First prize winner Elias Serna gets props from his Santa Monica community! We can't wait to meet him at the awards ceremony on October 18th at LC! [more Community rallies around National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Winner]

ILAB has announced the contenders for the 16th Breslauer Prize for Bibliography, a prestigious competition that occurs every four years. I'm proud to say that four of the candidates are ABAA membersDavid Bromer, Joseph Felcone, Gordon Hollis, and Jeff Weber. The official press release from ILAB and the full list of submissions are below. Best of luck to all these bibliographic scholars! ***** “Bibliographies are, if not the most important tool of an antiquarian bookseller, certainly one of the most important tools of antiquarian booksellers, librarians, scholars, researchers, and collectors. It is therefore only befitting that the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB) honours a work in this scholarly field with a prize." -Arnoud Gerits (Secretary, ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography) During the 41st ILAB Congress, preceded by ILAB's International Antiquarian Book Fair, both in Paris in April 2014, and both coinciding with celebrations around the 100th anniversary of the Syndicat national de la Librairie Ancienne et Moderne (SLAM), the 16th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography will be awarded. This prestigious international Prize of $10,000 for a scholarly work in the field of bibliography is awarded every four years. The jury under the direction of Prize Secretary Arnoud Gerits will meet in autumn 2013 to study and to discuss more than 70 books published worldwide which have been submitted to the Prize. The panel of judges consists of three antiquarian ... [more ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography Submissions]

The winners of the 2013 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest are: First Prize: Elias Serna, University of Califonia-Riverside, The Chicano Movement Second Prize: Ashley Young, Duke University, New Orleans' Nourishing Networks Third Prize: Amanda Zecca, Johns Hopkins University, From Berkeley to Black Mountain Congratulations to our winners! The Awards Ceremony will be held at the Library of Congress on October 18th at 5:30pm. The National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest is an annual competition to recognize outstanding book collecting efforts by college and university students. The NCBCC is administered by the ABAA, the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies (FABS), the Center for the Book and the Rare Books and Special Collections Division (the Library of Congress), with major support from the Jay I. Kislak Foundation. For more information on the contest, please visit contest.abaa.org. [more 2013 National Collegiate Book Collecting Contest Winners Announced!]

This item is still missing as of 5/25/2019. The following autograph is missing: Hugo Wolf, Austrian composer (1860-1903) Autograph Note Signed on visiting card (business card size), both sides, signed on verso. If you have any information on this item, please contact: J.B. Muns, Fine Arts Books & Musical Autographs Phone: 510-525-2420 email: jbmuns@aol.com [more Missing Hugo Wolf Autograph]

JAMES CUMMINS BOOKSELLER of New York City is seeking an experienced antiquarian book cataloguer and rare bookseller, familiar with the full range of material handled by the firm: printed books, manuscripts, autographs, archives, and illustration art. The ideal candidate will have strong writing skills, as well as practical, demonstrable knowledge of descriptive cataloguing (including collation, bibliography, and knowledge of reference sources) from an antiquarian bookselling perspective, with suitable foreign language skills (at least one language beyond English). Sales experience is essential, including the ability to engage new customers, conclude sales, and maintain relations with existing customers. The ideal candidate will have the ability to work as an autonomous member of a small team in cataloguing, buying, researching, and selling rare books, and will have an area of particular expertise or specialization. This is a full-time position. Some travel will be required. Salary commensurate with experience. Please send CV and references to office@jamescumminsbookseller.com. (Website - JCBookseller.com) [more NYC-Based James Cummins Bookseller Seeks Cataloguer/Bookseller]

The Felpham home that William Blake lived in is currently on the market for �650,000 (or approximately $988,000). Blake lived in the charming cottage from 1800-1800 while he worked on several illustration and engraving projects for William Hayley, a popular poet. Blake had run into some financial difficulties at the end of the 18th century and began to rely heavily on patrons for his paintings and drawings. Blake and Hayley made an agreement that Blake would move to Felpham, where Hayley resided, and once there Hayley would hire him for a series of commissions. The arrangement worked for a short time, and Blake enjoyed life on the Sussex coast, writing that Felpham was "the sweetest spot on Earth." However, Hayley and Blake's relationship soured by early 1803. Blake felt that Hayley was more preoccupied with business than Blake's artistic endeavors, and he made plans to move to London. Before he left Felpham, Blake was involved in an altercation with a soldier who accused him of making seditious comments against the king. Though the accusation was consistent with Blake's beliefs, he plead not guilty. Several witnesses testified on Blake's behalf and he was acquitted of the charges. Whoever purchases the Felpham cottage today will likely have less drama. The house is set in a walled garden and has four bedrooms and two bathrooms. This is the first time the house has been on the market since 1928. It is being offered by real estate firm Jackson-Stops & Staff. Check out the pict... [more William Blake's Cottage For Sale]

It's been an exciting few days for baseball fans here in NYC with the various All-Star events, which culminate in the big game tonight. (Did you see Céspedes in the Home Run Derby last night?!) It's the ninth time that NY has hosted an All-Star game, the last time was in 2008 at the old Yankee Stadium, but only the second time that the Mets have been hosts. The last time the Mets hosted was in 1964, their inaugural season at Shea. My father and brother are rabid baseball fans (Mets and Yankees, respectivelya house divided). I've always loved watching and attending games, but admittedly have never been very attentive about players, records, and statistics. During the Home Run Derby last night, I got interested in the history of the game and began doing a little research during commercial breaks. Needless to say, I was bombarded by a wealth of information. Baseball has its roots in English folk games, like stoolball, "tut-ball", and rounders, but there is evidence suggesting that an early version of the game was played in Flanders, France, and even ancient Egypt. The first written reference to baseball appears in a 1744 British children's book, A Pretty Little Pocket-Book by John Newberry (coincidentally, Newberry's book is also considered to be the first in its genre; the Newberry medal is named for him). It presents a woodcut (shown at right) and a little rhyme about the game. The first American reference to the game appears in a 1791 bylaw from the town of Pittsfield, MA t... [more Baseball Fever]

George Washington's personal copy of Acts of Congress is currently on display at Southern Methodist University's DeGolyer Library in Dallas, TX. The leather-bound book was published by the official printer of Congress in 1789, Washington's first year as President of the United States. This copy was custom-printed for Washington and contains his signature and handwritten annotations. Copies of the book were presented to other key politicians of the time, like Thomas Jefferson and John Jay. There are only thirty known copies in existence. The book is on loan from the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, which purchased the book for a whopping $8.7 million ($9.8 million including auction fees) last year at Christie's. The sale price broke the record as the highest for an American book or historical document. The book will be on display for the public until July 27. It is part of a larger exhibit at SMU called "Hail to the Chief: American Presidential History in Word and Image", which displays presidential memorabilia from Washington onward to the present day. That larger exhibit will be open until October 4. After a national tour, Washington's Acts of Congress will be on permanent display at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington, a new center opening at Mount Vernon in September. ​Rare volume from George Washington's library is on display at SMU [more Washington's Annotated Copy of 'Acts of Congress' on Display at SMU]

Manuscripts for a previously unknown novel by Pearl Buck were discovered in a storage locker in Texas. The novel, entitled The Eternal Wonder, appears to have been completed just prior to Buck's death in 1973 and is described as "a coming-of-age tale of a young man who ends up on patrol in the Korean demilitarized zone and in his travels finds love and romance." “It's a novel that encompasses some of Buck's common themes: intercultural relationships, travel, China; Asia in general,” said Michael Carlisle, a partner at Inkwell and literary agent who represents the Buck estate. “This is a very, very exciting moment for anybody who loves the oeuvre of Pearl Buck.” The two manuscripts, one handwritten and one typed, were found in a Fort Worth, TX storage locker that was auctioned off. Luckily, the purchaser of the locker realized what she had and contacted the Buck estate. She gave the manuscripts to Buck's family in exchange for a small finder's fee. Buck's son, Edgar Walsh, said in a recent interview that he "had not known that mother had written this in the last year or two of her life." The novel will be published this October in both print and electronic formats. Buck is best known for her novel The Good Earth, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1931. She is one of only two American women to win both the Pulitzer and the Nobel prize, which she was awarded in 1938; Toni Morrison has also won both prizes. ​Searching for a long-lost Pearl Buck manuscript? Try a ... [more Pearl Buck Manuscript Found in Texas Storage Locker]

The NY Times recently reviewed a new book by Travis McDade, the curator of rare books at the University of Illinois College of Law. Thieves of Book Row: New York's Most Notorious Rare Book Ring and the Man Who Stopped It tells the true story of a rare book crime ring centered around Manhattan's Book Row in the 1920s and 1930s. Sounds like a perfect summer read! Book Row was established as early as 1890 on Fourth Avenue, a short avenue right below Union Square. It ran for six city blocks and had forty-eight bookstores. Sadly, Book Row is no more but one famous bookstore remains: ABAA firm Strand Book Store, which opened in 1927. If you've ever visited this NYC establishment, you know that their famous "18 Miles of Books" slogan is easy to believe. If you haven't been there, make the trip next time you are in the neighborhood. Here's a link to Hymn to Fourth Avenue, a poem by Eli Siegel that celebrates Book Row. [more New Book on the "Thieves of Book Row"]