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History

ILAB Presidents & Members of Honour / Presidential Services Awards

Our gratitude to those who have driven the organisation but also the trade as such through their tireless commitment and vision. Menno Herzberger was one of the founding fathers of ILAB, a legendary Dutch bookseller and auctioneer who died in 1982, aged 84. Menno survived WWII but lost his entire family in the Holocaust and had to rebuild his business all over again. It was during that time that he started lobbying for an international trade organisation. Since its founding days, international booksellers from Europe, Asia, Australia and America have shaped the League and built a foundation for today's work and trade.
ILAB Presidents and Members of Honour


Menno Herzberger

Father of the League

Menno Hertzberger

Menno Herzberger was one of the founding fathers of ILAB, a legendary Dutch bookseller and auctioneer who died in 1982, aged 84. Menno survived WWII but lost his entire family in the Holocaust and had to rebuild his business all over again. It was during that time that he started lobbying for an international trade organisation.

Menno was distinguished by the French government by awarding him the distinctive badge of Chevalier de I'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. On the occasion of his 65th birthday the Dutch Queen made him a Chevalier in the Order of Orange-Nassau. On the same occasion Menno himself founded the Menno Hertzbergerprijs voor Bibliographie, a triennial Prize sponsored by him and by the Dutch Association of Antiquarian Booksellers.

Menno Herzberger and his colleagues had the vision to unite a trade across borders. Seventy years on, even though our trade has gone through radical changes, the values and purpose of ILAB remain unchanged.

AMOR LIBRORUM NOS UNIT

Life President of Honour

Percy H. Muir

ILAB Members of Honour

Edgar Franco

Mitsuo Nitta

1973-1975: ILAB Committee
1977-1979: ILAB Committee
Chair of the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

Keith Fletcher

1996-2004: ILAB Committee
2002-2006: ILAB Vice-President

ILAB Treasurer of Honour

Poul Jan Poulson

1991 - 2012 ILAB Committee Member and ILAB Treasurer

ILAB Presidents of Honour 1948 - to date

William S. Kundig

1948-1950 First ILAB President

André Poursin

1948-1950 ILAB Committee, Treasurer and Vice-President

Einar Grønholt-Pedersen

1948-1958 ILAB Committee
1957 Treasurer

F. L. Tulkens

1950-1954 Treasurer
1955-1957 Vice-President

J. E. Stanley Sawyer

1953-1954 Vice-President
1955-1957 ILAB President

Richard S. Wormser

1957-1958 ILAB Committee
1958-1960 ILAB President

Fernand de Nobele

1957-1960 ILAB Committee
1961-1963 Vice-President

Georges A. Deny

1958-1960 Treasurer
1961-1965 ILAB President

First Secretary of the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

Dudley Massey

1958-1960 ILAB Committee
1961-1963 Treasurer
1964-1965 Vice President
1966-1967 ILAB President

Dr. Frieder Kocher-Benzing

1966-1970 ILAB Committee
1970-1972 Vice-President
1972-1975 ILAB President

1975-1990 Secretary of the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

Bob de Graaf

1972-1975 ILAB Committee
1975-1978 Vice-President
1978-1981 ILAB President

John Lawson

1979-1985 ILAB President and Vice-President

Hans Bagger

1978-1984 Treasurer
1982-1984 Vice-President
1985-1988 ILAB President

Anton Gerits

1985-1991 General Secretary
1988-1991 Vice-President
1991-1996 ILAB President
1985-1996 Editor of the ILAB Newsletter

Anthony Rota

1988-1991 ILAB President
Long-time Committee Member, Treasurer, and Vice-President

Alain Nicolas

1990-1992 ILAB Committee
1992-1996 Vice-President
1996-2000 ILAB President

Kay Craddock

1996-2000 ILAB Committee
2000-2002 ILAB President

Robert D. Fleck

2000-2002 Vice President
2002-2006 ILAB President

Michael Steinbach

2006-2008 ILAB President

Adrian Harrington

2006-2008 Vice President
2008-2010 ILAB President

Arnoud Gerits

2008-2010 Vice President
2010-2012 ILAB President

Tom Congalton

2010 - 2012 Vice President
2012 - 2014 ILAB President

Norbert Donhofer

2012- 2014 Vice President
2014 - 2016 ILAB President

Gonzalo F. Pontes

2014 - 2016 Vice President
2016 - 2018 ILAB President

Presidential Services Award

Sally Burdon

2016 - 2018 Vice President
2018 - 2022 ILAB President