ABAA-member Frank S. Klein passed away at his home on January 12, 2019. Obituary: Upon graduation from Cuyahoga Falls High School during World War II, Frank was drafted into the Army. Following his discharge he enrolled at Kent State University where he excelled not only scholastically but also athletically as an outstanding tackle on their varsity football team. Frank, with other Kent students, founded Phi Gamma Theta Fraternity that later merged with Phi Delta Theta. He taught a few months, then decided to pursue a military career. His ROTC training at Kent State qualified him to enlist as a lieutenant in the Army's officer training program and he quickly rose through the ranks. He served in Korea and in Vietnam. Frank retired in 1970 as a Lieutenant Colonel working at the Pentagon in Army Aviation. He then took over operation of The Bo... [more In Memoriam: Frank Klein]

An announcement from the Northern California Chapter of the Antiquarian Bookseller's Association of America: Announcing the Winners of the inaugural California Young Book Collector's Prize. The quality of all of the applications made it extremely difficult to choose the winning candidates, and the committee would like to extend its sincere thanks to each and every applicant who took the time and effort to apply. Our third place award went to Megan Messinger, from Pomona. Her collection “is an attempt to bring together my two great loves” – medicine and theater. While these two interests may seem very far apart, Megan has found a place where they merge: in the staging of violence. A former fight choreographer and teacher of stage combat, the merging of medicine and theater has deepened her understanding of “the place of violence in... [more CA Young Book Collector’s Prize Winners]

Meet the newest members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America! Full Members William C. Baker W. C. Baker Rare Books & Ephemera (Brooklyn, NY) -- Avant-garde Literature, Americana, Science, Religion, Performing Arts Will Baker operates W. C. Baker Rare Books & Ephemera, a firm specializing in Americana, counterculture, and unusual currents in science, religion, and the performing arts. Will grew up in northeast Ohio, studied religion at Carleton College, and first moved to New York in 2001 to pursue a master's degree in museum studies at NYU. During that time, he worked for the late sword swallower and collector Johnny Fox, who encouraged him to consider more seriously his long-held interest in the rare book trade. After attending Rare Book School, Will was hired as a cataloger in Americana by the William Reese Company, wh... [more New Members]

The Thomas Mann House has paired up with ABAA-members Brad and Jennifer Johnson of Johnson Rare Books & Archives in Covina, California, to recreate the author's personal library during the years he spent in California. This informative video details the exciting project... We asked Dr. Nikolai Blaumer, Program Director of the Thomas Mann House, about this ambitious project: ABAA: What happened Thomas Mann's original library at the end of his life? The Mann family left the country in 1952, after Thomas Mann was accused of Un-American activities. Parts of his private library were taken to Switzerland, where Thomas Mann spent his last years. Those books are part of the Thomas Mann Archive in Zurich today. Other books (approximately 3500) were sold to a bookseller in Santa Monica. The German Government bought the house in 2016 after it was pr... [more Recreating Thomas Mann’s Library]

In the Jim Crow era, travel was fraught with difficulty for African Americans. The growing black middle class could afford to buy cars and travel for leisure, and throughout the South, the purchase of a car was an important goal for black families as it allowed them to avoid segregated public transport. However, traveling by car to new towns and cities, African Americans did not know which restaurants would serve them, which gas stations would fill up their car, and where it was safe to spend the night. Enter Victor H. Green, a mail carrier in Harlem, who had the idea for a guide book for African Americans to help them navigate the country without injury or harassment — based, in part, on similar guide books from Jewish publishers. The Negro Motorists Green Book (later renamed The Negro Travelers Green Book, but known colloquially as th... [more What was a Green Book?]

Welcome the latest full- and associate-members of the ABAA. Full Members David Meikle, Archway Books (Dover, NH) David Meikle bought his first “old books” at age eleven, paying a bargain price for three handsome 125-year-old books. Only when he got home did he realize most of the engravings were razored out and had probably been for sale individually in that very stall. Still, he was hooked on old books. Twenty-five years later, he jumped at a chance offer to manage a used bookstore in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and spent ten years there, eight as an owner. As his own antiquarian interests developed, he realized that running a general-interest used bookstore would not remain fulfilling for the rest of his working life. So, he sold his share and for nearly twenty years has sold primarily on the internet and at shows. While he character... [more New Members]

Enjoy this selection of preview items that our members will be exhibiting at the upcoming 42nd annual Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair. We'll be adding items to this page all week, so check back daily for more extremely rare and beautirful items! Fantaisie-Fantasia-Fantasie-Fancy- Scenes for Ladies of Leisure to Construct c1840. A large folio with die-cut opening in cover to create a "picture frame". It includes 2 plates and an array of cutout hand finished engraved images of women, children and accessories. The two 12" x 9 ½” plates have numerous slits at the base Each of the images has a tab at the base. The individual women are placed in the incisions or slits creating elegant scenes from the serene to the severe. Includes two pattern sheets with eight (8) different scenes. Endless scenes can be created beyond the scenes s... [more Boston Book Fair: Featured Items]

A number of ABAA members have either opened new stores or renovated their existing premises recently. This is significant because for years, antiquarian booksellers were either retiring or converting to “closed shops,” which only sell by appointment, on the internet, and/or at rare book fairs. It's an expensive undertaking to keep a shop open to the public with regular business hours, staff, utilities, etc., and many rare booksellers — like their trade bookselling counterparts — found it challenging to maintain an open shop. Unlike those in the new-book trade, antiquarian booksellers have the option of operating as a “closed shop,” and focusing on rare-book catalogs, rare book fairs, and selling to institutional collectors directly instead. Recently, a new trend has emerged, with the five ABAA members below opening new stores ... [more ABAA Members Expanding]

It's back! The Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair returns to the Hynes Convention Center in Boston's beautiful Back Bay for its 42nd year, November 16-18, 2018. Special events at this year's event include documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman on the making of Ex Libris: The New York Public Library; political guru Michael Goldman on 1968: The Year of the Century; Sumio Yamazaki from the Kyoto Book Artists Society in discussion with Charles Vilnis on Japanese art books; Editor Peter K. Steinberg on Sylvia Plath; and the 17th annual Ticknor Society Roundtable panel discussion on starting a collection. One of the oldest and most respected antiquarian book shows in the country, the Boston Book Fair offers a top selection of items available on the international literary market. Attendees have the unique chance to get a close look at r... [more Boston Book Fair 2018]

A couple of literary first editions caught to eye this week, along with an original WWII propaganda poster, and an entertaining and very honest description of a first edition Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. THE COLOSSUS AND OTHER POEMS by Sylvia Plath New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1962. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. 84 p. First American Edition. With this startling, exhilarating book of poems, Sylvia Plath (1932-63) burst into literature with spectacular force. In such classics as "The Beekeeper's Daughter," "The Disquieting Muses," "I Want, I Want," and "Full Fathom Five," she writes about sows and skeletons, fathers and suicides, about the noisy imperatives of life and the chilly hunger for death. This copy belonged to Anne Wilder, the confidant and lover of poet Anne Sexton, with Wilder's signature to the front f... [more Books of the Week]