The annual National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. This year's winners have built up fascinating collections on topics as diverse as formalist Russian composers, women in the Spanish Civil War, and 20th Century Southern Literature. We asked the four winners to tell us more about their collections... 1st prize: Alexander P. Ioffreda (Harvard University) Formalists! Musical Scores of Repressed Soviet Composers ABAA: Could you give us a brief description of your collection? Alex Ioffreda: My collection explores the conflict between musical expression and state ideology in the Soviet Union through rare period sheet music and associated ephemera. Thematically and historically, it centers on the Zhdanovshchina, the traumatic 1948 campaign to repress “formalists” and... [more Interviews with the 2015 NCBCC Winners]

The 2015 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair takes place at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA, over the weekend of November 13-15. Many ABAA members will be exhibiting. Here is a brief selection of the special items they're planning on bringing to Boston. Anicius Manlius Torquatus Severinus Boethius a.d.480-525 Small folio 11 ¼ x 7 inches. First illustrated edition. In this copy many of the seventy eight woodcuts have very nice original color, it is bound in full blind stamped calf over wooden boards. It is also rubicated throughout. (Offered by James Gray Bookseller) Cicarelli's rare treatise on the truffle, Opuscule sur les Truffes (1813). Ciccarelli believed he had identified the seed of the truffle and lays out a method for its propagation. Ciccarelli, Alfonso; . Opuscule sur les Truffes, trad. libre du Latin, d'Alphon... [more Featured Items: Boston Book Fair]

The 39th annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair takes place in Boston, MA from November 13 to 15. The leaves are falling, Maine is experiencing its first snowfall, and the world series is upon us; It must be nearly time for the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. 2015 marks the 39th annual antiquarian book fair in Boston, MA, and more than 120 dealers from around the world will rendevous at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston's Back Bay over the November 13-15 weekend. Special Events Special events at this year's Boston Book Fair include a talk by Peter Sokolowski, editor-at-large for Merriam-Webster, about the 19th century dictionary wars; a behind-the-scenes look at Antiques Roadshow with the show's executive producer Marsha Bemko; the annual Ticknor Society Roundtable, a panel discussion of books collectors talking... [more Coming Soon: 2015 Boston Book Fair]

Friday, October 16 marks 161 years since the birth of Oscar Wilde. In that time be became the toast of the literary scene in 19th-century London, an international pariah, and finally, decades after he died, one of the most well-known poets and dramatists in history. No well-rounded collection of rare books should be without some of Wilde's work. Below, we collect some of the most-interesting items by Oscar Wilde currently being offered by ABAA members. Signed Books Anything with an author's signature is almost always more highly prized that something without a signature, and the general rule of thumb is the more writing by the author the better. (For example, a book annotated or inscribed by the author with a personal message would likely be more interesting to collectors than one with a simple signature.) There are several signed books a... [more Rare Items by Oscar Wilde]

Looking at the history of book banning worldwide, from Henry VIII's destruction of Catholic iconography and religious books during the dissolution, to Hitler's famous bonfires of any work deemed insufficiently Germanic in the 1930s, and up to today's over-zealous parents eager to shield children from whatever they imagine was absent in their own childhoods, some books simply appear to attract more negative emotion than others. These challenges usually cite the same few justifications: sex, violence, racism, or the presentation of facts or theories outside of mainstream belief. To mark Banned Books Week, we pick out a selection of the most-frequently challanged books, and a couple whose publication spawned landmark freedom-of-speech cases. Almost anything by Judy Blume Before the young adult genre became best known for daring fiction that ... [more Infamous Banned Books]

One reason books have not been replaced by electronic approximations -- despite many predictions of doom -- is the appeal of the physical objects themselves. Lavish illustrations, careful design, and artistic typography elevate a book from text to art. A page from the Kelmscott Chaucer (to give just one example) will never look as good on your phone. Long before pixels and digital everything, publishers understood that books should be works of art, and worked to create illustrations to compliment the prose. Some works lend themselves to being illustrated better than others, and Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market has proven irresistable to artists since its first publication. (Of course having a famous artist for a brother, it was perhaps inevitable that her work would be richly illustrated.) Here are a few of the beautifully illustrated e... [more Illustrating Goblin Market]

A selection of featured items from among those offered by ABAA members, including very rare inscribed, pseudonymous novels by Agatha Christie, a first edition H.G. Wells, rare Robert McCloskey, and an unusual piece of Titanic memorabilia. Titanic Among the various anniversaries and milestones that occur in September is the 30th anniverary of the discovery of the wreck of the Titanic. While this discovery ended any notions of attempting to raise the famous ship (as explored in Clive Cussler's bestselling 1976 thriller Raise the Titanic), it did reignite a slumbering fascination with the world's most infamous shipwreck -- a fascination that's lead to the world's #1 blockbuster movie, a new museum in the city that built the Titanic, and innumerable novels and books about the voyage. One interesting item among our member's offerings is this c... [more Featured Items: September]

Rounding up the rare book news for August... Ernest Hemingway Look-Alike Competition Yes, there really is an Ernest Hemingway look-alike competition. This is the guy who won it this year... Lost Colony Relocated? A clue to the lost colony is discovered in a repaired map... Featured item: THE ARRAIGNMENT AND CONVICTION OF SR VVALTER RAWLEIGH, AT THE KINGS BENCH-BARRE AT WINCHESTER. ON THE 17. OF NOVEMBER. 1603 . . . COPPIED BY SIR THO: OVERBVRY London: Printed by William Wilson for Abel Roper, 1648. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover. 191 x 133 mm (7 1/2 x 5 1/4"). 1 p.l. (title), 38 pp. This is a rare copy of a text relating to the accusation, in 1603, that Raleigh had conspired with fellow courtier Baron Cobham to facilitate a Spanish invasion to prevent James Stuart from inheriting Elizabeth's throne. An educated poet, courtier, explorer, buccane... [more Rare Book News: August 2015]

Ted Hughes was born on August 17, 1930. He became one of the most-famous poets of the Twentieth Century, and was Great Britain's Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998 (Poet's Laureate traditionally served for life -- the exception being John Dryden, who was dismissed from the post in 1688 because he would not tale a loyalty oath to the new king, Wiliam III -- but the institiution was amended after Hughes' death, and the new-normal is for the Poet Laureate to serve for 10 years). Hughes published a vast wealth of poetry and children's stories during his life -- and that life provided fodder for an even-vaster wealth of books about the poet and his tempestuous romantic liasions. ABAA members offer a large selection of signed items, first editions, and fine-press or other scarcities. Here is a selection of some of the more eye-catc... [more Ted Hughes: Signed & Scarce Items]

Virginia Woolf is on people's minds this week, as Monday was the anniversary of her marriage to Leonard Woolf, who spent his life caring for her and founded the Hogarth Press largely so Virginia could publish without the aggravation of dealing with an outside publisher's demands. One of Virginia Woolf's most-influential works -- if not at the time, then it's certainly become so in the years since her death -- is the essay "A Room of One's Own." So that seems an apt place to begin this week's selection of featured items. A Room of One's Own (First Edition) by Virginia Woolf London:: Hogarth Press, 1929. First edition. A classic of feminist literature, her most famous and influential work. Faint offset on endpapers, otherwise fine in near fine dust jacket with professional touch up to few chips and tears. (Offered by Quill and Brush) Furthe... [more Featured Items: August]