Access to reliable and relevant information is vital in a time of crisis. Many of our colleagues are concerned about the following weeks and months, have spend weeks re-organizing the business, were forced to lock up shops, send staff on leave or furlough or are simply in lockdown at home.
Events and fairs in the rare book world were cancelled or postponed all over the world. Now is the time to stand together as a worldwide trade.
AMOR LIBRORUM NOS UNIT - THE LOVE OF BOOKS UNITES US.
Due to the COVID19- crisis, which affects many booksellers and has demanded booksellers over the last few weeks to focus entirely on the challenging situation in the business, we are aware that some booksellers might have not found the time and chance to apply for a scholarship.
Given the current uncertainty around planned events, please find below an update from the Dutch antiquarian booksellers association on the ILAB Congress 2020.
Who ever thought that books that can't exceed 3 inches in any direction could become such a huge success! What was to be a three day visit to Boston to learn about miniature books turned into an adventure that provided me with an excellent opportunity to meet avid collectors, printers, and booksellers that revolves around the saying "yes, a book can be too big!"
A global "ILAB School" without borders: The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers offers internships to students and beginners in the rare book trade who wish to widen their knowledge through practical learning and to plug into the worldwide network of antiquarian bookselling. ILAB booksellers are very welcome to join the ILAB Internship Program and to provide young students an opportunity to gain invaluable hands-on experience in the international rare book business at any time and in any place in the world. Applicants are carefully chosen after they have contacted ILAB Vice-President Norbert Donhofer, who has initiated the Internship Program in 2009 together with Eric Waschke (Canada) and Professor Dr. Olga Tarakanowa (Moscow State University of the Printing Arts). Former interns spent six to eight weeks in Austria, Netherlands, Germany and Hungary (Alena Lavrenova and Anastasya Zhikhareva), Australia (Pavel Chepyzhov), the United Kingdom (Julia Kulyamzina) and the United States (Julia Kulyamzina). Right now ILAB is looking for the following internships:
The Guardian published a very useful article on home office solutions.
ILAB is not endorsing any particular company or software but here are some useful tips.
The idea that I wanted to surround myself with books seemed ridiculous to my adopted parents. They wanted me, an unwanted war baby with an unknown American father, to go into the Army, be a good soldier, kill some people and make a man of myself.
From May 28th to 30th the halls of Olympia will once again present an unparalleled array of literary material at the London International Antiquarian Book Fair. Now in its 58th year, this major three-day event is one of the largest and most prestigious antiquarian book fairs in the world, showcasing rare, unique and unusual items from 180 leading UK and international dealers. From medieval manuscripts to modern signed first editions, visitors hold history in their hands as they view and buy museum-quality books, maps, prints, photographs, manuscripts, letters, ephemera and original artwork. With prices ranging from a few pounds to many, thousands there is something for everyone here.
Translated by Mr. Martin Hamlyn from the official News Sheet of the Austrian Antiquarian Association
This Year the English Association (ABA for short) issued an invitation to London. The Association was holding its fifty year Jubilee, which coincided with the ten year jubilee of the ILAB. There was a record attendance at the Conference with over 160 foreign visitors so that (with a great number of ABA members and their wives and friends), all official functions were well attended, and at the Farewell Dinner there were over 350 present!Dear old London presented herself as of old. With here lovely parks, where, unexpectedly for us, deck chairs for everyone stood ready on the lawns, with her streets, mirabile dictu, full of considerate drivers, a refreshing lack of monster cars (though with plenty of imposing Rolls-Royces), everywhere friendly and modest, helpful people, staff not always greedy for tips, countless typically English businesses, looking back on a long tradition, with handsome galleries and libraries, and in them a profusion of the finest things, shown in a modern and practical fashion.As for the book trade with their inconceivably rich stocks, one has only to stroll through one of the big houses, Maggs, Quaritch, Edwards, Joseph and the rest, to understand what the English book trade means. To which it must be added that there are few pleasanter places in which to do business than the English book trade. If the antiquarian book trade as a whole complains of a lack of wares, the English trade even today is in the pleasant position of being able to count on quick replacement, since London is the place where the greatest supply is to be found. So every foreign visitor found a richly laid table ready, and, as we heard, some astonishingly large reductions were made on the occasion of the Conference. Further proof of the importance of these yearly Conferences for all concerned.
