Edit: The recording of this event is now available on our YouTube channel... The Brown Bag Lunch Series, presented by the ABAA Gender Equity Initiative, is a series of short virtual talks covering various topics, from crash courses in areas of expertise to best business practices. Please join the Gender Equity Initiative on Zoom on May 29th, 2024, at 2 PM ET for a Brown Bag Lunch Series with Jim Owens of Thorn Books. During the session, Jim will delve into the historical significance of Victorian bookcloth, examining the factors that led to its emergence as a replacement for leather on books. He will explore the various types of Victorian bookcloths and provide insights into the reasons behind their usage. Additionally, Jim will shed light on the decline of Victorian bookcloth and its impact on bookbinding practices. May 29th @ 2 PM ET Jim Owens - Thorn Books The Invention and Demise of Victorian Bookcloth CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Jim Owens, Thorn Books Jim Owens, an associate member of the ABAA and a Principal at Thorn Books, and his wife Lynne Owens (full member) since 1987. Jim's educational journey is a testament to his intellectual curiosity, with an undergraduate degree from St. Mary's of Moraga in Philosophy, Latin, English, and Vertebrate Zoology. Jim, also a Doctorate of Jurisprudence from Ventura College of Law, has been involved in many volunteer works in public radio and television and for the Postal History Museum Foundation in Tucson, AZ. Beyond his professional p... [more May Brown Bag: Victorian Bookcloth]

The Raab Collection this year marks its 35th anniversary in the business of discovering, buying, and selling important historical documents and autographs. Founded in 1989 by Steven S. Raab, an attorney and collector, the company has since grown into an international firm, serving both private collectors and major institutions around the world. To celebrate this milestone, Raab has updated and refreshed its notable website, and throughout this season will curate a collection and exhibition, “35 for 35,” that celebrates its role in uncovering pieces of history and unveils some documents never before offered for sale and others last on the market a century ago or more. It will also feature periodic articles on the history of the business written by Steven S. Raab. 35 for 35: Historical Discoveries Historical discovery is a key part of what they do at Raab. Much of what they offer has been acquired from prominent historical families, including descendants of presidents, Revolutionary War and Civil War figures, scientific greats, owners of old European chateaus, great generals from America and Europe, and Civil Rights trailblazers. Many of these items have not been on the market in a century, or, in some cases, have never before been offered for sale. With a nod toward this, The Raab Colelction are marking their anniversary with the launch of “35 for 35”: A selection of historical discoveries introduced in the past year, as well as some that will be revealed for the first... [more Raab Collection Celebrates 35 Years]

The Booksellers Documentary producers Dan Wechsler (Sanctuary Books), D.W. Young, and Judith Mizrachy recently premiered UNCROPPED, which rediscovers the work of James Hamilton, one of the great photographers of the cultural history of America. For over four decades working on staff at publications such as Harper's Bazaar, The New York Observer, and most notably, The Village Voice, Hamilton captured remarkable people and stories of the last half-century. Hamilton chronicled the punk and jazz music scene in 1970s and 80s New York City, creating iconic images of musicians like Charles Mingus, Patti Smith, and Lou Reed and taking intimate portraits of everyone from Akira Kurosawa and Jean-Luc Godard. He eventually broke off to do set photography for George Romero, Noah Baumbach, and Wes Anderson. He pursued controversial assignments across the U.S. and the world, which, at times, reveal its seedy underbelly. He never stopped amassing a stunning visual love letter to New York City in all its grit and glory. Hamilton's story and vast archive offer a singular window into the heyday of alternative print media. Taking its name from Hamiton's assertions that publications never cropped his images, Uncropped's filmmakers detail Hamilton's process and his uncanny ability to know the precise moment to unfold a vignette in just two colors. Among the most poignant works are his sympathetic photos of drug-addicted sex workers in pre-gentrified Williamsburg, a young Patti Smith with Tom Verl... [more Booksellers Documentary Producers Premiere UNCROPPED]

May 1 marks the hundredth birthday of Agnes Dawson, a mainstay of the Southern California book trade for over seventy-five years. Agnes' career in the book world began when she met Muir Dawson in 1947. When they met, Muir and his elder brother, Glen, had recently taken over the management of Dawson's Book Shop from their father, Ernest, who had founded the business in 1905. Agnes married Muir in 1948 and became immersed in the book trade: in a profile of Agnes in Zamorano Celebrates 90 (2018), Elizabeth Pomeroy explains that Agnes, Muir, Glen, and other Dawson's staff traveled to Venice, to England, to Japan for the ILAB Congress, and to book fairs all over the world. By the late 1950s, Agnes was running the finances of Dawson's, a role she maintained for nearly fifty years. She was more than the bookkeeper, however. According to her son, Michael Dawson, Agnes was “an unsung hero” of Dawson's. “She understood the business, and she knew the clients,” Michael said, adding that Agnes was the “financial glue in the company.” It was Agnes who made, in Michael's words, “possibly the single most important” business decision in Dawson's history: she advised Glen and Muir Dawson to relocate the shop to the Larchmont neighborhood in 1968 after the closing of the downtown “booksellers' row” location. At the time, Glen and Muir wanted to stay close to downtown Los Angeles. Much of the area they were looking for a new location never took off for retail business. Larchm... [more Agnes Dawson Turns 100]

Edit: The recording of this event is now available: The April Brown Bag Lunch Series will feature a panel discussion with ABAA members on the Expansion of Materials of the Antiquarian/Rare Book Trade. The webinar will focus on unique and unusual items, dealers expanding the diversity of traditional materials represented as antiquarian books, and more. Please join the Gender Equity Initiative on Zoom on April 24th, 2024, at 2 PM ET for a panel discussion with Blank Verso Books, Munster & Company, and Toadlily Books. Click here to register Expansion of Materials of the Antiquarian/Rare Book Trade Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 2pm ET Mara Fath & Steven Hill, Blank Verso Books Mara and Steven met in a bookstore, not Steven's long ago store on Church Street, just some random old San Francisco bookshop, the kind that used to be a ubiquitous feature in the city. Their bookselling partnership began. Years later, they left the city and moved to Napa, where they have an online bookstore called Blank Verso Books. Recently, they got the opportunity to join the ABAA and participated in the SF Antiquarian Fair, which was amazing (in their own words!)! The ever changing landscape of rare book and ephemera selling is a bewitching challenge they tumble around with every day. Jon Munster, Munster & Company Jon Munster and his wife Jessie are the co-owners of Munster & Company, ABAA in Corvallis, Oregon. He first started in the book trade in 2001 as a clerk and buyer for The Book Bin, ABAA, and... [more Brown Bag Series: Expansion of Materials of the Antiquarian/Rare Book Trade]

The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America is proud to announce sponsorship of the David Ruggles Prize. The David Ruggles Prize is an international book-collecting prize to encourage and support young collectors of color. The Prize honors the legacy of David Ruggles, an early American abolitionist, publisher, and Underground Railroad conductor. The New York grocery store he opened in 1828 soon became the country's first Black-owned bookstore. Beyond rewarding existing collectors, this Prize hopes to encourage young book lovers to become book collectors. The Prize awards three applicants annually whose collections are considered most outstanding by a panel of judges. Grand Prize: $1,000 Second Prize: $500 Third Prize: $250 Entry is open to anyone aged 35 and under, anywhere in the world. This year's deadline to enter is June 9, 2024. Whether it is comic books and graphic novels, zines, contemporary book art, or handwritten manuscripts—all are welcome to apply. Want more information? Click here to learn more about the Prize and past winners and meet the judging panel. Find the David Ruggles Prize on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter/X @rugglesprize. Submit your application today! [more David Ruggles Prize]

The ABAA Gender Equity Initiative is proud to announce the fourth year of the ABAA Mentorship Program, designed to further the ABAA's mission to promote ethical standards and professionalism in the antiquarian book trade, encourage the collecting and preservation of rare and antiquarian books and related materials, and facilitate collegial relations within the trade. Goals � Further the mission of the ABAA. � Provide dealers early in their careers with the opportunity to advance their professional development. � Build a recruitment pipeline for the Association that enhances the number of qualified applicants. � Advance the diversity of new members. � Allow mentees to build a relationship with an ABAA member. � Educate potential candidates about a career in the trade (for example, graduate students looking for a profession outside of academia). Structure With the assistance of the Gender Equity Initiative, mentors and mentees will be paired with consideration of a variety of factors such as any specific requests, specialization/area of focus, and business structure. Location could also be a point of consideration. Once paired, mentors and mentees will commence a one year period of mentorship (May 15, 2024-May 1, 2025). Over the course of the year, mentors and mentees are required to have face-to-face communication for a minimum of 1-2 hours each month (this could be completed electronically). The schedule structure to meet this requirement will be determined by the pair. We e... [more 2024 ABAA Mentorship Program]

View the recording of this event here: To celebrate the 75th anniversary of the ABAA, the March Brown Bag Lunch Series will feature a panel discussion with veteran and young ABAA members. They will share their experiences with book scouting, memorable moments as a dealer in the trade, the ups and downs of a book dealer, and much more! Treasure Hunt Stories Wednesday, March 20, 2024 at 2pm ET Advance questions can be submitted to xin@abaa.org by noon ET Monday, March 18th. Moderator: Lizzy Young, Lizzyoung Bookseller (member since 2016) Lizzyoung Bookseller sells rare books, ephemera, and manuscripts with a focus on food and drink History, women's history, cultural history, children's books, and anything else that makes her smile. A former pastry chef, Lizzy caught the bookselling bug when she started working for her father, Roy Young Bookseller. The rest is history. Panelist: Jim Cummins, James Cummins, Bookseller (member since 1981) A lifelong collector, Jim started James Cummins Bookseller in 1978 after running the rare book department at Brentano's. He is a prominent and well respected figure in the antiquarian book world and a fixture at auctions. His expertise is wide and is reflected in the breadth of stock at his namesake firm. You can see Jim in action in the 2019 documentary, The Booksellers. Panelist: Megan Bell, Underground Books (member since 2024) Megan Bell is the co-owner, along with Josh Niesse, of Underground Books, ABAA in Carrollton, Georgia. One of the ne... [more Brown Bag Series: Treasure Hunt Stories]

The Celluloid Paper Trail: Film Script Identification Course at UCLA August 5-9 2024 Kevin Royal Johnson and Erin McGuirl will teach the first west coast Master Class on film script identification from August 5-9, 2024 at UCLA's California Rare Book School (CalRBS). Kevin Johnson has been a rare bookseller and appraiser for nearly 30 years. He is the author of the first book on film script identification, The Celluloid Paper Trail, published in 2019 by Oak Knoll Press and is the owner of Royal Books in Baltimore. Erin McGuirl/has been the Executive Director of the Bibliographical Society of America since 2018. She is trained as a special collections librarian, and has worked for over a decade with institutional and private collections in New York City. Course overview: What kind of text is a screenplay? How were they made, and by whom? How did their form and function change over time? In hands-on exercises with archival film scripts and through course lectures, students will explore these questions by learning about the history, development, and bibliographical identification/of the American film script, from the silent era to the end of the twentieth century./ Screenplays are guides to the creation of another work of art: a motion picture. Students enrolled in/The Celluloid Paper Trail/will learn to see scripts as “blueprints” for films and to identify the material cues that tell how they fit into the larger filmmaking process, revealing the contributions of both credite... [more The Celluloid Paper Trail: Film Script Identification Course at Cal-RBS Aug 5-9]

Edit: You can view a recording of this event here: -- -- The Brown Bag Lunch Series, presented by the ABAA Gender Equity Initiative, is a series of short virtual talks covering various topics, from crash courses in areas of expertise to best business practices. Please join the Gender Equity Initiative on Zoom on December 13th, 2023, at 2 PM ET for a Brown Bag Lunch Series with Megumi Hill and Mårten Söderblom Saarela from Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc. December 13th @ 2pm Megumi Hill & Mårten Söderblom Saarela - Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc. Manchu Books and Japanese Books CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Dive into a survey of Manchu Books and Japanese Books by two experts from Jonathan A. Hill Bookseller, Inc. Megumi Hill will present the survey of Japanese Books. The survey of Manchu Books will be delivered by Mårten Söderblom Saarela, a newly joined expert in Chinese and Korean Books and MSS at the firm. Megumi K. Hill Megumi is a graduate of Rikkyo University in Tokyo with a major in early Japanese literature. Mårten Söderblom Saarela Mårten received his PhD from Princeton University and has worked at the Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, for the past four years, most recently as an associate research fellow. His research centered on the cultural and intellectual history of language in late imperial China. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and was trained in Sweden, France, t... [more Brown Bag Series: Manchu Books and Japanese Books]