A roundup of some recent rare book news. 1000-Year-Old Manuscript Contains Cure for Antibiotic-Resistant Infection If ever you need to explain the importance of preserving old books, cite this story! Bald's Leechbook, and Old English manuscript in the collection of the British Library contains a 9th-Century Anglo-Saxon salve for eye infections. Researchers have found that it cures one of the scourges of modern hospitals, the antibiotic-resistant infection MRSA. Demonstrating that ancient medicine wasn't all leeches and quackery. More on this story from the BBC... Books Presumed Stolen from NYPL Re-appear After 24 Years FBI seize them... A Book the Pope Couldn't Burn Rediscovered A rare copy of Varia Opuscula Theologica by Doctoris Francisco Suarez, which was banned but the Pope and ordered burned in 1679, was found in a charity shop in the UK this week. What strange journey has this volume taken over the last 300 years? More on this story... ISIS Financed in-part by Stolen Antiquities Still on the subject of book burning, an article by Barbara Basbanes claims that the sale of looted antiquities, including books, is part of the fundraising efforts underpining ISIS in the Middle-East. While the headline attracted controversy for attributing all of ISIS fundraising success to rare books, the underlining story makes clear that books may only be a part of their funding , and does raise concerns that ISIS' much publicized destruction of ancient remains may be a smokescreen for a lu... [more Rare Book News]

The description a rare book dealer lists in a database or catalog entry is far, far more than simply a list of bland descriptors (format, publication date, publisher, condition, etc.) such as one finds at online retailers of new books (whose goal is to sell an infinite number of identical, flawless -- and thus featureless -- copies). The experience and knowledge a rare book dealer brings to bear allows him or her to recognize some of the history of an individual volume, and to establish its provenance. John Carter defines “Provenance” (in his classic reference guide ABC for Book Collectors) as “The pedigree of a book's previous ownership.” While it's not necessary for a book to have had distinguished previous owners to be rare or valuable, volumes that enter the realm of “Association Copy” because of a previous owner's connections to the author are very highly prized. The degree of association can vary, with a "Presentation Copy" given by the author to a friend or contemporary and inscribed with a note from the author, at the top of the heap. Carter defines the association copy thusly: "a copy which once belonged to, or was annotated by the author; which once belonged to someone connected to the author or someone of interest in his own right; or again, and perhaps most interestingly, belonging to someone peculiarly associated with its contents." You can find sterling examples of informative, knowledgeable, and thorough research in the catalogs of any ABAA member, ... [more What is an Association Copy?]

Priya Parmar is the author of the acclaimed novel Vanessa and Her Sister, which tells the story of the complicated relationship between the painter Vanessa Bell and her sister, the novelist Virginia Woolf. As her medium was visual art, Bell has been somewhat overshadowed by Woolf's vast legacy of novels, stories, and essays. Parmar's achievement is to bring Vanessa to vibrant life on the page, showing her to be the "linchpin" of the Bloomsbury set, possessed of an unexpectedly modern sensibility. We spoke with Parmar about her extensive research, which included moving to London to walk the same streets as the Stephens' sisters and access the various archives of Bell and Woolf's papers. ABAA: What piqued your interest in Vanessa Bell and the Bloomsbury group? Priya Parmar: I read a letter that Vanessa Bell wrote in 1905. Clive Bell had proposed marriage and she was rejecting the proposal but she did not write the demure, Edwardian letter I would have expected. She wrote a fiery, messy, blunt, truthful letter. It was so modern and vibrant and she stepped off the page for me right there. She was the person I wanted to write about. She led me to her family and friends, to Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, John Maynard Keynes, Thoby Stephen, Lytton Strachey, Roger Fry, Clive Bell and Leonard Woolf. ABAA: Was your research primarily in biographies and the group's fiction and nonfiction, or were you able to examine any primary sources like letters and diaries? PP: I spent huge amounts o... [more Researching Vanessa Bell & Bloomsbury]

UPDATE (5/13): RECOVERED Three items have been reported missing in the wake of the New York Antiquarian Book Fair. (Two broadsides and one CDV -- descriptions below.) The items were last seen in Booth B-12 and were likely misplaced during move-out. If you catch word of these items, please contact ABAA Security Chair Garrett Scott via email. With thanks, Garrett Scott Chair, ABAA Security Committee *** 1. . SHERIFF'S PROCLAMATION! ANNUAL ELECTION! Ravenna, O.: L. W. Hall, & Son, Printers, . Folio broadside. A nice piece of unlocated civic job printing graced with exuberant display typography. In a mylar sleeve. 2. . FINE DECORATIVE CHARTER FOR THE COTTAGE TENT NO. 2 OF NEW YORK IN THE WOMEN'S TEMPERANCE LODGE, THE ORIGINAL UNITED DAUGHTERS OF RECHAB. . Broadside, approx. 20 x 16 inches, blanks completed in autograph ink (with penciled revisions). Typographic border. Shrink-wrapped onto foam core. 3. Small late 19th century promotional carte de visite (CDV) photograph with a printed mount, showing a distant prospect of a Rhode Island slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant. [more Three items missing after New York Antiquarian Book Fair]

In the Poetry Book Shop -- A Parody in Prose Sylvia Plath is having an Argument & Song with Stanley Plumly, while Steve Orlen gives Permission to Speak to Howard Moss, who is always Finding Them Lost on one shelf or the other. Why you'd think David Ignatow would have more to do than chasing Sunlight – collectors know it's so bad for the book spines – but he does it all for his daughter. And then we have thoughtful Randall Jarrell giving Blood for a Stranger, while that Kenneth Patchen obsesses with following Red Wine and Yellow Hair everywhere! Poor Gary Snyder was Left Out in the Rain for no reason at all, so his pal C. K. Williams held The Vigil until he brainstormed A Dream of Mind to get ole Gary back on the Mountains and Rivers Without End. Then along comes Corso with his own Mindfield and bumps into Robinson Jeffers looking for lunch in the Hungerfield, and that got Gerald Stern to offer them both some Bread Without Sugar, all hoping for The New Body that James Moore promised. John Frederick Nims, forever the gentleman and diplomat, needed to remind them that all bodies are Of Flesh and Bone, even if some of the tribesmen look Zany in Denim. Ever eager to keep in touch, Ted Hughes is busy writing Birthday Letters, and Brad Leithauser is fussing with The Mail from Anywhere, while Dan Gerber writes Letters to a Distant Friend before Sailing through Cassiopeia using the same nautical chart that Edward Byrne used Along the Dark Shore. These land lovers should have check... [more In the Poetry Book Shop]

To mark UNESCO World Book and Copyright Day on April 23, 2015, the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (an organization that encompasses twenty national associations representing antiquarian booksellers who sell books, manuscripts, prints, and maps in thirty countries around the world, including the ABAA) is sponsoring a series of Pop-Up Book Fairs around the world to raise awareness of their belief that "reading is a fundamental human right" and to raise money to support UNESCO's South Sudan Project. (link?) Why April 23rd? 23 April is a symbolic date for world literature. It is on this date in 1616 that Cervantes, Shakespeare and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. It is also the date of birth or death of other prominent authors around the world, such as Maurice Druon, Haldor K.Laxness, Vladimir Nabokov, Josep Pla and Manuel Mejía Vallejo. ILAB/ABAA members are organizing six Pop-Up Book Fairs in the US: Chicago, Illinois Location: Cliff Dwellers Club, 22nd Floor, 200 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago Time: 5:30-7pm Exhibitors: Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.; Beasley Books; Bookleggers; Kurt Gippert Bookseller; Harlan J. Berk Ltd.; Jeff Hirsch Books; Powell's Bookstore; Garrett Scott, Bookseller; and Stick Figure Books. The event includes an array of hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar. Donation to UNESCO $25 RSVP to cliffdwellers@cliff-chicago.org. More information... New Castle, Delaware Location: New Castle's historic Opera House Time: 1pm to 5pm Exhibitors: Oak Knoll Bo... [more ILAB Pop-Up Book Fairs]

A rarity among rare books: The New England Primer Enlarged with an engraved portrait of George Washington attributed to Paul Revere. Among Americana collectors, one of the most desirable class of books remains the 18th century New England Primer – 17th century examples being known, but entirely unavailable. The New England Primer was not only the first primary reader designed for use in the American Colonies – a cornerstone of early American education – but in the hundreds of editions that were produced, it was among the most successful educational texts ever published. In his 1934 check-list of New England Primers, bibliographer and bookseller extraordinaire Charles F. Heartman recorded more than 450 editions published between 1727 and 1830, many of these printed in editions of thousands of copies. According to Heartman, even before 1727 there were likely “many thousands” of New England Primers printed, none of which survive. The Primer, he writes, was “practically an institution. It was, next to the Bible, the 'stock book' in the bookshops of the towns and the general stores of the village.” Due to its small size, its relatively modest cost to contemporary buyers, and constant handling by “not too careful” children, few of these once very common volumes remained intact for even a generation. Though literally millions of copies were printed by the first decades of the 19th century, only a tiny fraction survive today. From the beginning, The New England Prim... [more The New England Primer]

Okay. Hang on to your hats. Here comes the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, presented by the ABAA. This is the Big Leagues, baby. The World Series of Book. From Thursday night through Sunday afternoon at the Park Avenue Armory, we'll be keeping company with some of the world's finest books and manuscripts – mindbogglingly rare and valuable items - sought by collectors of inestimable wealth (those unspeakably rich folks obvious to all but known by name only to Bill Reese, Don Heald, and their Continental cohorts); representatives of Institutions of Higher Learning whose annual budgets exceed those of many African nations; young men and women of good breeding who've attended the right schools and have decided to invest family millions in ruinous antiquarian ecstasy; smiling auctioneers and avaricious dealers cruising the floor like so many leopards, attended by their pimps and minions; suave counter monkeys contentedly grooming themselves, waiting for their chance; bloated industrialists, technocrats, and financial guys for whom “to want” = “to have,” and their pimps and minions. Yes, it's a jungle out there. A prize fight fought in silk gloves which, this year, has spawned two undercard events – satellite book fairs promoted by Impact Events Group and Flamingo Eventz, two promoters who are themselves engaged in a good old New York turf war. And somewhere down in the undergrowth lurks Ten Pound Island Book Co. and our several dozen peers. Creatures of ... [more That’s Why I Love My Job…]

Second Story Books in Washington, DC is looking for an experienced bookseller to fill a permanent full-time position in our Dupont Circle store. Shifts would be Sunday through Thursday, from 2-10pm. Compensation will depend upon qualifications and experience. Successful candidate will start right away. Please respond with an email and attached resume to dupontsecondstory@gmail.com. For further information, feel free to contact Eric Passaglia or Britt Law, Monday through Friday, at (202) 659-8884. [more Position Available at Second Story Books]

Three years ago, I took part in one of the ABA's Book Collecting Seminars at the University of London: Book Collecting and the Web. Now, there are many different views about what the internet has done for booksellers (watch a few of the earlier interviews conducted by Michael Ginsberg) and for collectors (a very recent view here). For my part, I like the internet: it has given me access to a wealth of information previously unavailable to me to help me research the books I have for sale, and given me access to a much wider audience than before it existed. But what about you, the collector? Certainly, any worries you may have about buying books on the internet are nothing new. In the late 1990s, when people first began to look for books online and booksellers began listing their stock, the exact same concerns were voiced then as they are now: is the person with a PO Box address in the middle of nowhere a real shop, or just someone with a few books in his garage? Can you trust his description? Does he know anything about condition? Or rarity? Or price? (Of course, you can buy with confidence from any ILAB-affiliated bookseller.) And the websites which allow you to look for books haven't really changed, either. Facilities to search only for first editions can still result in first American, first illustrated etc etc. A description for a particular copy may appear twice (or more) on the results page. Browsing is still very difficult. Some websites have tried to increase the chanc... [more The Show is My Shop]