Rock Toews (Back Creek Books LLC) is a key player in determining whether a Maryland area slated for development was the site of a Civil War parole camp. Priscilla Juvelis contributed a chapter to an upcoming book on William T. Vollmann entitled William T. Volmann: A Critical Companion. Don Lindgren of Rabelais Inc. is interviewed for Eater's piece on 72 Ways Food Can Change the World. He is in good company with Alice Waters, Jose Andres, and Danny Meyer, to name a few of the other interviewees. An interview with Leonard Fox on fashion illustration appeared in the September issue of Traditional Home magazine. Kevin Mac Donnell contributed the third chapter to the recently published Collecting, Curating and Researching Writer's Libraries, A Handbook edited by Richard Oram and Joseph Nicholson (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014). An excerpt was posted on The New Antiquarian and you can read the article in its entirety in our Member Articles section. If you are interested in purchasing the book, please note the promotional code. [more New Antiquarians in the News]

ABAA member Raymond Smith (R.W. Smith Bookseller) recently published In Time We Shall Know Ourselves, a book of 52 photographs taken during his three-month road trip through the Eastern half of the United States in 1974. Publication of the book coincided with a traveling exhibition of the photographs that commenced at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts in June. The exhibition will be on display at the Hickory Museum of Art from October 4, 2014-January 4, 2015; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville, FL from April 23-August 23, 2015; and finally at the Georgia Museum of Art from October 25, 2015-January 3, 2016. In addition to the 52 photographs printed in duotone, In Time We Shall Know Ourselves also includes three critical essays, Richard H. King's “Mirror with a Memory”; Alexander Nemerov's “First and Last: The Sequence of In Time We Shall Know Ourselves”; and Smith's “Retrospect." Nemerov writes, The easiest thing to say about Raymond Smith is that he follows in the tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank. Evans was his photography teacher at Yale in the early 1970s and Frank's book The Americans (1958) is a source Smith acknowledges for his own book. But neither of these associations touches the deepest energy of Smith's photographs... Traveling far and wide, Smith sought out his subjects in a way reminiscent of Evans and Frank. But unlike those photographers he was animated by a sense of the town studio as the place and soul of his interstate picture... [more Photography Book by Raymond Smith Published and the Subject of Traveling Exhibition]

Ray Smith of R.W. Smith Bookseller has published his long awaited photo book, In Time We Shall Know Ourselves (images available at the link). It contains 52 photographs from a three-month photographic road trip through the Eastern half of the United States in 1974, and includes essays on the photographs by Alexander Nemerov and Richard H. King of the University of Nottingham, and an afterword by the photographer. The book is the subject of a traveling exhibition organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. Contact Ray for information on ordering a copy. A revised and expanded edition of Woman with Guitar: Memphis Minnie's Blues by Paul and Beth Garon of Beasley Books has just been released. Please contact Paul for information on purchasing and discounts to colleagues. Harper Levine of Harper's Books gives Ralph Lauren Magazine his top 10 picks for the ultimate art lover's library. Read here. Vic Zoschak, Jr. of Tavistock Books recently hosted his 11th Not-Quite-Annual Reference Book Workshop, which is geared to newbie booksellers and attempts to convey the importance, and continued need, of reference material, as used in the daily course of an antiquarian book business. Click here to read more. Richard Murian of Alcuin Books will be the book and autographs appraiser on Arizona Collectibles, a 13 part series on KAET-TV (Channel 80, the Phoenix PBS station). The series will air on Thursday evenings at 7:30 P.M. Click here for past episodes. Dan Dwyer of Johnnycake Books co... [more New Antiquarians in the News]

In a few days I'll be heading out to Colorado Springs for my fifth tour of duty on the faculty of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar. Hard as it is for me to believe that five years have passed since my first visit to CABS, as a guest lecturer in 2010, harder still must it be for those who were involved with it from the start — wonderful dealers like Ed Glaser and Mike Ginsberg — to realize that CABS has now been a continuously-running institution for almost forty years. In the interim enormous changes have taken place in the book trade, and some pretty big ones have taken place within the seminar, too. But one thing certainly hasn't changed, and that is the Seminar's central mission of providing booksellers, collectors, and librarians of all levels of experience with the most in-depth, intensive introduction to the antiquarian book trade that is currently available. I wrote passionately about my belief in the seminar on my own blog a couple of years ago. I still believe, as I did then, that this week in Colorado is among the best and most exciting things I do in the world of books. The opportunity to open new dealers' eyes to the enormous and ever-expanding range of possibilities this business has to offer is hugely gratifying, and each year I leave the seminar feeling better-informed, re-energized and re-committed to my own business. I also leave tired: it's the most exhausting week of my year, harder even than New York Book Fair week (and that's saying something!), ... [more What My Friends Think I Do: Part III In A Series]

The ABAA is delighted to welcome the following new members to the Association: Lawrence O'Shaughnessy of Franklin Books LLC and Teri Osborn of William Reese Company. Read a little more about each member below. Full Member Lawrence O'Shaughnessy, Franklin Books LLC (Oldwick, NJ) Larry O'Shaughnessy established Franklin Books in 2006 after spending over three decades in general management, investment banking, and international consulting. His business is focused on offering books that are truly beautiful as well as being significant literary works. In addition to fine leather bindings, livre d'artiste works, and fine art photography, Larry has been working with artists to create unique fine bindings to take the “livre d'artiste” experience to a new level, and enhance the overall reader experience, by having the externals of a book play as important a role as the art contained within the book. Franklin Books recently opened a gallery in the historic village of Oldwick, New Jersey that showcases a wide assortment of leather bindings, fine art photography, and unique book creations and sculptures that can also be purchased on their internet site. Associate Member Teri Osborn, William Reese Company (New Haven, CT) Teri Osborn has been with the Americana Department at the William Reese Company since December 2008. Prior to that time, she earned her MLS at Indiana University and worked as a rare book librarian at the American Antiquarian Society and the University of Alberta. A n... [more ABAA Welcomes New Members]

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 warned: LOL does not mean Lots Of Love). Furthermore, a bewildering number of social media platforms exist, from the mega-networks like Facebook and LinkedIn to media sites like Youtube and Pinterest, and everything in between. And then there are the endless blogs, and tweets, and apps…oh my! Feeling overwhelmed yet? While I think it is safe to say that most booksellers have a website and use the internet for research, buying, and selling, my sense is that there is some lingering hesitation when it comes to using social media as a tool for business. And no small wonder! How does one even get started, let alone navigate all the interfaces and etiquette required across various websites? More importantly, how does one use this new technology effectively? Social media engagement has become such an important aspect to doing business these days that bigger companies will hire people expressly for the purpose of creating content and monitoring their presence across multiple platforms. While that might be necessary for companies with hundreds or thousands of employees, where does that leave... [more THE SAVVY BOOKSELLER: Social Media for the Antiquarian Book Trade Post #1]

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 librarians and developers from across the country to socialize and participate in meaningful conversations about the field. In addition to the variety of workshops, seminars, and social events, a main component of the Preconference is the ABAA's Bookseller Showcase (read Greg Gibson's impressions of the 2014 showcase here). The showcase is like a book fair amuse-bouche: there are usually between 30-40 exhibitors who bring a sampling of their inventory, giving attendees a small taste of the type of material they specialize in and what they currently have to offer. Booksellers who participate in the showcase frequently describe it as an invaluable opportunity to meet customers face to face and to forge new relationships with special collections developers. It's worthwhile to note that one does not have to work in special collections to attend the annual Preconfernece. Registration is open to anyone who may want to attend, and many ABAA booksellers have found the Preconference to be a wonderful opportunity to network with librarians and to further educate themselves about the field so they c... [more Viva Las Vegas: 2014 RBMS Preconference and Booksellers’ Showcase]

Where do you start with a place like Vegas? Bally's Hotel and Casino is hosting the 2014 Moose International convention and dealing with a chronic shortage of aquatic plant life, willow shoots, and other forage. Hairy guys with backwards baseball caps. Old men and their leisurewear. Fatties in mobile chairs work away, tethered to slot machines. A Bally's credit card at the other end of the line drips the money in and out. The tether prevents the card from being stolen, lost, or forgotten. Sorry, sir, no photographs. What is the plural of Moose ? Do the International Moose employ it? There is a convention in noir cinema – someone has slipped the detective a mickey, or the alcoholic is in the middle of a lost weekend, or an innocent party has received a life altering shock. “Sorry, honey. I'm leaving you for a Moose.” The movies represent this state of psychic distress by means of flashing lights, carnival midway noises, and squirming, spinning shapes. Everything is out of focus. Voices come in and out, layered with hallucinogenic visuals and shreds of pop songs. Places and times jam together like a freeway pileup. This is the lobby at Bally's Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. The mickey is optional, but the lights, noises, voices, and ghastly visuals surrounding me leave no doubt that I'm in someone's grade B detective flick, or lost weekend, or that the life altering shock is Las Vegas itself. A line in one of my aural hallucinations croons, “It's just too marvelous, too ma... [more Not This Time]

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 Lecture on Shakespeare’s Beehive at Swann Galleries]

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, and conservators have been conducting regarding all elements of printing and book production. The speakers included specialists who are at the cutting edge of research on printing techniques, paper manufacture, binding construction, and typography, as well as scholars, conservators, scientists, and booksellers who are dedicated to establishing methods for determining authenticity in the field of rare books, prints, and manuscripts. The Library of Congress has released a webcast of the symposium, which you can view below or on their website. [more Library of Congress Releases Webcast of Symposium on Authenticity]