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

BooksellersAntiquarian Booksellers

Rare Book Gallery

  • A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND: OR THE OBSERVATIONS, AND DISCOUERIES, OF...

    Smith, John:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND: OR THE OBSERVATIONS, AND DISCOUERIES, OF CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH (ADMIRALL OF THAT COUNTRY) IN THE NORTH OF AMERICA, IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 1614: WITH THE SUCCESSE OF SIXE SHIPS, THAT WENT THE NEXT YEARE 1615; AND THE ACCIDENTS BEFELL HIM AMONG THE FRENCH MEN OF WARRE: WITH THE PROOFE OF THE PRESENT BENEFIT THIS COUNTREY AFFOORDS: WHITHER THIS PRESENT YEARE, 1616, EIGHT VOLUNTARY SHIPS ARE GONE TO MAKE FURTHER TRYALL
    London: Printed by Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke, 1616.. [16],61,[2]pp. plus folding engraved map of New England. Small quarto. Full calf in... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 125000.00 USD

  • The Catcher In The Rye

    Salinger, J.D

    Bookseller: Raptis Rare Books, ABAA/ ILAB

    The Catcher In The Rye
    Boston: Little Brown, 1951.. First edition of the author's first book. Octavo, original black cloth. Inscribed by the author, "To Leonard Brooks... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 150000.00 USD

  • Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et fabricati figura....

    MERCATOR, GERARD. - [PMM 100 - MERCATOR'S PROJECTION]

    Bookseller: Lynge & Søn A/S

    Atlas sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et fabricati figura. Denu
    Amsterodami (Amsterdam), Iodocus Hondius, 1613. Folio (48

    Buy from:

    Price: 1000000.00 DKK

  • [THE GREAT OR AMERICAN VOYAGES IN LATIN, PARTS I-XII]

    De Bry, Theodor; Johann Theodor De Bry; and Johann Israel De Bry:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    [THE GREAT OR AMERICAN VOYAGES IN LATIN, PARTS I-XII]
    Frankfurt or Oppenheim: Theodor De Bry and his heirs (see below), 1590-1624.. Twelve parts bound in twelve volumes (see below for collations).... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 450000.00 USD

All ArticlesRare Books - Articles

  • A Bibliophile of huge Ec(h)o

    A Bibliophile of huge Ec(h)o

    Fresh from his stint as Special Guest Curator at the Louvre (no less!), in September 2010 Umberto Eco will open the ILAB-LILA International Congress and Book Fair with the lecture The Vertigo of the List and of the Catalogue.  “The subject of lists has been a theme of many writers from Homer onwards. My great challenge was to transfer it to painting and music and to see whether I could find equivalents in the Louvre, because frankly when I suggested the subject I had no idea how I would write about visual lists”, he said at the Louvre.

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  • Manuscripta mediaevalia - Medieval Manuscripts Online

    Manuscripta mediaevalia - Medieval Manuscripts Online

    75.000 medieval manuscripts, available online: Manuscripta mediaevalia is a joint venture of the State Library Berlin (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin / Preußischer Kulturbesitz), the State Library Munich (Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München) and the German Documentation Centre for the History of Arts (Deutsches Dokumentationszentrum für Kunstgeschichte - Bildarchiv Foto Marburg).

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  • Collecting Rare Books and First Editions: Essential Texts in Feminist Theory & Feminist Thought

    A collecting tip for all who are interested in the history of society and culture: Marie C. Hansen has published a list of the most important works on feminist theory and feminist thought. From Mary Wollstonecraft to Virginia Woolf to Simone Beauvoir to "Mad Man". Some snippets:

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  • Unprepared, Unpatriotic, and Unrepentant - again

    Unprepared, Unpatriotic, and Unrepentant - again

    I’ve recently returned from my fourth year of teaching at Rare Book School (RBS) located at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. RBS is the oldest and most prestigious teaching program devoted to rare books in the world. Every year the School runs a full program of intensive weeklong classes on specific topics germane to the rare book world. Curiously, among the faculty of some fifty-odd international authorities on rare books (and some of them are very odd indeed, myself not least among them), I am the only member who is also a rare bookseller. The vast majority of the faculty members are world-renowned scholars, rare book librarians, technical experts and so forth. What, you might ask, is RBS doing letting a rare bookseller teach a course at an institution largely devoted to the scholarly study of antiquarian books?

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  • The Japanese Literature Publishing Project and The Private Library

    The Japanese Literature Publishing Project and The Private Library

    For many years L.D. Mitchell's blog The Private Library showed collectors that it is possible to build a collection without the benefit of much money. He published numerous articles on every imaginable subject of book collecting, he wrote about the most beautiful, the most important, the most common, the most attractive, the most unusual, the most interesting, the most extraordinary, the most amazing ... books one could read, buy, collect and simply enjoy. The Private Library has become an irreplaceable resource for all booklovers. Since April 2012, it is a static archive. L. D. Mitchell will no longer post new original content. ILAB is very grateful that he has given permission to publish some of his best articles and collecting tips from The Private Library on the ILAB website. Thank you very much, L.D.

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  • viaLibri launches German version of its popular website for booklovers: vialibri.net

    viaLibri launches German version of its popular website for booklovers: vialibri.net

    The world’s largest online marketplace for early, rare and out-of-print books is now available to German bibliophiles in their native language. When it started in 2006, viaLibri set itself apart from other similar sites by focusing on the more exacting needs of book collectors, librarians and bibliographic scholars. This important group of book buyers had always been frustrated by the limitations of existing websites that were built primarily as price comparison tools.   Rejecting the prevailing assumption that online book buyers were only interested in cheap books, rather than rare or valuable ones, viaLibri built a powerful metasearch engine designed specifically to meet the needs of serious bibliophiles, and not just bargain hunters.

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