The ABAA Diversity Initiative is proud to announce the first season of a guided discovery program for those historically underrepresented among workers in the trade. Designed to co-occur with annual ABAA book fairs, the program offers an introduction to antiquarian book fairs, career insight with ABAA members, visits to local ABAA member open shops/offices, networking with institution professionals, and more. This Diversity Discovery Program offers stipends of up to $2,500 to two individuals to visit the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair during the week of the fair. Participants will be guided by an ABAA member and with an itinerary of multiple networking activities. The Fall 2024 ABAA Diversity Initiative Discovery Program selected Julie Browny and Patrick Matherly as recipients. The program successfully concluded on November 7th, 2024. Want to get to know Julie and Patrick and their program journey? Read their blog below! Read Julie Browny's blog here... Read Patrick Matherly's blog here... The program would like to thank the following libraries, private collectors, and ABAA firms for hosting the participants. John A. Buchtel, Lauren Graves, BOSTON ATHENÆUM John Overholt, Molly Schwartzburg, Mathew Wittmann, Houghton Library Victor Betts, Jenny Gotwals, Patrice Green, Schlesinger Library Alexandra (Allie) Alvis, Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library Lisa Baskin Alan Klein Sandy Neubauer Brattle Book Shop Bernett Rare Books Bromer Booksellers The program would also ... [more 2024 ABAA Discovery Program Participant Experience]
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Position Announcement: Rare Book Cataloger, Burnside Rare Books Burnside Rare Books is seeking a full-time rare book cataloger to join our small but growing team. Starting salary is in the range of $45,000-$75,000 commensurate with experience. All work is to be done in person at our offices in Portland, Oregon. Primary duties are cataloging and researching new inventory, maintaining inventory control, photographing books, working with customers to sell books, shipping orders, and basic office duties. This position may require travel to book fairs or to meet with clients, and other duties may be assigned. Qualified candidates will possess either an academic background in rare book cataloging, or practical experience cataloging for a rare book firm or auction house. This position requires attention to detail, excellent writing and verbal communication skills, strong research abilities, a demonstrated knowledge of book history and the care and preservation of rare books, a professional and client-oriented demeanor, and the ability to occasionally lift boxes of material up to 50 lbs. Please email cover letter and resume to info@burnsiderarebooks.com. No phone calls or visits please. [more Job Opening: Rare Book Cataloger at Burnside Rare Books]
As the current president of the ABAA, I have been attending the biannual Congress of the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB), the umbrella organization that brings together national Associations from around the world. Our hosts in Amsterdam have outdone themselves! The main Congress was preceded by meetings to discuss official ILAB business. The protection of cultural property, while pursued for the noblest of reasons, can lead to incredible bureaucratic burdens and even become counterproductive if people familiar with the actual function of the book trade aren't involved in shaping policy. Fortunately, ILAB's Executive Secretary Angelika Elstner has been elected to the European Union's Art Market Expert Group to provide precisely this kind of input. Among other contributions, ILAB has shown that Interpol's figures for stolen library materials were wildly exaggerated. For example, it claimed that 472,933 pieces of “Library material” had been seized in the past year, which, if true, would mean that the book trade was awash in literal mountains of stolen goods. ILAB was able to show that almost the entire figure derived from a single 500-year-old family archive in Italy that was confiscated by the state as part of a dispute over legal ownership. In point of fact, ILAB and its affiliates are always eager to protect the integrity of institutional collections, and now ILAB has a voice in the European Union to help shape policies that sustain this goal withou... [more ILAB Congress in Amsterdam: Business and Pleasure]
The CABS-Minnesota Antiquarian Book Seminar celebrated its 48th year this July on the campus of St. Olaf College. The class of over 50 convened for an intensive week of hands-on instruction and informal conversations about the book trade, including impromptu book shops in the dorms and a lecture from specialty dealer Alexander Akin of Bolerium Books. 22 of the students were supported by scholarships, including from the ABAA Woodburn Fund. Find out more at www.bookseminars.com. [more 2024 CABS-Minnesota Antiquarian Book Seminar]
Jeff Weber is proprietor of Jeff Weber Rare Books, Montreux and Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He is a member of ILAB, ABAA and VEBBUKU/SLACES (Switzerland). What, by its nature, would be rarer than an original Gutenberg Bible? The invoice that recorded the sale of the first books printed with moveable type! The receipt! Yes, those most-often tossed slips of paper, recording a seemingly trivial event, those receipts are golden to the researcher today if receipts would be appreciated. The receipt will never be as valuable as the item itself, but the tossed data is where the story of how a book (or another item) was distributed, who was involved, and when. When that receipt is tossed, its recorded history is lost, perhaps never to be recognized again. The purpose of writing about receipts is to make the point that there is scholarly value in saved receipts, particularly when they unlock the mysterious ties between buyer and seller. I will refer to a number of personal projects that have benefitted from saved receipts or would have benefitted more had those receipts been kept. By some pertinent examples, I hope that the reader will consider the value of using receipts in their research. This, by my purpose, is to encourage institutions and collectors as well as those who inherit personal papers, to keep notes, receipts, email archives, manuscripts, all kinds of primary research data that can be used in the future to understand more by using those receipts and other materials, to advan... [more Book Receipts: Ephemera with Essential Intellectual Value]
The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest awards ceremony was held at the Library of Congress on September 13, 2024. The Contest was established in 2005 by Fine Books & Collections Magazine to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students--the program aims to encourage young collectors to become accomplished bibliophiles. ABAA Member and collector Rebecca Romney was the featured speaker and made the winners and guests feel welcome. The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress) jointly assumed leadership of the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest in 2010. The Grolier Club, a noted book collectors organization, joined us shortly afterward. Incidentally, each winner has a year-long membership at the Grolier Club in New York City. We thank this year's judges who are part of these partner organizations: Shannon Struble, Jennifer Larson, and Sharon Gee; Sheryl Jaeger, Declan Kiely, Olivia Loksing Moy, and Nancy Boehm who are each collectors and bibliophiles in their own right. Incidentally, each winner has a year-long membership at the Grolier Club in New York City. We also thank Susan Jaffe Tane, the noted collector and philanthropist, for nurturing the next generation of collectors. Prizes are awarded to both the winning students and the libraries of the ... [more Meet the 2024 NCBCC Winners]
Fall 2024 ABAA Diversity Initiative Discovery Program Program Overview The ABAA Diversity Initiative is proud to announce the first season of a guided discovery program for those historically underrepresented among workers in the trade—black, indigenous, people of color, and the LGBTQ+ community. Designed to co-occur with annual ABAA book fairs, the program offers an introduction to antiquarian book fairs, career insight with ABAA members, visits to local ABAA member open shops/offices, networking with institution professionals, and more. This Fall Diversity Discovery Program offers stipends of up to $2,500 to two individuals to visit the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair (November 8-10, 2024) during the week of the fair. Students will be guided by an ABAA member and with an itinerary of multiple networking activities. Program Date: November 6-10, 2024 Application Prerequisites Self-identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and/or person of color) and/or LGBTQ+. Minimum requirement of a high school diploma, OR currently enrolled student in any degree program (undergrads, Masters, PhD), OR recent graduate (< 1-year post-grad). Applicants must be passionate about books, archival/library sciences, and/or bookselling. Applicants must be able to travel and arrange their transportation and accommodation. Application: https://forms.gle/LCMMaS9Xqus2UG2P7 Application Deadline: August 16, 2024 *This application requires supplementary materials, so files will be uploaded ... [more ABAA Diversity Initiative Discovery Program]
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]
The Raab Collection is looking for a Medieval Manuscript Specialist. See below the job description. Medieval Manuscript Specialist at The Raab Collection Rare opportunity to help build and develop a medieval manuscript department from the ground up, joining an established firm in the historical document field, The Raab Collection. Main Responsibilities – Acquire and catalog inventory, following dealer and auction sites – Liaise and be a point of contact for buyers and sellers – Write blog posts and other pieces that aid promotion – Maintain relevant sections of the website using WordPress content management system (no coding required) – Support public relations efforts Requirements: – Self-starter, multi-tasker, well-organized – Existing network of contacts within the collecting community – Background in Medieval art history or paleography, particularly English - Minimum 3 years industry experience - Salary commensurate with experience. Full-time position Starting date: ASAP Location: this is a remote position; no location requirement. Occasional visits to Philadelphia. Interested applicants should contact nathan@raabcollection.com, attaching their resume. [more Job Opening: Medieval Manuscript Specialist at The Raab Collection]