Bologna News I: New President Arnoud Gerits

“The Perfect New Skipper”

An unanimous vote, and standing ovations: At the Ordinary General Meeting during the 39th ILAB Congress and 23rd International Antiquarian Book Fair in Bologna the presidents of the 23 affiliated associations elected Arnoud Gerits as the new President of the League. He succeeds Adrian Harrington who was ILAB President from 2008 to 2010.

“I know that under Arnoud’s firm hands the good ship ILAB has the perfect new skipper”, said former President Adrian Harrington after the election.

New President Arnoud Gerits honoured Adrian Harrington “as a hard working and responsible President who guided the ILAB into the 21st century”.

Arnoud Gerits has been closely connected with the League for more than a decade. He joined the ILAB Committee in 1998, was editor of the ILAB Newsletter from 2002 to 2006, and became Vice-President in 2008. As Secretary of the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography he supervised the 15th award in 2010 and will be responsible for the 16th award in 2014. Besides his extensive work for the League Arnoud Gerits is the owner of A. Gerits & Son (Netherlands). The company was founded in 1981. A. Gerits & Son has a worldwide reputation in purchasing and selling private libraries in the field of Social Sciences, Humanities, and the History of Ideas: a speciality that few antiquarian booksellers offer. Among the libraries sold by A. Gerits & Son were collections on the Paris Commune (1871), the 1848 Revolution in France, and a collection of over 300 16th and 17th century French political pamphlets.

Vice-President: Tom Congalton

Tom Congalton has been elected as new Vice-President, also with an unanimous vote. The owner of Between the Covers Rare Books (USA) is not only a well-known specialist in literature and modern firsts, but also author of many articles about book collecting and the rare book trade in general. He founded Between the Covers Rare Books in 1985. Tom Congalton was President of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America (ABAA) from the year 2000 to 2002. He joined the ILAB Committee in 2006. As Chair of the ILAB IT Committee he has been responsible for the relaunch of the ILAB website 2009/2010.

New Committee Members are Alain Marchiset (France) and Brigitta Laube (Switzerland). They follow Adrian Harrington (Great Britain) and Tsukasa Maeda (Japan).

Alain Marchiset created the Intersigne bookshop in 1985. Elected Vice-President in 1998, then SLAM President from 2001to 2003, he successfully put a lot of effort into trying to diminish custom constraints. He was a member of the first ILAB internet committee along with Bob Fleck and Georg Beran. Alain Marchiset has also been a member of the French Compagnie Nationale des Experts since 1992. In 2006, he was elected SLAM President of Honour.

Brigitta Laube entered the firm August Laube in 1984 and became the sole owner of the business in 2004. She is specialized in 15th to 19th century illustrated books and Helvetica. Brigitta Laube became a member of the VEBUKU/SLACES in 1988 and was elected as a committee member in 1989. She became Vice-President in 1991, then President from 1993 to 1996.

New ILAB Committee

President:
Arnoud Gerits

Vice President:
Tom Congalton

Treasurer:
Poul Jan Poulsen

General Secretary:
Paul Feain

Members:
Norbert Donhofer
Ulrich Hobbeling
Brigitta Laube
Alain Marchiset

Immediate Past President:
Adrian Harrington

Executive Secretary:
Neveen Marchiset

Web Editor:
Barbara Werner van Benthem