The Martin Breslauer Archive at the State Library Berlin

The exhibition was arranged to coincide with the ceremony of the 19th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography on 17 September 2026, making the occasion particularly meaningful: the Prize was being celebrated at the very institution that preserves the historical archive of the bookselling family whose name it bears.

Martin Breslauer (1871–1940), once known as the König der Antiquare (King of Antiquarian Booksellers), established his own business in Berlin in 1905, close to the Royal Library on Unter den Linden. His bookshop housed an extraordinary reference library of some 21,000 volumes, reflecting the scholarly foundations of his profession. By the time he closed his Berlin business in 1936, Breslauer had published 52 catalogues containing approximately 50,000 descriptions.

The archive, preserved at the Staatsbibliothek, provides valuable evidence of his professional activities and the international networks of the antiquarian book trade. Particularly significant are his personal correspondence, annotated sale and auction catalogues, and records documenting the movement of books and manuscripts between collections.

As Dr Angéline Rais demonstrated in her 2022 research at the Staatsbibliothek, these surviving documents are especially important because much of the firm's earlier business correspondence and financial records have been lost. Letters written to Breslauer's wife Margarete during his buying journeys help reconstruct his travels and professional contacts, while annotated catalogues reveal the practical work behind the acquisition and sale of books.

The display included a handwritten letter from Martin to Margarete dated 7 September 1922, alongside annotated auction catalogues from Berlin in 1926 and London in 1950. The latter bears annotations by Margarete and Bernhard H. Breslauer, illustrating the continuation of the family's bookselling activities as well as a photograph of Martin Breslauer with Swedish librarian and bibliographer Isak Collijn outside the Lübeck City Library in 1923 .

Forced to leave Germany in 1937, Martin Breslauer settled in London, where he died in 1940. His wife Margarete and son Bernd H. continued the business, first in Britain and later in New York.

ILAB extends its sincere thanks to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin for making this special display possible and offering a fascinating glimpse into the life and work of one of the most remarkable figures in the history of antiquarian bookselling.

Handwritten letter, 7 September 1922

The label identifies this as an autograph letter from Martin Breslauer to Margarete Breslauer, written at Bad Eilsen, Schaumburg-Lippe, Fürstenhof.
Nachl. 307 (Antiquariat Breslauer), III. 1. 1922–1923, Bl. 6–7.

London auction catalogue, 1950

This is an annotated copy of Catalogue No. 72, London, 1950, with handwritten notes by Margarete and Bernhard H. Breslauer.

Auction Catalogue of the Antiquarian Bookshop Martin Breslauer, Berlin.

Open on display: An interleaved working copy containing numerous annotations by Martin Breslauer, including a calculation concerning a payment of 130 Reichsmarks for the Prussian State Library.

Catalogue No. 37, Berlin, 1926 (auction held on 13 March 1926), 72 pages.