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ILAB Library - All You Need To Know About Rare Books and the Antiquarian Book Trade
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[+] More Collecting the Physical Book in the Digital Age
Published since 30 Jan 2013I’m going to make some general comments about my experiences as a dealer buying and selling in the Internet/digital age today and offer some reflections on the past – over the thirty-five years that I’ve been in business. I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. The impact of the Internet and computer technology has been enormous on the rare book business. There are three basic things that we do in this profession: buy books, sell books, and research what we are buying in order to sell them. All have been greatly impacted by technology. Today everything that I acquire is researched online in regard to bibliographical information, as well as for pricing comparison by looking at other copies in the marketplace. This research plays a key role in deciding what to buy, what to pay for the book, and in determining a fair amount to price the book for sale. Of course a subscription to the online auction record database is essential.
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[+] More A Tragedy: Mali rebels torched library of historic manuscripts
Published since 30 Jan 2013Timbuktu was one of the main centres of Arab learning in Africa. The library of Timbuktu owned numerous manuscripts and scrolls. They were the impressive proof that "black Africa" did not only have an oral, but a powerful written history. Now the library had been burnt down by rebels, before the French troops reached Timbuktu. Read the whole article from The Guardian.
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[+] More Ever lasting values - Excellent sales (and the youngest customer) at the 52nd Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair
Published since 30 Jan 2013Ever lasting values are good investments, and of these rare books, autographs, manuscripts and prints are the best - financially, intellectually and aesthetically. On Sunday evening the 52nd Stuttgart Antiquarian Book Fair closed after three days of huge public interest. Most exhibitors from Europe and abroad were happy with five- and six-digit sales.
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[+] More Barry Humphries appointed Patron of Honour by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers
Published since 29 Jan 2013Barry Humphries, AO, CBE, the Australian comedian, satirist, artist, and author has been appointed a Patron of Honour by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). The appointment recognises his major contribution to the antiquarian book trade.
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[+] More 23rd Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair from 1st to 2nd November 2013
Published since 29 Jan 2013The 23rd Chelsea Antiquarian Book Fair will be held at the beautiful Chelsea Old Town Hall in the King’s Road, London, on 1st and 2nd November 2013. Over its life, the Chelsea fair has become a fixture in the November calendar for book collectors and dealers from Britain, Europe and America. Warmer than Boston, more intimate than York, less formal than Paris – Chelsea has it all. Most of our exhibitors come back year after year, and that’s because sales continue to increase, and the customers return, again and again.
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[+] More Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - Happy birthday, Sir Francis Bacon
Published since 24 Jan 2013January 22nd is the birthday of English statesman, philosopher, writer Sir Francis Bacon (1561), whose writings are said to have had great influence on modern science, law and society. There is also a school of thought that credits him with some or all of the works of William Shakespeare, though that idea has largely been discredited. In any case, what is known is that Bacon was, for a time at least, an influential thinker and politician during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, something of a feat in itself, given that the two courts were not on the best of terms with each other. He enjoyed the favor of Queen Elizabeth I, whom he had met while he was a student at Cambridge. The queen seems to have admired his brilliant young mind. Later, he served the queen as prosecutor of his former friend, Robert Devereau, who was convicted of treason and beheaded. Bacon then wrote an account of the whole affair for Elizabeth, which was published after heavy editing from Elizabeth and her advisors.
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[+] More Collecting Rare Books and First Editions - The Novel That Never Was
Published since 23 Jan 2013The novel that never was: Meyern’s book is a Bundesroman, a popular genre of novel in late eighteenth-century German literature which featured secret societies. As for The Ruins on the Mountain-Lake, it never existed at all, except in Meyern’s mind.
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[+] More Don’t Call It A Comeback, Or, The Bookseller Returns
Published since 22 Jan 2013There are various reasons, many of which are interesting only to me. One of the reasons that is worth mentioning to the book-loving readers of this blog is that if there is to be a next generation of book collectors, we who sell books must first encourage a generation of book lovers, of people who understand that reading a printed book is a different experience than reading a back-lit screen. Many antiquarian booksellers worry about whether the generation coming up - a generation raised on the digital device - will, when they come of age, bother with something as archaic as book collecting. Some even wonder if they’ll bother with something as archaic as book reading.
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[+] More 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography - Submit a book to the most prestigious prize until the end of April 2013!
Published since 21 Jan 2013A prize with prestige and tradition, a strong support for scholarship: The ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography of $10,000 US is awarded every fourth year to the authors of the most outstanding works on the history of the book. Famous scholars like Jean Peeters-Fontainas, I. C. Koeman and Anthony Hobson belong to the prize winners alongside Lotte Hellinga and Jan Storm van Leeuwen who were honoured with the 15th Prize in September 2010. Both, Lotte Hellinga's monumental "Catalogue of Books printed in the XVth Century now in the British Library, BMC. Part XI – England" and Jan Storm van Leeuwen's opus magnum on "Dutch Decorated Bookbinding in the Eighteenth Century" are shining examples for the enormous amount of knowledge - and work - which stands behind such brilliant studies in a scientific field that is essential for every kind of academic research, and for the rare book trade. 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: Arnoud Gerits (Distelvlinderweg 37 d, 1113 LA Diemen, Netherlands).
Download file: 998_PR ILAB Breslauer Prize 2013 1.pdf -
[+] More A CELEBRATION OF THE PRINTED WORD – 46th California International Antiquarian Book Fair from 15th to 17th February 2013
Published since 18 Jan 2013Thousands of rare books and manuscripts from hundreds of booksellers, plus seminars and events for book lovers: The 46th California International Antiquarian Book Fair from 15th to 17th February 2013 is the largest antiquarian book fair in the world and will offer something exciting for every book lover and collector. Among the exhibited materials of over 200 American and international dealers, you can peruse and purchase rare items from medieval manuscripts to collectible editions of authors into the 21st century. There will be unusual books on travel and exploration (including maps), literature, the arts, science and medicine, children's books, law and commerce, Americana, and history in all eras and geographical areas. First, signed, and limited editions of many important authors will be present, plus collections of original photographs, prints by renowned artists from the 16th to the 21st century, and remarkable examples of book making, binding, and typography from throughout the world.
