The California International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to San Francisco February 9-11. Widely recognized as one of the world's largest exhibitions of antiquarian books for sale, more than 100 exhibitors from around the world will present rare books, maps, illustrations, historical documents, and ephemera on a vast array of subjects and genres. Here is a small preview of the material exhibitors will have available. THE UNIQUE ORIGINAL AMBROTYPE Ostendorf #14. Housed in an 1865 period frame, with mourning ribbons setting off the ambrotype at the corners. Cole, Roderick A. (attributed) Abraham Lincoln. Ninth-Plate Ruby Glass Ambrotype. Peoria Illinois: circa 1858. Displayed in a plain, but handsome, period wooden frame with the back opened in order to observe the painted backing and the “ruby-red” tone. Ambrotypes are negative images produced on a glass plate, viewed as a positive by the addition of a black backing; sometimes this backing is a piece of velvet and other times, such as the present one, a thin varnish. The ruby-red quality of the glass is quite apparent. 1856-1858 were the peak years of the ambrotype, into which this example falls. But just as the ambro was displacing the daguerreotype, the care-de-visite and the tintype were waiting in the wings, about to displace this technique. The Cole image was popularized on campaign ribbons and button ferrotypes during the 1860 presidential campaign. Probably obtained during that campaign, kept in a drawer, and then,... [more California Book Fair Preview]
Renowned chef, restaurateur, and pioneer of California cuisine, Alice Waters will be a guest at the California International Antiquarian Book Fair on Saturday, February 10, where she will appear at California bookseller Ben Kinmont's booth (#217) for a book signing at 3pm. The event is a fundraiser for The Edible Schoolyard, a project to transform the food experience that Waters began in a public middle school in Berkeley, California, in 1995, and which has now grown to serve public schools throughout the United States and abroad. This “edible education” program increases children's understanding of nutrition, farming, and the preparation of food, and views gastronomy as connected to economics, social justice and climate change. It is also part of a much longer history, from the emergence of soup kitchens during the French Revolution to the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast Program that began in Oakland. In the words of author Michael Pollan: “To spend time in an Edible Schoolyard is to realize how much more is going on here than teaching kids how to garden or cook....The Edible Schoolyard is an eloquent and practical answer to some of the most pressing questions facing us as a society.” In recent years, Kinmont has been working to expand the idea of gastronomy to include issues around economic precarity. Realizing that most culinary historians focus on food for the top 1% of the population, Kinmont has “been looking for works that reveal the role of gastronomy i... [more Meet Alice Waters at the California Book Fair]
Bibliography Week Showcase 2024 Join us for an in-person Bibliography Week Showcase at the French Institute: Alliance Française on Monday, January 22, 2024 (10:30am-4pm). The Showcase features 30 dealers exhibiting printed and manuscript material from the Middle Ages to the present day. Admission is free! Browse exhibiting dealers below. Location: French Institute: Alliance Française 60th Street between Park and Madison, NYC. The Bibliography Week Showcase is hosted with the Bibliographical Society of America and the Grolier Club and is part of Bibliography Week 2024. 2024 Bibliography Week Exhibitor List (by alpha) Booth Number Exhibitor 13 James Arsenault & Company 5 Bromer Booksellers 28 Capitol Hill Books 1 Cleveland Book Company 27 James Cummins Bookseller 30 De Simone Company, Booksellers 29 De Wolfe & Wood 14 Enchanted Books, ABAA, AAS 12 Fournier Fine & Rare 24 Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio 8 mark funke, bookseller 11 Thomas A Goldwasser Rare Books 17 James Gray Bookseller 19 Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller Inc. 4 Honey & Wax Booksellers 10 James S. Jaffe Rare Books LLC 21 Michael Laird Rare Books 15 Liber Antiquus 18 Martayan Lan Rare Books, Maps and Prints 6 McBride Rare Books 7 Bruce McKittrick Rare Books 2 Old New York Book Shop 22 Rabelais Inc. 26 William Reese Company 25 Ken Sanders Rare Books 23 Tavistock Books 9 Ursus Books 3 Michael R. Weintraub, Inc. 20 White Fox Rare Books and Antiques 16 Zucker Art Books [more 2024 Bibliography Week Exhibitors]
Edit: The Fair is now open! Shop the Fair here... Don't miss the 2023 ABAA Holiday Virtual Book Fair! The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA) and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) will host a virtual book fair to kick off the end-of-year holidays at www.abaa.org/vbf from 12 pm ET on Thursday, November 30 until 7 pm ET on Saturday, December 2, 2023. Over the last three years, virtual book fairs hosted by the ABAA have grown in size and scope, offering a wide array of rare books and related items, including manuscripts, maps, autographs, prints, and a wide variety of ephemera, and drawing a diverse group of collectors. At this ABAA Holiday Virtual Book Fair, international dealers will join ABAA members to offer their latest acquisitions and rare finds. The exhibitors can be previewed here... Doors open at 12 pm ET on Thursday, November 30, 2023 and will remain open continuously until 7 pm ET on Saturday, December 2, 2023. Exhibitors will replenish their booths each night, giving collectors an incentive to visit and shop over multiple days. Admission is free! More details can be found at www.abaa.org/vbf... Sign-up to receive email updates about this and other virtual book fairs throughout the year... Preview Items The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (1971) New York: Harper and Row, 1971. 1st U.S. Edition . Hardcover. Fine/Fine. Fine in a fine unclipped dust jacket. Very light edge wear to bottom of jacket. Old Christmas by Washington Irving ... [more ABAA Holiday Virtual Book Fair 2023]
Chapter News Mid-Atlantic Sunday Steinkirchner Midwest Jay Platt Northern California Alexander Akin Pacific Northwest The PNW ABAA is sponsoring the Rose City Book & Paper Fair. This year's book fair should be very exciting. It's the first year we are doing Portland Book Week, which will feature a city-wide bookstore crawl and other coordinated events at over 40 shops around town, culminating at the book fair. The organization that puts on the fair, Cascade Booksellers Association, is partly organizing this. It should be a fun fair with extra buzz generated. Rachel Burnside Rare Books, ABAA Southeast Kenneth Mallory Bookseller, ABAA Southern California James Goldwasser Committee Notes Book Fair Committee National Book Fair Chair [more Chapter News & Committee Notes]
In partnership with the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Conference (Indiana University Bloomington, June 27-30, 2023) and the ABAA's in-person Booksellers' Showcase, the ABAA will offer a virtual showcase that everyone can visit, regardless of their location. Doors will remain open continuously from Tuesday, June 27 at 12:00pm ET until Friday, June 30 at 8:00pm ET. The RBMS Virtual Showcase will take place at www.abaa.org/vbf Preview the exhibitors... Enjoy this preview of selected books and ephemera that you'll find offered by ABAA members at the 2023 RBMS Booksellers' Virtual Showcase. The Anatomical Eye Glass - The Best on the Face of the Earth Milwaukee: The Milwaukee Litho & Engraving Co, 1902. Lightly warped. Scrapbook residue on reverse.. A fine 11.5" by 8/75" advertising trade sign or counter card. It depicts the earth wearing pince-nez --almost as though they were held in place by gravity. The three elves at the base hold a second pair and point to the nose pads. It is captioned "THE PADS ANCHOR the Eye Glasses in position so that they WILL NOT FALL and CANNOT BE SHAKEN OFF. Presented by F. A. Hardy & Co. Chicago ILL. Verso blank. Delightful eye-catching whimsy imparting a clear message on a new development in eye wear. Offered by Eclectibles. The Faerie Queene. A Poem in Six Books with the Fragment Mutabilitie. 6 volumes Spenser, Edmund. Thomas J. Wise (editor); Walter Crane (illustrator) London: Printed at the Chiswick Press for George Allen, 1897. Hardcover. Ve... [more RBMS Virtual Showcase Highlights]
Our most-recent in-person event was the well-attended 63rd New York International Antiquarian Book Fair. Now, we present the ABAA Virtual Book Fair: Spring Edition, the premiere virtual event for books, maps, autographs, ephemera, and more! May 11-13 abaa.org/vbf Open continuously from 12 pm ET on Thursday until 7 pm ET on Saturday. Explore the finest rare books, manuscripts and ephemera. Shop the virtual booths of international sellers and discover their latest acquisitions and rare finds. View exhibitors here... Learn more about the ABAA Virtual Book Fair: Spring Edition at abaa.org/vbf... For news about our upcoming in-person and virtual book fairs, visit our events page... [more Join us for the ABAA Virtual Book Fair: Spring Edition]
The 63rd New York International Antiquarian Book Fair (April 27-30, 2023 at the Park Avenue Armory) will feature over 180 exhibitors from 17 countries, presenting a vast treasure trove of items: rare books, maps, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, illustrations, historical documents, prints and print ephemera. Below are some of the items dealers have indentified as their finest or most-exciting offerings! Publisher's Deluxe Edition with the Plates Colored by Hand A Wonderful Example in the Publisher's Superlative 'Polychromatic' Binding SAND, Maurice; MANCEAU, A, illustrator Masques et Bouffons (Comédie Italienne). Texte et Dessins par Maurice Sand. Gravures par A. Manceau. Preface par George Sand. Paris: A Lévy Fils, Libraire-Éditeur, 1862. Publisher's Deluxe Edition in the Superlative 'Polychromatic' Binding by Antoine Lenègre. Two large octavo volumes (10 3/8 x 7 1/8 inches; 263 x 181 mm.). -viii, 356, list of plates,verso blank], , table, verso blank] pp; , 384 pp. Half-titles with printer's credit and publisher's note verso and printed titles in red to each vol., engraved frontispiece with additional coloring by hand to vol. 1, 'Préface' by George Sand, 'Avant-Propos', 'Introduction' and text. Fifty superb hand colored plates by Maurice Sand, and engraved by George Sand's lover Alexandre Manceau. Publisher's Deluxe 'Polychromatic' binding by Antoine Lenègre with his signature in gilt on both front covers. Quarter black chagrin over black cloth boar... [more New York Book Fair Preview]
Spring is in the air and the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America's New York Book Fair returns to the Park Avenue Armory April 27-30, 2023. The Fair's specialties encompass art, science, medicine, literature, history, gastronomy, fashion, first editions, Americana, philosophy, children's books and much more. From the historic and academic, the religious and spiritual—to the bedrock of secular culture, finance, politics—the Fair boasts offerings in every conceivable genre and subject. The 63rd New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is officially sanctioned by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers. This means that the consumer can rely upon the experience and professionalism of participating dealers and the authenticity of the items available for purchase. Simply stated, all books, manuscripts and related material have been carefully examined for completeness and bibliographic accuracy. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.nyantiquarianbookfair.com... Event Schedule Thursday, April 27, 5pm-8pm -- Preview Night Friday, April 28, noon-8pm Saturday, April 29, noon-7pm Sunday, April 30, noon-5pm Exhibitors The Fair will showcase over 180 exhibitors from 17 countries, presenting a vast treasure trove of items: rare books, maps, illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, fine bindings, illustrations, historical documents, prints and print ephemera. View the floor plan and ex... [more 2023 New York Book Fair]
The ABAA is accepting entries for the 2023 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest, which is jointly administered by the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA), the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Grolier Club, and the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (Library of Congress). The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is open to all prizewinners of college book-collecting contests, as well as to interested students whose institutions do not offer formal contests. (More information can be found here...) All entries should be submitted at https://www.abaa.org/ncbcc/ncbcc-application... All entries for the 2023 competition must be submitted by June 15, 2023. For more information on the contest, please visit https://www.abaa.org/ncbcc/the-national-collegiate-book-collecting-contest... The Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America promotes ethical standards and professionalism in the antiquarian book trade, encourages the collecting and preservation of rare books, and supports education and research. The Fellowship of American Bibliographic Societies was formed in 1993 as a national organization of member book collecting groups. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress was established in 1977 to promote books, reading, literacy and libraries, as well as the scholarly study of books. Noted collector, bibliophile, and philanthropist Susan Jaffe Tane funds the prizes for the Nation... [more 2023 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest]