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.
ILAB is like the United Nations for antiquarian booksellers. As a truly global umbrella organization it shows that the rare book business is fascinating in its diversity: from Europe to South Africa and the United States, to Australia and Asia. When in 1989 the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of Korea (ABAK) was founded, the antiquarian booksellers in the Republic of Korea immediately became affiliated to ILAB. And now, for the first time, the South Korean colleagues exhibited at this year's London International Antiquarian Book Fair. T.J. Kim, owner of Tmecca Korea, Inc. in Seoul, was one of them. He tells us about rare bookselling in his home country, his own career and future perspectives of the trade.
We found ourselves in the Sussex market town of Midhurst the other day – very pleasant, even in the rain – partly as an episode in the ongoing quest for perfect seasoned logs to keep the home fires burning (the ones available locally are apparently just lumps of wood – but that's another story). So obviously also an opportunity not to be missed to call on Philip Remington (of Reg & Philip Remington), who is nowadays quartered in these parts. Now, while the name Remington might merely suggest rifles or razors to some people, to those of us in the real world it means only one thing: the finest of fine books in the spheres of exploration, voyages and travel. The firm can trace its origins back to that day in 1951 when Reg Remington was taken on by the Francis Edwards firm as a trainee, rising through the ranks to become in turn assistant to Herbert Edwards, then Edwards' successor as head of the voyages and travel department, and then a director of the firm. Meanwhile, his son Philip was undergoing his own vigorous training at the so fondly remembered Hodgson's Auction Rooms on Chancery Lane. In 1979 they joined forces to begin trading independently, taking on a shop in London's Cecil Court in 1980, where they remained as one of its great adornments until 2002.
There's an exciting new project at the University of Virginia that highlights the significance of the book as a physical object and the individual histories of library books. At a moment in which the physicality of university libraries (and others across the country) are under threat of depletion due to the looming presence of the electronic text, we couldn't imagine a more compelling project than Book Traces. It's a crowd-sourced web project sponsored by NINES at the University of Virginia, and it's led by Andrew Stauffer, a professor of 19th-century literature at UVA. We had a chance to catch up with Professor Stauffer to ask some questions about the origins, current uses, and futures of Book Traces.
On April 29, 2010, the family and close friends of Barney Rosenthal met at the renowned Family Club in San Francisco to celebrate Barney's 90th birthday. In addition to Barney, his wife Ruth, and his son David, about 40 librarians, collectors, dealers, printers, and binders, gathered to honor the great man.
We're planning a really festive and utterly splendid day out for the book trade on Thursday 13th December – an afternoon of activity, followed by the legendary ABA Christmas Party (none of this restricted to ABA members). The venue is to be the St. Bride Foundation in Blackfriars – and what a fine choice it is. The First Lady and I were there the other day for a preview of what's in store, at the invitation of the Chief Executive of the Foundation, the very amiable Glyn Farrow. Most booksellers are in thrall with their work, of course, but how nice to meet someone else so enthusiastic, so energetic and so palpably in love with his.
The British Library and Google will join forches to digitze 250,000 books from the library's collections, including printed books, pamphlets and periodicals from 1700 to 1870 in a variety of languages.
A signed book is a sought-after collectible for a bibliophile, and it can add exponential value to a book collection. Whether you're just beginning your collection or are a seasoned collector, what should you consider when looking for and purchasing a signed book? What's the best "type" of signature?
The poem that gave us Santa Claus as an American tradition was first published anonymously in the Troy (NY) Sentinel in 1823. For generations, the poem was attributed to Clement C. Moore, a wealthy Manhattan biblical scholar. Then about a decade ago, a literary sleuth from Vassar College advanced the notion that the famous poem was actually written by Henry Livingston Jr., a gentleman poet from Poughkeepsie. The literary landscape at Christmas time has never been the same since.
