Demystifying Social Media “Social media” may very well be the single most pervasive yet misunderstood term of the last decade. I would be pointing out the obvious to say that over time, social media has fundamentally changed the way we interact; it has also raised the bar for businesses, altered the way we construct communities and discussion, and given birth to some pretty cryptic lingo (be w... [more]

Each year the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section (RBMS) of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) holds a four day Preconference focused on special collections. The location of the conference and the theme change annually; this year the event was held in Las Vegas and explored "space, place, and the artifact in special collections". The conference allows special collections libra... [more]

The making of catalogs is on my mind tonight. I just put my own nineteenth catalog to bed — it left for the printer's an hour ago, a massive thing by my standards; over a hundred pages, just shy of two hundred-fifty items, all pictured. Research and cataloguing aside, lots of work goes into a catalog like that. The last two weeks at Lorne Bair Rare Books have been spent frantically photographing... [more]

As of 1 August, Jesse Mann of Chatham Bookseller will be starting a new position as Theological Librarian at Drew University in Madison, NJ. He will close The Chatham Bookseller – a long-time member of the ABAA. Jesse is eager to find someone who could buy the entire inventory; please contact him at chatham8@optonline.net for details. [more]

Thanks to all the members who continue to check out the new ABAA website. In particular, thank you to those who have used the "comments" and "bugreport" email addresses to point out insufficiencies and issues. Our Project Manager, Luke Lozier, and the developers at Biblio have been compiling and addressing the reports pretty much non-stop. In the last few days, several hundred items have been comp... [more]

On June 17th, join ABAA members George Koppelman and Dan Wechsler for an evening at Swann Auction Galleries, where they will be speaking about their recently published book Shakespeare's Beehive and recounting "the story of how two antiquarian booksellers would acquire and conclude that it is William Shakespeare's own personal dictionary." Full details below. [more]

Last December, the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at The Library of Congress held an excellent symposium on authenticity. “Authenticity,” was a day-long program that looked at one of the most difficult subjects facing libraries, private collectors, and booksellers today -- judging the genuineness of printed materials. The symposium focused on the research which curators, scholars, ... [more]

The Midwest Chapter of the ABAA has just announced a new annual scholarship to the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar! Details for 2014 applicants are below. The Florence Shay/Midwest Chapter CABS Scholarship In memory of long-time member Florence Shay (1922-2012), the Midwest Chapter of the ABAA offers a $1500 educational scholarship to attend the 2014 Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. It covers ... [more]

The literary world has been buzzing all week about ABAA members George Koppelman and Dan Wechsler's possession of a dictionary, John Baret's Alvearie, they believe was owned and annotated by William Shakespeare. There has been considerable press on Shakespeare's Beehive, and Dan has had the opportunity to chat about their scholarship with a number of outlets. Dan Wechsler sat down with Amy Eddings... [more]

Here's some exciting bibliographic news to start the day! The Bibliographic Society of America has awarded member Joseph J. Felcone (Joseph J. Felcone Inc.) the 2014 St. Louis Mercantile Library Prize for outstanding scholarship in the bibliography of American history and literature for his book Printing in New Jersey 1754-1800: A Descriptive Bibliography (American Antiquarian Society, 2012). The ... [more]

George Koppelman and Daniel Wechsler have been waiting for this day for six years– the day the world will discover they are in possession of a book they claim was owned by William Shakespeare. Koppelman and Wechsler purchased a copy of Baret's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionarie (1580), on eBay in 2008. While other books have more famously earned the designation of Shakespeare source texts, work... [more]

At the Board Meeting in New York, the ABAA's Governors voted to amend the contract for members to list their books for sale at abaa.org. There are some significant changes to this contract from the previous iteration, namely the new contract offers a "FREE" option for members to list fewer than 50 books for no charge. This allows members to upload enough books to populate their own member pages wi... [more]

The blog will be silent until after Labor Day as I will be enjoying a little vacation. In the meantime, please visit our Facebook page to get your bookish fix. Enjoy the last days of summer! [more]

Our friend and former ABAA President Stuart Bennett recently published a novel encompassing genres including historical fiction (think Jane Austen and the Regency Period, Shakespeare's London), romance, and time travel. The Perfect Visit "tells the story of two bibliophiles who go back in time to rescue lost books and manuscripts." I couldn't put it down! A must read for any rare bookie. Check it ... [more]

ABAA Members Anne and David Bromer have very generously donated two million dollars to the Boston Athenaeum in support of the institution and the Bromer Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Athenaeum. Read more about it here! [more]

The Journal of the Book Club of Washington published a talk that Santa Monica based ABAA member Ken Karmiole gave at the California Rare Book School last year, and it's quite an interesting read. Ken addresses the pertinent theme of 'Collecting the Physical Book in the Digital Age' from a rare book dealer's perspective, outlining how the rise of the Internet has affected the trade and offering som... [more]

Member Barbara Cohen has put together a fabulous website, newyorkboundbooks.com, that is a "resource dedicated to all things New York for readers and writers". Here's a link to a blog post about the site from the NY Times. Congratulations, Barbara, and thank you for putting together a great resource! [more]

Bon Appetit recently named the "7 Best Culinary Bookstores in America" and ABAA firms Rabelais (Portland, ME) and Amber Unicorn (Las Vegas, NV) made the list! (If you've browsed either shop's inventory, this is no surprise!) Congratulations! The 7 Best Culinary Bookstores in America [more]

It has just been announced that ABAA member Larry McMurtry of Booked Up in Archer City, TX will be stepping in as the "New Books" columnist for Harper's Magazine. He will be filling in for Zadie Smith, who is on temporary leave. Congrats, Larry, we can't wait to read the column! 'Lonesome Dove' author Larry McMurtry writing books column for Harper's Magazine [more]

The Rare Book School had some wonderful course offerings this year (as they do every summer!). ABAA member and past President Tom Congalton of Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc. was there as instructor for his fourth year, co-teaching Printed Books since 1800: Element of Description and Analysis. He wrote a great blog post reviewing his course and experience. Click here for a very enjoyable read!... [more]

The New-England chapter of the ABAA is pleased to invite members of the ABAA, the trade in general, and all interested observers to a special one-day "unseminar" entitled "New Tools: Marketing Approaches, Platforms, & Technologies for Antiquarian Booksellers," to be held Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. We plan a full day of presentations, speakers, and... [more]

The Barnstable-Hyannis Patch is featuring "10 Questions with Isaiah Thomas Books' Jim Visbeck". Click here to read! 10 Questions with Isaiah Thomas Books' Jim Visbeck [more]

The Hamilton Library at the University of Hawaii at Manoa is very grateful to Michael Hollander for the recovery of 218 booksand for alerting the Library of the books' absence in the first place. Michael was contacted by someone in Hawaii who was offering over 200 books for sale. The books were from the mid-1800s to the early 20th century and their total estimated value is between $50,000 to $100... [more]