Amsterdam 1968 (Committee)
NEWSLETTER 18
COMMITTEE MEETING
Amsterdam 1st & 2nd October 1968
Minutes
Present
Messrs. Stanley Crowe, Georges Deny, F. De Nobele, Max Elte, M. Hertzberger, Dudley Massey, E. Grenholt-Pedersen, Geoffrey Steele
Mrs. F. Olschki-Witt
Mr. R. Wormser
Apologies for absence received from Mr. Percy Muir.
The president welcomed everybody and thanked the Dutch association for their hospitality.
He apologised to Messrs. Georges Deny and Einar Gronholt-Pedersen for having left out their names on the list of Honorary Presidents in Letter N° 17. He read a letter from Mr. Nitta (Secretary of the Japanese Association) who regretted that he could not come to Amsterdam, but asked us to help three of his fellow booksellers who were taking part in the Fair and also attending the training course for young booksellers.
1. President's Report.
In reply to the request made by Messrs. Nebehay and Crowe in London, photostats of all correspondence received and sent by the president had been sent to Committee members, and in certain cases, to the Honorary presidents and presidents of associations, when necessary. Letters received are forwarded in the language in which they are written. Those sent by the President are always written, either in the language of the country of the recipient, for replies to specific matters, or in the two official languages for general information, to all countries; except for Great Britain and the D.S.A. who only receive the English text, whilst Belgium and the Latin countries only receive the French text. This system seems to be satisfactory and will be continued.
Once again, the president deplored the fact that some booksellers who are members of associations belonging to the League, do not grant the usual 10% discount on catalogue prices. It was appreciated that the associations are unable to exert other than moral pressure. It was suggested that it might be a good idea to publish a list of those who do not conform.
The president showed a catalogue published by the Verband deutscher Antiquare, and was pleased to notice that the cooperation between members of the two old rival associations is now effective.
2. Treasurer's Report :
In hand :
Doylestown Federal Savings & Loan Assoc. 5,865.63
Doylestown National Bank & Trust Co 3,127.08
Emigrant Savings Bank 7,584.48
Cooperatieve Raiffeisenbank Valkenburg Z.-H 7,000.00
$ 23,577.19
Income:
Annual dues 2,366.00
(Unpaid Finland 23.00; Great Britain
400.00; Sweden 81.00 = 504.00).
Other (About 1,100.00 in directory ads.) . 1,282.03
Interest on savings 418.90
$ 4,066.93
Expenses:
Committee meeting in Jan. & Presidents'
meeting in May (includes travel expenses
of members) 1,035.85
Other (printing, secretaries' fees, postage, …) 1.296 06
$ 2,331.91
Excess of income over expenses US $ 1,735.02
3. Directory.
A report was received from Mr. Elte who presented a copy of the new edition to each member of the Committee. He received well- deserved compliments and thanks for his arduous task.
Because of the financial success of this edition, copies will be sent to the associations free of postal and packing expenses. Out of 1700 copies on ordinary paper, only 209 remain unsold and 18 out of the 450 copies printed on thin paper.
The difference between printing and other expenses and receipts (advertisements, maps, sale of copies) shows a profit of about US $ 4000.
The suggested sales price is US $ 6 per copy on ordinary paper and US s 8 on thin paper.
Mr. Elte asked to be relieved of the responsibility of preparing the next edition. As the League now has an administrative secretary, the question will be looked into. The view was expressed that while, in theory, each national association has a current record of its members, it was found necessary in practice to make a completely fresh beginning each time a new edition of the Directory is published. It was agreed that Mr. Elte will send an interleaved copy of the 1968 Directory to each president, with a request that it would be used to keep an up-to-date record of changes and facilitate the production of the next edition of the Directory.
4. The League's Office.
Despite the inquiry made by Christian Nebehay and letters received from Messrs. Muir and Poursin, it had been impossible to find out where the late president Kundig might have had the League registered.
The Committee, therefore, agreed unanimously for the necessity of having the I.L.A.B. registered in Geneva and declared as a non- profit making federation, and appointed Maitre Hotz, avocat-notaire in Neuchatel (Switerland) to be adviser and legal representative of the League.
Mr. Nebehay was entrusted with this matter.
5. Revision of the Rules.
This work will be continued at the next Committee meeting and all the amendments and additions will be presented to the General Assembly in Copenhagen.
6. Training courses for young booksellers.
In view of the number of participants, we can say that this experiment was successful, since, in spite of the late announcement, 29 young booksellers came to Amsterdam to attend the courses created by Mr. Menno Hertzberger with the help of Mr. de Graaf, under the auspices of the League (the programme was published in the Information Letter N° 17). A surprise was included in the programme : the League invited all the young booksellers to attend the farewell dinner organised by the Fair Committee on board a boat. These young people were asked to send briefly to the organisers their impressions, criticisms and suggestions to assist in planning for the future. Mr. Hertzberger said that he was unable to accept the responsibility of organising the next course. De Nederlandsche Vereeiniging van Antiquaren will take care of the organisation of the 1969 training courses with the help of Mr. Hertzberger.
A summary of the observations made by the young booksellers is as follows:
1. General manifestation of interest.
2. They found that the bilingual translation was both long and dreary: they suggest dividing the group in two parts, one French and one English, with a possibility of exchange to practise the other language and also to maintain international contacts.
3. They would like the theoretical part to be illustrated by examples, and regret that when the young booksellers visited the Fair, the booksellers, with one exception, were not at their booths to give some necessary explanations.
4. Suggestion that a programme of the courses should be sent beforehand to a few young booksellers so that they could prepare them and discuss them with their colleagues.
5. Lectures by the young booksellers themselves.
6. The modern book should not be neglected.
7. Dates for the courses : some would like them at the same time as fairs or exhibitions - and others in September or October.
[N. B. Translation of the letters received in German has not been received when sending the newsletter to press].
The national organisations represented on the Committee specified their preferences as to the time and length of the courses : August, and over two years.
7. Confidential List. Report.
8. Book Fairs.
A. New York Fair March 30th-April 2nd 1969.
All foreign booksellers, provided they are members of an association belonging to the I.L.A.B., are invited to take part in this fair. Mr. Wormser suggested that he should examine with the Managing Committee of the A.B.A.A. the best way of including the name of the League at this fair, it being understood that, according to the decisions taken, the League can only officially patronise one exhibition every two years; one year a congress or Presidents' meeting and the next year a fair. The new Canadian association has also been invited to take part in this Fair. (Details of the organisation of this fair appear later on).
B. Amsterdam Fair.
With the consent of the organising Committee, the president had prepared a questionnaire for the participants. At the end of the Fair, 58 out of 61 booksellers had returned this questionnaire partially or completely filled in, which gives the following information :
48 exhibitors effected between 60 and 100% of their sales to fellow booksellers.
5 exhibitors sold between 65 and 100% to new customers (the rest between 0 and 50%).
27 booksellers sold between I and 100% to customers already known to them.
The total amount of sales declared by 32 booksellers (out of 61, the rest have modestly avoided replying to this question) comes to about 547.000 Florins.
Amount of purchases made by booksellers at the Fair: 336.000 Fl. Amount of purchases made by booksellers in Holland: 130.000 Fl. 24 booksellers have stated that they would like to take part in the New York Fair and 29 in the Paris Fair. 20 are undecided (perhaps or?) for New York and 15 for Paris. 14 replies are in the negative for New York, 7 for Paris, and the rest did not reply to this question.
Here is a summary of the criticisms and remarks made :
First of all, many compliments and thanks were expressed to the Dutch Association.
Secondly, a few criticisms :
1) Not enough international publicity. 2) Not enough private customers, and therefore several suggestions to limit the fair to two days, with a trend towards transactions between booksellers.
3) Numerous criticisms on the fact that books were sold before the opening of the fair, and, a more serious point, that outsiders were allowed to enter the fair before the official opening.
4) Some anxiety about insufficient security measures; many requests for an air-conditioned building and some people found that the opening from 10 h. to 22 h. on the Friday was too long.
9. The next congress of the League will be held in Copenhagen from August 31st to September 5th 1969 on the invitation of the Danske Antikvarboghandlerforeining. Mr. E. Gronholt-Pedersen gave the broad outline of the programme which will be confirmed at a later date :
Saturday August 30th : Committee only: Meeting at 15 h. Evening : dinner for the Committee.
Sunday August 31st : Committee meeting: 15 h. Reception for members of the Congress : 18 h. 30-20 h.
Monday September 1st: Committee meeting : 9 h. 30. Presidents' meeting : 10h.30. General Assembly: 14 h. 45· Visit to the Kunstindustri Museet at the end of the day.
Tuesday September 2nd: Same work programme. Fur display in the afternoon for the ladies. Evening : Royal Ballet Performance.
Wednesday September 3rd : Excursion to the North Seeland including the castle of Elsinore. Collection of impressionist paintings: at about 18 h.
Thursday September 4th: General Assembly (if necessary) : 10 h. Visit to the Carlsberg museum and brewery. Evening free.
Friday September 5th: Committee meeting: 10 h. Afternoon : Trip on the canals of Copenhagen. Evening : Farewell dinner.
Mr. Gronholt-Pedersen made a slight digression to explain the system used in Denmark, in agreement with the police, to warn colleagues of thefts, dishonoured cheques, etc. committed to the detriment of booksellers. A similar system exists in Paris, and a detailed description of this will be given at the general assembly.
10. Newsletter N° I7.
Could not be printed and so distributed before the end of July because the final details on the organisation of the training courses for young booksellers were awaited. For this reason, the proofs could not be sent away for correction, with the result that there were some unfortunate mistakes in the English text.
Provided that the secretariat has enough time, we will try to reduce the printing expenses by comparing the estimates of various printers.
11 (a) Triennial Prize:
Mr. Deny stated that the jury plans to meet in Frankfurt next February. The complete list of books received up to date will be published in the next Newsletter.
11 (b) International Association of Bibliophiles.
This association was to have held a congress in Poland in 1969. However, in view of certain difficulties concerning the issuing of visas, the president declined this invitation, as it could no longer be an international reunion. The annual general assembly will discuss the preparation of this 7th congress when they meet in December. (May we remind you that the president of the ILAB is automatically a member of the board of this association).
11 (c) The Canadian Association.
We have heard that an association of antiquarian booksellers has been formed in Canada whose president is Mr. Bernard Amtmann, Montreal (P. Q.). As the booksellers belonging to this association are also invited to take part in the New York Fair, contacts will probably be made with them on this occasion.
These minutes have been compiled by F.D.N., with the collaboration of Messrs. Christian Nebehay and Stanley Crowe and will be submitted to the Committee members for approval at the next meeting.
Paris, November 1968.
INTERNATIONAL ANTIQUARIAN BOOKFAIR
New York 1969.
Bulletin nr 2 - November 1, 1968
As you know, a Book Fair, under the auspices of the A.B.A.A. will be held in conjunction with our Twentieth Anniversary Meeting and Dinner, March 30th thru April 2nd, 1969.
Plans for the Book Fair are now well advanced. Applications are coming in at a rapid rate and interested booksellers are urged to send their deposits without delay. Only firms whose deposit is received by Jan. 15, 1969 will have their names entered in the printed roster of participants.
Date and Hours : Sunday, March 30, 1969 thru Wednesday, April 2, 1969.
Sunday : Benefit opening from 6 : 30 P. M. to 10: 00 P. M. See admissions, below.
Monday:2:00 P. M. to 10:00 P. M.
Tuesday and Wednesday: 11 : 00 A. M. to 5: 00 P. M.
Thursday: Dismantle booths before noon. Help will be available for re-packing and shipping.
Place: Hotel Commodore, Park Avenue at 42nd Street, New York. We have rented the Windsor Ballroom which offers ideal facilities for display and is easily accessible to all visitors.
Cost: Each booth will cost $ 275.00. This includes furniture rental, setting-up and dismantling. A minimum deposit of $75.00 is required. Balance to be paid on or before Mar. 1, 1969.
Participation: All members of A B.A A , all members of foreign associations affiliated with I.L.A.B., and all members of the newly formed Canadian Association (A. B. A C.) are eligible.
Number of Exhibitors: We can accommodate 45, perhaps 50 booths. Sharing of one booth by two firms is, of course, acceptable. We suggest your early decision as almost half of the available space is already rented to dealers from the U. S., England, Switzerland and Japan.
Registration: A minimum deposit of $ 75.00 is required. Checks should be made payable to TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY BOOK FAIR and sent to Miss Adina Cohen, Treasurer, Argosy Book Stores, 116 East 59th Street, New York, N. Y. 10022.
Booths: Size will be approximately 10' x 10'. Lighted display cases, shelves, tables and chairs will be provided. Further details will be sent to exhibitors. Dealers having special requirements for the displays of graphics or pictorial material please indicate when sending in your reservation.
Shipping Instructions will be sent to each exhibitor according to his requirements. For repacking and shipping help will be available if required.
Publicity: We expect to have a budget sufficient for adequate publicity in the news media. In addition, printed announcements of the Fair will be sent to exhibitors, who wish them, for mailing to their customers.
Admission: There will be an admission charge to the Fair for the benefit of the New York Public Library. Admission charges have been tentatively established as follows: Opening evening (also good for the entire Fair), $ 3.50. Daily tickets $ 1.00.
Accommodations: The Hotel Commodore has reserved a large block of rooms at relatively favourable rates which we will be glad to allot to exhibitors upon request.
Other Events: On April 1st we will hold the 20th Anniversary Meeting of the A. B. A. A. followed by our annual dinner. The hotel has excellent facilities for your lighter moments.
We look forward to hearing from you and to welcoming you to the Fair. If you plan to participate we urge you again to give this matter your earliest attention. Please remember, space is limited. We would hate to disappoint you.
Cordially,
Bernard M. Rosenthal, President A.B.A.A
Elisabeth Woodbum, Chairman, Twentieth Anniversary Book Fair Committee
Please address all correspondence to :
Elisabeth Woodburn, Chairman Book Fair Committee Booknoll Farm, Hopewell, N. J. 0852.5 [Tel. area 609 466-0522]
DIVERSE INFORMATION
GERMANY
We have received from the new German association, Verband Deutscher Antiquare e.V., a copy of their rules. The Committee has noticed, with the greatest satisfaction, that the Compendium of Usages and Customs of the League has been included in full in these new rules.
We take this opportunity of reminding you that the S.L.A.M. (France) also publishes these Usages and Customs in addition to its own rules, and the S.L. A.C.E.S. (Switzerland) as well. We do not give up all hope of one day seeing these Usages and Customs applied willingly by booksellers throughout the world, and in particular, the application of the 10 %discount on catalogue prices and the prices marked in the bookshops.
The Eighth Antiquarian Book Fair of the German Association will be held again in Stuttgart from 6th February to 9th February, 1969. The forthcoming Fair will have a record attendance of 47 exhibitors from seven countries and will be opened on Thursday, 6th February at 15.00 hrs. It will be open on the following three days from 10 to 13 and 15 to 18.00 hrs each day. There will be a comprehensive Fair catalogue in which each exhibitor will list a representative selection of items to be displayed at his stand. The catalogue will be ready in the second half of January and copies may be obtained upon application to the Chairman of the Fair Committee, Dr. F. Kocher-Benzing, 7 Stuttgart -N., Rathenaustr. 21.
ITALY
The Circolo de Librari Antiquari informs us that their members are quite willing to grant the 10% discount to their colleagues. However, they request that anyone using this practice, quoted in Article 8 of the Usages and Customs of the LL.A.B., should respect the terms of articles 3 and 4 of the same compendium, i. e. : All purchases made by one bookseller from another bookseller must, unless stipulated to the contrary, be paid for in cash immediately after reception. The supplier must receive the full amount of his invoice; bank or other charges will be at the expense of the purchaser.
BRAZIL
A recent law enacted in Brazil and published in the Diario Oficial of July 10, 1968, will be of interest to libraries purchasing Brazilian works for their collections. This brief Law 5,471 prohibits the exportation of libraries or collections of early imprints and documents published from the 16th to the 19th centuries (« editadas nos seculos XVI a XIX »}, The prohibition extends to individual publications which might have been sold from any library or collection which had been broken up or otherwise distributed and to any isolated items of this nature. Exportation is also prohibited for newspaper runs over 10 years old and of musical scores, both original and early copies.
Violation of the prohibition to export is punishable, and the materials are subject to confiscation enuring to the benefit of the public or national patrimony.
UNITED STATES
President of A. B. A. A. informs us that our colleagues of U. S. have all noticed a striking slow-down in the postal services between Europe and U. S. (parcels and printed matter).
Where normally a parcel would reach them anywhere from two or three weeks after dispatch, it is not infrequent, now, to have parcels arriving 8-9 weeks after they have been sent off.
This to explain why a American booksellers all of a sudden are so slow in paying; and, naturally, service will get even worse now that the Christmas rush has begun.