ABA Newsletter, December 2007

 
TRADE NOTES & QUERIES

‘NOMINATING GROUP’ PROPOSALS REJECTED BY COUNCIL

At its November meeting, the ABA Council rejected proposals for a revised structure for nominating Officers of the Association. Following what has been described by Alan Shelley as 'prior laxity of procedure', the ABA President established a working group to make suggestions for a new system of nomination.

The report of the group (Robert Frew, Nigel Williams, Ian Smith and Jonathan Potter) was rejected by 8 votes to 3, with 4 abstentions. The group had recommended continuation of the Nominating Committee, to be appointed at the beginning of each new presidential term. It should consist of a past president, current vice president - and a voting member of Council appointed by Council. In the interests of transparency, the members should not be allowed to vote for themselves when choosing a nominee ... The eventual nominees would be subject to discussion by the Finance and Purposes Committee but not by Council.

He asked for Council approval of the rates to be charged by the Association for internet services: these were presented in the minutes and were:

- Set up of a template website: £50.00

- Work to develop the site beyond the basic template and any consultancy element: £25 per hour, payable to Jonathan Kearns

- (Members should be advised that domain transfer could cost up to £15, and that the registration fee for a domain name could be up to £20 per year, depending on suffix)

- The fee for hosting by the ABA on Nativespace: £50 per year, which must be paid yearly in advance by standing order. Half of this would go to Jonathan Kearns

Mr Graves-Johnston pointed out that these were advantageous rates. Roger Treglown asked whether the extra work was likely to overwhelm the ABA staff or Mr Kearns, and the Secretary replied that he felt not: Jonathan Kearns had been asked to identify IT consultants who could provide immediate backup if he were not available and also assist with development work, and to establish how much they would charge. And Brian Lake and Mr Kearns were to discuss how best to put an adequate development and support system in place.

The meeting on 3rd November had also been attended by Jelle Samshuijzen, the ILAB Webmaster, Michael Steinbach, the ILAB President, and Adrian Harrington, the ILAB Vice President. Mr Samshuijzen had informed them that he had implemented all the improvements suggested by the ABA, with the exception of the packing slip facility. This was discussed and he had agreed to install a basic packing slip, on the lines of that on Abe.

Mr Samshuijzen had also agreed to upload images of members' books free of charge, so long as this could be done by a link to the members' own websites, and to provide a facility free of charge so that book searches through the ABA website would initially be only of the stock of ABA members. A negative initial search could be expanded to search the stock of all ILAB affiliates, and he had been encouraged to re-instal his meta-search engine to expand searches further. All in all it had been a cordial and productive meeting and the subcommittee members had been favourably impressed by Mr Samshuijzen.

Julian Rota then referred to the letter from Alan Grant to the Newsletter in which he had said that, unlike Abe, he did not sell any books through the ILAB website. Mr Rota said that he did not sell many books through ILAB either. Brian Lake replied that Alan Grant's point had been put to Jelle Samshuijzen and Michael Graves-Johnston said the ILAB site was moving to become more userfriendly, and also considering affiliation with the large sites like Abe. Mr Graves-Johnston also pointed out that the ILAB site was an Association site as well as being for bookselling, and that his sub-committee was trying to make the bookselling aspect more prominent. Laurence Worms added that that members must support the site, and that it needed more than 600 booksellers online to do that.

Library and Archives

Roger Treglown reported that he was about to send the list of duplicate books in the ABA Library to the Newsletter Editor so that they could be advertised for sale.

National Book Committee

Angus O'Neill reported that he expected the AGM to take place in December as usual, and asked Members of Council to forward to him anything they would like to put on the agenda.

Newsletter

Brian Lake reported as Editor that the Autumn Newsletter had been produced in Word format rather that using the ABA.s ageing desk top publishing programme. The process had not been easy and learning how to do it had taken a considerable time, but he hoped that it would be easier and quicker when the Christmas issue was produced.

The President congratulated the Editor on producing a lively and provocative publication, but went on to ask if the rather harsh criticism of one booksellers’ content in a catalogue review had been strictly necessary. The Editor replied that robust reviews were required. And Nigel Williams observed that, while he agreed that his catalogues were dull, they were excellent tools for selling books.

Julian Rota then said that he was unhappy with the version of the Council minutes that had appeared in the Autumn issue, and also that the items of apparent new policy appearing on the front page had not been agreed by Council. Brian Lake responded that he had been asked by Council to prepare a paper, which was what was reported in the Newsletter. Nigel Williams added that, in replying to Adrian Harrington's letter, the Editor had not addressed any of his criticisms directly, but had presented two “facts” in his one paragraph reply, both of which were incorrect.

The Immediate Past President asked about the policy for the presentation of Council minutes. They had previously been just a report of proceedings, but now they seemed to be a précis of the minutes and looked like minutes. The President had thought that it had been agreed that the Members of Council should take it in turn to write the report for the Newsletter, but this seemed not to be happening.

The Editor replied that he accepted constructive criticism, but that he would like to produce the Newsletter in his own way for the year he had been asked to act as Editor.

Nominating Study Group

Nigel Williams introduced a paper presenting the findings of the Nominating Study Group. The group had consulted the other associations in the ILAB, he said, but none could provide a better way of bringing forward officers for election. The group had decided that a nominating committee was needed in some form as there were just not enough people putting themselves forward to allow the process to run itself: a Nominating Committee ensured that that sufficient names appeared on the ballot papers, but the process needed to be a great deal clearer and not to display any appearance of its being run by a clique.

The study group proposed that the Nominating Committee should be made up of the Vice President, a Past President (probably the Immediate Past President, who had valuable current experience), and an independent Member of Council to be elected by Council. Ideally the Vice President would succeed as President, having gained experience during two years as Vice President. The paper made it clear, however, that any member of five years. standing could be nominated for election.

The study group also felt that there should be much more consultation with the Members of Council over nominations for election, and that everyone interested in assuming office should be considered seriously. The group did, however, feel that it would not be appropriate for the merits of contending personalities to be argued across the council table.

Roger Treglown stated that he was astonished that the report had taken four months to appear, but that neither he nor Laurence Worms, both very longstanding Members of Council, had been asked for their views.

Laurence Worms said that he had difficulties with the paper; there was no discussion of why it was difficult to find volunteers for office; there was no rationale given for a system of selecting future Presidents over two years before they were to take office - things change during two years. And if a member of the Nominating Committee could be elected by Council, why could not Council select officers in precisely the same way? He went on to say that he had devised a system of secret balloting which he could propose if requested.

Brian Lake considered that there was no need for a Nominating Committee, and Tim Bryars agreed, saying that the whole thing should be democratic and open to the membership as a whole. He would be happy for a member to come in as President without experience of Council proceedings, and felt that the proposal of candidates by Council made members very reluctant to stand against them.

Christopher Edwards felt that it was extremely undesirable for a President to come in directly from outside Council, and Jolyon Hudson stated that candidates should all be former Members of Council.

Julian Rota asked about the implications of the statement “The eventual Nominees would be subject to discussion by the F&GP but not by Council.” Nigel Williams replied that this was to avoid unpleasant discussions in Council, but that it could probably be removed.

Robert Frew then said that the paper had been put forward as a basis for discussion, but that Laurence Worms's proposal might well have merit and that he should be asked to bring detailed proposals to Council. Michael Silverman was also interested in what Laurence Worms had proposed, and suggested that the officers should each write a paragraph on the responsibilities of their jobs and what they entailed.

Kenneth Fuller and Michael Graves-Johnston also felt that the proposal by Laurence Worms merited further discussion.

The President asked the Members of Council to vote on the motion “Council accepts the paper put forward by the Nominating Study Group.” With 3 votes in favour, 8 against and 4 abstentions, Council decided not to accept the paper.

Paul Minet then said that persuading members to become officers was more a question of twisting arms than of their automatic appearance through a democratic process, and that a President needed at least some experience. He went on to say that if a candidate were elected from outside Council, then the actual running of the Association would devolve on the Secretary, and all Members of Council would properly be obliged to resign.

Laurence Worms countered that Council must not take away the right of members to put themselves forward for election.

The President then asked Mr Worms to draw up a method for a secret ballot, to circulate it to the Members of Council, and to bring it forward for discussion at the December meeting. He thanked the Nominating Study Group for their work.

PBFA Liaison

Brian Lake apologised for the late appearance from the PBFA of the draft minutes for the Liaison Committee meeting held on 10th September 2007. As well as the book fair aspects which he had reported earlier, the Liaison Committee was looking at opening the PBFA contract with ParcelForce to ABA members.

Kenneth Fuller and Becky Wears were discussing ways of working together to improve book security, and considered that it was essential to open the ILAB database of missing and stolen books to PBFA members. They had suggested that the database be made accessible through a simple password. The Members of Council agreed this proposal, and the Secretary was asked to approach the ILAB through Adrian Harrington to request the facility.

The sub-committee had also discussed educational programmes and VAT on books.

Press

Council agreed that Angus O'Neill and Tim Bryars should produce fully costed plans for a summer exhibition in 2008.

Security

Kenneth Fuller reported that the ABA entries on the ILAB database had now been brought fully up to date, and he thanked Clare Pedder for her work on this.

Standards

Christopher Edwards briefed Council on three complaints involving ABA members, either made by them or against them, that were being investigated by the Standards Committee.

He then went on to discuss the standard of descriptions and cataloguing on the ILAB website, saying that the Standards Committee felt that entries put on the internet by ABA members should be monitored. The Standards Committee needed reports when low standards were seen, he felt, so that an audit could be initiated. He noted that Appendix A to the Rules, which deals with the Standards Committee, allowed for external monitors to be appointed. He then named two members who needed to be approached to discuss their cataloguing standards on the internet. The Members of Council were content with the approach described by Mr Edwards, and he said that he would carry on and write to the members concerned. He also asked for examples of poor description and cataloguing to be sent to him for consideration by the Standards Committee.

VAT

The President reported that he had asked Jolyon Hudson to re-constitute the VAT committee. Mr Hudson stated that reports of imminent harmonisation of VAT within the EU had been exaggerated, and that any change to VAT rates was in the gift of the UK government. He would liaise with the NBC to ensure a co-ordinated approach.

ABA POLICY

Deaccessioning of books from institutional libraries Jolyon Hudson reported that there had been a good response to the letter on deaccessioning which he and Christopher Edwards had sent to the main institutional libraries. Reading would have nothing to do with it, but most had been supportive and Glasgow had already instituted the proposals.

Other policy items not discussed. Other items scheduled for discussion (advice to members on the valuation of books; the ABA response to the increase in Buyer's Premium by Sotheby's and Christie's; Galley Proofs; and Past Presidents and the ABA Council) were held over because of lack of time.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE OF ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS

Committee Spring meeting in London The President reported that the ABA had been asked to host the ILAB Committee Spring meeting, which would take place in March. Jonathan Potter had volunteered to hold a drinks reception in his shop, and suggestions were invited for a suitable restaurant to entertain the committee to dinner.

Maremagnum special service for expensive books Discussion of this was held over because of lack of time.

BRANCHES AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONS

Christmas Party

Sotheran's had kindly offered to host the Christmas Party, which would be held on Wednesday 12th December, at 6.00pm. It was agreed that the price of tickets would be £20 plus VAT.

ANY OTHER BUSINESS

No other business was raised.

DATE OF NEXT MEETING

The next meeting was planned for Wednesday 12th December 2007, in the Reform Club. There being no time for further business, the President thanked the Members of Council for their close attention to the proceedings and closed the meeting at 6.12pm.

CAVEAT EMPTOR

Bonhams held a sale on 29th October of books formerly in the reference library of Robin Symes. The Conditions of Sale included the following unusual sentence:

".... the Seller is selling only such right, title and interest as it may have in each Lot."

Extracts from the response by the ABA solicitors are printed below. Alan Shelley wrote to David Park at Bonhams expressing surprise and concern that the auctioneers, being unable to receive the assurance of full title guarantee, apparently passed the responsibility to those who purchased at this sale.

Robins Symes Limited are currently in liquidation, and as such Bonhams are acting as agents for the liqidator ... –

Although the liquidator will examine the background to each individual asset as far as is possible, there may be a charge or encumbrance over the asset that he has not been able to discover (because, for example, the paperwork relating to the charge has gone missing or been misplaced). Thus, a liquidator ... will not give a warranty that the asset of the company is completely free from any legal charges or burdens ... Bonhams, who are acting as agents for the liquidator, will not give such a warranty either. By including the phrase "the Seller is selling only such right, title and interest as it may have in each Lot", Bonhams are essentially inviting any potential bidders to consider this.

Section 12(3) of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 applies to contracts where the contract states that it is the intention of the seller to transfer only such title as he or a third person may have, as is the case here ... Essentially, this means that when the contract is made (when the auctioneers hammer falls), if the Seller knew of a charge or encumbrance over that lot prior to the auction, the buyer will be deemed to have done so even if they did not. This is something that should be borne in mind if placing a bid where the Seller has included a caveat in the contract with regard to title guarantee.

As I understand it, Robin Symes Limited have been in liquidation since 2003, and one would hope that any issues regarding any of the items up for sale at auction on 29th October 2007 would have come to the liquidator's attention by now. However, the points I have raised previously should always be borne in mind. If there are any particular concerns you have over any specific lots, you may wish to raise these with the auctioneer.

Lee Bolton & Lee

CLARIFICATION ON MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS

Julian Rota, ABA Membership Secretary, would like to point out that Council has accepted that members may wish to use P.O. Box numbers rather than a street address for security reasons when dealing with the public.

He also points out that CVs to accompany applications will be welcomed but the Membership Secretary offers to write summaries of applicants. trade histories on their behalf if required.

HENRY IRVING CORRESPONDENCE

Henry Irving, 1838-1905, rose from humble beginnings in Somerset to be the leading actor-manager on the London stage, and in 1895 was the first actor to be knighted. He toured widely in Britain, Ireland and America.

The Henry Irving Foundation, a small registered charity established by John H.B. Irving, the present head of the family, has opened a website - www.henryirving.co.uk with the aim of including summaries of all Irving.s Correspondence, which is widely distributed.

As head of his profession Irving received letters from many of the most significant figures in late Victorian society and his own letters cast interesting light on his theatrical friendships and activities.

The website includes a list of all correspondents so far identified, and summaries of the correspondence are continually being added. Based originally on the extensive holdings of the Victoria & Albert Museum Theatre Collections (formerly the Theatre Museum) the scope is being widened to include collections throughout Britain and America. The site has been professionally designed and is fully searchable with a subject index.

The volunteer compilers would welcome information from booksellers about any new material they may come across which could be added to the site.

ABA BOOK EXHIBITION 2008

The ABA Book Exhibition reported in the last Newsletter is proposed for 2008, not 2009. Council has now given 'in principle' approval. Contact Angus O.Neill (angus@omegabookshop.com) or Tim Bryars (tim@timbryars.co.uk) for more information.

“PLAY!” THE BOOKSELLERS CRICKET MATCH IS ON ...

Through the good offices of Brian Colling of David’s, the ABA v PBFA cricket match is booked for the Gonville and Caius Ground, Cambridge on SUNDAY 22nd JUNE next year.... Put it in your new 2008 Diary.

HERITAGE TO CONTINUE

Heritage Book Shop is to continue at The Pacific Design Center, 8687 Melrose Avenue M46, Los Angeles, California 90069 - open by appointment only. "We will continue to buy and sell rare books and manuscripts" although all of the Heritage inventory is being sold by Bloomsbury Auctions at sales in New York and London.

“THE RING” UNANIMOUS RESOLUTION 1948

“The Ring” is the name given to an organised fraud in which a group of dealers present at an auction conspire not to bid against each other, preferring instead to buy cheaply and then privately to re-auction the lots amongst themselves at a later “knockout” or “settlement.”

The difference between sale-room and settlement price is then shared between the group in the form of a “dividend” or “divvy.” Once widespread, if never quite endemic, in all the art and antiques trades, this practice was finally outlawed by the Auction (Bidding Agreements) Act 1927 and its 1969 successor.

Although the rare book trade was publicly shamed by the depredations of rings operating at the Ruxley Lodge sale in 1919 (a scandal that lead to the passing of the 1927 Act) and again at the Lowther Castle sale in 1955, it remains the case that no book-dealer has ever been prosecuted under either Act. Remotely bidding at auctions by telephone and internet has now rendered the practice ineffectual if not wholly obsolete, but why auctioneers allowed such a readily visible fraud to flourish for so long remains a mystery.

[Laurence adds that ‘this was written within the constraints of a 200-word absolute limit - so isn’t necessarily my final word on the subject.’]

GROSVENOR MEZZOTINTS

Grosvenor Prints of Covent Garden announce their largest catalogue yet, with 732 antique prints, now being previewed on-line at www.grosvenorprints.com.

Many are from the collection of the Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd, who has spent 40 years pursuing rare and decorative mezzotints. Whilst a good percentage of the collection is reserved for the British Museum’s Department of Prints & Drawings, we are happy to offer a selection of his "Curious and Entertaining Mezzotints".

BOOKSELLERS' WANTS

1. From Christopher Sokol: We are looking for the map: ’The Invasions of Germany. With all the severall battels skirmish and assaults of cities towns and castles since 1618 to 1638’ sometimes accompanying ’The Invasions of Germanie’ London 1638.
books@sokol.co.uk

2. From Alan Shelley: We are always looking for books and pamphlets by and about Tom Paine. Please quote.
rarebooks@bowwindows.com

3. From Jarndyce: A customer has asked us to find an early edition of Conan Doyle’s The White Company in good+ condition.
books@jarndyce.co.uk

4. From Jarndyce: George Macdonald titles required: Novelis 1851, Good Words for the Young/Good Things for the Young of All Ages, the first US edition of Warlock o' Glen Warlock, The Gifts of the Christ Child, Far Above Rubies (1898). Also: Shaberman’s Bibliography of Macdonald, Wolff’s The Golden Key 1961 - and two titles by Louisa Macdonald: Dramatic Illustrations from the Second Part of the Pilgrim's Progress, and Chamber Dramas for Children 1870.

[If you have specific wants which you feel ABA members may be able to supply, please send them in to the Editor for free advertisement.]

SNIPPETS

Chris Saunders bought a book on the net recently described as being bound in 'full leather w/gilt; marbled boards; gophered edges ...' which turned out to be an appropriate description given the animal damage to the edges. ... Taylor’s Auction Rooms of Montrose recently offered: '27 volumes on Women, Suffragettes and Shopping'. ... Gerry Mosdell will be back with a June Fair next year. A room over the pub opposite Olympia - The Hand & Flower - has, we understand, been booked for a select gathering of booksellers to display their wares. ... Simon Finch (no longer an ABA member) is back with an impressive catalogue of a Collection on ’Eroticism’. He writes that it 'is more an exhibition catalogue than what I had envisaged ...'. Simon is also displaying some of his wares at Selfridges (see Angus O’Neill’s piece) and working hard on his update of Ed Maggs’ ’Smell of a Bookman’ aftershave. This time, it’s more ’Sniff of a Bookshop’ - a distillation of the essential ingredients of dust, beeswax polish, paper and leather - though the piquancy of cigar smoke will now have to be added artificially ...

REAL BOOKS & EBOOKS

"There are people who foresee a disaster for publishers and writers. Personally, I think books are going to be OK, for one main reason: books are not only, or not primarily, the information they contain.

A book is also an object and a piece of technology; in fact a book is an extraordinarily effective piece of technology, portable, durable, expensive to pirate but easy to use, not prone to losing all its data in crashes, and capable of taking an amazing variety of beautiful forms.

Google Book Search is going to be a superb tool for accessing the information in books; but how much of Middlemarch, or White Teeth or Tintin in Tibet is information?”

John Lanchester on ’The Future of the Book’

"I am reluctantly impressed with my ebook. Yet I write this on a busy table crammed with (real) books ... these give me a pleasure of a kind I won't find on a screen....My advice to the makers of the ebook is to refine 'pageturning' a little more, offer a battered blue cloth-bound wallet, and, above all, make it smell - just a little musty, please. Or dank. You could offer a choice...”

Andrew Marr on ebooks.

ANYBOOK OF HIALEAH, FLORIDA

The David Brass Rare Books website (www.davidbrassrarebooks.com) carries comment on the Anybook company that operates out of Florida, apparently offering a massive inventory of books. And there is no way of getting in direct touch with them.

Peter Allen of Robert Temple Books writes: I think I can now explain at least some part of the strategy pursued by Anybook of Hialeah - they are harvesting 'wants' (and possibly collectors' emails and addresses). If you have recorded a 'want' on ABE and the book (or some later printing of it) has an ISBN that ABE can match, you will soon be getting a quote from Anybook. We got one today - but probably not for the edition we had asked for. If it were, it was cheap - but it was impossible to find out, as you can't ask Anybooks a question. Simply by putting a complete set of ISBNs on ABE, the matches get quoted automatically, and Anybooks gets to know the contact details and interests of anyone who responds..

Does Anyone have Any other ideas about Anybook?

BYRON RELICS WITHDRAWN

Bearne’s Auctioneers of Exeter were forced to withdraw 40+ lots of Byron-related relics from their sale of 7th November. Legal questions were raised late in the day about the ownership status of the items which may have been included in historic Trusts and therefore possibly excluded from the terms of Lady Wentworth’s will - on which the vendor based his or her title to sell.

The items - including a miniature portrait of Byron and a lock of his hair - appear to have arrived at the auction by descent from Byron and his wife Anne Milbanke, through their daughter Augusta who married the first Earl of Lovelace, Anne Isabella Noel King who married Wilfred Scawen Blunt, then to their daughter Judith Anne Dorothea Blunt, Baroness Wentworth, who died in 1957. Her husband was Neville, the third Earl of Lytton; the oldest of their three children was Anthony, fourth Earl, who in turn had five children including the present Earl of Lytton.

The initiator of the legal challenge is not confirmed; no doubt Bearne’s will be hoping for a rearranged fixture - if the challenge is withdrawn and attempts to keep the remaining items together do not succeed. As it was, the 79 lots that were sold in November yielded over £176,000.

“I WORKED FOR A SHADY RARE-BOOK DEALER”

A fascinating magazine has just been thrust under the door: Vice - The Fiction Issue which includes many full-page photographs of Swedish Librarians, fully-clothed, and an extract from .The Diaper of Big Baby Jesus., a forthcoming novel ... Also included is a smart piece by Mary Mandelbaum on ’How to be a Shady Rare-Book Dealer’.

“For about a year, I worked for a shady rare-book dealer. He did his business on line, and I only saw him leave his New York loft once. I will now divulge his secrets. If you want to be a shady rare-book dealer, your name should sound understated and call to mind a little store-front in the Hamptons. Your listings should sound like a bored earl wrote them. Also, you must be ruthless about every penny.

What you probably don’t know is that you should, right now, go and list 15 copies of Madonna’s ‘Sex’, Frank Thomas’s ‘The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation’ and Pamela des Barre’s ‘I’m with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie’ on abebooks.com and half.com. It doesn’t matter if you have the books in hand, just do it. List them at several different prices. Undersell the other guy by one pound, sell at mid-range, and sell at the top. Now it’s time to buy stock. At any given moment, there will be about 400 copies of ‘Sex’ and a couple of copies of ‘Disney Animation’ selling on ebay. You can sell the Disney book for about £25 and the Madonna for around £50, so do the maths. Therein lies the only secret to being a rare-book dealer: your customers are too lazy to go on ebay themselves and they also want to feel like they bought their “rare” book from a fancy guy.

Finding copies of des Barre’s book is a little tricky. You should search through the big lots of paperbacks on ebay. If you find a lot that has the Morrow/Avon/Beech Tree edition of ‘Confessions of a Groupie’ in it, buy! When the box comes in the mail, throw out everything but the des Barres.

As you advance, you will widen your inventory. It’s learn-as-you-go. A good thing to do is to check the top ten movies each week. If there are any movies based on books, then the first editions of those books will be selling. Learning by doing, and remember the most important rule: you have every book in stock. (Anybook of Hialeah please note.) Because really, with the internet with the way it is, it takes half an hour to find anything in the world.”

ABA CATALOGUE ONE

Items to be sold to ABA Members by Tender ...

All the items in this eclectic first (and hopefully only) ABA Catalogue have found their way to the ABA Office & advertised as .lost property.. None of them have been claimed, and Members are therefore invited to tender for items - ALL PROCEEDS TO GO TO THE ABA BENEVOLENT FUND. There are no 'reserves'.
The items can be viewed at the offices of Jarndyce, 46 Great Russell Street,WC1.

Please send in your offers to the ABA Office: admin@aba.co.uk
DEADLINE: 5.00PM MONDAY 17th DECEMBER 2007.

If you submit offer(s) you also have the opportunity to GUESS THE TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED BY SUCCESSFUL OFFERS FOR ALL THESE ITEMS: Send in your estimate of the total amount; the winner will receive a bottle of champagne.

1. ABRAHAM, Philip. Curiosities of Judaism Facts, Opinions, Anecdotes and Remarks. Published by and for the Author. 1879. Index. Ex Libris F.&R. Zimmerman blind stamp to e.p. Orig. green cloth. v.g. bright copy
Sole edition.

2. AMIS, Kingsley. The Evans Country. FIRST EDITION. Fantasy Press. 1962. Orig. wraps, slightly faded. v.g.
'The journal of some bunch of architects Named this the worst town center they could find; But how disparage what so well reflects Permanent tendencies of heart and mind?'
 
3. BIBLE New and Complete Hieroglyphical Bible .... Dean & Munday for Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy. 1820. Frontis., .upwards of 400 engravings on wood.. Contemp. quarter sheep, rubbed but sound.
BL has the 1816 edition (same pagination, 138pp); this 1820 edition not on COPAC.

4. COPTIC MANUSCRIPT. [.Coptic Liturgy .Anaphora. .15th Century.] n.d. 24 leaves written in black and red. On e.p.: .no.25. (small) and .no.41. (large); ownership inscr. of W. James and Victor H. Pattsik April 1907. Stamp and circular booksellers. ticket of Maisonneuve et Cie. Editeurs, a la Tour de Babel. Pencil note: .Guilmoto 5946. and . Maisonneuve 1891 cat. 6535. Patterned paper covers. Generally a bit worn.
 
5. CROMWELL, Oliver. Four Letters from Oliver Cromwell to Sir Arthur Heselridge, Governor of Newcastle upon Tyne. From the original letters in the possession of Robert Ormston. Newcastleon- Tyne: Printed at the Courant Office by J. Blackwell and Co. 1847. 11pp. Brown cloth, leather spine label by Birdsall. Booklabel of John Crawford Hodgson.
The title page is amended: ....now of Sir Arthur grey Hazlerig Bart.. With an ALS inserted from A.J. Hazlerigg, Noseley Hall, Leicester concerning the bookplate with pencil note .answered 25 Oct 1911, JCH.. Two copies recorded on COPAC: BL and NLS.

6. DANTE ALIGHIERI. The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory and Paradise. Translated by the Rev. Henry Francis Cary. Frederick Warne. c.1890. Half title, frontispiece. Stain to leading free e.p. Orig. green cloth, inner hinges weakening.

7. DIARY OR COMPLETE COMMON-PLACE BOOK. The Literary Diary; or, Complete Common-Place Book. With an Explanation, and an alphabet of two letters on a leaf. 4to, Taylor & Hessey. 1816. Titlepage and 2pp .Explanation.. Original half black calf, marbled boards, a little rubbed.
A blank book, with index pages, two letters to a page, and final leaf printed with labels for Common Place Books A to H. Blank, except for first 33pp which have been utilised by John G. Iverach, a resident of Kirkwall (Orkney, Scotland) c. 1867-73, with historical notes and a copy letter. Two copies of the 1814 edition are recorded on COPAC, but not this 1816 edition which (unlike the earlier edition) does not employ the skeleton index ‘recommended by Mr Locke’.

8. HAWORTH-BOOTH, Digby. Kleinias. Poems At the Sign of the Boar.s Head in Heathercombe, Manaton, Devon. 1932. No. 173 of 200 copies. Original Cockerell marbled boards, spine a little rubbed.
After learning the craft of printing, like William Morris before him, at the Chiswick Press, Christopher Sandford entered publishing with a small press named after the family crest . The Boars Head Press, whose books were .written, designed, printed and embellished by Christopher and Lettice Sandford, and published by them at the sign of the Boars Head in Heathercombe, near Manaton, Devon.. Heathercombe was a thatched farmhouse in a combe underneath the moors.

9. LACROIX, Paul. Sciences & Lettres au Moyen Age et a l.epoque de La Renaissance... Ouvrage Illustre de treize chromolithographies .... Paris Librarie de Firmin-Didot et Cie. 1877. Colur lithos. and b&w text illus. Originanl red cloth dec. in gilt, red morocco spine, gilt. Slight rubbing; nice copy. Booklabel of William Thomas Rabbits.

10. LONDON MAP. Map of The Regents Park, and Primrose Hill Estate, belonging to the Crown. [Printers: Standidge & Co., Litho.]1850. Folding map, printed area approx 57cm. x 45cm. Boundaries coloured in green. Some repairs to verso of folds with archival tape.

11. METHOLD, William Naauw-Keurige Aanteekeningen. Gehouden op fijn Voyagie in het Jaar 1619 Leyden, by Pieter Vander, Boekverkooper. 1707. Folding map of India and Siam and two folding plates. (ii), 37, (38-42, Register).Nice copy, recently well rebound in half calf.
BL only in COPAC
 
12. ORWELL, George The English People. Britain in Pictures, Collins. 1947. Plates, illus. Orig. green printed boards, v.g. in sl. marked d.w.

13. PERRY, William. A Treatise on the Identity of Herne.s Oak shewing the maiden tree to have been the real one, by W. Perry, woodcarver to the Queen L.Booth. 1867. Bound in two pieces of oak, black lettered on front board .Herne.s Oak., brown velvet cloth spine. In slipcase.
Richard Inwards.copy, following Edward J. Morris, signatures of both on title page. Inwards. inscription on the e.p. is dated 1919. Bound in is a watercolour drawing of a chair made from Herne.s Oak by Inwards, two ALsS from W.H. Dines who obtained the oak for Inwards, correspondence with Lord Redesdale about the .true. oak, with illus. Also neat annotations by Inwards in the text. In a purpose made slipcase, with front cover of the original cloth binding laid on. The tree mentioned in merry Wives of Windsor stood in the Home Park, Windsor and was cut down in 1863.
 
14. [PRICE, Harry] Harry Price, the biography of a ghost-hunter, by Paul TABORI. FIRST EDITION Athenaeum Press. 1950. Frontispiece port. & illus. Orig. blue cloth.
Magic, occult, poltergeists, mysterious phenomenon, burial alive, fire-walking, mediums, spiritualism, conjuring, etc.

15. REELANT, Adriaan. Hadriani Relandi Palaestina ex momunmentis veteribus illustrata, Tomus II (only). Trajecti Batavorum, ex libraria Guilielmi Broedelet. 1741. Repairs to blank sections of title page - (after removal of library/ownership inscriptions?). Contemporary vellum.
Volume II only.

16. WILSON, Horace Hayman. A Manual of Universal History and Chronology for the use of schools Whittaker & Co. 1835. 3 folding maps (Part of the Eastern Hemisphere known to the Ancients, Roman Empire, Europe). Ads, half title. Orig. green calf, worn at edges, rebacked.

17. WRIGHT, G.N., [Editor]. The Gallery of Engravings [.Dedicated to the Queen. The People.s Gallery of Engravings. 3 vols., 4to. Fisher, Son & Co. 1844-46. Frontispieces and numerous engravings; engraved titles to vols I & II.. Some internal marking. Contemp. half maroon calf, hinges rubbed.

18. YOUNG, Art Thomas Rowlandson. New York, Wiley Books. 1938. Illus. Orig. boards, covers stained

ALL OFFERS TO THE ABA OFFICE bY 5pm, MONDAY, 17th DECEMBER.

CHELSEA BOOK FAIR TAKES £378,000

CHELSEA PURCHASE TURNS LONG-HAUL

Chelsea Book Fair realised a total take of £377,928 with an average of £5,249 - a highly satisfactory 11% up on 2006, with a notable increase of 60% in private sales.

Thanks must go to the Chelsea Book Fair Committee of Roger Treglown, Alex Alec-Smith, Deb Clark and Christopher Edwards, the ABA Office Staff - and Keith Fletcher’s exhibition on the Pre-History of the Motor Car was a tremendous success.

Sandy Critchley reports below on two very satisfied American visitors. For the comments of Roger Treglown, Book Fair Chairman, see, Page 19. Full report in next Newsletter.

Ilona Samborn and her husband James, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, touched down in London on the Thursday morning and were only staying until Sunday . literally a special flying visit, with the highlight an afternoon spent at the Chelsea Book Fair. It was a long weekend treat for James, his birthday present from Ilona.

The ABA staff thought them charming, as the best kind of Americans usually are . considerate, polite and patient. And the Samborns had no doubt about the benefits of their visit, describing the books, the venue and the general atmosphere as miles better than any book fair they had been to in the States; and they are frequent visitors to all the major fairs. They were thrilled by the books themselves: .Much more beautiful than what we see at fairs in America,. Ilona said.

After a good afternoon.s browsing they settled on a copy of .The Seven Pillars of Wisdom. from Colin Page and, delighted with their purchase, they and Stephen Loska brought the book to the credit card payment point to settle up. It was now that the problem flared up.

Embarrassingly, the first credit card offered by Ilona was refused point-blank by our PDQ machine, so she then fished out another, which to begin with found favour, initiating the usual sequence of clicks and whirrs. Smiles of relief all round. But then a different instruction appeared on the small screen, telling the operator to punch in an unfamiliar code; this message alternated rapidly with another, more complicated one, making it impossible to understand the meaning of either before it switched back to the previous order. Good manners and forbearance still prevailed, outwardly at least. Having received no intelligent response from the operator (one S Critchley), finally, in despair, the machine coughed up a telephone number. The cashier called it but could not hear the message in the noisy entrance hall and after ten minutes of frustration decided to hand over to John Critchley, already hovering anxiously in the background.

Several minutes later, after returning more or less to square one, John managed to contact Barclaycard (not the card issuer) in person, to be told that they needed to call the card issuer in the States. A further very long wait, with absolutely no sign of impatience or annoyance from the Samborns, and finally the £340 payment went through the system successfully.

The whole process must have taken at least 20 minutes, at the end of which Ilona and James returned to the Fair, their satisfaction and pleasure apparently undiminished.

They intend to return next year to Chelsea - which the Samborns describe as 'the friendliest fair'.

Sandy Critchley

THE STRANGE TALE OF AN AMERICAN'S CHRISTMAS IN PENZANCE

by John Valdimir Price

The name of Charles Valentine Le Grice is not one likely to be familiar to the 'general reader'. It does, however, have a certain resonance in the scholarly world, as The Reverend Charles Valentine Le Grice (1773. 1858) was an obscure minor poet, but one whose obscure minority was not adumbrated by having attended a minor public school. In fact, Le Grice was admitted to Christ's Hospital in 1781, where his fellow pupils included Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They both distinguished themselves as masters of ancient Greek and constantly passed witticisms and puns between themselves for the entertainment and instruction of their peers. Charles Lamb in 'Grace before Meat' testifies to Le Grice's wittiness, and the whimsical jousts with Coleridge, but neglects to mention his fondness for inviting his friends to have 'le grouse with Le Grice' at any time after the Glorious Twelfth. Nor does he recount the episode in which an unfortunate classmate referred to his exchanges with Le Grice as a 'battle of wits'. When he was told this, Le Grice replied, 'I would never attack an unarmed man'. Upon leaving school, both Coleridge and Le Grice went to Cambridge, the former to Jesus and the latter to Trinity. Coleridge became a famous poet, literary critic, and drug addict; Le Grice became a parson, a literary dabbler, and a rich man.

With the sudden swelling of English literature departments with Ph. D. students searching for suitable topics, Le Grice came to the attention of a young scholar, whose supervisor said that her proposed topic on Coleridge.s aesthetics was unfocussed and unlikely, even when completed, to lead to an academic job. Judy Fowler didn't care so much about the academic job; she would have liked one, but it wasn.t necessary. When queried by her fellow students about how she financed her studies, she politely replied that she had a 'private income' from a small legacy. In fact, her conservatively-invested portfolio yielded an income of $500,000 a year, but she was careful to save any indulgences for times and places where she was unlikely to encounter fellow students.

Judy discovered Le Grice on a visit to Penzance, in Cornwall, where Le Grice spent most of his days. Visiting Trereife House, which Le Grice had inherited on the death of his stepson in 1815, she happened upon a copy of Le Grice's best-known work, a commentary on the works of William Paley, Analysis of Paley's Principles. The then owner, Terrot ('Terry') Reavley Le Grice, a descendant of 'C. V.', as he was referred to by the family, showed her some of his ancestor's other books and papers. Judy would later say, usually with an ironic smile, that the moment was an epiphany. She became a collector of Le Grice that very day and, later, a more general collector of ancillary material. Local bookshops in Penzance disgorged three copies of Paley's book, all different editions, plus two of his sermons. She bought them all and decided to extend her stay to find out as much about Le Grice, his family, and his times as she could. She was, in a word, hooked.

Returning to her university on the eastern seaboard of the United States just in time for classes, she told her supervisor about her discovery and her new proposal, a study of the life and literary career of Charles Valentine Le Grice. 'Who?' he asked. 'Ah, yes; but no one's ever heard of him,' he added. Judy had him trapped. 'Exactly,' she said and reeled off what she already knew - what Lamb, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey all said about him, how he was an integral part of the literary community at Penzance, and what he had written. Having completed her course work, Judy could make her formal proposal to the Ph. D. committee. It was rather grudgingly accepted; the committee knew that there would be no one competent to examine the candidate's knowledge. In the entire history of the department, no one could remember anyone ever mentioning Le Grice, much less reading him. Her research took her to libraries and repositories throughout the States and Britain, and in due course on 18 June 1987, she became Dr. Judith Evangeline (it was the first occasion on which she had to reveal her middle name) Fowler, having completed a thesis which one of her committee described as ’exceptional' and of which an external examiner said “brilliant.”

By now, Judy had acquired a large working library of Le Grice's publications, including almost every item listed - and some that were not - in the Bibliotheca Cornubiensis by George Clement Boase and William Prideaux Courtney. She was on the mailing list of over a hundred booksellers on both sides of the Atlantic, and she was a frequent visitor to her regular bookshops and an assiduous discoverer of new ones. She had bought a house with a small garden in Penzance and spent much of her time there, writing her dissertation, and foraging east and north in search of new bookshops. Yet two words were beginning to puzzle her: one was 'regret', the other 'sold'. Orders from catalogues would be incomplete as an item by Le Grice had already been sold before her order reached the bookseller; or, upon making an inquiry in a shop, she would be told, 'Oh, yes, I had a couple of items by Grice' - booksellers were sometimes less knowledgeable than they affected to appear - 'but I sold them a couple of months ago'. Often these were items of which she already had one copy, but she had been infected by a not uncommon collector's virus, now known as BAIDS, or 'Book Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome': duplicate copies could not be resisted, as her forty-seven copies of Analysis of Paley's Principles all too amply testified.

At first she suspected that the booksellers who told her this were suffering from what she called the 'James Scott response', an allusion to an Edinburgh bookseller who invariably knew 'exactly' what book she was describing, even when she made up names and titles. However, it soon became clear to her that someone else was actually collecting Le Grice, however implausible the idea initially was. Her supervisor's 'Who?' was often in her mind as she sought out Le Grice's works. Now the 'Who?' was the mysterious Other Collector. Alas, the booksellers of whom she asked this question were discreet and unyielding, and it was even thought that orders for books came in under a nom de plume. As luck would have it, she got a clue to the identity from a garrulous bookseller in Glasgow. Entering his shop somewhat reluctantly - he was famous for not wanting to be troubled by customers . she asked for a specific title, Le Grice's translation Daphnis and Chloe published in 1803. .Nay, lassie. I had a copy lying around here for years and some feller from Oxford bought it last year. Funny name. Oldmixon-Bart. Thought at first he was a Baronet. Very pukka accent. You.re American, aren.t you? I can always tell. Had me mail it to his college, when he could have taken it with him. Charged him for it, of course.. He continued in this vein for some twenty minutes before Judy could make her escape.

A fellow Le Gricean, Judy thought. With a name like that he was indeed easy to find, Barrington Oldmixon-Bart, a Fellow at one of Oxford's wealthiest colleges. Judy had spent enough time in England to know that the direct American approach might just put him off, and she would never satisfy her curiosity about the collection or indeed the collector. She had made friends with various librarians and dons at Oxford when carrying out her research, and she made discreet inquiries. The most frequent comment she received was a familiar one, 'he keeps himself to himself', expressed in various ways. But no one had anything actually bad to say about him. He was, apparently, a little embarrassed by his name, even though the Oldmixon-Barts could trace their ancestors back to contemporaries of Chaucer. Judy wrote a polite letter, explaining who she was, and, a few weeks later, a polite letter came back, inviting her to tea at his college.

Oldmixon-Bart had probably the most splendid set of rooms in Oxford. Built in days when Fellows were expected to be and to remain bachelors, it had been expanded by a previous wealthy occupant, and donor to the college, into the two adjoining sets of rooms to make a palatial flat of nine rooms. It was clear that it was a bachelor pad and would remain so. In late middle age, Oldmixon-Bart Oldmixon-Bart had probably the most splendid set of rooms in Oxford. Built in days when Fellows were expected to be and to remain bachelors, it had been expanded by a previous wealthy occupant, and donor to the college, into the two adjoining sets of rooms to make a palatial flat of nine rooms. It was clear that it was a bachelor pad and would remain so. In late middle age, Oldmixon-Bart did not disguise the fact that he was gay, and tea was served by a rather delicious-looking young man who called him 'Bob'. So far as Judy could tell, the young man was called 'Dear Boy', but she was not introduced. Judy could not quite bring herself to think of Oldmixon-Bart as a 'Bob'; he invited her to call him 'Barrington' and he called her 'Judith', despite her preference for 'Judy', but he had learned her name from her Ph.D. thesis, a copy of which he had obtained. She was flattered but soon realized that he was trying to establish how much she knew about Le Grice and the extent of her collection, about which she was, as usual, very forthcoming. The polite, upper-class veneer did not disguise his competitiveness, indeed his possessiveness, about Le Grice: his great-great-great-great-great aunt had been a cousin of the widow, Mary Ustick Nicholls, who had married Charles Valentine Le Grice.

In Reminiscence of the Poet Coleridge Coleridge, of boyhood in the early dawn Oppressed I felt not, nor of hope forlorn, Grasping your hand. You spoke, as though our school Were of a separate world the vestibule; And we its habitants.--In cloistered walk While such of opening scenes your cherished talk, I listened breathless;--and I saw you prove Your boded triumphs in the college grove. Thence, by a sudden plunge, amid their strife You sprang into the waves of this world's life; Nor paused.--Far, far away it was mine to hear Fame of your struggles, and the applauding cheer. At last of wondrous boy, of bard, of sage Sank beneath friendship's roof the sheltered age.

Oldmixon-Bart affected an estuary accent in his college and with his students, but in this instance the full-blown vowels and the strangulated consonants of his public school came out in force. Judy, who had encountered this type before, made sure that her American accent and vocabulary stayed firmly in place, as they politely quarried each other.s minds for clues as to suppliers, sources, and items in their respective collections. Judy was generally willing to talk for hours about what she had, where she found it, and - as she was American - what she paid for it; but she began to sense that this was information that might not be reciprocated. She was right. He showed her three or four of Le Grice's most common works, including a rather tattered copy of Daphnis and Chloe, and a pleasant copy of Le Grice's earliest known work, The Tineaum, published in 1794.1 Judy murmured approving noises, noting that his copy lacked the half-title. Both her copies had the half-title, and there were no copies in any American library of which she was aware. Indeed, between them, Judy and Oldmixon-Bart had half the known copies. She pretended not to remember if her copy [sic] had a half-title or not. Oldmixon-Bart asserted that he didn.t think it was issued with one: Judy's smile did not pass her lips.

After this meeting, Judy wondered if she would ever again want to be as loquacious about her collection as she had been; it was now expanded well beyond just the works of Le Grice. She had always been willing to share what she had learned about Le Grice, and most of what she knew found its way into her dissertation. Even so, just a few years later, she had identified in various periodicals some likely additions to the canon, as well as unrecorded copies of sermons, essays, and poems. She was also reasonably sure that the fashionable society painter, Margaret Sarah Carpenter, had painted a portrait of Le Grice; this information, derived from manuscript material in her collection and in two libraries in Cornwall, she had inadvertently kept to herself. Now she was determined not to mention it to anyone.

She had also learned something that she suspected Oldmixon-Bart did not know that he had unintentionally disclosed. In the visitors. toilet (she remembered to call it a 'loo'), which she would have described as 'fluffy', was a framed broadside. It had obviously been removed, hastily no doubt, from its place on the wall and tucked under a pile of towels. Curiosity got the better of her: it was a broadside printing of Le Grice's poem, 'The Petition of an Old Uninhabited House in Penzance', published in 1823, in a small pamphlet; the poem itself was short and was extended to 32 pages by Le Grice's notes. Judy was certain that the poem had also been published as a broadside as well, by the publisher T. Vigurs, and she had now held a copy in her hands. She had never found a copy anywhere and doubted that any had survived. Oldmixon-Bart, probably thinking - rightly - that no one would guess what it was, had left it in its frame and put it in the toilet as a little joke for himself. 'Dear Boy' had been told to show Judy the way, and he had bustled ahead of her and into the toilet for a few second before she got there; he had undoubtedly been instructed to hide it.

She wasn't about to enter into whatever reasons he might have had for imperfectly concealing it.

This was an item that Judy coveted more than any other piece by Le Grice. And the reason was simple. She bought her house in Penzance because it was, in fact, the 'old uninhabited house' alluded to in the poem. At least, she was reasonably sure from anecdotal and some documentary evidence that it was. It had come on the market while she was still writing her dissertation, and she bought it without hesitation. The estate agent, who had thought that he would never sell it, was delighted: it was a wreck and needed restoring from top to bottom. Judy did not begrudge a single penny of the money she spent on it, although supervising its restoration inevitably delayed the completion of her dissertation by at least a year. It was amply provided with bookcases, with much head-shaking from the joiners and carpenters who wondered why she needed so many and wondered why an attractive young 'girl' (Judy would have been flattered) was wasting her time reading books when she should be looking for a husband. Judy had decided early on to keep the bulk of her collection in Penzance, and many of the duplicates made their way to her apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts. A copy of this broadside would, however, have pride of place in her Penzance house. And if she could just find that portrait by Carpenter..

Returning to Penzance, Judy spent a pleasant Christmas with friends and family. Her brother, whose management of the family funds had increased Judy's income fivefold, joined her on his way from Boston to his house in Bahrain. He had never been able to understand her passion for books or her willingness to pass so much of the winter in a cold - well, at least a cool - climate. He was, however, charmed by her Cornish home and even more so by Trereife House, a Queen Anne manor house, that he described as a 'knock-out'. He listened to Judy's account of her visit with Oldmixon-Bart and judged him as shrewdly as she had. He still did not understand why she collected books, loved Penzance, and enjoyed reading more than watching television. She listened carefully to what he said about her funds, pleased that he seemed more concerned with hers than with his own

In the autumn of the following year, Judy, having spent most of the summer in humid Brookline, returned to Penzance. She had added a few more items to her collection while she was away, and her housekeeper left the parcels unopened for her; she spent her first two weeks happily cataloguing and shelving the new arrivals. The local auction house was having one of its periodic auctions, and the catalogue was one of the last items she opened. Turning its pages, she nearly fainted (the first time in her life that she felt she was going to): lot 77 was 'Books by C.V. Le Grice and ephemera, including 'The Petition of an Old Uninhabited House in Penzance',' described as a broadside measuring 355 x 225 mms. Viewing was the next day and the auction was in two days. She was the first through the doors the next day to view the lots and confirmed that it was indeed another copy of the broadside she had seen in Oxford. The second known copy. The estimate was £150 - £250.

Unable to believe her good luck, she sat herself in the front row on the day of the auction, shunning the rear of the room, almost always the domain of dealers (most of whom she knew by sight; they all knew her), those hoping to get a bargain, and others whose coyness about bidding was comical. And it was somebody in that group who was bidding against her. The bidding quickly went into four figures, and when Judy finally bid £5000, the auctioneer dropped his gavel. Recovering, he was about to sell the item to Judy when a voice that Judy recognized immediately, announced, 'six thousand'. By this time, of course, the hubbub in the auction room was almost too loud for the bids to be heard. The bidding reached £10,000, and Judy thought to herself, 'this is ridiculous' and shook her head when the auctioneer looked to her for another bid. She knew that she could have taken it to £100,000 without damaging her resources, but she had never paid more than £2500 for anything by Le Grice. Oldmixon-Bart could have the damn thing if he needed two copies so badly.

She watched him as he paid for his purchase and followed him into the street. She could see that he was trying to avoid her, but Judy could walk at least as fast as he could and caught up with him a couple of streets away.

"'Why?' she asked. 'You have a copy'”

“I know. You saw it. You weren't meant to.”

“Not meant to? I know, but why?”

Oldmixon-Bart opened the bag into which the auctioneer had put his purchase. He took out the broadside and held it up for Judy to see.

“Sometimes, there should be only one copy of something,” he said as he tore the broadside in half, tore it again, and continued until it was in little pieces which he scattered in the wind, a commodity in plentiful supply in Penzance. Horrified, Judy watched the pieces blow away. She'd never seen anyone do something so bizarre, so meaningless, and, yes, so wicked. As an act of literary vandalism, it struck her with the force of mass murder. He looked at her bleak astonishment for a few seconds, laughed, and walked away.

For two or three weeks, Judy was mostly in a daze. She rang her brother in Bahrain to tell him about it. Once he had managed to subdue his incredulity about his sister's willingness to pay over $15,000 for a piece of old paper measuring 13½ inches by 8½ inches, he could make some sympathetic noises, particularly after Judy reminded him that he had paid that amount for four tickets to a Super Bowl match. Eventually, she related the episode to the present Le Grice at Trereife House. He, too, was horrified at the story, and especially at the destruction of one of his ancestor's rarest publications. He had known about the auction but had generously decided not to bid for the lot, knowing that it could not be in better hands than Judy's. Now he wondered what else he could have done. The story made its way to Oxford as well, where his acquaintances and colleagues shrugged their shoulders: Barrington was a weird fellow, he had more money than an academic should have (or anyone, for that matter, according to some of the dons), and he was in any case a die-hard Tory. However, after a few weeks, the matter had been forgotten by almost everyone . except the auctioneer, those at the auction, a few disconsolate booksellers who had hoped to “ring” it at the lower estimate, and the two protagonists.

As Christmas approached, Judy gratefully accepted an invitation to lunch on the twenty-fifth from the Le Grice family now at Trereife House, where she was asked to relate the story of the auction once again to relatives and friends who had never heard it. As usual, there was much 'tsk tsking', but Judy was not surprised to find that re-telling the events begin to give them almost a comic touch. She left feeling better than she had in several weeks and made her way, as she often had done, to the auction house and the spot where the broadside had been so wantonly destroyed. During this excursion, she was stopped by an elderly (at least to her) gentleman.

“Are you by any chance Dr. Judith Fowler? I have just been by your house, and your housekeeper said you had gone out.”

“Yes,' Judy replied, 'but I am really Judy, not Judith.”

“I have not yet acquired this curious modern habit of calling perfect strangers by their first name, Dr. Fowler,” he replied with a bemused smile. “My name is unimportant, but I am happy to introduce myself as Mr. Day.” He smiled again, and this time Judy noticed a small, triangular scar above his right eyebrow. “An unfortunate encounter, but one that I survived.” Judy thought no more of it.

“I understand that you are a collector of one of our local authors, C.V. Le Grice.” Judy nodded. “And I heard about the most unfortunate incident at the auction house, with Oldmixon-Bart. Unpleasant fellow. I never did much like him.”

“I have no reason to like him either,” Judy replied. “Quite the opposite.” She wondered how he knew Oldmixon-Bart, but before she could ask, he continued.

“I mustn’t detain you,” he said, .but knowing of your interest in C.V., I thought you might like to know that a bookseller in Mousehole, Evan apRhys, has a copy of the fifth edition of the Paley, the one printed in Harlow.”

It was Judith’s turn to smile as she remembered her first visit to Mousehole, which she pronounced as it looked, only to be politely rebuked and told that the correct pronunciation was ‘Mowzel’. She remembered the bookshop and its proprietor, who was the only Welshman she had ever met who used the old Welsh form to mean 'son of'. He had seen her at the auction. She had a copy, of course, of the edition printed in Harlow and knew of three others - one in the British Library, one in the Bodleian, and one in Cambridge. She suspected that Oldmixon- Bart had a copy, but she didn’t know.

“That’s very kind,” she replied. “I have a copy, but I would like to visit Mousehole in any case, and I’m always happy to have a duplicate copy, or two. Thank you very much for telling me about it.” Before she could continue the conversation, Mr. Day made his excuses, saying that he had friends to meet later in the evening in St. Ives and had to be on his way. She could come up with no reasonable explanation for the encounter, except that she had something of a reputation in Penzance now as ‘that American lady who collects C.V.’. Given what Mr. Day had said about Oldmixon-Bart, she could easily imagine that he wanted to make sure that the book didn’t fall into his hands.

The day after Boxing Day, she drove over to Mousehole, having checked first to make sure that apRhys would be open. She had never bought much from him, as his stock was mostly second-hand; but he did have a small section of older books, and she had found several books of interest on previous visits, but never anything by C.V., as she was now in the habit of calling him. However, she’d had to return two of her purchases as the books were imperfect, and it seemed likely that apRhys never collated any of the books he sold; indeed he seemed to look no further than the title-page. Still, he was pleasant enough, and his shop was at least warm, but the stock was arranged in a higgledy-piggledy manner that he seemed to think gave charm and an air of otherworldliness to his putative customers. Judy did not much fancy browsing for hours upon end from one shelf or stack of miscellaneous books to another in hope of finding something she wanted.

“Yes,” he said, when she asked about the book. “I know the one you mean. I don’t think I’ve ever had one of Le Grice’s books before.” He knew about her interest. “Funny,” he added, “I bought this only a few weeks ago, in a job lot. Or at least I think it was a job lot. I don’t really keep that sort of record.” Judy could believe that and wondered what the taxman made of his accounts. It was a disappointing copy, with both covers detached, and there were some marginal notes in ink that she couldn’t quite make out. She paid apRhys £100 for it - cash, as he always asked for cash and there was a cash dispenser only fifty feet from the front of his shop - thinking that was just about right, but surprised that he hadn’t asked her either a lot more or a lot less. His prices, like his stock, tended to be unreliable guides to any actual commercial value of a book.

When she reached home, she looked at it again, thinking that it was a straightforward job for her excellent binder in the east end of London, very near Hawksmoor’s Christ Church. Her fingers were cold, and she dropped the rear board. The rear paste-down end-paper seemed unusually bulky, and she slid her fingernail along the edge, to find that it came up easily. She could see two folded sheets of paper which she carefully extracted. She unfolded them and for the second time in her life she nearly fainted: there was a copy of ‘The Petition of an Old Uninhabited House in Penzance’, the broadside. Moreover, she could see that it was inscribed: ‘Sammy - This might amuse You, for Valentine.s Day, 14 February 1823’. The pun was clearly Le Grice’s. Unfolding the smaller paper, she found a note: ‘It was kind of Le Grice to send me this. He had made some unpleasant comments about my work a few years ago, but on reflection I find that most of them are true. I hope I live to see him again. S.T.C. 31st March 1823’.

Fortunately, Judy’s housekeeper was not there to hear her whoops of delight, laughing and crying at the same time and dancing around the room, or she might immediately have dialed 999. It was as close to a miracle as Judy thought she would ever come. Examining the book again, she realized that there were two distinct holographs in the annotations. She gave herself no prizes for immediately identifying the handwriting. It was a couple of days late, but it was far and away the best Christmas present she had ever had, even if she had given it to herself. She had to tell someone, and who better than the residents at Trereife House; she drove over there, containing her excitement and her impatience with the traffic as best she could.

“But how did you know where to find this,” Terry Le Grice asked.

“I didn't. It was purely by chance. Just after I left you, I walked past the auction house again and to the place where Oldmixon-Bart tore up the copy he bought. An elderly gentleman told me he had seen the book at apRhy.s bookshop in Mousehole. I had no idea when I bought it what was in the rear cover.”

“Who was this chap,” he asked. “Had you ever seen him before.”

“No. He was a complete stranger, and he excused himself and disappeared quickly before I could ask him anything. I just remember that he had this curious triangular scar above his right eyebrow.”

The descendant of Charles Valentine Le Grice seemed to grow pale. “Did he give you a name?”

“Just Mr. Day.”

“C.V.’s son was called Day Perry Le Grice. His grandson’s great grandson was also called Day Perry Le Grice. He got that mark in a tussle with a much younger man at Oxford, whom he only referred to as ‘Bob’.” Judy knew immediately who ‘Bob’ was.

“It must have been him, then. Why wasn’t he here for lunch?”

“Judy, you must be wrong: Day Perry Le Grice died in 1987, on the 18th of June, just before he could tell us more about a portrait of C.V. that he had found.”

Judy fainted.

1 The Tineum.Containing Estianomy, or the Art of Stirring a Fire: The Icead, a Mock-Heroic Poem: an Imitation of Horace, Ep. I. lib. I. Epigrams: A Fragment, &c. By C.V. Le Grice, Of Trinity College. Cambridge: Printed by B. Flower, for W.H. Lunn, and J. Deighton, and for T. Shepherd Bury, 1794.

ANGUS THE WONDER ROOM

A number of today’s most famous museums began life as Wunderkammern, or cabinets of curiosities, but I am not going to venture into territory that has already been very ably mapped by Diana Parikian and Paul Grinke. No, the one I have just visited is no further from the ABA Office than Oxford Street.

It was a bright cold day in November, for a change, and the clocks were striking twelve, in their usual banal way. I slipped quickly through the glass doors of Selfridge’s, hurried through the innumerable perfume counters, and found myself in that well-publicised shrine to consumerism known as the Wonder Room. I was not going there to spend money, alas. No, I was under orders to investigate rumours that, amongst the jewelled mobile phones and porcelain rhinoceroses, there lurked a brace or two of Rare Books.

As it happened, there was just the one. Previous sightings had (allegedly) included a late-ish Ed Ruscha catalogue for £100 and a reportedly hideous livre d’artiste, 'price on application'. But this time there was just a French book on surgery, from 1856, open at a particularly toe-curling illustration of someone having their face cut open. Supplied by Simon Finch, it was on offer at £1,250. No doubt this is a sensible price (I note that the book is on ABE at the same figure) but it was not quite my idea of wonderful. It was accompanied by an A5 sheet entitled '10 Things To Know About Buying Rare Books', © Simon Finch Rare Books for Selfridges, a curious mixture of mission statement and ten-step programme, of sensible advice ('the internet is a wonderful resource' but a minefield in terms of descriptive accuracy.) and, well, less sensible advice ('A library of any size has its own particular voice and very importantly, smells good'). This manifesto and this book don't, between them, look as though they would convince too many lottery winners to head for Maddox Street, but you never know. And he is to be applauded for trying to take rare books out of their traditional surroundings and into a hallucinatory marketplace of the weird, the wonderful and the very, very expensive.

You want a mobile phone? Over here, sir - they start at £2,650, and go up to £53,000. Except for this one, by Boucheron, without a price label: let me see, sir, that one is (leafing through pile of papers) £189,000. The offlicence, over here, can supply you with two bottles of Ardbeg whisky, with eight little silver beakers, in a leather shotgun case by Purdey, for exactly £10,000. No, Sir, I’m afraid the firearms are not included. You won’t even get a secondhand one for that these days. A little further down the scale, we have a selection of miniature A-Zs, by Smythson, £135 each; as it happens, no, they don’t have the Underground map, but if Sir really feels he has to take the tube. On the other hand, there are a few things someone might actually want: toys, Thames & Hudson architecture books, aluminium aircraft models; nothing much under a tenner, but plenty of things under a hundred. Not, all in all, a bad place to look for Christmas presents, if you can face Oxford Street, and the slightly surreal atmosphere; I mean, £95 for a jar of Marmite with a sterling silver lid, I ask you; then again, what can you get for £95 these days, and if you know someone who likes Marmite, which I do, actually, come to think of it. Do you do gift-wrapping?

Angus O’Neill
 
BOOK REVIEW

Susan Weber Soros, editor. James ‘Athenian’ Stuart; the Rediscovery of Antiquity. Yale U.P. for Bard Graduate Center, 2007

Written to accompany a major exhibition (the greatest number of exhibits being lent by the V &A), this splendid book provides the fullest account so far of the life and achievements of James 'Athenian' Stuart.

Coming from humble origins (there is some doubt about his parentage), Stuart was early found to have artistic talents, and trained as a painter of fans, an occupation which gave him some access to the fashionable world and an acquaintance with popular artistic motifs. A desire to know more of the classical world took him first to Italy, where he spent much of the 1740s, met his working partner Nicholas Revett, and acquired his first noble patron, the young Lord Malton, later Marquess of Rockingham. After Italy, Greece beckoned. The country was practically unknown to western travellers - it was part of the Ottoman Empire, and not to be recommended for casual tourism - but a band of cultural pioneers was beginning to recognize it as the fons et origo of western civilisation.

The first fruit of Stuart and Revett's two and a half years in Greece (from which they were lucky to escape with their lives) were the paintings in gouache by Stuart, and Revett's measured drawings. These ultimately found their way into the four volumes of The Antiquities of Athens, of which the first appeared in 1762, and the last not until 1816, long after the deaths of both authors. David Watkin rightly claims that the work was Stuart.s most enduring legacy, though its greatest effect did not begin until after the publication of the final volume, which by a neat coincidence took place in the same year as the displaying of the Elgin marbles. Professor Watkin also stresses that Stuart's representations of Greek scenery were very much in the tradition of the Picturesque, an art in which the British were pioneers, and notes that at the same time Wood was sketching the ruins of Palmyra and Balbec, and Robert Adam (later Stuart.s most determined rival) those of Spalatro.

Kerry Bristol demonstrates Stuart's remarkable 'networking' abilities in the years that followed his return from Greece. Reading through .The Social World of James 'Athenian' Stuart, it is difficult to say who he didn't know. The Rockingham connection led to early commissions at Wentworth Woodhouse, and admission to the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries provided many promising openings. Stuart had early become a member of the Society of Dilettanti, a useful meeting place for kindred spirits, even if Horace Walpole described it acidly as .a club for which the nominal qualification is having been in Italy, and the real one, being drunk..

Stuart's tendency to conviviality was perhaps a reason for his achievements falling short of expectation. He came to occupy a fine house in Leicester Fields, but patrons complained that he was too often to be found round the corner in The Feathers. He was apt to take on too much work, which started off promisingly, and then fell further and further behind as other tasks proliferated. A brilliant theorist and designer, he lacked application and the ability to direct others.

And the list of commissions is notable; to mention only a few of the most significant, the magnificent chapel at Greenwich Hospital (where Stuart was canny enough to get himself appointed Surveyor with a useful salary of £200 a year), the splendid principal rooms at Spencer House (decorated with details the originals of which may be found in the Antiquities of Athens), and the garden buildings at Shugborough. Among Stuart's other patrons were Lord Scarsdale at Kedleston Hall, General Conway at Park Place (where Stuart's Grecian Amphitheatre neighbours a prehistoric dolmen the General brought back from Jersey), and Lord Londonderry, whose Temple of the Winds at Mount Stewart still ornaments the gardens there. Not all of Stuart.s buildings have survived; Montagu House, where Stuart's dilatoriness was the despair of the house's owner, the formidable bluestocking Mrs. Montagu, was lost in the blitz; Belvedere House, home of Sampson Gideon, the first English Jew to be ennobled, was a victim of 'The Destruction of the Country House' in the 1950s.

But Stuart's work ranged far more widely than the field of architecture. The book includes chapters on his essays in furniture where, the editor maintains, he played a critical role in the development of neo-classical furniture and decoration (the bath-size wine cooler in Sicilian jasper at Kedleston is certainly impressive); on his metalwork, medals and ornaments, though regrettably little on his books, though there is a coloured plate of one of the presentation bindings of The Antiquities of Athens, of which Alan Thomas owned a set. Stuart was one of the first to illustrate the 'kongaroo', and contributed illustrations to Hawkesworth.s Voyages and, on a more modest level, the plates to the works of James 'Hermes' Harris.

As David Watkin emphasises, Stuart's widest influence was only felt in the nineteenth century, when a later generation of Grecians, including Thomas Hope, William Wilkins, Sir John Soane and others created a wider Greek revival, and almost every building of consequence sported columns and porticoes. The gothic revival and modernism did not extinguish it, and it is not exhausted today.

The book is superbly produced, with several hundred illustrations in colour and black and white, and bound in real cloth. It weighs in at nearly 8 lb (3½ kilos for the metrically minded), and at £60, the cost of a modest dinner for two, represents remarkable value for money.

Miles Bartley
 
LETTERS

From ANDREW HUNTER
Dear Brian, - A propos “End of the bookshop?” it probably has not escaped your attention that the TLS NB column is running a Perambulatory Christmas Books series, featuring neglected books by notable writers, purchased for under a fiver in one of London.s second-hand bookshops. This is rather encouraging, and if I remember correctly the first chosen example (they are up to 5 this week) came from one of our members, Any Amount of Books. Probably the ABA shouldn.t muscle in on this, but it.s a very nice feature, and maybe it could be syndicated for the Newsletter, or somehow played to our advantage (though presumably JC likes his incognito when browsing). Do we know who JC is?

All the best,
Andrew
Andrew Hunter ~ Rare Books

From CHARLES COX
Dear Brian - I do so much more like the Newsletter nowadays - well done.

Charlie Cox

From JOHN CRITCHLEY
We were interested to see that an employee of Sotheby’s, who had printed a complimentary ticket for Olympia from the ABA website and entered her details so that she would receive complimentary tickets by mail in future, had registered her e-mail address as: s***n****.@sothebys.con. That's right; it is a con not a com.

John Critchley, ABA Office.

From STEVE LIDDLE
Dear Brian, - Just received the autumn issue of the fab new look newsletter. Great stuff! Particularly pleased to see the photograph of the committee doing whatever it is they do - probably nominating each other for something before the drinks and hostesses arrived. Anyway, my point is that I was particularly pleased to see that those pictured had all obeyed ILAB Directive 1103 Subsection 4a clause 311c. For the benefit of the newer members of the Association this reads ’All booksellers of a certain age must wear only thin framed or rimless spectacles’. Thank heavens we are keeping standards up. Probably a good idea to have a picture of Christopher Edwards’ spectacles in the next issue otherwise old Harrington will go off on one again.
Yours etc.

Steve Liddle (www.verygoodforitsage.com)
 
GRANT SUPPORT FOR PURCHASE OF MANUSCRIPTS
 
PRISM (Preservation of Industrial & Scientific Material) Grant Fund supports purchase of archives and manuscripts

You have a rare manuscript for sale, and a museum is interested in buying it. But, acquisition budgets being what they are, the museum can't afford it. What can you, as a bookseller, do about this situation?

Most museums, libraries and archives have little or no acquisitions budget so when a desirable object appears on the market they need to turn to outside sources of funding for assistance. One of these is the PRISM Grant Fund.

Since 1973 the PRISM Fund has been awarding grants to help save items of importance to our industrial or scientific heritage, including archives and manuscripts. All branches of science and industry are eligible, including agriculture, medicine, photography, transport, engineering, natural history and geology.

Managed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the PRISM Grant Fund has a pot of £250,000 each year to support the acquisition and conservation of this type of material. PRISM can offer funding of up to 50% of the purchase price, up to a maximum of £20,000. Applicants would be expected to attempt to negotiate a discount of 10 to 15% off the advertised purchase price. Applicants do not have to be accredited institutions but they do need to have charitable purposes and exist for the public benefit. The grant-aided item must be kept in the public domain and cared for properly. When making decisions about which projects to fund, priority is given to rare and unique objects.

Here are some examples of objects that have recently received support from the PRISM Fund:

The Bodleian Library received a grant of £872 towards the purchase of the papers of the telecommunications engineer Charles Samuel Franklin (1879-1964). Franklin worked for Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company for 40 years, and the archive contains letters from Marconi to Franklin, as well as other correspondence, photographs and printed material. The archive was purchased at auction by a dealer on behalf of the Bodleian at a hammer price of £1,400.

Tyne and Wear Archives Service received a grant of £1,550 towards the purchase of the archive of the engineer Michael Lane (1804- 1868). Lane worked at Wearmouth Docks, Sunderland, and the papers include letters to Lane from Isambard Kingdom Brunel regarding the latter's plans for the development of the docks. The archive was bought from a dealer for £3,100.

John Rylands University Library received a grant of £14,000 towards the purchase of a large quarto album of photographs and autograph letters associated with the naturalist H. E. Dresser (1838-1915). It includes correspondence between Dresser and such scientific luminaries as Darwin, Wallace and Huxley, and was purchased from a dealer at a price of £28,000.

So how can you help museums, archives and libraries raise the necessary funds to purchase your wares? The first step is getting to know the collecting policies of museums in your specialist areas so that you can contact them when you have material they might be interested in. The PRISM Grant Fund is not well known in the manuscript and archive world so the second step is making sure that prospective purchasers are aware of the fund. The third step is being willing to be a little bit flexible on the matter of price.

For further information please contact Frances Wilson, PRISM Fund Manager, on 020 7273 1446; email: prism@ mla.gov.uk. Guidance notes, application forms, and the latest annual report are available on the MLA website at: www.mla.gov.uk/website/aboutus/grants/PRISM_Grant_Fund.

Frances Wilson
 
CATALOGUE REVIEWS

I. By Mervyn Jannetta

My review scans all too briefly a few of the notable items found in a good crop of this autumn's fruits.

James Fenning Catalogue 236 A Miscellany lists 269 items, amongst them an otherwise unrecorded Dublin printing of Charles II's speech at the opening of Parliament in 1661, when he announced his intention to marry the Roman Catholic Catherine of Braganza (£1450). A couple of understandably scarce pieces of Irish ephemera include a 1753 Dublin lottery ticket sold to support 'the oldest maternity hospital in the world'. The ticket may or may not have been a winner, but it just goes to show, hang on long enough, and some good will come of it (£1850). Also unrecorded is a report on the state of Kelso dispensary on its tenth anniversary, with a note from the Secretary inserted to remind 'My Lord' his subscription is in arrears (£1250). Item 112, Hitchcock on the Irish stage, carries a note on scarcity: 'in almost 50 years we have never handled another copy' (£850) - to be followed, with no hint of irony, by a second copy (lacking title-leaf to vol. 1, £350).

James Fenning Catalogue 237 A Miscellany follows hard on the heels of no. 236. The latest list includes a rare item of English Roman Catholic devotional literature by Lady Lucy Herbert, printed in Bruges and attractively bound in eighteenth-century giltdecorated red morocco . 'HIS [sic] device in gilt on both boards' (£750). Items 9, 94, 163 and 228 together form an interesting group of late eighteenth-century/early nineteenthcentury collections of music for German flute, etc., each described as 'oblong small 8vo, recent wrappers' (£225/£245/£165/£450).

Spike Hughes Rare Books Catalogue 181 A Miscellany, again more properly a list of two hundred-plus items includes, scattered through, a group of late eighteenth-century civil engineering pamphlets. The sequence begins at the end with item 216, Robert Whitworth.s Observations on plans for enlarging and improving the harbour of Leith (.disbound, small paper tab on blank foremargin of title. £145); two related anonymous items in similar state are entered at LEITH (£85, £145), others under their respective authors (52 Clarke, £155; 117 Ker, £155; 153 Moffat, £155; 192 Scougall, £155; and 195 Shirreff, £155). Readers and books are perhaps not best served by the omission of any linking references. Elsewhere, item 80 is a run of a late eighteenth-century Jersey newspaper (in French) - 52 issues, 5 August 1786 . 28 July 1787, with two related pamphlets bound in (£450).

Not an ABA member, but Patrick King regularly puts together a tempting miscellany of predominantly pre-1800 imprints in all fields, including a few interesting and attractive bindings. In Bulletin 44 one of these, (a well-documented 'Grolier' forgery by Hagué) is graced with a two-page descriptive note, but in the absence of specific remark, it is left to the full colour photographs of front and back reproduced as covers for the catalogue, to tell of the condition of the binding (I take the 'fine' of the headnote to be understood more in the spirit of the 'outstanding.'used later) (£3500). Item 9, Belisa, is an otherwise unrecorded early nineteenth-century Banbury chapbook which benefits from reference to the most recent scholarship, but seems oddly detached from its fellows in the genre at C/Chapbook, items 33-38 (£350). At 91 M/Mary is another rare chapbook, The Life of the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, this time Gloucester [ca. 1790] (£350). The cataloguing note brings out the anti-Catholic tone of the piece, and shows the virtue of knowing a little of the inside of books - a virtue entertainingly on display elsewhere in the catalogue.

Ken Spelman Rare Books Catalogue 62 Recent Acquisitions opens with the by now customary strong section on 'Art, Architecture and Design.' The Spelman arrangement, in chronological order by imprint year, could certainly be said to simplify the present survey, but I have wondered before now, whether it is so convenient for all customers. Challenges against such arrangement, whether or not from ardent deconstructionists, seem only likely to increase as sections 2 (topography), 3 (gardens, etc.), 5 (miscellaneous), and 6 (stained glass) - all in alphabetical order by author - are separated by a group of Manuscripts arranged chronologically. Amongst the art books is a good copy of the Hollar/Barlow collection of 16 engravings Multae et diversae avium species, in an unrecorded issue of 1671 (rebound, £2800). And, elsewhere, a 1685 reprint of Nathaniel Crouch.s Wonderful Prodigies £950.

John Robertshaw Catalogue 105 as usual opens with a small group (16 items) of early English imprints. Included is a collection of four works of varied local topographical interest (Isle of Wight, Kenilworth Castle, Church of St Mary Warwick, Westminster Abbey) - the last a Minerva Press imprint - bound together in contemporary half calf (£195). The next fifty or so items (early continental books) yield a few interesting translations of English writers, including .the first French edition. of Samuel Collins.s Present State of Russia, Paris, 1679, in eighteenth-century calf, rebacked (£350). If memory serves, Quaritch recently offered the English original of this title at £2500.

John Hart Catalogue 80 Miscellaneous Books opens with a varied selection of pre- 1800 English imprints, including half-adozen pieces relating to Joseph Wright of Derby. First amongst these is a copy in 'particularly fine, unopened condition' of the scarce Catalogue of pictures painted by J. Wright and exhibited at Mr Robins’s Rooms, 1785, recording the content of the one-man show organized after his rejection as a full member of the Royal Academy (£2500). The following item includes autograph MS material registering Wright's satisfaction at the highly favourable notices the show received (£2000). Elsewhere is to be found a Carnan (Newbery's successor) juvenile (£600), and a royal binding of contemporary full black morocco on a 1796 BCP (£850).

For collectors and historians of bookbinding, and for those who just enjoy reading about (and looking at fine colour photographs of) finely-bound copies of collectable books, George Bayntun's EBC Catalogue 15 is a rare treat. This is a truly splendid array of eightyplus items, splendidly captured in words and pictures. The chosen arrangement (chronological by imprint) offers a slight but welcome gesture in favour of substance over form, though such are the attractions here, it is very hard to know where to begin. Amongst the curiosities we may note a sixteenth-century Paris imprint in an early seventeenth-century English calf binding, decorated in blind and gilt, with blind-stamped initials 'RI', and with an unrecorded printed book-label for its owner 'Richard Jones 1623' (£2500). Item 22 is an oddly amateur-looking early eighteenth-century gold-tooled red goatskin binding - 'a rather ambitious binding finished by an individual who was not in full control of his tools' (£1200). Item 45 is a very Welsh book, (a Welsh translation by a Carmarthen curate printed at Carmarthen) trying hard to be in a Welsh binding (the finisher's egregious error on the title-label - a (deleted) supernumerary 'M' in 'RHESMM-MAU'- perhaps points away from a Welsh-speaker?) (£650).

Bernard Quaritch English Books 2007 (including many new acquisitions) offers a miscellany of 80 items, mostly pre-1800 imprints. Included are a few high spots of predictable quality (the Cardiff Castle copy of Johnson.s London, 1738, £18,500; and a Vanity of Human Wishes, 1749, bound with other 1740s poems, £5000). Here too is an early eighteenth-century bilingual Italian jest book, The Amusing Instructer, 1727 (£950); and a second edition of an important early jest book, Antony Copley.s Wits, Fits and Fancies, 1614 (the Macclesfield copy, but - in common with a few other titles here listed - 'not part of the recent dispersal at auction', £9500).

Howes Bookshop Catalogue 325 One Hundred and Fifty Recent Acquisitions 1642- 1985 is divided into just two sections: 'Books before 1901' comprise two thirds of the list, the remainder being 'Twentieth Century Books.' From the sprinkling of pre-1800 items, no. 41 stands out, a rare single-sheet advertisement or prospectus for a late eighteenth- century reprint of Johnson.s Dictionary. The notice might presumably be linked more closely with one or other of the published editions near the (putative) date of (1792?), which is derived from the only other recorded copy, in NLW.

Marlborough Rare Books Catalogue 208 Travel is a miscellany of some two hundred items, English and foreign, a good proportion of which of course invites attractive illustration to accompany already inviting description. The twenty or so early English items are no exception, but our field narrows to one. Item 148 is a copy of the 1739 'Londra' printing of Overbeke's late seventeenth-century survey of the monuments and ancient buildings of Rome. To judge from the description, despite the reference to Overbeke's 'major treatise', this appears to be the plate volume alone. The descriptive note talks of 'the accompanying text in Latin', but makes no mention of the Italian translation also issued in 1739 as a companion volume of 400pp. The text volume bears the imprint of 'Tomasso Edlin', and ESTC gives the volume of Stampe to the same press. That catalogue also calls for 109 plates, while referring to the presence of an unspecified number of plates in the text volume. Some additional material has evidently found its way into the Marlborough copy, which boasts '148 fine copper engraved plates' and the folding map (which ESTC lists in the collation for the text volume). Perhaps more may be learned through pursuit of the Cicognara reference (£3000).

John Drury Catalogue 139 A[n] early autumn miscellany 1610 to 1898 offers 180 items, as usual in the fields of economics, social history, etc. Of note among the earlier imprints are three scarce ephemeral items, including an unrecorded late eighteenth-century broadside issued from the Council Chambers, Reading, regarding poor relief based in part on the price of bread (£350); a scarce late seventeenth-century petition from the Company of Tallow Chandlers seeking protection of their monopoly (and thereby ensuring London maintained its unenviable status as the 'worst-lit capital in Europe' (£1500); and an unrecorded early eighteenthcentury open letter from the Bishop of Gloucester to 'the several parsons, vicars, curates, etc.' of the diocese, prosecuting the law against 'Prophane Swearing and Cursing' - a tide which even then appears to have been irreversible (£1150). Elsewhere may be found a very rare Kelso nurseryman.s seed catalogue, in just the sort of state to command a premium, with 'a few contemporary price alterations or additions, entered in ink, stitched as issued in original blue paper wrappers', Berwick, 1793 (£1250); and a fine 3-volume seventh edition of Adam Smith.s Wealth of Nations in a 'handsome contemporary binding' has the benefit of a colour photo on the catalogue front cover (£3500).

II. By Julian Nangle

“ABA WEBSITE - YOUR CATALOGUES ONLINE
The new "Catalogues" page is now on the website. Please send us your catalogues in .pdf format (we would appreciate it if you could "zip" them if they are very large), or as links to your website.”

Besides sounding just a little obscene this notice, which appeared on my computer alongside other more obvious obscenities which I find a lot easier to understand, proves that we are losing it as a profession of dusty old fuddy-duddies. And, oh, how I do lament this fact.

Far from being a luddite - I learnt how to turn my computer on back in the early 1990's for heaven's sake - I welcome change but being asked to 'zip my pdf' takes quite a lot of the biscuit in the larder of pushing the envelope of bookselling I feel.

Enough clichés however, let us see what this month's 'hard copy' catalogues look like ...

Well, funnily enough they look very much like last month's batch. We have a catalogue from Sotheran's and we have a catalogue (sic) from Nigel Williams, and we have one more this month, from Ian Hodgkins.

Sotheran’s - Children's and Illustrated Books (328 items) 2 Sackville Street,Piccadilly, London W1S 3DP - offer a plethora of Edward Ardizzone. This must be someone's private collection . I defy Sotheran's to say they have picked these books up singly despite personal knowledge of how thoroughly Rosie Hodge, their children.s books specialist, hoovers a book fair looking for her stock (ref Oxford Book Fair Oct 26/27 2007) - but this collection, boasting all, or most, of the early, folio sized children's stories from the 1930's (2 copies of my favourite Tim and Lucy Go to Sea, each deliciously priced at £848 or £698 depending on whether a 35mm tear on the jacket bothers you) suggests that these books come from one home. It would have been nice to have had the owner's name but then the collector, or their relatives, might have wished for privacy I suppose. If not, however, I think 'from the collection of...' would add kudos to a collection of this magnitude. The auctioneers do it . and sometimes booksellers do it (Charles' Cox's recent wonderful catalogue of books from the library of John Fowles comes to mind), but not often enough, in my view. You wish to know how large this collection is? Of course, whether it'll fit your pdf (pretty damn full) zip is relevant if you are going to buy the lot and offer them on the ABA website - well there are 197 books illustrated by Ardizzone i in this catalogue - big enough to placate the 'size matters' brigade.

Nigel Williams - Cat 145 (751 items) 25 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ - has to be admired. He took my rather cruel criticism in the last newsletter firmly on the chin and has produced another catalogue, almost identical in style but very different in content, for me to maul over in this issue. The best book listed, a copy of which (in this condition) I last heard of in the late 1970's, is Anthony Powell's early novel Agents and Patients in a really rather nice dust jacket (£3750). Now while this price might feel fearsome think about it for a moment. You could go on a 14 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords, staying in one of the Master suites on some gin palace for more than that. How soon forgotten? But Powell's rarity would be there to treasure, touch and tremble over for the rest of your life. Given the choice, oh happy day, I would always take Powell. The rest of this catalogue is full of good solid first editions - but who, I have to ask myself, is collecting them? Well someone is as I rang up for one and it had sold already, so there.

The last catalogue for review this time is so good they named it twice: Catalogue 125 [and] Miscellany 2007 from Ian Hodgkins & Co.Ltd. (340 items) Upper Vatch Mill, The Vatch, Stroud, Glos GL6 7JY. This is an impressive catalogue, not least because I have always had a blind spot for the value of photographs and here they have 'A Large Collection of Platinum Prints from the works by Edward Burne-Jones, Photographed by Frederick Hollyer....Comprising a total of 122 prints, from his paintings and works.' This said the price is £15,500 - so you will have to be a serious fan of all concerned to plunge in. For the less well off the same photographer had 48 prints of the works by G.F.Watts which Hodgkins now offer us for £3,800. There are wonderful, unique items offered here, including autograph letters from artists, and artists. family, as well as books pertaining to the 1890's and, a little surprisingly, a nice collection of Beatrix Potter first editions. The unique or nearly unique is always a good rule of thumb for a collector. If what one buys cannot be repeated easily, if at all, how wrong can you go? It is how the 'Limited Edition' (of which there are plenty offered here - Andrew Lang's Green Fairy Book, one of 150 copies, priced reasonably at £375 for example) was first conceived. The only worry is whether the subject or author will go out of fashion, like hard copy catalogues from booksellers hellbent on increasing the size of their pdf zips and the speed of their 'connection.' Far be it from me to complain ( I love my Broadband) but 'slowing down', as inevitably I shall over the next couple of decades if I live that long, is actually beginning to look attractive.

Send your catalogues direct:

Antiquarian: Dr. Mervyn Jannetta, 4 Cranbury
Close, Downton, Salisbury, Wilts.SP5 3LL
mervynjannetta@hotmail.com

Modern Firsts: J. Nangle, Words Etc.,
2 Cornhill, Dorchester, Dorset DT1 1BA
julian@nanglerarebooks.co.uk

General: M. Holman, 18 High Street,
Osbournby, Sleaford, Lincs. NG34 0DP.
mholman35@aol.com
 
COUNCIL MINUTES

MINUTES OF COUNCIL MEETING, 7TH NOVEMBER 2007

In the previous three newsletters, I have précised Council Minutes. In response to criticism of this by some Council Members, the Minutes for the November Council meeting are here printed in full - except for the omission of comment on, and decisions about, individuals, particularly under the Agenda item of Membership. I look forward to receiving feedback from readers. Brian Lake, Editor.

Meeting of Council held on Wednesday 7th November 2007, at 2.00pm in the Garden Room of the Reform Club, 104 Pall Mall, London SW1 Present: Alan Shelley (President), in the Chair. Ian Smith (Vice President), Robert Frew (Immediate Past President), Raymond Kilgarriff (Past President), Paul Minet (Past President), Tim Bryars, Christopher Edwards, Kenneth Fuller, Michael Graves-Johnston, Jolyon Hudson, Brian Lake, Angus O.Neill, Julian Rota, Michael Silverman, Roger Treglown, Nigel Williams, Laurence Worms. Secretary: John Critchley, Events Manager: Marianne Harwood (second half) Apologies: Jonathan Potter (Honorary Treasurer), Adrian Harrington (Past President).

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT

The President welcomed the Members of Council to the meeting. He went on to report the deaths of Gabby Besley of Besley.s Books, Renee Fletcher formerly of H M Fletcher, Derek Gibbons, Retired Member, formerly of the Haunted Bookshop in Cambridge, and Ronald Gooch, of Ad Orientem in St Leonards, not an ABA Member but a prominent member of the trade. Council stood in silent tribute to their memory.

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY 5th SEPTEMBER 2007

Subject to the correction of a typing error on page 6, the minutes were accepted as a fair and accurate account of the proceedings and were signed by the President.

MATTERS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES

The President introduced the discussion of links with auctioneers, saying that when the draft minutes of the July meeting were circulated to all Members of Council for comment, it had not been possible to agree an appropriate amendment to the wording of the discussion on links with auctioneers. Julian Rota, who held strong views on the subject, was absent from the September meeting and it had been decided to postpone discussion until November.

He referred first, however, to his correspondence with David Park of Bonhams (which had been circulated to the Members of Council) about a phrase in their catalogue for the sale of a reference library formerly the property of Robert Symes Limited. He had been concerned and surprised by the sentence that preceded their catalogue of books for sale: "The seller is selling only such right, title and interest as it may have in each lot." On the understanding that these books were being sold on behalf of a liquidator who was unable give Bonhams full title guarantee free from encumbrance, the President felt that Bonhams, with the above statement, has passed the problem to potential purchasers. If this were so, the President had suggested that a refusal of the sale have been more honourable, and could see no alternative but to advise ABA members and to warn them of the potential consequences of buying books in this sale. The correspondence with Mr Park had been inconclusive, and it had later been reported that almost all the books had been sold. Nonetheless, the President felt that his own action had been correct. The Members of Council gave their support to his action.

The President then asked Julian Rota to give his views on links with auctioneers, and in particular on whether there should be links from the ABA website to the websites of the major auctioneers of books. Julian Rota said that his views were based on his eight years of employment by Sotheby.s Book Department. During his time there, Sotheby.s aim had been quite ruthlessly to cut booksellers out of the business. He felt that if auctioneers were to apply for ABA membership, they would be turned down because their Terms and Conditions were unacceptable. He therefore opposed strongly any website links or advertising by auctioneers. Members were divided on the subject. Nigel Williams noted that three auctioneers had placed advertisements in the Centenary Handbook, and felt that there should be a consistent policy either to accept them in both media or neither. While having no strong views either way, he inclined towards the view expressed by Mr Rota. Michael Graves- Johnston noted that altruism was rewarded on the internet, and Christopher Edwards felt that the ABA should take advertisements so long as neither side was knocking the other. Michael Silverman was concerned at the loss of advertising revenue for the Handbook. But Kenneth Fuller, Laurence Worms and Jolyon Hudson (the last also a former auctioneer) felt that the ABA should not allow advertisements by auctioneers in any form.

The President noted what had been said and concluded that the subject needed further consideration.

Brian Lake then asked how many stand rental invoices from the Olympia Book Fair remained unpaid. The Secretary replied that one exhibitor had not yet paid either the first or second stand rental invoice. All other stand rental invoices had now been paid.

Michael Silverman said that he had asked at the September meeting about the average number of hits received by the ABA website, and trends following improvements to the site, but that this had not been recorded in the minutes. The Secretary agreed to prepare a summary of the average number of hits each week since January 2007.

REPORT AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE PRESIDENT

Bishop Phillpotts Library The President referred to the sale of books from Bishop Phillpotts Library in Truro, saying that it had created a huge amount of controversy in the trade at the time, and that the final outcome was still not entirely clear. The ABA response had generally been favourably received. Laurence Worms noted that The Book Collector was preparing an article for its December issue which might stir up more controversy, but Angus O'Neill, who had seen the draft, felt that it did not attack the ABA.

ILAB Presidents’ Meeting in Paris

The President reported on the Meeting of Presidents in Paris in September, saying that an account would be sent to the Newsletter Editor shortly. In Paris, there had been a day's workshop whose busy agenda included: ILAB accounting methods; the Hong Kong Book Fair; the bibliographical prize (the name .The ILAB Breslauer Prize for bibliography. had been approved); improvements to the ILAB Newsletter; a presentation by Richard Thompson Insurance Brokers who were hoping to start an ILAB-approved scheme backed by their new underwriters, Hiscox; a presentation by a representative of CINOA; the Madrid 2008 Congress and Book Fair; a presentation by Jim Hinck on Via Libri; and presentations by Jelle Samshuijzen and many others on the ILAB website. There had also been the formal General Meeting. All this had been valuable, but the meetings had been spread over four days with a lot of time spent on cultural and social activities, and the President wondered whether the time could have been used more effectively and planned to suggest improvements to the ILAB Committee.

FINANCE AND GENERAL PURPOSES COMMITTEE

Accounts
In the absence of the Treasurer, the Secretary reported the results of the third quarter audit and on the reinvestment of some Benevolent Fund assets. Victor Coles had carried out the third quarter audit on 25th October and had produced what seemed a reasonably favourable set of accounts. The Secretary had subsequently produced a financial forecast for the year as a whole, which he had sent out to all Members of Council. This showed a forecast surplus of £15,667, down about £4,000 from his estimate at the half year. The main changes were that his estimate of salaries had been £2,000 low, and the Olympia surplus has dropped by £2,000 following appeals by exhibitors about stand extras charges. Several other estimates had been increased or reduced by small amounts, but more or less cancelled each other out. He hoped that the Chelsea Book Fair might do a little better than the £2,000 surplus forecast, but the final figures were not available.

There were still a few annual subscriptions and Olympia invoices outstanding, and a few minor debts, all of which were being pursued: they amounted to £4,900 on 6th November. The ABA bank accounts totalled £79,000 on 31st October, and the Benevolent Fund would transfer about £9,000 to the ABA in December to compensate for payments made on its behalf from the general fund.

The Members of Council noted the third quarter accounts.

The Secretary went on to report that, after talking to the HSBC investment manager, the Trustees had reviewed the funds invested in equities and reinvested £100,000 in an attempt to improve the income. 60% of the funds remained in Gilts, and 40% in equities.

Brian Lake then asked if the F&GP had talked about anything other than the accounts. And Angus O'Neill asked if the meeting had been minuted. The President replied that each of the items on the agenda for the Council meeting had been discussed, with the aim that the officers would be properly briefed and would be able to guide the routine items through quickly, so allowing plenty of time for discussion of the important matters of policy. No minutes were taken, but anything proposed at the F&GP was brought to Council for ratification. The Immediate Past President observed that it would be difficult to present to Council the minutes of a meeting which took place immediately before the Council meeting.

Robert Frew continued by suggesting that there should be just a Finance Committee and that 'general purposes' should be dropped. Laurence Worms stated that the ABA was now a Company Limited by guarantee and that the Members of Council were all directors. Decisions had to be made at Council, not by the F&GP. There was a problem because of a perception that the F&GP was the ruling body and that the rest of the Members of Council were out of the loop, and a lingering suspicion that decisions were made at the F&GP which did not come to Council. Brian Lake, who said that there was nothing personal involved, considered that the President was at liberty to discuss anything at any time with anyone he wished, but that having a formal meeting needed minutes in line with the President’s requirement that all sub-committees should be minuted and the minutes circulated before the next Council Meeting. He would like to see the formal meeting disappear. Jolyon Hudson wondered why the current paranoia had grown up - were the President and Council in charge, or was it the President and his subcommittee? He felt strongly that the paranoia was because of suspicions that issues presented to Council had previously been shortened or edited. The President concluded that the constitution of the Finance and General Purposes Committee needed to be tabled for full discussion, and that the whole principle of its function needed more thought.

REPORT OF THE SECRETARY

Committee Travel Expenses
The Secretary asked the Members of Council to submit travel expenses well before the year end and, if possible, when they occurred.

Tradeshow access programme
The Secretary reported that Adrian Harrington and he had met Michael Gavin of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR, formerly the DTI) on Thursday 6th September. Mr Gavin had confirmed that grants up to £1,500 were available from BERR for qualifying firms if less than 10% of their business lay in the country where the fair or exhibition took place - for independent "solo" participation. The Secretary noted that BERR funding for the 2007-8 Financial Year had already been exhausted. Businesses could receive up to three grants of £1,800 to help them acquire knowledge and experience of exhibiting effectively overseas if they were members of Accredited Trade Organisations (ATO) and taking part in a 'trade mission' or 'trade fair' organised by the ATO.

The purpose of becoming an ATO, however, was to explore new markets (perhaps India or China), and to set up 'trade missions' to go out to 'bump start' them. Assistance with the costs of all the stages would be given by BERR.

First of all, however, it would be necessary for the ABA to do a market research project, guided by the British Chambers of Commerce. Some help would be available from BERR trade-desks, but the ABA would probably need to employ a market research company. For an .in house. project, up to 50% of the ABA.s costs would be supported, up to a maximum of £20,000. Support would also be available for the use of professional market researchers.

The DTI also offered contacts and meetings during the research. BERR charged between £225 and £1,800 for this.

The next stage would be to arrange a 'trade mission' - a small bookfair, perhaps - in the country of choice. That would be where ABA members would receive £1,800 support to help them attend.

The Secretary said that he did not feel competent to give good advice on this, and would suggest setting up a sub-committee to handle things if Council decided to go ahead. His opinion was that, despite the support given by BERR, there would be serious costs involved and that Council would need to be very sure that the game was worth the candle.

Meanwhile, the Secretary was attempting to register the Antiquarian Booksellers Association with BERR as an Accredited Trade Organisation, and they would contact him when they did the next accreditation exercise.

Kenneth Fuller offered to seek advice from a friend who worked for BERR. Members agreed, however, that there was little point in pursuing accreditation as the ABA was too under-financed to carry out trade missions.

American Book Prices Current
Dan Leab of ABPC had contacted the Secretary to offering a deal for ABA members who signed up to his online service before 15th January 2008. The charge for ABA members would be $495, or possibly lower if a large number signed up (compared with $595 normally) with an annual renewal charge of $140. The first year would run until 1st February 2009, whenever members signed up. Mr Leab.s proposal was also that members should deal though and pay the ABA office, and that ABPC would then contact the members so that they could sign up at the reduced price.

Kenneth Fuller stated that ABPC had been outdated and by-passed by Invaluable Appraiser, which covered most major auctions. He then agreed that he had given advice at a previous meeting that Invaluable had been acquired by another group and should be treated with caution for the time being, and went on to say that Invaluable appraiser was quite difficult to use and that the website was clumsy. It was agreed that the Secretary should advertise the ABPC deal to the membership, while other avenues were being explored.

MEMBERSHIP

Changes to Membership Status

Andrew and Janet Sharpe - Grove Rare Books
Council noted the change of status of the business in that Andrew Yates had been taken into partnership. Leo Cadogan . Unsworth's Antiquarian Booksellers Council noted that Leo Cadogan had left Unsworth.s on 1st October 2007 and was now running his own dealership, Leo Cadogan Rare Books Limited. He had thus ceased to be an Additional Nominee at Unsworth's.

Robert G Sawers Ltd.
A letter had been received from Mr Sawers saying that he has not been an active bookseller for several years, and tendering his resignation with great regret. The Secretary had written to him asking if he would like to transfer to Retired Membership. Mr Sawers had replied that he would very much like to become a Retired Member. Council approved the transfer.

G David
Council noted that Neil Adams had resigned as an Additional Nominee at G David, although regret was expressed that a firm of the size of G David now had only one Nominee.

Applications for Membership

Dorothea Rota (Bertram Rota Ltd.)
The Membership Secretary proposed Dorothea Rota as an Additional Nominee at Bertram Rota Ltd. The proposal was accepted unanimously by Council.

David Headley (Goldsboro Books Ltd.) - Second stage application for membership
The Membership Secretary reported that there had been no comments from the membership in response to the notice in the Newsletter. Mr Headley was elected to membership with 15 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions.

Paul Grinke - First stage application for membership
The Membership Secretary reported that Paul Grinke had been an ABA member from 1968 to 1985, and that this was therefore a resumption of membership. Mr Grinke was re-elected to membership with 15 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions.

Honorary Membership The Membership Secretary asked for proposals for election to Honorary Membership. Brian Lake proposed that only Martin Hamlyn should be considered on this occasion. The President asked if there were any other pressing proposals, and Christopher Edwards replied that the Association should be very sparing with such awards. The Members of Council agreed and Martin Hamlyn was elected to Honorary Membership with 15 votes in favour, none against and no abstentions.

50 years a bookseller Both Keith Fletcher of H M Fletcher, and Edward Nairn of John Updike Rare Books had been booksellers for more than 50 years, and the Members of Council agreed that they should be presented with badges to mark this distinction. The Christmas Party and the Edinburgh Book fair were suggested as suitable venues for the presentations to Mr Fletcher and Mr Nairn respectively.

BOOK FAIRS

Chelsea Bookfair
The President congratulated Roger Treglown, the Book Fair Chairman, his committee and Marianne Harwood, the Events Manager, on a most successful and enjoyable fair. He added that Adrian Harrington, who was confined to his home with back trouble, had sent a message of congratulations to the Book Fair team. Roger Treglown thanked the President for his remarks and said that he had been told by two overseas visitors that Chelsea was the friendliest fair in the world, with the best books. And Didier Deroeux of Librairie Solstices, the sole French exhibitor, had thanked him for the warmth of the welcome by the British booksellers. Also, he thought that Keith Fletcher.s exhibition on the pre-history of the motor car had been very successful and well received, although perhaps not enough people had gone on the stage to look at it.
There had been, of course, a small number of hiccoughs, which would be ironed out for the next fair. And he deplored the amount of rubbish left lying around by exhibitors after the break down. Brian Lake proposed a vote of thanks to Roger Treglown and his committee. He then said that having separate take sheets for each day of a fair did not allow proper analysis of results, and asked if they could be combined into one sheet per exhibitor.
The President felt that the object of the take and gate sheets was to look for trends, and that the procedure should not therefore be changed.

Olympia Bookfair
Marianne Harwood reported that the application forms were about to be mailed out, and that the closing date for applications would be 14th January 2008. The stand allocation meeting would take place at the end of January.

ABA-PBFA Co-operation on Book Fairs
Brian Lake reported that the 2008 collocated ABA-PBFA Edinburgh Book Fair was to go ahead as planned.
The PBFA Bath Book Fair Committee were to offer 30 stands for ABA exhibitors in 2009 and the South West Branch were to be asked to send a representative to the PBFA committee meetings (he believed that Geoff Tyson of High Street Books had been approached for this duty). The Immediate Past President asked that such proposals were not published in the Newsletter before they had been approved by Council. It seemed that there were too many problems for suggestions of a PBFA Book Fair on the mezzanine floor at Olympia during the ABA Fair to be pursued.
The possibility of a large book fair in the Midlands was being considered.

Book Fair Insurance The Secretary reported that, following the approach by Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council to say that the Old Town Hall would be needed as a Polling Station if an election were to be held on Thursday 1st November (the set up day for the book fair), and the discovery that the ABA.s book fair cancellation insurance did not provide cover against such an eventuality, he had carried out a check of both Book Fair contracts with Richard Thompson Insurance Brokers. The main additions resulting were cover of the property in the cloakrooms against theft and damage, and increasing public liability insurance to £10 million to meet the requirement of the Olympia contract. The Secretary believed that the Association was now covered against everything possible and reasonable. The subject of elections and Chelsea Old Town Hall were still being discussed by RTIB and their underwriters.

Book Fair Administration charge
The Secretary explained to the Members of Council that the book fair administration charge was a legitimate charge on the bookfairs to cover expenditure on the fairs by the Association. This ensured proper cost-based accounting. The book fair therefore did not pay a large contribution towards the running costs of the ABA office, as some Members of Council believed, although the ABA office staffing structure would of course be very different if book fairs were not organised from the office.

SUB-COMMITTEES

British Art Market Federation
The Vice President reported that the minutes of the British Art Market Federation October meeting had been circulated to the Members of Council. The majority of topics discussed were of little relevance to booksellers, although Droit de Suite affected those who dealt in original art work.

Education
Laurence Worms and Tim Bryars had previously presented a written report concerning collaboration with the London Rare Books School for Summer 2008, with notes on courses on Modern First Editions and Children.s Books which were now awaiting formal approval. Laurence Worms further reported that he had now met Sheila O’Connell of the Department of Prints & Drawings at the British Museum to discuss a possible course on the history of the print trade to run during the 2009 London Rare Book School, based in part at the British Museum and offering unique access to its unrivalled collection. He had been asked whether he felt that the School was altruistic or a money making venture for London University, and felt very much that (whatever one’s view of modern universities) the school was put on for and did indeed benefit all sectors of the world of rare books - and was certainly altruistic as far as the students were concerned. He went on to say that the four ABA Bursars had all been extremely grateful for the financial help offered to them. [£500 each given by the Benevolent Fund, which covered their full course fees]. The Secretary was asked to forward payment for the Bursaries to the Institute of English Studies at London University.

Export of Books and Mss
The Secretary was asked to publish the advisory note, circulated by Julian Rota, in the Bulletin and Newsletter.

Handbook
Michael Silverman reported that he intended to produce the 2008 Handbook in time for the Olympia Book Fair, and that planning for that was in hand.

IT & Internet
Michael Graves-Johnston reported that his subcommittee had met twice since the September Council meeting: once on 24th October, and once at Chelsea Old Town Hall before the book fair opened on the Saturday morning.
The minutes of the meeting on 24th October had been circulated to the Members of Council, and Mr Graves-Johnston noted that the new .Highlights. page on the ABA website had proved extremely successful, and that Jonathan Kearns was now ready in all respects to deal with members who wished to take up template websites, or to have their own websites hosted by the ABA.
 
ILAB REPORT
PRESIDENTS’ MEETING IN PARIS - SEPTEMBER 2007

Having, decades ago, participated in many international meetings and recalling the heady mix of enthusiasm, bonhomie, politics and sometimes confusion, that such occasions produce, I approached my first Presidents’ Meeting with curiosity and enthusiasm. Would a gathering of disparate booksellers representing their national associations or ILAB, prove to be different? The answer, perhaps inevitably, was "no".

It is well known of course that it is easier to herd cats than to organise booksellers. If one adds in the complications of cultural differences, language and some flag waving, then the problems of organising a meeting consisting of delegates from so many countries becomes somewhat daunting. But the preparations of Michael Steinbach and his ILAB team supported by the immaculate hosting of President Frederic Castaing’s SLAM in wonderful Parisian surroundings, meant that we enjoyed splendid hospitality.

But what of the Meeting? A long and careful Agenda meant that discussions ranged from the decision to change the basis of ILAB accounts to one conforming to modern international standards, to reports on the Hong Kong Bookfair and the possible formation of an Asian Association. Approval was given for the ILAB Bibliographical Prize to include the name Breslauer to recognise the substantial sponsorship funds that will ensue. The day rolled by with talk of Newsletter improvements, a presentation by a delegate from Confédération Internationale de Négociants en Oeuvres d'Art, and the first information about the 2009 Congress in Madrid. Richard Thompson came to pitch for International insurance business and Jim Hinck did the same for Vialibri. Inevitably there was a huge amount of discussion surrounding the efficacy and costs of the ILAB web-site to which Jelle Samhuijzen responded and was supported by most participants. Those wanting a fuller version of the meeting should visit www.ilabdatabase.com/php/general_meeting_minutes_en.pdf, where the hardworking Nevine Marchiset has placed her English version of the proceedings. Nevine not only acted as Secretary but also provided translation for those delegates who spoke in French or required translation into French when English was spoken. Bear in mind that those languages are the official languages of ILAB, but that one delegate had brought a personal interpreter and there were twelve participants from countries whose language was neither English nor French.

Considering the size of the group and the complexities mentioned above, the organisers have every reason to be proud of their accomplishments. If one adds the opportunity to meet one’s colleagues formally and informally; to talk about Association matters face to face, then the benefits are very tangible. Could there be even greater benefit? Yes, I believe so and will be recommending to the ILAB Committee some ideas based upon the workshop model that has occurred in the past.

In the meantime I shall reflect on the way in which a small group of booksellers inspired by Menno Hertzberger gathered in 1948 to found the extraordinary organisation that thrives today.

"Amor librorum nos unit". Indeed.

NEWS FROM THE OFFICE

VAT ON BOOKS?

Following discussion in the trade press, we have consulted our contacts in the Booksellers. Association and Publishers' Association and are reassured that there is no immediate threat of the imposition of VAT on books in the UK and Ireland.

Indeed, Francois Dubruille (Director European Booksellers Federation) has said: “the Commission has NOT said that it wants to end the 0% rate on books, I am afraid that this is again and again a misinterpretation of badly relayed information by frantically Euro-sceptic journalists...” - in other words: “don't believe everything you read in The Telegraph.”

EDINBURGH BOOK FAIR
14th-15th MARCH 2008

Stand application forms for the Edinburgh book Fair were sent out with the Autumn Newsletter. Please contact the office if yours has not arrived. This fair is popular and always sells out so don't leave your application and deposit until the last minute. Get it in now.

SHIPPING TO THE EDINBURGH BOOK FAIR:

RF Shipping are offering the following services for the Edinburgh Book Fair: Central London collections or prior delivery to our shop for delivery to stands in time for set up.
- Return shipping services or central London delivery.
- A full packing and shipping service from the fair.
Please contact Robert Frew: Tel: 020 7590 6650 or email: shop@robertfrew.com

OLYMPIA 2008 IS LAUNCHED!

Application forms for Olympia 2008 have been mailed to you. The closing date for returning your application is Monday 14th January but please apply before Christmas if possible because it is all too easy to forget as the festive period approaches. We look forward to a flood of applications shortly.

MADRID 2008 ILAB CONGRESS AND BOOK FAIR REMINDER

"This is a reminder that the website for the Madrid Congress and Book fair is ready: www.ilabmadrid2008.com. You will find all the information concerning both events in Spanish, English and French. The registration form can be downloaded as a Word document from the website, but the program will be mailed shortly to all ILAB members. Registration will finish for both events on 20 February 2008.

With best wishes, Gonzalo F. Pontes, AILA President."

FREE TICKETS TO PBFA FAIRS

We now have a reciprocal agreement with the PBFA whereby we send tickets for ABA Book Fairs to PBFA members and the PBFA will be sending free tickets to their Premier Fairs to ABA members. Becky Wears has asked us to remind you that they are more than happy to send complimentary tickets to any of the other PBFA fairs, simply contact her at: info@pbfa.org.

CAVEAT EMPTOR 2
FAIR GUIDE!

Construct Data Verlag are still sending out invitations for “free entries” which could cost you over 3,000 Euros if you sign the form . please “govern yourselves accordingly.”

CAVEAT EMPTOR 3
EURO BUSINESS GUIDE

“Dear Sirs, If you like to have your company registered in the registry of European companies; Please print out the enclosed form (PDF file), fill it and send it back to: Euro Business Guide, P.O. Box 2021, 3500 GA UTRECHT, The Netherlands. Updating is free of charge!!”

This e-mail, received by a member, is a departure from the usual printed forms. If members are in any doubt about the meaning of this warning from the office, they should look at: www.redcardinal.ie/general/10-11-2006/euro-business-guide-spam-and-scam/.
Sent to us by Keith Fletcher.

ADDRESS CHECKS FOR CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS

We remind members that Barclaycard Merchant Services will carry out address checks on their behalf. Up to three checks may be made per day at a cost of £4.50 each. Their contact number is 0870 600 5511. (We assume that other merchant service providers will provide this service too.)

ENQUIRY FROM JOHN LEWCOCK

“I have been asked to assist in finding a diary written in 1671. It is referred to in Notes and Queries no 159 dated 1930 but there is no trace of the complete diary either original or copy. The full title is "The Diary of Jeffrey Boys of Grays Inn, 1671" it is known to been in manuscript and there is no evidence of it ever being printed. The Notes and Queries entry was by G J Gray. Nobody has been able identify him so presumably he was a researcher. The N&Q reference is quoted extensively by people writing relative to Aphra Behn but their conclusions based on this sole extract are, to some degree, questionable. Can you put this in the newsletter, or circular email, to see if any in the trade know the whereabouts of the diary and or who G J Gray was?”
John Lewcock (Maritime Bookseller): 01353 741152, lewcock@maritime-booksellers.com

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FROM AN AUTHOR

I am writing a book (based on my PhD research) about one Russo-British family alliance and am looking for prints and lithographs related to its history. May I ask therefore for your kind advice as how to find them in UK? Maybe your collections and knowledge might help m? with it. The name of a Russian family is the Sabloukoff (Sablukov) and my subject of interest is Nikolai Sabloukoff (1776-1848). The name of the British family is the Angerstein of Woodlands. Sabloukoff married daughter of John Julius Angrstein - Juliana. I am looking for pictures (in prints, lithographs, etc) of the following personalities and places to be published in a book:

1. General Nikolai Sabloukoff
2. the Sablokoffs (Alexander, his brother, and others)
3. Juliana Angerstein
4. John Julius Angerstein
5. Russian Priest Yakov Smirnoff
6. Count Semen Vorontsoff (Voronsow), Russian ambassador
7. Russian Ambassador Georgy Benkhausen
8. Sir Thomas Lawrence, a portrait painter
9. the Benthams brothers
10. Joseph Farington, a painter
11. the Woodlands villa

I also am looking for the manuscripts of Sabloukoff. The most important one is his memories. Have you ever heard about it? If you can help, please contact Sergey Krechetov direct by email: skrechetov@gmail.com

THE SOMME, AN EYEWITNESS HISTORY

As many members will know, the ABA generously gives four runner-up prizes at the Designer Bookbinders Annual Competition. The set book for the competition is .The Somme, an Eyewitness History. edited by Robert T. Foley & Helen McCartney, and published by The Folio Society, London, 2006. The exhibition of competition entries, and many other bindings, may be visited at the John Rylands Library in Manchester during normal library hours from Sunday 18th November to 12th January.

ABA CHRISTMAS PARTY

The ABA Christmas Party will be held on Wednesday 12th December 2007, at 6.00pm. This year the party is kindly being hosted by HENRY SOTHERAN LTD., 2 Sackville Street, London W1S 3DP. Tickets are priced at £20 + vat per person. RSVP, with your name and the names of your guests, to the ABA Office as soon as possible: for catering purposes we must have your bookings by Wed 5th December. Thank you.

AMERICAN BOOK PRICES CURRENT (ABPC) – ABA GROUP DEAL FOR ONLINE SERVICE

Dan and Kathy Leab are offering a deal for ABA members who sign up to the ABPC online service before 15th January - for $495 or possibly lower if a large number sign up. The normal charge is $595 and the annual renewal charge will be $140. The first year will run until 1st February 2009, whenever members sign up. Please contact the ABA office . we will pass on your name to ABPC, who will then contact you so that you can sign up at the reduced price. Invoices will be sent out by the ABA office. The ABPC discs now contain well over 1,000,000 records of sales at auction of books and autographs an manuscripts. The records date back to 1975 and cover sales at most American auction houses and also at the major houses outside the USA. While the discs are issued every January and contain information up to the end of the previous August, records are added to the online service continually.

EXPORT OF BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS

"This is just to report our two recent experiences with the export of manuscripts. In both cases we had sold a fairly substantial quantity of manuscript material, only a small proportion of which, in terms of both bulk and value, was over 50 years old and therefore required an export licence. Our applications made it clear, as required, that the licence was for something which was part of a greater whole (otherwise the importance of the material cannot be fairly assessed). For the first time our shipper was questioned by Customs and Excise as to why the value on the export licence differed from the value on the invoice. To satisfy them we had to prepare dummy invoices (with which I would hate to confuse a purchasing institution) breaking the total down in terms of value between the material which did and did not require a licence." Julian Rota, Convenor, Export of Books & Mss Sub-Committee

The ABA advises members to comply with the requirement.

ABA WEBSITE ADVANCES
www.aba.org.uk

Highlights page.
Members should note that the “Highlights” page on the ABA website now has 18 highlights displayed, from 12 members. One has been sold! Each highlight has a link to the member.s own website, and is particularly receptive to searches by Google. It.s free advertising, so please send your highlights, as a jpeg file with a short text description to the ABA office!

Catalogues Page - your catalogues online
The new “Catalogues” page is now on the website, rather overwhelmed by Sotheran's and a large offering from Jonathan Fishburn. Please send us your catalogues in .pdf format (we would appreciate it if you could “zip” them if they are very large), or as links to your website. Again, it's free advertising....

Links
We are about to increase the number of links on the ABA website substantially. Suggestions from members for suitable links are sought.

Articles and Content
We are about to add an “Articles” page to the ABA website, using past Newsletters first.

Members are invited to submit articles that they have written for journals or magazines for publication on the website. Again, it.s all searchable by Google and it.s all free advertising for you and the ABA!

For members with no Website or intending to upgrade their Websites, there are six templates on the “Information” page, suitable for those members who do not yet have their own website, or for members looking to upgrade their sites. Template websites, and members. individual websites, will be suitable for hosting by the ABA on its new “NativeSpace” software. We can help you establish a website. For those with websites, please establish when your current contract with your ISP runs out, and consider transferring hosting to the ABA.

ABA Website and Hosting Charges (VAT will be charged on all these rates - and see page 28 for further information). To set up a template website for a member: £50.00.

Work to develop the site beyond the basic template and any consultancy element: £25 per hour.

Fee for website hosting by the ABA on Nativespace: £50 per year, which must be paid yearly in advance by standing order. Members are advised that domain transfer costs up to £15, and that the registration fee for a domain name is up to £20 per year, depending on the suffix (e.g. .co.uk, etc.). We can help with this.

John Critchley, Marianne Harwood & Clare Pedder.
 
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

HONORARY MEMBERSHIP – MARTIN HAMLYN
We are very pleased to inform you that Martin Hamlyn has been elected to Honorary Membership of the Association. We hope to make the presentation of his Honorary Member Badge at the Christmas Party

50 YEARS A BOOKSELLER
We congratulate Keith Fletcher and Edward Nairn on having been in the book trade for 50 years. A presentation of a .50 Year. badge will be made to Keith at the Christmas Party, and we hope to make the presentation to Edward at the Edinburgh Book Fair. Would other members please contact the Secretary if they feel that their youthful appearance might have resulted in their being overlooked, or if they want to call attention to the longevity of a friend. Please note that the qualification is the date of starting in the trade, rather than becoming an ABA member.

RETIREMENT - ROBERT G SAWERS
Robert Sawers has transferred to Retired Membership.

NEW MEMBERS
We are pleased to announce the election to membership of:

PAUL GRINKE
85 Osbaldeston Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 6NP, Tel: 020 8806 0273
E-mail: paulgrinke@hotmail.com, No Website Paul Grinke was a member of the ABA from 1968 until 1985, and has resumed membership.

DAVID HEADLEY
GOLDSBORO BOOKS LTD.
7 Cecil Court, London WC2N 4EZ, Tel: 020 7497 9230
E-mail: enquiries@goldsborobooks.com, Website: www.goldsborobooks.com

MEMBERS CHANGE OF DETAILS

NEW ADDITIONAL NOMINEE - BERTRAM ROTA LTD.
We are pleased to announce that Dorothea Rota has become an Additional Nominee at Bertram Rota Ltd.

CHANGE OF BUSINESS STATUS - GROVE RARE BOOKS
Andrew and Janet Sharpe, trading in Partnership as Grove Rare Books, have entered into partnership with Adam Yates as from 1st September 2007.

RESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL NOMINEE - G DAVID BOOKSELLER
Neil Adams has resigned as an Additional Nominee at G David.

UNSWORTH.S ANTIQUARIAN BOOKSELLERS
Leo Cadogan left Unsworth.s on 1st October 2007 to run his own dealership, Leo Cadogan Rare Books Limited. He ceases to be an Additional Nominee at Unsworth.s from that date.

JONATHAN POTTER LTD.
Tom Harper has left Jonathan Potter Ltd. after six-and-a-half years, to take up the role of Antiquarian Map Curator at the British Library.

CHANGE OF ADDRESS DETAILS

CHRISTOPHER EDWARDS
New address and telephone number: 8 St Leonard.s Square, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 0AR Tel: 01491 833682

HERITAGE BOOK SHOP INC
New office: 8687 Melrose Avenue M46, Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA Mailing address: PO Box 691670, Los Angeles, CA 90069, USA Other details remain the same but they are now only open by appointment.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS

M E KORN BOOKS
New email address: korn.eric@googlemail.com

OMEGA BOOKSHOP
Has moved temporarily to 31 Long Acre, London, WC2E 9LA. Phone and email unchanged. Online/mail order only.

HUGH PAGAN LIMITED
New address is PO Box 354, Brockenhurst, Hampshire SO42 7PS
Tel & Fax: 01590 624.
The email address remains unchanged: (enquiries@hughpagan.com)

LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIA SOAVE
New email address: libsoave@ipsnet.it

ROBERT D STEEDMAN
A reminder that David Steedman has now closed his shop in Newcastle. He is now at 12 Westfield Drive, Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne NE3 4XU.
Tel: 0191 284 3507 Mob: 07837 885039

KAREN THOMSON
New address is:
Fowler’s Cottage, Witney Lane, Stonesfield, Oxford OX29 8DN Telephone: 01993 898734 and 07875 189385.

SITUATION VACANT

G HEYWOOD HILL LTD.
“Some time ago John Saumarez Smith decided that his sixty-fifth birthday would be an appropriate moment to step back from his total commitment to the running of the business. John will therefore retire as Managing Director in May next year. However he will be continuing to work for the shop in a role to be defined by him and his successor. Heywood Hill is advertising for applications for this job; the details are on our website at www.heywoodhill.com. under Recruitment.”

EMPLOYMENT SOUGHT

"I am writing to enquire if you have any current vacancies either in research or cataloguing. I have a PhD in English Literature and have worked at Jane Austen’s House Museum for the past seven years. I work part-time, and am their Archive Researcher, researching and cataloguing the museum’s written archives. Through years of researching English Literature, I have gained extensive experience researching and working with antiquarian books. I hope you will consider me for any vacancies as I am very interested in working in the antiquarian bookselling trade." CV on request.
Contact Maria Taylor either by email (mdtaylor3@googlemail.com) or by phone at 07876 428081.”

BIRTHS, DEATHS & MARRIAGES

BIRTHS
Congratulations to James and Georgina Hallgate of Lucius Books, York, on the birth of their daughter Matilda.

DEATHS
RENEE FLETCHER
We are very sorry to announce the death of Keith Fletcher’s mother, Irene Fletcher (Renee) on Friday morning, 28th September, aged 99. The funeral was held on Tuesday 9th October.

DEREK ARTHUR MONEY GIBBONS. 1927 - 2007
Derek died quietly and courageously, at home, on Saturday September 29th 2007 aged 80 years. He was a Retired Member of the ABA, formerly of Lower Goat Lane, Norwich and The Haunted Book Shop, Cambridge. Derek will be sadly missed by all who knew and loved him. A Requiem Mass was held at Little Saint Mary’s Trumpington Street Cambridge, on Friday 12th October. followed by a private cremation. Donations, if desired, to EACH (East Anglia’s Children’s Hospice) or Arthur Rank Hospice Charity may be sent c/o H. J. Paintin Ltd. 43 High Street Linton, Cambridge CB21 4HS.

RONALD GOOCH
“Though a resolute non-joiner and therefore no ABA member his many friends and colleagues will be saddened to hear that Ronald Gooch died suddenly at home in his sleep on 14 October. Ronald traded for over 40 years as Ad Orientem in St Leonards and was probably the pre-eminent bookseller in Oriental subjects (travel, history, archaeology, literature, etc.) of his generation. The funeral was held at Hastings Crematorium on Tuesday 23 October.” The designated charity is The Royal Air Forces Association, Loughborough Road, Leicester LE4 5ND. [Raymond Kilgarriff]

RON TAYLOR of Bertram Rota
We regret to announce the death of Ron Taylor, for many years a Director and Head of the Antiquarian Department of Bertram Rota Ltd. A memoir of his time there by a colleague will appear in the next issue of the Newsletter.
 
OBITUARIES

GABBY BESLEY

We are very sorry to report that Gabby Besley, wife of Piers Besley (Besleys Books), died on 6th October in hospital age 67 years. Her funeral was held at St Nicholas Parish Church, Wrentham, Beccles, on 16th October. Donations welcome to Cancer Research or Waveney Enterprises and may be sent to Cossey Funeral Services, 4 Exchange Sq. Beccles NR34 9HL.

Gabby died on October 6th from multiple myeloma aged 67. She was born on 18th June 1940 in Shanghai. Eighteen months later Japan declared war and she, her parents and grandmother were at first placed under house arrest and subsequently interned in Shanghai University buildings until 1946. Both her parents had lived virtually all their lives in China but were repatriated to England. After a few years living in London the family left to join Gabby.s uncle who by then was living in Melbourne.

Gabby soon started going to school as a boarder at Sacre Coeur Girls. School in Melbourne. She made many good friends there with whom she kept in touch until the end of her life. She also acquired her first name of Gabby. Born Patricia Ann Hansard-Gabb, to the dismay of her parents, she rapidly became Gabby to her Australian school friends. At her convent school she gained a reputation for plain speaking by accusing the nuns of watering the milk and questioning the papal pronouncement on the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.

After leaving school she got a scholarship to Melbourne University but had to leave at the end of the first year for family reasons.

At the age of 24 it was a toss up whether she had a holiday in Perth or a trip to England. Luckily for me she chose England. She sailed on the Canberra and arrived at Southampton in January 1965. While living in Melbourne Gabby had got to know a group of Englishmen, one of whom had kept in touch and offered to meet her off the ship in his 1925 Alvis 12/50 tourer. He then drove her home to his very hospitable parents in Yoxford, Suffolk, for the weekend. Gabby.s plan was to get a job in London but she had also to find a flat and had nowhere to live in the meantime. At that time everyone seemed to know everyone else in the vintage car world and the upshot was a telephone call to me, at that time the owner a 1931 2 litre Lagonda, asking if I would put Gabby up in my flat.

Soon Gabby found her own flat and a job as a typist with Watts & Co, a firm of church interior decorators near Westminster Abbey. She found Watts & Co a wonderful firm to work for. Mrs Hoare, the owner, soon realised that Gabby could barely type, but instead of giving her the sack, promoted her and engaged a typist to work under her. The firm still had original wallpapers designed by Burne-Jones in its store. I was working in Whitehall and we would meet for lunch in St James.s Park. In less than six months we were married and going to France in the Lagonda for our honeymoon.

We then moved to Suffolk and started a family. As the children began to spend more time at school, Gabby had more spare time and trained as a marriage guidance counsellor. This at a time when the number of the breakdowns of marriage was increasing at an ever accelerating pace. The work was rewarding but exacting.

By 1981 we had moved to Diss in Norfolk and were living in the centre of the town. A secondhand bookshop calling itself The Saxon Bookshop opened opposite the front door and we rapidly became one of its best customers. Sadly the owner John Renwick, died, his wife decided not to carry on and Gabby bought the business with the help of a modest bank loan, and after a week.s instruction from Mrs Renwick, carried on the business as her own. The rent was £1000.00 per annum and other overheads were minimal. The shop flourished selling everything from Mills & Boon paperbacks to C18th antiquarian. The local trade soon began calling and after two years Faith Legg and the Sherlocks suggested that she join the PBFA. She did this and with great trepidation did her first book fair at Bury St Edmunds. It was at this fair that Leslie Sherlock firmly told her that it was now her turn to sit at the entrance desk and collect the ticket money. This was the first of Gabby.s many contributions to the PBFA. She was a very firm believer in the cooperative ethos of the association.

At the shop she took on extra rooms and had exhibitions of work by local artists but these never really did more than pay for themselves. After a few years the freehold of a shop further down the street became available and Gabby bought it, again with the help of a modest bank loan. A rather successful local buy soon paid this off.

In 1986 I decided to take early retirement from my profession and went into partnership with her. At the same time we moved the shop to Beccles and bought Moat Farm where we lived for the next twenty-one years. There followed what were probably the happiest years of her life, with all three of our children gradually moving back into the area and three of our grandchildren living next to us. She was enjoying a busy life in bookselling, doing many fairs and serving a stint on the PBFA committee as membership secretary, a job which she enjoyed and which made full use of her people skills. Together we managed at various times the Woodbridge and Cambridge Natural History Fair. When caterers failed to turn up one time at Bury she volunteered to do the job herself. Her delicious soup, salads and cakes are still fondly remembered by the Bury Fair regulars. In the year 2000 she undertook to stage the Millennium Book Exhibition at St Andrews Hall, Norwich. With major support form the Chairman, John Bonham and from many local members this was a memorable success.

In the 1990s she decided that it was time to visit her old school friends and relations in Australia. With encouragement from bookselling friends it was arranged to take a stand at the Sydney Book Fair. This necessitated joining the ABA. The trip was tremendous fun and Australian booksellers were very generous with their time and hospitality. We also did the Olympia Fair the following year. While neither Sydney nor Olympia were financial successes lasting ABA friends, whom Gabby greatly valued, were made at both fairs. We have carried on doing the Chelsea Fair which Gabby really enjoyed. In November this year Besleys Books sold a rather high value book and a friend commented .wouldn.t Gabby have been pleased.. She would have been particularly pleased that the book had been bought and researched by my eldest son Stephen who is now a partner in the business. Some of Gabby.s bookselling friends will already know her family background. Briefly she had a Russian grandmother who escaped the revolution and ended up in China via the Trans-Siberian Railway and a grandfather who ran away to sea ending up in China. A few years ago she decided to write a book of this story. She and a group of friends formed a writing group which met weekly to read to each other the work which they had written in the preceding days. Gabby.s story has been completed although somewhere along the way it turned into a novel rather than a history. There were just too many gaps where the facts were not known. A few months before her death she started a second novel.

Finally I would like to thank all the bookselling friends who attended her funeral, or who have written or spoken to me and the family for their support.

Piers Besley
(First published in 'Bookdealer'.)

MADELEINE STERN

Madeleine Stern, writer and book dealer, was born on July 1st 1912. She died on August 25, 2007. aged 95.

Madeleine Stern brought to light the Gothic thrillers of Louisa May Alcott, amounting to 800 closely printed pages, having come across clues to her authorship of them in letters and other documents. Published under the pseudonym .A. M. Barnard. in magazines, these "blood-and-thunder" tales were a far cry from Alcott’s most famous book, Little Women.

Stern subsequently oversaw the publication of, and edited, such volumes as Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May A/cott (1975) and Plots and Counterplots: More Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May A/cott (1976).

Madeleine Bettina Stern was born in Harlem, New York. Her father had a vermouth business that diversified with Prohibition into baking supplies.

After going to Joan of Arc High School and Hunter College, she travelled in Europe with her mother, then went to Barnard College in 1929, where she read English literature. After her father’s death at 68 in 1930 she took a master’s at Columbia on Mary Magdalene in literature: "Perhaps her split personality and the contrast between sinner and saint aroused my interest." Meanwhile, when teaching at a Sabbath School, Temple Emanuel, in Manhattan, she met Leona Rostenberg, with whom she developed an intense platonic friendship.

In 1935 Stern published an autobiographical novel We are Taken, praised by The New York Times for its "lusty lungs". She helped Leona in Strasbourg with a thesis on early printers’ influence, and when that was rejected by Columbia in 1942, she gave her some writing paper headed "Leona Rostenberg Rare Books" and told her she should start a bookdealing firm of that name. In turn, Rostenberg suggested that Stern write a life of Margaret Fuller (1942), which led to several volumes on such women pioneers as Mrs Bellac Burrows, stenographer and ophthalmologist.

Work on Louisa May Alcott (1950) and We the Women (1962) drew Stem to the wife of the publisher Frank Leslie, who while wearing "a blue stocking on one leg... sported a scarlet one on the other": the last of her four husbands was Oscar Wilde’s brother. (Max Beerbohm drew them both on the endpapers of his copy, his very last work.)

Stern became a partner in the bookdealing business after the war, and Rostenberg & Stern Rare Books, which achieved considerable renown, was run largely from the women’s apartment on the Upper East Side in Manhattan.

Stern and Rostenberg described their experiences in overlapping, collaborative books. Their interests and intuitions were diverse: among their discoveries were a French volume, based on a vanished English one, which suggested a source for Lear’s storm in the Severn tidal flood; illustrated volumes on the hyena and its genitals; a 16th-century romance by Teluccini in 43 cantos, which "revealed as much about the late Renaissance concepts of the distant new world as about the author’s vivid imagination"; the title page of a 1801 book by Matthias Kops which proclaimed its ecological status - "remade from old printed and written papers".

Stern was a founder in 1960 of the annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair and a member of the ABAA for many years.

Leona Rostenberg died in 2005.

JACQUES VELLEKOOP

Jacques Leonard Vellekoop, antiquarian bookseller: born The Hague, The Netherlands 5 May 1926; died London 20 August 2007.

For 45 years, Jacques Vellekoop had a distinctive place in the antiquarian book-trade, for almost 40 a commanding one. That is what he will be remembered by, and deservedly. But there were many things about him that made him much more than that to those who knew him. On first sight, he was breathtakingly handsome, so much so that, in his youth, people of both sexes would turn and stare at him as he walked down Bond Street. His vitality was immediately striking, his speech (with the slightest, not easily defined accent) accentuated by face and hands in constant, vigorous motion.

All this palled beside what he said, which was pungent, exact, penetrating, occasionally prophetic; but always laughter would keep breaking in. Wit is a complex gift. Vellekoop’s was as constant and natural as Sydney Smith’s, but quicker and more evanescent. Words spoken on the spur of the moment were gone the next second, gone before you could stop laughing and remember them. Those words concealed a great deal of knowledge, not merely about the books that he bought and sold but also about what was in them. This was all the more remarkable as it was knowledge picked up on the job.

Jacques Vellekoop was born at The Hague, but his parents moved to Cape Town when he was five or six. There he was educated at the best school, Jan van Riebeeck. After matriculating he went to Johannesburg, where he got a job as a junior reporter on The Star. In 1947 he moved to The Star’s London office; he soon met Anthony Hobson, recently demobilised and working in his father’s firm, Sotheby’s. Hobson introduced him to Ernst Philipp Goldschmidt, the most learned antiquarian bookseller in London, and in 1948 Vellekoop became Goldschmidt’s assistant.

He enjoyed life at 45 Old Bond Street, and Goldschmidt, almost 40 years older, first lessons over, also came to enjoy his company. By the end of 1949 he could be trusted to write a good catalogue entry as well as undertaking office routine. "I also like to have a distinctly gay and amusing fellow in my office," Goldschmidt wrote to his old friend and former employee Robert Dougan. "I am so often depressed about everything: my own affairs, and the world in general, that the daily encounter with somebody who is thoroughly enjoying himself and ’could not care less’ (his favourite expression) is quite good for me."

"Gay" had not then its present connotation, but gaiety, in every sense of the word, was special to Jacques. "Could not care less" only meant refusing to take rebuffs or difficulties to heart. He did care: for his work (Goldschmidt catalogues 101-103 were all by him), for the customers, and above all for Goldschmidt himself, old and already ailing.

When he died in 1954 he left the firm to Vellekoop. It was not an easy legacy. Business had been slow, and the rent all but doubled in 1953. Goldschmidt’s most famous book, Gothic and Renaissance Bookbindings (1928), had been based on his own collection. What was left now went, his Grolier binding to the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, the rest at Sotheby’s in April 1955, all "sold not subject to return".

Vellekoop then nearly brought off the coup of a lifetime in offering the virtually complete archive of Marcel Proust for Proust’s niece, first to the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, and then to Harvard University, but neither could raise the money. Back in London, he kept up the old rate of two or three catalogues a year. Lists of cheaper books, which once had been duplicated, were now decently printed, and both intellectual and aesthetic taste went into catalogue 106, "Humanist Scholarship", with a cover designed by Jan Tschichold. Catalogue 122, "Illustrated Books", made another new departure.

Catalogue 135 announced significant move, to 139a New Bond Street, opposite Sotheby’s. It was not for the neighbours that he moved, but the lift and the rooftop views; there too he could offer refreshment "appropriate to the time of day". The old Goldschmidt premises had been dark, lined with wooden bookcases. Vellekoop put in the latest Swedish white metal shelves, new abstract carpets, evocative pictures. Goldschmidt’s had been all scholarly texts: the new image was of visual taste . emblem and other picture books, architecture, even science, appealed to the eye as well as the mind.

He liked to buy books privately, rather than in the auction rooms. He took long credit ("I never had the ambition to be a quick payer," he would say), and preferred to keep his customers to himself. For Theodore Besterman, the first to see books with Vellekoop’s eye, he bought art books, for Dorothy Hutton (briefly) calligraphy. Increasingly, he was drawn to the United States, where there were libraries anxious to buy and not short of cash. He made firm friends with Elizabeth Niemyer at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, Karl Kup at the New York Public Library, Roger Stoddard at Harvard and Marjorie Wynne at Yale, but also kept in with the trade, especially Lathrop Harper, with Otto Ranschburg and Douglas Parsonage. Through them he met Franklin Kissner, collector and occasional financier of large purchases.

One of these was the enormous Pecci-Blunt collection of books on Rome, some sold to Kissner, others in two large Goldschmidt catalogues. Besterman’s art books were bequeathed to the Taylor Library, Oxford, which wanted but few; most came back. Vellekoop sold just over 300 to the nascent Getty Center for the History of Art in Los Angeles, inaugurating another warm relationship, with the centre and its librarian, Anne-Mieke Halbrook. He was never happier than in the unspoilt Art Deco Shangri-La Hotel on Santa Monica Beach, a stone’s throw from the Getty Center, then on Wilshire Boulevard. His other great patron was Robert Tobin, for whom he built the large collection of books and designs for the theatre later given to the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio.

Vellekoop had other claims to originality. In 1974 he had left Bond Street for leafy Drayton Gardens in Chelsea, and there, 10 years later, he set up a four-terminal computer network with specially written software, one of the first such in the trade. He was also one of the founders of the Stuttgart Antiquariatsmesse, and for long the only British exhibitor at it. He was not jealous or resentful of others’ success. He hired promising beginners, but encouraged them when they left to set up on their own: Lord John Kerr, Paul Breman, Richard von Hünersdorff, E.W.G. Grieb and Robin Halwas were among them. The faithful Mary Thomas stayed with him for 35 years.

In 1993, Vellekoop decided to retire, and the surviving stock and reference books made a memorable sale at Christie’s. Before it there was a party, at which he recounted his memoirs, beginning firmly "Lot 1", to an audience in fits of laughter. In 1997 he gave the firm’s account books from 1920 to 1980 to the Grolier Club (the rest, we hope, to follow), and sold its catalogues, again at Christie’s.

His retirement was complete, but his enjoyment of life continued, and he went on travelling until a stroke incapacitated him. This did not cramp his style at all. Countless friends, from all quarters of his life, came to visit him, to be entertained with good food, drink and gossip - charmed, insulted, captivated and, as always, made speechless by his undiminished wit.

Nicolas Barker [First published in the Independent.]
 
THE ABA IS NOW AN INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER
A reminder that the ABA is now a fully functioning Internet Service Provider:

- We can host membe's websites at a competitive rate.

- If your business does not have a website we can provide one from our selection of template sites from £50. View here www.aba.org.uk/information.html. All questions and suggestions are welcomed.

- Full maintenance provided and related queries answered by ABA representatives with the minimum of techno-babble

- An array of related services including submission to a bewildering array of search engines, site statistics and a galaxy of other methods of ensuring that more customers find your books.

- A number of future plans involving plug-in searchable databases, shopping carts, secure servers and more.

- Ask the ABA office for pricing and further details & see page 24.

- The current situation on the internet offers a multitude of different website options:

- Prices online range from free to several thousand pounds; fees can range from initial design costs to yearly hosting packages to maintenance and support fees in extreme cases. Free websites will be by necessity a limited page probably selected from a small range of very basic templates unlikely to reflect well upon your business. The multi thousand pound deals will obviously be tailormade to your design criteria and should at the very least feature a bespoke searchable database, secure server e-commerce facilities and a very comprehensive support package.

- For under £150 in total (domain name transfer and fees, website, hosting, maintenance and support) the ABA can provide you with everything you need to develop and expand your internet presence. The basic template websites can be tailored to your individual contact the ABA representatives to make any more complex requirements; colours, typefaces, images and content are all at your discretion. Simple editing can be done in house, or you can always changes. Facilities for galleries, email addresses, domain name redirection and search engine optimisation are already in place.

- The ILAB search engine is ideally suited to be 'dropped in' to the website of any member who subscribes to the service. Contact www.ilab.org for further details of this service.

- The ABA Nativespace project will provide you with an inexpensive, well serviced web presence administered by people you have worked with for years, who understand your requirements as a bookseller and treat you accordingly.

- Our future plans are to incorporate searchable databases and ecommerce facilities into the project when they become necessary, to forge profitable relationships with other internet bodies and utilise the internet as it should be utilised; to preserve and foster the traditions and methods of the rare book trade whilst giving it ample space to re-invent itself and take advantage of a rapidly changing and highly lucrative customer base.

- The book based internet is rapidly becoming a market dominated by a small number of very big names, none of whom have anywhere near the knowledge, expertise or ability of our community of professional book sellers. For the rare book market to be dominated by and identified with Abebooks, Ebay, and Amazon without involvement and competition from professional book dealers would be disastrous for the future of the rare book trade.

- Next time your domain name comes up for renewal, you feel the need for a revitalisation of your internet business or even decide that it.s time you took the plunge and established yourself as an internet dealer, think about transferring to the ABA Nativespace project.