I was reading an article this morning about a South African man who, while on holiday in Ireland, found an American first edition of Wuthering Heights at a flea market for €3 (about $4.27). Realizing the value of the book, he brought it back home to South Africa and promptly sold it for over 77,000 rand (equivalent to more than €8,000 or $11,000)quite the souvenir! The article quoted ILAB member David Cunningham of Cathach Books Ltd. in Dublin, who commented that this was likely the only first edition of Wuthering Heights in the country. He went on to say that "you just don't know how books turn up and how it arrived in this country, but that's the nature of booksyou can find almost anything anywhere." This quote got me thinking about all the interesting stories book hunters everywhere must have. What has been your most interesting and/or profitable find? Tourist sells €3 first edition of Wuthering Heights for €8,000 [more What's Your Most Interesting and/or Profitable Find?]
Events
The ABAA was delighted to have Professor Adrian Johns of the University of Chicago lecture at the 2011 California International Antiquarian Book Fair. His talk was entitled The Promise and Peril of Universal Libraries, and Professor Johns is kind enough to let us republish the text on our blog and website. Enjoy! ******************************* The Promise and Peril of Universal Libraries Adrian Johns University of Chicago Since it was originally announced some five years ago, the Google book project has provoked a rich variety of responses. The intensity of the debate is understandable, because the implications of the project are indeed as broad as they seem to be. This really is the rare enterprise that has implications for everyone who works in academia and, in all likelihood, everyone who does not. The future of knowledge itself is at stake. So too is its past. Many of the debates that Google's venture has ignited have taken place on the relatively familiar, if sometimes very technical, terrain of law and economics. The problems evoked have been those of copyright infringement and monopoly. The debate has also been infused with a strong dose of publishing industry jeremiad, and more recently experts in the bibliographical world have voiced disquieting revelations regarding Google's devotion to outmoded classification criteria and surprisingly poor metadata standards. When addressing what is trumpeted as the project's real purpose, however – to transform how knowledge i... [more 'The Promise and Peril of Universal Libraries']
On Tuesday, a New York federal judge rejected Google's settlement with authors and publishers to digitize books and make them freely available. Judge David Chin said that the agreement would have "granted Google a 'de facto monopoly' and the right to profit from books without the permission of copyright owners". Legally, it seems the largest factor for rejection of the settlement is its inclusion of orphan works, which are books whose rights holders are unknown. Judge Chin implied that if the settlement was amended and limited only to books that authors or publishers opted in, then the majority of legal obstacles would be removed. Google argues that leaving orphan works out of the agreement would significantly diminish the value of their digital library, both to the company and the public. Pamela Samuelson, a copyright expert at UC Berkeley who has worked to prevent the settlement, commented that “even though it is efficient for Google to make all the books available, the orphan works and unclaimed books problem should be addressed by Congress, not by the private settlement of a lawsuit.” I have absolutely no familiarity with copyright law but, in my inexperienced opinion, Ms. Samuelson's statement sounds spot on. What do you think? Clearly, this ruling can also open a discussion on rare books and the trade in general; please post any ideas, opinions, etc. Judge Rejects Google's Deal to Digitize Books [more NY Times: "Judge Rejects Google's Deal to Digitize Books"]
Last weekend at the 44th California International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco, the ABAA held a raffle in support of the Elisabeth Woodburn Fund. For those who are unfamiliar, the Elisabeth Woodburn Fund is non-profit charitable fund established by former ABAA President Elisabeth Woodburn in 1990. It is overseen by the Trustees of the Benevolent Fund and the Executive Director of the ABAA, and gives financial assistance for scholarly research and education relevant to the antiquarian book trade, such as scholarships to the Colorado Antiquarian Bookselling Seminar and the California Rare Book School, contributions to the ILAB Bibliographical Prize, and support of the Bibliographical Society of American and the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. The Elisabeth Woodburn Fund also houses the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Fund, which was created to encourage and educate new book collectors and to support the National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, which is now cosponsored by the ABAA. The raffle prize was a photo collage celebrating 50 Years of ABAA Fairs. Emeritus member Barney Rosenthal supplied the photographs, which were taken at the 1961 New York Fair, and he also compiled and signed the collage. Barney was also kind enough to come to the Fair on Sunday to draw the winning ticket and present the collage to the winner. ABAA member Sam Hessel was the lucky winner, and he generously donated the piece to Headquarters for archival purposes... [more San Francisco Raffle Photos]
ABAA members James Bryan and Mary Hill, proprietors of Carpe Diem Fine Books, were featured in an article in the Monterey County Herald this past weekend. The link to the article appears to be broken, so I have posted it below. Congrats, James and Mary! ******************************************** First editions seize the day at downtown bookstore By DAVE DE GIVE Special to The Herald Posted: 02/06/2011 01:38:57 AM PST; Updated: 02/06/2011 01:38:57 AM PST Sixteen years ago, James Bryant and Mary Hill were living in Utah when they had the idea for selling books. Hill, previously from Monterey, followed a job that had moved to Utah, but Bryant, who was in the wine business, found that sales were slow in Salt Lake City. Eager for something new, "we took the opportunity to seize the day and start a book business," said Bryant. The couple eventually moved back to the Peninsula, and for the past five years have operated Carpe Diem Fine Books in a historic neighborhood in Old Monterey, specializing in first-edition, rare and used books. The location is fitting for a store that stocks rarities from the past. A segment of Monterey's Path of History winds its way along Pearl Street, passing Carpe Diem's 1930s Carmel-stone building before turning up Houston Street toward the Robert Louis Stevenson House, where the famous author lived in 1879. The location is fitting for a store that stocks rarities from the past. A segment of the Monterey's Path of History winds its way along Pearl Stre... [more Members in the News: Carpe Diem Fine Books]
The 44th California International Antiquarian Book Fair will be held this weekend, February 11th-13th, in San Francisco at the Concourse Exhibition Center. Over 200 members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) will be exhibiting their diverse inventories, providing a rich selection of books, manuscripts, maps and other printed materials. The theme of this year's fair is music, and there will be a special exhibit of rare musical books and manuscripts from the Jean Gray Hargrove Music Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Additionally, there will be several lecture and seminars taking place during the fair; a schedule of events can be found here. If you are attending the fair, please drop by the ABAA booth! The 44th California International Antiquarian Book Fair Concourse Exhibition Center 635 8th Street at Brannan Street San Francisco, CA 94103 Hours: Friday, February 11, 2011 3 pm - 8 pm Saturday, February 12, 2011 11 am - 7 pm Sunday, February 13, 2011 11 am - 5 pm For more information, please visit sfbookfair.com. [more This Weekend: 44th California International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco]
An interesting New York Times article on Litquake and the literary scene in San Francisco; several ABAA firms are mentioned- Bolerium, Libros Latinos, Meyer Boswell- and there's a nice paragraph on John Durham, proprietor of Bolerium. Thanks to Joe Luttrell from Meyer Boswell for bringing this to our attention! San Francisco's Bookstores and Readings reflect a Lively Literary Scene [more San Francisco’s Bookstores and Readings reflect a Lively Literary Scene]
A member brought this brief but interesting item about Jane Austen to our attention. Academic: Jane Austen had spell checker [more 'Jane Austen had spell checker']
A first edition of D.H. Lawrence's The Rainbow, with an illustrated dust jacket, is expected to bring in between $28,000 and $40,000 when it is auctioned off by Sotheby's London on October 28. Even without the dust jacket, a first edition of the novel is valuable, going for about $1,600 depending on condition, because, out of the original 2,527 copies printed in 1915, 1,195 copies were destroyed after the book was banned under the Obscene Publications Act. This left only 1,332 first editions in existence, of which very few are believed to still have their dust jackets intact. Two other D.H. Lawrence first editions will be sold alongside this rare copy of The Rainbow; a copy of Lady Chatterley's Lover in a rare dust jacket and a limited edition English-issue copy of Women in Love, number 31 of 50 copies signed by Lawrence. These books are part of a private collection comprised of 149 rare books put up for sale by a mysterious 75-year-old man, an "English Bibliophile" who has been collecting for 45 years and now wants to disperse his library through several Sotheby's sales so that "other collectors, young and old" have "the opportunity to acquire such fine books". Also included in the sale is an extremely rare first edition of Peter Pan that is signed by J.M. Barrie and inscribed to Lady Diana Cooper, a close friend of his and well known society beauty. It is estimated to sell for almost $32,000, and the entire collection is thought to bring in nearly $5 million. Rare DH Lawren... [more Rare D.H. Lawrence Books at Auction]
On October 28th, Ken Gloss will be giving a free lecture at the Hingham Public Library entitled, "Is There Value in Your Old and Used Books?". The link provides a profile of Ken as well as more information on the lecture. Ken Gloss coming to Hingham Public Library Brattle Book Shop [more Member in the News: Ken Gloss]