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"I was entering the booktrade in 1978, working for Jake Zeitlin. It was from Howard that I always enjoyed a warm relationship that was welcoming from his heart right from the start. Howard gave me a copy of Armand Coppens' The Memoirs of an Erotic Bookseller. From that book I judged that Howard was a true romantic at heart! He was absolutely unique: my eye was drawn to the wonderfully colored Mexican sculptures around the store and then at his home. I remember going to gatherings at the home and enjoying company, seeing some more books and laughing while having a good time. While Beverly was in the home and store all was brightened and joyful". In May 2012, Howard Karno passed away. An obituary by Jeff Weber.

Shortly after the reopening of the Girolamini Library in Naples in April of 2012 the Director, Marino Massimo de Caro, announced that 1500 books were missing (April 17). On April 20 the Library was closed by the Naples Public Prosecutor. Marino Massimo de Caro has been suspended and was investigated for embezzlement. On May 18, 1000 books, 240 of which have ownership stamps from the Girolamini Library were found in storage in Massimo Marino de Caro's home city of Verona, and on May 24 Mr. de Caro was arrested on the charge of embezzlement along with four others; a search warrant is out for a fifth. In the meantime Massimo Marino de Caro has confessed to the theft of thousands of books from the library and is cooperating with police in tracing them. A number of stolen items from the library have been confiscated by the authorities in Munich (16 items), London (28 items), New York and Tokyo (uncertain numbers). According to what is currently known and what Massimo Marino de Caro has confessed so far, it is very likely that the number of stolen books from the Girolamini Library is higher than 1500 but no definitive list of missing items has been published by Italian authorities so far. It appears also to be clear that the stolen books were spread out via the trade in several countries, in both Europe and elsewhere.

The 52nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair 2019 will feature again the collections and rare treasures of nearly 200 booksellers from over 20 countries around the world.

"To me, collecting has been a voyage of discovery of part of me that I didn't know existed. It has been a fascinating intellectual voyage, and although I normally suffer from motion sickness, this voyage has been mostly smooth and, at times, exhilarating. I meet so many interesting people, and I encounter so many concepts that continue to intrigue and challenge me. And what I find boring, I ignore." Sid Lapidus, ABAA and ILAB Patron of Honour, in his most excellent speech on the true nature of book collecting. Read it!

Here are two of Plutarch's Moralia, published from twelfth-century manuscripts in the Synodal Library in Moscow in 1777 by the German philologist Christian Friedrich Matthäi, and dedicated to Ivan Shuvalov, the Maecenas of the Russian Enlightenment.

Online: The Charlotte M. Smith Collection of Miniature Books - Miniature Books Exhibition and Catalogue - UNT Libraries Digital Collections - 4000 Years of Miniature Books IU Lilly Library Exhibition