77 years and counting: Amsterdam at the heart of ILAB & A day at the Rijksmuseum

After the devastation of the Second World War, Dutch bookseller Menno Hertzberger, President of the Dutch antiquarian booksellers association - Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren (NVvA) - approached his fellow booksellers in the Netherlands and abroad with a visionary idea: to discuss the formation of an international association for the rare book trade.
In 1947 booksellers from Denmark, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden met to discuss this project; a year later, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers was formally founded. (READ MORE)

77 years later, our Dutch colleagues spared no effort in inviting colleagues from all over the world, organising a high quality programme of events and a first class networking event that will be long remembered by all participants.

Our thanks go to the NVvA organising team: Arine van der Steur, Sascha Kok, Edwin and Liesbeth Bloemsaat and NVvA President Laurens Hesselink. However, we will not forget the 2020 Amsterdam Congress plans, cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. Without Frank Rutten and the team of that time, which also included Arine van der Steur and Sascha Kok, as well as Ingrid Oei, Monja Burgers and Joanna Rozendaal, this year's congress would have not taken place.
Our thanks go to all these colleagues who spent many, many hours meticulously planning this truly unique event.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, Amsterdam was home to some of Europe's most renowned printers and publishers, such as the Elzevir family, whose name became synonymous with high-quality book production, or other notable publishers such as Blaeu and Janssonius, who specialised in maps, atlases and scientific works, cementing Amsterdam's reputation in cartographic and scientific publishing.
The city's global trading networks enabled Amsterdam publishers to distribute their books widely, both within Europe and to colonies and trading posts around the world. Amsterdam became a major exporter of books in Latin, French, Dutch, English and other languages. The 17th century, often referred to as the Dutch Golden Age, was a period of great prosperity and cultural achievement in the Dutch Republic. This period coincided with the rise of Amsterdam as a major centre of book production.
Traces of this rich book history can still be found throughout the city today, and the ILAB Congress was a wonderful opportunity to show some of these highlights.

The first day of the congress took booksellers to one of the world's most famous museums, the Rijksmuseum.

Our congress participants were welcomed by Saskia Scheltjens, Head of Research Services, and Alex Alsemgeest, Curator of Library Collections at the Rijksmuseum, with a breakfast and then a guided tour with a presentation of the highlights of the collection in the Cuypers Library.

In addition to the famous Dutch old masters everyone expects to see, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals and others, the museum also houses one of the most important art libraries in the world and the iconic Cuypers Library hall. It is one of the architectural treasures of the museum, named after its architect Pierre Cuypers (1827 - 1921). The books and periodicals cover the full range of the museum's collections, with a particular focus on artists and recipe books. From an early 16th century 'Künstbuechlein' (1535) to manuscript recipe books from the 18th century.

And if it hadn't been for our guides, we would never have known that the names of famous printers, publishers and also antiquarian booksellers are painted on the library's columns.

When construction of the library began, the collection consisted of only 139 books, but the plan was to expand it to 50,000. A first-class museum should have a first-class library! The library opened in December 1888 with just a few thousand books, but by the 1930s it had filled all shelves. Today the collection consists of around half a million books, periodicals and auction catalogues.

The pictures speak for themselves!

But the library was not the only highlight shown to us at the museum. ILAB had the incredible pleasure of even enjoying a concert.
The Rijksmuseum, with the permission of curator Prof. Dr. Giovanni Paolo Di Stefano, offered two musicians the rare opportunity to perform on an original double-manual harpsichord made in Antwerp in 1640 by the renowned Ruckers family, and on a replica of a virginal (no longer playable) made by the same family in the same year. Both instruments are held in the Musical Instruments Collection and ILAB booksellers were allowed to listen not only to a concert on these harpsichords but also a lecture "From Paper to Sound - The Impact of printmaking on early keyboard decoration" by Prof. Di Stefano.

And it wouldn't be a congress if booksellers wouldn't have time to relax and enjoy a wonderful dinner, appropriately that night at the famous restaurant "Rijks". Good night, Amsterdam.