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

  • Phytanthoza Iconographia, sive conspectus aliquot millium, tam indigenarum...

    WEINMANN, J.W.

    Bookseller: Antiquariaat Junk

    Phytanthoza Iconographia, sive conspectus aliquot millium, tam indigenarum quam exoticarum, ex quatuor mundi partibus... plantarum, arborum, fruticum, florum, fructuum, fungorum, &c. [German title:] Phythanthoza Iconographia, oder eigentliche Vorstellung etlicher Tausend so wohl einheimisch-als ausl
    1737 Regensburg, H. Lentzen [vol 4: H.G. Neubauer], 1737-45. 4 volumes and 1 index volume. Folio (382 x 250mm). With four engraved titles in red... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 127200.00 EUR

  • [MANUSCRIPT LETTER, SIGNED BY JOHN PAUL JONES, ORDERING A MEMBER OF THE...

    Jones, John Paul:

    Bookseller: William Reese Company - Americana

    [MANUSCRIPT LETTER, SIGNED BY JOHN PAUL JONES, ORDERING A MEMBER OF THE MARINES TO ATTEND A COURT MARTIAL ON BOARD HIS SHIP, THE BONHOMME RICHARD]
    On Board the Bonhomme Richard at L'Orient, France. June 14, 1779.. [1]p. manuscript letter on a folded folio sheet. Docketed on the fourth page and... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 75000.00 USD

  • Astronomicon

    MANILIUS

    Bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.

    Astronomicon
    Roman letter, 72 leaves, 30 lines, five fine woodcut initials with a white interlaced branchwork design on a black ground. Guide letters for the... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 175000.00 USD

  • Connecticut, and Parts adjacent

    ROMANS, Bernard (circa 1720-1784)

    Bookseller: Donald Heald Rare Books

    Connecticut, and Parts adjacent
    Amsterdam: Covens and Mortier and Covens Junior, 1780. Copper-engraved map, engraved by H. Klockhoff, after Bernard Romans, with original outline... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 75000.00 USD

All ArticlesRare Books - Articles

  • My Favorite Flaws

    "Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
    Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
    Brown paper packages tied up with strings
    These are a few of my favorite things"

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  • Introduction to Jewish Book Collecting

    When Jewish families sit down to celebrate the Passover festival, they read from the Haggadah, a book that recounts the story of when the Children of Israel left the bonds of slavery in Egypt and became a free nation. The Haggadah is one of the most iconic and popularly collected Jewish books – there are approximately 7000 editions with translations from Hebrew into different languages including English, Arabic, Russian, Amharic, and German ...

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  • Bibliographies - Johann Gutenberg

    Bibliographies - Johann Gutenberg

    The “Gutenberg Bible” was the first book printed, and is one of the rarest treasures today. 48 copies survived that are kept in the Gutenberg Museum (Mainz), in Berlin, Copenhagen, Paris, Cambridge, London, Eaton, Oxford, Tokyo, Vienna, the Vatican and other places. Among the many website on Gutenberg these are recommended:

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  • A Growing Antiquarian Book Market at the Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair

    A Growing Antiquarian Book Market at the Hong Kong Antiquarian Bookfair

    "Just think of me as a black hole into which you can throw offers of everything in this area and I will buy all I don't have".

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  • Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - The Short Story and The Private Library (Part IV)

    Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - The Short Story and The Private Library (Part IV)

    It is perhaps unsurprising that short stories are well-suited to children's literature.  After all, the oral storytelling traditions from which short stories arose included tales considered particularly appropriate to children -- fables, parables and fairy tales, for example, have all traditionally been used to make moral instruction more palatable to youngsters. Because short stories for children so often take advantage of folkloric elements, many of these (such as legends and tall tales) appeal as much to adults as they do to children. Do not, however, be deceived: short stories for children are every bit as challenging to write well as are short stories for adults. Authors who can do this consistently deserve their fame.

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  • Book Sizes and Taking Advantage of Bald Men

    Book Sizes and Taking Advantage of Bald Men

    Book Sizes, also known as a book’s format, at first sight come across as a bit pointlessly arcane: Folio: Fo. or 2° (try and imagine the 2 as really big and the O as really small). Quarto: Qto. or 4to or even 4°. Octavo: Oct. or 8vo. Duodecimo: 12mo (usually spoken as twelvemo). Sextodecimo: 16mo (sixteenmo). Vicesimo-quarto: 24mo (twentyfourmo). Tricesimo-secundo: 32mo (thirtytwomo). They are the most commonly used. There are a myriad of variations within each theme “Crown Octavo”, “Elephant Folio” , “Royal Quarto”, “Small..”, “Squat..” etc. These are usually tied to bibliographical descriptions from SOMEONE OLD AND DISTINGUISHED tm. who wrote about this book eighty years ago and whose word has been taken ever since.

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