The ABAA has recently approved several new members, all of whom have successfully proven themselves to be, in the words of the ABAA Guarantee, "established, knowledgeable, and of excellent reputation." These new members were sponsored by existing members, and have undergone a rigorous screening process. We welcome the newest members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Full Members: Kim Herrick, The Book Lair Kim Herrick got her start in the book trade by buying a large collection from an estate sale and then going to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar to figure out what to do with it. Luckily, this turned into a passion for a new career and Kim went on to attend the Rare Book School several times and many trade shows with her new business, The Book Lair. A graduate of UC Berkeley, Kim has kept her roots in the Bay A... [more New Members: Fall 2016]

Denver has its very own "Booksellers' Row" after the relocation of two ABAA members, Anderson Butler Rare Books and Gallagher Books. Anderson Butler Rare Books has opened and Gallagher Books has re-opened after moving seven doors South of their previous location. Anderson Butler Rare Books relocated to Denver from Seattle a year ago and have just rented the storefront at 1460 South Broadway. Mark Anderson has been in the antiquarian book business since 2001. Mark's wife, Nora Butler Anderson, joined him in the business in 2008. The original store opened on the second-floor of a Seattle building in 2010. Now in its new street-level incarnation on Antique Row, Anderson Butler Rare Books specializes in antiquarian, collectible and eclectic books, manuscripts, art and ephemera across many fields including Americana, Literature, Travel and Phi... [more Denver’s Booksellers’ Row]

ABAA member Kenneth Karmiole has donated $100,000 to the Book Club of California to endow an annual lecture series entitled “The Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trade in California and the West.” The lecture series will focus on the book trade — printing, publishing, and bookselling — over the past two centuries. Planning for the inaugural lecture (tentatively planned for the final quarter of 2017) is under way, and details will be announced next year. Kenneth Karmiole is a philantrophist and antiquaraian bookseller. He has been a member of the Book Club of California since 1976 and is currently serving on its board of directors. The Book Club of California said, “Mr. Karmiole's leadership and vision are inspiring. His initiative, and in particular his generous endowment — the first of its kind for ... [more Kenneth Karmiole Endows New Lecture Series]

The focus around the office and blog has been the Boston Antiquarian Book Fair for the past few weeks. Now that the fair is over, here's a roundup of the big stories book collectors are talking about. Shakespeare Canon Expands, and Co-Authors Named -- The biggest news in some time comes from the editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare, who have concluded that up to 17 of "Shakespeare's" plays were written collaboratively, and have named Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Kidd as official co-authors of several plays! Not only that, but the "Shakespeare" canon has been expanded to include several additional plays, including the previously anonymous Arden of Faversham and The Spanish Tragedy, now thought to have been a collaboration between Thomas Kidd and Shakespeare. Read more... Thomas Beckett's Personal Book of Psalms Found -- Do we need to ad... [more Rare Books News]

“Lynd Ward was way ahead of his time, a visionary, in understanding the importance of the book as an object, as a container of a kind of content. His books were made with great attention to that container and he worked within it as precisely as a concrete poet works with language.” — Art Spiegelman The so-called graphic novel -- which may be no more than a successful rebranding of comics -- has become a very popular genre, with its own bestseller list in the New York Times, and growing shelfspace in new book stores. In light of this new-found prominence and respectability, it's interesting to look back at the precursors to the graphic novel, the stages the idea of the illustrated novel-length story went through before settling into the form we current know. One of these stages was the wordless novel, in particular the work of Americ... [more Lynd Ward and the Wordless Novel]

The last major antiquarian book fair of 2016 is almost upon us. The center of the rare book world moves to Boston, MA for three days at the end of October for the 40th annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. Once again, the Hynes Convention Center hosts more than 120 rare book dealers from around the world. The event is one of the oldest and most-respected antiquarian book shows in the country, and this year celebrates its 40th Anniversary. The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is sponsored by the New England Chapter of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America. Dates Friday 28th – 5:00-9:00 PM Saturday 29th – Noon-7:00 PM Sunday 30th – Noon-5:00 PM Free Admission Over the Weekend! As the Boston Book Fair is celebrating its 40th year, they are offering free admission for all on Saturday, October 29 and ... [more 2016 Boston Book Fair]

Former president of the ABAA Robert D. Fleck died yesterday. Fleck founded Oak Knoll Books in 1976, and Oak Knoll Press two years later. The publishing operation was intended to fill a need he saw for books about book collecting, design, and bibliography. Fleck was extremely well-known and respected throughout the international antiquarian community, serving as president of both the ABAA and the ILAB during his long career. Just last year, he was awarded the ILAB Medal “in recognition of services rendered to the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers.” His son, Rob Fleck, posted this announcement on the Oak Knoll Books website: It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of my father, Robert D. Fleck, Jr., proprietor of Oak Knoll Books & Press. He was our helmsman – our captain – our leader in this world of book... [more In Memoriam: Robert D. Fleck]

Bookplates are fascinating corner of the literary world. If your only exposure to bookplates are the rather anodyne mass-produced examples some modern bookstores sell, you may not appreciate the individuality, wit, and artistic skill that went into bookplates in years gone by. A new exhibition attempts to showcase the best examples for bookplates from centuries past. The Rosenbach of the Free Library of Philadelphia presents The Art of Ownership: Bookplates and Book Collectors from 1480 to the Present, from September 21, 2016 through January 17, 2017. Edwin Davis French (1851–1906), bookplate of William Keeney Bixby. Engraved print and black printing ink on paper. New York, 1906. In Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864), The scarlet letter: a romance ... Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1850. The primary function of a bookplate is simply ... [more The Art of Ownership: Bookplates]

Happy Roald Dahl Day! The renowned British children's book author, screenwriter, and WWII fighter pilot, was born one hundred years ago, today (September 13, 1916). Dahl (or more accurately his books) has been in the headlines often in 2016, first as Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Dahl's classic The BFG hit the theaters and again after the death of the actor Gene Wilder, whose most-celebrated role was as the eccentric Willy Wonka in the 1971 film adaptation of Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (renamed Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory). Many book collectors doubtless brought their children (or grandchildren) to see The BFG and/or played Wilder's classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (or at least watched him sing “Pure Imagination” on YouTube -- scroll down to play the video for a little music while you peruse the... [more Collecting Roald Dahl]

Today is the third anniversary of the sudden death of Nobel-Laureate Seamus Heaney. A ground-breaking poet, his career sought to find parallels and common ground across many different traditions. Born of a Catholic family in majority-Protestant Northern Ireland, he rejected the violence of the 1970s, yet strongly claimed his Irish heritage and identify, politely refusing to be included in anthologies of British poets and declining the post of Britain's Poet-Laureate. His earliest poems, are described as naturalistic and explore his rural upbringing, celebrating the small comforts and familiarities of farming communities and considering his family heritage of agriculture on one side and industrialization on the other. As a fellow Irishman, his poetry was the first in which I found personal resonances, similarities to my own family stories,... [more Remembering Seamus Heaney]