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

  • Harmonices Mundi Libri V

    KEPLER, Johannes

    Bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.

    Harmonices Mundi Libri V
    Five engraved plates & numerous woodcut diagrams & illus. in the text. 4 p.l., 66 (i.e. 64), 255 pp. Folio, cont. vellum over boards... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 235000.00 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

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    Price: 175000.00 USD

  • Discours Admirables, de la Nature des Eaux et Fonteines, tant naturelles...

    PALISSY, Bernard

    Bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.

    Discours Admirables, de la Nature des Eaux et Fonteines, tant naturelles qu'artificielles, des metaux, des sels & salines, des pierres, des terres, du feu & des emaux. Avec plusieurs autres excellens secrets des choses naturelles...Le Tout dress?ar Dialogues, lesquels sont introduits la theorique & la practique
    8 p.l., 361, [23] pp. Small 8vo, cont. flexible vellum, ties gone. Paris: Martin le Jeune, 1580. First edition, and a splendid pure copy in its... More

    Buy from:

    Price: 75000.00 USD

  • Bible. Eaux-fortes originales de Marc CHAGALL. Complete in 2 volumes

    (Chagall, Marc: 1887-1985)

    Bookseller: Gemini Fine Books & Arts, Ltd.

    Bible. Eaux-fortes originales de Marc CHAGALL. Complete in 2 volumes
    Paris: Teriade Editeur, 1956, first Chagall edition, two volumes, number 246 of 275 exemplars (total edition 295), printed on Montval paper, signed... More

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    Price: 125000.00 USD

All ArticlesRare Books - Articles

  • A Collector’s Primer to the Wonders of Fore-edge Painting

    One of the most unusual types of book decoration is fore-edge paintings. These are books which have one or more of the top, fore or bottom edge painted – usually with watercolors. The typical form is a book with a single fanned fore-edge painting. In the twentieth century other forms have developed, including the double fore-edge or even the remarkable six-way painting where all three sides of the book have a double.

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  • 100 Years - 100 Books: High Spots of Collectible Children's Books from 1863-1963

    100 Years - 100 Books: High Spots of Collectible Children's Books from 1863-1963

    The world of collectible children's books has come of age. Although children's books have always been collected, it is only within the last ten years that they have blasted into the consciousness of the book collecting world in general and even into the minds of the non collecting public. It now goes without saying that great first edition collections should also include firsts of classic children's literature as well ...

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  • Books about Books: A History of Oak Knoll Press, Part 1: A Life-Changing Decision

    Books about Books: A History of Oak Knoll Press, Part 1: A Life-Changing Decision

    Thirty years ago I made the life-changing decision that I should try my hand in the world of publishing. Was I breaking new ground in the antiquarian bookselling business? Hardly!  Any of you who have read the history of bookselling know that the professions of bookseller and publisher have been intertwined for centuries with large out-of-print booksellers often having equally large publishing programs. This method of doing business has all but died out today. The following experiment in biography will tell you the story of how our company has tried to resurrect it.

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  • Young Dealers / Old Books - First Efforts: Yet More Mistakes

    Young Dealers / Old Books - First Efforts: Yet More Mistakes

    "First catalogues are intimidating things, as you are introducing yourself to the bookselling world: your fellow dealers, serious collectors, institutions and librarians. All the more intimidating is that you are doing this in something that announces that it’s your first effort, thereby – to my mind at least – inviting even closer scrutiny. So you truly want to present the best image of yourself that you can." With Brian Cassidy's musings on his first catalogue, ILAB starts a new series on its website about "Young Dealers / Old Books".

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  • ILAB Internships – Out of the Classroom, into the World: Julia Kulyamzina visits the United States

    ILAB Internships – Out of the Classroom, into the World: Julia Kulyamzina visits the United States

    In the second part of my diary I would like to tell you about my short visit to New Castle, Delaware, where I was fortunate enough to work at Oak Knoll Books (http://www.oakknoll.com/) under the supervision of Robert Fleck. Oak Knoll Books was founded by Bob Fleck in 1974. The company specializes in out-of-print and in-print books about book collecting, book selling, bibliography, libraries, publishing, private press printing, fine printing, book design and others. There is the second part of this company called Oak Knoll Press which provides the book world with fantastic new titles interesting for reading and very useful in work.

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  • Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - The Ring Comes to London

    Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - The Ring Comes to London

    Swimming Rhine maidens, by special permission of H.M. the King of Bavaria – Wagner’s “Ring” came to London in 1882. "He planned to open his campaign in London, and visited in October 1881 to inspect the stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre, and again in April 1882 with his entire technical staff, just a month before the first performance was to take place.  Although the Theatre was in theory ready, it reneged on its contract and it fell to Neumann to arrange everything, from the orchestra and chorus to the advertising (presumably why the flyer here was printed in Leipzig), even the carpets in the foyer."

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