The streets of Dublin witnessed the largest parade in Irish history this Easter, as hundreds of thousands gathered to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. That revolt, by historical standards, was brief and seemingly futile in the short term. After the April 24 proclamation of an Irish Republic, perhaps fewer than 2,000 participants actually took up arms, and they were easily crushed within days by the British bombardment of much of central Dublin and the surrender and execution of its leaders. Nevertheless, the Rising boasts an outsize legacy not only in its ultimate political consequence of Irish independence five years later, but in its literary birthright, for a number of those involved in the uprising were authors of poetry and prose that had sculpted perceptions of Irish nationhood. Moreover, the destruction wrought upon Dublin and the execution of the rebel leadership inspired others who had not been involved – even some who had looked upon the armed uprising in dismay – to grapple with its legacy in words that resound to this day. The struggle for Irish independence from the British Crown had surged and ebbed for many years, of course, one of the high points being the months of battles led by the United Irishmen in 1798, inspired by the successful revolutions in the American colonies and in France. By the 1910s, however, many had thought that the flame of discontent had shrunken to a dull gleam. Although the House of Lords had failed to pass a Home Rule B... [more 1916: Collecting Ireland’s Easter Rising]

Hailed as "the sports equivalent of the Emancipation Proclamation," one of the original contracts Jackie Robinson signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers has been authenticated by ABAA member John Reznikoff (University Archives) and appraised at $36 million by ABAA member Seth Kaller (Seth Kaller, Inc.). Owned by businessman Mykalai Kontilai, the contracts will go on display at the Collectors Café in New York City next week. ESPN reported on the contact this week, quoting Reznikoff: "It passed all the tests with flying colors, everything that I looked at," Reznikoff said this week. "There's a lot of components to a document. There's ink, paper, printing, and everything was consistent." "I'm 110 percent sure" it's real, Reznikoff said. and Kaller: "Their effect on American history, and even the world, transcends the bounds of sports," Kaller wrote in his appraisal. "Jackie Robinson's contracts are documents of freedom in the same vein as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Emancipation Proclamation." You can read the ESPN story in its entirety here... Some items signed by Jackie Robinson from abaa.org: Fine signed and inscribed 3.5" X 5.5" postcard portrait by Jackie Robinson in the dugout. He signed in blue ball point pen, "To...with best wishes, Jackie Robinson." The last two letters are light. His printed signature shows below the portrait. (Offered by Schulson Autographs) WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR. THE LIFE STORY OF JACKIE ROBINSON (Signed, First Edition) New Yor... [more Jackie Robinson’s Original Contracts Authenticated]

The ABAA, in partnership with The Library of Congress, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies, and the Grolier Club, is currently accepting entries for the 2017 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest. The contest aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. We are honored to once again have support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation, the generous underwriter of prizes for this contest. Collegiate Book Collecting Contest winners, and interested students whose institutions do not offer contests, can submit entries at apply.abaa.org. All entries for the 2017 competition must be submitted by May 31, 2017. For more information on the contest, please visit contest.abaa.org. If you have any further questions, please contact hq@abaa.org. Need some inspiration or ideas? Meet Previous National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Winners Last year's winners built 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... [more 2017 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest]

When visiting New York for the annual Antiquarian Book Fair, many attendees spend the entirety of their time within a fairly narrow geographic radius of the fair itself. That's understandable -- the Upper East Side has much to recommend it, and for convenience to the fair, it can't be beat. But New York City is a rich tapestry, and bookish pleasures abound throughout. Why not let the fair serve as an opportunity to grab a cab or hail an Uber and explore further afield? For sheer literary density, New York's crown jewel has to be the downtown neighborhood of Greenwich (that's "grennitch") Village. Universally referred to by natives simply as "The Village, this historic district is bounded by 14th Street on the north, Houston Street on the south, 3rd Avenue in the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Originally a bucolic out-of-town escape destination for disease-beset 18th- and 19th-century New Yorkers, the area retained its post-colonial flavor even as the city, marching ever northward, expanded around it. The Village's smaller scale, tree-lined streets, pocket parks, off-the-grid layout, and Bohemian sensibility has long attracted literary types, among them W. H. Auden, Willa Cather, Kahlil Gibran, Allen Ginsberg, Henry James, Jack Kerouac, Emma Lazarus, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Eugene O'Neill, Edgar Allen Poe, Dylan Thomas, Mark Twain, Thomas Wolfe, and many more. The area was the cradle of the "golden age" of New York literary society (dates vary, but broadly from the 1... [more Literary Greenwich Village]

Editor's note: Jim Harrison (1937-2016) was a poet, novelist, essayist, screen-writer, sporting writer, editor, and translator. Much of his work is set in sparsely populated regions of the West and Midwest. As Charlie Brice wrote in a review in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette of The English Major, “Harrison's... appreciation for life's pleasures, his hallowing of the every day, his celebration of food and smells and nature and color, combine to produce a feast of what makes us human and of what makes it so hard to leave our troubled planet.” Jim Harrison was best known for his novella Legends of the Fall which was adapted into a Edward Zwick-directed movie with Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond, and Anthony Quinn, but he was a master of his craft who wrote equally well about nature, food, hunting, fishing, and travel. He was that rare talent who could compose beautiful poetry, write deft and powerful fiction, evocative non-fiction, and deeply personal memoirs. One of the mantras of being a bookseller, at least a successful one, is to not have a valuable personal collection, but I've never been able to sell some of the best Jim Harrison items that I have simply because of my affection for his writing. I was first introduced to him in my early teens when I read his collection of poems, Locations, which I had found at a small library sale that my parents had taken me to (I still have that copy). I quickly devoured many of his books after that and have been a devotee ever since. I've given... [more In Memoriam: Jim Harrison (1937-2016)]

ABAA members will be bringing their best items to the 56th annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair during the second week of April, 2016. Below, we have a few highlights from our members (in no particular order): exceedingly rare books, unique records, and one-of-a-kind ephemera to give a brief flavor of the treasures that await discovery in New York. Members submitted so many featured items that we've had to split the list into two parts. Tune in next week for another sneak-peak at items you'll find at this year's New York Antiquarian Book Fair. (For more details on the book fair, click here...) BODMER, Karl (1809-1893, illustrator) -- Prince Maximilian zu WIED-NEUWIED (1782-1867). Voyage dans l'Intérieur de l'Amérique du Nord execute pendant les années 1832, 1833 et 1834. Paris: Chez Arthus Bertrand, 1840-1843. 4 volumes (text: 3 volumes, 8vo (9 1/2 x 6 1/4 inches); atlas: 1 oblong folio (17 x 23 1/2 inches)). French text: Half-titles, 1 lithographic plan, 31 plates of wood-engraved vignettes, 6 wood-engraved illustrations, large engraved folding map. Atlas: 81 engraved and aquatint plates (48 large aquatint tableau plates (19 hand coloured), 33 vignette plates on full folio sheets (7 hand coloured), all after Bodmer. The greatest illustrated American travel narrative and the most important depiction of American Indians in the frontier era: a very rare issue with the best plates hand-coloured. (Offered by Donald A. Heald Rare Books) KNAUSGÅRD, Karl Ove. Min Kamp. Bok 1. O... [more Featured Items: New York Book Fair (Part 1)]

During the twentieth century, Los Angeles produced a number of fine printers, Saul Marks and Ward Ritchie being familiar names. Perhaps not as well-known was Richard John Hoffman (1912-1989), a native of the city, with a massive output of printed work. Hoffman himself estimated his production at 15 to 20 items of printed material per week over a career spanning 66 years - that comes close to 50,000 items. Not all of it could be described as “fine printing.” Hoffman worked at Los Angeles City College as a teacher and an academic printer from 1933 to 1959, and was an instructor in Graphic Design and Director of the Printing Management Program at California State University, Los Angeles from 1959 to 1978. Upon his retirement he continued to produce printed work of a very high caliber. Hoffman was not a flamboyant character. In 1924, when he was 12, Richard Hoffman helped Francis C. Lofthouse install a printing press in the belfry tower of Trinity Baptist Church in East Los Angeles so that church bulletins could be printed. He married Lofthouse's daughter Ruth in 1934; they were married for 55 years. Hoffman's first employment was from 1925-1928, at the printing office of George Hillenbrand in Monterey Park, distributing type. He enrolled in Los Angeles Junior College in 1930, and began to work at the College Press as typographic editor for student publications, and edited the 1932 yearbook. Upon graduation in 1933 he became assistant manager of the College Press. At this tim... [more Richard Hoffman: Prolific & Pioneering Printer]

The pinnacle of rare book fairs in the US is the annual New York Antiquarian Book Fair, which takes place from April 7-10 at the Park Avenue Armory. Collectors can browse the booths of over 200 rare book dealers from around the world and all across the United States, offering a vast selection of rare books, maps, manuscripts, illuminated manuscripts, and ephemera. This book fair is officially sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America and our parent organization the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, which means that collectors can be confident in the authenticity of the items available for purchase. (Scroll down for a few examples of the items that will be available this year.) Hours Preview: Thursday, April 7, 5-9pm Fair: Friday, April 8, noon-8pm Saturday, April 9, noon-7pm Sunday, April 10, noon-5pm Discovery Day Sunday, April 10, 1pm-3pm Location Park Avenue Armory 643 Park Avenue, New York City Tickets Tickets are available on the door or through Eventbrite… Preview Pass: $50 (includes one daily re-admission) Daily Admission: $25 Students: $10 Run of show: $40 More information: http://www.nyantiquarianbookfair.com/ A few of the items ABAA members will be exhibiting at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair... An Astounding Run of all the Holmes and Watson Stories in the Strand Magazines (London and NY, 1891–1927). 75 vols. 1st editions. The 1st appearances anywhere, in the original monthly parts, of the Adventures, Memoirs, Hound (NY ... [more Get Ready for the New York Book Fair]

Who killed the book? I did. I killed it when I bought a computer. My relationship with the computer has taken over – certainly it's a major distraction. And, I cannot go back. My addiction to the computer was very clear to me when the electricity went out last month during a terrific wind storm, toppling a majestic tree in our neighborhood, being close to downtown Carlsbad. Computer – dead – no electricity – all was dark, so we lit a candle and opened a book – to read from the printed page. I selected a copy of Robert B.M. Binning's, A Journal of Two Years' Travel in Persia, Ceylon, London, 1857. I turned to this book as it is anecdotal and I read it aloud to my wife. I wanted to share something of what Binning had to say when he traveled to Persia in the mid-nineteenth century, especially as he describes Shiraz, the poet Hafiz and describes Persian culture. There are many things learned from reading: the language of the past was much more colorful than now. Writers have taken on a new form of writing, just as movies seem to take fully advantage of bigger explosions, longer fight scenes, more blood and perceived gore. Many movies today are extensions of video games: “Mad Max Fury Road” was exactly like that – not a video game, but it could have been. The details in books are truer than what is depicted as history on the big screen. It's just like our mail box – so long a form of communication and now seemingly dead. When was the last time you hand-wrote a le... [more Who Killed the Book?]

Happy Leap Day! We thought you might want something to read on this bonus day, so here's a roundup of the latest news from the rare books world. New Penguins Collectors of Penguin Classics -- and we're nearly all de facto collectors of Penguin Classics by the time we've graduated college -- will be excited to see the launch of a new series of "Pocket Penguins," new editions of the most-widely read Penguin Classics. Color-coded by original language, the new series adapts the iconic Penguin Classics color-scheme and design, and will appeal to book-design afficionados. Unpublished Beatrix Potter Story Found Fear not fans of children's books featuring anthropomorphized animals, a lost story by Beatrix Potter, "The Tale Of Kitty-in-Boots" has been found in the Potter archives, and will be published in the fall. New Tolkien Poems Found Tolkien Scholar Wayne Hammond has succeeded in tracking down two poems by Professor Tolkien published in a school magazine in 1936. Lost Mozart-Salieri Composition Resurfaces Fine Books Magazine details a lost musical work composed by Mozart and Salieri together. Perhaps the depiction of their rivalry in the film Amadeus was less accurate than we thought? Van Filled with Rare Books Stolen After California Book Fair Spare a thought for ABAA-member Lawrence Van de Carr (Bookleggers Used Books) whose van full of $350,000-worth of rare books was stolen in Oakland, following the California Book Fair. One of the thieves has been caught as he tried to sell ... [more Rare Book News]