“I felt strong enough to lift a mountain” declared Alexandre Dumas after a visit to Georgia in 1858.
Presidents of ILAB’s member associations certainly felt equally inspired after a week of meetings in the capital, Tbilisi.
LET ME TELL YOU A STORY. Well, it felt like a story at the time, and not without a whisper of magic. Celtic magic. Book collectors, after all, are irrepressible raconteurs. For every book in their collection, there is a backstory to spin. Here is one of mine:
Have you recently become a bookseller? Would it help if you could get regular advice from an experienced ILAB antiquarian bookseller in your field? Report by mentored bookseller Gregor Gumpert.
The UK Guardian has picked up on one of the most significant archival discoveries of recent times; a first folio with hundreds of annotations by John Milton, possibly one of the most important literary discoveries of modern times.
Princeton University Library announces landmark exhibition of fifteenth-century books showcasing rare collections on early European printing from Scheide Library and nine other institutions.
The Art Newspaper has responded to ILAB's announcement to the international trade and press with an update on the imposed tariffs on products from China exported into the US.
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.
On Valentine's Day we celebrate a holiday of love, commitment, chocolate… and 19th-century norms on reproduction and dating? Yes, the 1800s: A reminder that sex wasn't always fun or accurate. And there's no better antiquarian book to savor on Valentine's Day than 'Physiological Mysteries and Revelations in Love, Courtship, and Marriage; An Infallible Guide-Book for Married and Single Persons in Matters of the Utmost Importance to the Human Race' (1842). Now say that three times fast.
A brilliant exhibition of illuminated manuscripts opened this weekend at the Fitzwilliam Museum. If you have any chance of getting to Cambridge before the end of the year this is something you absolutely should not miss.
We celebrate literary giant John Milton, author of Paradise Lost. His poetry profoundly influenced English literature and in particular the works of William Wordsworth, William Blake, Alexander Pope, and John Keats. Now, over three centuries since his death, Milton remains one of the greatest of all English poets.
William S. Kundig had been the first president of the Swiss Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association (VEBUKU), founded in 1939. Nine years later he also became the first president of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB).
After his election at the first ILAB Congress in Copenhagen in 1948 he was the driving force behind the scenes. Kundig never stopped in his endeavours to unite the national associations and its booksellers under ILAB’s roof. “Without his determination and forceful character”, Percy H. Muir said, “the League could well have foundered before it was truly launched.” In 1950 he had to retire due to serious health problems. But his wit, charm and diplomacy are legendary.
Simon Beattie recommends a copy of the first separate edition in any language of Oscar Wilde's unfinished play, A Florentine Tragedy, translated into Russian from a copy of Wilde's manuscript and published in Moscow by Skorpion in 1907.
