ILAB Congresses, Symposia & Presidents' Meetings

Registrations are now open for the 5th ILAB Symposium

ILAB invites rare booksellers, librarians, collectors, scholars, and all those working with antiquarian materials to Berlin for the 5th edition of this international conference series.

Following successful symposia in New York (2019), Oxford (2022), Paris (2024), and Melbourne (2025), the 5th ILAB Symposium in Berlin is presented by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the Verband Deutscher Antiquare (VDA), and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

Bringing together leading voices from the rare book trade, special collections, and academia, the 2026 symposium will explore a number of pressing questions facing the field today:

What contributions have antiquarian booksellers made to libraries and the building of collections?

How can communication and cooperation between libraries and the trade be strengthened?

How should institutions and booksellers engage with sensitive historical material and responsible cataloguing practices?

How can collections be better protected against theft, forgery, and illicit circulation?

The symposium will also celebrate a recent major gift to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin: Alexander von Humboldt’s personal Catalog der Bücher.
In addition, the 19th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography, the world’s most prestigious award in the field of bibliography and book history, will be presented during the event.

Registration

Participation is free of charge, but registration is essential.
Please register via: secretariat@ilab.org

View the programme >> HERE

The ILAB Congress Returns to Germany

From 14 to 17 September 2026, Berlin will welcome antiquarian booksellers from across the globe for the 46th ILAB Congress, the first ILAB Congress in Germany since 1992, when the international trade gathered in Cologne. After more than three decades, the Verband Deutscher Antiquare (VDA) is delighted to once again host ILAB’s international community and to present one of Europe’s most dynamic cultural capitals to colleagues, collectors, and bibliophiles from around the world.

The congress is now fully booked.

Berlin - A City of Art, Books & Culture

For the first time in ILAB’s nearly 80-year history, the congress will take place in Berlin, a metropolis whose history, architecture, and cultural institutions provide an exceptional backdrop for exploring the world of books. Few cities have reinvented themselves as often as Berlin: once the seat of Prussian kings, later the stage of the Weimar Republic’s artistic flourishing, then divided by dictatorship and the Cold War, and today a vibrant centre of creativity and research.All of these layers remain visible, preserved in the city’s archives, libraries, museums, and collections, which will open their doors to congress participants.

Exploring Berlin’s Hidden and Famous Book Treasures

Congress attendees will get privileged access to some of Berlin’s most significant repositories of cultural memory, many of them rarely accessible to the public. Guided by directors, curators, and librarians, participants will visit institutions such as the German Historical Museum, home to the first German printing of the U.S. Declaration of Independence (1776), the Jewish Museum Library, offering insight into one of Berlin’s most important cultural histories, the Academy of Arts, with its unparalleled artists’ estates, the outstanding Lipperheide Costume Library, the Charité Medical History Library with its legendary anatomical theatre or the Stasi Archives in Lichtenberg, where original records show the realities of East German history.
One of the great highlights will be a full day at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin on the famous boulevard Unter den Linden and the iconic Scharoun Building on Potsdamer Strasse. Participants will see incunabula, manuscripts, music autographs, maps, and treasures such as the B-42 Gutenberg Bible and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony manuscript. The Staatsbibliothek will also host the 5th ILAB Symposium, bringing together booksellers, librarians, collectors, and scholars.

ILAB Presidents' Meeting 2026

The presidents of the 22 national associations affiliated to the League meet once a year at the General Annual Meeting or "Presidents' Meeting", which is held in a different country each year. In the year of a Congress, the Presidents' Meeting takes place the day before the start of the ILAB Congress.
The Presidents' Meeting is the supreme governing body of the League.

The international ILAB Committee meets once a year in person and regularly via video conference. Its task is to manage the affairs of the League and to implement the decisions taken at the Presidents' Meeting.
After the ILAB Presidents' Meeting, the presidents of the national associations report to their members.

Next ILAB Presidents' Meeting
Berlin: 14th September 2026, hosted by Verband Deutscher Antiquare

Looking back at the 2024 ILAB Congress in Amsterdam

In October 2024, the Dutch Antiquarian Booksellers' Association, the Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren (NVvA), welcomed colleagues and fellow bibliophiles to their capital city. We look back at the Amsterdam Congress:

>> 77 years and counting: Amsterdam at the heart of ILAB & A day at the Rijksmuseum

>> Smaller collections around Amsterdam & Treasures at the Dutch Maritime Museum

>> Final day at the 2024 Amsterdam Congress - Collection Visits and a Memorable Gala Dinner

Budapest, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London, Los Angeles, Vienna, Tokyo, Munich, New York, Madrid, Los Angeles, Montréal, Melbourne, Paris, Bologna... booksellers have travelled the world and been welcomed into libraries, private collections, national treasures, given access to scholars and experts, and established long-term business relationships and lasting friendships.

Since 1948, the League and its member associations have organised Congresses, now held every two years in a different part of the world, providing a wonderful opportunity for ILAB member booksellers to network, but also to get to know the literary and cultural heritage of the host country. Traditionally, a congress is followed by a book fair.
After Paris (2014), Budapest (2016), Los Angeles (2018), Oxford (2022) and Amsterdam (2024), join us in Berlin in September 2026!

All ILAB Congresses and meetings since ILAB's inception are listed HERE.

Congresses and Fairs are open to all booksellers affiliated to the League and are announced through the League at least one year before the Congress. Information on scholarship opportunities can be obtained from the ILAB Secretariat.

Images supplied by
Markus Brandis and
visitBerlin, Foto: Dagmar Schwelle