The ABA and ILAB look back at a long history. The ABA is relaunching its flagship fair in London this year, the oldest antiquarian book fair in the world, under the auspices of ILAB.
This text by the late Anthony Rota, ABA bookseller and ILAB President of Honour, was published in 2008 in the ABA Directory.
The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2018. Oak Knoll Press has just published the League's "Historical Index", compiled by ILAB bookseller Nevine Marchiset.
Today the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers unites 22 national associations under one roof. Some of them had already been established when the League was founded in 1947/1948. Five of them were the driving forces: the antiquarian booksellers of Great Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands.
In 1947 representatives from Great Britain, France, Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands met in Amsterdam for a Preliminary Conference. They discussed Hertzberger’s idea of forming an organization that counteracted the animosity and suspicion engendered by the Second World War. The new International League of Antiquarian Booksellers should foster friendship and understanding between the nations as the mutual basis for a fair and professional trade in the future.
The ILAB was formally incorporated in Copenhagen in September 1948, with ten participating countries. Representatives from Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, and Italy joined their colleagues from Great Britain, France, Sweden, Denmark and The Netherlands at the conference table. Denmark was holding a proxy for Norway
“Considering the dubiety with which our activities were treated it is pleasant to record that the Congresses in London in 1949 and in Paris in 1950 were very successful both socially and professionally, while the standard of hospitality in both cities was impeccable." (Muir)
The admission of Japan, the ILAB Bibliography Prize (now ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography) and the first ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair were the milestones of the 60s.
At an age when many men settle down to daily golf games or fishing trips in the golden haze of retirement, Carl Sandburg kept right on working. He started his novel, Remembrance Rock, a sweeping saga of the American experience from the landing at Plymouth Rock to the beginning of World War II, when he was sixty-five years old. Sandburg was already remarkably accomplished; he had received Pulitzer Prizes both for his book of poetry, Cornhuskers, and for his biography, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years. Remembrance Rock was published when he was seventy. (A third Pulitzer, for another poetry book, Compete Poems, would come three years later.) He had worked all his life and he wasn't about to stop.
At the end of September booksellers from all over the world met in Switzerland to hold their bi-annual conference and international antiquarian book fair. More than 70 affiliates attended the 40th Congress in the history of the League in Lucerne which was excellently organized by the Swiss Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (VEBUKU) and its current president Alain Moirandat. From 22nd to 26th September 2012 the ILAB affiliates became acquainted with Swiss culture, history and folklore. They visited magnificent libraries, museums and collections like the Rosengart Museum and the Werner Oechslin Library. They held a conference on a ship on Lake Lucerne, climbed mountains (by cogwheel train), improved their crossbow shooting skills in a cave behind waterfalls and showed their dancing talents at the farewell dinner in the Hotel Montana. Afterwards, 64 ILAB dealers from Europe and abroad presented beautiful books, manuscripts, prints, maps, autographs and first editions at the 24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair in Zurich. Dieter Tausch, President of the Austrian Antiquarian Booksellers' Association (VAO) was among the participants. His report makes definitely clear: All who did not attend the Congress and the Fair missed a great opportunity!
The rare book trade has lost one of his most interesting and legendary personalities. Martin Stone (11 December 1946, Woking, Surrey – 9 November 2016, Versailles, France) was an English guitarist and rare book dealer.
Here in Seattle, Washington local ABAA/ILAB booksellers Ed Smith, Taylor Bowie, John Lang, and many others, as well as at least one representative from the Northwest Copyright Society of the USA, will be on hand to present a display and sale of antiquarian books, maps, and prints, as well as ephemera. Recognizing the important place that books hold in the dissemination of knowledge, they will continue the work of their colleagues around the world to fill a "virtual bookcase" as participants and visitors donate money to buy books for schools in South Sudan. Informal "pop-up" talks on the items on displace will fill the evening, starting at 4 pm, at the beautiful Sorrento Hotel, a Seattle icon, that offers personalized service, Italianate architecture and a warm, welcoming feel that makes you want to stay even longer.
Antiques Trade Gazette (ATG) on 6th August 2018: The European Union’s plan to introduce new laws on the import of cultural goods, due to be voted on this summer, has been delayed until September.
BIBLIOGRAPHY WEEK happens each year in New York City at the end of January when the principal national organizations devoted to book history have their annual meetings. Other groups plan interesting events, too, since so many bibliophiles are in town. Some events (not noted here) are open to members only, but mostly you are encouraged to show up everywhere: get a sense of what is going on in the book world, hear some interesting papers, schmooze over cocktails ...
