Booksellers affiliated to ILAB are based in 37 countries worldwide, organised in 22 national associations. The Czech antiquarian bookseller’s association, Svaz Antikváru ČR, one of ILAB's smaller member associations, currently counts 14 members across the country.
ILAB congratulates Australian bookseller Douglas Stewart on his appointment as new President of the Australian and New Zealand booksellers association.
ILAB spoke to one of the newer members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association, Anke Timmermann who jointly owns and runs the business Type & Forme with her partner Mark James: "...the printed book and manuscripts have lost none of their allure in the new millennium, and antiquarian books are arguably even better appreciated in recent years ... Social media, especially Instagram, have brought forth a new generation of bibliophiles..."
Treglown, who operates from an office in Macclesfield, believes he is the first president of the venerable ABA – the world’s oldest art trade association – to come from “north of the Watford Gap”.
Before the opening of the 56th Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair, we spoke to Götz Kocher-Benzing of Stuttgarter Antiquariat and asked why Stuttgart is still such an attractive place to buy and browse and trade in antiquarian books.
By the book: Bringing antiquarian bookselling into the 21st century
Pom Harrington on the thrill of selling first editions of Shakespeare, Shackleton and Churchill
Does anyone know of any antiquarian booksellers in Iran? Follow Hugh Myers, cataloguer and researcher at Hordern House (Sydney, Australia), on his amazing trip through the country.
Away to Scotland for a rather special rare book trade occasion last week. A retirement party for our old friend Elizabeth Strong (McNaughtan's Bookshop) – not just a retirement party but also a welcome party for Derek and Anna Walker, who are taking over this much-loved bookshop on Haddington Place from Elizabeth. A big day for her, but perhaps an ever bigger one for them. The closing of one era, the opening of another – a passing on of the baton from one generation to the next. A time for celebration. A time for reflection. A goodish crowd of bookish folk. Edinburgh stalwart Ian Watson (John Updike Rare Books) was there. Cooper Hay had come over from Glasgow. Andrew Hunter (Blackwell's Rare Books) was up from Oxford. Family, friends, customers. A few choice words from our president, Oscar Graves-Johnston. A few words of farewell, welcome and introduction from Elizabeth. A few words of appreciation and anticipation from the Walkers.
Great news: The Guardian and Associated Press report that the Hebrew University of Jerusalem puts online 2,000 documents from the Albert Einstein archives including unseen letters, postcards and research notes.
Maria Rodionova: Australia 2014 (Part 2) - So now I should tell you about the last two weeks that I spent in Australia. Basically, during those two weeks I worked with Paul Feain at his auction house - Sydney Rare Book Auctions - and at Cornstalk Bookshop. There I had an opportunity to consider the huge number of completely different books. Especially I was surprised to find a few Russian books. Some of them were in English, which was absolutely no surprise to find them there. Others were in Russian and about Russia and I was very pleased and astonished about that. Two wonderful girls who worked with Paul, Krista and Olivia, showed me some very interesting things. For example, the way they work with eBay. Of course, I knew how to operate this site, but in Australia I learned for the first time how useful it is when you work with antique books and how easy it is to handle it. It is amazing, but sometimes even the obvious can be an eye-opener. All in all, I can say with confidence that I had many pleasant and useful minutes in Paul's shop, which unfortunately has already closed down, and aside from the fact that I learned some interesting things about books, I got great pleasure staying there.
Fine Books & Collections announces: "The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is currently performing a conservation treatment to ensure the long-term preservation of Thomas Jefferson's bible, a small handmade book that provides an intimate view of Jefferson's private religious and moral philosophy ...
Having thought about it though, it did occur to me that the real problem with that Treasure Detectives malarkey was not even the fact that they had no clue what they were on about … more the fact that to someone "normal" it would be really hard to tell. If I were wandering the earth all besotted with books and suddenly had a windfall from a mysterious Romanian Great Uncle I'd never previously heard of, and I wanted to start collecting books … how would I go about it? First … there are rules. They are for you, and like all of the best rules, they are rules that don't just apply to book collecting.
The Bibliography Prize 2012 of the Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM) will be awarded to Martine Delaveau and Yann Sordet for: « L'Imitation de Jésus-Christ (1470-1800). » Etudes et catalogue collectif des fonds conservés à la bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, à la Bibliothèque Nationale de France, à la Bibliothèque Mazarine et à la Bibliothèque de la Sorbonne. Coédition BnF / Bibliothèque Mazarine / Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, 2011. 21 x 29,7 cm, hardcover, 520 pages, 113 illustrations.
July 19th is the birthday of inventor Samuel Colt (1814), who is remembered for the revolver that bears his name. Colt didn't invent the revolver but his designs greatly improved it and his assembly line manufacturing system made mass production of the sidearms practical.
