“The most agreeable servants of civilization” – Booksellers and librarians in a changing world

United by the love of books: The Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) and the National Library of Australia will hold a joint conference on 19th and 20th May, 2014, in Canberra. This conference, the first of its kind held in Australia, brings together an impressive group of speakers to explore a variety of topics of particular interest both to rare booksellers and special collections librarians. It aims to enable these professionals to approach their work with greater acumen and understanding, and will afford a valuable opportunity for delegates to meet others with similar problems and interests. While the conference is aimed primarily at those working with rare books, manuscripts and photographs, it also contains much of value to anyone with a passion for our paper-based heritage. The lectures and panel discussions, held by antiquarian booksellers, scholars and librarians and among them Shef Rogers, Michael Treloar, ANZAAB President Jörn Harbeck, Sally Burdon and ILAB President Tom Congalton, focus on a variety of themes such as “The Magic of Books as Objects”, “The Printed Image – Aspects of Photography and the Book”, “Libraries and the Rare Book Trade”, “Behind the Scenes in the Book Trade”, and “Library Collections Revealed”. The program includes:

Monday, 19th May 2014

Welcome - Anne-Marie Schwirtlich, Director-General, National Library of Australia

Opening Address - Jörn Harbeck, ANZAAB President

Appreciating the Magic of Books as Objects

Morning session, chair: Shef Rogers

Terms of the Trade: Definitions and Examples

The Bones of Books: Anatomy and Skeletons, Fingerprints and Localization

Sizing Things Up: Format and the Origami of Imposition

Is It Complete? Collation Formulae and the Calculus of Book Construction

Judging a Book by its Cover: Bindings and Provenance

Where to From Here? Questions and Further Study

The Printed Image – Aspects of Photography and the Book

Afternoon session, chair: Michael Treloar

The Woodburytype Photomechanical Printing Process and its Use in Book Illustration - Philip Jackson (National Library of Australia)

Shooting Shooters: The Camera in War - Robert Holden (writer and curator)

Picturing the First Australians, 1847–1914 - Nicolas Peterson (Australian National University)

Picture Propaganda: The Idealisation of the Australian Landscape in the Photography of John B. Eaton - Warwick Reeder (collector and photo-historian)

Something More than a Book of Photos: Selected Australian Photobooks, 1900–2000 - Dr Douglas Spowart (photographer)

People of the Book: Tales from the World of the Antiquarian Bookseller

Evening session

Three highly experienced Australian antiquarian booksellers talk about their life in the trade: Kay Craddock, Anne McCormick, Nicholas Pounder, chair: Amelia McKenzie

Tuesday 20th May, 2014

Libraries and the Rare Book Trade

Morning session 1, chair: Sally Burdon

Libraries and Rare Books: Overseas Perspectives - Tom Congalton (ILAB President) and Dan De Simone (Eric Weinmann Librarian, Folger Shakespeare Library)

Secret Questions, or, Everything Booksellers and Librarians Always Wanted to Know About Each Other But Were Afraid to Ask – Panel discussion: Alex Philp (National Library of Australia), Richard Overell (Monash University), Jörn Harbeck (ANZAAB President), Paul Feain (Cornstalk Bookshop), Richard Neville (Mitchell Librarian, State Library of NSW)

Behind the Scenes in the Book Trade

Morning session 2, chair: Helen Cole

If the Day of the Scholar-Librarian is Gone, How Can the Rare Book Trade Help? - Michael Treloar (Michael Treloar Antiquarian Booksellers)

Bookseller Research – How Can It Be Shared? - Helen Cole (Australian Library of Art, Queensland Memory, State Library of Queensland)

Pop-Up Rare Book Fair - ANZAAB members will present a small selection of items from their stock. Conference delegates are invited to talk one-on-one with the dealers about the material they are exhibiting.

Library Collections Revealed

Afternoon session, chair: Jörn Harbeck

Longevity is No Secret: How to Care for Rare Materials - Denyl Cloughley (National Library of Australia)

Our Favourite Things - National Library curators present some of their favourite objects from the pictures, maps, manuscript and rare book collections

Closing Remarks - Jörn Harbeck (ANZAAB Presidents)

National Library Tours - Delegates will divide into groups to tour the Library’s reading rooms and collection areas, visiting Pictures and Manuscripts, Maps, Preservation Laboratory, Digitisation and Photography, and the Asian Collections Reading Room.

Two Sides of the Bibliographic Coin

Evening session

Nicolas Barker and John Baxter are international luminaries in the world of rare books. Nicolas Barker has written or edited over 20 books on typography, calligraphy, art history and the history of books and libraries. John Baxter, author of A Pound of Paper: Confessions of a Book Addict, is a novelist, broadcaster and acclaimed film critic who has had a lifelong obsession with books. They will share their tales of quests and conquests in their unrelenting hunt for books around the world.

The full conference program can be found at www.anzaab.com