Melbourne Rare Book Week and the 2025 ILAB Presidents Meeting: A week of rare book events is about to start!

In addition to the hugely successful Melbourne Rare Book Week, a beloved annual series of talks, exhibitions, and literary events, the 2025 ILAB Presidents Meeting will also take place in the city, bringing together international delegates from 11 countries of ILAB's member associations.

With many events fully booked and others nearing capacity, the week-long programme showcases the cultural and historical significance of books, manuscripts, and printed heritage. Events are hosted by libraries, universities, bookshops, and institutions across the city, creating a vibrant festival atmosphere open to all.

Founded in 2012 by Melbourne bookseller Kay Craddock AM (Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller), a long-standing ILAB Committee member and later the first female President of the League (2000 - 2001), Melbourne Rare Book Week has grown into one of the most respected public literary events of its kind. Craddock’s vision was to make the rare book world more accessible, and more than a decade later, the results speak for themselves.

This year, Kay Craddock, features in one of the headline events: “Sixty Years a Bookseller”, an in-conversation with literary columnist Jane Sullivan. The event is, unsurprisingly, already booked out.
For those interested in learning more about Kay Craddock’s journey into the antiquarian book world, her 2011 memoir Rare – A Life Among Antiquarian Books offers a fascinating look behind the scenes of the trade. The book shares her path into bookselling and insights from a lifetime spent among rare and beautiful works - it’s a highly recommended read for anyone curious about the people and stories behind the rare book trade.

With the ILAB Presidents Meeting 2025 being held alongside Rare Book Week, Melbourne also takes centre stage in the international antiquarian book trade. The ILAB annual general meeting offers a forum for global cooperation, the exchange of ideas, and discussions on ethical trade, legal matters, and international market developments.
A warm thank you goes to Melbourne bookseller Douglas Stewart (Douglas Stewart Fine Books), who has been planning for several years to bring the ILAB Presidents Meeting back to Australia, the last time it was held here was in 1997 in Sydney. His efforts, together with the hard work of ANZAAB, the Australian and New Zealand Antiquarian Booksellers Association, have been key to making this year’s gathering possible. Special thanks also to ANZAAB President Dawn Albinger (Archives Fine Books) and to Tim White (Books for Cooks), organiser of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, for their dedication in putting together such a successful and welcoming programme for both local and international guests.

Also part of this year’s Rare Book Week is the ILAB Symposium 2025, in partnership with ANZAAB . The symposium brings together international and Australian trade, librarian, collectors and conservators to discuss ethical, legal, and practical aspects of working with cultural property. Reservations have been strong, reflecting the growing interest in these topics across the trade, institutions, and academia.
For all information and to make a booking, please visit this >> LINK

The Rare Book Week programme features more than 40 free events - topics range from collecting and conservation to censorship and illustration. A few standout highlights this year include “From Convict Printers to Book Arcades”, where editors Wallace Kirsop and Judy Donnelly join Des Cowley to discuss the recently published final volume in the History of the Book in Australia, a major scholarly achievement decades in the making.

Another highlight “Illuminated Manuscripts from Around the World”, gives the rare chance to view exceptional medieval and early modern manuscripts from the State Library Victoria’s Rare Books Collection. Dr Anna Welch, Principal Collection Curator, will guide guests through the origins and preservation of treasures from across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and beyond.

And for those new to the world of rare books, “Meet Me at the Book Fair” offers a welcoming introduction. Led by Program Director and seasoned collector Professor Emeritus Christopher Browne, this special guided tour of the Melbourne Rare Book Fair gives visitors a chance to meet booksellers, explore highlights of the fair, and discover the joys of collecting.
Behind the scenes, much of the coordination and energy that makes Rare Book Week such a success is thanks to the tireless work of Christopher Browne, who curates the programme and helps guide visitors through both the events and the fair itself.
The article “A Library of One’s Own: Meet the Man Who Owns 12,000 Books,” published in The Age some years ago, offers a glimpse into Professor Browne’s deep passion for books and just shows just how much enthusiasm and work goes into making this event happen.

The festivities will conclude with the Melbourne Rare Book Fair, held at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne, from 25–27 July 2025. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore and buy rare books, manuscripts, maps, prints, and ephemera from leading antiquarian booksellers from Australia and overseas.

To view the full programme, please go here: https://rarebookweek.com

Or follow us this week and check out the ANZAAB or ILAB Instagram account:

@ilab_booksellers_worldwide or @_anzaab

See you in Melbourne!

Title image by Melbourne Rare Book Week, Alissa Duke