From the Wonderful to the Weird – The 52nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair brings thousands of books, manuscripts and other treasures and collections to Oakland
As 2018 came to an end, the BBC featured a rising trend in collecting antiquarian material and how the internet has changed the trade. "The rise of online has helped revive the second-hand book market, but what impact has it had on traditional, second-hand book shops?"
After the Pasadena book fair in February this year I enjoyed a scenic drive up the Pacific Highway to Seattle, where I met up with the local dealers who invited me to come exhibit at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair in October. I thought that sounded like fun, so jumped back on the QF93 to attend my first book fair in the Pacific Northwest.
The prize, endowed with 10.000 Euro, donated by the association
Buchkultur e.V., the city of Ludwigsburg and Wiedeking
Stuttgart Foundation, will be awarded in 2019 to German philologist Klaus Völker.
German language.
"This is to be a collection without order, drawn from many papers, which I have copied here, hoping to arrange them later each in its place, according to the subjects of which they treat."
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
The 52nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair 2019 will feature again the collections and rare treasures of nearly 200 booksellers from over 20 countries around the world.
Un demi-siècle après l’invention de l’imprimerie, avant que la Renaissance ne laisse place aux Guerres de Religion, le livre est à la fois l’acteur principal et un témoin privilégié de ces bouleversements.
We all know that aroma. Perhaps it evokes trips to the library as a child, or the cozy ambience of a grandfather's study. It's the distinctive scent of old books. Scientists say that "old book smell" is more than just mustiness; it contains hints of grass and vanilla. That's because all the compounds used to make the book release distinctive odors as they break down. For example, lignin, which is present in all wood-based paper, is closely related to vanillin. As it breaks down, the lignin grants old books that faint vanilla scent.
Book fairs have become such staple fodder for booksellers that it's hard to imagine a time when they didn't exist. But the "First Antiquarian Book Fair," as it was called, took place in New York from April 4-9, 1960, fifty years almost to the day before our scheduled gala event at the Park Avenue Armory from April 8-11, 2010.
Rare book news from Canada: The Ryerson Press is regarded as "one of Canada's most important book publishing firms during the 20th century". Nigel Beale of Nota Bene Books met George Parker to talk about the history of the Ryerson Press and the Methodist Book and Publishing Company. George Parker, Professor Emeritus of the Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, where he taught from 1967 to 1997, is the author of numerous articles on Canadian authors and publishers, he contributed to the Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, the Oxford Companion to Canadian History, The Canadian Encyclopedia, and the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, and wrote "The Beginnings of the Book Trade in Canada" (1985).
Antarctica was the last continent to be discovered and explored, although its existence had been conjectured from ancient times. Captain James Cook was possibly the first to sight Antarctica, on his second voyage with the ships Resolution and Adventure in 1774, but the first recorded landing on the continent did not occur until over 120 years later, on Borchgrevink's British Antarctic Expedition. Captain Scott's two expeditions, and those of Shackleton, Amundsen, Mawson and others, soon followed in the early twentieth century and the spaces on the map were gradually filled in, and scientific work done, in the succeeding decades ...
Andreas Vesalius' De Humani Corporis Fabrica, printed in 1543, is one of the most famous of all medical books. On 14th March Vivian Nutton, Honorary Professor in the departments of History and Classics and Ancient History, will present the discovery of Vesalius' own annotated copy of the later 1555 edition at the University of Wawrick. This copy contains hundreds of annotations, corrections of the Latin wording and instructions for the printer. They were meant for a third edition which was never published.
