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Sometimes the years seem to fly by like calendar leaves flapping off the wall in a corny movie. That was much the feeling at this year's 36th Annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, held at the Hynes Convention Center. Old veterans of Bostons past walked the familiar aisles, nodding at one another – "Here we are again." Members of the excellent Brede staff, many of whom have been working with us for years, gave us a "Good to see you again" shoulder clap. And they meant it. We'd each survived another year and were back in the familiar, comfortable confines of the Hynes. I recall problems in the early years, mostly centering around the difficulties of moving in and out. But now staff and exhibitors alike know the drill, and if anyone unfamiliar with the procedure gets panicky, there are plenty of calmer heads to offer support. No more ugly, non-conforming booths, no fighting, no biting. The complainers will never go away, but even they seemed subdued this year.

For the Yale University Library Gazette Vol. 74, Nos. 3-4. April 2000, and reprinted as a separate pamphlet by the Yale University Library.

Discovering a fore-edge painting is always a pleasant surprise. When I first started my bookselling apprenticeship, it was one of the first things I was told to look out for (along with interesting bookplates, and ephemera tucked into the books). If you have not come across fore-edge paintings, let me first explain what they are.

On an autumn day in 1947, a small group of book dealers met in Milan to give life to the Circolo dei Librai Antiquari. They were not many, but they were set on granting a cultural dignity to the trade of antiquarian bookselling, on fostering friendship and understanding with foreign colleagues, on cooperating with libraries and institutions for the conservation of cultural property, and on providing collectors with a code of ethics that guaranteed a fair and professional relationship between rare book dealers and their customers. In 1971, the members of the association had increased to a few dozen when the Circle became the Associazione Librai Antiquari d'Italia. The history of the ALAI, the Italian Antiquarian Booksellers' Association.

ILAB, the Early Years