Join us for some Virtual Book Fair fun! The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America will host a Virtual Book Fair Scavenger Hunt via Facebook on November 13th and 14th. Enter for your chance to win a $500 gift certificate! Browse through the thousands of items shown on the Boston Virtual Book Fair website in search of the best and most creative answers to all five items on the Scavenger Hunt List! To enter, head to the ABAA Facebook page, and post: Five answers including links to the items in the Book Fair Be sure to use the hashtag #bvbfhunt and tag the ABAA's Facebook Account @ABAARareBooks! SCAVENGER HUNT LIST 1. Find an item with a connection to something on television 2. Find a book description that passes the book equivalent of the Bechdel test (no mention of a man anywhere in the description) 3. Find a printed book issued in an edition of fewer than 50 copies 4. Find an image of someone (or something) making a bad decision 5. Find an item inscribed or annotated by an author with at least 20 words BONUS: Post your favorite item in the fair! Contest Rules No purchase is necessary to enter or win, and purchases will not increase your chances of winning. This contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered, or associated with Facebook, and is void where prohibited. 1. CONTEST PERIOD The Contest begins on November 13, 2020, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Standard time and ends on November 14, 2020, at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard time. These are the hours the Boston Vir... [more Boston Virtual Book Fair Scavenger Hunt]

The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair is going virtual this year! An alluring treasure trove awaits seasoned collectors as well as new visitors at the 44th annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair, which will be held virtually November 12-14, 2020. The event will showcase the finest in rare and valuable books, illuminated manuscripts, autographs, ephemera, political and historic documents, maps, atlases, photographs, fine and decorative prints, and much more. Collectors will be able to virtually peruse the booths of every exhibitor in the Fair or quickly visit their favorite dealers, hosted in an easy-to-navigate online version of the traditional book fair booth. A search feature will allow visitors to quickly browse by category, dealer, or keyword—with each item featuring a brief description, condition, and price—and they can contact dealers directly to learn more about the items for sale. Each exhibitor will showcase up to 50 of their most interesting and significant pieces, creating a remarkable and diverse selection of items from around the world. Fresh items will be available throughout the weekend as dealers will be continually restocking their virtual booths. With the Fair moving online, everyone around the globe can attend the Boston Book Fair, one of the oldest and most respected antiquarian book shows in the U.S.! Signup to learn more about this and other virtual book fairs sponsored by the ABAA... Preview Day The 2020 Boston Book Fair will lau... [more The Boston Book Fair Goes Virtual]

HBO's latest hit show, "Lovecraft Country" is based on Matt Ruff's 2016 novel of the same name which mines the horror and mythology of H.P. Lovecraft, but instead of hiding his racist views, highlights them by having a group of African Americans from Chicago encounter both racists and supernatural forces in Lovecraft's New England during the Jim Crow period. H.P. Lovecraft has long been praised as a visionary and trailblazer for American fantasy; and is regarded as "second only to Edgar Allan Poe in the annals of American supernatural literature" by critic Michael Dirda. A prolific writer, Lovecraft was nevertheless unable to make a significant income from his fiction during his life. His reputation and influence only increased after his death, and there are now many collectors of his work, both serious and casual. Most of his stories were published in pulp magazines during his life, which can present challenges for collectors who wish to own copies of the magazines in which various stories made their first appearance. His work has been widely collected and anthologized in recent decades. After his death, his friends and fellow horrow writers August Derleth and Donald Wandrei attempted to interest major publishers in a collection of his best work, but found traditional publishers had little interest in occult horror. They formed a publishing company, Arkham House, specifically to reprint Lovecraft's stories, and over the decades published much of Lovecraft's fiction, as well ... [more Exploring Lovecraft Country]

The winners of the 2020 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest have been chosen. They are: First: Alan Tu, Harvard University: "Found in Translation: Contemporary World Fiction Revisited." (download Alan's entry) Second: Jack Swab, University of Kentucky: "Gay Spaces: Travel Guides and Maps for the LGBTQ Community, 1969-2001." (download Jack's entry) Third: Brendan W. Clark, Trinity College: "The Baron Colchester: Recreating the Library of a 19th Century English Parliamentarian and Country Gentleman in Substance and Subject." (download Brendan's entry) Essay: Matthew O. Weinstock, Washington University in St. Louis: "Party-Bottom Paperbacks: Cruising Bookstores in Search of Queer History." (download Matthew's entry) The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is jointly administered by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Grolier Club, and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress) Congratulations to all the winners of the 2020 National Collegiate Book Collecting Competition! Meet the 2019 NCBCC winners... Meet the 2018 NCBCC winners... [more 2020 NCBCC Winners]

Every so often an ABAA member lists an item that gets people in the business talking, regardless of whether it fits with their own particular interests or specialities. One of those items is this exceptional letter from Jack Kerouac to a young boy tasked with writing to a published author for a school project. The response is generous, eloquent, and expansive, offering more of a window into the author than the typical high-school project might reasonably be expected to produce! Jack Kerouac Autographed Manuscript by Jack Kerouac Description: 1964. Jack Kerouac's candid handwritten reply to a young man's questions about being a "Beatnik," his life philosophy, his thoughts on Montana, and more. Students in Robert Dodd's ninth-grade class were given an assignment to contact their favorite writer with their own unique series of questions relating specifically to that writer. The young Dodd chose Jack Kerouac, and the author replied at length to his questionnaire, which includes queries about his classification as a "Beatnik" (his answer: "I never was a Beatnik - it was the newspapers and critics who tagged that label on me...."), life philosophy ("My philosophy is 'No Philosophy,' just 'Things-As-They-Are'"), career goals ("Be a great writer making everybody believe in Heaven"), the ideal way of life ("Hermit in the woods..."), his thoughts on fame ("My name is like Crackerjacks, famous, but very few people buy my books..."), and segregation ("he Irish and Italians of Massachuset... [more Jack Kerouac in His Own Hand]

Welcome the latest members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America! Full Membership Charles Bolick, AIGLATSON Charles Bolick has lived and worked in New England for over 50 years, but grew up in North Carolina and attended public schools there, graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1962. He served as an officer in the United States Navy for three years, then began an insurance career that lasted for 30 years. During that time, Bolick developed an interest in paper Americana and began dealing privately and at shows. Since retiring from the insurance business in 1997, he has worked full time as an ephemera dealer. Bolick's interest is in 18th and 19th (and occasionally 20th) century ephemera in all areas, but especially historic, political, social, and mercantile material. He sells privately and exhibits at about a dozen shows a year. Bolick is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, the Ephemera Society of America, and the Ephemera Society of Great Britain. Pavel Chepyzhov, Globus Books Pavel Chepyzhov started his career in the antiquarian book trade at 18 years of age, as a student of the Moscow State University of Printing Arts -- with a major in history of books and antiquarian bookselling. After working for three years in the antiquarian book department of Moscow-based auction house Gelos, he enrolled in the ILAB internship program. After spending several months working in Australia — during which time he participated in ... [more New ABAA Members]

Note: We're reposting this article on collecting film scripts in light of the growing difficulty in acquiring copies of classic mid-century films and movie studio's reluctance to make classics available for exhibition. It was originally published in August 2019. According to a great many people, the film (or movie, if you prefer) was the great art form of the 20th century, so it shouldn't be any great surprise that there is a large number of collectors — individual and institutional — focused on the movie business; but it might surprise many to learn that there's great interest in collecting the seemingly least-glamorous part of the entire filmmaking process — the scripts themselves. Collecting scripts is different from collecting many other forms of printed matter, as scripts were not mass-produced (excepting the relatively recent trade-paperback editions of hit films) or made available for sale to the general public. Scripts were typed out and mimeographed; changes were printed on different colored pages and the earlier pages thrown away; scripts went through innumerable drafts, and sometimes several sets of writers; and all that before the production technicians and artists got hold of the "finished" script and began annotating it for their own purposes. There are therefore multiple different types of script and an entire language of shorthand to decipher when evaluating a script manuscript. Different eras and areas of production had their own conventions and practic... [more Collecting Film Scripts]

Like many, we at the ABAA have spent the recent weeks watching, listening, reading, learning and reflecting on the prevalence of racism in our society. As we think about the events that have brought us to this point, and the long history behind them, we consider difficult questions about what we can do to contribute to positive change. As purveyors and custodians of rare books, manuscripts, and other cultural artifacts, we pride ourselves on the encyclopedic scope of our field. But do we truly embody the core values of fairness and inclusion that we claim to embrace? Are we really doing all that we can to combat systems and structures that have kept the rare and antiquarian book trade exclusive and even exclusionary? What steps can we take to be more proactive and responsible agents of the rich, complex, and beautifully varied cultures whose physical materials we preserve, protect, and sell? How do we increase representation of people of color not only in the items we offer and the collections we help to build, but also among our customers and our own membership? These are tough questions to face. Indeed, as an organization that is all but entirely white, it is hard to know where to start because we want to support change in a meaningful and productive way. We have felt the need to listen more than to speak. At the same time, however, we know that we must not remain silent in the face of injustice. The recent necessary upheavals and the outpouring of valuable, thoughtful comm... [more Where We Stand]

For those of you unfamiliar with Shirley Jackson's work, consider yourself warned of potential SPOILERS right now and exit out of this page. Preferably to pick up one of her books and see for yourself. I still remember the first Shirley Jackson piece I ever read. Like most American high-school teenagers, it was one of her short stories. A terrifying and eye-opening piece entitled The Lottery. To this day, I think it is one of the most horrifying works I've ever read (and this coming from an avid Agatha Christie fan). A work that reveals a callous and mindless side of human nature – just following the herd mentality, even if it involves killing your own mother – what wouldn't be creepy about that? The Lottery has always stuck with me, and also have the other stories by Jackson that I have read since. We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a fan favorite for a reason! So here's to the real question… what had this seemingly average American housewife done to become the architect of such frightening tales? Well… let's take a look! The Lottery New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1949. First Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good+. First edition. (First state with the "fs" logo on the copyright page. Jacket has correct first issue price of $2.75 and correct back panel and flap info: "Farrar, Straus Company/ 53 East 34th Street, New York 16, N. Y.") 306 p. Very Good in Good+ dust jacket. Offsetting to end papers, cloth is bit grubby, worn at tips. Jacket has some chips missing... [more Mistress of Terror: Shirley Jackson]

Update: this item has been located and is no longer missing. The following book was apparently “delivered to” and “signed for” by Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts, but the firm never received it. Please contact Jill Mann if you know the whereabouts of this item: Jill Mann, Phillip J. Pirages Fine Books and Manuscripts (503) 472-0476 or jill@pirages.com Lot #87 at the Christie's Paris sale on 5/27 REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840). Les Roses peintes par P. J. Redouté… décrites par C. A. Thorry. Paris : C. L. F. Panckoucke, 1824 . Bel exemplaire en demi-maroquin rouge de l'époque, bien complet de toutes ses planches et des feuillets de texte. On a relié in fine les quatre pages de prospectus pour cette édition : « L'éclat, la vérité, l'élégance, le plus grand luxe typographique, ont procuré aux Roses de M. Redouté une vogue européenne. On a reconnu, dans les portraits qu'il a donnés de toutes les variétés de la rose, la nature même… ». Cette édition in-8, la première de ce format, fut publiée en 40 livraisons de 4 planches chacune. Nissen BBI, 1599. Fort volume in-8 (246 x 162 mm). Faux-titre, titre et 160 planches hors-texte, toutes coloriées à la main. Demi-maroquin rouge à coins de l'époque, dos à nerfs orné (petits frottements d'usage aux coiffes et aux coins ; rares rousseurs). [more Located: REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840). Les Roses peintes par P. J. Redouté… décrites par C. A.]