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In the so-called "Weimarer Appell" artists, scholars, librarians, archivists and all who are interested in the history of the book as the true basis of cultural history appeal to the German authorities to take care of the German cultural treasures by financially supporting book and paper restauration and investing into the growth and protection of libraries and archives in Germany. The "Weimarer Appell" has already been signed by prominent figures like Karl Lagerfeld, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Helmut Schmidt, Bundeskanzler a. D., Friede Springer, Nike Wagner, and Wim Wenders. Join the list of supporters and click here to sign!

Between the World Wars, a "little world war," as Time Magazine described it, took place from 1936-1939. The Spanish Civil War pitted the Republicans, backed by international leftist allies, against the Nationalists and soon-to-be-tyrant General Francisco Franco. You might know a little bit about the history of the Spanish Civil War and its significance in Europe. Both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany supported the dictator, turning the relatively localized war into a prescient event for the megalomania and political atrocities that have come to define World War II. As the Associated Press described it, the "conflict became a battlefield of ideologies . . . fascism against elected socialists and communists." How much do you know about the novelists and poets who not only depicted battles through language, but also fought alongside the Republicans in various regions of the country? From Pablo Neruda to Ernest Hemingway to George Orwell, let's take a relatively quick guided tour through the literary history of the brutal war in Spain.

This little book (it measures only 138 × 108 mm), 'The Secret of taking Daguerreotypes, or the Art of producing Photogenic Pictures with a Camera Obscura', has been described as 'the first photographic manual in the world' (Gernsheim, Concise History of Photography (third edition, p. 11), and is also the first German publication on photography.

Back to the roots: The Preliminary Conference, organized by the Dutch booksellers and initiated by the "Father of the League" Menno Hertzberger, was held in Amsterdam in the year 1947. In 1960, the ILAB delegates from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and USA returned to The Netherlands for their 13th Congress. They spent four fruitful and delightful days in Scheveningen, with excursions to the famous libraries and museums in Amsterdam and Den Haag. Jack Joseph, at that time ABA President and one of 51 (!) British delegates, resumed: "The harmony of this Congress had been perfect, due in part to two working days and two workless days, but in the main to the cordiality exemplified by the splendid feelings evinced by all."

My new computer is scheduled to arrive sometime next week. Maybe. Meanwhile I've been making do. The big screen in the illustration above is the monitor for my mortally ill computer, which can only run filemaker. So I catalog my books on that one, but slowly, or it'll freeze up. The little netbook is my Internet access – google, OCLC, ViaLibri and the like – also done slowly, since it's only got 2 megs of ram. (Just by way of comparison, my new machine will be delivered with 8 gigsof ram.) And the droid, of course, is for quick emails, texting, and other attempts to reach out from computer hell. - Greg Gibson about the tough technical life of an antiquarian bookseller.

During the 41st ILAB Congress, preceded by ILAB's International Antiquarian Book Fair, both in Paris in April 2014, the 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography of 10.000 USD will be awarded. Since 1967, when Jean Peeters-Fontainas received the first Prize for his outstanding "Bibliographie des impressions Espagnoles aux Pays-Bas méridionaux", famous scholars have submitted the best books about books. Many of them have become standard works both in scientific research and in the antiquarian book trade. Seventy books about books have been submitted to the Prize, which has become one of the most prestigious international awards. Among them many bio-bibliographical studies of the life and works of famous authors such as John Gilbert's highly praised Ian Fleming bibliography or C. E. Grissom's, D. C. Smith's and D. A. Richards' excellent works on Ernest Hemingway, H. G. Wells and Rudyard Kipling. Another brilliant book is devoted to an author who gave us the image of a "Brave New World": Aldous Huxley.