Editor's Note: Barbara Rootenberg was honored by the ABAA's Women's Initiative during a reception in Pasadena this February. What follows is a speech given by her granddaughter, third-generation bookseller Madison Rootenberg Schwartz. I grew up knowing my grandparents' house was different. While most kids were going over to their grandmas to eat cookies and watch cartoons (not to stereotype, but you get the idea), my grandma was teaching me how to hold 16th-century books and understand which medical device cured a headache in the 18th century. The full suit of armor in the entryway never intimidated me, as well as the monkey skulls lining her desk. That, is my grandparent's house. My grandma is a powerhouse. She is the one who taught me not to be shy, and to always speak my truths, loud and clear. She taught me to always stand up for what I believe in, and ask for what I want. Her seminal work with the ABAA can be seen from the onset - knowing she was stepping into delicate territory dealing in science and medicine before women were deemed “knowledgeable enough” to do so. Not only was she one of very few women book dealers 50 years ago (few enough to count on one hand) she was paving a path for women in books to succeed. She was the first to put out a list of stolen books through the ABAA newsletter (pre computers and email, she likes to remind me). She became president of the chapter in 1984 and chairperson to the LA book fairs at the Ambassador Hotel. In 1982, the ABAA ... [more Honoring Barbara Rootenberg]

A quick roundup of the news about rare books and collectors from around the world. (Regularly updated, with the latest news items added at the top.) Biography of Texas Bookman Johnny Jenkins Michael Vinson's biography of legendary Texas bookman Johnny Jenkins, Bluffing Texas Style: The Arsons, Forgeries, and High-Stakes Poker Capers of Rare Book Dealer Johnny Jenkins, will be published by the University of Oklahoma Press in March 2020. New ABAA President Brad Johnson of johnson rare books & archives based in Covina, California has been elected as new president of the ABAA. (Learn more...) Upcoming Events of Interest: The 60th New York International Antiquarian Book Fair opens at the Park Avenue Armory on March 5! The Booksellers documentary, featuring a great many ABAA members, opens in NYC on March 6 at the Quad Cinema. Joan Ryan (wife of ABAA-member Howard Rootenberg) opens her new one-woman show at The Green Room 42 on March 7. Nathan Raab (The Raab Collection) launches his new book, The Hunt for History, at Main Point Books, Wayne, PA on March 10. Learn more about The Hunt for History... ABAA-Member Miranda Garno Nesler is a Bright Young Bookseller Miranda Garno Nesler, the Director of Women's Literature and History at Whitmore Rare Books, was profiled recently in Fine Books & Collections' Bright Young Booksellers series. Locals Rally Around Ken Sanders Rare Books Following reports that ABAA-member Ken Sanders may have to close or relocate his rare-book store in Salt Lake... [more Rare Book News]

The 2020 winner of the prize is Nolin Deloison Baum of Oakland, California. His collection of culinary high spots is centered around Georges Auguste Escoffier. “I have collected books since I learned to read. After getting my BA, I went to culinary school in Paris and eventually became a professional cook. Fluent in French, it was natural that I also study, and, of course, collect, the historical texts that were significant of my profession,” the 30-year-old Baum said in his winning statement Sponsored by the Southern and Northern California Chapters of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America, The California Young Book Collector's Prize is open to collectors aged 35 and under who are living in California. All collections of books, manuscripts, and ephemera are welcome, no matter their monetary value or subject. Among the prized books in his collection is Le Guide Culinaire, Aide-Mémoire de Cuisine Pratique Bibliothèque Professionnel (1903). Escoffier inscribed this first edition of Le Guide Culinaire to his co-author, “To my very dear friend and devoted collaborator E. Fétu. In recognition of my eternal gratitude.” It is also inscribed by the other primary collaborator in this book's creation, Phileas Gilbert. Baum says that thanks to his œuvre, Escoffier was known as “the king of cooks and the cook of kings,” but without Émile Fétu's tireless editing and recipe-testing, this masterpiece might never have been. It is the single most influential to... [more 2nd Annual California Young Book Collector’s Prize Awarded]

UPDATED 2/2020: This item was recovered. Seemingly fell off the tracking map in San Fransisco, the item is #341 of 512 of Wasson's Mushrooms, Russia, and History, Pantheon, 1957; two large volumes in a slipcase, value is US$2000. The book was in transit from Wisconsin to Hawaii. If offered, please contact: Peter Dast Bookworks 11236 South County Road K Beloit, WI 53511 [more Missing in Transit: Wasson’s Mushrooms, Russia, and History]

In commemoration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment, the 53rd California International Antiquarian Book Fair, February 7-9, 2020 in Pasadena, will feature a special exhibit and panel discussions on the women's suffrage movement. This celebration will highlight the contributions of successive generations of women, from protofeminists like Mary Wollstonecraft, to the abolitionists and the temperance movement, through pioneering crusaders Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and the suffragettes who eventually won the vote, as well as those activists who have continued the fight for equal rights in the 21st century. Among these women is the California artist whose iconic artwork adorns the book fair's poster. Bertha Margaret Boye (1883–1931) was born in Oakland, the daughter of German immigrants. Her father was a cabinet maker, and her mother a homemaker. She was the middle of three sisters; the oldest worked as a nurse and her younger sister was a portrait painter. Boye had just completed studies at the famous Mark Hopkins Art Institute in San Francisco when she entered and won the poster contest sponsored by the College Equal Suffrage League in 1911. She received a $50 prize for her design, which was reproduced on cards, handbills, and publicity stamps. Boye's design was the precise image leaders of the movement sought. The first suffrage campaign in California, in 1896, failed. When conditions suddenly changed in 1910 and a progressive Republican administration... [more The Image of Suffrage]

Passages Bookshop (in Portland, Oregon) was broken into last night). A first rough estimate is that 100-150 books were stolen from smashed display cases. Most of the books are rare and signed editions of poetry, literature, photography, and modern art. I have only begun to identify the missing titles; a first shortlist follows, and we'll send an update with additional details when possible. In case anyone suspects that they are offered material from this incident, the police contact is: Officer Anthony Hill, Portland Bureau of Police 503-545-3436 Case number 20-1394 My phone numbers are: Cell: 503-233-4562 Shop: 503-388-7665 Thank you very much, David Abel Books stolen from Passages Bookshop, 1/2/20. List revised 2/12/20. Complete and uptodate lists also at: www.passagesbookshop.com/stolen-books-1-2-20 www.passagesbookshop.com/stolen-book-list-1-2-20-breakin Additional stolen item added 02/12/2020 The following books, prints, and broadsides were contained in a TRAN brand black leatherette portfolio case, dimensions approximately 18 x 24 x 4 inches. Cohick, Aaron (editor). REAEDR #1: WAR. New Lights, 2017. Narrow folio, saddle-stapled into printed wrappers. Risograph journal, printed in color throughout. Maurer, Paul. Campo Santo. Passages, 1995. Hand-colored letterpress print with collage, edition of 75. Moore, Michael. Two digital prints of drawings (with handwritten text) from Auto-Biographies. Wall Springs, 2013. Pindar, trans. Ted Enslin. Gabriel Liston, illus. The Gods c... [more Large Theft from Passages in Portland, OR (UPDATE Feb 12th, 2020)]

We've recently been made aware of the theft of this important item in NYC. Details and some photos follow. Please contact us or Detective Rodriguez if you are offered or know the whereabouts of this item. On 7/22/2019 a police report was filed for the theft of the 1927 script of The Jazz Singer by Samson Raphaelson. The book was a personal copy of Jack Warner and it may be attempted to be sold as such. The theft occurred sometime between 7/16 - 7/22. The police report number is 2019-018-5906. Detective Hector L. Rodriguez New York City Police Department Major Case Squad Main: (646) 610-6910 Fax: (646) 610-6185 Cell: (917) 417-3074 [more Missing: Jack Warner’s copy of The Jazz Singer script]

Like any field of endeavor, the rare book trade has its quirks and rituals, its habits and history, its jargon and secrets. Unlike some other trades, book dealers have never been afraid to commit their secrets, memories, and insights to paper. There are many, many fascinating and educational books detailing the inner workings of the rare book trade. We polled some dealers and collectors and arrived at this list of the top ten books every book collector should read. Let's start with the more-educational books: 1. ABC for Book Collectors by John Carter The classic reference work on book terminology. First published in 1952, the current edition (the 9th) has been updated to include terms spawned by the internet and -- for the first time -- illustrations! With subtle wit and humor, first John Carter and now Nicholas Barker unpeel the layers of meaning from phrases that -- although once more-common -- now appear terribly obscure outside of rare-book circles. In a field where it's essential that buyers and sellers understand what they're talking about, ABC for Book Collectors is an excellent guide to our common language. After one learns the terminology used in the used book trade, the next thing one needs is a guide that can help you determine whether the book you have come across might of particular value and/or interest. While an acquaintance with an experienced rare book dealer is the best way to access this kind of information, there are several good books that ABAA members an... [more 10 Books Every Book Collector Should Read]

If offered the following item, please contact William Kalush at (212) 594-1033. RINGELBERG, JOACHIM FORTIUS Opera, quae proxima pagina enumerantur. IDEM. Compendium de conscribendis versibus. Lyon, Sebastien Gryphius, 1532-1531. 2 parties en 1 volume petit in-8 (156 x 100 mm) de 687 pp., marque d'imprimeur sur le titre coloriée, pour Opera; 29 pp., 1 f.n.ch. (blanc) pour Arithmetica; veau raciné, dos lisse, tranches mouchetées (reliure du XIXe siècle). Mortimer, French, 460; Baudrier, VIII: 60; Smith, Rara Arithmetica, 166-7; Adams, R-560; Lynn- Thorndike, V, 152; Vitry, 728. Édition originale. Les Opera portent la date de 1532 sur la page de titre, le dernier feuillet indique la date de 1531, comme celle du Compendium, relié à la suite comme c'est souvent le cas (selon Mortimer). "Presumably inspired by Viator but far from being completely dependent on him, Joachim Ringelberg presented perspective in his Opera, published in Lyon in 1531". (Kirsti Andersen, The Geometry of an Art, pp. 166-167). Joachim Sterck van Ringelberg (1499-1531) est un humaniste, mathématicien et astrologue flamand né à Anvers. Il enseigna des sujets très variés de la grammaire à la réthorique, des mathématiques à l'optique et l'art divinatoire. Savant itinérant, il professa en Allemagne, en Suisse et en France. Il est le premier à avoir utilisé le terme "Cyclopedia" (pour Encyclopedia) dans le titre de son livre Lucubrationes vel potius absolutissima kyklopaideia; nempe liber de rat... [more Missing in Transit to NYC: 16th Work by RINGELBERG, JOACHIM FORTIUS]

TALES OF THE WILD AND WONDERFUL ; ; ; . Tales of the Wild and Wonderful.London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., 1825. $3250. Octavo, measuring 7.75 x 4.75 inches: x, , 356. Original drab paper boards, blue cloth spine, publisher's printed spine label, text block uncut. Early ink owner signature to front pastedown, early bookseller description (misattributing authorship to George Borrow, as formerly believed) laid in. Joints cracked but holding, spine chipped, scattered foxing to first and last pages. Housed in a custom clamshell box. First edition of this anonymously published collection of weird tales, one of only two books by Walter Sholto Douglas, born Mary Diana Dods, who would later live as a man with the help of Mary Shelley. This collection includes five tales in the gothic and fairy tale traditions, among them “The Prediction,” a dark tale of a country woman defying the power of the local tyrant, and “The Lord of the Maelstrom,” a retelling of the Beauty and the Beast legend against the backdrop of Norse mythology. A scarce collection by an increasingly recognized gender-nonconforming author, in original boards. If offered, please contact: Honey & Wax Booksellers, ABAA 540 President Street, Third Floor Brooklyn NY 11215 917-974-2420 heather@honeyandwaxbooks.com honeyandwaxbooks.com [more Missing en route to England: Tales of the Wild and Wonderful]