Sid Lapidus and Jay and Jean Kislak - ABAA and ILAB Patrons of Honour

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is delighted to announce that Sid Lapidus and Jay and Jean Kislak have been awarded the ABAA and ILAB Patron of Honor. The ABAA feels these individuals demonstrate how the printed word materially affects history, scholarship, and cultural intelligence and the importance of collections to institutions and the public.

A ceremony and celebration will take place at the ABAA's annual meeting on April 14, 2012 at 10am at the Park Avenue Armory's Tiffany Room. All are welcome to attend, but should RSVP to hq@abaa.org.

Sid Lapidus

Mr. Lapidus collects 18th century Americana and American Jewish history. In 2009 he made a generous gift of 18th century pamphlets illuminating the issue of liberty and freedom to the Firestone Library at Princeton University. An exhibit featured a superb series of tracts written by Thomas Paine, Mary Wollstonecraft and others described in the accompanying catalog, THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION; SELECTIONS FROM THE COLLECTION OF SID LAPIDUS. Mr. Lapidus, a retired partner of Warburg Pincus in New York, also established at his alma mater the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professorship in the American Revolutionary Era and the Lapidus Family Fund for American Jewish Studies. He has been active in the New York Historical Society, co-chairs the American Jewish Historical Society and also chairs the Council of the American Antiquarian Society which celebrates the bicentennial of its founding this year.

Jay and Jean Kislak

Jay and Jean Kislak have developed extraordinary collections, shared those collections and encouraged the next generation of collectors. A graduate of Wharton School of Finance, Mr. Kislak developed and managed sophisticated real estate corporations in New Jersey and Florida. Simultaneously, he pursued his commitment to public service, philanthropy, and his avocation of history and the arts. His collection, “The Cultures & History of the Americas,” now resides at the Library of Congress where it is the focal point of a major exhibition entitled, “Exploring the Early Americas. The Jay I. Kislak Foundation in Miami, Florida has dedicated itself to “the collection, conservation, research and interpretation of rare books, manuscripts, maps and indigenous art and cultural artifacts of the Americas and other parts of the world.” The Kislak Foumdation has established The Kislak Fellowship in American Studies at the Library of Congress and has guided and supported the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest cosponsored by the ABAA, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS) and the Library of Congress.

Jean Kislak, art connoisseur and collector and former art curator, found herself fascinated, as so many have been, by Emma, Lady Hamilton. The Grolier Club mounted an exhibit in 2011 featuring her collection, “The Enchantress, Emma, Lady Hamilton.” With historian Flora Fraser, biographer of Lady Hamilton, and Nelson-Hamilton descendant Anna Tribe, Mrs. Kislak arranged in 1994 a memorial to Lady Hamilton in Calais, France, near where Admiral Hamilton is buried. An energetic and eager collector, she also participated in the formation of the Jay I. Kislak Collection. Like her husband, Jean Kislak has contributed to the cultural life of her community working with numerous cultural and nonprofit organizations.

ABAA & ILAB

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America was founded in 1949 to foster and encourage interest in rare books and manuscripts and to maintain the highest standards of the trade. The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers was founded in 1947 and unites 22 booksellers organization from around the world.