Tokyo 1990
NEWSLETTER 44 - July 1991
Meeting of the committee of the ILAB on Tuesday, 27th March 1990,
15.00-18.00 p.m. at Reale Societa Canottieri Cerea,
Viale Mattioli, Parco del Valentino, Torino, Italy
Present: Anthony Rota, Anton Gerits, Vittorio Soave, Konrad Meuschel, Mitsuo Nitta. Apologies were received from Hans Bagger, Bob de Graaf, F. Kocher-Benzing, John Lawson, Louis Loeb-Laroque, Louis Weinstein.
1. Approval of the Minutes of the Committee Meeting and Presidents' Meeting at Yverdon, 14th September 1989. These minutes as published in the Newsletter no.43 were approved and signed by the president.
2. President's Report
Mr. Rota began with a memorial address on Jens Bagger, the pleasant young colleague, to whom the League was greatly indebted for his work on editing the directory in1986.
He also recalled Marianne and William Salloch, two highly accepted colleagues of the ABAA. Many of the colleagues had happy memories of their friendly and open house; younger colleagues especially would remember their constant readiness to help, and to offer encouraging words. William Salloch was a past president of the ABAA, which was still greatly indebted to him.
The president reported on the work of the League during the last six months. He specially commented on the International Committee which was formed on the initiative of he Amsterdam University and which was provisionally named 'University Library of Bucharest International Relief Committee'. In the provisional committeee the League was represented by Anthony Rota; Anton Gerits was also a member.
The idea was to help the Bucharest University which had been burned down during the riots last year and to rebuild a research collection of books and periodicals.
Dr. Jon Stoica, director of the 'Biblioreca Centrale Universitara Bucuresti' had paid a visit to Amsterdam University. At this meeting the League had been represented by Anton Gerits and he reported on it. The main object was the nature of any possible help and the best way for the League to take an active part in this programme.
Two ways were proposed: one possibility discussed was to collect valuable antiquarian books - e.g. one book from each firm - and to sell these books in a benefit auction.
The second idea - and in the committee's opinion the better one - was to collect a certain sum from each of the League's members - say about $50- and to put it into a separate account, supervised by the League. All members of the League would then be able to send their catalogues to the Biblioteca Centrala Universitara Bucuresti. The Biblioteca would place its orders and the colleagues' bills would be paid out of this fund.
The committee agreed to put this second proposal up for discussion at the presidents' meeting in Tokyo.
3. Treasurer's Report
The committee discussed the 2 statements which Mr. Weinstein had sent by fax.
Dr. Soave informed the committee that for the book fair in Milano 1990 all exhibitors had been charged with the fee of $10,- as had been agreed on in Yverdon 1989. Mr. Nitta informed that in Tokyo they were also prepared to charge all exhibitors with this small fee of $10,-. Mr. Weinstein was again asked to present his proposals for a revision of the Compendium of usages and customs' at the meeting in Tokyo.
4. Newsletter Editor's Report
Mr. Gerits mentioned that he had not yet received the final part of the SLAM history. The history of the Swiss Association had been printed on occasion of the association's 50th anniversary. It had still to be translated into English. As both versions were rather extensive, Mr. Gerits intended to split them up and to print them separately in two editions. It was proposed that a copy of each Newsletter should in future be sent to important libraries, e.g. to all National Libraries in member countries. The recently issued Newsletter n°.43 proved that the national associations were ready to use the Newsletter also for publishing all sorts of information, which made it an important reference book and increased its actual value.
5. Bibliographical Prize
Newsletter no. 43 printed on page 23 the titles of all 33 books submitted up to now for the 'Tenth Triennial Bibliographical Prize of the ILAB'. Since these titles were both interesting and important, Mr. Nitta proposed that they should be exhibited on the occasion of the Tokyo book fair. The committee agreed.
Meanwhile a certificate had been printed to honour the authors of those books which had been specially mentioned by the jury.
6. Dictionary
Entries for the dictionary were on hand from all countries except one. Work would soon begin on computerizing them. In this connection the French editor Luc Monod had offered his help. He had been considering a similar project, a multilingual dictionary for the bookt rade, and he proposed to combine these two projects. Mr Lawson was in contact with him.
7. Directory
The president read a letter from Mr Brumme reporting a further delay. Proofs had not yet been sent out.
The committee expressed great concern and offered special assistance to Mr Brumme: Mr Gerits and Mr Meuschel offered their help if there were any difficult translations to be made of dealers' specialities for instance.
The committee remained anxious for the new directory to be published well before the congress in Tokyo, at the earliest opportunity in fact.
8. Security
In an attempt to cut down the sale of stolen books and to help protect members' .interests it was proposed that the League should put forward the use of a standard form when members buy books from the public. Such forms were already in use by some members and were issued by some national associations. In them the seller declared his identity and signed a statement that the books were his property and that he was entitled to sell them.
It was agreed that this proposal should be put before the Presidents' meeting in Tokyo.
A case of theft had been discovered in connection with a Munich auction house. Valuable antiquarian books had been stolen from various monasteries and churches in Southern Germany. The League committee was concerned with this affair because an English company had asked the League's president for support. As there might be colleagues involved from various national associations, and since the claims for compensation were considerable, the committee intended to ask the president of the German Association for further information on what action would be taken.
9. Tokyo congress and Bookfair
Mr Nitta reported on the Tokyo Congress and Bookfair. The Japanese Association expected the firm enrolment of about 240 members of the League for the Congress; together with their relatives there would be about 300 participants from abroad. The association also expected 60-70 local members so that there would be a total of about 370 participants, the highest number of participants that had ever applied for a congress.
As agreed on in Yverdon, 6 antiquarian bookdealcrs from South Korea would attend the congress in Tokyo as observers. These Korean bookdealers had the firm Intention to organize a national association and then to apply for admission to the League.
The Japanese circular of March 15th, 1990, asked that payments for the congress and bookfair be made in Yen in order to avoid unnecessary con version costs. The national associations were also asked to collect from their members the fee for congress and bookfair, and to transfer it in bulk to the Japanese association. In some cases this had been done before, e.g. in Venice and Paris. In this circular it was also mentioned that every member participating in the bookfair would have one page of the catalogue at his own disposal; the text should be camera ready. The programme of the 30th ILAB International Congress had again been printed in Newsletter no. 43, page 21. If there were any members, who had not yet applied for the congress and the Bookfair in Tokyo, and therefore had not received this circular, they could still get the full programme from their national association or from the Japanese Association, if they were interested in taking part after all.
10. Future Congresses and Presidents' Meetings
1991 - Denmark
A letter from the Danish President, Mr Poul Poulsen, was read. He invited the committee and the presidents to Copenhagen. The meeting would take place from August 29th to August 31st, 1991, in Copenhagen, and would be followed by the 29th Scandinavian bookfair.
1992 - Germany; Congress
1993 - Canada; Presidents' Meeting
1994 - Netherlands; Congress
11. Export of French Books
There was a lively discussion about difficulties of exporting books, autographs and engravings from France. The committee did not see any chances for it to influence French law. It was made clear, however, that every step in this direction taken by the French Association, would be supported by the League.
12. Texas Forgeries; Report from the ABAA
A detailed report was given in Newsletter no.43, page 2 ff.
The president reported on the Houston conference where there had been intensive discussions of how forgeries of this kind could be avoided in future.
13. Anyother business
Several associations had nominated and elected new presidents and committee members. New presidents were:
Australia - Mrs Margaret Woodhouse
Germany - Dr. Christine Pressler
Sweden - Mr Sigbjorn Ryo
USA - Mr Muir Dawson
The president thanked Dr. Soave for the perfect organization of this Committee Meeting and also for the hearty welcome in Torino.
Meeting o f the committee o f the ILAB on Sunday 7th October 1990
14.00-17.00 p.m. at the Sanseido Bunka Kailean., Shinjuku Tokyo, Japan
1. Present: All members of the committee except M. Louis Loeb-Laroque who was excused. His place was taken by M. Alain Nicolas.
Apologies were received from the presidents of honour Bob de Graaf, John Lawson, Dr. Frieder Kocher-Benzing, and from the past president Hans Bagger.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the Committe Meetino in Turin in March 1990
These minutes were approved.
3. President's Report
The president, Mr. Rota, discussed his speech with the committee members; full report see 'Meeting of the General Assembly'.
5. Treasurer's Report
Mr. Weinstein presented his 'statement of cash receipts and disbursements' from 1 July 1989 to 31 August 1990, and discussed the details with the members of the committee. The sale of the directory 1986 was finished and consequently the income during 1990 very low. Mr. Weinstein hoped that the sale of the new directory would increase the income considerably. The idea of charging all exhibitors of national bookfairs, which were sponsored by the League, a fee of $ 10,- had been realized. In the next statement this would certainly be an important factor. There was also an increasing interest in the League's plaque, of which Mr. Rota had been able to sell quite a number. Altogether there was good hope that next time the credit-balance of the statement would be better.
5. Newsletter - Editor's Report See Presidents' Meeting.
6. Bibliographical Prize
Dr. Kocher- Benzing, the secretary of the 'Tenth Triennial Bibliographical Prize of the ILAB' had sent a report which was to be discussed at the presidents' meeting also. He and Mr. Meuschcl, also a member of the jury of the Bibliographical Prize, were of the opinion that the prize of US$ 2500.00 was too low considering the present fall of the Dollar. As the League could not afford to increase the prize from its own resources, there was a discussion about finding donors among the League's members who might be ready to guarantee the prize by regular payments into the fund. The committee thought the sum of $ 5000.00 would do justice to the importance of the prize and would motivate more publishers to make an entry. All agreed With that proposal, which was still to be discussed at the presidents' meeting next day.
7. Dictionary See Meeting of the General Assembly.
8. Directory
At this point, Mr. Edmund Brumme joined the meeting. On behalf of the committee he had taken charge of the directory and its publication. He presented the first copies on the occasion of the Tokyo Congress and handed over one copy to each member of the committee.
The edition of the directory was limited to 5000 copies; but he saw no problem in producing further copies as the plates still existed.
Mr. Brumme reported on his work and on the great difficulties he had in reading corrections and to keep to the given timetable, since very often the proofs were returned too late. He asked the committee to urge on the presidents to improve their cooperation the next time a directory was going to be published. The published price would be DM 45,- or the local equivalent.
Each national association was requested to dispatch the directory to its own members and to place orders with Mr. Brumme directly. If private orders reached Mr. Brumrne, he would pass them on to the respective national association. Those countries which were not associated with the League would be supplied by Mr. Brumme directly.
All national associations were asked to follow the German example and give a copy of the directory to each one of their members. Moreover, each association was urged to purchase additional copies according to their membership, and to publicise it.
Mr. Brumme intended to supply important German libraries with a number of copies, without charge, and also relevant periodicals, asking them for a review.
He again asked the committee to urge on the presidents and on the national associations to promote the sale of the directory in every possible way.
Mr. Rota thanked Mr. Brumme for his excellent work.
9. Security.
See Presidents' Meeting.
10. Committee Members' Expenses
In point 29 of 'Statuts - Rules' the form of the refund for the committee members is described. This was again discussed and the majority of the committee was of the opinion that the League ought to keep to it.
11. Ethical guidelines - revision of Compendium of Usages and Customs
There was no new text to be discussed, but Mr. Weinstein promised to inform all members of his ideas about the revision of 'Statues - Rules' as soon as possible.
12. ILAB Archives
Mr. Gerits would have talks with the University of Amsterdam and see whether the library was ready to host the League's archives in their rooms. The University Library was much interested in the history of books and this could prove interesting supplement. It was Important for the League to have free access to the archives at any time. Details would have to be discussed, e.g. which persons at the University Library would have access to the archives and whether it was necessary to obtain the League's assent when writing an essay on the League's history, or on one of the national associations, based on the material in the archives.
13. Appeal on behalf of the University Library of Bucharest. See Presidents' Meeting.
14. Elections
All the committee places were up for election in Denmark in 199I. The president asked the members of the committee to consider whether they wanted to put up for election again in Copenhagen. He intended to remind the presidents to consider nominations in good time. The committee members were asked for their decision by the next meeting in March.
15. There was no other business
16. Date and place of next Committee Mceting
The next committee meeting would take place in London on March 12, 1991. This date was subsequent]y changed to March 13, 1991.
Meeting of the presidents of the ILAB on Monday 8th October 1990,
9.30-12.00 a.m. at the Hilltop Hotel, Shinjuku Tokyo, Japan
1. Present: All members of the committee except M. Louis Loeb-Laroque, who was excused.
Apologies were received from the presidents of honour Bob de Graaf, John Lawson, Dr. Frieder Kocher-Benzing, and from the past president Hans Bagger.
The presidents (or their representatives) of the following national associations were present:
Australia and New Zealand - Paul Feain
Austria - Dieter Paulusch repr. Dr. Hans-Jorg Krug
Belgium - Claude van Loock
Brazil - Jose Garaldi repr. Patrick Levey
Canada - Michel Brisebois
Denmark - PoulJan Poulsen
Finland - Cecil Hagelstam
France - Alain Nicolas
Germany - Dr. Christine Pressler
Great Britain - David Brass
Italy - Dr. Vittorio Soave repr. Pietro Chellini
Japan - Mitsuo Nitta
Netherlands - John Vloemans
Sweden - Pierre Dethorey Akarp repr. Sigbjorn Ryo
Switzerland - Alain Moirandat
USA - Muir Dawson
Apologies were received from the presidents of Austria, Italy, Sweden, and Norway.
There were 2 proxies: Brazil by Japan, Norway by Denmark
The president recalled the voting rights: Each association had one vote, except France, Germany, Great Britain, and USA, each of which had 2 votes. In all there were 21 votes represented.
Nomination of Scrutineers
Dr. Vittorio Soave and Muir Dawson were nominated scrutineers.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the Presidents' Meeting in Yverdon 1989
The minutes as published in the Newsletter no. 43 were approved by the assembly and signed by the president.
3. President's Report
The president again thanked Mr. Moirandat of the Swiss association for the pleasant days in Yverdon. He gave a short review of the headings of his report which would be given fully at the general assembly.
He once again pointed out that only members of the League were allowed to exhibit at bookfairs sponsored by the League, and that only those members who participate in the congress might exhibit at the bookfair following.
Dr. Christine Pressler, President of the German Association, had a problem with the ILAB declaration. She thought of altering the text, namely point I, since the German law stood for a guarantee of 6 months, while only 1 month was given in the declaration. The president, Mr. Rota, answered that quite naturally this declaration had to be altered according to the national laws; but in principles, nobody ought to depart from the basic idea of giving guarantee.
4. Treasurer's Report
Mr. Weinstein presented his 'Statement of cash receipts and disbursements' from 1 July 1989 to 31 August 1990. He informed the presidents that he was able to keep the subscriptions at the same level as before.
5. Newsletter - Editor's Report
Mr. Gerits regretted that there had been no further contributions to the history of any association. He again asked the presidents to intensify their cooperation to submit all important news, especially changes of addresses etc. He also underlined the possibility for all members to advertise in the Newsletter and urged them to do so.
6. Bibliographical Prize
See report of Dr. Kocher-Benzing in 'Committee Meeting'. National presidents inquired which languages and countries were represented by the 31 books submitted for the Triennial Prize, and which ways were chosen to invite the public for competition.
Mr. Gerits answered that the public was informed through advertisements in relevant periodicals. Mr. Rota informed the meeting of the committee's proposal to increase the prize to $ 5000.00 by the help of donors. This idea was highly appreciated and it was proposed that the name of the donors should to be linked with the prize and published in the Newsletter.
Mr. Nitta suggested presenting books in competition to the public by displaying them in showcases at future presidents' meetings or congresses. All agreed with this proposal.
7. Dictionary
See Meeting of the General Assembly.
8. Directory
Mr. Brumme repeated the report he had given in the committee meeting. A copy of the just published directory was handed over to the presidents. He specially mentioned Mr. E. Franco's name; without his help he would hardly had been able to manage the work.
The president, Mr. Rota, suggested to make Mr. E. Franco a Member of Honour according to point 16 c of the rules. All presidents agreed and Mr. Rota would submit this proposal to the General Assembly for their vote.
Dr. Soave proposed exhibiting the directory at all bookfairs sponsored by the League and to sell it there.
Mr. Brumme underlined that sets of labels bearing the addresses in the directory were for sale to the League's members only. They might be ordered from Mr. Edmund Brumme. The prices were DM 500,- for members and DM 100,- for the League's organization.
The presidents thanked Mr. Brumme for his excellent work by applause.
9. Security
Facing the increase of cases of theft, Mr. Rota and Mr. Gerits had made up a resolution which was to be put up for vote at the General Assembly. It read:
'Disturbed by the continuing thefts of rare books, manuscripts and estampes from institutional libraries, the ILAB urges booksellers and auctioneers to take particular care in checking the bona fides of those who offer them books and manuscripts for sale.
Proud of its members' record of helping to catch thieves and of returning stolen books to their rightful owners, the League wishes to emphasise the need for librarians to play their part by checking and strengthening security measures, and in particular by notifying the book trade promptly when losses have occurred, giving full details.'
This resolution was to be published in the Newsletter and in all periodicals that were concerned with the book trade.
10. Elections
All the committee places were up for election in Denmark 1991. As agreed on in the committee meeting, the presidents were asked to consider nominations. The committee itself would decide on it at its next meeting.
11. Appeal on behalf of the University Library of Buchatest
In Turin in March 1990, the committee meeting had discussed an appeal for funds to help the Bucharest University Library, which had been burned down during the riots last year, to rebuild a research collection of books and periodicals.
The political and personal situation in Bucharest was now very confused, so that help would involve many difficulties. It was not possible to provide security that the League's money was not misapplied and so the president, Mr. Rota, proposed to freeze the League's appeal plan until the position became clearer; then the committee would ask the presidents to consider the matter again.
Mr. Gerits informed the presidents that Rumanian librarians had been invited to the Netherlands by the Dutch publishers and book dealers in order to improve their knowledge of modern library technique, e.g. the use of computers.
12. FutureCongresses and Presidents Meetings:
1991 Denmark
1992 Germany
1993 Canada
1994 Netherlands
1995 Belgium
Mr. Poulsen reported on details concerning the presidents' meeting in Copenhagen from 29 August to 31 August 1991. At the same time a bookfair of the Scandinavian book dealers would take place.
Dr. Christine Pressler reported on the plans for the congress in Cologne 1992 from 6 to 9 September 1992.
The president of Canada, Mr. Brisebois, invited all presidents to Vancouver in 1993. He gave no further details. The Belgium president, Mr. van Loock, invited all presidents to Brussels in 1995.
13. There was no other business
Meeting of the general assembly of the ILAB on Monday, 8th October 1990,
15.00-17.00 p.m. at the Casals Hall; Tokyo, Japan
I. Nomination of Scrutineers - Apologies -- Voting Rights.
Dr. Vittorio Soave and Muir Dawson were nominated scrutineers.
Apologies were received from the presidents of honour Bob de Graaf, John Law- son, Dr. Frieder Kocher-Benzing and from the past president Ham Bagger.
The president, Mr. Rota, recalled the voting rights: Each association had one vote, except France, Germany, Great Britain, and USA, each of which had 2 votes. In all there were 21 votes represented.
15 national associations were represented, there were 2 proxies: Brazil by Japan and Norway by Denmark.
There was also a delegation of observers from the antiquarian booksellers association of Korea present who had been invited by the Japanese Association. As they were only guests they had no voting rights.
2. Approval of the Minutes of the Presidents' Meeting in Yverdon 1989
These minutes as published in the Newsletter no. 43 were approved by the assembly and signed by the president.
3. President's Report
Mr. Rota began with a memorial address on Fernand de Nobele, a doughty fighter for the League. He also recalled a number of other colleagues who had died since the last meeting and for whose death all felt very sorry: E.M. Dring, Ian Grant, Antoine Grand-Maison, John Jenkins, Kimio Kohketsu, Yugy Nitta, Gaston Renard, Marianne and William Salloch, and Margaret Woodhouse.
Mr. Rota reported on the activities of the past 2 years and mentioned the League's declaration concerning bookfairs which was now prominently displayed at all fairs powered by the League.
It should be remembered that all books offered at fairs had to be priced and available for sale. Books ought only to be offered by colleagues who were members of the League; that meant, no books were allowed to be offered by non-members at any bookfair and dealers who were not members should not work on members' stands.
The president recalled the Houston Conference of Texas Forgeries which he had attended on behalf of the League and where he had spoken about the dealers' attitude to the problem.
He reported on the idea of establishing the League's archives at the University of Amsterdam and was of the opinion that a guarantee had to be given that any member of the League who intended to write on its history should have free access.
Altogether he was of the opinion that due to the committee's work during the past years, the League's image had been sharpened and its profile raised.
4. Treasurer's Report See Committee Meeting.
5. Newsletter- Editor's Report See Presidents' Meeting.
6. Bibliographical Prize
Mr. Rota informed the audience of the presidents' decision to increase the prize up to $ 5000.00 by the help of donors who would make regular subscriptions. The donor's names were to be associated with the prize and published in the Newsletter and relevant periodicals. It was also decided to display the books in competition.
In course of the meeting there was already one member ready to pay a considerable sum into the fund.
7. Dictionary
With great pleasure Mr. Rota informed the General Assembly that the work on the dictionary had moved forward. Mr. John Lawson with Mr. Luc Monod and M. Alain Nicolas was ready to put the new texts onto a computer and proofs would be sent to the national associations in due course. If proofs were returned in one month it was hoped that the new dictionary would be ready at the meeting in Copenhagen in 1991.
In this connection the president read a report given by John Lawson about the work on the dictionary and in which the presidents were asked for a quick revision of the proofs. If the presidents were not able to see to it they were asked to name someone else suitable so that he might contact them.
8. Directory
See Committee Meeting and Presidents' Meeting.
The president informed the assembly of the possibility of getting self-adhesive labels bearing the members' addresses. They could be ordered from Mr. E. Brumme: delivery would take about one month and the price would be DM 500,- for members and DM 100,- for the League's use (e.g. in connection with future congresses).
There was also the possibility to have national lists produced by the computer; details could be obtained from Mr. E. Brumme.
9. Security
See Presidents' Meeting. The bilingual resolution was read to the General Assembly by Mr. Rota, and it was accepted by all. The resolution would be published in the Newsletter and in relevant periodicals.
Mr. Gerits asked the national presidents to translate this resolution into their national languages and to publish it in their own country.
10. Elections See Presidents' Meeting.
11. University Library of Bucharest See Presidents' Meetings.
12. Future Congresses and Presidents' Meetings See Presidents- Meetings.
13. Any other business
As agreed at the presidents' meeting, Mr. Rota proposed making Mr. E. Franco a Member of Honour according to point 6 c of the rules. He paid tribute to Mr. Franco's work as a translator at many meetings of the presidents and the general assembly, and also to his work in connection with the newly finished directory. He asked the general assembly for their votes by acclamation. There was prolonged applause.
Mr. Yo, the president of the Korean antiquarian booksellers association submitted a letter of proposal:
'In recognition of the object of the Int'l League of Antiquarian Booksellers, and with our confirmation to be sincerely in conformity with its rules and regulations and further to promote interest and friendship among members, we hereby cordially submit the written application for a membership, for which your kind approval would be highly appreciated by our good selves'.
The general assembly welcomed the letter with prolonged applause. The committee would consider the formal application and report in due course.
The president, Mr. Rota, ended the meeting with a short message of greeting and thanked the Japanese association for their invitation and for the friendly welcome by all the Japanese colleagues. He wished them all the best for a successful congress and bookfair.
The general assembly answered with prolonged applause.