The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History was founded in 1994 by Richard Gilder and Lewis E. Lehrman, lifelong supporters of American history education, with a goal of becoming the leading American nonprofit organization dedicated to K–12 history education. The Institute's mission is nothing less than to promote the knowledge and understanding of American history through educational programs and resources, which it does through creating curriculums for schools to use when teaching different periods of American history. At the Institute's core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives of American history. Drawing on the 65,000+ documents in the Gilder Lehrman Collection and an extensive network of eminent historians, the Institute provides teachers, students, and the general public with direct access to unique pr... [more Building the Gilder Lehrman Collection]

Every week, ABAA members issue new catalogs of rare books and ephemera. Most of the items featured therein are not-yet listed on abaa.org (but there are exceptions, as you'll see below). We scoured the most-recent batch of catalog to bring you a few highlights from within their pages... A HANDSOMELY ILLUSTRATED REAL GRIMOIRE FOR FANS OF HARRY POTTER FAUST, Johann; SCHEIBLE, Johann. Doktor Johannes Faust's Magia naturalis et innaturalis, oder, driefacher Höllenzwang, letztes Testament und Siegelkunst. Nach einer kostbar ausgestatteten Handschrift in der Herzogl. Bibliothek zu Koburg vollständig und wortgetreu; herausgegeben in fünf Abtheilungen, mit einter Menge illuminirter Abbildungen auf 146 Tafeln. Stuttgart: Verlag von J. Scheible (Druck von Fr. Henne), 1849. 8vo, 5 parts in 1 volume. 263, , pp. (last 7 pages bookseller's ads). Wit... [more Gems from the Latest Catalogs]

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is pleased to announce the 2018 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest! Established in 2005 by Fine Books & Collections Magazine to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students, the contest aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. The magazine conducted the annual competition program for three years before turning over leadership to a collaboration of institutional partners (The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, with the Kislak Prize underwritten by the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. Competitions are held at more than three dozen college... [more 2018 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest]

Dalton Trumbo got his start in writing as a reporter in college, and subsequently contributed stories to the popular magazines of the early 1930s: McCall's, the Saturday Evening Post, etc. In 1935, he got a job at Warner Brothers studios, and began his career as a prolific screenwriter and occasional novelist. His first novel, Eclipse, drew heavily on his youth in Grand Junction, Colorado, and, like Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel a few years previously, caused a lot of consternation in his hometown. Trumbo quickly became an in-demand screenwriter, and was nominated for an Academy Award in 1940 for Kitty Foyle. Johnny Got His Gun His third novel, Johnny Got His Gun, was released in 1939, and struck a chord with its anti-war message, winning a National Book Award (then called the American Booksellers' Award). Johnny Got His Gun tells t... [more Collecting Dalton Trumbo]

A first edition of a favorite author is a sure-fire great gift. Even better would be one signed by the author! You'll find a great many first editions and signed books in our literature category, from award-winning classics to contemporary authors. Here are a few examples to what your appetite. Men Without Women (First Edition) by Ernest Hemingway New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1927 First edition, first printing, in the first issue jacket with no quotes printed to orange lines on front panel of dust jacket. Publisher's smooth black cloth with gold paper labels stamped in black, top edge stained orange, fore edge untrimmed, yellow endpapers printed with three darker yellow bands and the silhouette of the bull in a circle, in the original unclipped dust jacket. A very good copy with some light soiling to boards, faint toning to page edg... [more Gift Ideas: Modern Literature]

Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the most-celebrated and most-notorious novels of the twentieth century. Its path to publication did not run smooth, and there are many different editions and translations worthy of the collector's attention. 1955: The Olympia Press Two-Volume First Edition The multi-lingual Nabokov (he grew up speaking Russian, English and French at home) finished Lolita in 1953, but it was rejected by all the major American publishers for fear that its subject matter would prove too controversial. He turned to the Olympia Press in Paris, then notorious for essentially publishing pornography, for the first publication of his famous novel. Lolita (First Edition) Paris: Olympia Press. Very Good. FIRST EDITION of one of the most important novels of the twentieth century. WITH IMPORTANT PROVENANCE: From the Bureau Littérai... [more Collecting Nabokov’s Lolita]

A deluxe copy of a children's classic is a favorite gift at almost any point in childhood. As the child grows older and better able to appreciate a care for their books, some seek to introduce the book-collecting bug with a signed copy, a meaningful first edition, or a particularly beautiful volume. We've collected a few beautiful, rare, or signed editions below for inspiration. You can search Children's Books by category here... A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger Natick, MA: Picture Book Studio USA/Neugebauer Press, 1988. Modern illustrated edition of the quintessential Christmas classic. Written in a mere six weeks at a low point in Charles Dickens's career, and published at his own expense in time for Christmas 1843, A Christmas Carol revived Dickens's fortunes, establishing a robust market for holiday... [more Gift Ideas: Children’s Books]

ABAA members list newly acquired or catalogued books on almost every day of the year. Keep an eager eye on our "New Arrivals" search page to see what's recently been offered for sale and find the books you need to build your collection! Here are a few highlights from this week's crop of newly listed items: Save Me the Waltz by Zelda Fitzgerald London: Grey Walls Press, 1953 First English edition. Publisher's light blue cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, in original pink pictorial dust jacket. Near fine with a slight lean to spine and a touch of wear to spine ends, light offsetting to endpapers, a few tiny spots to top edge; dust jacket with a few tiny nicks to spine ends and corners, spine faded but front panel extremely bright. Overall, a tight and attractive copy. Originally published by Scribner's in the US in 1932, Save Me the Waltz is... [more Explore New Arrivals]

ABAA-member Charles Roberts (Wonder Book) has published a wonderful meditation on the classic cookbook The Joy of Cooking on his blog at Wonder Books. More than a straight article about the book's creation (although it does cover that) or its critical reception and impact on the wider culture (that, too), Roberts conveys a real bookseller's perspective on the book, both as a cultural artifact and a physical artifact. More interesting still is his consideration of the market forces that affect physical books in unique ways, and how a bookseller can still find utility and value even in old, nondescript cookbooks that are not rare by any stretch of the imagination. Some books tell stories in ways other than their contents. At Wonder Book, we used to rarely get copies of The Joy of Cooking in any condition. It was just a book that people woul... [more The Afterlife of The Joy of Cooking]

Every week ABAA members list their latest acquisitions on abaa.org and issue catalogs of rare books and print ephemera. Here are a few A Pirate Classic From description: The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins Knight, in his Voyage into the South Sea. Anno Domini 1593. Hawkins, Sir Richard. John Jaggard., ( 1622), London (4), 169, (1 errata), (5) pp. Richard Hawkins was an Elizabethan adventurer who saw action against the Spanish Armada in 1588. In 1593 he sailed to South America to raid Spanish colonies on the Pacific coast. Years later he produced this account of his privateering venture, which was published in 1622. His “Observations”, aside from being a pirate classic, is the best account of Elizabethan life at sea. It was the first work published by the Hakluyt Society (1848), and has been reprinted several times since. most nota... [more Books of the Week]