Max Israel, antiquarian bookseller and publisher, died on Friday October 12, 2001 at the age of 85. He was one of the last representatives of a generation of antiquarian booksellers who founded flourishing companies, mostly in Amsterdam, after the second World War; companies that were soon highly respected both at home and abroad.
We are very sorry to report the death of Anthony Rota, peacefully on Sunday 13th December. There will be a private family cremation. Details of a memorial service will be announced in the new year. Anthony Rota was President of the ABA from 1971 to 1972, a long-serving ILAB Committee Member, Treasurer and Vice-President, President of the ILAB from 1988 to 1991, and subsequently an ILAB President of Honour ...
The death of Alan Shelley from cancer at the age of 68 on November 18th at Chailey Hospice, near Lewes, is an occasion of great sadness to his family and to his many friends both within and without the rare book trade. He had resigned from the Presidency of the ABA only three weeks before on the grounds of ill health after a notably successful spell at a difficult time in the Association's affairs.
Remember: At the ILAB Pop Up Book Fairs on UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day a donation of 3 US $ will send one book to a child in South Sudan, 15 US $ purchase a set of 12 school books for a classroom, and 500 US $ provide 45 school book collections for a rural community in Africa. Support UNESCO's work by filling the "empty bookcase" with symbolic books which will be turned into real books for schools in Africa! The ABAJ blog and these pictures show - in Japanese - how to fill the bookcases and to donate money to the UNESCO project in South Sudan:
We are happy to let you know that a new SLAM Committee was elected during the General Assembly held on 14th December 2009, for a period of three years:
"I have come to realize that these people are not "Librarians." They're smart, enthusiastic, creative men and women, who get as much of a kick out of what they're doing as we booksellers get from what we do. And with budget cuts, staff reductions, and monstrously increased workloads leaving them less time to pour over quotes and catalogs, our responsibilities as dealers change. Our abilities to locate material and to place it within its historical context can be of great benefit in collection development, especially if we know who we're working with, and what they're working on."
The 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography will be awarded in 2014 to one or more bibliographies or books about books published between 2009 and 2012. Seven books have already been submitted, among them bibliographies, biographies, library catalogues, studies on bookbinding and conference papers about "Early Printed Books as Material Object". They come from France, Italy, the United States, Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom.
"Inspired by Hurricane Katrina, Buster Keaton, The Wizard of Oz, and a love for books, old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time." As usual the Academy Awards 2012 saw lots of George Clooney and Angelina Jolie, but the secret hero of the evening was: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore.
A collection of over 10,000 items that has been described as the greatest private library of Jewish books and manuscripts, has been acquired by the National Library of Israel. Collector Mr Jack V. Lunzer died in December last year in Britain and had always intended to sell the collection as a whole after 60 years of building this important library.
