Lucerne, where the legendary "Rütlischwur" (Rütli oath) was taken by the "Eidgenossen" (oath takers) Werner Stauffacher, Walter Fürst and Arnold of Melchtal presumably at the beginning of the 13th century. This was the foundation of the Swiss Confederation. The figures of the three oath takers merged with the legend of William Tell who became the hero of Friedrich Schiller's drama.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, Lucerne, Einsiedeln Monastery & Library, Werner Oechslin Collection
Excursion by bus to Einsiedeln with its baroque church, monastery and library
The Benedictine Monastery Einsiedeln was founded in 934. Today it is one of most famous monasteries on the Saint James' Way, the pilgrimage route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The abbey's library contains about 230,000 printed books, 1230 manuscripts and 1040 incunabula and early printed books including the Versus de scachis, a Medieval Latin poem and the earliest mention of chess in Western literature.
Visit of the private library of Professor Werner Oechslin
A library of more than 50,000 books on the history of architecture in a most fascinating modern building designed by Mario Botta: The Werner Oechslin Library holds primary sources on architectural theory and its allied fields in original editions from the 15th to the 21st centuries.
Farewell-Dinner in Lucerne
The 40th ILAB Congress will be followed by the
24th International Antiquarian Book Fair, September 27 - 30, 2012, Zurich
at the Zurich Convention Centre next to the Lake Zurich and the Zurich Fine Art Fair which takes place at the same time. Both events will attract lots of art lovers and bibliophiles. For one week they will change Lucerne and Zurich into the international market place for everything rare, extravagant and beautiful.
"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." (ABA Newsletter 1951)
This is the charm of every ILAB Congress. What we call a global network, has been ILAB's nature from the beginning. You meet old friends and colleagues from all over the world and you have the chance to establish new friendships and good business relations. This was true for the 5th ILAB Congress in Brussels in 1951, and it will be the same in Switzerland in 2012.
The ILAB Congress and International Antiquarian Book Fair is open to all ILAB booksellers.
To subscribe to the 40th ILAB Congress and / or to the 24th International Antiquarian Book Fair, please go to the ILAB website, download the Congress Programme and the Fair Programme, and fill in the registration forms.
ILAB Congresses are an important part of the infrastructures and networking possibilities of all dealers, the place where friendships are made or renewed and where we have the possibility of visiting libraries and seeing books not always very easily accessible while the fair offers the possibility to meet new customers in a country not all of us visit regularly. In a globalizing world that seems to become smaller and smaller we sometimes tend to forget that personal contacts, that meeting real people, is still of greatest importance: the ILAB Congress offers precisely that opportunity.
Saturday, September 22, 2012, Lucerne
Visit of the Lucerne Central & University Library
Transfer by bus to Hergiswald, visit of the baroque church with its unique emblematic ceiling decoration
Boat trip on the Lake Lucerne, ILAB General Assembly on the boat, lunch near the "Rütli" with folkloristic attractions. The trip continues during the afternoon, rustic dinner at Vitznau, return to Lucerne
Excursion by bus to Einsiedeln with its baroque church, monastery and library
Visit of the private library of Professor Werner Oechslin
This is the charm of every ILAB Congress. What we call a global network, has been ILAB's nature from the beginning. You meet old friends and colleagues from all over the world and you have the chance to establish new friendships and good business relations. This was true for the 5th ILAB Congress in Brussels in 1951, and it will be the same in Switzerland in 2012.
