articles

"The State Library of Victoria in Melbourne holds 27 medieval and renaissance manuscripts. Last year the SLV finished digitising nearly all of its manuscripts along with five manuscripts held by the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery." Read the whole article by Anthony Tedeschi.

In mid-April the Austrian antiquarian bookseller Norbert Donhofer was elected ILAB President. In an interview with Bettina Führer he talks about recent challenges of the international antiquarian book trade and his plans for the upcoming two years of his presidency.

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.

After the 40th ILAB Congress in Switzerland in September 2012 the antiquarian booksellers will look forward to meeting each other again in Paris in 2014. The 41st ILAB Congress will be one of many occasions where ILAB affiliates come together in France on invitation of the Syndicat National de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM) which will celebrate its centennial in 2014. The 14th Congress, for example, was also held in Paris, another exciting event in the history of the League.

In response to AbeBooks' recent announcement to withdraw from several markets and the closure of booksellers' accounts by 30 November 2018, the Antiquarian Booksellers Association declines a sponsorship deal with the London Rare Book Fair "Firsts" in 2019.