Paris - February 1969 (Committee)
NEWSLETTER 19
COMMITTEE MEETING
Paris, February 17th and 18th, 1969
Minutes
Present: Mrs. F. Olschki-Witt, Messrs. Stanley Crowe, Georges Deny, F. De Nobele Max Elte, M. Hertzberger, D. Massey, C. Nebehay, E. Gronholt-Pedersen, G. Steele, R. Wormser.
The President welcomed everybody and offered apologies for absence on behalf of Messrs. Percy Muir, André Poursin and Fl. Tulkens who were unable to attend the meeting.
Point I of the Agenda: President's Report.
The President gave a brief summary of various matters in which he has intervened, for which he has requested or given information and of which he has not had the opportunity of informing the members of the Committee:
1° Correspondence with Dr. Pressler, President of the Verband deutscher Antiquare about the export tax from Germany; this represents 2% for books and he has noticed that while, consequently, some publishers increase their invoices by 2%, others apply the tax at a higher rate of 4%, and others do not increase their invoices at all.
This tax also applies to old and second-hand books, including those sold by auction, but some booksellers do not charge the tax. For this reason, the Verband deutscher Antiquare does not intend to take a stand on this question.
The admission of four new members to the Verband deutscher Antiquare was published by mistake in the Newsletter N° 18 (a notice of correction was sent to all presidents on March 5th); furthermore, this will be published in Newsletter N° 19).
2° A protest was sent to the president of the Belgian association after someone organising public sales had published in his catalogues of sales by auction unacceptable conditions which were furthermore based on false affirmations.
3° A request for admission to the League has been received from an Argentinian bookseller; in reply, he has been advised to join an association belonging to the League, if there is not a national association affiliated in Argentina.
Point II : Treasurer's Report.
Exhibit A : Balance Sheet at December 31st, 1968.
Cash-Doylestown Federal Savings and Loan Association. $ 5,997·59
Cash-Doylestown National Bank and Trust Company. . . 2,555.62
Cash-Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank. 7,828·97
U.S. $ 15,382.18
INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT:
Balance, January 1, 1968............ $ 21,753,56
Less: Excess of expenditures over income (Exhibit B). $ (5,371.38)
U.S. $ 16,382.18
Exhibit B : Statement of Income and Expenses for the year ended December 31, 1968.
INCOME:
Annual subscriptions and dues. $ 2,789.00
Sales International directory. $ 2,775.04
Interest income on savings accounts $ 795.34
Directory advertising $ 1,724.50
Total Income $ 8,083.88
EXPENSES:
Travel expenses. $ 778.12
Audit fee $ 50.00
Directory costs $ 9,554.02
Sundry expenses (meeting expenses, tel. postage, etc.) $ 2,973.12
Total Expenses $ 13,455.26
Excess of Expenses over Income to Exhibit A $ (5,371.38)
(One subscription for 1958 has still not been paid).
The President informed that the administrative secretary has cost the League FF. 3,100 (including travelling expenses) over the last nine months (social charges not included and not yet specified by the authorities).
Point III : Directory.
Sold:
1,517 (out of 1,750) copies at $ 3 $ 4,551
436 (out of 450) copies on thin paper at $ 4 $ 1,744
Advertisements $ 5,429
Insertion of maps $ 640
Income $ 12,364
Expenses: Printing, forwarding and sundry $ 9,540.15
Profit: $ 2,823.85
Next Edition : As a permanent card index has been established, it should be easier to publish the next edition of the directory, and the administrative secretary of the League will take care of this.
With this object in view, Mr. Elte has sent an interleaved copy to the president of each association, who is responsible for entering all the amendments and corrections to appear in the next edition on these interleaves.
The President strongly urges the national presidents and their secretaries that the information slips be correctly filled up, typed so as to be readable, and sent to the secretariat of the League, c/o F. De Nobele, 35, rue Bonaparte, PARIS (VI°), France. Should you run out of slips, please request a further supply from the same address.
Congratulations and thanks were addressed to Mr. Max Elte.
Point IV : Training courses for young booksellers.
In view of the fact that the first experience was so successful (see Newsletter N° 18), the President regrets that, due to changes in the management of the Vereeniging van Antiquaren (N.L.), the Dutch Association has not been able to keep its promise to take care of the organisation of the 1969 training courses. Mr. Hertzberger, who invented these courses and who had retired from their organisation, accepted to collaborate with the Dutch association, if he is in fact efficiently assisted in the future.
Therefore, it was suggested, that without following the programme which we had hoped, something else should be organised in Copenhagen in conjunction with the Congress.
The President pointed out that the Danish association has already got heavy responsibilities, and it was agreed that Mr. Hertzberger will get in touch with Mr. Gronholt-Pedersen to examine this question.
Point V: Bibliographical Prize.
A meeting of the Jury of the bibliographical prize was held in Paris on February 15th, 1969; everybody was present, i.e.: Messrs. Köster, de La Fontaine-Vervey, Nixon, Deny, Ch. Nebehay and F. De Nobele.
29 bibliographical works have been sent in and are to be examined. The list will be published in Newsletter N°19 and a separate list will be printed for distribution outside the book trade. Some works were refused as they did not comply with the rules. The laureate will be chosen and rewarded in Paris in 1970.
The Presidents of national associations were thanked for having contributed to the publicity made for this second prize to be awarded by the I.L.A.B.
Point VI : Fairs. Lessons to be learnt from the inquiry made in Amsterdam. (See Newsletter N° 18).
Nothing to report concerning the New York Fair (1969).
No information has yet been received about the Paris Fair (1970).
The President would like all associations to open their doors, during fairs held in their country, to ALL members of the other associations affiliated to the League (as during the fairs in Amsterdam, Los Angeles and New York).
However, several objections were raised to this request: the fairs take place too frequently, too many participants, and the problem of too small premises were the main obstacles to the success of such manifestations. It would be a good idea to prepare a calendar.
Point VII Congress in Copenhagen: August 31st - September 5th, 1969.
The broad outline of the programme has already been published (Newsletter N° 18). The Committee would like to see a large number of participants from all countries at this congress. The final programme will be published in Newsletter N° 19.
As usual, those attending the congress will be asked to share in the expenses of its organisation. The Committee suggested that the amount of this fee should be as high as possible, to enable associations with lower incomes to organise congresses as well.
Point VIII: Revision of the Rules.
A complete revision, started in Amsterdam, was finished in Paris. The new text has been sent to Maitre Hotz, the legal adviser of the League, and the final edition will be presented to the General Assembly of the Copenhagen Congress.
Point IX : Newsletter N° 18.
The cost of printing this newsletter was FF. 1,100 less than the previous one, because there was enough time for the work to be done by a more economical printer in the provinces.
The Committee adopted the idea of including advertisements in the Newsletters. Therefore, all advertisements may be accepted, including those from publishers, and from booksellers for editions or reprints, but no advertisements can be accepted for old or second-hand books; these can only be accepted in the Directory.
Point X : Other matters.
Association Internationale de Bibliophilie : booksellers are accepted as active members under certain conditions stated in the rules of the association.
People who are not members of the association may also attend the congresses, on payment of an admission charge.
The next congress will be held in Vienna, Austria. Information about this has been sent to all presidents; further details will be forwarded as soon as possible.
bj. Confidential List: Operating normally, a new list was distri- buted to committee members and presidents.
Minutes compiled by F. De Nobele President.
Paris, March 18th, 1969-
CONGRESS IN COPENHAGEN
AGENDA OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1. Appointment of the scrutineers.
2. Approval of the minutes of the Presidents' meeting (London, April 30th-May 1st, 1968) published in Newsletter N° I7.
3. Report of the Committee on the activities of the League during the last fifteen months.
4. Treasurer's Report (see page 39)
5. Determination of the subscriptions for 1970.
6. Triennial Bibliographical Prize : Secretary's report.
7. Directory :
a) Copies still available;
b) Information for bringing the general card index up-to-date.
8. Confidential List.
9. Proposals :
A) of the Committee
a) Amendments to the Rules (see page ~I and foil.).
b) Advertisements in the Newsletters : should publicity concerning the old or second-hand book trade be accepted in the Newsletters so as to cover or reduce the cost of printing and forwarding?
B) of the Associations
AUSTRIA : « That the funds of the League may be placed in different coun- tries, by exemple, Switzerland, U.S.A., Great Britain, France, 10 avoid any losses caused by the change of currency values »,
10. Training courses for young booksellers.
11. Candidature of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Canada
12. Elections:
A) of a new Treasurer (Nomination of the Committee : M. Glen DAWSON, U.S.A.);
B) of a retiring member of the Committee (Nomination of the Committee: M. Christian NEBEHAY, Austria).
13. Next congress and Presidents' meeting.
14. Next book fair to be held under the auspices of the League.
15. (If time). A brief statement given by the President on the subject “Reprints and the antiquarian booktrade”
16. Sundry matters.
REVISION OF THE RULES
Preface and explanatory statement
(see attachment for the old and new Rules)
Your Committee realised that it was necessary to change several articles of our rules, and, at the same time finally attained absolute certainty that our League had never been registered in Geneva and did not therefore legally exist:
It therefore undertook to change several points of these Rules and at the same time made some small corrections with a view to obtaining a better wor- ding and a total agreement between the English and French texts.
Maitre Hotz, avocat-notaire in Neuchatel, Switzerland, was charged with the registration of the League in Geneva, which is finally impossible - at least at the present time - because article 17 of our rules does not conform with the Swiss law. It is because of this situation that your Committee requested Maitre Hotz to help us to proceed with a critical examination of our rules in order to have a text which is legally valid and conforms with the Swiss law. He did this, entirely re-writing each article, and thus obtained a more simple wording combining our desires with the laws in force and without all the superfluous details.
Any amendment which you make to these rules can only become final after approval by our legal adviser before depositing our rules together with our application for registration in the Register of Commerce in Geneva.
In fact, there are only a few important changes :
Art. 8. Add: Acceptation to comply with the Rules and the Usages and Customs.
Art. 13. Add: « Or a Presidents' meeting... »
Art. 14. 1° The Swiss law requires a 2/3 majority for amendments to the Rules.
2° A second vote is to take place before the President can give the casting vote.
Art. 15. Convocation etc. to be sent 45 days beforehand instead of 30.
Art. 16. c) Restriction concerning the nomination of Presidents of Honour.
Art. 17. The Swiss Civil Code enforces the convocation of an extraordinary General Assembly whenever the request is supported by one fifth of the members.
Art. 21. The cost of printing the minutes is not necessarily at the expense of the associations.
Art. 23. 1° The Committee is not elected as a whole but is composed of members elected for 3 years (practically the case already).
2° Monetary crises have proved that in the interest of the financial management of the League, we could need to keep the same treasurer for a longer term of office than that specified by the Rules.
Art. 29. “Members not operating in Europe” instead of “Members from the U.S.A.”
Art. 30. 75 days instead of 60. And 60 days instead of 30.
New Art. 35 and 37 : art. 35 : In connection with possible monetary crises.
Art. 37: A dispute has confirmed the usefulness of this article. The other amendments have been made in view of obtaining a more precise and more legal wording. Some clauses have been taken out because they are implicit (Dixit Maitre Hotz),
DIVERSE INFORMATION
AUSTRIA
The sixth international congress of bibliophiles will be held in Vienna (Austria) from September 29th to October 5th 1969. For all information apply to INTE'RCONGRESS, Reisedienst, Stadiongasse 6-8, A. 1010 Wien. (Latest date for hotel reservations: August 30th - Registration fee: US $ 80 and $ 50 for persons accompanying). Congress members from Canada and the U.S.A. should send in their registration to the International Congress Coordination Center, Travel Dept., 9, East 38th Street, New York, N. Y. 10016.
FRANCE
The exchange regulations which came into force in November 1968 forbid any advance payments. Therefore, PRO-FORMA invoices sent to France cannot be paid. The goods have to go through customs to enable payments over 250 Frs. to be made abroad. Imports representing a smaller sum can be paid for on presentation of a certified invoice and a declaration that importation has actually taken place.
Apart from these formalities, there are no restrictions on the importation of books whatever their date or value.
The first International Book Festival of Nice was held from May 3,st to June 9th, 1969.
Although it was devoted to new books, several booksellers, members of the Syndicat de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne insisted on taking part in this event which also included some wonderful exhibitions (from the National Library and from the libraries of Nice and Edinburg) and also discussions one of which was presided by Mr. Julien CAIN on books on art and bibliophilism. Even though they appreciated the very good organisation of this festival, did a bit of business and noticed the curiosity of the large attendance, they also deplored the public's ignorance of the interest and the value of the works exhibited.
We think therefore that in the future many of our colleagues, both French and foreign, should take part in this festival. With this idea in mind, we asked the organisers to contact the President of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, whom we know is convinced of the interest of exhibitions of this kind.
Last news : M. Kieffer has been nominated president of S. L. A. M. in place of M. Roux-Devillas nominated president of honour.
ITALY
The registered office of the Circolo dei Librai Antiquari is provisionally situated at the following address to which all correspondence should be sent until further notice :
17, Lungarno Guicciardini Casella Postale 465 50125-Firenze - Italie.
JAPAN
The new Committee of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association atJapan is made up as follows :
Honorary President: Shiro Muraguchi. President: Ryuichi Matsurnara. Vice-President: Ukichi Sakai. Secretary: Misuo Nitta.
Advisers: Shozaburo Sakakura, Ueo Koketsu, Kenichiro Nakao, Yuki Nitta.
NETHERLANDS
The Committee of the Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiqiiaren has been changed as follows:
Mr. A. GERITS, from the firm Nijhoff, has been nominated secretary to replace Mr. B. De Graaf.
Mr. C. P. J. VAN DER PEET has replaced Mr. Th. P. Strijker as treasurer.
The Nederlandsctie Vereeniging van Aritiqtuiren announces that a periodical « De Antiquaar » will be published in the near future, and will be the official review of the Dutch association.
The editor, Mr. A. Gerits, secretary of the association, states that according to the traditions of his country, it will be an international periodical, that is to say that each edition will contain one or more articles written in another language than Dutch.
The new address of the Dutch association is: Malakkastraat 176, The Hague.
U.S.A.
New York Fair : In the opinion of the organiser and the participants, this blatt für den Deutschen Buchhandel, Frankfurter Ausgabe, April 11th 1969, under Dr. Pressler's signature, and also in the Antiquarian Bookman of April 21st, 1969.
SWITZERLAND
The Syndicat de la Librairie Ancienne et dii Commerce de I'Estampe en Suisse has just elected its new president :
Mrs. Eugene REYMOND. The address of the secretariat of the Swiss association is now: 14, Faubourg de l'Hôpital, CH. 2000 Neuchatel.