ILAB Joins the Protest Against Amazon’s Bid to Control Top-Level Domain Names

Today, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers has joined the numerous other organizations, such as the Authors Guild or the American Association of Publishers, objecting to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN’s) plan to sell top-level domains to private companies.  Online retail giant Amazon has bid to be the exclusive custodian of .book, .author and .read domains. Read more ...

Paris 2014 - 41st ILAB Congress

The ILAB and SLAM committees are very pleased to announce that the 41st ILAB Congress will run in Paris from the 13th to 16th April, 2014, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of SLAM. The Paris Congress will immediately follow the International Antiquarian Book Fair at the Grand Palais scheduled from 10th to 13th of April 2014. We hope that the very special  program that we have planned will attract numerous visitors to Paris and we are looking forward to meeting our new colleagues and welcoming old friends.

Anne Lamort, President SLAM, Tom Congalton, President ILAB

ILAB Patrons of Honour

ILAB is very proud to present Sir David Attenborough, Barry Humphries, René Fayt, Michael Knoche, Reiner Speck, Jay and Jean Kislak and Sid Lapidus as Patrons of Honour:

"Their commitment to the preservation of printed culture makes them our clients, our audience, and our inspiration, and very often all three. The paths that they have followed and the collections that they have formed are likely to have an extraordinary influence on the understanding of human culture for future generations."

16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography

The 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography will be awarded in 2014 to one or more books about books published in any language and in any part of the world between 2009 and 2012. Publishers, librarians, collectors, antiquarian booksellers and all book lovers are very welcome to submit books to the prize until the end of April 2013 by sending a single copy to the Prize Secretary.

Support scholarship! Submit books to the most prestigious prize until April 2013!

The World’s Expert Antiquarian Booksellers - In 1 Book!

The new edition of the ILAB Directory contains all names, addresses and specialities of the ILAB dealers who are organized in 22 national associations and who are located in 32 countries all over the world. Have a look!

“Book collecting is and almost always has been a vibrant, exciting and engaging pastime"

"It’s our job to make others understand that.” An interview with ILAB President Tom Congalton about his career, his favourite books, Between the Covers, collecting, ILAB and the future of the trade. Read it!

ILAB Booksellers on Video

"A wonderful snapshot of the rich history of both the ABAA and the rare book trade" - ILAB is proud to present the video archive project by Michael Ginsberg and Taylor Bowie. Recently added: interviews with two amazing ladies: Marguerite Goldschmidt and Florence Shay.

"Out of the classroom and into the world" - ILAB Internships

ILAB has launched an internship program for young antiquarian book dealers. Alena Lavrenova, Anastasya Zhikhareva, and other young antiquarian booksellers from Russia, spent several weeks in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and the United States. Read their exciting reports and join our new Facebook Group!

The World's Best Booksellers Met in Switzerland

From 22 to 26 September the presidents of 22 national antiquarian booksellers' associations and rare book dealers from all over the world met for their 40th Congress in Lucerne. Besides the meetings and elections on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday, they climbed high mountains and dark caves and visited Switzerland's most outstanding museums and private collections. Read the online diary!

Old and Rare Books. From ILAB: the one stop FREE App for all lovers of rare books

The International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB)  has launched an ILAB Moile App which is now available in the Apple Store and the Android Market. Search for “ILAB rare books” or “International League of Antiquarian Booksellers” to find the free App ready to install on your phone.

GlossaryGlossary terms

CataloguesBook Catalogues

Book FairsRare Books - Next Fairs

  • London Map Fair

    08 Jun 2013 - 09 Jun 2013

    London Map Fair

    The largest Antique Map Fair in Europe, established 1980, brings together around 40 of the leading national and international antiquarian map dealers as well as hundreds of visiting dealers,...

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  • Bloomsbury Summer Book Fair

    09 Jun 2013

    Bloomsbury Summer Book Fair

    Dealers from the UK and abroad offer fine bindings, antiquarian, illustrated books, travel, modern firsts, children’s books, maps, prints, and ephemera.

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EventsRare Books - Next EventsRSS

  • The Romantic Agony - Books and Prints

    14 Jun 2013 - 15 Jun 2013

    The Romantic Agony - Books and Prints

    Highlights : Incunabula : Brussels, Louvain, Cologne, Leipzig, Paris, Strasbourg.  Manuscripts 14th-18th c. Books of Hours (Rome, Utrecht) illustrated with miniatures. Album amicorum of a...

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BooksellersAntiquarian Booksellers

Rare Book Gallery

  • A New Map of the Western parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North...

    HUTCHINS, Thomas (1730-1789)

    Bookseller: Donald Heald Rare Books

    A New Map of the Western parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina; Comprehending the River Ohio, and all the Rivers, which fall into it; Part of the River Mississippi, the Whole of the Illinois River, Lake Erie; Part of the Lakes Huron, Michigan &c. And all the Country bordering on these Lakes and Rivers. By Thos. Hutchins, Captain in the 60 Regiment of Foot
    London: Engraved by T. Hutchins, 1778. Copper-engraved map by T. Cheevers, with period outline colour, on four joined sheets, overall measuring 36

    Buy from:

    Price: 150000.00 USD

  • HISTOIRE DE LA NAVIGATION DE JEAN HUGUES DE LINSCOT HOLLANDAIS ET DE SON...

    Linschoten, Jan Huygen:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    HISTOIRE DE LA NAVIGATION DE JEAN HUGUES DE LINSCOT HOLLANDAIS ET DE SON VOYAGE ES INDES ORIENTALES...AVEC ANNOTATIONS DE BERNARD PALUDANUS DOCTEUR EN MEDICINE, SPECIALEMENT SUR LA MATIERE DES PLANTES & ESPICERIES...A QUOY SONT ADIOUSTEES QUELQUES AUT
    Amsterdam: Th?ore Pierre, 1610.. Six engraved maps on eight sheets (two double- page, two folding, two on two folding sheets), fifty-eight engraved... More

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    Price: 90000.00 USD

  • TO THE HONOURABLE THOMAS PENN AND RICHARD PENN ESQRS. TRUE & ABSOLUTE...

    Scull, Nicholas:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    TO THE HONOURABLE THOMAS PENN AND RICHARD PENN ESQRS. TRUE & ABSOLUTE PROPRIETARIES & GOVERNOURS OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA & COUNTIES OF NEW-CASTLE KENT & SUSSEX ON DELAWARE THIS MAP OF THE IMPROVED PART OF THE PROVINCE OF PENNSYLVANIA. IS HUMBLY DEDICATED BY NICHOLAS SCULL
    Philadelphia. 1759.. Engraved map on six sheets, joined as three. Sheet size: 3 sheets, each approximately 31 x 21 1/2 inches. Excellent condition,... More

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    Price: 185000.00 USD

  • THE AMERICAN ATLAS; OR, A GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE CONTINENT OF...

    Jefferys, Thomas:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    THE AMERICAN ATLAS; OR, A GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WHOLE CONTINENT OF AMERICA; WHEREIN ARE DELINEATED AT LARGE ITS SEVERAL REGIONS, COUNTRIES, STATES, AND ISLANDS; AND CHIEFLY THE BRITISH COLONIES
    London: Printed and sold by R. Sayer and J. Bennett, 1778.. Twenty-three engraved maps on thirty sheets, handcolored in outline. Folio, 21 3/4 x 15... More

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    Price: 140000.00 USD

All ArticlesRare Books - Articles

  • Organising the Private Book Collection

    Organising the Private Book Collection

    You’ve been buying books for a while now but in a haphazard fashion, buying them as the subject matter or some other aspect of them e.g., binding or association inscriptions, illustrations or bookplates or indeed anything at all, appealed to you. There are so many of them now that you begin to think that you have a “collection”, particularly as you now seem to be mostly buying books in a field which has become of particular interest to you...

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  • À la découverte d’une œuvre d’art inconnue : la reliure

    À la découverte d’une œuvre d’art inconnue : la reliure

    Ainsi l’on a des reliures carolingiennes, romanes, gothiques, Renaissance, d’autres reflétant les caractéristiques de style des différents règnes et enfin des reliures symbolistes, art nouveau, art déco, cubistes, surréalistes, etc. À partir de la fin du XIXe siècle la créativité des relieurs a été reconnue et, au siècle suivant, ils ont osé s’affranchir des vieux codes de corporations. En pratiquant des techniques nouvelles et en utilisant des matériaux inusités, les relieurs d’art ont donné pour certains la pleine mesure de leur génie et ils se sont mis enfin à signer leurs oeuvres. Le mot de génie n’est pas trop fort lorsque l’on énonce les noms de Pierre Legrain, Rose Adler, Paul Bonet, Pierre-Lucien Martin, Monique Mathieu, Jean de Gonet, pour n’en citer que quelques-uns.

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  • Massive Thefts at the Girolamini Library in Naples

    Massive Thefts at the Girolamini Library in Naples

    Shortly after the reopening of the Girolamini Library in Naples  in April of 2012 the Director, Marino Massimo de Caro, announced that 1500 books were missing (April 17). On April 20 the Library was  closed by the Naples Public Prosecutor. Marino Massimo de Caro has been suspended and was investigated for embezzlement. On May 18, 1000 books, 240 of which have ownership stamps from the Girolamini Library were found in storage in Massimo Marino de Caro’s home city of Verona, and on May 24 Mr. de Caro was arrested on the charge of embezzlement along with four others; a search warrant is out for a fifth. In the meantime Massimo Marino de Caro has confessed to the theft of thousands of books from the library and is cooperating with police in tracing them. A number of stolen items from the library have been confiscated by the authorities in Munich (16 items), London (28 items), New York and Tokyo (uncertain numbers). According to what is currently known and what Massimo Marino de Caro has confessed so far, it is very likely that the number of stolen books from the Girolamini Library is higher than 1500 but no definitive list of missing items has been published by Italian authorities so far. It appears also to be clear that the stolen books were spread out via the trade in several countries, in both Europe and elsewhere.

     

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  • 24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair - 27th to 30th September 2012

    24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair - 27th to 30th September 2012

    The World’s Best Booksellers Meet in Switzerland! The 24th International Antiquarian Book Fair presents the best of the trade. From manuscripts and incunabula to avant-garde, from Erasmus, Philipp Melanchthon and Charles Darwin to Leonardo da Vinci, Pablo Picasso, DADA and the Bauhaus artists – together with the Fine Art Zurich, this most important event, supported by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), will change Zurich into the international market place for everything rare, extravagant and beautiful.

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  • Artists’ Children’s Books - Catalogue 10 by Michèle Noret

    Artists’ Children’s Books - Catalogue 10 by Michèle Noret

    After a longer break Michèle Noret has now published her tenth catalogue of picture books – and this is right at the time like a christmas-gift! In 2004, after having made herself independent (before she worked together with Thierry Corcelle, where she gained great experience of  illustrated children’s books in general) she began to publish her catalogues, now mainly concentrated on artists’ children’s books of the 20th century, each catalogue like a little portable gallery!  I do not (and one probably cannot) know how many collectors of this sort of illustrated books exist in the world, but I hope: many! Collecting these books is one of the most adventurous and inspiring book-activities: it does not only confront us with the beauty of book-art and illustration (which, of course, would also be a result of collecting older books!), it also motivates - through the obviously never ending great creativity of artists worldwide  in the field of book-making  - to believe in the future of  the book  (inspite of all complaints about its coming „death“). Collecting contemporary picture books (be they children’s books or  illustrated books in general) means to be aware of the great challenge that every day an hitherto unknown object of beauty might be published. There is no predestination of a repertory, there is only your own decision: are you fascinated or not!

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  • Recent Book Thefts in the Library of the Abbey of Montecassino

    Recent Book Thefts in the Library of the Abbey of Montecassino

    The Italian Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association has published a list of books stolen from the Library of the Abbey of Montecassino. The library’s director, Dott. Francesco Rosa, has kindly given permission to inform all ILAB booksellers about this recent theft in detail.

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