4th ILAB Symposium - Old Books, New Perspectives: The ILAB Symposium Comes to Melbourne

Date & Time: 30 July 2025 | 13:00 – 18:00
Location: Wheeler Centre, Melbourne | 176 Little Lonsdale Street

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the world’s largest international network of the professional rare book trade, invites rare booksellers, librarians, collectors, and anyone handling antiquarian materials to its 2025 ILAB Symposium in Melbourne.

This global forum will bring together leading voices from across the rare book trade, special collections and the academic world to explore pressing issues in the field:

How can we protect collections from theft and prevent the illicit trade of stolen books worldwide?
Where should we draw the line between ethics in conservation and commercial desirability for historical objects?
What are the best practices for cataloguing and recording rare materials with care and integrity?

Following successful symposia in New York, Oxford, and Paris, ILAB is delighted to bring this vital conversation to Australia and New Zealand’s bookselling community and to all of those interested in issues affecting the antiquarian book trade.

Speakers
Mats Petersson – Centralantikvariatet, Stockholm (Sweden)
Dawn Albinger – Archives Fine Books, Brisbane (Australia)
Prof. Lynette Russell – Monash University, Melbourne (Australia)
Nina Whittaker – Museums Victoria, Melbourne (Australia)
Alexander Akin – Bolerium Books, San Francisco (USA)
Natasha Herman – Redbone Bindery, Groningen (Netherlands)
Pom Harrington – Peter Harrington, London (UK)
Philippa Stevens – Fellow, Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (Australia)
Scott DeWolfe – DeWolfe & Wood Rare Books, Maine (USA)

The symposium is co-sponsored by ANZAAB, The Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers.

The full programme will be available very soon.
Participation is free, but registration is essential. Please register at secretariat@ilab.org
The event will be followed by a cocktail reception.

Please find a review by French art market magazine, Gazette Drouot, about the 2024 ILAB symposium in Paris in June >> HERE

Images above from the 2024 ILAB Symposium in Paris