as the old year ends and the new one begins, I want to thank you all for being a part of our ILAB Community. Amor librorum nos unit! All around the world ILAB booksellers are experts in their chosen fields and stand behind the ethical standards of The League. On the international antiquarian book fairs under the auspices of ILAB, in the many catalogues published by ILAB dealers, on their websites and, most of all, in their antiquarian book shops you will find the most fascinating rare books, autographs and prints - from Europe to America, Asia and Australia. In its over 60 years of existence ILAB has set up this international network of the antiquarian book trade. In the upcoming year, the ILAB Committee will keep on doing its best to foster this network and to help our trade in the globalized world.
I wish that 2015 will be a year of great success for each one of you, filled with excellent business, health and joy!
Norbert Donhofer (President of ILAB)
THE WORLD'S EXPERT ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS
IN 1 BOOK!
The new edition of the ILAB Directory has recently been published. The Directory gives easy access to information on the almost 2.000 ILAB booksellers around the world that are experts in their chosen fields and stand behind the ethical standards of ILAB. In this new electronic world you will find this expertise and adherence to standards an essential part in making your buying experience a pleasant one.
The ILAB Directory, in a wonderful new design, will be handed out at all major ILAB Book Fairs from California to Paris, New York, London, Boston, Amsterdam, Milan, Stuttgart and Melbourne.
All who want to have a look at it, before they hold the printed version in their hands, are able to download the PDF right here on the ILAB website!
BUY BOOKS WITH CONFIDENCE -
FROM AN ILAB BOOKSELLER!
WANTED! ILAB INTERNSHIP!
A global "ILAB School" without borders: The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers offers internships to students and beginners in the rare book trade who wish to widen their knowledge through practical learning and to plug into the worldwide network of antiquarian bookselling.
All ILAB booksellers are very welcome to join the ILAB Internship Program and to provide young students an opportunity to gain invaluable hands-on experience in the international rare book business at any time and in any place in the world. Former interns spent six to eight weeks in Austria, Netherlands, Germany and Hungary (Alena Lavrenova and Anastasya Zhikhareva), Australia (Pavel Chepyzhov, Maria Rodionova), the United Kingdom (Valentina Rudnitskaya), the United States (Julia Kulyamzina), and in Spain (Ksenia Batueva).
It was a great year for ANZAAB and the antiquarian book trade in Australia. "A great deal has been going on", Sally Burdon writes in an article series:
"Having held both a wonderful conference in May and a hugely successful Melbourne Rare Book Week and Melbourne Rare Book Fair in late July the Australian and New Zealand Association of Antiquarian Booksellers (ANZAAB) is on a high! Not only have we enjoyed great success with these two events with our profile considerably raised and many sales made - but, and this is a significant but - we have learnt something very powerful and extremely heartening. We now know that there is just as much interest as there ever was in rare books - if not in fact more, but the methods we need to use to reach and motivate collectors have changed considerably. Both the ANZAAB Conference and most particularly the Melbourne Rare Book Fair are proof of this. We tried something different and it worked!"
In May 2014, the world celebrated the 138th birthday of the Austrian illustrator, typographer, and graphic artist Julius Klinger. Born outside of Vienna on May 22nd, 1876, Klinger is best known for his innovative poster design, which earned him acclaim in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century. His style was functional, clear, and clean, especially compared to the styles of Art Nouveau (or Jugendstil) and the Vienna Secession movement that were popular at the time. In an essay on the subject, Klinger rejected the idea of ornamentation for its own sake, and this shows in his advertising art, which featured clean lines and a limited color scheme.
Without a doubt, every antique store and flea market from California to New York somewhere has a box of photographs - black and white, early Kodaks, or even tintypes ... often warped, mirrored, faded - if you are reading this blog it is assumed that at some point or another your interest in antiquarian books and materials has drawn you to such an establishment, and you have at least fingered through a box of photographs labeled ".10 each or 15 for $1.00."
Why is it, then, that those photographs are (seemingly) worthless, while there are photograph albums offered by booksellers with the same types of prints for thousands of dollars? As with all things antiquarian - provenance, condition and interest levels dictate the differences between a bin full of late 19th century silver-gelatin prints and an album full of un-faded, unaltered albumen photographs.
HOW ELIZABETH GASKELL SAVED CHARLOTTE BRONTE'S REPUTATION
Bearing more than a few parallels to her heroine, Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë was born poor, obscure, and plain. Despite leading a life filled with hardship and tragedy, Brontë became a successful novelist in her thirties. Yet while she received popular acclaim, Brontë also faced scathing reviews and harsh personal criticism.
Brontë's 1847 novel, Jane Eyre, earned the ire of critics for its frank depiction of passion in a woman - a governess, no less. Brontë was maligned as "unwomanly" and "unchristian." Poet Matthew Arnold wrote, "Miss Brontë has written a hideous, undelightful, convulsed, constricted novel... one of the most utterly disagreeable books I've ever read." The Quarterly Review asserted that Jane Eyre revealed "tone of mind and thought which has overthrown authority and violated every code human and divine." The novel had its share of defenders as well, not the least of which was fellow novelist Elizabeth Gaskell.
Dear customers, colleagues and friends of ILAB,
The new edition of the ILAB Directory has recently been published. The Directory gives easy access to information on the almost 2.000 ILAB booksellers around the world that are experts in their chosen fields and stand behind the ethical standards of ILAB. In this new electronic world you will find this expertise and adherence to standards an essential part in making your buying experience a pleasant one.
It was a great year for ANZAAB and the antiquarian book trade in Australia. "A great deal has been going on", Sally Burdon writes in an article series:
In May 2014, the world celebrated the 138th birthday of the Austrian illustrator, typographer, and graphic artist Julius Klinger. Born outside of Vienna on May 22nd, 1876, Klinger is best known for his innovative poster design, which earned him acclaim in Germany and Austria in the early 20th century. His style was functional, clear, and clean, especially compared to the styles of Art Nouveau (or Jugendstil) and the Vienna Secession movement that were popular at the time. In an essay on the subject, Klinger rejected the idea of ornamentation for its own sake, and this shows in his advertising art, which featured clean lines and a limited color scheme.
Without a doubt, every antique store and flea market from California to New York somewhere has a box of photographs - black and white, early Kodaks, or even tintypes ... often warped, mirrored, faded - if you are reading this blog it is assumed that at some point or another your interest in antiquarian books and materials has drawn you to such an establishment, and you have at least fingered through a box of photographs labeled ".10 each or 15 for $1.00."
54th Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair, January 23-25, 2015