On June 18, 2018, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier inaugurated the Thomas Mann House in Los Angeles. More than 250 guests from the worlds of culture, science, politics and the media gathered in the house on San Remo Drive in Pacific Palisades, a borough of Los Angeles.
“I belong to that class of unfortunate beings who are addicted to a habit which it is not easy to break off. This sounds alarming, but let me assure you that neither drug nor dram is the cause of my undoing, and that I have no intention of following in the foot-steps of the English Opium-Eater. The truth is that I am a bibliophile, and I suffer a complaint common to the tribe, namely a feverish appetite which can only be assuaged by choice tit-bits in the form of ancient quartos and duodecimos”.
Today, July 18, 2018, the world celebrates Mandela’s 100th anniversary. In 1962 at the age of 44, Mandela was arrested when South Africa’s apartheid regime took drastic measures against political opposition, in particular against members of the African National Congress (ANC). Nelson R. Mandela passed away in December 2013 but has remained an icon for democracy, freedom and the fight against a racial and class divide.
This week, the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar will take place - an unmissable opportunity for booksellers to learn about the rare book trade and get hands on advice from experienced and highly respected booksellers.
BBC journalist Duncan Leatherdale looks at author's autographs, presentation and dedication copies and asks ILAB bookseller Pom Harrington why some books are more valuable than others.
Pavel Chepyzhov is the owner of a rare book business in Moscow and in Georgia's capital Tbilisi. He is also member of the ILAB Executive Committee and shares some information about his country and the book trade in Russia.
Nigel Beale, journalist and bibliophile, regularly interviews accomplished authors, publishers, and "sundry biblio folk". In June 2018, he met with NY bookseller Glenn Horowitz. Listen to this fascinating podcast here.
Rebecca Lawton (M.Litt Mediaeval History 2015) has been working on a collection of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts as part of a collaborative PhD between the University of Leicester and the British Library. ILAB would like to share her original blog post to demonstrate the work and research currently taking place in the field of rare books.
Part two of our interview with David A. Williamson, one of the largest Stephen King collectors in the world. In 2009, he bought Betts Books and one of his greatest joys is helping other King collectors find that "special" collectible for their own collections. He lives in Fairfield, CT, is married and has three children.
A truly fine copy of To Kill A Mockingbird (1960) is a rare bird indeed. The black portions of the jacket rub easily to white (and are prime areas for "touchup" by booksellers who should have their magic markers confiscated by the book police), the brown portions fade, and the book itself tends to "cock " or slant from the spine.
This new volume of the Publishing Pathways series examines the relationship between the business of print and the practice of art and design across five centuries. It explores the role played by the book trade in the diffusion of artistic and architectural theory, fashion, and practice, and traces the impact of advances in the techniques of binding, color printing, and illustration on the appearance of books. Among the topics discussed are the printed sources for decorative motifs in sixteenth-century churches, the publication history of the works of Andrea Palladio, and the evolution of drawing manuals in seventeenth-century England. Other subjects include the library formed by the architect Sir John Soane, developments in nineteenth-century art publishing, and the role of printed catalogues in documenting the acquisitions made by English collectors of paintings, sculpture, and antiquities.
Here's an interesting idea for a private library: collect nothing but titles that have been penned by prisoners. If you think such a book collection might contain mostly accounts of prison life, think again ... some of the world's greatest, as well as some of the most influential, literature ever written was penned by prisoners.
Bologna will host an event very important for all of us, the International Congress of the ILAB, from September 20th to 26th, 2010. After more than 20 years the Italian association, ALAI, has again the honour – and the responsibility – of taking care of its organization, employing the experienced Noema Congressi, which succesfully organized 6 book fairs in Bologna and the ALAI Book fair in Milan in 2008. Bologna will be the main centre of the Congress, that will include meetings and visits to ancient libraries and works of art also in neighbouring towns. The book fair will take place on September 24-26th, and it will be an event fully integrated into the Congress: after the trips to Bologna, Ravenna, Modena and Ferrara from Monday to Thursday (including visits to the Malatestiana, Classense, Estense, Archiginnasio libraries), we will have the General Assembly and the Farewell Dinner during the 3 days of the show, while all the accompanying people and the non-exhibitor delegates will have the chance to visit Parma and Mantua.
