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Blog posts by Susan Benne

Susan is the Executive Director of the ABAA. She collects material on Brooklyn as well as ephemera and vernacular photography. Susan is focused on making the book trade diverse and equitable.


We have received a report that the items pictured below were lost in transit in July 2017. They were originally purchased at auction and listed under the lot "'Shabbat Shuva' sermon in the handwriting of the Chatem Sofer." If you have any information on these items, please contact ABAA Headquarters at hq@abaa.org or (212) 944-8291. First Item: Second Item: [more Missing Items Lost in Transit]

A copy of The Maltese Falcon was reported stolen from Rhode Island. We were provided with the following details on this particular copy: Inscribed on the upper right-hand corner of the first page was "R Stackpole” and written just below was "to Carol” The book had no stains, no rips, no other writing, no fringe tears, and was wrapped in white tissue paper. Regarding the wrapping: #1) the colorful book-cover lightly enclosed in airy white tissue paper in its own box-the lid was exteriorly taped shut on all for corners and # 2) the book itself was loosely wrapped in white tissue paper and placed in its own airy lidded box; which was taped the same way. Both containers had written on the exterior tops, "VERY VALUABLE BOOK DO NOT OPEN" and underlined. If you have any information on this item, please contact Carol Cummings at (401) 846-212... [more Stolen: “The Maltese Falcon”]

UPDATE: This item has been located! 5/31/2019. Becker, George F. Atlas to Accompany the Monograph on the Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1882. First edition. 21 sheets. Elephant Folio Very good. Small paper label on backstrip and front board. Contents clean and complete. This is the atlas to accompany the third monograph from the USGS. If offered, please contact: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA at (801) 521-3819 or www.kensandersbooks.com. [more Atlas Missing from Chicago Map Fair]

UPDATE: These items have been recovered. On 29 March 2019, a box with 26 Japanese books went missing in Salt Lake City, UT. The books had been exhibited at the ARLIS/NA conference and were packed and sealed in a brown cardboard box, heavily taped and labeled, that was to be shipped by UPS Freight to Boston, MA. The box was issued a UPS Freight tracking number that was never activated. A list of the missing material is below. Please contact Boston Book Company if you have any information about the package or its contents: 617-522-2100 or office@rarebook.com 1. MORIGUCHI Tari, editor. HYÔGENSHUGI KENCHIKU ZUSHÛ. Tôkyô: Kyôyôsha, Taisho 12 25.4 x 18.8 cm. A portfolio, tied, of some 60 plates, on the topic of "EXPRESSIONIST ARCHITECTURE". Wonderful modernist designs, real and proposed, from the cutting edge of the architectural design o... [more Update: Missing Japanese Books, possibly in transit from Salt Lake City]

The following item has been reported missing: On April 20, a first edition/first printing of the first Nancy Drew book-- The Secret of the Old Clock-- was stolen from a locked case at a downtown Savannah antique mall. The book itself is a little over 1" thick, medium blue with pale pink capital letters outlined in black. Other than the lettering, the front of the book is plain; there is no Nancy Drew silhouette as in later printings. The endpapers are white and blank except for an inscription that is dated September 27, 1930. The title page has considerable foxing, and the book does not have a dust jacket. We have the thief on surveillance video, and a police report has been made with the Savannah Police Department (Case #190420124). The SPD contact is Officer Mosteller, and you can reach him at (912) 651-6990. If you have any information... [more Stolen: 1st Edition/1st Printing Nancy Drew Secret of the Old Clock]

Thrasher Skateboard Magazine. Vol. 1, no. 1 (January 1981) - vol. 1, no. 9 (September 1981) (complete run of early large-format issues). San Francisco: High Speed Productions, 1981 - . Nine issues, ca. 30 pp. each, comprising an ultra-scarce unbroken early run of what is unquestionably the most influential skateboarding magazine ever published. Small folio. Near fine. Illus. wrappers, color. Twisted. No. 3 (March 1978). Seattle, Wash.: 1977-1978. Single issue, ca. 48 pp. of the West Coast punk fanzine, illustrated throughout with photos by Kathy Hammond, Dag Rex, K. Leo and others. 4to. Near fine. Illus. stiff wraps, saddle stapled. Straight Edge. No. 1 1982) Hicksville, NY / Brooklyn: Straight Edge, 1982. First Edition. Single issue, unpaginated ca. 28 pp., of the hardcore punk fanzine. Near fine. Illus. stiff wraps, stab-stapled. Forced... [more Thrasher Magazine run and Punk Material Stolen from LA Art Book Fair]

OSLER, William. AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED (ALS). Oxford, 28 December 1918. A brief but fine single-page AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED as "Wm. Osler" written about a year before his death and addressed to a frequent correspondent, a Miss Proctor. In part: "I hope you are keeping well. It is many years now since your old trouble. What an encouragement your case has been!" Single center fold, tiny edge nick, Near Fine. Osler created the first residency program for specialty training of physicians, and he was the first to bring medical students out of the lecture hall for bedside clinical training. He has frequently been described as the "Father of Modern Medicine." Osler's greatest influence on medicine was to insist that students learn from seeing and talking to patients and the establishment of the medical residency. The latter idea spread across ... [more Missing: ALS William Osler Letter]

Please contact Heather O'Donnell at Honey & Wax Booksellers if offered: 917-974-2420; heather@honeyandwaxbooks.com. Chaucer, Geoffrey; Saunders, John (editor); (artist); . Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; WITH: sixteen original painted miniatures after figures in the book. London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1894. Octavo, measuring 7 x 4.75 inches: xiv, , 487, ; 15 postcards measuring 5.5 x 3.5 each and an additional sheet of thick paper cut to the same size (16 total). Book: original full green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Wood-engraved frontispiece and 22 full-page wood engravings of Chaucer's pilgrims, most graphed or annotated in pencil by Sandys, many hand-colored; woodcut headpieces and initials throughout text. Pencil notations regarding Chaucer manuscripts on front free endpaper; ink presentation inscription by the editor's son to Walter Crane,... [more Missing in Transit from Brooklyn, NY to MD: Walter Crane’s copy of The Canterbury Tales]

The ABAA Women's Initiative organized a panel at the 52nd California International Antiquarian Book Fair to discuss the publication "Zamorano Celebrates 90", which highlights important women collectors from Southern California. Project coordinator and editor Jean Gillingwators and first woman president of the Zamorano Club Judy Sahak spoke about how the project came to fruition. Designer and printer Norman Clayton explained the significance of design choices such as the purple Japanese silk and 1/4 leather cover as well as the challenges of replicating old and sometimes deteriorated photographs in print. ABAA members Jen and Brad Johnson were contributing essayists and spoke on fine press printer Lillian Marks of the Plantin Press and bookseller Peggy Christian. Librarian and educator Gary Kurutz discussed Alice Millard. ABAA member Kait ... [more Women’s Initiative Hosts “Zamorano Celebrates 90” Panel in Oakland]

The Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS) received an anonymous donation last year which forms the basis of an endowment fund. Recently re-elected ABAA member Daniel De Simone was instrumental in securing the donation to fund the longevity of the program. In the near-term, the seminar will use the funds immediately to re-launch a more robust and informative website. Seminar directors Lorne Bair and Rob Rulon-Miller are also considering moving out of Colorado -- where they have hosted the week-long seminar for more than 20 years -- to a location that is more easily accessible to attendees. The directors are considering institutional partners in the Midwest and on the East Coast for a move as early as 2020. Even more notably, the seminar has renewed its focus on achieving gender parity and nurturing a more diverse industry. Lorne Bair re... [more Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar Plans Diversity Initiatives]