Welcome to The Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers' sixth Melbourne Rare Book Week and its 45th Australian Antiquarian Book Fair!
Since releasing this year's program on 22 May, the response to the line-up of events has been remarkable, with several being booked out very quickly. Melbourne Rare Book Week commenced in 2012 as a partnership between ANZAAB, the University of Melbourne and eight other literary institutions. Over 50 free events are scheduled for the 2017 festival which runs from Friday 30 June to Sunday 9 July.
Pierre Coumans, Brussels bookseller and owner of Librairie Pierre Coumans, spoke to ILAB about organizing the next Salon du Mont des Arts. Since its inauguration in 2016, the number of exhibitors at the fair has grown to more than fifty European dealers and it provides book collectors and the book trade with the opportunity to enjoy an international book fair in the heart of the Belgian capital, a country with a rich and long history of printed works.
Rare Books London, the capital's new festival of old and rare books, will bring together booksellers, auctioneers, collectors, readers, experts of various professions all linked to the world of rare and antiquarian books. We spoke to Camilla Szymanowska, Secretary of the British Antiquarian Booksellers Association (ABA) about this exciting new initiative.
The Salon du Livre Rare in Paris (7-9 April 2017) has invited a small but special group of ambassadors who are working tirelessly to promote the trade in and the love for rare and antiquarian books. An unusual project but one that could be replicated in other countries and shows the determination of a group of professionals to pass on the knowledge and passion for our profession.
Since the days of Renaissance, open air bookselling has happened along the Seine riverbanks. Tourist souvenirs aside, a bouquiniste find was often the beginning of a lifelong passion and first piece in a collection. Plying their trade on the famous banks of the Seine, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991, the bouquinistes des quais are as emblematic of the French capital as the Eiffel Tower or Montmartre for the millions of French and foreign tourists who visit Paris every year.
The Paris International Rare Book Fair will be held from 7 - 9 April 2017, this year in collaboration with the National Chamber of Experts (C.N.E.S.) and again under the high patronage of Mr François Hollande, President of the French Republic.
This is a wonderful opportunity for the public to visit two fairs "in one": the International Rare Book Fair (organised by SLAM, the French Antiquarian Booksellers Association), and the Fine Art Fair, presented by the National Chamber of Experts, C.N.E.S. on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
The life of a journeyman major league book dealer (any one who makes his or her living in the trade as a hunter-gatherer, anyone not named Bill, Jim, Pom, Ed, or Don, or anyone not from the other side of the Atlantic whose shoes are worth more than most of your books)… this journeyman life, I say, is a simple one.
From Aldus to Zanichelli*...
...Italy has always had a flourishing book trade long before the advent of printing. Italy's history is closely linked to the history of the book, whether we look at the trade in manuscripts or the rapid development of printing presses in Renaissance Italy.
In detective fiction and on the cop shows it's called "chain of evidence." Book collectors call it provenance. Unless you plan to build your private library solely with "hot off the press" titles, you need to understand provenance. The concept is important for all kinds of collectibles, from works of art to books to archaeological artifacts. Basically, it means: "to confirm or gather evidence as to the time, place, and if appropriate, the person responsible, for the creation, production or discovery of [an] object."
Un demi-siècle après l’invention de l’imprimerie, avant que la Renaissance ne laisse place aux Guerres de Religion, le livre est à la fois l’acteur principal et un témoin privilégié de ces bouleversements.
Sales higher in bookshops with cafés: This is the astonishing insight taken from a statistical analysis by the Booksellers' Association. What shall we make out of it? Antiquarian bookshops offering tea and coffee with (on) leather bindings? First editions with red wine? Japanese block books with sushi?
In April 2017, Gert Jan Bestebreurtje was elected as new President of the Dutch Antiquarian Booksellers' Association NVvA. We spoke to Mr Bestebreurtje, his business, the book trade in the Netherlands, the Amsterdam fair and we herewith announce some very exciting news for 2020!
In 1985 I was elected to the committee of the ILAB, the international umbrella organization then uniting the national associations of eighteen countries, now twenty-one. The problems a small national association like the NVvA has to cope with do not differ fundamentally from those faced by the ILAB.
